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Posted 3 Comments on Let’s catch up on Stranger Things (season 1 recap) Television Worth Watching

Let’s catch up on Stranger Things (season 1 recap)

I know Stranger Things is a worldwide phenomenon at this point and everyone is excited for season 3 to release on July 4th on Netflix! However, there may be a portion of people who are interested but are too intimidated to start watching because they are two seasons behind.

Well, throw your fear in the Upside Down where it belongs because I’m going to help you catch up to season 3!

Of course, you can go back and watch seasons 1 and 2 are on Netflix right now if this rundown piques your interest. But for now, here is your Stranger Things recap simplified.

Will, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas

Season 1

The story takes place in Hawkins, Indiana in the year 1983. A little boy named Will Byers crosses paths with an unknown monster that we will come to know as the Demogorgon. The Demogorgon follows him home from a friends’ house and that’s the last you see of Will.

His mother, Joyce, tries to get the police involved to help find him, but unfortunately, the police chief isn’t much help.

Wills friends want to find him so they go to investigate at night time. Wills friends names are Dustin, Lucas, and Mike. While they are searching for Will they find a little girl named Eleven.

She escaped from a hidden government facility, Hawkins Lab. They’ve been testing on her since she was a baby. Initially, they experimented on her mother and somehow that caused the baby, Eleven to develop psychic powers. As a result of her powers, Eleven was stolen from her mother.

Like any hidden facility in a horror fiction story, the scientists at the lab are evil and chasing Eleven to bring her back. Luckily she’s avoided the authorities so far and can help Lucas, Mike and Dustin find Will.

Eleven explains that Will is trapped in the Upside Down, a parallel dimension that houses the Demogorgon that abducted him.

Joyce, Wills mom, is still looking for him and she starts to communicate with him using Christmas lights and the alphabet while he is still in the Upside Down. However, the Demogorgon is present too and attacks her, but she escapes.

Chief Hopper starts to be more effective when he investigates the lab Eleven came from and we find out that the head doctor, Dr. Brenner is a creep with a history of stealing children for experiments.

By the way, Eleven knows him as Papa.

While the investigation is getting red hot, Will’s body shows up in a lake. It’s just a red herring though because it’s a fake!

Will’s older brother, Jonathan and his crush Nancy are trying to find Will too. They realize another one of their friends, Barb is gone as well. They find a portal to the Upside Down in the woods, explore it, find the Demogorgon and then run away.

Since Eleven has powers, she uses them to talk to Will through a radio at the school Mike, Lucas, and Dustin and every other child in this show go to. But it doesn’t help because the connection isn’t the best.

Of course, the big bads from the Hawkins Lab are still trying to find Eleven and they find them while the kids are out and about. This forces Eleven to use her powers, but she starts to get fatigued.

Everybody links up together. Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Eleven, Joyce, Chief Hopper, Jonathan and Nancy to share information. We find out Eleven is the one who found the Demogorgon accidentally while spying for the government.

Yikes.

Another useful piece of information is that there is an entrance to the Upside Down in the Hawkins Lab. So Joyce and Hopper go to save Will. Jonathon and Nancy lure the Demogorgon to them to trap it while Joyce and Hopper rescue Will.

They find out that Barb was fully cocooned and didn’t make it. But, Will is okay.

Eleven

Meanwhile, Eleven and the boys almost get captured by the big bads because she faints after overusing her powers. But the Demogorgon who escapes Jonathon and Nancy’s trap arrives just in time to eat Dr. Brenner and let the kids get away.

The Demogorgon goes after the kids next and Eleven snaps back in enough time to dust the Demogorgon away and save the day. Unfortunately, she has to self-sacrifice to save her friends and gets sucked into the Upside Down too.

Will seems to still be connected to the Upside Down because he’s warping in and out the Upside Down while he’s awake. Then he barfs up a monster slug and it goes down his bathroom sink.

Catch up on season 2 by clicking here.

Posted 3 Comments on Swamp Thing S01 E02 | My theory confirmed (review) Television Worth Watching

Swamp Thing S01 E02 | My theory confirmed (review)

Last week, I watched Swamp Thing for the first time. I watched it without referring to any source material and without any preconceived notions. The only thing I knew about the series was that it had been canceled. With only one episode available, the Swamp Thing series on DC Universe would end after episode 10.

After watching the first episode, I had a few opinions but I didn’t see anything that would warrant such a hasty cancellation. I actually enjoyed episode one. So I’ve decided to continue watching it. Episode two turned out really weird, so I’ll start with the easy stuff first.

Spoilers ahead

Last weeks episode left me with a theory of my own regarding Avery Sunderland. The first episode set him up as the wealthiest man in the town and we found out that he was Holland’s employer. This led me to believe that he had to be the person hiring boats to drop the mutagen accelerant in the swamp.

I was proven correct in this episode. Turns out that Avery is the reason that the accelerant is being dumped in the swamp. Apparently, he consulted two scientists (Jason and Caroline Woodrue) to find out ways to make use of the swamp.

The accelerant was their idea. It was supposed to help the swamp thrive, but of course, that backfired and now the townspeople are dying. Jason Woodrue stands firm that an accelerant would not cause disease. He pretty much said blame the swamp for doing swamp things.

Avery is definitely the big bad! All through this episode, he made strides to keep people from investigating the swamp and the dumping. He denied Abby the help she asked for to find Holland (who is presumed dead as far as the characters are concerned). He also threatened the scientist he consulted with blackmail, and he admitted to those same scientists that he is “handling business” to keep his name away from the swamp problem.

So, if we read between the lines, we can deduce that Avery had Holland killed by the mysterious man with the rocket launcher from episode one. Remember, Holland went up to Avery after a town hall meeting and told him that something was happening to the water. This must have prompted him to kill Holland so that he would not figure out the full scope of the conspiracy.

Little does Avery know, he created a swamp monster with a vendetta.

Here is where weird things start. Apparently, patient zero (Susie Coyle) has a psychic connection with the swamp.

I don’t understand how because she was not in the swamp when the initial attack by the vines happened. But okay.

In the last episode, when her father (Eddie Coyle) revived on the autopsy table, Susie had a moment where she called out to the dead corpse that was being controlled by vines. In this episode, she escapes the hospital in order to go meet the Swamp Thing.

The first time she tries to escape the doctor catches her. He asks her why she is trying to leave. Susie says it’s because the man in the dark is scared and needs her.

What could he possibly need from her? Does she hold the cure?

Eventually, Susie does escape and the sheriff’s office and doctors are looking for her in the swamp. Abby is scared because she has seen the Swamp Thing before and no one has believed her up to this point about the dumping, the monster, or the Holland conspiracy.

Susie ends up on a boat with some men who have been hired to dump by Avery. They don’t know she is there and after they have a disagreement, one of them kills the other.

This death prompts the Swamp Thing to rise from the water and save Susie. He rips the boat henchman apart and Susie is saved. However, Abby finds them just in time and takes Susie away.

After they escape the swamp, Susie tells Abby that the Swamp Things name is Holland.

Oh, snap. Here’s more information for the town not to believe.

We also have a bit of story progression for Maria Sunderland. It turns out that she has been dabbling in voodoo and having a witch doctor communicate with her dead daughter (Shawna) for the last 14 years.

As a result, we see that Shawna has not been able to rest in peace and is stuck in a realm between the living and the dead. The witch doctor tells Maria to let her rest because the balance with the living and the dead is shifting. The witch doctor felt that bad things are happening in the swamp.

Here’s the thing. After this weeks episode, I need to understand if Swamp Thing is a sci-fi horror thriller or a supernatural horror thriller. The characteristics of Holland as the Swamp Thing remain horrific. He’s killing people and groaning in pain. Normal stuff.

However, with the addition of Maria’s seance in the swamp, I got confused. How does this play into the swamp? Was the swamp haunted before the accelerant was dumped into it? The first episode never shows Holland and Susie speaking, so how is Susie connected to the Swamp Thing? When did the connection start?

This episode may have muffled the identity of the show a bit. But, it was still interesting. There are so many questions that need to be answered. I’m hoping as I keep watching, the show can clear up some of the confusion.

EPISODE 1 Review: Swamp Thing S01 E01 | Is it worth saving?

Posted 6 Comments on Swamp Thing S01 E01 | Is it worth saving? (review) Television Worth Watching

Swamp Thing S01 E01 | Is it worth saving? (review)

Before I even had the chance to watch Swamp Thing on DC Universe, the show was trending on Twitter confirming the cancellation of the show.

I don’t know the history of shows that have been canceled, but the decision to cancel Swamp Thing after only one episode had been aired felt rushed. So instead of automatically assuming that the first episode was complete garbage, I watched it for myself.

The pilot episode of Swamp Thing gave me serious sci-fi horror vibes. There is a lot of suspense in the first episode and the creators did a great job making the contaminated swamp graphics gross and unnerving. It’s a great presentation.

What about the story?

It’s a good story. However, I think the pilot episode may have given away the biggest part of the series too early in the season.

Spoilers ahead

We’re introduced to the swamp as a dark and mysterious place in Marais, Louisiana right away. A group of fishermen and a tech genius were hired to drop some sort of device in the swamp. They end up being attacked by the swamp and killed.

One fisherman, Eddie Coyle, makes it home somehow and infects his daughter. His daughter goes to school, passes out with a bloody nose and becomes patient zero.

Dr. Abby Arcane is ordered by the CDC to leave the Congo, where she is fighting an epidemic, to come back to Louisiana and cure the mysterious illness in Marais.

She ends up entrusting a somewhat awkward biologist named Alec Holland who has been commissioned by Will Sunderland, a wealthy member of the community, to run tests on the swamp. Initially, Holland is meant to help discover positive means to help the community flourish, but he discovers a fertilizer accelerate that is “jacking up” the mutagens in the swamp and causing the town to become sick.

There is also a side story line about Abby’s past where a childhood friend of hers died before they graduated high school. It turns out that friend was the daughter of Will and Avery Sunderland. Avery is not happy that Abby is back in town. At first, she attempts to intimidate her to leave the town, but then she asks her to save the town in the same breath.

Earlier, I stated that the pilot episode gave away too much information. What I am referring to is the end of the episode. Abby and Holland figure out some new information and plan to go study it more at the hospital. They are hoping that it will lead to a cure. However, Holland wants to go fish out the devices in the swamp first because they are causing the sickness.

A mysterious “I know what you did last summer” man somehow knows that Holland is going to do this and shoots him in the chest two times with a shotgun then blows him up.

While watching, I thought to myself, “Oh he’s definitely the Swamp Thing”. I didn’t realize that with 4 minutes left in the episode, this theory was going to be confirmed. That took a lot of the steam out of it. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t find out, but maybe not in the first episode.

Technically, there could have already been a Swamp Thing and Holland’s character could have been a bait to throw off the viewer. I guess he still could be, but I don’t think so.

At the end of the episode, Abby boats out to the area where Holland should be and finds fire, dead swamp bodies, and moving swamp branches. Then the branches subside and the Swamp Thing reveals himself.

Here’s a question. Why did the swamp bond with Holland and not with Coyle earlier in the episode?

I hope that we find out this season.

My Theory

There are 9 episodes left before the season ends. My ultimate theory involves Will Sunderland. I think that he is the anonymous financial backer to the fishermen boats that are poisoning that swamp in Marais. He’s already been cast as the rich member of the community. And maybe he has a “V for Vendetta” because his daughter died all those years ago.

Is this series worth saving? We’ll have to see. This coming from someone who has not read the comics and is going off of the show alone. I definitely think the episode was attention grabbing.

Posted 1 Comment on Opinion: XS has the best story on The Flash season 5 Television Worth Watching

Opinion: XS has the best story on The Flash season 5

Every week I tune in to the CW Network to check in on Barry Allen and friends to keep up with the episodic events going on in the DC CW Universe.

And you know what? Season five has been a little lack luster with sparkles of magic.

Spoilers ahead.

I know you’ve heard that before, at lease the lack luster part. But, it didn’t start that way. We met Cicada in a big way. Watching him kill countless meta-humans for what seemed to be sport. Then we found out it was because he and his niece were negatively affected by the Enlightenment brought on by DeVoe. Plus, he almost killed Cisco!

Cool right? Not the killing of Cisco part, just the premise.

Somewhere in the middle of the season things became a bit confusing. Team Flash started going on a big goose chase for Cicada and honestly it felt like they were chopping wood on a never-ending tree.

Even with the help of Dr. Wells number 10. They didn’t have any real leads or ways to find him. And if I’m honest, Cicada wasn’t even the real story this whole time.

It’s been Nora Allen all along! But we knew that ever since we found out she was working with Eobard Thawne.

My question is, why was that a back story? That is the story I want to see. I don’t even care about Cicada’s niece becoming new Cicada from the future.

Dr. Wells has tried to find out what Nora’s been hiding all season and he finally put all the pieces together during the most recent episode titled “Time Bomb”.

Barry, Iris and the rest of the team stood there as Wells explained all the dirt. It was so sad to watch Barry tear up.

A father’s love … am I right?

Now episode 18 of season five will air on April 16, 2019. I really, really want to see more about Nora and why she hooked up with Thawne to begin with. It’s honestly the most compelling story all season.

Sure they have to catch Cicada, but what about Nora’s redemption? How will her parents, Barry and Iris, forgive her!

I need to know!

How about you? Are you looking forward to flushing out more of Nora’s shady story? Would you be more interested in Cicada’s niece being the main focus?

Feel free to comment in the space below.