THREE FAT BUDDHAS: THE RETURN OF MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA

Put down your saucepans and break out the Kleenex! Masterchef Australia is back!

George has slimmed down! Which is a bit annoying as it has now reduced the impact of my title for this piece. Anyway, we have been promised that this year they are concentrating on the cooking, which means no dramas and sob stories. For those of you that don't know the show has been getting a beating in the ratings war, last year the competition was My Kitchen Rules (which is not staged at all!!!!) and this year is from House Rules, a diy programme that actually makes DIY interesting.

Masterchef Australia begins with a return to the selection round which was dropped last year. Once the top twenty four were chosen it's on with the cooking. Oh, wait!there is just one thing to sort out. Just as Gary is welcoming the top twenty four he announces thaat one person is missing: Cecelia. Cecelia is recovering  from a brain injury and upon receiving medical advice the show has decided not to allow her to compete and Georgia, who has already had a lot of airtime is replacing Cecelia. So, having been assured in the press release that it was all about the cooking this year we have our first sob story BEFORE WE HAVE SEEN ANY COOKING! I'm sure  it wasn't put there for dramatic effect!

It has been evident in this show in previous series that a good back story gets you a long way in the competition. Family tragedies are always a good choice, or an ex drug user who was saved by his love of food (Rhys from Masterchef the professionals) or have worked for the Queen (last season, can't remember her name) or been an Olympic athlete (Emma, last years winner). So who is getting airtime early in the competition this year?

Another thing I have learned over the years is that in the early rounds the best and the worst get a lot of attention. This is common sense, but it does allow you to make predictions early on as to who is going home first. I won't discuss eliminations as that would be a big spoiler, I will instead look at the characters that are "good TV". First off we have Byron. He tells us that the competition really means a lot to him. In fact he has given up his job in the states and dumped his girlfriend to be a part of this years show. During the first challenge set by George all I will say is that two components were supposed to go into two moulds. He got his the wrong way round. Lucky for him he has a good back story so the girlfriend dumper is through safely.

Alarmingly people are still crying all over the place as they recount their food dream to the judges, who are always ready to ask: "What does it mean to you to be here? What's your food dream? What have you had to sacrifice to be here? Bloody hell! It's only a bit of cooking for gods sake! But if you want to succeed in this program you had better be willing to cry when your eggs don't cook or you serve raw meat. I bet its in their contracts. Either that or the shows producers are good at spotting weepy people in the auditions.

There is also a chance to get sentimental when all the former champions appear to promote an ingredient each for the challenge. They are all part of the masterchef family now. Ahhh!

During the selection round I noticed that it had the feel of Masterchef USA. They even dragged in a contestants gran to plead his case. When the challenges start our old friend the "advantage" is put in play for whoever wins the challenge. I hate these things! They can let an average cook go furthar than they should and a good one go home before they should. This is especially the case with immunities. If you want to watch a cooking competition that doesn't give advantages and instead of which rewards the best cooks then watch Masterchef UK. All other versions of the Masterchef franchise wish to change the format to one of a game show.

So the promise of less drama is already compromised and there is more to come. In show three Amy burns her curry, gets in a fluster and begins to have a meltdown. Obviously it is time for big Matt to follow her in to the pantry and give her a motivational speech. This, of course, turns her from a gibbering wreck to a focussed competitor. Now that she has had a bit of attention she is fine. When a challenge is underway you notice that the same few people are being given more airtime and these are the ones picked out at the end as the top and bottom three. Many contestants are quite anonymous during the early rounds.

Whose in the running then? Byron won't have it his own way. There is Ben, for example who is recovering from Leukemia, and Jamie has a baby in hospital for an operation. There is also Scott who looks after his Gran and Grandad. In his first challenge, though, his time management is bad and serves only potatoes. He gets warned that this could put him out of the competition if it was an elimination round. During the judging we see Amy's finished Curry. Time for another speech, this one from George. He learned something today, he tells her, she is a fighter, she doesn't give in. Yeah, George, she can overcome the trauma of burning Onions. She really is a rock. Jamie of the hospitalised baby fame does well and you know we will see a lot of him. Ditto Laura.

I have watched five episodes now and I must say that apart from adapting some Masterchef USA features, like bringing in Nicks Gran and taking Laura, the challenge winner in to the pantry to select the ingredient everyone will cook I haven't noticed much difference from previous seasons. We still have those annoying crying contestants (big babies), sob stories and dramas in the kitchen. It is most definitely NOT all about the cooking. Without the game show immunities and advantages plus the dramas and the hysterical contestants it would be just about the cooking.

Mind you, it is nowhere near as bad as My Kitchen Rules which overplays emotions, dramas and conflicts. The last season was certainly gearing up towards a final between the two main protagonists but had to change their plans due to a Twitter storm of protests from fans of the show. I think that the fans were right and the producers had lost sight of the actual reason for the show: the cooking.

It just makes me wonder, do the fans of these kind of programmes want to see cooking or watch a drama? Do the producers of these shows control everything from beginning to end to create a quality drama about cooking or a cooking show with some drama?

One way to find out would be to give us a show where the viewers vote for the contestants. Then we would know what people want. Unless, of course the shows fix the outcome. After all, how would we know? 

AN OPEN LETTER TO AMANDA TAPPING

Dear Amanda

First of all may I say that I have enjoyed your acting and producing/directing in the past, and it is good to see a woman breaking in to the male dominated world of TV directing.

Now that you are in this position you have the opportunity to show women as strong characters, which is what I would like to write about now.

I have watched Continuum since the start despite finding it difficult to identify and sympathise with the main character Keira Cameron. My problem is not with her, per se, but what she represents. When watching a programme that has as its hero someone that is trying to safeguard a corporate fascist future and is fighting against "terrorists" that are trying to prevent a dystopian, Orwellian future from developing then I tell you what I am not supporting: fascism. Go  Liber8!

Fair enough, she does have to ensure the future pans out correctly because she has to ensure that her her family are going to be there when she gets back. I know that there is a film with the name but can one go back to the future, is she not going forward in going back? Either way I do not like the future she comes from. As far as I'm concerned there is too much corporate control exerted over us now. I wish that they would hurry up and lose all their money so that we can start again and have Butchers shops, tailors and  Grocers stores, and so on. But I digress, as usual.

Anyway, leaving that aside I would like to ask you a question: why does Keira keep crying? Here you have the opportunity to show her as a strong woman able to survive in a mans world and deal with the same problems as them in the same manner, and what happens when she is in a tricky situation, like being captured by the timelords, or whatever they are? She starts blubbing.

Apart from anything else she is supposed to be a computer controlled future militarised cop, the sort of cop that has their empathy removed so that they can make calculated, logical decisions. There is no way that she would be bursting into tears. Not even when thinking about the family that she left behind in the future. She is supposed to be a robocop, but damn! In this show we get the one robocop that is flawed by traces of human feelings.

Then we have Carlos Fonnegra, her partner. Given all the weird stuff that he has accepted since the start of the first series why can't the guy get it into his head that even if there are two Keiras they are still the same person? When he meets the one that came back from next week he is all "well how do I know I can trust you? I've only just met you. I have known Keira 1.0 since the beginning of season one. How do I know you are the same as her?" Really, Carlos! Its simple.

One is from the year 2077 and one is from next week. However, the one from next week is also from 2077 and has time travelled twice. The one from next week knows about the one from 2077, but 2077 doesn't know about her. To save Carlos too much of a headache 2077 Keira gets herself shot and dies. Now there is only next weeks Keira who has all the knowledge and experiences as the 2077 version. Perhaps next weeks Keira shouldn't have asked Carlos to get rid of 2077s body, thats what started his meltdown. Come on Carlos, whats so confusing about that?

Next weeks Keira, who I shall now refer to as just Keira, as 2077 is out of the picture, then furthar confuses him by telling him that ther are two Alecs: one chooses to run  his fathers corporation, the other chooses love. Keira explains that there is a right Alex and a wrong Alex and she has to get rid of one and also find her killer. The right Alex is the one who came back for Emily, the other is now an anomaly, as future Alex, all powerful leader did not take over his old mans company.

Having got rid of an Alex things should normalize, but will the future that Keira came from still be the same? How come she locked up the right Alex and let the other continue in the timeline? I know he is the one from that timeline but he is not the one that shaped the future - or is he?

Anyhow, Keira has had an eye opening experience that made her look at the world differently. Does this mean she is going to switch sides now?

In closing, could I just ask you to consider not letting Keira cry. She's supposed to be a double-hard bastard like xena. You didn't see Xena sobbing all over the place, did you? In addition it may be an idea to increase Fonnegras IQ score a bit.

So keep up the otherwise good work and I'll carry on watching

yours sincerely

Des

TRUE DETECTIVE

HBO TV

TV has never been short of Detective series. These type of shows generally show the viewer how efficient the police are in an attempt to deter potential criminals. There is usually the same kind of set up for these shows, a team or a partnership investigate crimes, usually breaking the rules as they go and with great ease they solve their cases.

So what has True Detective got to offer? Well, it has Woody Harrelson for a start, and Woody is on form in this one. The story is basically about an old case he and his partner worked on  being reviewed. The case had been that of Det. Rust Cohle (Matthew McConnaughty) and Det. Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson). The case is being re-examined by two detectives, Maynard Gilbough ( Michael Potts) and Thomas Papania ( Tory Kittles). At first they are reluctant to tell either Rust or Marty why they are looking in to the case. They make them go through every detail of the case they worked. Apparently Hurricane Andrew had destroyed the original case notes.

IMAGES FROM THE INTRODUCTION

Right from the start the viewer knows that this is going to be a dark piece. The titles feature a sort of bluesy/country song which is downbeat and sets the scene for the area where the action happens. There is an Aluminium works which in the titles is belching out smoke. Perhaps high levels of Aluminium in the blood may help understand the way people in this show act. The lyrics refer to "the poisoned Creole soul". There are a lot of dumbed down trailer trash kind of people and all the characters, including the main characters seem to have a difficult time controlling their behavior. Other images in the title show bondage, nudity, roughnecks and farmland. When Woody Harrelsons face appears he looks stern and there is an overlay of metal which makes him look creepy. I really liked that. It sums up the mood of the piece precisely. This is followed up with religious images and fire. Rust is seen in the fire, which also sums him up. He burns inside, mostly with disgust for the world. By the time the titles have finished running the viewer knows what they are going to get and should be looking forward to watching.


The case in question was one with satanic overtones. A young girl was found naked and posed, with a deer antler head piece on. The two original detectives go through the case step by step. They had thought it was a one off murder at first but on looking in to unsolved cases they realised that they were dealing with a serial killer. The pace of this show is very slow. We learn as much about the character of the detectives as we do the case. The dynamic between the two main characters is strained : they are not friends but not against each other either. Marty is a straight up kind of guy with normal beliefs and a desire to fit in with his colleagues. Rust on the other hand is broody, antisocial and solitary. When Rust is being interviewed he both smokes and drinks although asked not to. He does not respect authority and is highly individual. He also has beliefs and opinions that Marty considers to be "out there". In one exchange Rust tells Marty that humans should not exist. He claims that consciousness in humans led to too much self awareness which led to the concept of the self. He rejects this notion as false as we are not separate from nature and our separateness has led to our downfall. On hearing this deep and philosophical theory Marty feels uncomfortable and says to Rust "Don't talk like that, people don't like it - I don't like it! Rust describes himself as an Atheist and pessimist. After giving Marty his very gloomy run down of his interpretation of life Marty responds with "I tell you what, let's make the car a zone of quiet contemplation."

The victim of the original crime

The new case

As they investigate, however it becomes apparent that they work well together and respect each other as detectives. As the case unfolds it leads them to a very influential family. You know the sort, just think "Eyes Wide Shut" or the Rothschild parties exposed on Infowars.com and Youtube. As the guilty person is from an elitist family the detectives begin to get their case interfered with by people who don't want the truth to come out. Eventually Gilbough and Papania show Rust a picture of a new case where the victim has been crucified. This was in response to Rust becoming suspicious that the interview was because something new had happened. Up until that point it looked like they thought that Rust was involved somehow.

As a result of this new evidence Rust and Marty decide to investigate anew. Neither of them are detectives anymore, well not on the force as Marty has a Private Detective and Rust seems to be a drifter. He has definitely let himself go, looking extremely unkempt. They know that they are looking for someone in the Tuttle family, an influential local family which includes a state governer and a minister who has opened bible schools all over the west coast. The victims of satanic ritual were from close by to these schools.


The original case took its toll on the detectives and their relationship which was not helped by Martys wife Maggie (Michelle Monaghan) sleeping with Rust. Putting all that aside they bring the case to a proper conclusion bringing down the elitist family. Yep, thats my kind of drama. Rich devil worshipping paedophile elites getting what they deserve. If only it would happen in real life. Its a shame I live in the UK because I would love to have a gun with which to mete out social justice. (I jest, of course. I don't know why anyone would want a gun. They should be banned.)


Although the pace of this piece is slow it is none the less fascinating and kept my eyes glued to the screen. The interplay of characters, and of past and present are excellent and the mood of the drama draws you in. The story has eight parts and is wrapped up nicely, suggesting it is a stand alone drama rather than an ongoing series. It is certainly worth watching and I highly recommend it. More like this please, HBO.

NEW YEAR NEW SHOWS : THE AFTER

I have been looking forward to The After as I know it is the brainchild of Chris Carter, creator of The X files and Millennium. It is the story of a group of people brought together when the SHTF (I'm sure you are all aware of that acronym). The cast has a mix of known and new faces and features :

Adrian Pasdar (Lost) as wade
Aldis Hodge (Leverage, Die Hard: With A Vengeance) - D. Love
Arielle Kebble (90210, The Vampire Diaries) - Tammy
Jaina Lee Ortiz ( The Shop) - Marley
Andrew Howard (Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen) - Mc Cormick
Jamie Kennedy - David
Louise Monot - Gigi Generau
Sharon Lawrence (Drop Dead Diva, One Tree Hill, Rizzoli and Isles) - Francis

The episode begins with Gigi, a wannabe actress preparing for an audition for a part. After her audition she heads back towards the Hotel she is staying in. She enters a lift noticing the large number of police, one of whom gets in the lift with her. A clown arrives and gets in. There are five people in the lift as already in there are an Irish guy and another woman. The lift stops and they can hear alarms going off outside. No-one has a cell signal.

Is this the start of a joke? A clown, an Irishman, a policewoman, a diabetic and a French woman walk in to a lift....

They open the lift door enough to squeeze out and find themselves in an underground car park. They are now locked in here. Another couple come out of the stairwell and the door slams shut. They make their way to an exit where a crash gate of some sort has dropped. They call to someone outside but he doesn't seem to acknowledge them. He looks like he is in shock. They go back to the car with the alarm sounding and an escaped felon runs toward them. The cop, Marley shoots him in the stomach. As they stare at him another felon, D. Love appears with a shotgun. There is a standoff that eventually eases and D points out that the old lady, Francis has collapsed. It turns out she is Diabetic.

D. gets a jack and lifts the gate up enough to slide under. He goes to get help. As Gigi goes under the gate it drops, almost trapping her foot and leaving the rest locked in. She promises to be back with help. Gigi gets up to street level and finds chaos. To be brief she makes her way through it and back to them with food and drink. Nobody knows what is going on. There is no power. As they start to think about how they are going to get out D. reappears in a fire truck and drives through the gate. They all get in and head for safety. Unfortunately they hit a motorcyclist and the crowd realize that they are not fire crew. D. puts his foot down on the gas and crashes through a barricade and they head toward where Francis lives to get food.

When they arrive D. has to crash through the electric gates to get in. They find a mansion waiting at the end of the drive. Francis must be one of the 1%. Once in the house, in the kitchen they notice a birthday marked on a calender on March 7th. They realize they all share the same birthday on that date. With blatant racial stereotyping, McCormick, the Irishman gets drunk and starts picking fights. They hear a car pull up and it turns out to be the missing maid Graciela being dragged around by a group of kidnappers. As they make demands and disarm the cop D. appears and swings in to action. He shoots at the kidnappers as he gets everybody back inside. They run straight out the back in to the woods with the kidnappers on their trail.

It gets a bit silly for a while like TV thrillers do. For example, Gigi wants to go back to the mansion for her phone despite the psycopaths with guns trying to kill her. Then Wade, the lawyer falls. As this is a story about the smelly stuff engaging meaningfully with the fan he has to break a leg. What would a story like this be without someone breaking a bone? Oh, no! There are no hospitals and I have a bone hanging out. Anyway, now they can hear whispering in the trees. Something comes up behind Gigi and is about to touch her when D shoots. They look down and see an alien. It is bluish in color and appears to be marked with identical tattoos to the ones individuals in this group who all share the same birthday have.

....and the winner of the best OMG expression goes to....

What on earth is going on? As they mull this over the aliens eyes open and , lying on its back makes a crab like posture, hisses and scuttles off! So it appears that an alien invasion is under way.
Why did this group come together? Is their birthday significant? Or the tattoos? Is the alien to be their controller?

More to the point, this is just a pilot. Will it get a series? I hope so. The writers ought to think hard though. Many series of this kind like V,  Threshold and Invasion tend to peter out and get canned before their run is supposed to end. Its not that they are bad -  I loved the remake of V, but when it comes to a credible story of life under alien rule writers appear to struggle. In Invasion, for example, the world was flooded and alien species are swimming around. Even green screens couldn't cut the cost of such a production. Likewise in V all opposition to the aliens had been removed. Conclusion? We would be a menu item from then on. So if this series is to take off it needs a good storyline. One without loads of back filling. Revolution gets on my nerves because it keeps going five years ago, ten years ago, etc. So does The Walking Dead. It feels like cheating to me. Screw the past, give us a good futuristic storyline! If The After gets a series will Chris Carter have something surprising for us?

We shall have to wait and see.

MAJOR NEW WORLD ORDER THEMES IN HELIX SEASON ONE EPISODE SEVEN

This is the second episode of this series that I have commented on. As I sat watching this episode I asked myself "how can I not write about this?" The writers couldn't have packed much more in the way of New World Order forward planning in to one episode.

DO NOT READ ON IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE EPISODE YET. MAJOR SPOILERS!

The series, for anyone reading that does not know the show is set in an arctic region (precise location not specified) in a research facility that deals with deadly viruses. After an "outbreak", which was actually an experiment gone wrong the Center for disease control (CDC) are called in to control the situation. The facility is run by a private corporation, is beyond the grasp of international law and carries out work that is completely unregulated.

This episode begins with the arrival of the private corporations chief operations officer Constance Sutton with a small private army. The company that they work for is the Alurias Corp. part of Arctic Biosystems. After introducing herself and urging Dr Farragut to find a cure she asks to speak to Dr Hatake in private. Here we begin to learn what is going on and who is behind it. Sutton throws a book (throws the book?) at him and grabs him, angry that he has created the virus but not the cure. Both are needed, she goes on to explain because they don't want to kill everybody, they just want to "thin the herd". Hitake adds "... and rule them."

It turns out that the CDC have been lured there so that their expertise can be used to find a cure. Constance shows an interest in Narvik B, the virus that is turning people into black goo making infection machines. She makes it clear that once they have what they want nobody is getting out alive. There are even plans and people in place to explain away what happened to the CDC members.

The next strand of the plot revolves around Ballesteros who is some kind of Army under cover person. He was left for dead in the snow by Daniel, Hatake's adopted son and found by a woman called Anana (Luciana Carro). We see them in the snow heading for the base. Meanwhile Alan shares his concerns about Sutton with his recently seduced assistant Dr Sara Jordan. They realise that there is no reason for Sutton and her army to be there as the CDC are already cleaning up. They know they are likely to be "cleaned up" themselves. As Dr Jordan says :

"Big Pharma, they're only interested in the bottom line, they don't care about people."
..to which Farragut replies :

"... and who knows how far they would go to protect their investment".
They wisely decide to keep the cure to themselves when they find it.

Story three of the narrative follows Dr Walker as she goes around level R. She keeps seeing flashing lights and getting headaches. She examines her reflection in a mirror and sees that she looks normal. There are no signs of infection. When she gets pain in her head, however, her eyes change. They become metallic grey in colour. It makes her look feline or something else non human, or, more than human. She thinks that she has antibodies that are fighting the infection when in actual fact she has changed. Next, Daniel tells Hiroshi that Sutton is trying to turn him against his dad. Hatake tells him he needs to get to Walker first as he believes that Sutton will kill her. He has the advantage of secret passages to use.

Dr Walker transforms

When Ballesteros and Anana arrive at the base Daniel sees them on a monitor. Ballesteros goes for him. Anana calls him "Miksa" and tells him she is his sister and he was snatched by Hatake. Down on level R Dr Walker is walking round with her eyes covered when she is approached by one of the infected. She is almost set upon but a scream elsewhere distracts the infected woman. She returns however, but runs when Walkers eyes change. While this is going on Sutton questions Hatake concerning his attachment to Julia Walker. He downplays it. She is determined to go and find Waklker and shows her own silver grey eyes. Hitake heads off to beat her to Walker.

When Farragut sees Ballesteros he goes for him because he killed Dr Boyle. Sutton takes Ballesteros away for "debriefing" (yes, you can tell what is coming). She is angry because he has gone  off mission. The  mission he was given was to find evidence that Hatake was "off the rails". Then they clinch but as I said you know that is coming because script writers are not very original. Even in a base isolated by extreme conditions they have to chuck in some sex. Mind you, Helix stays on the right side of decent, doing just enough to let you know what went on. Still, not necessary for this story.

Despite warming Ballesteros's dangly bits for him she keeps him confined in isolation because he has a disruptive influence. At this time Hatake has caught up with Walker. He is worried about her and as he bandages her eyes he is crying. Yes, we have been building up towards learning that perhaps he is her father. This means that he must have implanted false memories in her of a false childhood. Farragut and the Sutton army are on their way. They find that level R shows all the signs of a riot. They make their way to R17. Hatake tells Walker that Suitton is on her way to kill her. He leads her back upstairs through his passage way. The SWAT team don't get far before they are set upon. The infected (vectors, as the show refers to them) outnumber the proposed rescue team who are forced to fall back, leaving the injured behind. Farragut becomes a twat at this point going all macho and "I must find Julia" but he changes his mind when Sutton threatens the life of Dr Jordan.

Ananas fills "Miksa" in on his family history, which freaks him out. He knows nothing about the other children brought to the base or what happened to them. Hatake arrives back with Walker. Daniel confronts him and introduces his sister. He sends Walker back to the lab. He gives her a small box. He desperately tries to tell her something. Sutton tells Farragut forget Walker and get on with finding a cure. In the lab, Julia opens the box to find contact lenses. Farragut finds her. He notices her eyes. Jordan looks on.

The episode ends with the vectors breaking out of containment.

Arctic Biosystems private army arrives

WOW!. Some major themes to analyze here. When Sutton takes Hatake aside near the start of the episode we learn of an elitist plot to, as Sutton put it "thin the herd". The biggest aim of our own elite is to depopulate the globe. I'm sure that anyone that reads my stuff knows about the Georgia Guidestones and know of quotes made by such people as Kissenger and the Duke of Edinburgh about depopulation, and of the Gates Foundation offering vaccines for those that will undergo birth control and not for those who won't. Believe me, there are lunatics in our world that want to get rid of up to 80% of us so that they can claim the whole world as their own.In the show, the drug that was being worked on was called Narvik A and was supposed to infect people and kill them. The second strain, Narvik B was found to make the infected patients violent and able to display super human strength coupled with a strong compulsion to spread their infection. This parallels reality again, as ways in which to weaponise germs has been a long quest of variuos world powers (whom you must remember all work for the same people). Big Pharma is also known to release drugs on to the market place that have dangerous side effects and create bigger problems for users than their actual illness. This is what is signified by the infected people on the base.We then learn that Arctic Biosystems are powerful enough to kill off the CDC members and have people placed in positions that could easily explain it away. This refers to practices such as having employees infiltrate other organizations to control them up to and including the government. Add to this blackmailing and bribing people and you have the modus operandi of the elite.

The story next covers missing children. Over the years 32 children have been taken from the surrounding villages. They are obviously experimented on but no details have yet been given. One of the rumours that is connected to the illuminati (elite) is that they abduct children to be put in to the MK ultra mind control program to be turned in to beta sex kittens, assassins, soldiers or messengers. This is done by creating "alters", which are seperate personalities buried behind the main one that can be activated by hypnotic suggestion. In this way they can use people who may never know what they have actually done. Another aspect of this kind of control is implanting false memories. Both Julia Walker and Daniel have had this done. Daniel was in actual fact a local, but his memory of his previous life was wiped clean and replaced by one planted by Hatake that he had found him and adopted him. Julia has memories of her childhood, but they are limited and she can't remember any family. In a previous episode she found her initials and a picture of a flower done by her as a child. As yet, however she has not woke up to her real history.

The changing eyes are also significant. When transformed the victims eyes look colder and less human. This represents the trans human agenda: the desire of the elite to enhance their bodies' strength to fight infection and even to seek immortality. I am sure that somewhere on the net someone will be writing about this and equating the eyes with reptilian people. This is because of people like David Icke who misunderstand the term "Lizard Brain". This is the oldest part of our brain and is responsible for our survival instincts when in danger. It controls fight and flight impulses. When this area is larger in people it makes them more self centered, greedy and less empathetic towards others. Some psychiatrists also think that it makes people more likely to be psychopaths. This describes the elites outlook and explains why they act the way that they do. What it does NOT mean is that these people are lizards in human bodies. Excuse me while I take a half hour break for some hysterical laughter. Shape shifting Lizard people, Mr Icke? Seriously? F**K OFF!

In the show we see that Arctic Biosystems not only own the experiments being done, they have the Army in their pocket as well as the CDC. This parallels the situation in real life, as already mentioned where corporations put their people in key positions in order to get away with the evil, self serving things that they do. We also have a bit of typical sexism. Just like in the show Intelligence this show puts a woman in charge. The only reason this is done is to give us the impression that a) women are rising to the top jobs in corporations (in reality actually about 1% of women are board members) and b)to make women seem complicit in the evils that are invariably done by white men of European origin. Almost all cruelty and evil is the work of men.

The setting itself is symbolic.The scientists in the arctic isolation represents their aloofness from the rest of us. They think that they are superior to us, that their scientific training sets them apart. That is why scientists have no problem with playing god, tinkering with dangerous and poisonous things to create ways of killing people. If they are left unregulated not only do they work with deadly viruses they keep quiet about it. If, therefore there ever is a leak from one of these places we are all going to die and think it is a "mystery" disease. Bear in mind in the real world these places are not all in the Arctic. There is a germ warfare lab  in Porton down in Wiltshire, UK and Plum Island in the USA. Either of these places could contaminate the local population and beyond if there was a leak, planned or accidental. The reason a corporation would choose a place like the arctic is not for the safety of the population, it is to keep prying eyes away. It is also easier to destroy if something goes wrong. As Sutton says to Hatake "Nobody gets out alive".

Corporations and scientists, I should qualify that statement as some scientists as they are not all harbingers of doom, don't care what damage they do as long as they get the result that they want. We are expendable. The corporation is the glue that binds together the armed forces, science and politics. They sell their poison using the mass media that they also own and assure people of the rigorous testing that is done before their new poison is released on to the market. While they are doing that, it serves to make money to furthar research in to methods of mass murder.

In the last scene we see the infected escape from isolation. This symbolizes what happens when dangerous pathogens are played with. The infected cannot be contained and the virus they carry gets in to the population. Scientists may think they are god but all they do is create evil and destruction. No matter how they try, if they perfect anything like the virus in this show it will not be contained. Only the elite will have a cure, the rest of us will die a horrible death. I have recently blogged about Avian flu and the never ending attempts of scientists to get it to cross over and infect humans. Add to that GM foods with the goodness removed and the state of our so called fresh water you can see how easily we could succomb to such a disaster.

To conclude: This episode features scientists at the top of the world, in isolation, representing their aloofness and disregard for human safety and their desire to "do what they wilt" without regulation from people that they see as inferior. There is only one reason such research is carried out and that is to perfect a virus that will aid in depopulating the earth. Avian flu would seem to be where they are focussing their efforts although this could be a red herring meant to distract us from what they are really doing.

So is this harmless fiction or predictive programming? Given what is going on in the world at present I would say the latter. We can only hope that people continue to become more aware of what is happening and put a stop to it. People put a stop to escalating tensions in Syria and are standing up worldwide to Monsanto. Long may we live and hopefully we will soon rid ourselves of the parasitic state and their elite.

NEW YEAR NEW SHOWS : INTELLIGENCE

Some people have a chip on their shoulder -this guy has one in his brain!

The new year seems to be bringing in new roles for the cast of Lost. They are everywhere at the moment. Intelligence sees a return to the screen for "Sawyer" from lost Josh Holloway.

My last blog was on the new show Helix, which had micro-chipping as part of the storyline. Intelligence is about an under cover operative who is micro-chipped so that he can interface directly with the internet. He is assigned a watcher, Riley Neil played by Meghan Ory. She is the typical stereotype of a woman agent : long dark hair in a pony tail, slim build and of course cute. We could be looking at Lisbon in the Mentalist or any other show that features the regulatory stereotype. They do like stereotypes in hollywood, don't they? As soon as some actors come on screen you think "he always plays a villain, or that guy is always a policeman, etc.  Perhaps it keeps it simple for the sheeple that way.

Anyway, Intelligence. Pacy thriller or war on terrrrr? (as Bush used to say). I have to say it is mostly the latter. The ease in which Vaughn (Josh Holloway) gets information is probably supposed to convey to the viewer how easy it is for US intelligence to get data. We knew this anyway because of the NSA/GCHQ revelations that have come to life recently in the "real" world (whatever that is).


The plot. An agent can access data signals in the air and intercept and read it. At the start of the pilot we see how Vaughn can freeze a piece of data then walk through it to find evidence. So far so good, but are we going to stick to the story? No we are not. There has to be a love interest, doesn't there? In this case it is Vaughn wife, who is deep undercover in a CIA Al Qaeda cell and noone knows if she is still working for the Americans or has turned.

Vaughn is standing outside a Pakistani border listening post and is picked up by their army. When they try to question him he tells them all their names, etc, again proving he can get any information that he wants to. He escapes very easily and we see him back at base getting introduced to his handler, Riley. They are at Cyber command. The boss is played by Marg Helgenberger of CSI fame. She tells Riley that Vaughn is a war hero who is reckless, insubordinate and unpredictable which made me think why would you give such a personality a microchip? I suppose the writers needed a reason to include Riley. Vaughn can't let go of his search for his wife, which of course he is being told to forget about.

In the main story a computer expert is kidnapped. He worked on a project called clockwork, of which Vaughn is the end result. He is taken by the Chinese. He is to put a chip in an operative. He does not know if the chip works but is made to do it anyway. During the to-ing and fro-ing of the plot Strand meets her Chinese counterpart. She is also a woman. This is more brainwashing creeping in to fiction. Are we supposed to believe that all these women are rising to the top jobs in society? Not in the real bloody world! TV producers may want to give the impression of equality but we all know that the bottom line is that the world is run by White English speaking men who do whatever it takes to remain in control. This means letting one or two women and some non white people in to a handful of positions to give the impression of equality.

I have watched a few of these now and I am still deciding whether I like it. I do like Josh Holloway and Marg Helgenberger but I am wondering just how much storyline there will be given how easy it is for Vaughn to get information. Intelligence is definitely inferior to Helix, which I found both more believable and more gripping. In the second episode of intelligence the story deals with a new type of plastic explosive that is undetectable. The third episode is about an agent on the run with a hard drive full of secrets. Vaughn goes AWOL to grieve. When found by Riley he tells her that there is something wrong with his chip. (Cue Boomtown Rats : "The silicon chip inside his head got switched to overload...") It turns out that he thinks he has been hacked, that somebody is in his head watching him. When he tries to render the scene of the woman with the hard drive it turns into a hallucination. It turns out that he is being watched and may well be connected to the Chinese operative that had the chip put in in episode one. Interesting. Perhaps this show will grow in to a watchable one.

I think that using a real gun in paintball is cheating,really

Conclusion. Intelligence is about information gathering and how far the state will go to get it. It is fitting for the time falling in line with such shows as Person Of Interest. I think that big brother wants us to think that they can get to any information that they want and we cannot stop them. Its about spreading fear.

I used to think that TV programs carried predictive programming messages to indicate to the viewers which way society would be taken. Since December 2012 however I have modified that view. I think that the underground press, conspiracy sites and truth seekers have got so out of control that TV writers are actually getting their ideas from them. If you have read as many wacky things as I have recently (see my other blog Life, the Universe and Everything - plug plug!) you will know what I mean. I swear that Revolution (a favorite of mine) has had a profound and far reaching effect on a lot of people who have convinced themselves that it is real.

The truth is that the only things that are real are the illusions that we move through and try and make sense of everyday. On that deep philosophical note I will sign off.

Be seeing you!

NEW YEAR NEW SHOWS : HELIX

Helix, as the title hints, is about the DNA helix. The story is set in the Arctic circle at a research facility that is beyond international borders. It is there so that unregulated experiments can be carried out without oversight. Something goes wrong with an experiment and there are deaths. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) are sent in to help, and to investigate the cause of the outbreak. A scientist called Julia Walker is asked for specifically and she takes along Dr Alan Farragut because his brother is the only survivors of the outbreak.

The team that goes in is made up of Julia and Alan plus Dr Sara Jordan who looks about 12 years old, which makes it a little difficult to take her seriously as a scientist, and Dr Doreen Boyle.An army engineer called Ballesteros goes in with the team. So we know that the situation is dodgy because the army are involved somehow. Of course, with this being a TV piece we can't stick to the subject and have to throw in some love interest (yawn!). It turns out that Alan and Julia were married but Julia had an affair with Alans brother Peter (the infected guy).

When they first see Peter he is manic looking with black eyes and his blood is black. When the two dead operatives are examined they have turned to a pool of black goo. The team were under the impression that the site dealt with retro viruses, but this is like nothing that they have ever seen before. The site director is Dr Hiroshi Hitake and he and his team are reluctant to tell the CDC what they are working on. They deny that there are any monkeys on the site, but Dr Boyle finds hair in a drain.

Peter feels the effects of the infection

Alan Farragut finds a video-log made by his brother. On it Peter makes a hand signal, one that the brothers used to use as kids when their father got drunk and abusive. The sign he gives means "run like hell". The team have to be micro-chipped to give them access to all areas. (Perhaps this is a little warning to us that micro tagging is on the way.) Boyle and Ballesteros go looking for monkeys and find an area that they are not able to enter. They break in and see that the place has been ransacked.

Meanwhile, Peter, who was sedated heavily manages to escape quarantine and get in to the air conditioning unit. So not only are the team in a scary location hundreds of miles from civilization they have darkened corridors and a tunnel system to search.This is not a program for claustrophobic viewers. As the first episode nears its conclusion Peter has killed a security guard and stole his uniform. He is intent on going round the base infecting everyone he can. We are left with the feeling that Hitake is not cooperating and is in fact holding back information.

The Arctic Monkeys?

The team learn that someone on the site has been able to create a virus that carries with it the ability to change the DNA of the host. It is obviously some kind of weapon. As the series continues there is a lot of subterfuge, a lot of conflicts and danger to team members at every turn. The level of tension keeps you watching and the way the story comes together, with team members in different locations on the base facing different dangers is well done. The back story of each character is interesting and brings something to the story and, mercifully, there are no sex scenes thrown in for the hell of it. (Be honest, reader, how many sex scenes in such shit as Banshee are not relevant to the story? Almost all of them.) 
The cast is a strong one featuring:

Billy Campbell (Full Circle, Revolution, The Killing, The 4400) as Alan Farragut
Hiroyuki Sanada ( Revenge, Lost) as Dr Hiroshi Hatake
Kyra Zagorsky ( Supernatural, Smallville) Dr Julia Walker
Jordan Hayes is Dr Sara Jordan
Neil Napier (many video game credits inc. Assassins Creed franchise) Dr Peter Farragut
Catherine Lemieux (White House Down) Dr Doreen Boyle
Mark Ganime (Soldiers of the Apocalypse, Eve of Destruction)
Meegwun Fairbrother Daniel Aerov

This is one of the best new series I have seen in a long time. I await each episode with excitement, and I don't get exited by much, believe me. Episode six will air in the USA this week. I would love to go in to more detail but there are some great twists and a smattering of jumpy moments that I wouldn't want to spoil for the viewer. I highly recommend this show.

COOKING SHOWS:SOMETIMES WELL DONE BUT THAT'S QUITE RARE

The new year has TV schedule has a few new series post $mas, and the return of most of the shows that were suspended for the $mas holidays. I must confess that I have a lot to catch up with because I have been watching four series of the Aussie hit cookery program "My Kitchen Rules". Cooking is something that I really liked doing before I became ill, now I need the entire kitchen redesigned to suit my abilities, but who's got the money for a new kitchen right now? Not me.
I like cooking shows and watch a lot of them with my wife. We watch Masterchef UK (where the best home cook wins), Masterchef Australia (where the luckiest contestant that wrangles a few immunities wins) and the US version where the person with the best back story wins. Oh, and the New Zealand version plus the new MS Canada. The British version may be less exiting but at least it concentrates on cooking ability without any game show elements which means the winner is chosen fairly.

In fact, part of the reason that I checked out My Kitchen Rules is that Masterchef Australia 4 last season really got me irate at times. There is nothing worse than watching strong contestants get eliminated because someone has won the right to make things difficult for them. In the US version, as with Hells Kitchen  USA (both feature Gordon Ramsay) you know that certain characters will be kept in not for their abilities but for their entertainment value. There are always loud, selfish, argumentative personalities that clash with every other contestant.  It also reinforces the American Dream by showing that they can overcome any obstacle, plus they exhibit single minded, ruthless win at any cost and by any means neccessary traits that underline the dominance of corporate thinking in TV programming. In fact it is the same thinking that is behind the NSA, the military and the government in the states.

Sorry, I'm climbing down off my soapbox now! It wouldn't harm to get back to the point either. Having just watched MKR the first improvement on MS Australia is the inclusion of a round that is similar in format to "Come dine with me". Each couple visit each other and the host couple cook a three course meal. The teams of two people mark each others efforts and to ensure that fair play is (almost) achieved by having the judges marking each course out of ten while the contestants mark the overall meal out of ten. That means if a pair of assholes mark other teams low to ensure their own safety in the competition the judges, Pete and Manu mark fairly on the quality of the three courses offered. When the first round is over they cook in Kitchen HQ.

The next improvement offered by MKR comes in the elimination round, a two vs two battle to remain in the competition. In come four guest judges who get a bigger part to play in this competition than guests to MS Australia. It offers another balance to ensure that the regular duo of judges don't get too attached to certain couples and stay focused on the foods. In all four and a bit series so far (it is currently running season five) I have been able not only to say that the winners were worthy of it, the final four always seem to be of a high standard any of whom could win.

I lost my temper watching MS Australia because contestants of little skill such as Lucy (last season), who got through one round by serving Muesli, stayed way past her natural departure point. But she was nice, you see, and that goes a long way with this program.In fact, I thought the winner, Emma, was a poor choice. During the contest the judges had to talk her out of doing chips cooked three time at least twice.No imagination This is my main criticism of this show. Not everyone is given hints and advice, just the ones that are popular with the judges . Still, she was an Olympic cyclist, you know, an Aussie hero. It reminded me of MS Australia the Professionals which was won by Rhys (or Reese). His back story in round one, where he told us of his drug taking past, and that the love of his mother and the love of food saved him from a life of drugs and crime. He said in to the camera "...if it wasn't for cooking I would be dead now." I swear to you, when I heard that I turned to my wife and said "He's going to win". I was right. Finally, on the subject of the Masterchef Australia franchise I thought that the only reason that they had an "Allstars" show was so that Cameron could win. Chris, his opponent in the final was not only much better, he is one of the only contestants to go on to manage their own restuarant successfully. In the final round they had to reproduce a dessert of Peter Gilmores called the Snow egg. In a display of shameless bias Cameron had built this egg in his series of MS Australia. No surprise, he won. This followed on from a previous round when he was going to do a vegetarian christmas dinner until the judges and even the guest judge Maggie Beer talked him in to changing.

Soon MS NZ will kick off, followed by Australia, then America. We can expect new tricks to keep the audience interested. Hopefully they will not be gimmick driven and will offer us a cooking competition and not a reality show crossed with a game show.

The MS Australia franchise have announced that this year there will be no spin off series, they are concentrating on the main show. Apparently MKR embarrassed them in the ratings battle. On a similar note, the Masterchef New Zealand show this year is going to feature couples.

I wonder where they got that idea from?

PERSON OF INTEREST SEASON 3 EPISODE 12

Things have been hotting up for Finch and company with the black ops mob catching up with them as well as Vigilance, a sort of home grown terrorist outfit. The episode before Christmas saw  Harold trying to rescue his old colleague Arthur, who has a brain tumor which is rapidly stripping him of his memories.  Finch and Shaw are with him and are trying to get him to remember what he has that Control wants (is it control in POI? I may be confused. I mean Nikita had "Division" and another program recently had The Company. It seems that the black ops in fiction have to have a scary but innocuous name.)
As for Vigilance, I think that they are supposed to represent Anonymous. Forget about the war on terror, the people that western governments fear the most are its own citizens. Just look at the NSA scandal, I mean, who weren't they spying on?

Anyhow, I seem to have got off the point. This episode follows the tried and tested formula that has had me hooked from episode one. The direction is always excellent, moving between scenes that build to the climax of the story. Technology plays a major part and in between scenes that cut from one team members activity to another's there are always flashbacks that  fill out the characters biographies. In this episode I thought that the story in the flashbacks was top notch. We see Harold way back in the mid seventies, in his teens building what his father refers to as a memory machine. Harold father has Alzheimers and is slowly fading out as the unfortunate sufferers of this disease do. Harold tells him that it is much more than that, and one day may watch over and protect us all. This could be a nod to the span of time that the powers that be have been developing this: essentially for as long as there have been computers. Harolds Dad ends up in a home and Finch is on the run, having hacked the CIA database.

In the main story Harold, Shaw and Arthur are held captive. The situation looks hopeless but you just know Root will appear any time now to rescue them. In doing so, however she gets shot and captured. Reece and Fusco are in a jail cell following their fisticuffs. Lionel is trying to get Reece to snap out of his depression, brought on by the death of Carter. He doesn't bite so Lionel leaves after telling him that Finch needed his help. Meanwhile Arthur is lucid long enough to recall where Samaritan, his version of the machine is and they go there to retrieve it. Just after they arrive Vigilance show up. At this time control have root and are trying to get information about the machine by drugging her. When drugging doesn't work torture is used.

Arthur and Finch are in the vault of a bank waiting for rescue from Shaw, who times an explosion to go off when vigilante detonate a device at the vault door. She achieves this but they are cornered when Lionel and Reece show up and help them out. They have destroyed the discs that were stored. Reece announces that he is done with it all and exits broodily. It looks like it is Shaw and Harold from now on as in the other strand of the story the machine helps Root break free and escape. She phones Harold to drop the bombshell that someone else had switched the discs in the Samaritan cases, so someone has Samaritan. It turns out to be the creepy upper class English dude that turns up from time to time. Yes, Britannia still (covertly) rules the waves, and the USA.

Person of interest brings up issues of interest. Finch creates a machine, a super computer that is wired in to everything. Unlike any other computer this one learns from what it observes and the information it processes. It has become sentient. Not only that it has become independent and will not work for the government agency that commissioned it. It prefers to work with independent people like Root and Harold who are different in personality and approach but are both outsiders. The machine gives Finch a small amount of information, a social security number. He then has to decide are they a victim or a perp. If it is the former they get saved if the latter persuaded to rethink. Root likewise gets very little information but the people she is tracking are mostly potential murderers that she always dispatches. In the past Root and Finch's paths have crossed. The machine seems to be playing a game. Her aides are like two sides to the same coin. Harold keeps people on the straight and narrow whilst Root takes out the trash. It is a funny situation. There are black ops and other government agencies chasing around looking for a machine that technically belongs to them. Every time they get near though, the machine has itself moved.

The machine has turned away from its original programming which was to gather and interpret data which would lead to the prevention of terrorist attacks. Did the machine decide for itself (if it is sentient it could be argued that it has a self ) that it had other priorities? Perhaps the machine worked out that 9/11 was a false flag event. After all, it not only won't work with the government it has never intervened to save an agent apart from Fusco and Carter. The machine appears to have deduced that it was too dangerous to be in the hands of the government and trusts no one apart from Finch and Root.

I was really pleased to see the program back after the xmas break but I am a little sad that Jim Caviezel is leaving. I hope it is temporary. It is bad enough that Carter, played brilliantly by Taraji P henson was killed off recently, probably a writers decision to stop she and Reece becoming too close. The story calls for an edgy loner. Perhaps Reece will return in a vengeful mood. Yet Shaws inclusion this season suggests that he is out of the picture for now. Thats not so bad as Shaw is a great character who's inability to socialize is always amusing. There is also an air of suspense as we all wonder what the way forward will be.

I'm looking forward to finding out.

SHERLOCK DEPARTS AGAIN ALL TOO SOON

SHERLOCK: HIS LAST VOW

So, Sherlock comes and goes in three episodes. Again. What the hell is wrong with Mr Moffat? He should stop writing Doctor Whats the point and write more Sherlocks. It is very frustrating watching three episodes and then having to wait a year for more. Surely a series of six is not asking for too much.

This only adds to my annoyance, which arose when I heard that Ripper Street was being cancelled. And why is it being cancelled you may well ask? Because it wasn't getting good ratings. Cobblers! You are the BBC for gods sake. Here's how it should work : you make us pay for a TV license and if we don't buy one you take us to court. Either way you force us to pay you. The license money is what pays for making programs. You do not need to advertise because we pay you. SO WHAT THE HELL DO YOU NEED GOOD RATINGS FOR? You have no reason to compete therefore you have no reason to pull programs because of low viewing figures.

What sort of ratings do you get for the pompous proms or the crap cricket or useless University challenge? I have been praising the BEEB recently, well I take it all back, unless they bring back Ripper Street and get Mr Moffat to concentrate on writing Sherlock. Anyway, here are some thoughts about the last episode.

So Watson is now married to Mary, and it transpires during the opening scenes that Sherlock is dating Janine ( the attractive Irish bridesmaid at J and M's wedding). Fans will of course know that he is up to something as he never dates anyone. We see a scene with John Watson going in to a drugs den with a crowbar to retrieve the son of a friend of Marys. Holmes is there. Watson thinks he is taking drugs again (I thought that this incarnation of Holmes was merely a cigarette smoker. Drugs haven't been mentioned before). Sherlock says he is under cover but Watson doubts him and phones Mycroft, who brings members of the Empty Hearse around to search Sherlock's flat. Mycroft asks what kind of case would necessitate going to a drug den and Holmes replies Magnussen. He is the guy that was being questioned by some kind of committee at the start of the episode. Magnussen has a massive store of data at a place called Appledore and has sensitive information about everybody.

As the story unfolds we learn the reason for Sherlock dating Janine. She is Magnussens PA. He goes as far as to pretend he is going to propose to her so that she will let him in to Magnuss's office. Once in Watson and Holmes find her unconscious on the floor. The intruder and Magnussen are still there. Holmes walks in to an office and sees a woman in black holding a gun to Magnussen's head. Holmes thinks it is Lady Smallwood, a potential client. It turns out to be Mary. (This is groundbreaking, the mighty Sherlock gets it wrong!) This means that he also missed spotting that Mary was hiding a past. Or did he?
I was pleased because I had noticed that she knew what a skip code was in a previous episode so I was already thinking that she was under cover.

Mary shoots him in the stomach.Once shot Sherlock goes in to his mind palace. I like it when he does that. The viewer gets to see Sherlocks thought processes at work. It is a nice touch, just like the words that spring up from the evidence that Holmes is examining. Anyway, in the mind palace he talks to Molly who tells him to fall backward because the bullet has not gone straight through him and this will stop him from bleeding out. He also sees Mycroft who visualises Sherlock as a little boy. Does this mean that this is how Mycroft sees him, I wonder, or how Sherlock thinks that he sees him?

As he slides towards death his old enemy Moriarty shows up and goads him into fighting for his life. When conscious he gets a visit from Mary telling him not to tell John what had happened. He next wakes up to a visit from Janine who is showing him tabloid headlines and telling him that she sold her story to get revenge on him. She has also turned off his Morphine. As she leaves she tells him that he shouldn't have lied because she understood him and they could have been friends. I think that this is significant, as I shall explain in a moment. I believe that she knew what Sherlock was up to all along.

Holmes arranges a meeting with Mary to disclose what he knows. He found the grave that she took her name from and tells her that he knew there was something when he mentioned her side of the Church at the wedding didn't have many people. He also knows that she deliberately shot to injure and not to kill him and that he also noticed that she knew what a skip code was. Holmes agrees to get back the data that Magnussen has on her. She begs him not to tell John but he is there and has heard every word.

In the next scene the Watsons and the Holmes brothers have gone to the boys parents. They are all together so that Sherlock can drug them then he and Watson can go after Magnussen who is at Appledore. We learn that Magnussen was the one that had John dragged away in episode one and put in to a bonfire. He did this to affirm to himself that Watson was a weak point for Sherlock. Holmes has agreed to get top secret information for Magnussen in return for a visit to Appledore. He takes a laptop from Mycroft. Obviously he must have a trick up his sleeve because surely he wouldn't commit treason?

The next "bombshell" is more like a damp squib : there is no secret storage system under the house or anywhere else, for that matter because he keeps it all in a mind palace just like Sherlock. Magnussen gives a little talk on leverage. Then points out he knows there is a GPS in the laptop and secret service will be arriving. Not for him though, but for them. He goes through a little act of entering the vaults then makes the announcement. We then see him pretending to read the documents. This looks a bit stupid, actually. He then tells them he doesn't need proof because he owns papers and can print what he wants and it will be believed. Tomorrow they will be front page news.

They wait outside for the secret service during which time Magnussehn humiliates John as he explains haw it works. Holmes wont intervene. Magnussen tells them that he did this to Janine as well. When Mycroft arrives Sherlock takes Johns gun and shoots Magnussen in the head. Now it looks like Sherlock will have to take a dangerous mission in east europe that Mycroft had mentioned at their parents house. Just as his plane takes off, however.....

...we see various TV screens around the country getting a message saying "Did you miss me?" with a picture of Moriarty accompanying it.

How, you may ask yourself, is this possible when he blew his brains out? This is what I think. At the end of the last series, when Holmes and Moriarty were on the roof Moriarty told Holmes that he had hired a Sherlock look-a-like to scare a kidnapped girl. It stands to reason then that he could hire a double of himself. He tells the double "Do what I say or your family die" just like he did with Sherlock and everyone thinks that Moriarty is dead.

Mind you, I have some other ideas. Janine, for example. Who else has an accent like hers? Moriarty of course! She could be connected to him, a relative or a girlfriend. Maybe Moriarty didn't have a double, and is actually Janine, who has been behind everything from the beginning. Or, how about this : Moriarty gets a double to kill himself. Then to avoid detection he has a sex change operation and becomes Janine. That would be funny. Talk about sleeping with the enemy!

To conclude, this run of Sherlock has not disappointed. It has retained the excellent mix of humor and drama and has expanded the characters biographies, letting us learn a little bit more about them. Who is the other brother that Mycroft alluded to having dealt with in the past? My only complaint, as I said at the opening of this piece is that three episodes is not enough.




Come on, Mr Moffat, we're waiting.....

THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK

 THE EMPTY HEARSE

I’ve been waiting with great anticipation for the return of this show. It is an example of BBC drama at its best. It reeks of quality throughout: the cast, director and scripts are top notch. This program is everything that Elementary is not. Last season ended with the apparent death of Holmes, but this was a cleverly arranged ploy to save the lives of those closest to him. So the first question the viewer is asking is how did he do it?

The episode begins with Holmes on the roof preparing to jump. We see Moriartys body being dragged away as Holmes bungees down and lands in Molly's window. Outside, Watson is advancing in shock towards the body when he is stopped by Derrin Brown (What?) who hypnotizes him briefly to hold him up. Then he is hit by a cyclist before finally getting to the body, which is Moriartys with a Sherlock mask on.

We then cut to a scene with Anderson and LeStrade. It turns out that the above account is Anderson's latest theory. He has started a group called the empty hearse which sets out to prove that Sherlock is still alive. In the next scene a man is chased through some woods then captured by Russian soldiers. He is restrained and tortured until he starts playing mind games with his tormentor. Of course the captive is Holmes but fear not, brother Mycroft is at hand to rescue him. Holmes has spent the previous two years dismantling Moriartys criminal empire. Now Mycroft tells him it is time to come home.

The story line is laced throughout with humor. Watson has grown a mustache and he seems to be the only person that likes it. Everybody else is giving him grief for it. Sherlock decides to surprise John, as if retuning from the dead after two years wasn’t enough of a surprise. We see Sherlock make his way through a restaurant, lifting a tie from a diner and glasses from another, he draws a little ‘tache on his face and pretends to be a waiter. He approaches John, who is reading the menu and gives an order for champagne without looking up, much to Sherlock's frustration. When he returns to try again Johns date, Mary has arrived. Sherlock goes through his spiel and recognition dawns on Johns face. Holmes says quite dryly: “Short version, not dead.”

A fight ensues between the old allies followed by a few short scenes of Sherlock reuniting with his old friends. Next, there is an alternative explanation for Holmes’s fake death which ends with himself and Moriarty giggling on the roof before kissing… at which point Anderson interjects saying “That’s ridiculous” to the member of the empty hearse that just told the story. I think there was a nod from the director to tumblr followers, as this scenario was put on there by a fan. We later see Holmes giving the real version to Anderson. He tells him that Moriarty used a Sherlock lookalike in the previous series who he killed when he was done with him. Molly found the body by checking out mortuaries and they switched it with Holmes after he jumped on to a large inflated cushion. It was all done with Mycroft's men and Holmes’s homeless network.

The plot of the story revolves around a terrorist threat to London. Holmes has worked out that the houses of parliament are the target. An anti terrorist bill is being voted on. Ironically it is November 5^th, Guy Fawkes night, when the original gunpowder plot is remembered. As the story builds, and before he has agreed to work with Holmes again John is drugged and abducted by someone. Mary receives a text which she has already worked out is a skip code. She takes it to Sherlock then the two of them commandeer a motorbike and take off in pursuit. When Watson comes round he is hazy and can’t make out where he is. He is actually in a bonfire that is just about to be lit. Holmes pulls him from it just before he is set alight.

Back to the main case and one of Sherlocks network of informers gets in touch. He works for London underground and had found on TV data of a passenger getting into a car. He is the only person on the platform. When the train arrives at the next station it is empty. Holmes recognizes the man, who turns out to be a government minister who has been selling information to North Korea.  They wonder if Watson's abduction is related to it in some way. Holmes realizes that the man did not disappear, the carriage that he was in did. The train arrived at the next station with one less carriage. They go underground and find the carriage. A scene follows where just as they realize that the whole carriage is the bomb when it is triggered remotely and is counting down from two and a half minutes. Holmes and Watson are getting frantic because neither of them know how to turn it off. As they apparently wait for death John tells Sherlock what he meant to him. He goes on for a while and I thought “the bomb would have gone off by now.” Then Sherlock starts laughing: of course, he had switched it off about two minutes previously but couldn’t resist winding Watson up one more time.

The episode winds down with them reviewing the case and Watsons kidnap. I was wondering if Holmes had him kidnapped to reignite his passion (fitting that he chose a bonfire) for investigating. It looks like Mary is going to be more than just Watsons wife. She will probably be involved in future investigations. The return was well worth waiting for. The balance of humor and drama was spot on. The best thing about this program is the interplay of characters. The main characters all have their quirks which makes the dynamics between characters work so well. It is a joy to watch and I’m looking forward to the next episode. Well done Beeb!