What I saw: Atlanta

I took a trip out of town this weekend, and I was listening to a TV podcast called Talking TV with Ryan and Ryan that was posted right after the election. They talked about why they talk about TV so much, and they had some similarities to why I decided to write this blog of mine. They felt TV shows can be influential, but also as fiction they can present issues that are happening today without being constrained to the people and situations of real life. They can also take things a step further to show what could happen instead of just facts which the news (should) limit their reporting to. You can check it out because I felt they were able to articulate the good and bad of TV through conversation. The episode is an hour long, so just a heads up on that (they even admit several times throughout that they ramble for a time).

What I watched:

Atlanta S1.E1&2 “The Big Bang" and "Streets on Lock"

What I saw:

The first episode definitely laid a lot of groundwork in the 30 minute comedy time slot. While this show is funny and has comedic moments all throughout, it definitely has the weight of a drama. The main character, Earn, is a Princeton drop-out who grew up and currently lives in Atlanta. His cousin Alfred aka “Paper Boi” is an up-and-coming rap star, and Earn decides to ditch his federal minimum wage job to manage his cousin and get him noticed. It seems selfish, and Alfred definitely is suspicious at first, but the reality is Earn just wants to make enough money to provide for his newborn daughter and ex(?)-girlfriend who he lives with.

The first episode Alfred put it succinctly: it’s all about being a man. Alfred tells Earn needs someone who can put the “man” in manager. And in fact, Earn has been emasculated all throughout the episode; an old lady outperforms him at work, he doesn’t have rent money to give to his family and lives with/off of his ex-girlfriend, his ex is going out on a date with another man while he is supposed to watch the baby, and a white douchey radio DJ uses the N-word right in front of him because he thinks he can get away with it. While Earn isn’t physically tough, he is smart, and he manages to gain a small victory by bypassing the douchey white DJ and gets his cousin’s song on the radio. On the other hand, his cousin Alfred “mans up” when someone broke off his mirror for hollering at a girl and it ends up in a shooting. In the second episode, we actually see Alfred is more torn up over the shooting than what he lets on. Overall, the lesson is there is no clear “manly” way of being; there are actions, and consequences, with manliness being having enough confidence to pull it off.

The second episode is all about the consequences, and getting a snapshot of what our justice system looks like. Alfred and Earn got arrested, but there was no evidence for the shooting so they got held for having possession of marijuana. Alfred gets let out first, but Earn has to wait until he gets put in the system to post bail. Before Alfred even leaves the jail, he can tell that his world has changed: from both the shooting and his music. People treat him differently because he is a "hardcore" rapper and becoming famous from the song that was put on the radio. People want to take pictures with him at every corner. But, he is still reeling from shooting someone, and when he sees kids playing with a toy gun saying they are acting like Paper Boi, he tries to tell them that shooting isn’t a good thing. However, his fame gets in the way and the mom of the child pushes the lesson aside and snaps some pictures of the now famous Paper Boi. Alfred is learning that his fame is going to make it harder to tell who really likes him or who just likes his fame, making him feel alone. The price of fame is looming.

With Earn trapped in jail we as viewers get a view of who the “criminals” the police are protecting us from. Now don’t get me wrong, the police do protect the public, and unless everyone wants to be a vigilante, they are much needed.

With that being said, Earn talks to some of the people in the jail. In one case, he is just stuck in the middle while one guy is talking to his ex, who is dressed as a woman but is really a man (unclear whether transvestite or transgender, so I will leave it as trans; I do not mean to offend!). The guy was convinced the trans was a biological woman and when the crowd points out he was dating a man, he gets defensive. I like how Earn pointed out that sexuality is a spectrum, and that there is no wrong way to be in a relationship, but the guy was too embarrassed to listen.

The truth is sexuality is more like a spectrum, with any combination within the spectrum is capable of existing; like mixing colors to make a new one. You can have someone born a man, who changes into a woman, who likes women. Does that mean the person was “straight” while in the man’s body since the person liked women? No, because the person may have biologically been a man but always identified as a woman, but there is no clear word for it. There are just too many ways of living to be able to name them easily, but that doesn’t make anything within the spectrum less valid; just unique!

Another man was arrested for public intoxication, which really was just drinking a beer on the front porch with his friend. That could be some subtle racism since the man was black, because who thinks a whit person would be arrested doing the same thing in the suburbs? Then there is a mentally ill man who is walking around in a hospital gown and drinking water from the toilet. The mentally ill man is there every week, and Earn points out he needs help, not jail, but is ignored. The man is treated as a court jester, with everyone laughing at his erratic behavior until he spits on one of the officers. The officer then begins to beat the mentally ill man. Jail, it turns out, is a land for the forgotten and the unnoticed.

Like I said, while there are comedic moments, there’s so much more depth going on that it feels more like a drama. I am very interested to see what else the show shines a light on throughout the season. I also like how the storytelling is so natural, there isn’t some obvious plot device that forces the characters into these situations. It all just happens; at least it feels like that so far. What other show do you guys know that has a natural progression? Let me know in the comments!

What I saw: Dramaworld

For this post I decided to bring up a guilty pleasure of mine: K-Drama. Korean dramas have grown pretty popular, and I came across them randomly when I used the TV antenna and picked up a Korean language station, which showed a drama show with English subtitles. At first I thought they were interesting, but then once I figured out the formula, it got kind of boring (with the exception of City Hunter, which had one of the best endings for English or Korean dramas). Which brings me to the show for this post! This is a mini series that highlights all the rigid structures in K-Dramas, which is much more entertaining than it sounds.

What I watched:

Dramaworld Season 1

What I saw:

K-Dramas vary in different themes, and can have a ton of twists and turns; but ultimately they all have the same structure. Poor girl likes a nice rich guy who is seemingly out of her league. Then coincidence causes a rich jerk who acts like he doesn't care enter her life, and he ends up falling in love with her and lavishes her with gifts. Poor girl, due to modest living all poor people have, rejects rich jerk at first. But then she ends up falling in love with the rich jerk leaving the nice rich guy, who by now has also fallen in love with her, by the wayside. Oh, and the rich jerk has a rich "bitchy side character" who is throwing herself at the rich jerk the whole time but he constantly rejects. Now anything can happen in between all of that. There's hit and runs, other side characters could be killed, people get put on trial for murder, literally anything can happen. But, one thing for certain is that all the elements I just mentioned remain the same.

Dramaworld takes all of those tropes, and turns it on it's head. The main character, Claire, is a huge K-Drama fan because it is crazy yet predictable world. It's a world where there are rules and everything happens for a reason, unlike the real world where her mother has recently died from illness, leaving only her and her dad. However, all she does is watch K-Drama, and her life is at a standstill. Then, while cleaning up he dad's deli shop, she magically gets pulled into the show she is watching, where she learns there's a whole world where K-Drama shows play out. This world is called (you guessed it), Dramaworld. There, a man named Seth explains the two of them are facilitators, people chosen to create all the coincidences that bring the leading man and lady into a happy ending. All the far-fetched coincidences that happen on the show are deliberate, which become funny to watch someone like Claire take on the challenge of facilitating.

There's a book of rules and laws of Dramaworld, which basically is a list of all the funny tropes of K-Dramas; such as a leading man can never let a girl fall and hit the ground, drunken girls are given piggybacks without question, and if you save someone's life they instantly fall in love with the rescuer. It is entertaining to see all of those things get listed and played out at random throughout the show (while the quality of the audio and music aren't the greatest, it runs through some of the tropes they play off of).

Claire ends up messing up and goes from creating events in the background to being a strong presence on the drama she is watching/facilitating. She goes from not "being a main character in her own life" to taking charge and figuring out what's really going on in the show. Side characters end up playing a larger role in this show, which I thought was interesting since it broke the mold of traditional K-Drama. The message is even if we feel like there is nothing going on for us in life, all you have to do is take charge and make decisions, which will cause change in one way or another. We have the power to break the mold of our lives, if we choose to.

The show has really good storytelling elements, and the episodes run at about 10-15 minutes so you can binge watch them all on Viki or Netflix in a couple of hours. It's definitely geared to fans of K-Dramas, so if you haven't seen at least a few real dramas then you probably won't get some references or cameos of actual K-Drama stars. That being said, I showed it to my mother who has never watched a K-Drama and she still really enjoyed it for its own story (although it probably helped that she used to watch telenovelas, which are just Mexican Dramas). If you have a couple of hours to kill, I recommend giving it a try.

Are there any K-Drama fans out there? And if so, what are some of your favorite ones? Let me know in the comments!

What I saw: The Good Place Season 1 Finale

Trying to stay more loyal to the blog writing, and I really should get back into the creative writing mode. I've also been kicking around a fanfic idea for Sons of Anarchy, but we'll see if I have enough focus for all of that. I am getting close to beating a game called Broken Age, so another XP post should be coming soon for my thoughts on it. Other than that, the only thing going on over here in Cali is a bunch of rain. But of course, rain makes good weather for watching TV! Big spoiler in this post, so if you have not watched the finale yet, do it now.

What I watched:

The Good Place S1.E11-12 "What's my motivation," "Mindy St. Claire" and "Michael's Gambit"

What I saw:

The show returns from break with Fake Eleanor's judgment near at hand from the infamous Shawn. The gang comes up with a plan to show how much Fake Eleanor has improved by restarting her point counter for everything she does in the Good Place. This way she can prove she is morally good enough to stay. She throws a party to make up for ruining Tahani's first party with the giant frogs and raining garbage. However despite her efforts, she realizes her points aren't going up because her motivation for being good and nice to everyone is a selfish one: she wants to stay in the Good Place. Only when she decides to accept her fate and leave do all those points kick in.

This brings up an interesting moral question that many philosophers have struggled with as well. If you do a good thing for selfish or even bad reasons, is it still a good thing? The opposite question has also driven philosophers crazy, meaning if you do a bad thing for good reasons, is it still bad? This show is stating that yes, a person's motivations absolutely have everything to do with the moral value of their actions.

I myself, however, find that to be less certain. You basically have to accept an absolute moral framework to make that kind of conclusion. What I mean by absolute is that it applies to everyone all the time everywhere. This is actually very difficult to do, because once you start to think about all the exceptions (like stealing an apple so you won't starve, giving millions to a charity for a tax write off, giving up a family of Jewish people you were hiding over to Nazis so your own family lives), the black and white lines of morality starts to get smudged in gray.

Since I obviously lean towards the school of existentialism, I will explain briefly that philosophy's take on motivation. Once again referencing Simone de Beauvoir's Ethics of Ambiguity (I swear I've read more existentialist books and essays, it's just that book mostly talks ethics while others focus more on meaning and absurdity of life), it doesn't really matter what our motivations are, only the actions we take do. Take the example I gave of the millions into charity for a tax write off. The motivation is selfish but the result is charities have a sudden increase of money to spend helping others.

Now what de Beauvoir noted was that if motivation was all that mattered, then you could always justify your actions by saying the ends justify the means. However, that can quickly lead to some super villain type of actions. Say the goal was to end world hunger, but instead of redistributing food, or teach sustainable farming, someone instead just picks a billion people to slaughter and reduce the demand for food. Problem solved right! Now obviously that is a morally wrong thing to do, but the motivation was to end world hunger so whatever. What de Beauvoir then concludes is that the actions we take to achieve our goals (the means) has to match on a moral level what we want to achieve (the ends). Because the road we take to get to our destination is essentially part of the journey. The means and the ends are connected.

Alright, moving on to the next episode! Fake Eleanor, Jason, and Janet take off to a "medium" place that was built for a woman who was a real asshole for most of her life, but right before she died she had made plans to set up a really great non-profit. Her sister found the plans and then used the inheritance to make it a reality.


Once again, motivation played a huge part because she had every intention of doing it but she never got a chance to. The Good and Bad Places came up with a compromise to give her things she likes but added a twist of something she doesn't like (infinite supply of her favorite beer but it is always warm). Meanwhile Shawn makes his completely unbiased ruling and communicates through Janet that if Fake Eleanor and Jason don't return he will make Chidi and Tahani go to the Bad Place.

I already covered the whole thing about motivation, but the great thing about this episode is how I think it showed the character development that Fake Eleanor has gone through. She knew without any doubt that letting her friends go in their stead was morally wrong. We also got to see just how she ended up as bad as she was in life, or rather, how she stopped herself from getting worse. Her parents were selfish and looking out for themselves, neglecting her. She learned that the only fair thing was to look out for herself and not rely on anyone because she had no one she could rely on. But since she became actual friends with Chidi and Tahani, and had to rely on them, she knew what she had to do. And of course, Janet hilariously learned the same lesson and set a "ride or die" protocol for her husband Jason.

Finally we get to the conclusion of the first season. Fake Eleanor and Jason go back to turn themselves in, but they showed up just seconds too late. Shawn then says he doesn't care which two people go to the Bad Place, and gives them half an hour to pick who will go. Somehow, all of them (except for Jason, who spends the whole time making out with Janet) want to throw themselves on the sword for different reasons.






Real Eleanor volunteers to go for one of them, saying that since she already knows what it's like and since Chidi doesn't love her then she should go. Chidi wants to do what he thinks is right and keep Real Eleanor company in the Bad Place. Tahani then wants to take Real Eleanor's Place because she doesn't have a soulmate since Jason took that spot, and wants to try to be with Chidi. And of course Fake Eleanor was supposed to go there to begin with so she feels responsible and wants to save her friends.

They all get caught up in their own sense of morality, which I think demonstrates that morality is much more subjective than what the architects of the Good Place presented with in the beginning. Each person has their own moral view, and want to go sacrifice themselves in order to fulfill it. However, that all gets thrown under the bus when (spoiler alert again) Fake Eleanor figures out they are already in the Bad Place.

It turns out ever since they woke up in the "Good" Place they have all been hit with something that has made their stay miserable. Fake Eleanor had to live in constant fear of being caught. Chidi had to repeatedly make morally difficulty choices when even regular choices were difficult for him. Even in the beginning, Chidi had said to Fake Eleanor when he discovered her secret "I'm in paradise and I have a stomachache!" Tahani found out she was second to last in the rankings which shattered her already fragile ego from living in her sister's shadow. And Jason, well, he was too busy making out with Janet to join in on that conversation. To keep the ball rolling, Michael decided to reset everything and try and see if they can get them to make themselves miserable even longer.

As far as storytelling goes, I think they did a really good job in setting up the twist. Over the whole season they not only showed what Fake Eleanor's life was like, but Chidi, Tahani, and Jason's life too. We saw for ourselves what flawed lives they lived, and them being in the Bad Place didn't feel like it came out of nowhere. Chidi's indecisiveness and moral dilemmas caused misery for everyone around him. Tahani did good charity works, but all so she can get out of her sister's shadow (and again, the show set up that motivation is important). And of course Fake Eleanor and Jason are both selfish and didn't do anything to help other people. Overall, a really good and believable twist.

I can't wait to see what they have in store for the second season. I think from here on it will probably focus more on story rather than moral elements, but they'll still sneak some in there. What did you guys think of the twist in the finale? Did you guys see it from a mile away or were you surprised? Let me know in the comments.

What I saw: Black-ish

At long last keeping up some momentum with those blog posts. Despite the sleep deprivation I'm experiencing this week, I figured one good way to help me stay awake is to type away about the awesomeness of TV shows. I've put Atlanta on my list of things to watch, so hopefully I'll get around to that soon. Westworld was recommended to me by someone as a must see show, so I'll get around to that after Atlanta. As always if you have any other must-see shows new or old, just leave a comment.

What I watched:

Black-ish S3.E11&12 "Their Eyes Were Watching Screens" and "Lemons"

What I saw:

Episode 11 was a more run of the mill episode focusing on technology. Drew and Bo become concerned at what content the children are viewing on their devices when Bo walks in on Diane looking up porn because she was curious about what sex was. They then spy on all their kids to see what they are doing online, and even try to install a blocker to keep them from accessing inappropriate content, but backfires when things like news sites and online homework gets blocked.

The episode did a good job of showing the parallels of how their parents viewed change in technology, when Ruby mentions she hated the TV with channels like MTV showing rap videos with girls butts being so easily accessible. Ruby, in an uncharacteristically wise monologue, explains that when a generation grows up with a certain technology they view it as more harmless compared to the generation before that does not fully understand it. The only thing parents can do is instill a sense of morality and hope it translates into the newer technology. The kids did a good job of explaining how they use it in their social circumstances.

Zoey was taking selfies in her swimsuit in order to show she still has confidence in herself after some boy tried to put her down. Junior wasn't watching beheadings because he was a sadist, he was watching the news about human rights violations. Information has become easier and easier to send/receive with each generation, and with it comes new social standards. Adults may know how to use the technology, but it is the younger generation that sets new standards of etiquette.

However, the most impactful episode of not only the two I watched, but of the season so far, is "Lemons."
This episode covered the national reaction to the election of Donald Trump. Everyone at Dre's office is still reeling from Trump being elected president, while Dre is trying to focus everyone on the presentation that is due. The school for Junior and Zoey are hosting a rally, where Junior has been asked to read Martin Luther King Jr. iconic "I have a dream" speech. Bo, fearing Zoey is apathetic since she is not jumping to join a cause, tries to get her daughter involved besides simply making some lemonade for her and her friends to drink.

Dre, Junior, and Zoey become the focus of the episodes with other characters guiding the conversation.

Dre's storyline follows the discussion many adults were having about the election, wondering just how exactly did a man like Trump win an election to become the most powerful person in the world, and they start throwing blame around to all kind she of ethnic and political groups. I like how they included a Trump supporter as Lucy, rather than their boss who is clearly rich and somewhat racist. It had more of an impact having a woman be a supporter who doesn't not fit the stereotypical mold most people have of a Trump supporter. She defended that she was anti-establishment, and Trump was definitely that.

The seemingly endless debate didn't not come to an end until their boss accuses Dre of being unamerican since he wants to focus on work, and he drops an amazing speech about how him and many other black communities always vote despite the fact that they know nothing will really change for them no matter who is the president.

The speech definitely touched on the fact that despite what many educated middle class people think they know, there is a whole other America that is continually passed over not only in each election, but in society in general. The socially disenfranchised are left to fend for themselves and develop their communities on their own.

Junior was led to a journey of discovering how black history, the history of many other communities of color, and progressives, gets systemically whitewashed and played down in the school system. Pops has Junior read the full "Dream" speech, and he realizes it was a call to action, not just a call for equality. Pops also mentions the national anthem, the full version anyways, mentions slaves being killed. Junior is now informed of how the system chooses what it wants its citizens at large to know, and he risks falling into militancy. Pops tells him he doesn't have to go full blown revolutionary, but instead just choose to no longer live in ignorance of what the world is really like and to think about what parts of the story that may be left out.

Speaking of history that is often left out, there is a really good book that covers the progressive and grassroots struggles (and victories!) of American history. It is called A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. It is very dense, with each page filled with so much information on the different movements that occurred. It also put a light that certain major events like the revolutionary war were not completely unified or inevitable; many just wanted to live in peace and use diplomacy to resolve the issue. One of the other things I noticed when reading that book is how everything was cyclical. Progressives would gain ground in making changes through grassroots movement, and then there was an attack on the changes made to push things back. The history of progress is two steps forward one step back; much like how people view Trump becoming elected.

The last arch to get wrapped up was between Zoey and Bo. With the pressure from her mother reaching a boiling point, Zoey finally elaborates on why she is choosing to make lemonade for the rally rather than a more active approach. Zoey says that she is upset about the election as well, but unsure of what the right response should be she then just decides to make lemonade as an offering of peace and to help calm people's nerves. Because in the end it is the everyday small gestures that really make a big difference in people's lives.

What I Saw: The Good Place

I almost got to writing about The Good Place before it came back from break, but I will write about the episodes leading up to the mid-season break. Like I said, I will be making a post about Black-ish probably (hopefully) by tomorrow. I have also started a J-Drama that my friend recommended to me a loooong time ago that I'm barely getting to, but I might start writing about that one too. One other good show that I probably won't blog about since the moral of the stories are point blank (it's a kid's cartoon show but has good humor for adults) is Gravity Falls. It's on Hulu commercial free, so check it out if you want some decent laughs and good stories in each episode.

What I Watched:

The Good Place S1.E8-10: "Most Improved Player," "...Someone Like Me as a Member," and "Chidi's Choice"

What I Saw:

The title of "Most Improved Player" certainly sets the tone for what the message is for the episode. Eleanor has come clean about their being a mistake about her being in the Good Place, not knowing what the consequences will be. While Tahani is angry at betrayal, the rest of the group wraps around Eleanor to plead her case. Because despite her "medium/Cincinnati" nature, she has learned a lot since being in the Good Place, and feels like she could earn her right to stay if she keeps trying. Which brings up the question the show has been presenting all along: What makes a good person? Is it possible to have an infallible algorithm created by some unknown deity make that determination? If given enough time, is everyone capable of becoming good person?

The quest for those answers continues when they realize "Real" Eleanor was actually in the Bad Place in "Fake" Eleanor's stead. We then get a glimpse of what some of the people from the Bad Place are like, when they arrive to do their prisoner exchange. Michael bends over backward with niceness, letting the Bad People take advantage and do whatever they want in Tahani's house. Tahani helps Michael to see that being a good person does not mean you cannot set boundaries and demand respect from others. If anything, ensuring you and others are respected is essential to being a good person.

Simone de Beauvoir discussed in her book The Ethics of Ambiguity that denying someone their "freedom" to oppress others is not oppression, and that behavior should actually be denied at every encounter. Because if my freedom comes at the cost of denying someone else's freedom, then it is not real. We are all innately free. By limiting my consciousness to say that I need to oppress someone else for my benefit leaves me trapped in my own excuses, thus preventing me from coming to the realization that I am already free.

Meanwhile, Fake Eleanor and Chidi get a chance to see what Real Eleanor is like, and Fake Eleanor does some comparisons with some funny results.



Fake Eleanor tries to use her hardships to explain why she did not come out to be a perfectly good person, while Real Eleanor faced even more challenges and still rose above it all. This suggests that while the challenges we face in life does play some role in who we are, ultimately it is how we choose to face those challenges that determines how good of a person we are. Eleanor then decides that she has no more excuses and is about to give herself up to the Bad Place when Michael convinces her to fight to stay, since she is no longer the same person when she first arrived. Her current choices have been leading her to the side of good.

And of course the episode right before the break is all about choices. Real Eleanor is helping Fake Eleanor get her case together for Shawn as to why she should be allowed to stay, when Real Eleanor helps Fake Eleanor realize she may have feelings for Chidi. Tahani, upon discovering Jason is not really her soulmate Jian-yu, also notices the connection she was starting to build with Chidi. Both declare their love (well Tahani declares Chidi's love for her due to her ego) leaving him with having to make a decision, which he has struggled with his whole life.

While Fake Eleanor had been making decisions without considering the consequences, Chidi wracked his brain over the moral ramifications of every choice. When trying to pick players for a pick-up soccer game in elementary school, he is trying to avoid favoritism (picking a friend), sexism (picking a girl as a token or picking a boy because it may look bad), and other such moral dilemmas. His indecisiveness even indirectly leads to his own demise.

The show is demonstrating that while it is important to think about moral ramifications of an option, you are never going to come up with a decision that is 100% morally correct. If you wait for one, you will never decide on anything and miss out on your own life. All we humans can do is make the best out of the infinitely bad options the world presents us with.

Take for example social consumerism. This is when a person, like Chidi, weighs the options of what it is they are purchasing by how much moral value was considered when making the product. Like a pair of shoes made from recycled/sustainable materials, paying the worker who crafted it a living wage, etc. Many believe having the majority of their purchases which consider those variables will be an incentive for manufacturers to make more socially conscious products, leading to better sustainable world. However, there are several limitations to such a lifestyle, as no matter what product you select, there will always be some kind of moral pricetag attached to it (most have to be ordered on the internet, which requires shipping using fossil fuels). Because while they may pay the worker a livable wage for the region, compared to American standard of living it is nowhere close. Just living in America has a huge moral cost attached to it for several complicated reasons. Now that's not to say you should ignore the moral pricetag entirely, but it takes more than choosing a socially conscious product to be considered a good person, and many people just tend to stop there.

Alright, enough of my tangent on social consumers. I like where the show is going, and hope they manage to keep some of these moral questions going for at least a couple more seasons. I'm hoping hilarious scenes like when the characters kill Janet keep enough viewers in to keep up the momentum. What's your guy's favorite Janet scene? For me her obsession with cacti was a close second, but I couldn't find any clips of it to link to. Let me know in the comments!

What I Saw: Longmire Takes on Domestic Violence

Making progress on catching up! I did watch the latest two new episodes of Black-ish, so I'll be writing a post on them soon. Although I did see a really good post about "Lemons" on Medium that was right on the money, so you can check that out in the meantime.

What I watched:

Longmire S5.E6-8: "Objection," "From This Day Forward" and "Stand Your Ground"

What I saw:

I have to admit it's been a good minute since I watched the episodes, so my memory is more fuzzy on the case they worked on in episode 7. But there was a huge issue that was taken on that at first seemed like it was part of the background, but took front and center by the end of the episode. That's one of the great things about Longmire as a show, they build things up without you really being aware of where it is going. Walt and his deputies are working a case about treasure hunters, all the while the real story is happening with Cady.

Cady has started her free legal aid center, but hasn't gotten really anyone looking for help since no one trusts a white woman. A young woman named Mandy ran into her office to hide from her ex-boyfriend after stealing something from her friend and the ex's current wife, Asha. At first it seems like just two girls fighting over a man who gave the same necklace to both of them (not the same looking, but the exact same necklace from one girlfriend to the other). But then the layers get peeled back and it's a case of domestic violence, with the wife reaching a point of fearing for her life.

Domestic violence is actually a common occurrence all across America, especially on Native reservations. I think that's why it is so important that a drama like Longmire include it in it's story. It shines a light on something that is usually a family secret that few outsiders get to see.

Since Cady got involved with the friend, she gets wrapped up in the DV situation and offers to help file a restraining order against the husband. She delivers it, and takes Asha in her center to hide out. However, the husband tracks her down and begs to be taken back in, saying he went to an AA meeting and promising to stop drinking and never hurt her again.

Much like what happens in real life, Asha believes him at first. She starts to say she forgives him and wishes she had never filed the restraining order and would like to revoke it. The show did a good job of showing the cycle that DV victims go through. First its the baseline, where everything is just like in a normal relationship; second, something small inevitably sets off the abuser and there is violence; third, the abuser apologizes and begs forgiveness promising change; and finally, the victim accepts the apology and returns to step one, or they wise up and leave. Unfortunately, the latter is the most common one. And when the cycle repeats, things may actually even be better than a normal relationship because the abuser is trying to make up for what they did.

Asha was in the middle of the third step, and almost ready to take him back. Many would ask why anyone would so readily return to such an unhealthy relationship. But Asha explained it perfectly, saying "I don't want the police; I just want things to be better." The times when there is no abuse, everything is so great that the victim wants to just hang on to it. They love the good side of the person, like honest wholehearted love for half the person.

The victim oftentimes blame themselves, saying if only they hadn't done that one thing to make their abuser mad everything would have been fine. Humans are wired to see cause and effect. The victim sees their actions as the cause, and the violence is the effect. They don't realize that being in a relationship with the abuser is itself the cause, not their actions.


Lucky for Asha, Cady finds a flaw in his story. The AA chip he gives is one you get for being sober over a year. Unless he had a time machine, there was no way he could have gotten that chip from going to one meeting. He walks away, and Asha seems like she is on her way to the fourth step of leaving the relationship. That is, until he comes back with a gun.

Cady ends up grabbing the gun Nighthorse gave her and ends up in a standoff and kills the husband in a shootout with the husband in order to protect Asha. She gets interviewed by the tribal police and it seems like a case of self-defense, although they collect a lot of evidence just in case. Her lawyer says as long as Asha backs her story theirs nothing to worry about. And then Asha busts in yelling Cady murdered her husband. A DV victim is so loyal to their husbands that not even death can part them.

What's funny though is while Asha may not be on her side, the reservation has become more receptive to her. They took a liking to a white woman willing to shoot a white man to protect one of their own. Cady, however, is not proud of her actions and wishes none of it ever happened. Which is also a true portrayal; unless you're a sociopath or trained to kill multiple times, killing someone takes a deep toll on the killer. It doesn't matter that it was justified.

Normally I try to talk about everything that went down in each episode, but Longmire has so much depth it was difficult to cover all of it unless I did one super long post. So for this one I focused on the DV aspect of it. Hopefully people learn the signs for DV, and end up with more understanding for what the victims go through.

If you or someone you know is in a domestic violence situation, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for information on emergency shelters and counseling. The locations for shelter are typically kept secret, and they take precautions to keep from being tracked; so be prepared to give up your cellphone and any other electronic devices.

This post seems to be ending more seriously than normal. I guess I'll leave you with a more lighthearted question: how much of a badass is Walt Longmire when dealing with the Irish mob? Let me know in the comments.

What I Saw: The Walking Dead

Another one of my catch up posts right here. I think I'm slowly figuring out how to make time for blogging even during my long 12hr work days. Now if I can only figure out how to stay disciplined outside of work too then my life will be complete! So this round is going to do with one of my favorite shows, along with millions of other cult fans. I will put the spoiler reminder here, because I know everyone gets super sensitive when it comes to The Walkimg Dead. Here we go!

What I watched:

The Walking Dead Season 7 to mid-season finale

What I saw:

Season 6 ended on a cliffhanger that most people hated for obvious reasons. We were left wondering for months who got the kiss of death from Lucile. Then of course we learned it wasn't just one person (Abraham) who got killed, but two people (Glenn! Q_Q). The main premise of this season has nothing to do with cool zombie kills or trying to learn how to survive in a fallen civilization. This season is all about learning how to live in tribal communities.

In the days before we allowed ourselves to be domesticated, at least in Western society (there's good and bad to being domesticated, but I'm just going to leave it there), people lived in separate tribes and fiercely looked after their own. Anyone considered an "other" could be left to rot so long as their own people were taken care of. And that's exactly the mentality the Saviors have taken on.

To be fair, Rick and his group in Alexandria did the same thing when they pre-emptively attacked the Saviors last season. They believed they needed to do whatever it took to make sure their own people were provided for. Only now their small group of bad asses can only go so far against a much larger group of mediocre fighters. Numbers count for a lot, especially when it's the ones you care about that are going to be the ones to die in the fight.

Negan learned early on that strong leadership will get most people to follow, so long as someone seems like they know what they are doing and their needs are met (the same could be said about the mayor of Hilltop). The other thing he learned is when absorbing another group, you need to break the leader, because if the other group's strong leader goes down then the rest will follow. What Negan hasn't figured out is Rick's group is entirely made of leaders, with the rest of the people in Alexandria being the followers.

Even though Rick may have been broken down after losing two of his people and almost forced to cut off the hand to his son, Maggie and the others were willing to step up and take the fight to Negan. Like most dictators before the fall, Negan has enjoyed so much success that he isn't aware that all his enemies are starting to pile up, and once they are unified are able to match the numbers of the Saviors.

We see this resistance movement start to build up through several different characters: Maggie at the Hilltop, Tara at Oceanside, Carol and Morgan at the Kingdom. Each community is under the thumb of the Saviors, and each of them are pissed off. Oceanside is made up of women since Negan went in and killed or captured all of the men, and the women ran to the coast to escape. However, if Tara found them, it is probably only a matter of time before Negan does. Overall, the lesson is people cannot remain broken forever, and no dictatorship lasts forever.

Many are frustrated with the show after the death of some beloved characters. But the best thing about the show is it's reflection of how life was before domestication or how it could be again. That includes loss of some key people. I for one am still liking the show. I'm curious how long it will take for all the communities to partner up. What do you guys think of this season so far? Let me know in the comments!

What I saw: The Flash & Arrow mid-season finale

Playing catch up on all these posts! I have more to write what's been going on Walking Dead, Longmire, The Good Place, and so many others. Hopefully I'll be all caught up and do some other posts on an anime I was rewatching and a game I've been playing too. As always, if you have any recommendations on some good shows, new or old, let me know in the comments! Also as a side note, I updated my post on the video game Firewatch, since I gave it another play through on my days off, so make sure to check it out for some new insights.  

What I watched:

The Flash S3.E9 "The Present"

Arrow S5.E9 "What We Leave Behind"

What I saw:

Starting with The Flash.

There ended up being a lot of groundwork being laid out for the rest of the season. The identity of Doctor Alchemy ended up being revealed as Julian Albert, who apparently had no knowledge of his involvement. Only after Barry revealed his identity as the Flash to Julian was he able to get Julian to admit he has been having moments where he loses long tracks of time. In order to get someone to trust you sometimes you need to trust them first.

Savitar apparently cannot manifest in the real world on his own, which is why he needed Julian to become Alchemy and use the philosopher stone to give him that ability. Once the was philosopher stone was sealed (saving Jay Garrick who seemed strangely knowledgeable on the subject of Savitar) in some sort of mystic vessel, Savitar was thrust back to whatever dimension he is trapped in. But he is able to influence others through the veil, and got Cisco to open the vessel using the "ghost" of his dead brother Dante. There was a really great moment between Caitlyn and Cisco, as she convinced him to trust her that Dante was not really there and Savitar was about to kill both Barry and Wally who rushed in to help.

A true friend is one who will give you a reality check, and it's important to have friends you trust to help you even though it may seem painful. The same could be said for the West family. Iris and Joe need to trust in Wally's new abilities, but at the same time Wally needs to learn to heed warnings from those around him. Thankfully they seemed to be be getting the hints by the end of the episode as they gave Wally his Kid Flash suit.

But the biggest bomb of course is Barry accidentally entering the future when banishing the philosopher stone (tucked safely in its vessel) into the Speed Force. He catches a glimpse of Iris being killed by Savitar five months into the future. Which, Barry noted to Jay, that would explain why Iris is no longer the one who writes the article from the future about the Flash disappearing. Jay gives him another lecture about time travel, only instead about messing with the past it was about truing not to let his knowledges of the future cause him to make decisions to make it a reality. But given the commercials that have come out for the next episode, the warning goes ignored.

By the way, the video is one of many from a YouTube channel called Emergency Awesome, and Charlie goes over each episode and compares the original comics to the TV. You should definitely check it out.

The overall theme from the show this season is about recognizing the consequences of your actions, and try not to act rashly without first thinking of said consequences. We'll see if Barry end season up learning the hard way that messing with the future could be just as bad as messing with the past.

Now on to Arrow.

The directing in this episode was done really well. I would argue it was the best episode in the season. It starts off with action when Prometheus attacks Curtis as a civilian, indicating he knows their secret identities. This also causes Curtis to reveal his identity to his husband as well, causing a rift in their relationship. Team Arrow then track down Prometheus in some shady warehouse type deal, and then get betrayed by Artemis which allows both of them to escape.  

Reeling from the sudden stab in the back, the team regroups and try to find clues about who Prometheus is and where he is really hiding. Then Billy Malone, Felicity's manfriend, gets himself captured after his speech about having to be manly and going after Prometheus even after Felicity warned him how out of his league he is. The lesson: too much pride can lead you to being kidnapped by a serial killer with an elaborate agenda. Oh, and don't be so misogynist listen to your girlfriend!

The trail of breadcrumbs Team Arrow find lead them to discovering Prometheus is the son of Justin Claybourne, one of the baddies in season 1's list Oliver killed. The trail leads to the very building Oliver killed Claybourne, with dead bodies strewn around in the exact position "The Hood" left them in his attack when he refused to make amends for failing the city. When confronting Prometheus, Oliver is tricked into killing Billy.

I just want to add, that scene of Oliver moving through the building was just soooooo gooooood! The directing and cinematography on that was just awesome.

The point Prometheus is trying to make is Oliver may think he is doing good for the city, but his ruthless actions effect the lives of everyone involved. Having Oliver kill Billy (hehe) was just one part of the lesson: you're a killer and eventually everyone around you will join the same fate. Or at the very least, make them wish they were dead.

Obviously, Felicity losing her boyfriend caused her pain. The rest came at the end, when Curtis' husband leaves him, and Diggle gets tricked into coming out of hiding and gets arrested. After discovering what he has done, Oliver tells everyone they should leave him alone before the rest of them end up dead or worse. The team instead gathers around Oliver to let them know that no matter what lesson Prometheus was trying to instill, they all made their choice to be a part of the team and they not only stand by that choice, they stand by him.

And that, is the real lesson. No matter what crazy lesson a crazy archer hell-bent on revenge is trying to teach you, it's better to learn from your own experience and from those you trust. Then the real bomb is when Laurel shows up in the lair at the very last second. And then we are left to wonder if she's really real (and if so how the hell is she alive) all the way until January 25th

That's it for this post. I'll still be playing catch up while the break is still going on, and then get back to posting on some of the Netflix shows I've been watching. How do you guys think this season of The Flash and Arrow are going? Are you guys excited to see where it all goes? Let me know in the comments!

What I saw: Arrowverse 4 part Crossover

Hello everyone! Another busy month of traveling back and forth so I'm trying to play catch up on all the shows that I watched. To start off I am going to post about the 4 part crossover the CW had done with all the DC comic shows it has. It turned out it was more of a 3 part crossover, but whatever. Eventually I will post some of the other shows I've been watching, and I'll do one big post on all of The Walking Dead episodes so far, as well as a Mexican Telenovela! I know, I've been making all these promises (like the Steins;Gate post...), but that's part of being an air sign (Gemini), we keep our promises...just not always in a timely manner.  

What I Watched:

 

Supergirl S2.E8 "Medusa" The Flash S3.E8 "Invasion!" Arrow S5.E8 "Invasion!" Legends of Tomorrow S2.E7 "Invasion!"  

What I Saw:

Starting off with Supergirl.

So while there was technically a crossover in this episode, it didn't really happen until the end, and the rest was just a normal episode of the show. However, in this episode it basically set up what the main struggle will be for the rest of the series, which is the fight against Cadmus. The systemic discrimination Cadmus has against aliens can be considered a parallel on real world discrimination today. A bar where aliens gather was bombed with a gas that only kills aliens and leaves humans alone. Mon-El gets a small whiff of the gas and is infected.

This leads to that old existential question of "if I only had one day left to live what would I want to do with it." (As a side note, a really funny movie that has this premise is 30 Minutes or Less). Mon-El decides to confess his feelings for Kara in a state of delirium, but once he was cured he backtracked and played it off as if he didn't remember. Kara also held back what she feels for him, because if she did then it would be real and that's too scary. Of course later in the season they will learn to get over it, but it can't happen too fast despite how obvious it is. The rest of the episode was stopping Cadmus from unleashing the alien bomb onto the city with the help of Lena Luthor. Then, at literally the last minute of the show we get Barry and Cisco breaching into the universe in her apartment, with a funny Cisco joke.

Now on to The Flash!

This is where the crossover really starts, and almost annoyingly. The episode starts off with the exact same scene we saw at the end of Supergirl, so I felt like I was tricked into watching the previous episode. In any case, in this episode it focused on how Barry's mistake of creating Flashpoint effected everyone else in the Arrowverse. Everyone on Earth 1 finds out how their lives were effected after Cisco overhears Jefferson and Dr. Stein play the message from Future Barry about some terrible consequences that arose after he changed the timeline. He even finds out that the article from the future which talks about the Flash disappearing is no longer written by Iris (more on that the next Flash episode).

Everyone else gets really mad at Barry because of what happened to them, with Cisco's brother being dead, Caitlyn fighting off becoming Killer Frost, Sara's sister being dead and not being able to change it, John having his daughter turn into a son, and who knows what else. They all turn their back on Barry, who was trying out becoming a leader since it was him that spotted the invasion. Oliver was the only one to stay by him, on the grounds of what he has learned from his own experience  in being a hero and a leader: the decisions they make will sometimes lead to bad consequences, and they just have to live with those consequences. The scene was really well done, as you guys may see for yourself.

Everything we do is a choice, and each choice has a consequence which we may not even be aware of. So all we can do I see be more conscious of the types of choices we are making, because others may be effected. Even though they are heroes, they are only human.

 At the end of the episode, all the heroes are saved from a mind control device from the two progenitors of the Arrowverse (Green Arrow and Flash), until Green Arrow, Thea, Sara, and Ray all get abducted by the aliens, where it then leads into...

...Arrow! 

This was Arrow's 100th episode, so there were a lot of cameos or shoutouts to past characters, especially season 1. The premise of the episode was similar to Supergirls episode earlier this season "For the girl who has everything" (which is based off of the Justice League Unlimited cartoon episode "For the man who has everything;" if you haven;t seen the cartoon I highly recommend it along with Young Justice) where the characters are taken into a dream world where the Queens Gambit sinking never happened. Oliver never ended up on the island and never became the hardboiled badass he is today. All of the loved ones of those who were abducted were still alive, including Mr. & Mrs. Queen, Laurel (who Oliver was marrying later that day), and basically everyone else who died.   Trouble looms in the form of Slade, Merlyn, and other League members crashing the wedding once the abductees start remembering who they really are.

They end up having to make the tough decision between staying in a fantasy with everyone they care about, or going back into the harsh reality where nothing but struggle and pain awaits. Everyone but Thea chooses to go for reality, which I thought was interesting. It did fit with her arch for the season though, as she is just tired of having to keep up with fighting one bad guy after another, and nearly losing her humanity in the process.

The abductees escape from their virtual prison, as well as their physical one a la Independence Day, and return to Earth to resume their resistance against the invasion. The lesson of the episode: no matter how good the fantasy, being able to have real choices and consequences is the only thing that has any meaning.

And then wrapping things up with Legends of Tomorrow. 

Here is when Cisco finally learns what it's like to be Barry. Being unable to resist the opportunity to time travel, Cisco and Felicity join some of the crew on the Wave Rider to the 1950's when the aliens first sent a reconnaissance force. They go back to interrogate one of the aliens to find out why they are targeting Earth all of a sudden. They get captured by men in black government types, along with the alien. The men in black torture the alien, and Cisco insists on rescuing the alien as they make their own escape.

After they are back in the present, Cisco vibes the alien he saved and learns that the aliens felt threatened by metahumans. It turns out that after witnessing the power of metahumans while being rescued, it felt something needed to be done to keep Earth's power in check. Naturally the solution they came up with was to conduct a preemptive strike with a bomb that targets only metas.


Stein goes through something similar as he realizes he accidentally convinced his younger self to have a kid with his wife. Stein struggles to come to terms with a stranger acting like they are family, even though in that timeline they really are.

Cisco realized how easy it is to mess up the timeline once you are actually able to travel in time. This causes him to rethink how hard he has been on Barry for making Flashpoint, and decides to forgive him. Plus it was hard to talk shit when Barry's mistake may have cost Cisco his brother, but his own mistake ended up causing an alien invasion and almost led to the death of every metahuman on Earth.

As for Stein, he had to come to accept that even though he never planned to have a daughter (and let's face it, the majority of parents never plan to anyways), she was there now and he had to decide whether to consider her an aberration or consider her a person. That gets addressed in the next episode.

Oh yeah, and to counter the alien invasion all the heroes come together and come up with a plan to save the day.

My thoughts overall

 There was some decent action, and it was definitely cool to see all the heroes fighting at once. Minus the deception I experienced with the Supergirl episode, the crossover was definitely one of the best episodes for each of the shows.   Those are some of my thoughts on the massive 4 (but really 3) part crossover. What did you guys think of the crossover? Do you think Marvel will try to do something similar with their shows? Let me know in the comments!