Bitten Recap 'Bad Blood'

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Season 2 Episode 1

As you may have noticed, the recap for the second episode of the second season was posted before this one. This is because I accidentally deleted this first episode of the second season before I could recap it. Since I am still in the land of difficult Internet connection, I could not stream it. So, I had to wait until I took a trip where Internet was stable enough to download the episode off Netflix again. Then, my health kind of broke down on me so I had to press pause on recapping. I am only moderately better --- I am writing this with a headache that has so far lasted over 12 hours --- but I really would like to get a few recaps done before life gets too busy again. 

Bitten Recap 'Scare Tactics'

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Season 2 Episode 2

The second episode of the second season was all about being scared of the scary, powerful thing that was coming. I have not watched Bitten past this episode so I genuinely have no idea how the season would go. I wanted to learn more about the werewolves of Bitten, the different families, the different packs. So, when I saw via the summaries on Netflix that witches were going to be introduced, I was not that happy. The scope of power of witches did not always lead to good stories. How the witches wielded their power in this episode were pretty cool, though, so I am ready and willing to withhold judgement.

Bitten Recap 'Ready'

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Season 1 Episode 13

Daniel Santos was an idiot and a coward. He was easy to manipulate, which was probably one of the reasons Malcolm Danvers chose him as the face of his assault against Jeremy and the Pack. James Williams was Malcolm Danvers, and it was he who told Jeremy he was a fool not to have used Elena to her full potential all these years. Malcolm wanted Elena. That was what all these challenges to the Pack were about. 

Bitten Recap 'Caged'

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Season 1 Episode 12

Elena has spent a large part of the first season spitting anger at Clay for turning her into a werewolf. Now, Jeremy finally told Elena that Clay bit her to give her a second chance at life. When Elena and Clay first arrived at Stonehaven, Jeremy was out running in the grounds of the estate. Elena turned at just the exact time Jeremy was changing back into human form. Elena did not see anything, but Jeremy could not take a chance when it came to maintaining the secrecy of the Pack. Jeremy was going to kill Elena. That was why Clay bit her.

Bitten Recap 'Settling'

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Season 1 Episode 11

Settling included two distinctive but both very good fight scenes, one in Logan’s house and the other at Philip’s flat. Logan’s approach to fighting Marsten and LeBlanc was almost surgical. He poured perfume all over the house to camouflage his scent, then quietly went after Marsten, then LeBlanc. He was not able to kill either of them, though he certainly tried, at the very least, to render them unconscious. LeBlanc managed to wound him seriously enough so that Logan asked Rachel to drive him to Stonehaven. This fight scene showed why Logan, the son of a mutt who grew up with a human mother, was a member of the inner circle, the feared Pack --- he was smart, and he held his own against two attackers. 

Bitten Recap 'Descent'

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Season 1 Episode 10

There was much simmering anger in this episode, and most of them from a human. Most understanding boyfriend ever Philip suspected based on the photograph he saw at Logan’s place that Elena had a relationship with her ‘cousin’ Clay. Meeting him pretty much confirmed his suspicion. Clay was sent by Jeremy to Toronto to protect Elena. Philip, being Philip, invited Clay to stay with him and Elena at their apartment. Clay, being Clay, accepted. 

Bitten Recap 'Vengeance'

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Season 1 Episode 9

Why did Koenig, a former Pack enforcer, decide to go against Jeremy at Daniel Santos’s bidding? The episode ended without an answer to this question, but it did show some interesting bits. Antonio left the Pack when he was young, but he returned after the birth of Nick and never spoke of or to Nick’s mother again. Koenig made Antonio kill a mutt for kicks, when he was sent to bring Antonio back into the Pack. Jeremy was physically strong and a good fighter, despite his injury. This was the second time we were shown Jeremy fighting an enemy, which was good to see since the alpha status was attained and maintained by virtue of strength. Jeremy risked his life and almost allowed Koenig to kill him to give Nick a chance to finish off the man who once had brutal fun at the expense of his father. Werewolves could not stop the transformation when they were already mid change, except for Elena, who was able to do it. Daniel Santos must know something about Elena, because he was furious when LeBlanc went after her. 

Bitten Recap 'Prisoner'

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Season 1 Episode 8

Did Zachary love his human girlfriend Amber more than Clay loved Elena? Elena certainly seemed to think so. She could appreciate Zachary’s mode of loving, steadfastly refusing to bite Amber, rather than Clay’s. I am not certain whether who was right or not mattered because at this point, I feel that Elena was just fighting Clay for the sake of fighting. She needed to find ways to stay mad at him to stop herself from falling in love, or in lust, with him again. 

Bitten Recap 'Stalking'

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Season 1 Episode 7

Based on what we have been told so far, Jeremy was a powerful alpha, either the most powerful alpha in North America or the only alpha in North America. Yet, with a few moves, Daniel Santos was able to wound him grievously, both metaphorically and literally. Daniel proposed a meet, then staged an ambush hours before the meeting, whilst Clay and Elena surveilled what was supposed to be neutral ground. Antonio wanted to drive past the scene of what appeared to be an accident but Jeremy insisted on helping the injured woman. She turned out to be the human girlfriend of Zachary Cain. Antonio succumbed to his wounds, but not before telling his good friend and Pack boss that the time for half measures was over. Jeremy’s wound did not appear that serious at first, but the blade was poisoned. The Danvers Pack had Zachary in a cage, but its alpha was now fighting for his life. 

Bitten Recap 'Committed'

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Season 1 Episode 6

The previous strikes against Jeremy’s pack were just probes. Now, there was a sense that war was coming to Stonehaven. Finally, the pack already knew who the true enemy was. It was not just Zachary Cain or Karl Marsten, or their army of mutts. It was Daniel Santos. 

Bitten Recap 'Bitten'

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Season 1 Episode 5

On this episode we were shown how Elena Michaels became a werewolf. She was a broke college student when she applied for a typing job with Dr. Clay Danvers. The two of them became a couple after months of working together, and they eventually got engaged. Jeremy was not happy that Clay brought his fiancée to Stonehaven. Stonehaven was a sanctuary to the pack; outsiders like Elena were not welcome. Seeing that his happily ever after with Elena was not going to happen whilst she remained human, Clay transformed into a wolf and bit her. 

Bitten Recap 'Grief'

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Season 1 Episode 4

Karl Marsten, international mutt of mystery, and Zachary Cain, the mutt that Clay beat up months ago, appeared to be turning murderers into werewolves. Three were mentioned to have escaped a prison facility in Tennessee. We already met two, the mutt who killed the women and one child, and the mutt who killed Pete. 

Bitten Recap 'Trespass'

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Season 1 Episode 3

With the bodies dumped right outside and on Stonehaven property, there were indications from the beginning that someone was coming for the Danvers pack. Now, with Pete’s death, that was almost a certainty. After Elena and Clay tracked the killer mutt to a club, and the mutt was killed by the sheriff, the Danvers pack began to disband. Elena and Logan returned to Toronto. Antonio wanted to investigate another mutt, Karl Marsten, with his son Nick. Pete was supposed to catch up with his band’s tour. 

Bitten Recap 'Prodigal'

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Season 1 Episode 2

The second episode of Bitten delved more into the show’s mythology. We were already shown that werewolves had super hearing, and needed to eat a lot. Now, we were told via Nick that werewolves also had prolonged youth. With Elena’s comment that their old age would also be prolonged, I took that to mean that werewolves age, but very slowly. Packs create and enforce the rules on mutts. Werewolves were prohibited from changing in front of  humans and killing humans, unless the change occurred in front of a human. The only way a woman could become a werewolf was to be bitten. According to the lore, it was long thought that women were not strong enough to handle the change (*grits teeth*). Elena was the only woman known to have survived the bite. 

Bitten Recap 'Summons'

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Season 1 Episode 1

As could be expected with a Pilot, Summons was a table setting episode, tasked to introduce the story and its characters. Elena was living a good life in Toronto with her hot, successful, often shirtless boyfriend Philip when she received a message from home. Unbeknownst to perfect boyfriend Philip, Elena was part of a werewolf pack, and Jeremy the alpha had summoned the whole family back to their estate called Stonehaven to deal with a crisis. 

Poldark Recap Series 2 Episode 9 The New Master at Trenwith

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Director: Richard Senior

Writer: Debbie Horsfield

Original Air Date: 6 November 2016

Life obligations has prevented me from spending time on this blog these past few weeks. Things are just starting to wind down, and I am hopeful that I will be able to catch up with my recapping duties soon. The wonderful thing is that, though I have not been able to write recaps, I was able to keep up with my shows. I am up to date with Reign. I have seen the first two episodes of Still Star Crossed. I have also seen the first episode of the third series of Poldark. Though the last recap I posted on this blog was over two weeks ago, the thing is, I have barely been able to work on this blog throughout the month of May. I feel a bit awkward, returning to it now, but I also know that I ought to, for I always feel not myself when I spend even a few weeks away from writing. I have much to catch up on not just on this blog, but at my day job as well, but I do look forward to spending as much of the second half of 2017 as possible on my writing projects. And now, on to a brief recap.

Reign Recap Season 4 Episode 12 The Shakedown

Director: Norma Bailey

Writers: Patti Carr & Lara Olsen

Original Air Date: 12 Mary 2017 

I have finally realised that the way for me to enjoy these last few episodes of Reign is to, as much as possible, not think of them as the last few episodes of Reign. For most of the fourth season, I have been more than a little stressing over how the writers would wrap the story following the  show's cancellation. Now, I have decided to chill. Whether or not the show would be able to wrap all its threads neatly, whether or not the show would have time to present the final moments of Mary, whether or not our hearts would soar or be crushed by the finale (or both) matters not, for now. One episode at a time. One episode at a too quickly moving time. 

RECAP REIGN Season 4 Episode 11 Dead of Night

Director: Deborah Chow
Writers: Wendy Riss Gatsiounis & Drew Lindo
Original Air Date: 05 May 2017

Reign is Mary's show, and I write that as someone who worships the ground Catherine de Medici walks on, and who admires the shift to the story of the three Queens in the third season. We are already in the days of certain descent for Mary, and Adelaide Kane ruled her every scene. Episodes like this make me feel more keenly a fan's frustration that Reign is ending much too soon. It was written by Drew Lindo and Wendy Riss Gatsiounis, two of my favourite Reign writers. Though I watched the episode after working bloody overtime, I loved it.

Reign Recap Season 4 Episode 10 A Better Man

Director: Dawn Wilkinson

Writers: John J. Sakmar & Kenny Lenhart

Original Air Date: 28 April 2017

Sorry royals, I am not writing a full recap of this episode. I realised recently that I have not taken a proper day off in too long, and I really do feel how tired I am. I am posting, instead, a few thoughts I had on this episode. 

Poldark Recap Series 2 Episode 8 Tin

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Director: Charles Palmer
Writer: Debbie Horsfield
Original Air Date: 23 October 2016

Once, Elizabeth told Ross that she and Francis were alike in many ways. This episode proved that Elizabeth and Ross were alike in at least one way, too. When Elizabeth decided to marry George Warleggan, she told herself and Ross that she was doing it for her son. When Ross sh-gged Elizabeth whilst trying to convince her not to go through with the wedding, he later told Demelza he had no choice. These two former, and I suppose present, lovers both have a capacity for self deception. Elizabeth, you can choose not to marry the most evil man in Cornwall and still provide a good future for your son. Ross, you can choose to remain faithful to the wife who has only ever helped and loved you. 

Reign Recap Season 4 Episode 9 Pulling Strings

Director: Andy Mikita

Writers: April Blair & Laurie McCarthy

Original Air Date: 14 April 2017

My head is spinning. This is a bonkers Reign episode, and I write that with a great deal of affection. I kept getting season one vibes as the narrative hurtled from one wtf moment to another. With just a handful of episodes remaining until Reign bids its final adieu, the writers appear to have decided to step on the gas with a song in their hearts. As someone who has been with Reign since 2013, this is a joy to watch.

Poldark Recap Series 2 Episode 7 A Quiet Life

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Director: Charles Palmer

Writer: Debbie Horsfield

Original Air Date: 16 October 2016

There was a sense of foreboding throughout this episode, and not just because of evil George's manipulative warnings to Elizabeth about a peasant uprising. Ross, desperate for a chance to turn things around before Wheal Grace was forced to shut down, decided to hitch a ride on the smuggler Trencrom's ship to meet with Mark Daniels. Whilst he hid in the mine after accidentally killing his wife Keren, he claimed to have seen a massive lode of copper. The trip was for nought, however. Ross and his team had already gone where Mark pointed, and gotten what little it yielded. 

Poldark Recap Series 2 Episode 6 The Stocking Scene

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Director: Charles Palmer

Writer: Debbie Horsfield

Original Air Date: October 9, 2016

For most of this episode, I was just getting ready to scold Ross in this recap. I had completely forgotten that this episode ends in the now famous stocking scene. If you are unfamiliar with it, or merely want to watch it again, BBC One uploaded the scene here. So now, my poor, asthma ridden self is hyperventilating. Aidan Turner held that scene with his eyes. There is much to love about Poldark, but when it gifts us viewers with a scene like this, it is like the show loves us back. 

Poldark Recap Series 2 Episode 5 When Redemption Ends

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Director: Charles Palmer

Writer: Debbie Horsfield
Original Air Date: October 2, 2016

I have already seen the entirety of the second season, of course, so I grabbed a Cadbury before I rewatched this episode for the recap. I wish I could say it helped ease the blow, but it did not. This was a beautiful sendoff, however, for a character on a lovely redemptive arc. We'll miss you, F. 

Poldark Recap Series 2 Episode 4 Wheal Grace

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Director: Will Sinclair

Writer: Debbie Horsfield

Original Air Date: September 25, 2016

For most of George Warleggan's tenure as banker/ creepy friend/ economic dictator, he mostly spread various shades of misery, from mild annoyance to utter despair. Yet, in this episode that also teased hope for a pairing separated by a wide gulf of guineas and vision, it was actually George Warleggan's actions that pushed the repair of long held rifts within the Poldark family. 

Poldark Recap Series 2 Episode 3 Back Alive

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Director: Will Sinclair

Writer: Debbie Horsfield

Original Air Date: September 18, 2016

This episode covered much ground, from Ross's financial troubles to movement in the romance between Dr. Enys and Caroline, to Francis's new found love for life and work --- and it is galling me a little that the common thread here is evil George Warleggan. George continued trying to weasel his way into Wheal Leisure by buying up stockholder shares. He found he had already lost the friendship of Trenwith; Elizabeth backed her husband when Francis decided he was no longer buddies with George. George was at the Penvenen party when a mildly ill Caroline insisted on sending for Dr. Enys. Evil George's presence was near constant, his fear of Ross, needled by his investment proxy, manifesting in his desire to learn how to defend himself. I did enjoy him snap at the comical Unwin Trevaunance, who was too busy thinking of ways to spend Caroline's money and not at all aware that not only did she despise him, she had fallen for someone else.

Poldark Recap Series 2 Episode 2 Let Ross Be Ross

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Director: Will Sinclair

Writer: Debbie Horsfield

Original Air Date: September 11, 2016

There is exquisite beauty in the writing of Poldark, even, or especially, on dark moments, as when Francis spoke almost casually to Dr. Enys of how he remained alive because his gun misfired. In that quiet moment inside an inn, between two men who were not friends but who now shared a knowledge of one man's deep despair, and in Ross's passionate speech later in the courtroom, it is made clear once more that Debbie Horsfield's writing elevates Poldark, and is perhaps the strongest reason for its ardent following.

Buffy's Anne, and These Lost Days

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Episode Title: Anne

Director: Joss Whedon

Writer: Joss Whedon

Original Air Date: September 29, 1998

In the handful of times that I went to a Buffy forum and looked at other people's top 10 favourite Buffy episodes, I do not recall ever seeing Anne mentioned. Yet, ever since I discovered Buffy, Anne has been one of my go to episodes during rewatch. It is a combination, I suppose, of the fact that it begins perhaps Buffy's best season (season three), and that I feel deeply for Buffy who is lost here. 

Poldark Recap Series 2 Episode 1 Francis

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Director: Will Sinclair

Writer: Debbie Horsfield

Original Air Date: September 4, 2016

Poldark equals Ross, of course, but I am giving the lead of my recap of the first episode of the second season to Francis, the Poldark who was always somehow less. Francis was never evil, merely weak, and in Kyle Soller's nuanced performance, we have a character who near constantly struggled between the right thing, and the impulses of his deeply held insecurities.

Poldark Recap Series 1 Episode 8 The End

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Director: William McGregor

Writer: Debbie Horsfield

Original Air Date: April 26, 2015

An epidemic of putrid throat killed many, including Ross and Demelza's infant daughter Julia, but it also, in its own tragic manner, healed many wounds. When everyone at Trenwith fell ill except for the indomitable Aunt Agatha, Demelza went there to help. Elizabeth was tearfully grateful, and even Francis, who could barely open his eyes, expressed how good Demelza was to come and overlook past quarrels. With Demelza's careful attention, the Poldarks of Trenwith survived, including the deathly ill young Geoffrey Charles. 

Poldark Recap Series 1 Episode 7 All Fall Down

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Director: William McGregor

Writer: Debbie Horsfield

Original Air Date: April 19, 2015

The Carnmore Copper Company was in dire straits, and it was because one day, Demelza decided that two people who loved each other should be together. It is certainly convenient to blame Demelza, but it was evil George Warleggan who decided to call in loans and ruin people just because he had to be in control of everything. Was the Carnmore Copper Company chipping away at a significant percentage of the Warleggans' income. Perhaps, but the Warleggans had business interests elsewhere. A small amount of fair competition would not beggar them. Blame George Warleggan for being uncommonly greedy. Blame Francis for not seeing through the man who pretended to be his friend. Demelza displayed a fraction of naivety, but I would not blame her for the near collapse of Ross's company, or the fact that good men would likely end up in debtor's prison for inability to pay loans to the Warleggans.

Poldark Recap Series 1 Episode 6 You Win Some, You Lose Some

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Director: William McGregor

Writer:  Debbie Horsfield

Original Air Date: April 12, 2015

On a wall in a barn inside Ross's estate, Jinny kept a tally of the days before she would see her husband Jim again. He was arrested for poaching before she gave birth to their daughter, so he has never even met their baby. Because poverty has made criminals out of many decent men, Bodmin jail was packed more than it could handle. Fever had broken out, and prisoners were dying. As soon as Ross confirmed this, he enlisted the help of Dr. Enys. 

Poldark Recap Series 1 Episode 5 Resurgam

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Director: William McGregor

Writer: Debbie Horsfield

Original Air Date: April 5, 2015

One of the starkest differences between the Poldarks of Trenwith and the Poldarks of Nampara was how the couples tend to respond to difficult times. Francis and Elizabeth grow apart, whilst Ross and Demelza strengthen their bond. Francis appeared to genuinely want the happy marriage Ross and Demelza have; he simply did not know how to achieve it. His choices were often self destructive. Losing money, he still spent it freely on gambling and gifts to his mistress. In an effort to recoup his losses, he bet Grambler on a game of cards in a house party hosted by George Warleggan. He lost.  

Poldark Recap Series 1 Episode 4 Happy Days

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Director: Ed Bazalgette

Writer: Debbie Horsfield

Original Air Date: March 29, 2015

When I watched Poldark for the first time, I actually laughed out loud during the scene of Ross and Demelza's wedding. I am unfamiliar with the source material and I somehow managed to avoid spoilers, so that scene was a complete surprise to me. I wondered what it was I was watching before I hurriedly moved on to the next episode.

What I was watching, I soon learnt, was a story of love that somehow just happened. Ross did not marry his kitchen maid Demelza out of love, or even lust. He married her, as he himself confessed to her, because he wanted a distraction. Ross came home to an impoverished land, an inheritance mired with debt, and the woman he loved already promised to his cousin. He reopened Wheal Leisure to grateful, impoverished miners. He did his best to look after his workers. He continued to tamp down his lingering desire for Elizabeth out of deference to her choice to marry Francis. Under his stern direction, Nampara was slowly moving from the years of neglect and into a proper gentleman's state. 

Poldark Recap Series 1 Episode 3 And Then They Marry

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Director: Ed Bazalgette

Writer: Debbie Horsfield

Original Air Date: March 22, 2015

This is the episode that contained the now famous scything scene --- a shirtless Aidan Turner on the fields with a scythe, working whilst Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson) watched. It is a good thing that this episode contained many scenes fans like myself would love because in between lingering looks from Ross to Demelza was the tragic story of young Jim Carter.

Poldark Recap Series 1 Episode 2 Feelings and Lies

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Unmarried at 25 and plain compared to the stunning Elizabeth, Verity was resigned to her duties at Trenwith. At an assembly, however, she met Captain Blamey and fell in love. Captain Blamey was equally smitten with Verity. It would have been a good match, had it not been for the fact that Captain Blamey had a past considered unsuitable for a Poldark.

Poldark Recap Series 1 Episode 1 A Son Comes Home

Note: I have not read the Poldark novels by Winston Graham so these recaps will solely be based on the TV series.

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We know little of Ross Poldark before he returned from the war two years after he was reported dead. When asked by his superior officer why he enlisted, he said that it was to escape the gallows. His crimes, according to him, were brawling, free trading and assaulting a custom's official. Based on the conversation inside the coach on Ross's way back to Cornwall, his description of his life before the war was likely accurate.