Wild Speculation #3: Wynonna Earp Season 1 Episode 1, Purgatory

Warning: This post will contain spoilers for this episode.

I rarely enjoy the main female lead in any story. I usually ending up preferring one of the side characters instead.

Less than nine minutes in, I was beginning to suspect I might like Wynonna. Though I confess I'm sorry the blond at the beginning went. Why do horror TV shows always kill off the side character most interesting to me first?

Anyway.

I was fairly certain I liked Marshal Dolls, right up until the end, where he tries to out-dominate a clearly dominant personality type. Not only do I think it was the wrong play, I think it was a display of ego... and I dislike the arrogant characters. Give me a Thrawn any day. Han Solo? Yeah, I'll leave him to you, thanks.

Ten minutes in we had Wyatt Earp's name dropped as her ancestor, and the OK corral mentioned as well. I grew up on stories of Earp and OK, and when I heard about this TV show, I really hoped it somehow connected with all of that. The moment they mentioned Doc Holliday and the fact that he had TB? I lost my mind.

And Holy Sith, Malcolm pulling the tongue out of that guy's mouth? Wow.

I love the idea that Wynonna's backstory is a bit less straightforward than Dad-taken-and-killed. That she tried to save him, and in the attempt, shot him. Now I'm going to say this here and now, though: In season 3 or 4 I imagine they would open the can of worms that says she wasn't the one who shot him. Someone else was there and did that, and her bullet went wide. I hope they don't, but I have a very sneaking suspicion it'll happen.

Take a deep breath baby girl. That end fight scene where Wynonna is juggling between fighting and holding her hanging sister? Wow. That was different from the usual fight scene choreography.

The question of what did Wyatt do to end up with this curse heading down his line is a very interesting question, and I don't actually have any theories as of yet, except maybe he shot someone loved by some sort of spell-caster, but I anticipate they'll make it quite a bit more interesting than I just said.

Now. The Man Who Climbed Out of The Well.

Yes.

Who is this guy? Is he Doc Holliday? They went out of their way to specify how Doc died early on in the episode, and yes, while I was completely geeking out about it, I was aware enough to know that was an odd thing to put in there if it doesn't prove useful later.

If not Doc, he could easily be one of the other Earp brothers, because Wyatt was by no means the only son of that house.

However it turns out, I'm looking forward to episode 2, and for a TV show pilot, that's unusual for me.

The Snoke Theory I Hope Is True

For the most part, I am content with waiting to find out the answers to the questions about future movies instead of backing one theory or another, but this past week I ran into a Snoke theory I actually like.

It runs something like this.

Snoke is a brand-new character, but a very old one. And the Force-important mysterious something buried on Jakku (first brought up in the Aftermath trilogy) is actually Snoke.

That the battle of Jakku disturbed his prison and freed him from where he'd been trapped, watching the events of the past decades but unable to interfere.

This theory appeals heavily to the Goth in me, the idea of an ancient menace awakened by unsuspecting mortals.

This one I think might actually be likely, as opposed to the theory my brother and I cobbled together while reading Thrawn.

What if, instead of the EU's Yuuzhan Vong, we have Snoke's people? What if, all along, Thrawn has been trying to prepare to fight against the threat from outside the galaxy... the threat of Snoke?

I love that idea, but I doubt Thrawn is considered that important in the new canon, so I'm going to hope for the You-Woke-The-Ancient-Evil-Thing theory instead.

Wild Speculation #2: Beauty and the Beast (2012-2016) Season 1 Episode 4, Basic Instinct

Warning: This post will contain spoilers for this episode, and any episodes that came before it.

This particular blog post was written as I watched the episode, so it will feel a bit in-the-moment and choppy.

It feels like they're setting up our ME to be a love interest, mostly because they're putting so much effort into not my type and he's a player and I only date a woman for two months. Too much attention has been placed on that dynamic to just have it be nothing, I think. On the other hand, I'm convinced it will only be a short-term thing, and that by the end of the series (unless it was cut short), Beauty and Beast will be together.

While I enjoy the whole mystery of will she give him up to gain information on her mother plotline for this episode, I don't actually believe she'll give him up. We'll see if I'm wrong, but even if they have her pick up the phone, just about ready, I think she'll chose no.

Does anybody think that the near-naked man in their apartment an episode or so ago might not just be random? We know Muirfield is keeping an eye on everything. If I were Muirfield, would I want to have someone inside her home in a seemingly-innocent way? Her sister's boyfriend would be a perfect in. Not only would he have access to the house at strange hours, he'd be forming a bond with Little Sis, and the more Little Sis trusts him, the more she may say.

Plus, once Muirfield needs more leverage against Catherine, having the boyfriend take Little Sis out to dinner... only it's not dinner... makes the kidnap very clean and efficient and available at the drop of a hat.

I'm not sure what to think of J.T. yet. I'm still wary.

“I'm a cop. I put people like you away.” “You are trying to decide if I belong in a cage.” Ooh, I like that. There's a series of detective novels I've read where the lady homicide cop calls sending killers to prison putting them in cages.

“You're not scared that we're going to hurt her. You're scared that you are.” — Mister Big Bad to Vincent. Nice.

Ooh! A heart-to-heart between Catherine and J.T.! Let's see what gets said...

Ever afraid of him?

No. Known him my whole life... he'd never hurt me.

How do you know?

Pause the video! Wild Speculation time: He's going to say, “He's my brother!”

Oh— nope. Said, “I just know.” Hmm. Well, I'm still thinking brother's a reasonable one. Or best friends in elementary school. Or his sister's husband.

I doubt it's because he and Vincent are an item, on the other hand, if he's into Vincent, that could add to his outrage about Catherine, but I'm not really getting a love-triangle vibe from these guys, so that's not something I'm going to put any weight on.

Hey! J.T. going to town on that Muirfield agent with a baseball bat! Nice. He may be afraid, but he's not letting it stop him.

I like the way Catherine fights.

Ah. So Vincent has the Muirfield guy by the neck, looks like he's going to kill him— calling it now, he won't.

Wait. Looks like he might have, actually. Not very clear to me.

I like the final baseball scene, especially the excitement and little dance Catherine does when it finally works. We've seen her be very competent, smart, good at her job, and a very capable fighter. I like that she can be a stern cop and dance a victory dance as too.

Wild Speculation #1: Beauty and the Beast (2012-2016) Season 1 Episode 3, All In

Warning: This post will contain spoilers for this episode, and any episodes that came before it.

This particular blog post was written as I watched the episode, so it will feel a bit in-the-moment and choppy.

I started watching Beauty and the Beast a couple weeks ago, and since it's the current TV show I'm working my way through, I think we'll start here.

For the record, I really like the lettering when they give the nameplate for the show at the beginning of the episodes, the way the lettering crawls, and has the spooky background.

The murder-by-car scene at the beginning of the episode was surprisingly honest. They showed a lot more of it than I was expecting. No gore, but they didn't play it off as you know it happened but only saw the car hit him frontways. Nope. It backed over the poor man and the camera stayed put. I can't help but wonder if that will be the tone for the rest of the show, because I was under the impression it wouldn't. Our “beast” has been spectacularly difficult to actually see so far.

I really like the dynamic between Tess and Catherine so far.

What do you want to bet this random inspection of the examination room has everything to do with our Beast, and nothing to do with an assistant who “misfiled paperwork”?

Ah, time code 23:10— “said the man had a knife in his arm” “probably meant in his hand.” I'm calling it now, it's a tattoo.

27:52— Awesome! It was a tattoo! And an awesome one at that.

I absolutely love how Catherine displays no fear of our Beast. She steps up, takes charge, talks him down. She doesn't yell at him to pull himself together, she takes this completely in stride. She takes control and changes the equation so the result can be as positive as possible.

Now I'm trying to figure out if the big confrontation with the Beast Masters (And now I'm starting to sound like Cisco from Flash) will begin mid-season or as the season finale. I'm going to give a completely unsubstantiated guess (the point of this type of post) and say I think it will be... mid-season finale. I'll let you know if my guess changes!

And now I have a cat trying to share my lap with the laptop, so I'm going to have to stop typing or kick her off. I'm afraid the cat wins.

See you next time, guys!