Loki, Science/Fiction - Nov 3

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about ‘Loki’ S2 instead. Here, in this week’s episode – ‘Science/Fiction’ – it is actually hard to figure out where to start.

Therefore, let us widen our discussion a bit. In the 2010s, there was a franchise called ‘The Librarians’, where the titular characters saved the world from various threats utilizing their intellect, rather than muscles, (though there was enough physical action as well). It ran for 4 or 5 seasons, had 3 or 4 independent films, and ended on a whimper, rather than a bang. So what?

In one of their earlier episodes, the librarians’ enemy of the season cast a spell that caused the librarians to assume that they were living their dream life doing their dream job… Fair enough, and in ‘Science/Fiction’ Loki’s friends seem to be doing something similar: their TVA personas were destroyed, (for a lack of a better term/idea), and they are back being civilians – and Loki has to fix it, or else the world is doomed. Pause.

In AoS’ S4 MCU did something similar: their villain of the season trapped them in a VR world where they were living… different lives, and were happy, (relatively speaking), at least for a while, until a) that world began to break down, and b) the villains began to take over the real world, (in a manner of speaking). In the episode 2x05 of ‘Loki’, we have something similar: Loki’s crew are out of action, and Loki has to fix the situation, just as how Flynn had to do it in ‘The Librarians’, and Daisy with Jemma in AoS. Repetition and recycling of plots/subjects isn’t anything new in MCU, here the main twist is that Sylvie (who’s less out of it as the rest of TVA team was) turns the tables on Loki, in a manner of speaking, and causes him to admit some harsh truths about himself – something that he’s really good at avoiding of doing, in fact. Good for the show!

What is not so good, however, is the absence of the multiverse: what gives? ‘Loki’ and TVA were all about the multiverse; in fact, the whole of MCU from Phase 4 onwards was supposed to be all about the multiverse, and the TVA – as shown, however poorly, in ‘Loki’ S1 was right in the middle of it. Now, however, Loki is almost at the end of S2, there is no sign of the multiverse per se, and the state of the TVA itself is in flux…

…One might argue that there are various secondary signs that the state of the TVA is affecting the multiverse in ‘Loki’ S2, but those signs are so secondary, that they’re easily ignored; at a glance, the world of ‘Loki’ appears in to be existing in a vacuum/separately from the rest of MCU…which might be Disney/MCU’s plan, given how MCU is struggling/redefining itself lately, from KK and ‘She-Hulk’ mini-series onwards. Given that it is Disney/MCU, the odds of them trying to be subtle and failing at it are quite good. Otherwise…

Otherwise, the script of ‘Science/Fiction’ was very good, as was the action, and the special effects. Overall, the impact of ‘Loki’ episode 2x05 was a favorable one. If only there was actually any multiverse and implications of the stakes for the greater MCU…

For now, though, this is it. See you all soon.

Runaways: Refraction - Dec 28

‘Runaways’ continue to gather steam, as they are going slowly but relentlessly towards their S1 finale. (Are seasons even a thing for Web TV shows?) They are continuing to be separate and apart, different from the traditional comics, but that is no problem – so does ‘Riverdale’, when it comes to the rest of its’ franchise: there’re ‘Riverdale’ comics, and there’re ‘Archies’ comic, they are together but separate. Ditto for the ‘Runaways’.

In other news, the ‘Librarians’ TV show also continues to go…through its’ 4^th season, as a matter of fact. It already has embraced the old age progression gag as the (upcoming) episode 4x05. Again, as it was written regarding their S3, the ‘Librarians’ are unconventional heroes…that are going down the conventional path since S3. They are still going strong, but they are still going nowhere, even if they have their own comic book series, (at least for a while). Yay them, that is so impressive.

Yes, not really – often TV shows and their literary adaptions, (comics, books, etc.) do not often mesh, not even if they are part of ‘Star Trek’ or ‘Dr. Who’ franchise, which brings us back to the following: all of these TV shows, (and Web TV shows) are commodities to be sold to, and bought by, consumers, audience. They need to sell, because otherwise? They don’t go anywhere, as AoS has done by S5; even though ‘Rewind’ gave them something of a boost, AoS’ S5 is still in the lower ranges of AoS numbers, still lower than S3, for example, and ‘Life Earned’ was probably the lowest AoS episode yet. Why? For a number of reasons, including the argument over whether Hydra is Nazi or just fascist, and the issue of the characters’ treatment – the latter continues even now, with the FitzSimmons doing, well, the whole gender role stereotype: in the first four S5 episodes Jemma was made really, well, feminine, while in ‘Rewind’ Fitz turned into some sort of a commando, causing Lance Hunter, (or Nick Blood?) to exclaim: “But that’s my thing!”

That is certainly a thing – yes, the return of Lance Hunter did boost the numbers for ‘Rewind’ – and then AoS promptly hit everyone with a ‘fall finale’ hiatus, causing everyone to lose attention and interest in AoS again, at least for a while, and with new shows (i.e. ‘Grown-ish’) coming and old shows (i.e. ‘X-Files’) returning to the TV in 2018, AoS got its’ job cut out for it – again. Yes, the Hydra controversy has mostly gone back into the background, as MCU got rid of Hydra for good…although AoS seems to be showing signs that it might be coming back or something; ‘Rewind’, with its’ U.S. military conspiracies and co. was much more interesting than the previous episodes of S5 combined, but again – the fall finale, and it seems that all of the goodwill gathered by ‘Rewind’ will be wasted. At least ‘Librarians’ have better sense than to do anything like that, now do they?

This gets us back to creativity, and here is the thing. AoS’ S5 has it. So do ‘Runaways’. Only ‘Runaways’ are using it more sensibly than AoS ever did, but yes, it’s tricky to work it out; ‘Librarians’ seem to be going all out, and so far they aren’t having much better luck than AoS does, plus AoS has racial variety going for them, while ‘Librarians’ have only one person of color in their cast – Ezekiel. With a name like this, you have to wonder as to just how and why John Harlan Kim got this particular job: was he lucky, or is he some sort of a token actor here?

This question obviously does not apply to ‘Runaways’ because of the obvious reasons, and they still had plenty of creativity, (though Old Lace did not appear in this episode – and he is a part of the regular cast back in the ‘Runaways’ comics, damn it!). They are still going strong, (though yes, they do not have much distance left to cover), and they are still different and varied. Hydra may (or may not) be gone from MCU for good, but AoS seems to be on the way out of MCU all the same – already it is gone from the MCU mainstream, and we’re talking about Disney here – they know where the money goes, and if it is out, so’re you.

Hopefully, Hulu will be able to keep ‘Runaways’ – and the upcoming ‘Cloak & Dagger’ series – out of its’ clutches. See you all next time!

Powerless, 'Wayne or Lose' - Feb 2

‘Powerless’ has made its’ debut. Does it work?

Okay, that is a loaded question. Shows can get aired regardless of whether or not they work, just look at AoS: not only its episode for this week, (‘Hot Potato Soup’), contained a bunch of Russian clichés for villains, (yes, and the Donald seems to be a fan of Russia for the moment, cringe!), but it also had some tall and skinny secondary agent that played no particular role at all; maybe he was supposed to be a love interest for the girl Koenig, but somehow it just didn’t happen – one of AoS’ problems is a bad delivery of what are otherwise good ideas. ‘Powerless’ seems to have something similar too.

No, seriously – the idea is very good: the lives of background civilian characters who have to endure the fallout between the various superheroes and villains; the show, in particular, focuses on a company that invents, (or tries to), ways to make the civilians’ lives more bearable. Okay. There are worse ideas in existence, but the way that the S1 premiere of the series has done it? Not so good.

The first half of the episode has characters interact in humorous ways that border on outright obnoxious and unbearable; it is a fine line between that and humor, and I am unsure where ‘Powerless’ had landed. In the other half, the humor had abated, and the episode had some very good moments, especially the discussion between Emily and Jackie…where the humor was at its’ lowest. Somehow, at least in this episode, the sitcom format of the show did not really work. You can have a sitcom show about an inventing company, (run by Bruce Wayne’s cousin, no less, who just wants to return to Gotham City, ha-ha), set in the DCEU, but somehow, tonight, it didn’t work. The show was simply – uninspiring, uninviting, and not just because the villain of the episode, (Jack-o-Lantern or someone like that) seemed to be a cliché, (and even AoS was able to avoid clichés in most of its episodes), while the superhero, (Crimson Fox?), was not depicted very well either. AoS did its’ best to grab the audience’s attention from the start; so did ‘The Librarians’, and they are much more comic than AoS is, (for the obvious reasons).

…Yes, ‘The Librarians’ have actually scaled down the humor in S3, but the thing is that their humor was never as lowbrow as ‘Powerless’ seems to be. (There was an off-kilter remark regarding sex with robots, for example. Yeah, ha-ha). In addition, ‘The Librarians’ are an adventure show, not unlike AoS, or any of the ‘Arrowverse’ shows, it’s just that its’ heroes are unconventional, and battle their foes in unconventional ways. ‘Powerless’, on the other hand, is a sitcom; it doesn’t have any action, and relies mostly on humor to get from point A to point B – and in the first episode, it seems to be functioning the best when its’ humor is low, rather than high. Hah.

So. The newest component of DCEU is off to a rocky start, and there are rumors that DCEU movies are not doing so good either. (They are not). Hopefully, ‘Powerless’ won’t be the first sign of DCEU’s end. On this pessimistic note, see you later. 

S.H.I.E.L.D., Potato Soup - Jan 31

‘Hot Potato Soup’ was aired. And?

And it was a good episode. The Koenig family rocked. The interaction of the FitzSimmons and Mack against LMD Radcliffe Mk I was poignant and dramatic. So was Ming-Na’s performance as LMD May, (no doubles this episode). Radcliffe the original is shaping to be a very formidable villain, but – when did he look into the Darkhold the first time? He certainly did not do it onscreen, even during the Ghost Rider mini-arc, and before S.H.I.E.L.D. secured it, it was lost, discovered by Lucy Bauer and her husband in some crazyass hideout instead. When and how did Radcliffe fit into this chronology?

Aida is continuing to evolve as a villain, which brings us to the apparent Superior of the Watchdogs and etc. – a Russian villain named Anton Ivanov, who has a submarine. Pause.

Firstly, it is a Russian villain. The show attempted for him to have a dramatic entrance, but the truth is, without his nationality, he is just another villain, who ‘is not Hydra, really’, a psychopath, apparently, but that is it. In many ways, Anton is yet another disappointing villain, alongside Malick, and Lucy Bauer, and Ely Morrow – even Radcliffe is a better and smarter villain than all of them combined, and he still has sympathetic traits in him. Hive has ruined it for AoS villains – after an alien space worm that has almost destroyed Earth’s civilization, it is hard to be taken seriously when you are just a crazy guy in a sub.

The matter of nationality…yeah, in S3 AoS did bring forth the ‘evil Russian stereotype’, and ‘Hot Potato Soup’ alludes to it directly: it is ‘Parting Shot’, where Bobbi and Lance, (Blood and Palicki) left the show. So far, they are not coming back, so AoS has introduced a new agent instead: a girl Koenig, and she is not played by Mr. Patton…probably because that would have been too much even for Mr. Patton. Oh well, he still rocked, and so did the Koenig family of both genders, unlike the AoS’ idea of Russian villains. This is cliché, or cast-typing, and real life being what it is, the president Donald seems to be actually friendly with Russians, so it’s possible that right now the cast and crew of AoS are having a collective facepalm/cringe moment regarding ‘Hot Potato Soup’ – they probably thought that Hillary was going to win the election and continue Obama’s policies, including the foreign ones, including the ones dealing with Russia.

…BTW, Russia became ‘un-democratic’ on Hillary’s watch when she was handling U.S.’s foreign affairs, so there is that. Furthermore, her opponent supposedly came into power via Russian hackers, but no concrete proof had been presented during the ‘interregnum’ and now that the Donald is in charge for real, and doing some damage to the U.S. for real, there is no talk of it being the Russians fault… So what?

Well, it means that for all of its’ stupidity, the American society and government, (and the relationship between the two has its own issues) can get its’ head out of its’ ass and start to fight for it really considers to be important, regardless of whatever histrionics Hollywood pulls out as part of its effort (remember Madonna? Yeah, this is a case when naiveté and passionate speaking make things worse, not better). At this moment in history, Russians make good bogeymen, but nothing more. This isn’t the best attitude to approach them with, and the use of Russian (and Russia) related clichés in such shows as AoS isn’t helping anyone either; even ‘The Last Ship’, which is much more political than AoS is, has moved past this cliché; so why AoS is returning to it? …It may be just the straw to get it cancelled, instead.

On the other hand, ‘The Last Ship’ is relevant to this rant also because in the original novel, (different from the TV series, BTW) because it featured a Russian submarine – just as AoS is, now. Of course, ‘The Librarians’, S3 premiere, has also featured a submarine, (just not Russian, more like a museum piece, hijacked by Apep), so AoS is not even being original here: the good guys, (S.H.I.E.L.D.) have a quinjet, so the bad guys, (not Hydra, most definitely, even though ‘The Patriot’ depicted Hydra coming back) have a submarine. Clever, right?

Well, no. This is more of the entire recycling of ideas. In S2, the late Robert Gonzales commanded his faction of S.H.I.E.L.D. on an aircraft carrier called the Iliad. AoS being what it was, it has not mentioned the Iliad since the end of S2, though there was info that agent Weaver was now running the vessel, nor has it made an appearance. Between this info, and the fact that Hydra is back, yeah, AoS is back utilizing S2 ideas – the Ghost Rider related reboot is failing right now, even if one ignores how the LMD May is Kara in a nanomask, yeah? However, amazing performance by Ming-Na – she brings both of her characters to life now.

So: awesome delivery by the actors, but a much less amazing plot, with potential real-life repercussions (as we have seen, the Donald isn’t shy in using his power around – just look at Ms. Yates). That is it for now, see you all later!

The Librarians - Jan 22

‘The Librarians 2014’ S3 has ended. It was good, as ‘The Librarians’ were before, the only issue was the limited budget and special effects, but otherwise? It was still good. Not too scary, not too childish, the titular heroes saved the day, Apep is gone, as is the rest of pure evil that he tried to conjure up, (it was just shown as a generic black smoke cloud, with some blue lightning – not very evil, actually), and DOSA will probably disband…or at the very least, it won’t be mentioned, (or be making appearance) in S4 at all. (Or maybe it will, if ‘The Librarians’ need some sort of a villain that isn’t very original – it could happen).

‘The Librarians’ are a good show, but neither are they ‘that’ good. You can watch them when they return in S4, (if they do – this sort of thing is fickle), or you may not, it all comes down to your taste. ‘The Librarians’ don’t captivate; they entertain and amuse, and sometimes this isn’t enough.

…Oh sure, they have tried changing the formula here, as I written regarding the previous episode, but they did it in a half-hearted way; Ezekiel’s new love interest Cindy has disappeared, completely, and Charlene seems to be coming and going sporadically, playing only a minor role here. Odds are, the limited budget affects more than just the special effects…

…Also ending is ‘Salem’ the series. It was a very good horror show, and it will be missed, but to counterbalance it, I suppose, ‘Riverdale’ is coming to TV – mainly to the CW, but still. As I have also written before, it is yet another adaptation of ‘Archies’, this one with plenty of changes, especially secondary ones, but the main character depictions are the same, although if Archie ends up with a new and younger Ms. Grundy, now that will be a plot twist.

…The truth is that ‘Archies’ regularly tries to go beyond its’ comic book limits. Aside from the already mentioned ‘STTW’, that didn’t really have any characters beyond the ‘Sabrina’-related ones, but was still set in Riverdale, there had been an ‘Archie and friends’ cartoon show, where the gang was in junior high school rather than high school, and Dilton was replaced by his Afro-American counterpart named Eugene. I think that it vanished after a single season.

‘Archie’s Weird Mysteries’ lasted for 3 seasons. It was another cartoon, one about the supernatural – ghouls, werewolves, especially vampires – and its’ episodes usually held some sort of a moral lesson for the viewers. Other cartoons, like ‘Guardians of Legends’, also tried the same approach; at least AWM didn’t go for specifically Christian values as ‘Guardians’ did, even though the latter were actually about Greek myths, (and mangled them terribly, especially the Iliad, the Odyssey and the Argonauts’ story arcs); plus ‘Guardians’ had aired their S2 before S1, so nowadays they are found mostly on the Internet, and they aren’t very popular.

With AWM it is somewhat different – ‘Archies’ is deliberately keeping AWM off YouTube and the like; they really don’t like to share, which makes ‘Riverdale’ only more surprising – this is a major breakthrough for them, especially now. Of course, it should be remembered that ‘Archies’ do best with a limited series, such as ‘Archie vs. Predator’, (yeah, that predator), while when it tries to do something longer, like the series where a grown-up version of Archie married Betty in universe, and Veronica in another, the result just fizzles out, as that particular series had. Who knows if ‘Riverdale’ will not experience something similar?

Finally, ‘For Honor’ is also beginning to beta tested for real this January. As people know now, it is going to be a platform game with three factions – the Samurais, the Vikings, and the Knights. On one hand, all three factions may fight for the sake of it, (it is this sort of game, after all), on the other – there were spoilers of an official Apollyon game path, where the titular villain plans to set off ‘an age of war’ between the three nations, so there is that. Maybe this game path will be beta-tested too.

So that is it for tonight; I will see you all soon, probably with another AoS review, yeah?

The Librarians - Jan 15

‘The Librarians’ S3 has completed its penultimate episode; here the titular heroes save Shangri-La from evil and­ finally rescue Charlene (sort of). That is good, but again, the show’s atypical shtick is breaking down.

As I probably wrote before, ‘The Librarians’ strength is that it has unconventional heroes fighting unconventional villains to save the world, (mostly). The main idea itself is fairly conventional, especially in S1, (S2, with its’ ‘fictionals’ was something else). ‘The Librarians’ get to be atypical and unique due to the unconventional secondary details, and now they are vanishing from the show.

…If they are gone, what is left? Yet another ‘team’-based show, not unlike Marvel’s AoS, or any of the DC TV shows, (the new ‘Powerless’ coming this year is going to be fun), or even something like ‘Blindspot’ with its emphasis on ‘the team’. This is not bad, but it means that ‘The Librarians’ can get lost in the crowd, plus – lower ratings. In particular, AoS has experienced them, and while the show has soldiered on for 4 seasons, it is anyone’s guess if it will be around for the fifth. ‘The Librarians’ have aired just 3 seasons, and they are already changing the formula? I am not sure if it is a good idea.

BTW, in S3 the titular heroes are dealing with Apep, (i.e. they are working with primarily Egyptian mythology in a manner that Rick Riordan would consider cavalier in an unprofessional – in an unnecessarily unprofessional – manner), and with DOSA, which is a stereotypical secret government organization, just think S.H.I.E.L.D. from Marvel’s AoS, or its’ counterpart from DC’s ‘Arrowverse’ (especially ‘Arrow’ proper). DOSA thinks that the librarians are the bad guys and is trying to handle them accordingly. Considering that yesterday’s episode has introduced Eve’s old superior, and the theme of divided loyalties, (and which action show doesn’t have such thematic clichés?), the viewers can already predict how the S3’s finale is going to go, at least to a point. Without its’ atypical trappings, ‘The Librarians’ are just left with Cassandra’s numerous dresses, (several per episode – seriously, has the actress made a contract clause that ensures that she dresses sexily/fancily/etc. every episode? Because otherwise those dress changes of her play little effect. Okay, there is the comic effect, but ‘The Librarians’ cannot be unique via this comic effect alone).

So, Apep is a typical apocalyptic monster, albeit from the ancient Egyptian mythology; DOSA is a typical evil/misguided government organization, (rather than some sort of ruthless brigands, or savage marauders, or scandalous pirates, or a secret society), and-

In addition ‘The Librarians’ are trying to change its’ formula in other ways – by expanding its’ cast, (sort of). We got Charlene, (from the initial movies) acting as a part-time love interest of Jenkins and few episodes ago, we had Ezekiel apparently fall in love with a character named Cindy. Neither of these plot developments were foreshadowed, and considering that ‘The Librarians’ have a fairly limited budget, it is yet unknown if the show is going to develop them further. Maybe in S4 neither Charlene nor Cindy will make much of appearances, who knows?

And yes, this is another change to the ‘initial formula’. These things work, (albeit usually on a scale small enough NOT to make a difference), as STTW has shown back in the 1990s (‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch’). The show was ‘static’ for the first three seasons, changed one way in S4, and changed in completely different ways in the next seasons. Sadly, that final change, with Sabrina being in college and beyond, resulted in a show that was more like ‘Bewitched’ for a younger audience, instead of STTW (well, its’ comic version) proper – and I’m not sure that it was an improvement. (And Sabrina got married to Harvey all the same – what gives? Anything else would actually be honestly original rather than some sort of an unnecessary and self-defeating compromise?) Ergo, I’m not sure that this isn’t going to happen to ‘The Librarians’ as well post-S3 – the show will transform into something new, and not necessarily for the better.

…Speaking of something new, ‘Riverdale’ is coming to TV screens this year. It is loosely based on ‘Archie’ comics, (which include the original Sabrina, sort of), but everything about it show to be something original. We will just have to wait and see how it goes down.

That’s it for today; until next time, (probably with an AoS review).

Greek oracles and etc. - Dec 11

And so, now that AoS is gone until 2017 for real, let’s turn back to ‘The Librarians’, from time to time. In this particular episode, they had to deal with a self-fulfilling prophecy that risked having Eve dying from the Reaper. It was all a plot slash trap by the oracle of Delphi so that Eve would die in her place, but since Eve is one of the main cast of ‘The Librarians’, the oracle died instead. So?

So, the only worthwhile commenting piece is the prophecy, or rather – a prophecy. The one concerning Perseus, the star of ‘The Clash of the Titans’ movie and its’ remake, as well as several other features; also, the namesake of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson, one of RR’s most beloved heroes. Before, however, Perseus could slay the gorgon Medusa, and save Andromeda from a sea monster, he had to be conceived and born. His mortal grandfather was a king named Acrisius, who had a daughter named Danae, Perseus’ mother to be. One day, for no particular reason, Acrisius got a prophecy that he is going to die by his grandson’s hand.

Acrisius, naturally, got angry and scared, and imprisoned Danae into a bronze or copper tower without any windows and only one door. Zeus, the king of the Greek gods, saw Danae and infiltrated the tower in guise of a golden shower, and promptly impregnated her with the original Perseus. In nine months or so, after Perseus was born, Acrisius learned of this, sealed him and Danae into a wooden box or chest, and set the afloat so that they would die from natural causes rather than from his own hand (he was that sort of person, apparently).

Of course, Danae and Perseus survived, Perseus grew up, killed Medusa, saved Andromeda, etc. Eventually, he went to Argos, where his grandfather ruled. When his grandfather heard that Perseus was coming, he fled, and Perseus, not being the smartest of the antique heroes, decided to console himself by participating in the local Olympic Games (or something similar). In particular, he was one of the discus throwers. He threw the discus, it went sideways, (metaphorically speaking) and hit a member of the crowd, killing him dead. It was Perseus’ grandfather, albeit in disguise. The prophecy came true.

…Okay, and none of it is the same as the version told in ‘The Librarians’. Again, this is not a problem; ‘The Librarians’ may be a show about heroes fighting monsters and villains, but this is presented in an unorthodox manner; in part to make it more attractive for the viewers and to make ‘The Librarians’ more unique; and in part because of the budget – odds are, ‘The Librarians’ don’t have the same sort of budget that AoS or any of the ‘Arrowverse’ shows have, so fewer special effects by far. S2 has shown this quite often as an example.

Moreover, the Greek oracles themselves could be somewhat strange, if you look at them properly, without any modern adaptations, (like Rick Riordan’s), you would find yourself wondering: What were the Ancient Greeks thinking? The oracles varied from asking random strangers for advice, to the case of Croesus, the king of Lydia. He went to war with the Persians, asked the oracle for advice, the oracle replied: ‘King, you go to war, you destroy a great kingdom’. Croesus went to war, and destroyed a great kingdom – his own. The oracles are not to be trusted, and while ‘The Librarians’ have simplified (and/or skipped) this entire problem by making the oracle some sort of a demigod herself. No muss, no fuss, everything straightforward, and pure brainpower over brawn, as ‘The Librarians’ tend to do. Good luck to them and successfully high ratings, too!

PS: And the cool AU of the week would've been if Perseus had married Medusa instead, rescuing her from Athene's curse, but 'The Librarians' have nothing to do with that.

Egyptian myths & etc take 2 - Nov 27

So the second episode of ‘The Librarians’, S3. As I expected, they continue to run amok over the Egyptian mythology – what gives? In the season’s opening, they appeared to have confused Apep with Set; now, as I suspected, they have thrown Anubis into the mix.

First, who was Anubis? Anubis was an Egyptian god of the dead; a gatekeeper and a subordinate of Osiris, who was its’ ruler. Think Charon from the Greeks, but with a good deal more of responsibilities and oomph. Unlike the various monotheists, the pagans – Egyptians and Greco-Romans at least – put their entire afterlife into the underworld, and that was okay. For the Greeks and the Romans most of their dead spent the eternity on the asphodel fields in a limbo of sorts; for the Egyptians, if you were not good enough to live in paradise, Ammut, the devourer of souls, would devour you and that would be the end. Appropriately, Ammut was a creature that was part lion, part crocodile, part hippopotamus – the Egyptians knew just what creatures they feared, and they had very healthy imagination.

…This is all very good, but what did it have to do with werewolves? The short answer is – nothing at all. The Egyptians did not have werewolves, because there are no wolves in Africa, not even in the ancient times. There are so-called ‘Ethiopian wolves’, but these are more like jackals, and jackals are the Old World’s answer to the coyote, not the wolf. They just are not as scary as wolves are, not on the obvious level at least. Basically, when ‘The Librarians’ decided to tie lycanthropy to ancient Egypt and throw good old Anubis into the mix, they had no ties with the real-life Egyptian mythology and just came with something of their own, out of the blue.

Again, this is no problem, it is just strange behavior for a normally professional and precise show – seriously, the folks over ‘The Librarians’ and TNT in general were too lazy to read Rick Riordan’s ‘Kane Chronicles’ trilogy? Who knows…?

In other news, while ‘The Librarians’ appear to be revamping their show in general, possibly for the ratings, ‘River Monsters’ (RM) is coming back in 2017. Sadly, I find much less excited about it than before. For a long while, approximately for the first six or seven seasons, RM was awesome; now, it is still very good, but it has clearly jumped the shark. JW rocks, but he has exhausted his potential in exchange for ratings, and now it shows. S8 of RM has ended with a whimper, and it was focusing on marine life, rather than the freshwater one. RM still works, obviously, but it is equally obvious that it has jumped the shark and no matter what it will do, it will be unable to change this state of affairs.

Finally, AoS is returning this Tuesday, so yay. Of course, Arrowverse is launching its’ own major four-shows ‘crossover’, so Marvel, AoS and MCU are still the underdogs in the realm of television, but perhaps the expanding ‘Defenders’ can do something about this balance…

Therefore, until next week, then!

Egyptian myths & etc - Nov 21

Last Sunday, I began to watch the third season of ‘The Librarians’ (2014). As always, it is a rather enjoyable show – much more friendly and non-conventional than most other shows that I watch on TV; the titular heroes still have to defeat various villains with teamwork, but unlike, say, ‘Blindspot’, they do it not through violence, but through thinking and brainwork, and while there is SOME angst, usually there is more humor instead.

Also, unlike AoS, the cast and crew of ‘The Librarians’ treat their characters with respect and don’t appear to be rewriting the plot on a regular basis – they are as solid as AoS would like to be, (though AoS IS cleaning up its’ act in S4 – somewhat), which is why their treatment of the Egyptian myths is rather surprising.

Or perhaps it is mistreatment instead? (Feel free to make your own pun). Right now, one of the villains that the titular heroes have to defeat is Apophis, a monster from the Egyptian mythology. Surprisingly, the crew and especially the scriptwriters of the show had confused him with Set.

Now, Egyptian mythology IS somewhat confusing: just look at Ra/Re (the archenemy of Apophis or Apep) and Horus (the archenemy of Set). Both of them are falcon-gods, both of them have solar attributes, and both are depicted as either falcons or falcon-headed humans. Both have solar attributes, both had been chief deities of ancient Egypt at some point in time, and at least for some time they formed a single deity – Horus-Re. (Or Ra). Yeah, only professional Egyptologists would be bothered to distinguish between the two gods for real at this point.

Yet, while Set has something similar with another Egyptian god – Anubis, Apep is actually NOT really a part of this confusing imagery problem – he is a giant snake that awaits Ra nightly at the Tenth Hour of the Night and Ra has to defeat him, or else the sun, and the world, is doomed. The first episode of ‘The Librarians’ S3 has a depiction of Set (or Anubis), but it is inappropriate: Apep is a giant snake without any human or humanoid features, (unlike the rest of the Egyptian deities). He cannot really be confused with Set, or Horus, or any other Egyptian god or goddess – in no small part because he was not one, but rather a demon that must be warded and worshipped against instead.

I honestly hope that ‘The Librarians’ will be able to sort this unexpected and strange confusion between Set and Apophis out in the future episode, but don’t count on it, especially as the episode 3x02 promises ‘Egyptian werewolves’ instead, which implies Anubis instead. However, you know what? This sort of Egyptian confusion does not diminish one’s enjoyment of ‘The Librarians’ and their non-standard approach to various challenges.

…Speaking of standards and standardization, this reminds me of ‘Deadliest Warrior’ (DW), and especially the third and final season. Whether we are talking about ‘Teddy Roosevelt vs. Lawrence of Arabia’ or ‘Crazy Horse vs. Pancho Villa’, you are faced with a standard, two-person team for each character – one being the book expert, and the other doing all of the hard physical work.

…This sort of thing had not diminished the enjoyment of watching DW, especially not while the show was not cancelled. However, it might have contributed to the diminished ratings and to the reasons why DW became cancelled after S3. Of course, ‘Vampires vs. Zombies’ might’ve contributed to DW’s downfall as well – but that is another story…

Finally, AoS is returning to TV on Nov 29, so keep up and be ready to enjoy the series again, for as long as it has time to left…