REVIEW: Once Upon A Time in Wonderland, Episode 113
Once Upon A Time in Wonderland closes its season/series with episode 13 entitled “And They Lived…” and while our heroes prepare to fight their final battle, Jafar is more powerful than ever.
Right in the beginning of the episode we found out what Jafar actually wanted to achieve with this spell. Apparently his plan wasn’t just to force his father to love him, what Jafar actually wanted was to let his father know what was like to be murdered by someone you love. So, in what was a bit of a twist, Jafar killed his father in cold blood.
In an episode in which laws of magic didn’t apply, rules were broken several times, far from just the example I mentioned above. Because it couldn’t happen in any other way, both Cyrus and Anastasia were brought back to life, but the latest was resurrected by Jafar, and because he never does anything from the kindness in his heart (because he doesn’t have it), he decided to torment Will by making this Knave watch himself and the former Queen, “in love”. Jafar even promised Alice that he would change the past and make sure that she would never meet Cyrus, but Alice wasn’t very worried about this, because she knew something Jafar didn’t, which brings us to the next topic of conversation.
Like Snow and Charming from the original show usually say (or even sing sometimes), Love is the most powerful magic of all and love can break any curse, and in this episode that was a clear message. This is why Alice wasn’t worried about whatever Jafar might do to her, because she was sure that what he did would either not work, or be reversed eventually. But Alice and Cyrus’ love wasn’t the only one featured in this episode, and as hope speeches and virtues of blind faith come, I did love what Will said to a cursed Anastasia. I loved it so much that I am going to have to remind you guys of it: “[Love] is messy. It means arguing and making up and laughing and… and crying and struggling. And sometimes, it doesn’t seem worth it. But it is. And, at the end, when you’re in love, no matter what happens, you forgive each other. I forgive you, Ana, for what you did to me. Because I love”. And because true love’s kiss can break any curse, this speech was followed by one that woke Anastasia up from Jafar’s spell. Even though this episode had many sweet moments, this speech followed by the kiss was definitely my favorite one.
Even though villains on Once Upon A Time are usually very well developed, making the audience love them and feel sorry for them even when they plot to kill everyone, it is always nice to watch a villain being defeated and this time it was Jafar’s turn and the most satisfying part about it was that he was the one who caused it. When Cyrus was about to return the stolen water to the Well of Wonders, Jafar caught and destroyed it. When asked what she was going to do then, Alice replied with one of those badass answers; answers which, even though sometimes are a bit cliché, I always love: “I plan to do nothing”, she said, “Because you didn’t steal that water from me. You stole it from her”. It is really these kinds of lines that make me love these moments when villains are defeated. Plus, it is always very satisfying to watch because usually they deserve what they get. The Nyx appeared and Jafar was turned into a genie.
Another very satisfying thing after seeing a villain defeated is watching our heroes be happy, even if sometimes it is for just for a few moments. The Rabbit married Alice and Cyrus and everyone was there. Yes, even Edwin. Alice forgave him and we watched him walk his daughter down the aisle. Anastasia put her red dresses aside, and became the White Queen, making Will the White King.
Alice and Cyrus stayed in her world, while Will and Anastasia went back to Wonderland, but not before the two close friends that we got the chance to watch in these past 13 episodes shared a hug and said an “I’ll see you soon”. I feel like the friendship between Will and Alice was a bit underrated sometimes, but maybe that is still realistic because we don’t usually give much value to the things/people we see every day, only to those that we don’t. It is only when those people leave that we realize we will miss them a lot.
This season finale, as I said before, turned out to be a series finale, and even though it sucks that it got cancelled, I sometimes feel like it was for the best. This show was supposed to be an anthology of Alice’s adventures in Wonderland, which means, even though we would probably still see an Alice, and a Knave…, it wouldn’t be our Alice nor our Knave. Also, there would probably not be a Cyrus next time (since he isn’t part of the original story). And it would also make things confusing while we would try to realize which season would be considered canon to the main show. That is why I like to see Once Upon A Time in Wonderland as a miniseries, because that is really what it looks like.
This was definitely an incredible episode, the best of the show in my opinion, and so it is worthy of a 9.7/10.
Sadly, I now conclude my reviews of this amazing show. I keep on saying that it was really great it finished well, with everyone happy, because pretty much every cancelled show doesn’t have that much luck. I am sure Alice and Cyrus started living their Happy Beginning, until some other villain decided to try to take away their happiness (but don’t worry, because I am sure he/she didn’t succeed).
REVIEW: American Horror Story, Episode 701
After a lot of anticipation, creepy teasers and the promise of a great season, American Horror Story is back with its seventh season, more specifically with “Election Night”, which is the title of this first episode.
The season did promise to get very political and that did not disappoint. Right in the first seconds we were able to relive some of the moments of the campaign of Both Clinton and Trump and that led us to election night and to the surprising announcement of Donald Trump’s victory. It is in this moment that we meet the leads of the season: Kai Anderson, who couldn’t be happier with this; and Ally Mayfair-Richards, who couldn’t be more shocked and pissed at everyone. These two definitely represent the extreme of both parties. Kai now feels very powerful and like he can do anything he wants, while Ally feels like this is all the most stupid joke of all time, not sure how she is supposed to survive for the next 4 years.
Fear is quite an effective tool, and that is something else this season promises to deal with. After election night, Ally’s phobias are back, stronger than ever, and she now sees clowns pretty much everywhere she looks. It sure seemed for most of the episode like she was going crazy and seeing things that weren’t there, but closer to the end, her son Ozzy also saw clowns murdering the neighbors. Are they both crazy? Did Ally’s fear start affecting her son in a similar way? Or is this all part of a major conspiracy? Nothing is black and white in this show, and so maybe the answer to all these questions could be “Yes”.
Meanwhile, Kai also seems very interested in fear. I really liked the speech he gave to that little counsel about how fears run the world and how we love it. The reason why I liked it is probably because it is true. A bit extreme, but true. What was also a bit extreme was his reaction when they pretty much ignored him, because it seemed like he thought they would actually listen to that. “There is nothing more dangerous in this world than a humiliated man”, and Kai really seems invested in making everyone see that he is right.
Of course that this couldn’t be a season about clowns if our favorite murderous clown from American Horror Story didn’t show up, but, as promised, he did. Twisty the clown is back with more murders and even though he is just a comic book character for now, that doesn’t make it any less great nor terrifying. Thanks to the clown sightings last year and to the upcoming remake of Stephen King’s It, clowns are getting more and more creepy, and it would definitely be very hard to find a better moment in time to present people with a season like this.
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One thing that seems great about this season is that it doesn’t seem like supernatural is going to be a big part of it. Sure that ghosts, aliens, witches, vampires and spirits (which is what was featured in previous seasons) can definitely provide a few scares, but in the end of the day they aren’t real (or are they?). But the same can’t be said for people who want to rise to power at all cost, no matter if they have to make everyone lose their minds to get it (like Kai said). This is definitely the perfect season for the supernatural to be sidelined, because talking about something devastating and controversial that took place 40 years ago (for example) sure that it hits close to home, but it is still at the neighbor’s house. Talking about something that is happening right now will totally hit straight at everyone’s homes and if monsters were added to the equation it would lose a lot of significance and connection to reality.
Another great thing about this season is that there doesn’t seem to be many major characters, maybe only a hand full of them, and that will make everything much easier to understand. There is Ally, Ivy, Kai and Winter: these seem like the most major characters so far. There only seems to be two others who will maybe be more relevant than they did in this episode and those are Dr. Rudy and Detective Samuels.
This was definitely a very nice episode that set up the season in a very satisfying way. I am sure that if Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters continue to go down the road they started in this premiere, they are sure to make way to the Emmys next year. I am giving this episode an 8.5/10.
As satisfactory as this episode was, it was just the beginning and I am sure that more clowns and craziness is coming towards us. The second episode of American Horror Story: Cult will premiere next Tuesday and it is entitled “Don’t be Afraid of the Dark”.
REVIEW: Midnight, Texas, Episode 107
Midnight, Texas is once again back, this week with episode 7, which was given the title “Angel Heart”, an episode that added a lot of mythology to the show.
In the beginning, this episode seemed like it was going to be similar to the third episode, Lemuel’s centric, meaning that I thought we would see flashbacks of Joe’s early days, since the first scene took place a thousand years ago. But apparently this scene was just a standalone flashback, which makes me wonder why it was even showed. It was definitely a very small scene and the only things we learned from it was that angels hunt demons and that Bowie was older than Joe, things that could have been explained in present day. Not that I have anything against flashbacks, out of the contrary, I usually find them very enlightening, but if you want to make an episode with flashbacks, you better do it right.
It seems like the “them” that Joe mentioned last episode turned out to be a “she”, and Bowie really seemed very focused on finding and killing Joe. Sure that he would need him, Chuy came back and convinced his boyfriend to ask for help, which seems like a reasonable thing to do. By now they are all a team, and Joe already helped them in numerous occasions, so I was sure they wouldn’t mind lending them a hand. And turned out they absolutely didn’t, some of them were just a bit disappointed that Joe hadn’t told them about everything sooner.
As I said, this episode added a lot of mythology to the show, and Know we now a little better how some things work. Chuy is half-demon, so that is why he can control his demon self most of the times using strong connections between him and others (used to be his mother, and now it is Joe). Angels can’t be killed by humans, only by other angels or demons. I actually thought that Joe was the one who was going to kill Bowie when they started fighting, making him realize that he is stronger than he thinks, but turned out that Chuy lost control and let his demon out, making him the one who killed Bowie. I have to say that the way the she angel died was a bit weird. All Chuy had to do was bite her and she just exploded.
It is never as easy to imprison your demons as it is to let them go, and for another part of the episode everyone was trying to stop Chuy, and in the end Joe was almost forced to kill him, if it wasn’t for the bond that they both share. Speaking of bonds, some people may still think that it is weird and unacceptable watching a relationship between two people of the same gender, so now imagine a relationship between an angel and a demon. That would definitely blow those people’s brains out, because it definitely almost blew mine. And this is most likely to be the reason why Joe was kicked out of Heaven and was made Fallen.
But this relationship was far from the only one that was featured in this episode. In fact, all current relationships were, one way or another, discussed in this episode. Olivia is sure that the relationship between her and Lemuel is one with and ending in sight, because she is mortal and doesn’t want to be turned into a vampire. She plans to enjoy her boyfriend for a little while longer, but not too long. Fiji and Bobo started to bond again after their breakup (?), and I am looking forward to see them back together again.
The couple that, as usual, had more screen time in this episode was Manfred and Creek. Even though no one agreed with her decision, Creek started working again at the bar. But things didn’t take a nasty turn for them until Creek was kidnaped by Bowie. After reading her mind, the angel said to Manfred that Creek kind of blamed him for what happened because even though he is a psychic, he didn’t warn her that her brother was a serial killer and that her father was just as crazy as he was. This definitely is not fair for Manfred. Sure he is a psychic, but he can’t see the future, all he can do is talk to the dead. It isn’t his fault that any ghost of the dead girls told him who the actual killer was.
Last but not least, Joe finally told Manfred about the prophecy and how he thought that the psychic who was going to save Midnight was him. Manfred didn’t seem very convinced at all, but Joe tried to persuade as best as he could that that is in fact his destiny. Unfortunately, after losing the one thing that was keeping him in town and not wanting to be a part of any of that anymore, Manfred left Midnight. But don’t sweat too much over this people, because I am sure he will be back very soon.
Overall, this was a nice episode. Seems like the show is done with fillers for the rest of the season and I am very glad about that. I am giving it an 8.1/10.
Brace yourselves, because next week there will not be one episode of Midnight, Texas, but two. That’s right, both episodes 8 (“Last Temptation of Midnight”) and 9 (“Riders of the Storm”) will be released next week, one on Monday and the other on Tuesday, so don’t forget to check up both my reviews.
REVIEW: Dead of Summer, Episode 101
When the fall is over all you can do is rely on summer shows to keep yourself entertained. As summer shows come and go, Dead of Summer was a very enjoyable one. It is creepy, sometimes scary, the characters are really well developed, there is a big mystery that ultimately makes sense, and not to mention that it is also very surprising, especially closer to the end. This now being the era of anthologies (at least that is what it looks like because there seems to be a new one at every corner) this show didn’t really add anything special to the world of television. If it had been done a few years earlier it would probably had been more successful and thus it would have been renewed. Dead of Summer was, in my opinion, a show with potential but which was cut down before it had the chance to make an impact, which unfortunately happens a lot. Who knows if this show would have been able to turn into the new American Horror Story?
“Looks can be deceiving” can definitely be this season’s mantra and we kind of start to see that in this first episode, entitled “Patience”. But of course that what is deceiving in this pilot is just a taste of what’s to come, because it isn’t even comparable to some plot twists that we will see throughout these short 10 episodes.
The main plot of the show happens in 1989, when a woman known as Deb decides to reopen a summer camp, Camp Stillwater. Deb was kind of a sideline character in this episode, so let’s move on to the people who weren’t: the counselors. The first one we meet is Amy, who is not just a newbie to Camp Stillwater, but to summer camp in general. Everyone else is in for the ride mostly for some nostalgia of the good old days. She has a bit of a hard time fitting in at first, but by the end of this episode she is a lot more into the camp spirit.
But everyone has secrets, and sweet Amy is no different: in flashbacks we found out that, while trying to sneak out of a party with a friend, Margo, because Amy couldn’t pull her back up nor hold her hand forever, Margo fell to her death. Camp Stillwater knows about this, and so it uses it against her in multiple times. While trying to restore electricity and later while she was just thinking by the lake, multiple creepy hands start reaching out to her. This is what Camp Stillwater does, it finds your most terrifying moment and makes you relive it time and time again.
But Amy was far from the only counselor we met in this episode. We also met: Jessie, who seems to be the camp Bitch; Drew, a boy who turned out to be a girl in the end; Alex, who seems to steal shirts; Cricket, who wants people to think she is way more naughty than she actually is; Blair, who actually doesn’t seem to be hiding much; Joel, who seems to live with a camera in his hand; and Blotter, who seems like the “consequences be damned” kind of guy. Even Deb seems to have some secrets of her own, because people with nothing to hide don’t usually go unbury boxes in the woods during the night. Aside from the camp people, we even got to meet Deputy Sykes, also known as Townie, who really seems to be interested in this new mystery surrounding Camp Stillwater.
Some people may think that it is too soon for bodies to start piling up right in the pilot, but the Dead of Summer writers beg to differ. Aside from a dead deer, Amy found the body of the Gardner of the camp, Dave, when she was swimming in the lake. This took her and Sykes to his cabin where they found lots of creepy pictures of dead people and a map that made the lake look like a beast. Apparently not everyone was OK with them finding it, so they burned down the cabin with Amy and Sykes still inside.
This was, in my opinion, a good pilot. It was full of mystery, some action, some creepiness. What is really interesting about this show is that each episode will focus on a different character, allowing us to see the story through their perspective, to see a glimpse of their past stories, find out how they decided to join Stillwater again and also discover what they are hiding.
Now looking at this episode in an isolate way, I will give it a 7.5/10. I don’t want to aim too high, because, even though this episode was cool, much better ones are coming.
Dead of Summer is just getting started, and so are my reviews. Episode 2 is entitled “Barney Rubble Eyes”, and it will be Alex’s centric, so don’t miss it.
REVIEW: Once Upon A Time in Wonderland, Episode 112
Once Upon A Time in Wonderland is closer and closer to the finish line and in the penultimate episode, entitled “To Catch a Thief”, Jafar finally gets what he wants when he forces some heroes to work beside him.
In flashbacks we find out how the beautiful and strong friendship between Alice and the Knave started, and even though Cora didn’t make an appearance this time, she was definitely the one pulling the strings. These flashback scenes weren’t actually very relevant to the story, since we already knew that Alice was the one who stole Will’s heart from Cora and that Will didn’t put it back in his chest, but it was still nice to see these two start bonding, and it was also quite funny in some scenes. But what I enjoyed most in these flashbacks was the very last scene of it. After Will helped Alice kidnap the Rabbit to show Edwin that Wonderland is real, these two mates go down separate paths and the last thing Will tells Alice is “A great girl like you won’t be alone for long. I have a feeling your happy ending is right around the corner”. And this was exactly what happened because Alice was then seconds away from meeting Cyrus and starting the greatest adventure of her life.
Back to the present now, Jafar is definitely the kind of guy who works alone, because for the past 11 episodes his partnerships never last long. In this episode another one of his companions leaves him. And the best thing about it is that when she does, he doesn’t even know it. Positively sure that Jafar won’t live up to his word, the Jabberwocky joins the heroes in an attempt to regain her freedom. In the scene they cross paths, we find out that a happy ending can also be provided to this villain. Once again, Evil isn’t born, it’s made, but so is good. The Jabberwocky thinks she might change once Jafar is gone for good, in a scene that made me feel bad for her. That is what Once Upon A Time does: it makes you love all characters, no matter in which side of the chess board they are on.
The serpent staff now being the last thing Jafar needs to complete the spell, this sorcerer enlists Will’s help to get it, giving him hope that perhaps he will bring Anastasia back to life. With no other option of getting his love back, Will goes to Alice and Cyrus to do just that. After another beautiful scene between Alice and Will, he realizes that there is always another way, and with the Jabberwocky’s help they come up with a plan to free Amara and stop Jafar. But plans never end up the way we want them to, and, though they were able to free Jafar’s father from prison and Amara from the staff, things take another very surprising turn when, like in the previous episode, another major character is killed by the ruthless Jafar, this time it was Cyrus. Proving that Cyrus and Alice share true love and are soulmates, Alice was able to feel Cyrus’ death, even though she wasn’t very near him nor wasn’t she seeing how things were unfolding.
Those last final minutes (expect Cyrus’ death) were very enjoyable to watch. With the season finishing it was to assume that Jafar was finally going down, but it turned out to be the other way around, because it seems he gets more and more powerful every episode, and especially now. I never get tired of seeing Alice kicking ass, and so I found it awesome watching her fight all those guards. Watching the magical battle between Amara and Jafar was also really great. I do love watching two sorcerers fight. Hearing Amara say that no matter who would win the fight, Jafar would lose anyway, made it seem even more like things were getting to a closing point, but as usual Jafar outsmarted everyone, doing with Amara the same thing he did with Will, doing something that is almost irreversible, unless you can break the laws of magic.
Once Upon A Time in Wonderland is really getting better and better and things are really getting to a looming point. I am giving this episode a 9.4/10.
With only the season/series finale remaining, and with Jafar finally getting what he wanted from the beginning, things promise to get really intense, so don’t miss my next review of “And They Lived…”.
REVIEW: Midnight, Texas, Episode 106
Midnight, Texas returns this week for another episode, the sixth, entitled “Blinded by the Light” and answers started to pop up while a manhunt was organized by our favorite midnighters.
Everyone’s got secrets and in this episode the characters took most out of the way and that will definitely help in the upcoming war. Fiji revealed that the demon wasn’t quite as gone as everyone hoped, Joe revealed his angel self to everyone and an enemy between the allies was unmasked. Maybe it isn’t very fair to call Connor an ally, since he wasn’t quite on the team, but he sure as hell wasn’t considered an enemy. It was great that there was only one storyline in this episode. Usually there are more than one (in pretty much every show, not just this one) but I think it feels more relaxing a bit to follow an episode with only one storyline because you know that nothing else will be introduced.
The episode started with yet another missing girl and it didn’t take long for the team to find a connection between this and Aubrey’s death. The team divided to conquer and instead of the girl they were searching for, they found another one, which made me realize that they had a serial killer in their hands. I actually thought that Aubrey’s death had already been solved, that Lowry did it, but apparently that was just the official story. Not sure how I missed this, but well…
It was nice for a change to see that the big bad of the week wasn’t a supernatural threat, but a human one. Sure that most of the times human threats are boring but I don’t think this was the case. Of course that this is a supernatural show, but humans can be monsters too, and in this episode this was the case. What wasn’t so nice was how they developed Connor’s new persona. Of course that there are psychopaths and sociopaths, but I think it is common knowledge that they are not born this way (especially psychopaths), they usually go through some sort of traumatic event that changes them forever. The writers could have made that to be the death of Connor and Creek’s mother, but Connor said, while Creek thought they were talking about their father, that he was always wired differently. That is the only thing that felt off in this episode. However, it was still great to see this twist, I definitely did not see this coming, but at least Connor won’t be around to stall any longer like he did in episode 4.
This episode had more focus in Creek’s family, and it was surprisingly good. I don’t really like any of them since I think humans don’t really fit in these kinds of shows (expect Olivia, she’s awesome), but the way it was played made it enjoyable to watch. Creek’s brother is gone now (in a way that was so smooth that it almost made it feel like we had never seen Connor before), but her dad is still around. I don’t think he will stay for long, though. Creek is the one that looks like will stick around, but I guess that is fine since she seems to be the less of two evils.
But things took all kinds of turns and in this episode we learned that the enormous amount of ghosts in Midnight is making Manfred sick. This was later announced to be another consequence of the vail being very fragile. In fact, that is why all kinds of creatures have found their way to Midnight recently. I do love it when a show explains why they are always dealing with different threats. Sometimes monsters just pop up, and though they have their reasons, creatures showing up one after the other doesn’t often seem very realistic.
It appears that Midnight, Texas is back to what seems to be its main storyline: the demon and the prophecy. With Joe linked to this prophecy and with a Joe centric episode next week, it looks like this focus will continue. I don’t know why, but I really like Joe’s character, and in this episode he definitely helped to save the day. But now that he revealed himself it looks like “they” will come for him. It is unclear who “they” are but I think we will found out soon. Another great twist was that final scene. Joe made it seem like Chuy may not be human. I am not sure if that is what he meant, but it looked that way. Can’t wait to have answers.
This was definitely a really amazing episode, the best so far in my opinion, and so I am giving it an 8.3/10.
The seventh episode of this first season is entitled “Angel Heart” and it is due to air next week, so don’t miss my review.
REVIEW: Once Upon A Time in Wonderland, Episode 111
With the season closer and closer to the end, in Once Upon A Time in Wonderland’s episode 11, “Heart of Matter”, there were a few connections with the original show.
In flashbacks we got to revisit Cora, aka the Queen of Hearts, and realized that she is actually the reason why Will and Anastasia are still separated. Cora actually mentioned her daughter many times, and even said that, if she would have been able to pick, she would rather Anastasia to be her daughter. Of course that by then Cora probably didn’t know what her actual daughter was up to, because if that was so, she wouldn’t be much of a disappointment anymore. But for someone like Ana, hearing this must have felt better than good, because it seems like she never really got much love from her mother. Since Cora never had the chance to make her daughter a Queen and help her adjust to the Queen’s life, Cora desperately wanted to do that with Anastasia. So desperately that she even made sure that her and Will wouldn’t end up together ever again. Cora ultimately convinced Anastasia of her mantra, “Love is Weakness”, and she was even the one who taught the new Queen, magic.
But to pull the strings on Ana, Cora first had to pull them on Will. Cora lied saying Anastasia wasn’t planning on coming, and that is what made Will ask the Queen of Hearts to do what she often does and rip out his. Will preferred to feel nothing rather than have a heart that got broken, saying that he couldn’t live like that anymore.
Cora was also, in a way, the reason why Jafar couldn’t begin the spell. Last episode he thought he had everything he needed, but he didn’t know that all genies needed to have their hearts for the spell to work.
Alice and Cyrus begin the episode searching for the Lost and Found, so that they can continue what they started the previous episode and find Amara. That scene in the Underland was really enjoyable to watch: seeing Cyrus and Alice outsmart the Caterpillar and stealing from it literally right under its nose. But the mission to find Amara soon had to be sidelined because this couple found out that Jafar was going to go after Will’s heart. If he laid his hands on it, he would have everything for the spell. So, for the second time in this show, we travel to the awesome town of Storybrooke. Storybrooke is said to be a place that is lost in time, and a lot of us already noticed in Once Upon A Time that the technology they use is far from being up to date, but for Alice and Cyrus it was so futuristic already that they thought that it was all magic, but the Rabbit simply called it electricity. I guess it is all about points of you.
After they found the heart and got back to Wonderland, Alice and Cyrus were intersected by Jafar who managed to steal Will’s heart. At this point, Jafar doesn’t need pretty much anyone but himself alive and so, when he prepared to kill Cyrus and Alice, his staff fought back and Jafar was forced to retreat without it. Thanks to the Lost and Found, Cyrus and Alice found out that Jafar’s staff is actually Amara, and so they will now try to put her back in human form.
There are always some characters in a show that the viewers believe will never die, but sometimes they do and it usually is as much surprising as it is painful. Accepting his lost for now, Jafar went back to the dungeon and put Will’s heart back. Will and Ana shared their first kiss in a long time, but quickly got stopped by Jafar, who, in a very big twist no one saw coming, killed Anastasia right in front of her lover, putting an end to the episode.
This episode was really great. Once Upon A Time sometimes comes out with some really amazing and shocking twists, and Anastasia’s death was most certainty one of them. I am giving it a 9.2/10.
With only 2 more episodes before the end, everything is going to start happening at the same time, so brace yourselves for my next review of episode 12, “To Catch a Thief”.
REVIEW: Big Little Lies, Episode 107
All good things must come to an end, and Big Little Lies is no different. The show (season?) ended with this seventh episode, “You Get What You Need”, and if the show was waiting for an episode to give answers to the audience, it was clearly this one.
The episode begins with Perry’s retaliation on Celeste for what she did to him before. Celeste was crying on the floor, while Perry was already apologizing for something he probably didn’t regret doing. Celeste goes to the therapist again and we see a scene that has practically no words, and, since those are usually some of the best, this one was no different. Celeste says Perry will go on a trip on the following day and she will then move out with the kids. But a lot can happen in a day, especially that day, because it was when the school dinner was going to happen.
I was very surprised when we found out that Perry knew about Celeste’s new apartment. The way he said it, like it was a mundane thing, made it look even more threating than if he had actually tried to be threatening. Perry tries to convince Celeste to stay, giving her the talk that he will change, that she has to help him fight the demons inside him, but Celeste had made up her mind about and it was great seeing her finally (almost) free of Perry.
The first major reveal of the episode was the identification of the bully at school: Max, one of Celeste’s twins. It made a lot sense that it was him. Firstly, because the bully would have to be one of the 5 (Ziggy, Cloe, Skye, Max or Josh), since it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to throw in some random kid when the show is about to end. Secondly, because even though both Perry and Celeste always said that the kids had no idea what was going on, hiding things from children usually only makes them more aware of it. Maybe they never saw anything, but they heard it and put two and two together. I really thought Renata was going to make a huge deal about this, but she was just surprised. And it was so great that she went to find Jane to apologize to her about how she treated her son. Renata definitely came a long way in these short 7 episodes, and I am glad the show didn’t end with her continuing to be the villain.
In the meantime, Madeline is convinced that Tori knows about her and Joe, while Joe says that there is no way that she knows. I think, actually I am sure, that Tori does know, since she said so to Madeline’s face in the previous episode. It is really a shame that Madeline didn’t tell Ed about it. I choose to believe that she did tell him and that he forgave her, but it would have been great to see Madeline admit that in front of her husband. Ed is a great guy, and I think he would forgive her.
Speaking of Ed, that scene in which he sang “Wonder of You” was so so good. Adam Scott has an amazing voice and that performance was priceless. Sure Nathan did good too, but nothing compared to Ed. It was a shame we didn’t get to see Madeline, Celeste or Jane sing too.
And while Nathan was singing, we got our second big reveal. Celeste joined Renata, Madeline and Jane while Bonnie followed Perry, putting all 5 warrior moms in the same place. While Perry was telling Celeste they needed to go home to talk things out, Jane realized that Perry was the guy who raped her, Ziggy’s father. I honestly didn’t think Perry was Ziggy’s father, because it seemed a bit obvious, but I am glad that, like the bully, Ziggy’s father wasn’t just a character that was thrown here, coming out of nowhere. After Jane, and without a single word spoken, everyone got to the same conclusion she did.
After a cut in the scene, we get to our third reveal, the reveal we had been waiting for since the first scene of the first episode: the dead body. Or should I say, Perry’s dead body. When we realized that they were lying about the fact that he fell, I thought that Jane was the one who had pushed him, and so they were trying to make sure no one found out that Perry was Ziggy’s father. But the final reveal turned out to be even better. And the way it was shown made it so much better still. We got to see flashes of Perry’s fight against the moms intertwining with shots of waves hitting the rocks. The ocean is the combination of millions and millions of small drop. One small drop would never stand a chance against a big rock, but when they all join forces, they slowly make the big rock disappear. Bonnie was the one who pushed Perry. He was beating all 4 of the women there, and Bonnie pushed The Monster (how ironic is it that that was what Perry used to call himself?) causing him to fall to his death.
Big Little Lies finished with a great scene showing all moms who had overcome their differences and their problems for a woman in need. And that new formed bond led them to the beach, each with their significant others (no, I don’t mean their husbands/lovers, but their children, because ultimately it was through their kids that they met each other). These women don’t need husbands nor lovers to protect themselves, they never did, and they never will.
It has been said that this may not be the end, that a second season might be coming. I am not sure how to feel about this. From my experience, a miniseries should remain a miniseries. This season was really fantastic, and I am worried a second one might take that away, because a bad new season would make the whole show drop. I hope that, if a season 2 is coming, that is not this show’s fate, but I am worried it might be. I am also concerned that season 2 will turn this show into a cop show. The cop made it clear that she knew the mothers were lying, so she could come back and start investing Perry’s death, and they would all end up screwed. I really hope this isn’t be the case, because the show was great without any cops knocking at the mother’s doors.
This episode was absolutely fantastic. Lots of reveals, lots of drama, and lots of women strength. It is definitely worthy of a 9.7/10.
With this I conclude my reviews of the show (or maybe just of season 1). I really hope Nicole Kidman will win an Emmy for this. Sure all actors and actresses were great, but Nicole was especially great. The awards will be delivered on September 17th, so root or her (or another favorite of yours), because I will too!
REVIEW: Once Upon A Time in Wonderland, Episode 110
Once Upon A Time in Wonderland returns with episode 10, “Dirty Little Secrets”, and our favorite team of heroes and villains decides to split up in order to cover more ground.
If we can always count on something when it comes to Once Upon A Time is that pretty much everyone is related to each other, and characters that pop up out of nowhere and with no ties to anyone don’t exist. In this episode the family tree grew a little bit more: we met Cyrus’ two brothers (which wasn’t much of a surprise since he had mentioned them last episode) and also their mother, Amara, who was spotted on episode 4 as Jafar’s partner and in every other episode of the show as Jafar’s serpent staff.
Fate is a very tricky business. It may not always be fair, we may not always agree with it, but in this show’s universe, fate usually prevails. This episode wasn’t one of those cases, though. The water from the Well of Wonders can only save people whose fate wasn’t yet written, but Amara’s fate was apparently to die on that day. Her sons didn’t agree and went to save her anyway, making a choice that changed the entire history of multiple worlds. When we think about it, if she had died, then there would be no Once Upon A Time in Wonderland, because Jafar wouldn’t be a threat that wanted to change the laws of magic, hurting everyone that stood in his way.
Meanwhile, in present day, two plans come up, and so the team goes down separate paths. Cyrus and Alice go to the Well of Wonders to beg the Nyx, the Guardian of the Well, to break the genie’s curse (which was a bit of a foolish idea), while Anastasia and Will go try to raise an army to break into the palace and steal the genies Jafar already has.
It doesn’t take long for the Jabberwocky to find the genie and the genie’s new master. Anastasia tries to fight her, but without luck, and so they are both kidnaped and taken to the palace, where we see the scene which, in my opinion, is the best of the episode: the Jabberwocky breaking Anastasia and forcing her to make the three wishes, while Will can do nothing but watch. This scene was really intense and full of amazing acting, dialogue, direction… It was also great to see that the Jabberwocky was smart enough to force Ana to wish for small things (crown, joules), making sure that no one (especially she and Jafar) don’t pay the price for these wishes. With Will back in his bottle, Jafar has now everything he needs to complete the spell (or almost everything).
At the same time, Alice and Cyrus find their way to the Well of Wonders. While they walk, Alice makes a lot of questions about Cyrus and his past, and he manages to dodge them all. Cyrus doesn’t want to tell Alice the truth because he feels like that whole thing is his fault, and maybe that Alice will think so too, if she was to find out the truth. Sure he could have acted better, he could have not cheated in the poker game, but even he if hadn’t cheated and had won anyway, those men would probably still think that he cheated somehow, and nothing would have changed. But it is safe to say that Cyrus didn’t really know the strength of their love, because if he had he would have known that Alice doesn’t care about a mistake he made a century ago.
The trip to the Well of Wonders was more profitable than I thought it would be. I, of course, never expected the Nyx to lift the spell out of the kindness in her heart, but at least she told Cyrus a way to do so: return the water. The Nyx also even told them that Amara is alive, and so a search party will have to be organized.
This was a great and intense episode. That scene I mentioned totally made it much better and so I am giving it an 8.4/10.
With only 3 more episodes to go, things in Wonderland promise to get even more intense, but next episode, “Heart of Matter” promises a visit from an old acquaintance and a trip to the best town in the whole state of Maine (not to say in the entire world).
REVIEW: Big Little Lies, Episode 106
Big Little Lies continued with episode 6, “Burning Love”, and in it we saw that tensions continue to rise, getting into a whole new level of high.
With only one more episode to go, it was to realize that in this one some arcs were closed, like the one involving Madeline’s play. Opening night finally arrived and everyone seemed to like it. In the end of the play, we find out a shocking truth: Madeline cheated on Ed with Joseph the previous year. After thinking about it a bit I realized that this wasn’t so shocking after all: Ed and Madeline don’t seem to have a lot of love and sweet moments in their relationship. Even Perry and Celeste have more sweet moments than they do. But there was finally something in this episode that I really enjoyed. After arguing a bit, Ed told his wife: “Madeline, I’m the lucky one. I get to wake up every day next to the girl of my dreams”. This may not look like much just reading it like I put it here, maybe just something anyone would say in order to stop arguing, but what really made it sweet was how Ed said it, like it was the most natural thing in the entire world. Even though there aren’t many sweet moments to compare this one to, it was definitely the sweetest this couple shared (so far) in my opinion.
Something else that was wrapped up was The Dinner (which was turned into a Lunch). It is inevitable to talk about Abigail’s project while talking about The Lunch. We learned last episode that Madeline’s oldest daughter was working on a secret project. I honestly didn’t give it a lot of thought because it didn’t seem very important at the time, but I was absolutely shocked when I heard what it actually was. Sure it is for a noble cause, sure Abigail is trying to fight sex slavery, but what she tried to do is beyond wrong. One of the first things I thought about when I learned about this was how Madeline would react, and that did not disappoint, in the funniest way possible. But it was really cute to see the heart-to-heart conversation that mother and daughter had after The Lunch.
Jane’s storyline began in the most unfair way possible: there was a petition going around and gathering signatures to get Ziggy suspended. There is only one word for whoever created this petition: they are an asshole. At first it seemed like it was Renata, but closer to the end we were made to believe that it was someone else. It was also nice seeing Jane go apologize to Renata. We had seen all the women in this show being venerable, and in this one we also got to see Renata do the same. She is of course just trying to protect her daughter, same as everyone else. She is simply doing it in her own unique way, just as we all do.
Celeste’s journey in this episode was, as usual, really great. Nicole continues with her amazing work, and that totally reflects on the character. As it always does, the couple begins the episode with some romantic moments, but things escalated very quickly in this episode. Celeste goes back to the therapist and she provides her with some advice on what she should do: rent an apartment and tell a friend about the abuse. It was great seeing how professional and convincing this therapist is, trying to convince Celeste of all this, by using reason. Celeste doesn’t really believe what the therapist told her, she still edto want to try to make things work, but the last drop was when, after they fought and came from the hospital, Perry said that Celeste is lucky he didn’t kill her. This made Celeste start looking for apartments for her and the kids, making it now one step closer for her to leave her husband.
It was nice that in this episode none of the 3 main mothers were sidelined, they all seemed to have about the same amount of screen time. One thing that is really unique about this show is how the episodes end. Usually episodes of most other shows end with a plot twist, or a badass line that really makes you want to watch more, and that is great, but Big Little Lies ends really naturally, making you wonder if the episode did really end. This show doesn’t need a plot twist in the end of each episode to make people keep watching it, because each episode is already a plot twist in itself.
This was, as always, a really great episode. This show is really getting better and better and so I am giving it a 9.0/10.
Only one more episode left, and it promises to be a really great and mind-blowing one. We will finally find out who is dead, we will see Ed and Nathan go on a singing battle, we will find out who is the bully, find out what Celeste will do with her life… Next episode really seems like it will overcome all the other previous ones combined. The episode is entitled “You Get What You Need”, so don’t miss it, along with my review.