Ace Watches Stranger Things Season 2

Happy Halloween, everybody! Sadly, this will be the last post of the year. I know, it’s awful, but we writers have been working hard, and we need a longer break than usual to recover.

I do hope you have all been enjoying yourself, because I have not. October has been a rough month for me, and my quest to find something to watch to fulfill my Halloween needs hasn’t helped much. Lord knows American Horror Story is, well… it’s something. And the original 1990 It didn’t do much for me either. It was halfway through It that I realized Stranger Things’s second season was out—excited, I forced my sister-in-law to quit It with me and watch it. And oh, thank God. Stranger Things was the pick-me-up I needed. It is so wonderful watching a story where the good outweighs the bad. I hope my love for this show hasn’t been influenced by the shit I watched before it, but Stranger Things’s second season was awesome.

(via DarkHorizons)

Spoilers ahead.

What I Hope to See in Alice Isn’t Dead Season 2

(image via nightvalepresents)

I may have mentioned before that Alice Isn’t Dead is one of my all time favorite podcasts, and it’s finally back! The second season of Alice Isn’t Dead will begin on April 4th, but until then we have been treated to three short four minute segments to build up to the Season 2 plot. Each segment introduces us to what our protagonist Keisha has been doing since the events of Season 1, and we finally meet the elusive Alice, letting us get a sense of who she is. These segments also start to allude to a new evil that might be even more dangerous than the Thistle Man.

Not Quite Pleasantly Surprised by Gotham Season 2

A couple weeks ago, when I found myself in another Batman craze, I decided, what the hell? Let’s give Gotham’s second season a watch. I had heard from other people that Season 2 was better than Season 1, but to be honest, I had no expectations going into it. After all, literally anything could be better than Season 1. Gotham’s first season felt long, drawn out, and boring—it didn’t help that it had no direction whatsoever and relied on offensive tropes with its characterizations. I am thankful to say, though, that Season 2 was much better, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I actually binge-watched the whole thing in two days and now find myself somewhat excited for a third season. That said, being enjoyable is far from being good, and Gotham still has a ways to go.

The 100 Is the New 48

Last night saw the return of The 100 for its second season. We ended the previous season with just about everything bad that could possibly go wrong, going wrong. Raven was shot, Jaha was trapped in space and running out of oxygen, members of the One Hundred have dwindled to about half, and the ones that did survive were captured by the mysterious Mountain Men. Thankfully, the new season doesn’t waste any time telling us about the fallout of these issues, and judging by the first episode, “48”, it looks as though The 100 is in for another fun season.

Spoilers after the jump!

Orphan Black: “Governed by Sound Reason and True Religion” Review

Man, I love these episode titles; this one is especially apt for Orphan Black’s second episode of the season. This time we dive a little deeper into the factions vying for control over the fate of Clone Club. We’re also treated to a few plot twists, just in case you thought you had a handle on where the show was going.

Spoilers after the jump.

Orphan Black: “Nature Under Constraint and Vexed” Review

First of all, how ’bout these episode titles? Apparently last season they were all Origin of Species quotes—appropriate, of course—and this season they’re all from the works of Sir Francis Bacon. Classy.

Anyway, I came late to the Orphan Black party (I only watched it last Christmas as opposed to when it aired), but I’ve still been feeling that special sort of pain that comes from waiting for a show you love to come off hiatus. Thankfully, as of last night, the Clone Club is back in action.

Spoilers for the Season 2 premiere after the jump!

Trailer Tuesdays: Orphan Black Season 2

It’s been an awfully long wait, but this month we finally get more of Orphan Black, as Season 2 premieres on April 19^th. We haven’t talked about the show much on this blog except to tell you that you should watch it, but with the new season rapidly approaching, expect lots of clone-related fangirling from yours truly.

Last season ended with Sarah realizing that she’d only just scratched the surface of the clone conspiracy. Between gene patents, mysterious respiratory illnesses, assassination attempts, custody battles, and eleventh-hour reveals, the stakes were higher than ever.

Hannibal: “Kaiseki” Review

When we left off last season, everything was terrible, Abigail might have been (was almost definitely) dinner, and Will had just been imprisoned for Hannibal’s murder spree. Now, finally, after a long and awful HeAteUs and weeks of increasingly upsetting promotional material, Hannibal has returned to TV. My short, spoilerless review of last night’s episode goes something like this: “Oh god I was not ready why did I think doing episode reviews of this show was a good idea where is my blankie.”

…A more coherent and far more spoiler-filled review awaits you after the jump. Also, consider this your requisite trigger warning for discussions of violence, body horror, and cannibalism. It’s Hannibal, after all—what would it be without any of those awful things?

True Blood Season 2 Part 2

Yesterday, I talked about a subplot in the second season of True Blood and bad Christian representation. That subplot was much more prominent than it probably should have been, since in some ways it distracted from the main plot of the second season, which had more stakes. The main plot could have had potential life-or-death consequences for not only our main characters, but also for the entire town of Bon Temps as a whole, whereas the subplot focused on a group of more minor characters.

The main plot for the second season involves learning about Sam’s past and a Maenad moving to Bon Temps. The Maenads are as of yet previously unmentioned immortal servants to the god Dionysus from Greek mythology. This Maenad in particular, named Maryann, has come to Bon Temps looking for Sam. She plans to sacrifice him in order to summon Dionysus so the two can be married, while all simultaneously driving the entire town insane—people start running around naked, engaging in ritualistic orgies they otherwise would want nothing to do with, and viciously hitting one another. Maryann is convinced that Sam is the person she needs to sacrifice, because, not only is he a shapeshifter, but while at her house one day he was drawn to a fertility statue she owns. Maryann also seems unnaturally obsessed with Tara, who ends up taking the brunt of all the psychological hurt.

Trailer Tuesdays: Once Upon a Time Season 2

Here we go! A sneak peak at season two of Once Upon a Time. I wrote a review of Season 1 in case any of you need to refresh on how and why this show is awesome.

So Captain Hook breaks into Mr. Gold’s shop. Hrm… I wonder how he got there since he is not a fairytale character. What are we going to have next, Colonel Mustard chillaxin’ with Boromir on the beach? Or are Tigger and Robin Hood going to steal from the rich and give to the poor together? Maybe the Count of Monte Cristo is going to team up with Captain Hook to defeat Mr. Gold.

Now I’m getting a little crazed, but my feeling is stick with the actual fairytale characters. It’s not like they are in short supply. Once Upon a Time has a good thing going already, and they don’t need to step outside of fairytales to keep it up.