Emily Watches Too Much Television

Continuing on the streak of amazing episodes of The Originals in this fabulous second season, this particular episode features an awkward family dinner (which are the best kind, let's be real), some awesome chemistry between Elijah and our newest baby vamp, and an introduction to a new witch Lenore, who lives and works across the river in Marcel's new neighborhood, and who, for reasons that will become obvious as I get into this recap, we will probably be seeing for quite a while. Considering this is the third episode out of EIGHT that have aired as of my writing this introduction, I'm just going to cut the chit-chat and just dig in, because I have a LOT of words to write. So, vamanos, babies, because "Every Mother's Son" is fantastic! Previously, on The Originals :  New Orleans used to be the Mikaelsons' home, and Klaus wanted to get back control over it like he had from the 1700s to 1919. Unfortunately, all his scheming and power-grubbing resulted i...

Ugh, real life sucks, doesn't it? My professors at school seem to think that their students only have their class and no others to worry about, so they assign hours upon hours of work, I've been spending 95% of my limited free time studying like a madwoman for the NCLEX (which I'm taking  I took  on the 20th! AND I PASSED! WOOT!) and as a result, I am RIDICULOUSLY behind on recaps, and for that I am so, so sorry! Never fear, I will be continuing to recap as much as I can, but chances are I won't have an opportunity to fully dedicate myself to catching up at least until after the NCLEX, if not when winter break rolls around. So, please keep checking in when you can, because I will be trying to get up new content as quickly as possible given the too-full plate I have going right now. Thank you guys so much for your patience. :) It drives me crazy when I can't meet my own deadlines, but sometimes you just have to be an adult and do what you need to do, you know? (Edite...

Could this season of The Originals be any better? If anyone was to tell me before this show started that I would end up loving this show more than pretty much any other show on television, I probably would have laughed. I liked Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah just fine, but I figured it would basically be exactly like the Vampire Diaries , only with a baby that nobody wanted. I am very glad to be wrong on this, because this show is seriously great, between all the battles between supernatural factions and the politics involved, the emotional growth of these Mikaelsons and their allies, and the complicated relationships between them, there is SO MUCH TO LOVE ABOUT THIS SHOW. Anyway, I'm still ridiculously behind, so I'm just going to plow into the recap so we can talk about the shenanigans that have been happening in the French Quarter, 'kay? Kay. Previously, on The Originals : New Orleans was the Mikaelsons' home once, back from the early 1700s to 1919, and last year, K...

Ugh, this episode was such a rollercoaster! On the one hand, I have the Alaric/Elena relationship and the Damon/Elena relationship making me cry my eyes out, and then on the other hand, Damon and Bonnie are, like, the light of my soul. So many conflicting feelings! And then, when you add in the anxiety and stress that comes from Tripp's confession and actions at the end of the episode, I am both excited and ridiculously nervous for what is to come! EEEEE. Also, this is a little off-topic, but it's recently been brought to my attention by a reader that I've never put my Tumblr URL up on this blog? SO, if you're a fan of TV show gifsets, flailing liveblogs during the airing of said TV shows, with a light sprinkling of feminist/SJ stuff scattered around, feel free to follow me at emily--kate . Anyway, I'm already so fucking behind because school and studying for exams has just sucked up literally all of my time, so let's just hop to it, yeah? I have a shitload ...

Welp, if this premiere episode is any indication, I have very high hopes for how The Originals is going to be this season, because "Rebirth" was an absolute delight of an episode. All of the actors did some of their best work yet, and it's set up lots of threads that could lead to some very interesting story lines. Not to mention the fact that I assumed the Guerrera plot would last at least through the first chapter of the season, but it was wrapped up all in one episode, so at this rate, we'll have plenty of exciting stuff to talk about! And that reveal at the end? BEST THING EVER. Basically, there aren't enough nice things to say in the English language to describe how much I loved this episode, so I'm just going to stop dawdling and get started. Settle in, babes, we have a LOT to discuss. Previously, on The Originals: In lieu of a "Previouslies" this week, we got Rebekah, who has her own home where she lives with Hope, tells a story (that just...

[Once again, sorry for the lateness, y'all! Midterms were this week and they were super brutal, but I am determined to get back on schedule ASAP so I don't run into the same problem I did last year when I thought I could recap three shows at once on top of school and work. Thanks for your patience!-- Emily] So, Kathleen and I watched TVD together this week, as per our Thursday tradition dating back to at least mid-season 4, and honestly, neither of us were super impressed. Still, I resolved to give it another couple of episodes, at least until we get a better idea of what Damon and Bonnie are up to, etc. Then, I decided to rewatch the episode, which ended up actually changing my own mind about a lot of it. Watching all of our faves in the Mystic Falls Gang being split apart because of everything that happened at the last season was an interesting change of pace. It felt like a pilot in a way, or a reboot, (which is likely why Kath and I weren't huge fans, at least at ...

Blah, blah, blah-- let's get talking about the Travelers, the witches, the doppelgängers, and the Other Side, because methinks it's gonna be relevant here in the present. You know, just a hunch.

YAY, ELENA IS FINALLY BACK. I still to this day cannot believe that the showrunners decided it would be a good idea to eliminate their main character, around whom the entire show revolves, just so a secondary character can have the spotlight for five episodes, but now that that infernal story line is over, it's all uphill from here! So, I'm not going to waste any more time getting into it! Let's talk "While You Were Sleeping!"

Yeah, so procrastination is kind of my biggest bad habit, so I apologize for cutting the season 5 refreshers so close, considering that season 6 has now already started. So, for time's sake, it's time to speed things up, as quickly as my wordy, rambly-ass can manage, anyway. So, I'm gonna dispense with the introduction. Let's dig in, shall we?

Welp, the Ripper serum still sucks, but the Mystic Falls Gang finally figured out the fact that their enemy has been parading around in the body of their best friend and most beloved Petrova doppelgänger, so that's a win! It's all uphill from here, for the most part, so hopefully the following recaps will be more positive than these ones have been. Let's dig into "No Exit!"

Welp, I've managed to do something to fuck up my upper back/right shoulder and it's been bothering me so much that I can barely get comfortable enough to write this post as it is, so for the sake of time and my very limited patience, I'm just gonna cut the bullshit and get started, cool? Cool.

Alright, let's talk housekeeping before we dig in, shall we? Since school has been consuming my time and energy and soul in general, and have now been left with about six days until The Vampire Diaries' next season starts up, I'm going to finish up the seasons' recaps with some quick(er) and dirty recaplets to get us all caught up for the new season that starts next week! The little feedback I got on the first one seemed very positive about the recapping style, so it's likely that I'll be adopting it for this season's TVD recaps, and saving the usual format for The Originals . So, that's the current plan for the updates that will be coming as we return to fall TV season (hallelujah!), and I'm hoping that many of you will be sticking around, even despite the lack of Teen Wolf for the next seven months. SO, let's talk "The Devil Inside," shall we?

Welp, this revisiting of the second half of TVD's fifth season has taken me WAY longer to start than I wanted/expected. To be honest with you guys, I pretty much loathed the second chapter or act of this season, (known as "The Augustine Chapter" ) and even though I have wanted to talk about the third act, which was much better, the thought of having to go through the middle episodes was not very appealing. But, season 6 will be approaching here in the next few months, and it looks AMAZING, so for the sake of my OCD-induced inability to leave things unfinished, no matter how late they may be, I am going to be talking about the rest of the episodes of the season over the two weeks of hiatus we have left Most of the hold-up for getting this series up and running was just waffling about how I wanted to go about doing these write-ups, because I didn't want them to be full-length recaps like I normally do, because that will take FOREVER and I will never end up catching up...

Welp, even though I'm positive my heart stopped at several different points while watching this episode, we all made it through (I think?) what ended up being hands-down the best episode of Season 4. I mean, what's not to love? Scott McCall truly is the truest of alphas; Derek Hale is a reborn-beta with even more power than before; Liam Dunbar is the most precious, strong, and brave little babe in the world, Malia Hale exceeded everyone's expectations and tbh, I think the fandom owes her a huge apology; Lydia Martin and Mason are two of the most die-hard loyal friends in the universe; Stiles Stilinski loves his pack so much that he ran into an Aztec temple full of berserkers and werecreatures in the middle of a full moon with no weapons whatsoever; and while Peter Hale and Kate Argent may not have been killed like I was hoping, they are out of the picture for now, each with their own story lines that have the potential to be amazing next season. Plus, Stilinski family feels...

Sorry, guys, but this week's episode killed me. Like, I am straight-up cremated, ashes-spread-at-sea dead . There was so much about this episode that I wholeheartedly loved and so much that I hated in the way that it's so bad because it is so intense  and I can't handle my faves being hurt. I'm not even going to try to summarize my feelings for this intro, I'm just going to dive right in, because honestly, a shitload of drama went down in "A Promise To The Dead," and to be honest with you, I still don't completely understand it. So, let's talk about this season's penultimate (NOOOOOO! :((((() episode of Teen Wolf ! Settle in, babies, because this recap is seriously going to be a doozy. Like, as long as my "Insatiable" recap was. Consider yourself warned! Previously, on Teen Wolf :  Kate Argent was killed by Peter clawing her throat out, but instead of being dead the last eight to twelve months like everyone thought, she was actua...

Alright, so a lot of confusing stuff has gone down this season up to the events of 04x10 "Monstrous," right? And a lot more confusing stuff is going to go down because of the confusing stuff that has already happened. Do you understand? No? Me either, but I'm going to try to make sense and order of what has been revealed so far, as well as coming up with some predictions about what the last two episodes of this season will be bringing us. I plan on making a decent guess at the timeline of the season, as well as the timeline of the events that led to the deadpool, plus we have a LOT to speculate about in regards to banshees, true alpha werewolves, nagual werejaguars, berserkers, and what the fuck Jordan Parrish might be, as well as our dear Stiles. We'll probably be talking a lot about the characters, too, naturally, because that's the best part. Basically, get saddled in, kiddos, because I have some words to say. ALSO, just as a warning-- this post will contain s...

HOW, how nuts was this episode, right? As kind of off-the-wall as it was, it had some really excellent character moments, some really neat reveals, AND dug deeper into the theme that has always been present in the show, but never as much as this season-- the "man versus beast" trope. It's been a struggle for Scott to maintain a healthy balance of humanity and lycanthropy in his life from the second he was turned, but as the stakes get higher and higher, and Scott has to sacrifice more and more in the name of protecting Beacon Hills, that struggle gets harder and harder to overcome. Scott has had a lot of reminders this season, and this week especially, that his life is nowhere close to "normal" human life, and that he's prone to repressing the thoughts that scare him-- that he can't go out on dates with his girlfriend or enjoy a bonfire with the lacrosse team without the constant fear of being attacked, that someday he could accidentally slip up and gi...

So, I have to give credit where credit is due to the writers, because I was literally just saying last week that I have read so much meta/speculation/theories about who the Benefactor is that I wouldn't be surprised by the reveal, because I had read compelling arguments that pointed to anyone from Danny to Mr. Harris to one of the Argents to Liam's stepdad and Agent Douchenozzle and everyone in between. But even despite the fact that Scott guessed that the Benefactor was likely a banshee because they knew when someone was or wasn't dead whether they had proof or not, everyone figured that it had to be Lydia's grandmother, Lorraine, since they found out she wrote the code, and NO one (or no one I know of, at least) even considered the fact that the Benefactor was Meredith. I know that personally, I saw her name on the deadpool and figured that fact meant she couldn't be the Benefactor, in the same way that I was desperately hoping that Jordan's presence on the li...

[I apologize in advance for the lateness-- this week has just been exhausting, between having to babysit my dad after he had surgery on Thursday and going out of town on Friday, so this is posted MUCH later than I ever intended. I promise that I'll be back on schedule next week!--Emily] Alright, so I know I'm always crowing about how every episode of Teen Wolf is the best episode of the season/ever, but seriously, you guys-- "Time of Death" is one of my favorite episodes of this season, if not my favorite. There is just SO much to love about it: there was TONS of Liam, Derek was in a hilariously sassy and playful mood all day and managed to have some hot sex with Braeden (FINALLY!), we got backstory on Malia and Lydia's families, some adorable Scott/Kira moments, a badass mother team-up (MELISSA AND NOSHIKO SHOULD JUST RULE THE WORLD TBH) and Chris defending Scott against Kate! Not to mention all of the drama surrounding Scott's "death" and the ...

When Teen Wolf's season 4 trailers and promos started coming out, a friend and I were talking about it, and she said, "This season looks so scary!" I figured it would be pretty anxiety-inducing, because it always is, but by now, I feel comfortable saying that this season has stressed me out more than any other, in a good way! This week's episode did nothing to disappoint, either. Between the amazing character moments and the decently-intense plot, there was definitely plenty going on this week! So honestly, I'm just going to cut to the chase and get started, because we have a LOT to discuss, my friends of friends. Let's talk about "Weaponized!' Previously, on Teen Wolf :  Liam's lacrosse rival from his old school, Brett Talbot, was nearly killed by Violet and Garrett at the first lacrosse scrimmage, and was ultimately revealed to be a member of a werewolf pack led by now-alpha Satomi Ito, also known as Noshiko's friend while she was in the O...

OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS. My heart is still pounding from all of the shit that happened this week, I don't even know where to start. As usual, Scott McCall is KING, and Malia temporarily took on Kira's role as Queen of Everything. Then, we got the last third of the deadpool, learning a LOT of new mythology stuff from Derek, as well as some more backstory on our old friend Satomi from "The Fox And The Wolf!" And best of all, Jordan Parrish is TOO PRECIOUS FOR THIS WORLD. But the main thing I'd like to briefly discuss before we get started is that while Allison may be dead, her presence is still constantly being felt in this first half of the season, even if she's not explicitly mentioned. Between Lydia and Stiles lamenting the number of people who have died that they know in the last year, to Scott's vow to not let anyone else on the deadpool die, regardless of what kind of creature they are, to Chris' determination to neutralize or put down Kate and the ...

OH MY GOD YOU GUYS. The fifth episode in any season of Teen Wolf is usually pretty fucking bananas, but this one really takes the cake. The funny parts were so enjoyable that I could not stop laughing, but the rest just made me so anxious and worried for our heroes that I felt like I was on the verge of a panic attack for the entire hour, in the best way. Before we start, I'd like to talk about Scott McCall, true alpha of all our hearts, because for being the main character around whom the show revolves AND the titular "Teen Wolf" himself, he does NOT get the credit he deserves, and this episode is evidence of that fact. Wasn't it such sweet comeuppance when Violet got so high off of the amount of money flooding her bank account that she deluded herself into thinking that taking down the most valuable supernatural on the list was something she was capable of doing? Even Garrett insisted that they at least needed to prepare a little before going after the big game ...

God, what a fucking PERFECT EPISODE, am I right? Its perfection was made even more obvious after the shit-show of a time I had trying to watch the episode last night. MTV in my area somehow froze on a still frame for a commercial for that new show that appears to be a bunch of stoners making munchie food for their fellow stoner judges, and it got stuck on that for like, two whole hours! So, I switched to a livestream online that proceeded to drop out every other minute or so, so I missed 3/4 of the important stuff until I could finally download the episode to watch it f'realsies. THEN, the download I found had the dialogue audio missing during the Lydia scene, so I had to desperately track down ANOTHER version from a non-MTV source with the dialogue audio. The struggle is real. But, yeah, you guys don't care about that stuff-- the point is, this episode made me happy in so many ways that it was more or less worth all the effort in frustration! We saw that Derek is not only co...

HOLY. SHIT. When Kathleen and I were talking about the promo, and were wondering what Sean and his family were going to be, and she mentioned she saw speculation that they would be cannibals, so I was like, "OH I BET THEY'RE WENDIGOS," because I've watched way too much Supernatural. I wasn't exactly serious, but then, lo and behold, they totally were, and now I'm kind of dying laughing because Jeff Davis said we'd be getting back to human problems this season and away from supernatural drama, and yet, we've already been introduced to at least, like, four different varieties of new supernatural creatures: a nagual, a pair of berserkers, a family of wendigos, and that weird mouthless guy who I still do not understand yet. So, needless to say, we have PLENTY to keep us busy in this episode: the introduction of the new lacrosse babies Liam and Garrett, some serious chemistry and detective work with Lydia and Deputy Parrish, and so many A+ Skittles moment...

So, was this a hilarious and entertaining hour of television, or what? I thoroughly enjoyed "117," you guys, although I will admit that I'm still not 100% sure that I understand what happened (I'm hoping that puzzling it out while I write this recap will probably help.) Regardless, we did manage to get some answers about what the fuck is happening, and also quite a bit of set-up for a couple of issues that I'm sure are going to become a problem in the near future. But really, the best part was just all the bantering, the hilarious explanations, and adorably endearing character interactions that make this show so addicting. Seriously, as long as all of the pack mates are constantly sassing each other in the most loving ways possible, I will continue to watch this show. So, enough with the chit chat, yeah? Let's talk about Teen Wolf ! Previously, on Teen Wolf:  Scott found a bunch of shell casings carved with a skull at Derek's loft, indicating he had ...

I have a problem, my friends, and that problem is Kate Argent. Between her hijinks in the time since her "death," her weird connection to Araya and the Calavera hunters, and those crazy bony things that I am pretty sure are berserkers, I have so many questions (and half-formed theories) and I am DYING for answers. And that's not even getting into that whole "turning-Derek-into-a-cute-teenager" thing. Like, what the fuck is she doing? What are her motivations? I have a couple ideas, tbh, though probably unlikely-- with this show, though, you never really know. I'm hoping it will help out timeline-wise, as well, although we all know Jeff Davis is allergic to numbers, and as such, trying to make a logical timeline is totally futile. I cannot take credit for all of these ideas, though; anything in this post are theories and hypotheses that are a result of my frequent brainstorming sessions with my dearest Kathleen , which is very much a collaborative effort. ...

[Edited to add: I started writing my notes/speculation section after I finished the recap, and realized that I have way too much to say in the way of theories/meta to tack it to the end of an already way too long recap, so they're going into another post that should be set to be posted on Saturday. Expect TONS of discussion regarding Kate Argent, Araya/the Calaveras, and Teenage!Derek, among other things! Sorry for the switch up, but I figure it's probably easier to read this way.] HOLY. SHIT. HOLY. SHIT. HOLY. SHIT. I admit that I was the tiniest bit nervous about this new season, because losing Allison and Isaac both seemed like a huge blow to the pack and to the show in general, especially considering they were my favorite characters after King Scott. Don't get me wrong, this show is my baby, and I will most likely watch/love it until the bitter end, so I was mostly SUPER EXCITED to learn what's going down in Beacon Hills for this round, but there was still that ...

HOLY. SHIT. I am a TV nut, so I have seen quite a few season finales in my day, but I cannot for the life of me remember a time that I felt SO SATISFIED with an ending. Like, seriously, this neatly tied up all of the dangling threads in the most perfect way possible. Remember how when we first learned that Hayley was pregnant, and then we were all angry, like, "WHY WOULD THEY PUT A BABY ON A SHOW ABOUT MURDEROUS MONSTERS?" And then, sometime during this season, I actually got ATTACHED to that little demon child, and the thought of her being killed by Genevieve (or worse, MONIQUE) was absolutely devastating. But, at the same time, nobody actually WANTS a little baby on a supernatural drama, because while Klaus changing diapers would be pretty hilarious the first time, it would get super boring after like one episode. So, this ending was the perfect way to remedy that-- the newborn Baby Mikaelson gets to go live with Auntie Beks and have the white picket fence they both deserv...

This episode was seriously BANANAS, you guys. I have to say that it is probably one of my all-time favorite episodes EVER, which is a pretty high bar, considering the vast amount of television I have consumed over the years. Seriously, though, literally everything that could go wrong, did go wrong in this episode, and I was NOT expecting any of it. First, we're given a bunch of blows to the gut just in reveals alone--Genevieve tricked Klaus by using his blood in the moonlight stones as a power source, which means the moonlight stones that will actively be used by werewolves on a full moon will be drawing on HIS strength to control their transformations. And, to make matters worse, she had secretly made a plan with Francesca to rip off the Crescents and give HER the moonlight stones, because get this, THEY'RE FUCKING GUERRERA WEREWOLVES, who have not only been pretending to be human this whole time, but specifically waited until they had the means to control their transformat...

Man, this episode was kind of terrifying, wasn't it? I have to admit that Mikael has kind of always scared me, because he's one of those characters who has literally no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and as a result, will nearly ALWAYS end up fucking over the heroes in the most horrible yet spectacular fashions. So, the fact that Mikael was totally willing to kill a more-or-less innocent pregnant girl and her unborn child is not really surprising, but still disgusting as hell. There were a WHOLE lot of other exciting developments in this episode, too, from Francesca getting fleshed out as a Stone-Cold-Bitch, Cami dealing with Kieran's death, with a little help from Marcel, a greater peek into Genevieve's character and willingness to stay alive, and the ancestors in general. Plus, y'know, the HAYLIJAH KISS that I feel like I've been waiting for for at least eighty-four years and Klaus once again showing that there may just be a shred of humanity left in him. A...

Well, we've reached the point in the season where every single plotline is hurtling full-throttle towards the finale, and not only can I not believe just how fast this season flew, I am also shocked at just how amazing this show has become since it first started last fall. I've already talked a bit about my disappointment in the majority of this season of The Vampire Diaries , but the Originals , on the other hand, has kept my attention since the very beginning. I think part of the appeal has been the fact that everyone in the show (save for Davina) is a grown adult, so there's no bothering with school, and really, there isn't that much focus on work, either. The Originals is focused solely on the relationships between the characters and the politics between the constantly warring factions in the French Quarter, which has resulted in a lot of drama that seems so much more mature in comparison. So, to say that "An Unblinking Death" was intense is a HUGE und...

Alright guys, before we dig into this recap, I just wanted to update you on what to expect over the next couple weeks! Now that I'm out of school for the summer and my main job is just studying for my nursing license exam, I have WAY more time to catch up on these recaps! SO, I'll be knocking out the rest of this season of The Originals first, and then I will be starting a new thing I'd like to call "Emily Re-watches Season 5 of TVD," because it would be silly at this point to pretend like we all don't already know what has gone down on the show ever since I took my sabbatical from writing  TVD recaps. So, I'll be revisiting the last half of this season of TVD , only instead of my usual recap format, we're going to be looking back on what happened in terms of everything we know as of the show's finale, "Home," which is due to air this week. THEN, hopefully, I'll be done catching up on both those shows by June 24, which is when Teen...