AMERICA US SHERLOCK SEASON 3 DATE CONFIRMED!

 Well, I at least have something to be happy about today, despite my displeasure with last night's Supernatural...

 THE US RELEASE DATE FOR SHERLOCK SEASON THREE IS CONFIRMED! JANUARY 14TH, 2014!

 I don't know when The UK gets it, but I know it's slightly before us (but luckily it's not obscenely early like last time. Maybe it'll be easier to avert spoilers...)

 ALL MY HAPPY GIFS, NOW!

 

...That is all...

Why I'm Less Than Pleased About The Ending Of "I'm No Angel"

  Okay, so last night I was watching Supernatural. And I got to say, the ending I found to be not okay. The rest of the episode was pretty alright (though Cas having sex with a woman he'd only barely met... twice... was a little irksome, especially given his characterization...). But the ending was just... No.

 So, I'm going to explain why I don't like this. Needless to say:

 So, at the end of the episode, the now human Castiel finally gets back with The Winchesters and goes to stay in the bunker. However, Ezekiel (an angel who's currently partially possessing Sam, loooooong story), says that, no, Dean can't keep his boyfriend friend. Because, Cas (despite him getting an anti-angel tracker tattoo) is a huge beacon to the other angels, all of whom are ticked that he helped cast them down. And they would go after Ezekiel, too, seeing as he's helping him and his friends. And then Zeke would have to leave, and Sam would die without the angel healing him from inside. So Dean is forced to throw his soul mate best friend whom he shares a profound bond with out.

No. No no no! NOOOOOO!!!

  Okay, I'm ticked with this for a number of reasons. Mainly because of this: I'm tired of the writers coming up with excuses to make Cas leave. I mean, I could understand finding reasons to keep Cas from long-term stays with the boys when he was an angel. He was kind of a game breaker as an angel. Nothing can ever be easy for the leads is one of the first rules of writing. But now he's human, he's vulnerable, he's on the same level as The Winchesters (well, technically not Sam half the time, now...) (And he's actually quite valuable, still having the knowledge of an angel 24/7.) But nope, we gotta kick him to the curb!

(Not from this episode, but...) Lookit this face. Would you kick someone out if they made that face? 

  Second, like I said, Cas is human now. He doesn't fully know how to deal with being human. This whole episode kind of proved that. The face he makes when Dean tells him to go! He's like a lost puppy out there. And, again, while he still has his Angel Blade, he's still vulnerable. EVERY FREAKING ANGEL WANTS TO TRACK HIM DOWN! Seriously, I almost think it'd be better to keep Cas at The Bunker. They have more weapons, I'm sure the boys could set up some sort of "anti-angel room" or possibly find something in The Men of Letters' archives (I'm sure they have to have at least something on angels...). Maybe they can find some more holy oil for emergencies. And the boys have Angel Blades, too. Heck, Crowley (who I remind everyone is CURRENTLY LOCKED UP IN THEIR BASEMENT!) developed an anti-angel gun from an Angel Blade last season, just get how he did that from him! Seriously, I think dumping Cas out to fend for himself is possibly a worse idea. Way to look out for your brother, Zeke! Dean Winchester you ain't...

 Plus, Zeke showed in this episode that he's at least powerful enough to revive the dead, as seen with Cas shortly before. If he did have to leave because of Cas, couldn't he just say, hop into Dean a little bit (he was Michael's intended vessel, he can probably take it, and it's Sammy, he'd be willing to do it to help save his baby bro), heal Sam, and go find someone else to hold him while he recharges? Okay, that last one might be nitpicky, but still...

 I also take issue with this, because I feel the reason's... flimsier than his previous reasons. Here have been some of his reasons to leave before that:

• "I'm trying to find God..."
• "I'm fighting a civil war against Raphael in Heaven..."
• "I'm a bit insane at the moment..."
• "I need to serve penance for my actions..."
• "I need to protect The Angel Tablet from Crowley and Naomi and I don't want you guys caught in the middle..."

  I think those were better reasons. This... isn't, for the reasons I've said earlier. I know Dean would do anything for Sam, budding roman- BROMANCE! I meant bromance! - with Cas or not. But I feel like this is just wrong to do. And it's not of Cas's own will! It's just drama for the sake of drama.

 I'm hoping they at least don't drag this out needlessly long. That's one thing I can give Elementary credit for: not dragging out "Joan's secretly not his sober companion anymore" thing. And I'm pleased Agents of SHIELD didn't drag the "Skye's a mole" thing out too long either, and handled it pretty well last night. And I hope that Dean at least explains the situation to Cas, and leaves him somewhere safe, like with Garth. Heck, he can leave him with Charlie! Them interacting I'd love to see. If he just leaves him to fend for himself, I'll just... GRAHAHWJRGTAENGLJBAGFFF!!!!

Supernatural Season 2 Recap- The D-Men

 Okay, time to recap season 2! (I know this is late, season nine has already started (and is pretty good, so far.) But I want to finish these. So...

 

(Again, this is from memory like last time. If I get something wrong/forget stuff, forgive me...)

THE OVERALL STORY:

 So, when we last left The Winchester Clan, they all got hit by a truck... We pick up in the hospital. Sam is fine, and John is fine. Dean, however, is in a coma. Dean tries to stay in the realm of the living, despite a Reaper, Tessa, trying to convince him that death is fine. However, Papa Winchester has other plans. He summons Yellow Eyes, and trades both The Colt and his soul for Dean's life. He dies while Sam gets coffee, resulting in the most perfect cup drop ever. (it never tipped over!) So the boys are on their own again.

  Soon, the boys find The Roadhouse, a bar for Hunters. It's run by Ellen Harville and her daughter, Jo.  Jo wants to be a hunter like her father, and eventually takes off. They also meet Ash, a crazy awesome hunter/hacker. The boys continue hunting Yellow Eyes, facing whatever comes their way and dealing with their dad being gone. Along the way, they get in a lot more trouble with the law (leading to them getting their own sort of Javert to their Valjean, Agent Henricksen.) and face off with another, more psychotic hunter named Gordon. Sam has a brief romance with a girl named Madison, but ends in tradegy since she is a werewolf. Long story short, it ends a paranormal romance version of Old Yeller. I repeat: Every woman Sam loves dies. 

 Also, in one episode, we meet a Trickster in what is one of the funniest episodes. Sure, it's in what's essentially a breather episode for the audience, but he does prove to have more purpose as the show progresses...

  Eventually, the boys do look into and meet some more "Special Children". First there's Andy, who can make people do whatever he wants (and had a twin named Ansem, who was evil (though any Kingdom Hearts fans in my audience are not surprised)). There's also another clairvoyant named Ava, who mysteriously dissapears. At the end of the season, Sam is taken, along with the other Special Children, to a mysterious place. They're basically tossed into a Hunger Games/Battle Royale-type situation: kill each other to survive. Ava, it turns out, had been part of multiple rounds, and kills Andy. (which was a shame, seeing as I liked Ava up until then and Andy was my favorite non-Sam Special Child.) Then she's killed by Jake, a super-strong Special Child.

  Bobby and Dean track Sam down (and learn that The Roadhouse was burned down, killing numerous hunters. Especially Ash. *sniff*). But he gets killed by Jake, and ends up dying in Dean's arms.

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

 Dean, being co-dependent and putting his brother first, decides to defy the laws of mortality. He summons a Crossroad Demon and begs her to bring Sam back in exchange for his soul. She accepts, but instead of the standard "10 years until we sic the hellhounds on you", she only gives Dean a year. With Sammy alive again and Ellen turning out to be alive, The Winchesters and Co. discover that Yellow Eyes needed a Special Child to get into a Devil's Trap made of railroads, and use The Colt to unlock a gate to Hell and release more demons. They get there, but are too late to stop the Gate from opening.

  Sam kills Jake rather cold-bloodedly, and Dean gets The Colt to kill Yellow Eyes. Their dad even comes out of Hell to hold him still for Dean to shoot him. Yellow Eyes dies, the boys get a quiet moment with their dad, and their dad ascends to Heaven. Aww...

  But there ain't no rest for The Winchesters. There's still the matter of a hundred new demons flooding America, and Dean only having a year to live. So they head for their next adventure. The show almost could've stopped there (they thought it almost would), but luckily the show kept going. Unluckily, the third season wasn't quite so good. It had a big problem.

  I really liked this season. It did quite a bit of world-building, which I like. The world of the show just fascinates me. And the story was rather good. The show really improved from season one.

  Next time, I'll recap season 3. And Bela. Eeugh...
 

Editorial: Why I Don't Think Meg Not Being Used For The Third Trial Was A Waste Of Story

GAH! Long time, no type! Okay, so I finished the eighth season of Supernatural (oh, Chuck, the feels!) And I was reading TV Tropes's YMMV page. Someone brought up something interesting, but I had an argument against it...

*WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR SEASON 8 (ESPECIALLY THE LAST 7 EPISODES)*

  So in season 8, Meg returns and  is killed by Crowley, adding to the laundry list of despicable things he did that season. (*sigh* And yet I love the character. Stupid awesome Mark Sheppard character with his charming personality and voice I've recently realized is ridiculously attractive... >_<) As part of the boys' trials to close off Hell (long story), they need to "cure a demon". They ultimately go with Crowley. (Oh ho, karma, thou art a wonderful thing.) They mostly succeed, but fail to complete the trial because Dean stops it so Sam won't die. Plus there's the whole: "Angels are falling from Heaven" situation...

 Anyway, the Troper said they felt Meg was wasted in the end, and could have been used for the trial/redemption instead of Crowley. But I disagree. I think it was for the better the writers did what they did. For one reason:

  Meg was kinda already redeemed by that point.

  You see, over the last three seasons, she had expressed romantic interest in Castiel, and was working more with The Winchesters. She had kind of already swapped sides by her own vocation.Yeah, she never really expressed remorse for her more questionable actions earlier in the series, but she had gone good for the most part. Rather than being forced to do it by purified Sammy blood injections. If she had stayed alive and they used her, it would kinda have been pointless. Easier, but pointless. And if there's one thing I've learned from this show (heck, from fiction), is that writers can never have things be easy for their characters; there always has to be a struggle.

  Secondly, and this is something a friend of mine brought up (regarding the revolving door Supernatural's afterlife), is that Meg's story was kinda done by "Goodbye, Stranger". She'd had her redemption arc of sorts, and I don't think there was/is much to do with her now. She's served her purpose. Yeah, I liked her interactions/chemistry/relationship with Castiel, especially in the last episode she was in (the scene where he patches her up is so sweet). But I liked The Winchesters' relationship with Bobby, and he had to die. (And I'm kinda alright with it.) I don't think that there would have been many story options with cured!Meg that couldn't conceivably been done with her character as it already was, or do much character development she hadn't already had. (Except maybe a "yeah, sorry about the whole: "trying to kill you multiple times, helping my father, kidnapping your dad, possessing Sam, helping Lucifer, etc. My bad, guys. I was TOTALLY in the wrong on that one...")

 Now, Crowley, on the other hand, I think has more story options with a possible redemption arc. Like I said, he did a lot of despicable things, especially in Season Gr8. Seeing him dealing with guilt from that and seeking forgiveness from the boys could be interesting. Plus, since the ritual wasn't completed, will Crowley regress from "I deserve to be loved!" back to opposing our heroes? (I don't think that would've been an option with Meg.) Will he become a perment ally to the boys rather than one of convienence (especially with Abaddon running around)? And if he'd still maintain the personality the fans liked about him in the first place? If handled correctly, (and without too much "Draco In Leather Pants"-ing) I see a lot more ways a Cured!Crowley arc can go than a Cured!Meg one.

 So anyway, those are my two bits. Yeah, it stinks Meg died, killing a link to the beginning and yet another female character. But I don't think it was entirely a waste. She was a good character by the end, but it was her time to go. She'd had her arc, her redemption, already. Now, it's Crowley's turn to have an arc.

(Besides, the stuff where Crowley finds his humanity is entertaining as heck. And Mark Sheppard freaking SANG! Missing that would've been a waste... ;P)