Trollheart

Must be Santa (1999)

IMDB point-blank refuses to even keep a summary on this turkey, but my 24-hour Christmas movie channel comes to the rescue:

An escaped prisoner is inadvertently selected to become the successor to Santa Claus, and does his best to live up to the role.

Might be a good start not to rob the kids’ presents, new Santa! Oh how many more times are they going to trot out this tired old premise? You know what, IMDB? I don’t blame you.

Nobody of consequence stars, so it’s left to me to make a few off-colour jokes about the names of people I do not know, such as Randy Butcher (better not go into his shop wearing a short skirt!) and Arnold Pinnock, who surely should change his name to Pillock for starring in this train wreck? Oh, and it’s written by Douglas Bowie, who I think we can all safely assume is no relation. That’s it: that’s all I got.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

As we pile headlong into Christmas week, we have but two days left to wrap up this series, as I don't work Christmas Day and the journals will all be closed, so let's double up for the last two days and get through the last of these


Christmas in Connecticut (1992)

Remake of a 1945 movie starring Barbara Stanwyck and Sydney Greenstreet, I’m sure they did a lot better with this basically stupid idea of a woman lying about her professional and personal life having to face up to her lies, with no doubt hilarious results. Maybe. Sounds like a rejected script for an episode of “Fawlty Towers”. No, on second thoughts, it doesn’t sound anywhere near that funny. What do you think, Internet Movie Data Base?

Elizabeth is the star of a successful cooking show and author of several cookbooks. But when her manager, Alexander sees forest ranger Jefferson, who lost his cabin in a fire, comment on TV about wishing he could get a home-cooked Christmas dinner, he arranges for a special live show on Christmas, for Elizabeth to cook him Christmas Dinner. Only Elizabeth can't cook, and trying to keep Jefferson and the viewing public from finding out on a live show may be a little difficult.

Surprisingly --- or perhaps not, given it’s a remake that starred some pretty heavy hitters of the time, this features both Tony Curtis and Country superstar Kris “Convoy” Kristofferson, and even has an uncredited role for the Governator himself! Sweet. Probably the best thing about the movie.

Not really counted as a movie (well, it is, but I'm not featuring it) I just wanted to mention
An Avonlea Christmas (Year unknown, nor do I care)

The King family gather together to celebrate the holidays, however the season is a time of crisis this year as eldest son Felix, who was fighting overseas, is missing in action.

This is probably a TV movie, as IMDB doesn’t have anything on it. I have no idea who the King family are, but already I hate them. I’m assuming this is one of those families from some boring series like the Waltons or the Sullivans, who happen to get a Christmas special and turn it into a movie. There’s another that really bugs me, though I know absolutely nothing about it: “A wind at my back Christmas”. Makes you want to puke, don’t it?


The Christmas choir (2008)

Why oh why is it that homeless people are depicted in so many Christmas movies as jolly, cheerful, with a can-do spirit and a determination to enjoy the holiday season despite the fact that have not got two pennies to rub together, nor a roof over their heads? Any homeless people I’ve ever met have been grouchy, sullen, sad and desperate, as you would expect! These people have NO HOMES! That’s why they’re called HOMELESS! But Christmas Hollywood movies will forever paint them in an uplifting, optimistic way that has nothing to do with reality. Eh, IMDB?

Nineteen days before Christmas, accountant Peter Brockman is dumped by his fiancée, Jill, because of his workaholic ways and being emotionally detached from life. Proverbially drowning his sorrows (with soda) at a lounge, Peter meets the lounge's "volunteer" blues pianist/singer Bob, who works solely for tips. The two discuss their love of music and Peter's long since forgotten dreams of becoming a musician when he was younger. When Bob invites Peter to his home for dinner with his family followed by a jam session, Peter has no idea that Bob's home is a shelter and that his family is comprised of the other homeless men. After speaking to Sister Agatha, the tough, straight-talking nun at the shelter, Peter, reevaluating his life, decides the best way he can help is to form a choir at the shelter, the choir's performances which would help give a little extra pocket money to its members so that they can have a merrier Christmas. The choir faces many obstacles, including the dichotomy between Peter and its members, unrealized expectations and Sister Agatha's skepticism. But the biggest obstacles may be the baggage each person brings to the group, the person with the largest baggage being perhaps Peter himself, who has long been estranged from his alcoholic father. Through it all, Marilyn, a new friend of Peter's, is by his side hoping that she can provide a little assistance and guidance to Peter realizing his dreams.

Okay then, a few things (that’s a long summary, for one!) --- firstly, why nineteen days before Christmas? What is the significance of this movie opening on December 6? Also, why does Peter feel the best way to help these people is to make a choir out of them? Why not just give them money so they can get proper shelter, or at least buy booze so that Christmas will pass in a blur of alcohol for them, like other homeless people? And what is it with the word “workaholic”? It’s alcoholic, as in, alcohol the word then ic on the end. So it should be workalic. God damn it. And who is this Marilyn, this new friend of Peter’s who wants to help him realise his dreams? The guy’s an accountant, for god’s sake! Surely he can fiddle the books and make extra cash if he wants to help his friends? Yeah, much better movie: Peter ends up in jail and all the homeless people he thought were his friends testify against him for fifty dollars and a hot meal.

Whaddya mean, where’s my Christmas spirit?

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

We've struggled through 23 of them up to today, so it's time to finish off this collection of celluloid crap and look at the last two of our



Christmas wedding date (2012)

I don’t know: maybe it’s just that as more and more Christmas movies get made they get worse as they run out of ideas or just rehash old ones, but can you point to a decent Christmas movie made in the last ten years? I sure as hell can’t. This is one of those stupid hybrids of Christmas movie and rom-com, no doubt coming with the chilling message “A heartwarming film for all the family”. Oh, pass me the sick bag while IMDB fills you in…

Ten years after leaving her small town for big-city success, a woman returns for a friend's Christmas Eve wedding. All the old high-school rivalries and relationships return, and she is grateful she is staying only for one night. However, she finds herself caught in a "Groundhog Day" style time vortex, in which only she is aware that the events are incessantly repeating. At first bored and frustrated, she soon approaches each repeat day with enthusiasm, aware of the possibilities for growth through new experiences and aware as well of her remaining attachment for her high-school boyfriend. She uses the time to grow again close to her estranged mother, whom she has almost ignored for the years she has been chasing her big-city career. She also learns to relax and try to accept the possibilities in her life and the possible romance it offers her.

Yeah. I’m glad they said it, because this is basically “Groundhog Day” sans Bill Murray and with a wedding thrown in. Quite what it has to do with Christmas, other than being set on Christmas Eve, is anybody’s guess. Quite why anyone would want to watch it is another. Stars nobody I know but does have George Wendt (NORM!) in it, as well as a guy called Jon Mack. Hey. I’m a big fan of your rigs, guy!


A perfect Christmas (2012)

See what I mean about Christmas movies made this century? Not even on IMDB, nor can I find a picture for it that isn't starring Barbie (!), but it’s apparently a film in which “An advertising executive (great start: it’s usually an accountant, lawyer or ad man in these movies) meets a mannequin that has come to life (of course it has) and finds it has become her perfect man”. Oh well, little twist then: the ad man is an ad woman. And isn’t this just that movie I saw in the eighties called, oh what was it? Tip of my tongue… Oh yeah. “Mannequin”. Okay that was a female mannequin but other than that slight change in the plot this sounds like a ripoff of the movie that gave Starship a big hit and made a star of Kim Cattral. And again I ask, what has this to do with Christmas? Your guess is as good as mine.

And that's it. You would think it was hard finding twenty-five crap Christmas movies, but not a bit of it. Sadly, there seem to be far more terrible ones than good ones. Of course, it's all down to personal tastes and likes, and someone who loves "It's a wonderful life" might hate "Miracle on 34th Street", but generally those movies are held in high regard, whether you like them or not personally. Most if not all of the movies shown here though could not hold a candle (a Christmas candle?) to the greats, and while some of you may think some of them were okay I stress that I watched few if any of them, and this was all a bit of fun, as it should be at Christmas, so please, don't anyone starting getting your Christmas knickers in a twist. No offence is or was intended.

If you want to find bad Christmas movies there are more than enough of them showing on every cable and digital channel you can name over the holiday period, but my advice would be to stick to the greats: they're not called that for nothing, you know.

Whichever, and whatever you choose to watch, enjoy it and have a Happy Christmas! Thanks for playing.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

The Christmas Doctor Who Special (BBC, annually since 2005)


Having started presumably (though I can’t confirm that) as a one-off, the Christmas episode of British Sci-Fi series Doctor Who has now become something of a tradition, blending the adventures of the time-travelling Doctor with the feel, meaning and themes of Christmas, usually in ways supposed to be scary but generally quite amusing. If you’re a fan of the show you’ll know what to expect: deadly spinning Christmas trees, evil snowmen, flying sharks and the Spaceship “Titanic” with Kylie on board (!), all usually leading to a happy ending (which is not always the case with this series) and more often than not, everyone sitting down to Christmas dinner, be it in the TARDIS, on a distant planet, in the past or future or in some suburban borough of London.

Never meant to be taken seriously, the stories are nevertheless well-written and certainly don’t take the piss out of the show, usually trying to get across some sort of basic Christmas message like we’re all the same under the skin, peace on Earth can also be peace on Quargol VII, or everyone loves presents. Even if you don’t watch the show, it’s worth setting the hour aside to lose yourself in what is usually a clever and often exciting, and sometimes very poignant fantasy that ends up with everything, generally, being right with the world.

Any world.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Ah, yes, excellent! After that ingrate Trollheart kicked me out of the (ooh!) Journals Update Thread last week --- after all I’ve done for him! He wouldn’t be where he is today without me! What? Did he think his many enemies just “disappeared” on their own? --- I’ve managed to kick in the door of his Couch Po-tay-to (well, Smithers did the kicking of course --- alright, my hired goons did it. Smithers is suited for many things but being a bully-boy is not one of them) to warn you not to watch the tell-o-vision tomorrow, as, like every other day in this bleak, infuriating season when everyone goes around with a smile on their face as if it were painted there (they won’t be smiling when their Visa and American Express bills come in I can tell you!), it’s really not worth it.

Yes, it’s time once again, just before you spread the brandy butter on your Christmas pudding and lift Tom Turkey out of the oven (really? What did turkeys ever do to you? A fine, fat goose is all I need!) to realise how dismal the television, as I believe they call it in these enlightened days --- we used to call it the magic cube --- is over Christmas, and to spend one more session of


So, what delights have the television network executives seen fit to foist upon us this year? Let’s see, Christmas Day, Christmas Day --- La Nollag? What the blue blazes --- oh, I see. It’s Irish for Christmas Day. Humph. How delightfully provincial! Really, does anyone on the godforsaken island even speak that language? What a waste of time! Oh yes? Well, phog mo shon, as I believe you say over here. Hmm? No, I don’t think I’ll say that without my burly goons standing over me, you look far too angry and strong. I think I’ll just stay here and peruse this rag till … ah.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 --- RTE One --- 16:00

Yes yes yes, we all know about the little bespectacled wizard and his many adventures. Don’t you people get tired of this upstart? Penultimate instalment, it says here. Let’s hope so. Movies like this give maniacal evil genius like myself a bad name!

Happy feet --- TG4 --- 15:05

Ah yes. Leave it to the Irish language channel to come up with the brilliant idea of running a movie practically everyone has seen (it’s 2006, for Heaven’s sake!) about animated penguins who cannot sing. Well, who would expect a chocolate bar to be able to --- ah, I see. Those sort of penguins. Still sounds rubbish. Still, watch it if you simply must have your fix of feel-good movie magic, I hope you choke on it.

ET the Extraterrestrial --- RTE 2 --- 19:35

Speaking of movies everyone in the world except Trollheart has seen, look what the other national television channel has dug up in the efforts to be the least hip and up-to-date channel in the world, except perhaps for San Salvador’s Tranmissitor Uno. A movie made over THIRTY years ago! Now that’s how to attract the viewers and pull them away from

The Doctor Who Christmas Special : The Time of the Doctor --- BBC 1 --- 19:30

Oh, if you’re a fan of the time-travelling meddler you won’t want to miss this! Personally, I can’t be doing with all that mucking about in time and space. Leave that to the younger chaps. Still, his assistant is very perky, and if there’s one thing I do like it’s a perky assistant. Given the choice, would you rather watch this or an ancient movie about a plastic puppet who can’t find his way back home? No, no, that was not a tear! It’s just a condition I have in my eyes that make me want to -- Smithers! The Kleenex! Quickly!

Incidentally, for you Doctor Who fans (no I will certainly not call them that! The very idea! Contract? What contract? Do you know who you’re threatening? I’m Charles Montgomery --- oh very well! If you must!) or, ahem, Whovians, as I believe you’re called, you can catch two other shows about your favourite Timelord here

An Adventure in Space and Time --- BBC 2 --- 16:30

An entertaining dramatisation of the genesis of the show and the rise to fame of the first Doctor

and if you really have to

Doctor Who at the Proms --- BBC 2 --- 15:15

The music of Doctor Who played by an orchestra who probably were fed up just kicking about at home and thought why the hell not? We might as well…

Right then! Enough about that Doctor chap! On to the next show.

Downton Abbey Christmas Special --- ITV --- 20:30

I have never been able to see the attraction of Downton Abbey --- give me “Upstairs, downstairs” any day! --- but for those of you who follow the show this is a special two hour episode focussing on Christmas themes. Bah. How original.

A Muppet Christmas Carol --- Channel 4 --- 16:35

Ah, one of the few Scrooge movies I can stand. Michael Caine stands tall among the colourful puppets and lays waste to all around him with an Uzi --- what? I am? Oh dear me, you’re correct. I’m reading the wrong synopsis! How silly of me. Let’s see then: a charming retelling of the Dickens tale by the Muppets, with all your favourites. And Micheal Caine. Well, who doesn’t like muppets? Still, I preferred the first synopsis.

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty --- BBC 2 --- 18:10

“The choreographer reimagines Tchaikovsky’s ballet adaptation of the fairy tale”, it says here. Yes, well, I doubt too many people will join him. Why is it that they trot out ballet every Christmas? What is the connection, I ask you? I mean, “The Nutcracker”, fair enough, but “Sleeping Beauty”? Bah!

Bear’s wild weekend with Stephen Fry --- Channel 4 ---20:30

Now I’m sorry to disappoint those of you who think the title refers to a grizzly chasing the annoying Mister Fry through the forest in the hopes of varying its diet for Christmas (now that’s something I’d pay to see!) but this is in fact that annoying fellow Bear Grylls, trying to show the Fry one how to survive out in the wilderness, or up some mountain in the rear end of Europe somewhere. No doubt trapping wild game and eating many bugs and disgusting plants along the way. Remind me never to invite him around for dinner! Or Grylls.

A Christmassy Ted --- Channel 4 --- 23:05

Finally! Something decent. Sort of. That hilarious (and dead) Father Ted and his moronic sidekick get lost in the lingerie section of a huge department store. Yes, well, I’ve tried that one too, Father! Just buying for the girlfriend, eh? Spiffingly funny show, only suffering from the fact that is has been on EVERY DAMN CHRISTMAS SINCE IT WAS MADE! The joke it beginning to wear thin, although Trollheart will of course tell you otherwise, and has done. Doesn’t surprise me in the least: I’m sure he watches it just to see all the knickers and bras and --- what? Libel? I assure you it is not. Libel is only if what you say is not true! See you in court? Well, we’ll just see about that, won’t we now sonny?

Ah, excuse me dear readers but it appears I’ve been, um, invited to leave this journal. Seems he’s a little upset I gave away his secret --- all right, all right, I’m going! Come on Smithers! Wouldn’t stay here a moment longer. You’ll regret this, Trollheart! I swear, if it takes my remaining days alive I will have my revenge. You’ve made a very powerful enemy, my friend. I’m Charles Montgomery Burns! I should be able to slander anyone I --- where did YOU get … hounds?

Smithers! Get me out of here! NOW!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Bah Humbug!

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Before I close up the journals for Christmas, I'd just like to leave you with

Trollheart's Christmas Message

I know nobody bothered to collect and reassemble it over the weeks leading up to Christmas, but whether you like it or not, here it is in its entireity, and in all sincerity

Trollheart would like to wish all his friends, and all members of Music Banter, a very happy Christmas and a great 2014. Thank you for all your support during the past year and I hope to have much more for you in the coming one. I would like to wish a particularly happy christmas to Vanilla, my leading lady. Peace.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Urban Hat€monger ?

Carry On At Your Convenience --- ITV3 --- 14:25

Greatest Carry On movie ever....

Merry Christmas to my favourite turgid soft rock loving Irishman

__________________

Trollheart

Hope you all enjoyed your Christmas, and that Mister Burns didn't manage to spoil it for you too much. I believe he's gone off to close down an orphanage today: hey he might as well enjoy himself! It's still (sort of) Christmas and he wants to end the year as he means to begin the new one. Sure you wouldn't have him any other way, now would you?

Meanwhile, here at the Couch Potato it's back to business...



Season Two: "The coming of Shadows" (Part Four)

2.7 "Soul mates"

Londo's three --- yes, three! -- wives arrive at the station for an important meeting with their husband. Also arriving is Matthew Stoner, former husband of Talia Winters. She has no wish to see him again. They were more or less pushed together by the Psi Corps to try to produce a powerful telepath but it didn't work. They parted quickly; now he's back. Sheridan, talking to Talia, is surprised to find that Stoner no longer works for Psi Corps. He left, which is in itself a rare thing. Sheridan wonders how but Talia says he had powerful friends in the Corps.

Londo's wives are aghast when they realise why they have been called to Babylon 5. He tells them that as a special present for the anniversary of his Day of Ascension the emperor has agreed to allow him divorce two of them, though he must keep one on for appearances' sake. So now he must choose one wife, and a competition begins. Garibaldi scopes out Stoner, but though arrogant as hell Talia's ex doesn't seem in the least bothered about Garibaldi's attentions. He goes to Talia and tells her how he got out of Psi Corps. He says he lost his telepathic abilities, and that he can help her to do the same. He tells her that the Corps used certain drugs on him to strengthen his abilities but it backfired, scrambling his neural pathways and destroying his telepathic abilities.

In the end, she decides to leave Babylon 5 with him. She is loyal to the Corps but that's out of necessity: a rogue telepath doesn't get far in this galaxy. But she's tired of being the object of people's fears, and she also has misgivings about what the Corps does. At the party for Londo's Day of Ascension anniversary, one of the presents given him by Mariel, one of his three wives, shoots some sort of dart into his head and Londo falls unconscious. The artifact was brought onboard by Stoner, who refuses to help and accepts no responsibility. But there's something odd going on: Stoner seems to have some weird ability to make people do what he wants.

Timov allows Dr. Franklin to make a transfusion from her to Londo, but says Londo must never know. He recovers, to the false delight of two of his wives, who had been considering that, well, if he died he would take the secret of their forthcoming divorces with him to the grave. Talia has changed her mind, having thought about it, but Stoner re-convinces her, or seems to, but it's a trap set by Garibaldi and he gets the drop on him as he leaves, his defences down, his overconfidence his undoing. A meeting between Mariel and G'Kar seems to indicate that she was working for, or with the Narn to take Londo out, though of course this can and will never be proven.

Turns out Stoner never lost his telepathic abilities: they morphed into something new. He is now the first human empath. He also never left the Psi Corps. Officially he did, but unofficially he remained in their employment, and was sent to bring Talia back, willingly or no, to try to breed more empaths. Londo chooses Timov to stay on as his wife, commenting that though he knows she doesn't love him --- loathes him, in fact, as she admits herself --- he will always know where he stands with her.


QUOTES
Vir: "I am here to pick up women".
Garibaldi: "You'll have more luck at bars!"

Timov: "I won't bite, Vir!"
Vir: "With all due respect, madam, that's not what I've heard."
Timov: "All right, that one time..."

Daggair: "Timov, Timov! Why do you always try to draw me into your little verbal fencing matches?"
Timov: "Because I don't have a real sword handy!"

Sheridan: "People seem to be implying that I shouldn't get too comfortable."
G'Kar; "Oh nonsense! It's not as if anyone expects you to, oh, vanish overnight under mysterious circumstances to a strange Minbari post! Why, that would be unprecedented in the station's history!"

Timov: "Where have you been?"
Londo: "Affairs of state, my dear."
Timov: "State of inebriation, I'd wager!"

Daggair: "Petulant, isn't she? Oh well: breeding will tell."
Timov: "A bitch like you would know all about breeding!"
Londo: "Ladies, ladies, please ... continue!"

Londo: "The emperor is a busy fellow; no time to shop. Unlike my beloved wives, who always find the time to run up my credit accounts!"

Garibaldi: "I'll be keeping an eye on you."
Stoner: "Use both eyes. You'll need them!"

Londo: "And what is this? Ah! A deck of cards! From my good friend Lennier!"
Lennier: "And I marked them, exactly as you requested..."
Londo: "Shh! Shhh!"

G'Kar: "I warn you, Mariel, do not be overconfident. If I were married to Londo Mollari I'd be concerned."
Mariel: "G'Kar, if you were married to Londo Mollari we'd all be concerned!"

IMPORTANT PLOT ARC POINTS
Psi Corps
Arc Level: Red
We see again the long reach of Psi Corps, and the things they are willing to do to attain or retain power. Far from being Talia's "mother" and "father", they are happy to have her sacrificed on the altar of their ambition, and if they can make her a brood mare for empaths or stronger telepaths, they will have no qualms about doing this.

Ascendancy at Court
Arc Level: Orange
Interesting that Londo accepts a gift from the emperor, given that he's basically signed on to overthrow him, or his successor, when the time comes. Londo's star is indeed on the rise, as he proudly tells his three wives, and as his relationship with Morden grows and he becomes ever more enmeshed in the tangled web being woven, it will soar to heights never before dreamed of by the ageing ambassador. But you know what they say: what goes up must come down, and the higher you climb the further there is to fall.

SKETCHES
Londo Mollari
Not surprising of course that in a totally Londo-centric episode we should concentrate on the Centauri ambassador, but there are some interesting points about his people we learn here. First, they can have more than one wife. They possibly are required to. This does not seem to diminish any of the other wives, and although Garibaldi refers to this arrangement as a "harem" it doesn't quite seem to be that way. Each of the wives hate the others and there seems to be constant jockeying for position --- possibly literally, in the bedroom! --- in the same manner as at court, where one wife strives to become the most important and influential. Centauri marriages, as Londo has already pointed out in season one, are not built on love, but on mutual advantage and to form alliances, much as they were in the middle ages and so forth.

We hear of a thing called a "Day of Ascension", which is not explained but can surely be likened to a young man's coming of age, a rite of passage when a male Centauri passes to manhood. Centauri society seems to be very much driven by patriarchs, like many civilsations but unlike the Minbari, who seem to share power and respect equally regardless of gender. Women are seen as servants mostly, though truth to tell like most such societies they probably wield more real power behind the scenes than their men do. The thirtieth anniversary of this Day of Ascension is a momentous time in a Centauri's life apparently, and is marked by a lavish celebration. It also seems to be traditional for the emperor himself to award a gift, a boon upon one who has reached this milestone in their life, or perhaps and probably more likely, anyone of importance.

2.8 "A race through dark places"

Sheridan is incensed that Earthdome are demanding that he and Ivanova move to smaller quarters, or start paying rent, and he refuses to allow either of them to accede to their wishes. Meanwhile, Bester questions a rogue telepath trying to find out the location of the clearing house for the underground railroad operating that is helping telepaths evade the Corps. In the course of his interrogation the man dies, but Bester catches his final thoughts, and prepares to visit Babylon 5. Quite to his surprise, Delenn asks Sheridan to dinner. Bester demands that Sheridan help him find the underground railroad, and the captain, having no previous experience with the Psi Cop, is not as hostile to him as Sinclair would have been, had he still been in charge. Ivanova suggests he familiarise himself with Bester and his history with the station.

After his rather pleasant dinner with Delenn, Sheridan gets back to his quarters to find they have been sealed! His mini-revolt has not gone down well with the authorities, and they intend to play hardball. He decides that sleeping in C&C is better than giving in, and Ivanova is dragged along. The rogue telepaths waiting for transport through B5 decide their only chance is to take Bester out, but they fail. They take Talia prisoner though. She's taken to the leader of the rogues, who explains their position and she agrees to help them after hearing all their stories. The things she has been suspecting, the things she has been told about the Corps all seem to be true: the dark side of Psi Corps is showing through, and she is no longer sure what she believes.

Sheridan meets the person who has been running the underground railroad, and it turns out to be Franklin! Sheridan is furious: now he is in an intolerable position. If he sells Franklin out he embarrasses the station and himself, and removes support for Babylon 5 at home. If he goes along with it, he becomes as complicit in the crime as Franklin is. But there is a third option. All the rogue telepaths join, holding hands to concentrate their mental powers, and create a vision for Bester that makes him think that Talia has helped him kill all the telepaths, when in fact she has helped save them. With the major crisis over, Sheridan solves the minor one --- the matter of his having to pay rent --- by using money from the station's budget to cover the expense, and his and Ivanova's quarters are unlocked.

Before she settles down for the night though, Susan gets a visit, from Talia, who has been shaken to her core (sorry) by the revelations from the rogue telepaths about what Psi Corps did to them, and how it works. She has lost faith in the organisation, and now needs someone to talk to. Strangely enough, given Ivanova's hatred of the Corps, it's to her that she turns for a sympathethic ear.



QUOTES
Bester: "For some time now we've been aware of an underground railroad, smuggling unregistered telepaths off Earth and to the outer colonies where the Corps can't reach them."
Ivanova: "Well, so far I don't see a problem!"

Garibaldi: "It's damn ironic, isn't it? The Corps got started because we were afraid of telepaths, now they're victims of our own fears. We took away every right they had and shoved them into a big black box called Psi Corps. Now look at them: black uniforms, jackboots, giving orders --- some days they scare the hell out of me."
Sheridan: "Yeah. If you ask me, we created our own monster, and maybe we deserve it."

Sheridan: "How many Minbari does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None: they always surrender right before they finish the job, and they never tell you why!"

Bester: "Would it interest you to know that I'm married, Mr. Garibaldi? That I have a five year old daughter. That on Sundays when I'm back home we pack a picnic lunch and go out under the Dome on Syria Planum and watch the stars. Hardly the desciption of a monster."
Garibaldi (applauds): "Smooth. You're getting good at this. Keep working at it and one of these days you might even convince me you're human."

Franklin: "So you don't think what I did was right?"
Sheridan: "I didn't say that."
Franklin: "So what are you saying?"
Sheridan: "I'm not saying what I'm saying. I'm not saying what I'm thinking. As a matter of fact, I'm not thinking what I'm thinking! There's only one thing on my mind right now: I need a drink."
Franklin: "And a place to stay."

IMPORTANT PLOT ARC POINTS
Psi Corps
Arc Level: Red
Again we see the two faces of the Corps: the one they present to the world (which will be shown later in a heavily-propagandised advertisement/recruitment drive) which is of a happy, friendly, smiling organisation who only wants to help telepaths realise their potential and protect and nurture their talents. And the other one. The real one. The powerhungry, megalomaniacal lust for galactic domination that will stop at nothing to achieve its ends, including killing its own people, reprogramming them, having them raped and tortured. Far from being loving parents, the Corps is the worst type of mother or father, one who uses their children for their own selfish gain, and sees them as nothing more than bargaining chips and pawns to be used in their power games.

Talia, having spoken to the rogues, now understands a lot more about the organisation that raised her than she did before, and none of it is good. She agrees to help them escape by fooling Bester into thinking she has helped him kill them all, and then has to seriously re-evaluate her belief in the Corps. If she felt alone before, she feels doubly so now, without even the previously unshakable faith in Psi Corps that has sustained her through her life thus far, and with which she has vigorously defended her "parents" against what she saw as slurs and slander, and false accusations, many or all of which she is now beginning to realise are true.

Bester is "disappointed" in Sheridan's reaction to him. His research had indicated that the captain would support and help him, and initially it would seem this would have been the case: Sheridan had nothing against the Psi Cop, though he never seems to have totally trusted the Corps. But like any good commander, Sheridan listens to and values the opinion of his people, and when they tell him Bester is trouble he does his own research and what he finds obviously leads him to believe that his crew are right: Bester cannot be trusted. From here on in, they will be allies officially but underneath there is a dark smouldering enmity that will ensure they will never be, or consider each other to be, on the same side.

Much is made of Talia's "gift" from Jason Ironheart, which appears to be a form of telepathy, and the leader of the rogue telepaths (never named) tells her she is "the future". Sadly this will not pan out, as we will discover at the end of the season, making all of this just a little, well, pointless really.

SKETCHES
Stephen Franklin
More about the doctor. We see here that he is a man of such principles that he is prepared to risk his position, perhaps even his freedom, to do what he can to ensure telepaths are saved. He has no great love for, or hatred of, telepaths: there is no cause here for him. To the doctor, they are simply people being exploited and abused by the Corps, and he will not stand for that. Although it's a terrible generalisation, he is black, and perhaps some uncomfortable reminders of the treatment his ancestors suffered at our hands may inform this view. Probably not: it seems he likens the abuse of the telepaths more to that suffered by the Jews in Nazi Germany, which is probably closer to the truth anyway, given the references to jackboots earlier.

Franklin also chooses his friends well, and he knows enough about John Sheridan to know, or be able to gamble, that while officially the captain could not support such an endeavour as the illegal transport of telepaths through Babylon 5, his own sense of justice and morality would not allow him to shut it down or turn Franklin in. He will keep his secret, but in any case the railroad will now move on, as Babylon 5 has become too much of a "hot spot" for it to continue there.

ABSENT FRIENDS
Again, not one ambassador other than Delenn: no Londo, no G'Kar. No Lennier. This is a very human-driven episode.

NOTE: This is pretty much the third in a Psi Corps trilogy, with each previous episode upping the ante as it were. In "A spider in the web" we hear of the efforts of Psi Corps to create automated killers and to destabilise the Mars rebellion, while in "Soul mates" Stoner is still working for the Corps, trying to get Talia back with him in order to father stronger telepaths, or even empaths. It all comes to a climax then, with the discovery of the underground railroad and the reappearance of Bester, whom we haven't seen since season one's "Mind wars". This will not, of course, be the last we see of him, nor of the Corps, not by a long shot. In fact, during seasons three and four Psi Corps will be a driving element of the entire storyline.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking...

I'd like to take a moment to thank you all for your support for this, my third at the time journal. As I mentioned in the Update Thread last Sunday, the Couch Potato was born right at the end of 2012 but really only started up this year, and since then has been a great success. Not much in the way of comments but I'm used to that now, but over eight thousand views in one short year, which is I think very impressive. Sure, they could be two people checking the journal out 4000 times each, but I choose to believe otherwise.

To my knowledge this was the first music journal to break away from focussing on music and move entirely outside that sphere. I could of course be wrong, and no doubt someone will tell me if I am, but when I conceived the idea for a journal based solely around television and films I hadn't seen anything like it in the section. Now someone else is planning one based on movies too, and one has sprung up relating to drugs, with others branching out into other areas. I don't consider myself a trailblazer (too old for that!) but it's nice to know I've helped move the section in new and hopefully better directions.

Thanks again for your support and I can promise you great things in 2014, with the return of Love/Hate, The New Statesman, Spooks and more, and new series coming up with the likes of Life on Mars, The West Wing, Robin of Sherwood, The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy and tons more, plus of course more movies and who knows? Other treats too perhaps.

2014: it's gonna be a bumper year on the Couch!

So thanks again and have a great New Year's Eve, and we'll see you all back here in January!

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Episode Two

As episode two opens the locals are combing the forest, still looking for Hattie, or her body. It’s now the following morning. Her father is quick to finger Seth, but does so to his brother, and Steve defends him, saying that Seth has his own place now and doesn’t go to the woods, something he knows himself is a lie. He goes to see his brother and is aghast to find him with trophies: rings, photographs that quite patently do not belong to him. Seth will shed no light on where he got the trinkets though, and Steve hears sounds which seem to be coming from a locked trunk, sounds like muffled cries. Just then the police arrive but Steve keeps Seth from opening the door to them, knowing how bad all this would look.

He breaks open the trunk after they’ve gone, to discover inside a black cat which runs away. It’s clear he believes his brother is responsible for, or connected with the disappearance of the young girl, but Seth just laughs. Steve calls social services. Meanwhile, Gail goes looking for Malcolm, can’t find him and calls her son who comes over reluctantly, thinking she is getting worked up over nothing. James is surprised that his father went looking for Hattie Sutton, considering the bad blood between them. She asks James to help her get into her husband’s computer, though he is again reluctant. Everett goes to apologise to Linus for striking out at him the previous night, but Linus will not open the door and his father leaves.

DS Mills calls to the house and asks Linus about his relationship with Hattie and Caitlin but Linus won’t tell him anything: nobody trusts the police, especially when they think their father may be involved in the disappearance of the young girl. The detective does however mention that he was on duty the night Linus’s mother died, and says it was tragic. When he has gone, Linus goes to the cupboard but of course Everett has taken the bag with him and it is no longer there. His suspicions heightened, he goes to the local phone box to report his dad as a suspect, but as he is on the line he sees a vision of his mother, and thinks better of it, realising she does not want him to do it.

Alan tries to get close to his wife, but Fiona is too wound-up about Hattie. She gets a text to say that there is a search going on in the woods and she wants to help. He is against the idea, trying to change her mind, and she agrees. But she broods. Later she sees Everett hosing down his car and wonders why he's so anxious to clean the SUV? It’s obvious that Everett cares nothing for Hattie, and is not interested in the search. James gets into his father’s computer and discovers that his parents are destitute: Malcolm has sunk everything they had into the development which is now in tatters: they are ruined. Even the house has been remortgaged to finance what is now a doomed enterprise . Fiona decides to go against her husband’s wishes and join the search, where she is aghast to find that Steve is in charge: she arrested him once. The local bullies accuse Linus of killing Hattie, but it’s just more conjecture.

Linus starts to wonder about his father: where does he go during the day? Why does he not care about the missing neighbour? Who the hell is he, really? And what was he hiding in that bag? At school it seems the police have come up with a clue: the letters “NDN” inscribed on Hattie’s locker inside a heart. Linus asks Caitlin what it means but she doesn’t seem to know, or won’t say. A strange thing happens as they both wait to see the principal: out of nowhere a small stone falls onto Caitlin’s lap and bounces off her skirt. She looks concerned. On his way out of the office Linus kisses her. Gail is concerned when her friends make their feelings known about how the perpetrator of this deed (if there is one; they seem to have already decided Hattie is dead) should be dealt with. She has already convinced herself that her husband is responsible and worries about mob justice if she is right.

Fiona and her friend come across him and he turns them back, watching them with tortured eyes. Fiona decides to go back and finds something floating in the nearby pond. The police move in, and Steve is annoyed that he is no longer in charge. He manages to get himself arrested, which is not surprising as he’s an arrogant bastard who thinks he knows more than the police. However when the “body” is fished out it turns out only to be an item of clothing. In her loft however, Fiona finds what looks very much like locks of blonde hair, though Alan tells her it’s just a bird’s nest. Linus returns home to find the police interviewing his father. Alan tells his wife that he has been called before an inquiry: the girl who spat blood at him has accused him of using force when arresting her, but he says he’s not worried: the girl has form and he doesn’t think anyone is going to take her complaint seriously.

Linus asks his father how his mother died, but Everett is not prepared to go into it. Linus meets Caitin outside and they share a bottle, their relationship developing, the two drawn closer by their shared loss. She tells him that the clothing found in the pond was not Hattie’s. Linus tells her that he saw a vision of his mother again. When Gail learns that their money is all gone, she knows --- knows --- that her husband has murdered Hattie, as she was the reason for all of his dreams collapsing. There is no doubt now. Steve meets Seth, who brings him into the woods and shows him Malcolm’s body hanging from a tree.

QUOTES

Linus: “Tragedy stick to you, makes people avoid you, makes people stare, makes your friends avoid you . And you can never shake it off.”
Caitlin: “I don’t even feel like I live in the same world as them now.”
Linus: “You don’t.”

SUSPECTS
It might seem like the mystery has been solved, but trust me it hasn’t: there are three more episodes to go and things will take much darker turns and twists before the story ends. So let’s review our suspect list then, shall we?

Malcolm:

Moved to the top of the list, he was already a strong contender. We’ve learned this episode that he has gambled everything he has --- savings, business accounts, car, even his house, and all the money his wife had --- on trying to save Carroll’s Fields, and lost. He is ruined, a broken man, and it’s all down to one person, the girl who is missing. Can there be any doubt he has snapped, taken his revenge? The hanging figure we saw at the end of episode one has now turned out to be darkly prophetic, as he himself is found hanging at the end of this second episode, having taken his own life. But has he done so out of remorse for what he has done, to evade justice or try to keep the taint of being a murderer away from his wife and son? Or has he just decided to end it all, seeing no way out of his terrible financial troubles? Remember, he did warn Fiona and her party away from the pond where the clothes were found, although they ultimately turned out to be a red herring, and nothing to do with Hattie. Was he just covering his tracks, or clearing the way for his suicide?

Or was it even suicide?

Seth

The big man has surely also moved up the list. He’s the one who finds Malcolm, but did he just find him? He part-quotes Nietszche to Seth, saying “Gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes into you.” The full quote is “Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster. And if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.” Did Malcolm gaze into the abyss? Did he see Seth kill Hattie (we still don’t know if she’s dead by the way) and pay the ultimate price? He’s a big strong man and he knows the woods: could he have lured Malcolm in and then knocked him out, stringing him up to ensure his silence? But then again, Seth is known to frequent the woods, so perhaps he really did only find the body there. Perhaps. But he does have a knowing grin on his face when he shows the hanged Malcolm to his brother, as if he knows more than he is telling.

Steve

Speaking of his brother, Steve seemed awfully anxious when the police were called in, so much so that he tried to break through the cordon and get to the lake, and had to be subdued. Was he trying to destroy the evidence, or what was thought of as the evidence? Did he see the arrival of the police as a barrier to his controlling everything, thus maybe steering people away from where he knew the body (if there is a body) to be hidden? He mentions that he has a son he has not seen in a long time; can the strain of being separated from him somehow have told on him and made him take Hattie? Or does he know or suspect that his brother is responsible, and is trying to protect him?

Linus

You’d have to say the chances of him being the abductor/murderer are becoming less and less likely. He’s turning out to be just a normal, confused teenager who wonders what his dad is up to when he’s away. He comforts Caitlin and I think it would be odd if he were able to do this, knowing he had a hand in the disappearance of her twin. He’s also quite weedy and if a little strange does not exhibit any sociopathic tendencies, despite what the school roughs think or say about him. Of course, that could just be a smokescreen, and often the one least suspected turns out to be the killer…

Everett

Suspicion certainly hangs heavy over his father though. One of the few (Malcolm excepted) who seems unconcerned about the disappearance of Hattie Sutton, he seems to treat the frantic search as a joke, a spectacle, a level on his beloved video game, something to be observed and enjoyed, laughed at but not to take part in. But what was in that bag? And why was he so determined to stop his son from seeing it? And what was he washing off his car so diligently when Fiona saw him? Why did he at first give DS Mills the definite impression he knew Hattie well, then backtrack when this seemed to make him a person of interest? How well, if at all, did or does he really know the girl? And again, what happened to his wife?

Alan

Surely a member of the police themselves could not be a suspect? And yet, the weak story he told last episode about why there was blood on his shirt, and now elaborated into something more seems hard to credit. And why does he discourage Fiona from joining the search? When she tells him they have found something at the pond, is his interest casual or something more? And is that really just a bird’s nest Fiona found up in the loft? It does look like blonde hair.


PAGAN IMAGES
There’s surely something symbolic about the fact that Seth, a believer in and adherent to pagan beliefs, has imprisoned a black cat in the trunk?

SMALL TOWN,SMALL MINDS
While looking for the missing girl in the woods one of Gail’s friends, Sandra, opines that summary justice should be meted out to the perpetrator. “If they find him in the wood”, Susan advises, “and he never leaves the woods, well, I wouldn’t be too unhappy, if you know what I mean.” Smalltown mob rule justice is dangerous, and brings back to mind the uneasy spectre of lynchings, when the townsfolk or villagers, deciding that someone who was a suspect was in fact guilty would take it into their own hands to mete out punishment. However this reasoning is fundamentally flawed, as often the biggest suspect has an alibi, or evidence surfaces to prove it was not him. That's why the police are the only ones trusted to make that decision: they have all the facts.

In Sandra’s view they should basically kill the guy and that would be that: an eye for an eye. Let’s just gloss over for the moment the fact that there has been no body recovered, no actual confirmation that there has been a murder --- or even, really, an abduction, and yet minds are turning to revenge and an eye for an eye. But what do the townsfolk even know, really? What facts have they, upon which to make a determination as to someone’s guilt, if indeed someone is guilty? Gail worries that her husband may be the one responsible and so is more upset than anyone to hear such talk. There’s obviously something very dark in Malcolm’s past that we’re unaware of as yet. But would she be so aghast at the suggestion if she did not suspect her husband? Nevertheless, she greets the idea with horror and contempt, remarking, “How very medieval of you, Sandra.”

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018