"Under the Lake" and "Before the Flood"

I haven't been so happy with a Doctor Who episode in quite awhile. Maybe it's because my emotional state has been all over the place and I was just in the mood to really love something today, or maybe it's that I went back and watched some Matt Smith episodes and that sated my Eleven cravings and gave me new appreciation for Twelve at the same time, or maybe it was something awesome about the actual episodes that I will reference in a minute,  but anyhow, I adored the 9.3 and 9.4 two parter story.

We are late on the scene with this one because I've had a rough couple of weeks and wasn't up to handling anything spooky until today. Which turned out to be a great decision because we got to watch the whole story without a break, which was really cool.

Prepare yourself for lots of ALL CAPS.

AND SPOILERS

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

If you know me, you probably have already guessed my favorite part of the episode.

GUYS. GUYS. GUYS. THERE WAS A DEAF CHARACTER!!!!!!!!!! AND SHE WAS AWESOME AND HER DISABILITY WAS TOTALLY ESSENTIAL TO SAVING THE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The moment the ghosts appeared and were inaudible, I knew that her deafness was going to be the key to communicating with them. For the record, I tried to lipread them myself, but there were no clips long enough and clear enough to make it out until Cass interpreted. Pretty sure they did this intentionally so no lipreading viewers would figure stuff out faster than any of the characters.

It's really hard to put a disabled character into a story. It is especially difficult to put them into action stories, because how do you make them team members and not the weak link? It takes a skilled storyteller who really understands the disability to do what Toby Whithouse has done here and make that disability a vital part of the story. Yes, Cass has vulnerabilities because of her lack of hearing, but she has learned how to compensate. The scene where she can't hear the ghost, but feels the vibrations was AWESOME. AND she even got a love story!!!

My signing skills are pretty basic; I use hearing aids and extensive lipreading to communicate. However, when watching ASL I can still pick some stuff up. This is the second time I've seen non-ASL signing used (Call the Midwife did a deaf storyline last year) and it was more jarring this time not to recognize any of the signs, even when I normally would. BUT it is cool to be reminded that the deaf and hard-of-hearing in every culture around the world have developed their own language, just as their hearing counterparts have. Anyhow, my main point here is that I didn't have any extra "insight" here, because the sign language was just as foreign to me as to most of you! (I'm sure the deaf over in the UK had a blast, though!)

ANYHOW. The other major geek out moment was when MARTHA was mentioned by name. We've heard other companions referenced before, but to the best of my memory, this is the first time anyone in Steven Moffat's reign has referred to Martha by name. As you may know, she is my favorite New Who companion and I had to stop the show and explain to my husband why I was freaking out.

So often the "trapped on a station with a group of new actors" DW episodes can be the weak ones. Sometimes, like "Silence in the Library" they are awesome, but a lot of times they can be a little overwhelming with characters and underwhelming with plot. This one did a good job of setting up the distinct characters, and pulling some really cool timey-wimey stuff. I also have to say, I am really digging the rock god vibe Capaldi's Doctor is incarnating. It works tremendously well. I said to Nathan, "They put the young actors in suits, and the old actors in rock clothing, and that's what makes them the DOCTOR."

Guys. I'm excited about Doctor Who again. I loved this episode, it made me so happy the whole time. I can't wait to watch the next episode when it gets online in the US tomorrow.

"Once Upon a Time" in Season 5

OH BOY.

My favorite show is back and it is just as awesome as ever!!!

Let's get that SPOILER WARNING up fast!

First of all, I'd like to point out that the very first shot, Minneapolis 1989, freaked me out because that's when and where I was born. In fact, since I was born at 9:00 at night, I’m just gonna pretend it was the night I was born. Ignore me... 

*cough* Anyhow. Young Emma looks so much like old Emma, it's great. And sudden Merlin appearance! Sudden prophecy!

Then Arthur pulls up Excalibur, which has a really familiar design on the broken off end... the Dark One's dagger was formed from Excalibur? (Let's not quibble over the fact that Excalibur came from the Lady in the Lake, NOT the stone. It's still working out cool.)

Getting down to business, Emma's been carried off to the Enchanted Forest where Rumple prances around as a bit of her imagination, as sort of an evil Obi Wan "mentoring" her into following the dark side. She runs into Merida, who is exactly like Merida from the film, only older. While cool to see Merida in the flesh, OUAT is disappointing us by continuing to translate modern princesses word-for-word instead of reinterpreting them as they did all the old ones. (Yeah, it's to keep the little girls interested and selling merchandise, right?) Cue struggle - to kill Merida and steal the wisp or not?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Hook is running around following his heart, while Regina follows her head. Shennigans ensue, Zelena escapes, Regina saves the day, and then in a super epic scene everyone crams into Granny's and in whipped off in an actual Tornado to Oz the Enchanted Forest (although it really was almost Oz). And by "everyone" it really is everyone, down to baby Neal, Roland, three dwarves, and Granny. They even took Zelena, with Robin now refusing to budge from her side in case Hook manages to let her escape again.

I was a little thrown that they took the kids, but I guess if I were jumping between realms, I wouldn't want to risk another 28-year-separation from my newborn.

The gang arrives just in time to convince Emma not to squash Merida's heart, Emma trusts Regina with her failsafe dagger,  and then Arthur conveniently shows up (yay for prophecies, who needs cellphones?) and leads them off to Camelot.

Then quicker than you can say "We lost our memories AGAIN?" (and Snow does) everyone finds themselves waking up back in Storybrooke 6 weeks later, wearing awesome clothes (that I will review on the sewing blog next week) and no idea of what's happened.

Cue Darth Vader's Emma's entrance with an ominous "You failed" and a stone dwarf to punctuate the horror on everyone's face.

Like I said. OH BOY. This season is gonna be good.

Doctor Who Season 9 Begins

I haven't written much about Doctor Who lately, and that's because of the season 8 finale. I just really didn't like it. Plus, the season as a whole was weak (although it had some really strong episodes). This is typical - each Doctor's first season is always weaker when compared to his later ones, as actor and writers struggle to really discover who the new Doctor is. So I came into season 9 without enthusiasm, but not without hope.

(Yeah, the Christmas episode was good enough to warrant a review, but not to get me excited about Season 9)

Of course, the nice thing about having low expectations is that it is pretty easy to exceed them. That said, the season 9 opener stands as an above average story by DW standards, and Capaldi proves that he has really come into his own.

SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

Considering that I really did not like Missy at all in Season 8, I was surprised to find myself quite enjoying her presence in these episodes. Genuinely funny, and much more enjoyable to watch as a companionish character rather than an antagonist.

The plot with Davros was fascinating, and ended up going in quite a different direction than I expected. That said, my single biggest complaint with the story is that they never addressed the fact that the last time we saw Davros on screen, he quite definitely died.

Yeah, he could have been teleported away or something at the last minute... but it would have been nice to at least see this addressed. DW fans have had to come to accept unanswered questions in Moffat's reign, but this particular storyline really rubbed in our faces "This is DW, we do what we want and don't explain" with both the Doctor and Missy actually saying paraphrases of this. This just seems kind of mean to the fans, who are just doing what the Doctor himself does and seeking answers to weird things.

Complaints aside, I loved loved loved Capaldi's entrance on a tank wearing sunglasses playing an electric guitar. It was so reminiscent of Ten and yet helped illuminate who Twelve is as well. I also thought Clara was handled really nicely, and it was definitely creepy/cool to see her back inside of a Dalek.

Indeed, bringing Clara's story full circle now, in what is due to be her last season, makes me wonder if the Clara/Dalek connection will re-emerge again in the finale, and tie into her departure from the show. It certainly seems to be foreshadowed at this point.

Not to mention the fact that both episode titles seem to be referring to Clara - or at least, that is the best explanation I can come up with, if one reads "Magician" as "Doctor" and "Witch" as "Missy." Any other interpretations for "The Magician's Apprentice" and "The Witch's Familiar"?

Snake henchman was creepy, but utilized really really well. Invisible Skaro was a beautiful scene, and "Your sewers are revolting!" was HILARIOUS.

All in all, it was a not-perfect-but-still-solid opener and I look forwards to seeing what the rest of the season brings - and that's a better reaction than I was anticipating, so count me happy.

The Real Amy Farrah Fowler

I've spent a lot of time in the past eight weeks reading web articles on my phone. So. Much. Buzzfeed.

Anyhow, a friend on facebook linked to an article on Kveller.com, which is a Jewish parenting site, and even though I'm not Jewish or a parent, I've still found the website fascinating to browse through. Ironically, it was only after I'd decided to regularly read the site that I realized it is also the blog home of Mayim Bialik, (Amy Farrah Fowler on CBS's Big Bang Theory.)

I already knew, of course, that Mayim is an unusual Hollywood player, in being both an observant Jew (Amy wears skirts on BBT because Mayim follows Jewish modesty/tznuit) and the holder of a Ph.D in Neuroscience. I didn't realize that she is an articulate and prolific writer as well, nor that she is a very outspoken proponent of breastfeeding.

I might not personally agree with everything she writes, but I certainly find it all very fascinating, particularly how she balances the demands of her job and her faith. (Gotta love the many posts she's written on finding appropriate award ceremony dresses!)

Anyhow, I'm looking forwards to seeing what is in store for her character on the show this season - the spring finale ended with such a major twist!!!!

Because you might want an update

Wow. Five weeks of ill-health and still no improvement? This is a record even for me. Seriously. In the past at least either a) I could draw and binge watch Netflix or b) there was recognizeable progress every week. Not to mention I could recieve visitors - these days seeing anyone other than Nathan tires me out really quickly, so other than my doctor, I have only seen non-family members three times this month.

With this... there isn't much new to share. My health crisis continues, and while not life-threatening in any way, it certainly is almost completely debilitating - my mother and mother-in-law have been coming over to cook and clean just to give my husband a break. My pain and fatigue is just so overwhelming that I count it as a good day if I can actually cook even half a meal. I just can't be out of bed for very long. Even holding a book or scrolling on my phone is too painful sometimes. Right now I'm sitting up to write this post, but I'm not going to last very long. These days I don't leave the house except to go to the doctor.

To reassure you... We are working aggressively at getting me better, and the good news is that this extended period of awfulness isn't unexpected or even worrying - it's actually kind of a good sign. I'm not comfortable talking about the details publicly (although I will confirm that I am not pregnant), but I do want to reassure everyone that a) I'm not dying and b) my body is making progress, it's just that 'progress' is going to feel more painful for awhile before it actually gets better. In fact, we are very very hopeful that on the other side of this we'll find my health in a much better place than it has been for years. It's an awful fight right now, but one that should hopefully be very rewarding.

I've basically said all of this before. It really is just staying the same. Everything in my head is pretty bleak right now, so sharing anything other than facts just really isn't happening. Part of me wants to share more of the emotional stuff, but I find myself not comfortable with releasing all those thoughts publicly... which, if you know me, is saying something pretty extreme right there (I'm a fairly open person).

I'm not writing a single word of this post because I feel I need pity. I have been surrounded by tons and tons of caring people (even if I don't have the energy to see most of them or even respond to their texts). I'm overwhelmed by the prayers.

Pineapple

Being so sick has been taking a real emotional toll. So the energy I have for TV watching (I'm actually in so much pain that I can't sit and watch very much TV) goes into watching a goofy, witty comedy that fills me with laughter rather than depression or suspense.

Psych just makes us happy.

Health Report

Because you are possibly wondering... we are making progress in figuring out what is going on with my health (day 20 here), and while overall I'm making progress, it's one of those cases of getting worse before getting better. I may just plain feel this crappy for the next month as my body sorts things out. (too complicated to really explain). So just know that I am doing my best to meet commitments and respond to messages, but my range of energy from day to day is pretty small, even on the best days.

My biggest priority right now is my health, followed by meeting my work deadlines (and we are planning that I wont' take on any further costume commissions for awhile after I get the current batch done. The towels are easier to manage, but the big costume ensembles are just too overwhelming.)