When we last left Holden Matthews on Beyond, he was in one tough place. The possible love of his life was back in the Realm in a desperate effort to keep him safe. His brother was locked away in a room courtesy of his nemesis Frost and he was left with no choice but to help this utter madman return to the Realm in order to keep all of them safe, and when the penultimate episode of the season leaves you with that kind of cliffhanger, you know the season finale is going to deliver one heck of a story and last night Beyond absolutely managed to knock my socks off.

But what truly made the season one finale of this show so absolutely impressive is that the story didn't go into unexpected places to impress us. It stayed true to how the story has been told all season long, which meant there were no powerful speeches to be found from our villain. Or some epic showdown where he and Holden used their powers to fight in the Realm. This was just another character driven episode that went into some surprisingly philosophical places all while reminding everyone involved in the story that there are consequences for their actions, with a dash of more information on Hollow Sky's business plans throw in for good measure. 

That last piece was actually quite important and incredibly fascinating because it added an extra layer of evil to Frost and his plans since we learned that Hollow Sky is planning to make the Afterlife a tourist attraction and make millions in the process, all that needed to happen was for Frost and Holden and Willa to return with the knowledge of where the Bridge lies in the Realm and well...while in the Realm the trio found the gateway between life and death and this is where the episode went super philosophical because we have been taught to believe that the Afterlife is a place where good human souls go in one direction and bad human souls go in another and the show posed the theory that perhaps when we die, good and evil all head into the great beyond through one central nexus point...because what Frost found...were ugly spirits ready to use his desire to cross the Bridge as their own way back to our world, which meant Holden had one big decision to make...destroy the bridge, or let them come.

Naturally, Holden obliterated the Bridge rather than let that kind of evil roam free and potentially find a way back to our world and in doing so, he set in motion a chain of stunning events. First and foremost the act left Frost in a coma for a change, and by incapacitating him Hollow Sky may be in serious financial jeopardy which hey...isn't exactly a bad thing. Plus, this second time around in the Realm taught Holden how to properly harness his powers since he was able to use them perfectly when he, Jeff, his brother and Willa escaped that twisted compound...but there are consequences to be had for his actions. Because it's clear now that evil is roaming free through the Realm and eventually...it's coming to earth since these dark spirits have no place to go and that, should make for quite an interesting plot line, come season two.

When all is said and done however, I absolutely adored this season finale. It was powerful, poignant, and thoughtful and like the rest of season one, it was unconventional and unique and I'm so glad to see a show like this one on the air that takes chances in this fashion and it makes the wait for season two all the more difficult, especially when you consider what else might be coming our way. After all, there's a chance that Frost could awaken from his coma and set out for revenge against Holden, or...there's a strong chance he's lying in wait to unleash his vendetta in the Realm and that may make the clean up operation in that world all the more difficult when the time comes. Either way, I can't wait to see where this story is going to go, but at least we can binge watch this season until the second one arrives and enjoy the beginning of Holden Matthews' incredible journey, one more time. Until next year. 

Buried deep in all of our minds is one important moment that we want to see come to fruition, one that would mean the world to us. It could be an apology from someone who hurt us years ago. Or an opportunity to set right a mistake we made, or...see someone that disappeared from our lives long ago come back to us at last.

But the downside to those wonderfully positive thoughts...is that we know deep down the chances of any of those things actually happening are slim to none, so we play the age old game of 'what if?' and move on with our days, but what would life look like if one of those scenarios came to fruition? Well it's something that Supergirl decided to explore in depth last night, because 'Homecoming' reunited the family Danvers at last with the return of Jeremiah and well, his return led to one heartbreaking and powerful episode that dug into what family means to all of us and how far some folks will go to keep the people they love, safe. 

If anything, Jeremiah's return actually made for some incredibly beautiful moments in this episode.  Being able to witness his return to the DEO and embrace his daughters and his friends was a misty eyed inducing occasion and to see the joy in Kara and Alex's eyes was simply the stuff of magic and it was equally as lovely to see them work extra hard to wipe away the pain of a fourteen year absence and integrate dad back into their lives as quickly as possible, and while Eliza Danvers was quick to point out that it was going to be a hard road ahead, clearly everyone was invested in putting their family together again. But despite the joy of seeing Jeremiah return home...one man was suspicious of the whole thing.  Mon-El had a funny feeling deep down that Jeremiah's rescue was too good to be true, that perhaps Cadmus was up to something far more sinister and let the DEO find him as part of their sinister plans. 

Of course, his suspicions led to plenty of conflict between Kara, her family and Mon-El for that matter...but his cynicism was not without merit and that's when the show went into some incredibly heartbreaking territory because as it turns out...Mon-El was right. Jeremiah Danvers was a sleeper agent after all and he was working to gain the trust of the DEO and his family in order to steal information from the DEO's mainframe and it led to one harrowing showdown between biological daughter and father, wherein dear old dad explained that all of this, was to keep his family safe and to know that he made a deal with a proverbial devil in the hopes of seeing his daughters grow up from afar...completely and utterly shattered Alex and Kara at their core. 

But regardless of the pain on display in this episode, a poignant moment in the finale served as a reminder, that heroes don't always get time to grieve and hurt properly. Because Kara now knows that Cadmus has the National Alien Registry, and we the audience now know they have a plan in place to commit genocide and 'cleanse the earth' of said aliens, which means that it's back to work for Kara and the DEO, regardless of the pain they carry in their hearts...so they can save as many lives as possible. As to how well they are able to bury that ache has yet to be seen because I'm certain they will run into Jeremiah once again and Lillian Luthor is no doubt hoping that emotion will force Kara and Alex and J'onn to make some grave mistakes. Either way, what a powerful episode, and I'm glad to see that the series is completely back on track because this was some outstanding storytelling and I cannot wait to see what comes next from this heartbreaking turn of events. Until next time. 

I will admit that I was feeling a little nostalgic the other day and I was going through the IMDB message boards one last time before they would be removed forever and a comment about Binging showed up and piqued my interest. The thread started with a question about Netflix and why they release the entire season on one day, rather than dropping an episode once a week or once a day. Given, this has been the practice of the streaming giant for quite a while now, I think that the last show they tried a delayed release with was the first season of Between or Sense8, I cannot remember which one it was, but I was not going to watch said show until a couple of the episodes came out.

Now I am a huge fan of binging your favorite shows, but one of the comments on the thread really irked me. ‘When a series is released on one day, it demeans the value of the product.’ This did not sit right with me and while there were only a few hours to try and respond, I wondered how many people actually think this way. I have been a huge fan of the Marvel shows that Netflix has been putting out over the past year and do not know how I would feel if I needed to wait a week in between to watch the next episode. I don’t think that it would have made a difference when it came to Luke Cage or Daredevil, since both of those shows were just fantastic and truthfully of my own accord, I needed to take a break from Jessica Jones as the storyline got extremely dark the further into the season I went, and yeah, I did stop and watch a Disney movie to get my mind right again. 

But do I think anything was lost with binging these shows? As a matter of fact, I do not. If a show is written well, it does not matter what kind of format is released to the masses, be it daily, weekly, even monthly. If you are bought into a show, you will wait however long it takes for the next episode to come out. One of the other comments that appeared on the thread was that binging does not give you the suspense that a show needs to keep you intrigued. I can look back to a huge fan favorite when it comes to suspense being built up, The Walking Dead has mastered this and leaves every episode at a cliff hanger to ensure that the fans come back the following week, but this show does something else that is a little different for a television show, they utilize a mid-season break.

Now while I understand the break is put in for rewrites while the first half of the season is being graded by the network and writers, it seems to add something different to the show's dynamic. Being able to react to what the fans are loving and hating is a great idea, especially when you are dealing with deep subjects every week, be it how to survive a zombie horde, or how to fight off humans who are looking to take your supplies, but it can also lose the fan base. With attention spans falling by the wayside these days, it is easy to get invested into something that's right in front of you and not having to wait for a number of months to see the next episode is an added bonus. That is what happened to me when it comes to The Walking Dead, I was tired of waiting to know what happened next, especially when the main focus was on a character that I could care less about in the long run.

I know other shows have tried to take this route and have been canceled because of it. That just goes to show you that not every show is able to use this formula to try and make the show better, especially when the product was not that good to start with. The same person that said that binging does not give you the suspense that a show needs to keep you intrigued also said that they do it with a prior season to refresh their memory when it comes to their favorite shows when a new season is coming, so in that instance, binging is alright. I fully agree with that stance, but depending on the show that you will be watching and how the storylines are told, you may need to watch every episode that has ever aired to catch up. Game of Thrones is the perfect example of this since you can go an entire season without one of the storylines even being acknowledged. It makes for long days of watching and preparing to see who will be the next rightful king. I really hope it is Daenerys with Tyrion by her side, but that is just me.

But the long and short of it, for me, I do not think that binging a series is a bad thing at all. From the shows I have been able to do this with on Netflix, it has made for a fun weekend and I am able to jump back into the series whenever I want, plus If you enjoy the show and cannot wait to see what happens next, well, binging is the way of getting around that wait. While there are others out there that think that this will be the demise of television the way that we know it, you know that you can watch the episodes at your own leisure, right? Everyone has their own viewing pleasures and while many people want to get into a series right away, others like to ease into them and there is no right answer when it comes to this. What I do know is that if it is a great show that you love, you will watch it based on the schedule that is provided or the one that is comfortable for you and then hit up OnDemand or whichever streaming service is showing it and watch the heck out of it again.

One of the fondest memories I have of my childhood, was getting the opportunity to listen to Orson Welles' radio broadcast of War of the Worlds in its entirety on vinyl. The fact that so many people found themselves terrorized by this simple broadcast and the fact that it has such lasting power fascinated me and does to this day, but when I was younger, the powerful societal  implications were a touch lost on me.

Instead my initial response was curious obsession. I had to know more about this world, and this incredible story and the notion that aliens could invade our world fired up my imagination like no other and of course, getting to hear the radio show eventually led to watching the incredible movie and man, did I rent that thing weekend after weekend. So it goes without saying that when a sequel to the movie was announced by way of a weekly television series, I was a tad bit excited.  

The night the show arrived on the air, my little brother and I were glued to the television set as the martians returned and man was it incredible. It turns out that after the original story, the martians didn't die, they slipped into a sickly coma and were sealed in canisters and hidden away. But they  awakened from their slumber ready to resurrect their plans to conquer mankind and it would fall to a special task of force of scientists and soldiers to make sure that those evil plans were never successful.

It was an awesome concept, and well we were certainly hooked and I honestly liked the changes that were made to the aliens. They were no longer martians, they were from a planet called Mor-Tax which quite frankly only enriched the story since they were faceless invaders in the original tale, and this little twist gave them depth and new purpose. I was also a big fan of the fact that they could now possess human beings and use their flesh to blend in. It was a great touch and a sound homage to science fiction and horror films of the fifties.

But truthfully it was just awesome to see the aliens of yesteryear in an era of modern special effects.  Of course those look dated today but to see those iconic war ships fly again in the pilot episode was the stuff of dreams. Not to mention the cast was fun to watch and week in and week out the stories were pretty interesting. My brother and I made a point to be in front of our family television set every single week when it was time for the show to air and it seemed like the sky was the limit for this series.  

But the good times would not last.  While the first season put together some lovely twists and turns that should have carried into season two...the second season was well...weird. Everything changed.  Suddenly the world was this dark and disturbing place where war was everywhere and heck in the season two premiere a ton of the principle cast was killed off. The Mor-Taxians were quickly replaced by a new enemy...it was just ugly, in fact I've left you with some video samples so you can see the difference, and while season two left us with a lot of unresolved issues, for a time this was some kick ass science fiction and it's a shame it took such a wild turn for no good reason.  ​

Wow. Just wow. That's the only word that keeps coming into my mind when it comes to last night's episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. because holy cow, this one was quite the game changer. Sure we knew we were going to be in trouble this week with four LMD's running around S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, but I don't think any of us expected this episode to be quite as devastating as this one turned out to be.

After all, 'Self Control' was more or less an hour of scorched earth. One where I'm not sure that anything will ever quite be the same tone and design wise for this show considering what happens to HQ and considering where our characters end up and from the get go this episode upped its game by taking an already incredible twist and enhancing it further by revealing that Daisy was not the fourth LMD after all, it turned out to be Fitz, who quickly turned on Jemma in an effort to convert her into an android as well and that was just the beginning for a tale that quite frankly felt like a grand homage to The Thing since for quite some time we really had no clue as to who was a droid and who was flesh and blood. 

That made for one tense story and one that sunk into dark territory once Fitz's real identity was revealed since the Coulson-Bot and Mack-Droid went on a brief killing spree to in essence blackmail Jemma and Daisy and capture them in the hopes of converting them as well and in the process of hunting down two of their own, S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ was more or less laid to waste. All bets were off during this sequence of the story and well, considering that it was a matter of life or death for Jemma and Daisy it makes sense, but the fact that HQ has once more been blown to bits and that what remains of the active agents are once again on the run with a shaky plan at best to rescue their friends from the Framework is stunning to say the least and truly I never saw this kind of wild plot twist coming. 

But, the show wasn't done dropping our jaws with the destruction of home base. The whole mess with the Darkhold has suddenly become infinitely more complicated because dear Aida is discovering conflicts within her programming. She is of course, digitally sworn to protect the Framework, but she has concerns with the fact that humanity is filled with regrets and that someday, Dr. Radcliffe may regret building the Framework. He of course assures her otherwise, letting her know that when the human mind is connected to this digital utopia that regret can never exist, making her corporeal concerns null and void, giving her the wild notion to murder Radcliffe, and upload his mind to the Framework so that he can never change his mind when it comes to his decision to build this perfect virtual paradise.

So...just like that, Aida is our brand new villain. An Android obsessed with protecting a world that doesn't physically exist and not only will she do whatever it takes to defend the Framework, she also seems to be obsessed with finding a way to become more human and experience what we do and well...that makes her one of the most dangerous villains S.H.I.E.L.D., and what's left of it, has ever faced. Plus to top it all off, Daisy and Jemma appear to be lost and confused in the Framework and one has to wonder if Jemma will even be able to make a difference considering the fact her avatar appears to be dead in this digital world. Either way, this was simply a stunning episode, one that still has my head spinning a day later and I'm dying to know why the virtual Triskelion had a Hydra logo for all to see in the closing moments of this episode...time will tell I guess. Until next time.

The last time we left Barry Allen and all of his friends at S.T.A.R. Labs, we were treated to something they've all struggled with as season three has rolled on...teamwork. At times their own interests and their own fears have taken precedence over everything else but the appearance of Clive Yorkin forced the team to pull together, to support one another and make miracles happen once again and it could not have come at a better time, because this week's episode of The Flash put the team in the midst of their biggest challenge to date when it comes to changing the future to save dear Iris.

Because the return of Jesse Quick to ask for Barry's help in saving her father, went far beyond a simple mistake or an accident...it meant the return of Grodd and a risky gambit to save Harry's life, one that went to some incredibly dark places and it made 'Attack on Gorilla City' one of the most intense episodes that The Flash has put together this season, mainly because of the lengths the team had to go to save Harry Wells from Grodd's evil grasp and because of the fact that Barry finally had to face a question that every good superhero has to face at some point or another in their career....is it at all possible for a hero to willingly take a life?

Of course, you're probably wondering, how on earth would Grodd play into a story these days since the last time we saw him, the Flash had marooned him in the Gorilla City on Earth 2 and the answer to that is simple...Grodd used Harry as bait. By sending out a message that was 'friendly' to humankind that only Harry could decipher, the plucky scientist took a team out to that mysterious city, wherein those that came with Wells were slaughtered and only Harry remained and Grodd knew full well that Flash would come to save him and he did indeed, bringing along Cisco, Caitlin and Julian for good measure, only to find himself and his friends captured. But the reason for their capture, was stunning to say the least, since Grodd appealed to Flash's heroic nature, asking for help to defeat the leader of the City, Solovar, to prevent an all out assault on Earth Prime.

That's where Barry was forced to ponder on the notion of murder in the name of the greater good. Because it didn't take long for Solovar to threaten all of their lives, forcing Barry to make a deal to fight Solovar one on one to spare the lives of his friends and well...considering that it was likely going to be a fight to the death...Barry had quite the decision to make; end the King's life, or find a way to fight fair. Of course Barry chose the latter and defeated Solovar only to discover...that seeing Solovar fall, was Grodd's plan all along. By beating their leader, the Gorillas feared man, allowing for Grodd to seize control and assemble an army, before using Cisco's powers to open an breach to take said army to Central City and level it in the name of revenge. But Barry could not allow that to happen, and put himself on death's doorstep with Caitlin's help to stage a daring escape that saved Harry and left Grodd's plan in tatters.  

If anything it truly seemed as though the gang had finally changed the future, and the Gorilla City attack would never happen...but alas, the show continued to pose the question as to whether or not the future can be changed because as it turns out....Grodd had a backup plan. He found Gypsy from Earth 19 and brought her to his world and it would seem, the attack is still coming and there's still a chance that Iris may die and when all is said and done, wow...what an episode. It just seems like the team cannot get a break, and while I'd like to maintain hope that they can change the future...you really have to wonder if that's at all possible at this point. Either way, points to this episode for finding a way to challenge the characters in thoughtful fashion in an episode that really didn't require a whole lot of thinking and I guess we will have to wait until next week to see if there's some way that Barry can prevent Central City from taking any damage when it comes to Grodd's attack if he hopes to save Iris from her unfortunate fate. Until next time.

Behind every great hero, stands a destructive and terrifying villain. These are the men and women that press our hero into service and make them stand tall for all that is right in the world. Sometimes, they are easy to spot in a story, especially when they make their presence known to all early on in the tale, and other times...they are extremely hard to spot as they work from the shadows, pulling all the strings necessary to give their evil plan the life it so deserves and for a long time...it truly seemed as though the Man in the Yellow Jacket was the true villain of Beyond. 

​Sure he answers to other people, but the fact that he was just around the corner from Holden's family, has his fingers in just about every aspect of Holden's life and has hunted him to the ends of the earth to capture him, he truly seemed like the greatest challenge Holden would ever face. It turns out that I was completely and utterly wrong about everything. Yellow Jacket was nothing more than a pawn and the muscle to bring in Holden and reveal to him and all of us the true monster of the story; Issac Frost. It's a name we know, it's a face we've seen and it's no secret that he's the head of Hollow Sky and obsessed with the Afterlife and reaching it in order to give peace to those who have lost loved ones and cannot recover from said loss, but last night's episode 'Out of Darkness', gave us some grand insight into Frost, his pain and how that ache in his heart has driven him to become one cold, calculated monster.

Granted the episode started off showing him to be nothing of the sort since he was so gracious to Holden. He cooked him breakfast, allowed him to roam the house of his own free will and even offered our hero a fine deal; hear his pitch, nothing more and if Holden wasn't interesting in helping him out, the Matthews family would never hear from him again and to top if all off...he made one hell of a pitch. He showed Holden the kind of pain people at Hollow Sky were going through, how much they needed some kind of support or direction in their lives and what it would mean to them to finally know that they see or speak to their loved ones once again. But despite the sales pitch and the kindness, Holden couldn't let go of the fact that Hollow Sky had come for him and his family and declined the offer and well...that's when Frost revealed his true colors.

He made it quite clear that one way or another, Holden was going to help him reach the Realm and the place where we go when our time on earth has expired, going so far as to drug Holden so he cannot use his powers and lock him up until he could figure how to properly persuade him and unfortunately for Holden, a rescue party consisting of his brother, Jeff and Willa...were discovered on the property's perimeter while Jeff was looking for a way in, giving Frost exactly what he needed to convince Holden to join him in his quest. So here we are, Willa is already back in the Realm. Frost knows he has Holden exactly where he wants him and one way or another...we are headed back in for the season one finale of this fantastic show.

A day after watching this episode however, I am still chilled to the core when it comes to Frost. It's rare to see such an apathetic villain pop up on television and what makes him so chilling is the fact that this man cares about nothing outside of seeing his beloved Celeste one more time, and the moment when he and Willa finally meet, where he accuses her of being responsible for Celeste's death is downright heartbreaking as well. Not to mention, he's totally okay with using her for bait to get Holden back into the Realm. Either way, what a stunning penultimate episode, and I love the fact that it set everything up for the finale in subtle and wicked fashion and I am hoping that Holden finds a way to defeat Frost come next week because truly...he's an outright mad man that must be stopped at all costs. Until next time.

Relationships on any level are something that Supergirl has focused on since the series premiered a little over a year and a half ago and with good reason. This is by virtue an ensemble piece and character interaction is key to driving the story. But season two went and kicked all of that up a notch, by adding romance into the mix and week after week this year, we've seen emotions build and love grow and last night...romance was in the air for just about everyone. 

Yes, the series debuted it's Valentine's Day themed episode, and rather than just deliver us an hour of lovely dinners and gentle words the series provided us with something incredibly unique...an episode filled to the brim with endearing moments, buckets of romance and side splitting laughs, making 'Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk' one of the most entertaining episodes the show has ever put together and at the center of the giggles and the fun was an age old Superman villain, Mr. Mxyzptlk, who more or less made his live action debut in the new TV Super-verse and let me tell you now...this annoying little imp from the Fifth Dimension certainly did not disappoint.

For those unfamiliar with Mr. Mxyzptlk, he often showed up to harass Superman in the comics and used his abilities to manipulate our reality with an agenda at hand and the only way for Kal to get rid of ol' Mxy was to get him to spell or say his name backwards and well...his appearance on the show was utterly magnificent. If anything, I was appreciative of his brand new look because the purple bowler hat he usually wears would just be silly here and well, this makeover made him a far more imposing and grounded villain as well, one that was in love with Kara and was determined to make her and her friends life a living hell until he got what he wanted...her hand in marriage, and he served as the catalyst for some incredible comedy.

All of his antics were downright hilarious, I mean come on, the guy swooped in to help Kara dressed like her cousin and well...the jokes didn't end there. There were Hamilton references tossed in for good measure by way of a duel for Kara's heart between him and Mon-El and the comedy wasn't limited to just Mxy, Wynn even got in on the action since he inadvertently wooed an alien in perhaps the least romantic way possible and when all is said and done, credit is due to the writers of this episode; Jessica Queller & Sterling Gates for bringing forth a wonderfully creative way to end this little imp's reign of wacky terror and send Mxy back to the Fifth Dimension. 

But it wasn't all fun and games for a full hour, there was the incredibly touching storyline between Maggie and Alex where we learned exactly why Maggie isn't a fan of Valentine's Day, since a simple act of kindness and endearment on her part years ago on that holiday accidentally outed her, leading to several years of chaos and heartbreak. Either way, what a wonderful episode, it was great to see the writers throw in that Maggie storyline and remind us that some people struggle with coming out because of the closed mindedness of others and despite the heaviness of that...they found a way to make it better for Detective Sawyer in an episode that did everything and anything to keep it light and keep it fun and it was nice to have an episode that left us smiling, after several weeks of strife. Until next time. 

The breakneck pace that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been running at all season long left me wondering plenty about last night's episode. Simply because it seemed as though that Coulson and the gang were closing in on Radcliffe and the Superior and if they squared off this early into the storyline...what would come next? Would Aida somehow become the big bad? Was there a bigger threat hiding behind the Superior? Thankfully the show was ready to answer all of these questions, but once again they did so in surprising fashion because the answer to the last two questions I just posed was a resounding 'no', but the answer as to what comes next...was downright stunning and terrifying. 

But before we get to the big reveal/revelation of 'The Man Behind the Shield', let's take a few moments and discuss the other fascinating aspects of this particular tale because this episode was still an entertaining ride, one that explored the guilt that Fitz was finally experiencing over his scientific proclivities, one that took us on an incredible man hunt to find May and Director Mace, and one that even took a little bit of time to explore the Phil Coulson of old on an earlier mission with S.H.I.E.L.D. with May by his side and their budding romance that seemingly is never meant to be by way of a fun little flashback. 

Now normally, the flashbacks on this show are usually throwaway moments but this one...well this one stood out because not only did it solidify the chemistry between Phil and Melinda, but it also set the stage for the problems that Phil is dealing with right now. Because as it turns out, that cutesy little mission from back in the day is what changed the Superior's outlook on life. He lost friends and brothers in arms due to May and Coulson completing their mission...and the loss of those men led him down a path of powerful revenge and well...there was irony to be found in his quest to end Coulson's life because Phil...simply didn't care about the Superior's reasoning behind putting on an elaborate show. He wanted May and Mace and let Daisy handle the rest and for the most part it would seem the Watchdogs and the Superior's vendetta were put to bed in this episode as well.

But the guilt that Fitz was feeling, well that's actually more important than another villain going down because this is the episode where Fitz took responsibility for his actions. He had a hand in the creation of Aida. He helped design the Framework where May is now trapped in a virtual world and it was good to see Fitz realize that sometimes forging ahead without thinking about the consequences can cause more harm than good, and he's going to need that humility because the big reveal of the night was that the Superior was a pawn in Radcliffe's master plan and by going to save a life, the team walked into a trap and now...Coulson, Mace, Daisy and Mack have all been replaced by LMD's and at the moment it seems to be up to Jemma and Fitz to figure out how to handle this shocking turn of events. 

If anything, this show just continues to toss one incredible surprise after another our way and this is one of the biggest they've pulled off so far. I mean come on, the executive leadership of S.H.I.E.L.D. are now Radcliffe's creations and who knows what crack pot scheme he has planned for them when it comes to his newfound vision of life eternal for all mankind. Either way, this was one hell of a twist to throw our way, and I rather like the idea that Fitz and Simmons are going to have to figure out how to save the day. It kind of takes the show back to its spy roots from season one and well, here's to hoping they act quickly because you know Radcliffe won't waste any time when it comes to putting his plans in motion. Until next time.

One of the things I love about television shows that take their time when it comes to revealing their secrets or advancing their character's purpose...is that once the proverbial cat is out of the bag, there's no more holding back. Suddenly the juicy tidbits and clues we've all been following and wondering about explode before our eyes and it's utterly magnificent and that moment arrived last week on Freeform's Beyond when Holden discovered exactly what his powers can do. 

Which meant the proverbial explosion wasn't that far behind and this week's episode, 'Last Action Hero' delivered in incredible fashion, giving us more insight as to what happened to Holden during his time in the Realm, and at long last this story revealed his purpose and his destiny...and well, as is tradition with this show, it did all of this in the most unconventional manner possible. There was no grand showdown to get the answers Holden has so desperately been searching for, no zen moment where he comes to realize he serves a greater purpose. Instead, Holden came to know what he is all about and what he is meant to do, while lying injured on a table, surrounded by a new friend who loves her some pop culture. 

So what did Holden learn exactly? We'll get to that in a moment, because we have to discuss first, the awesomeness that is Lydia. This show has always been about colorful characters that are filled with depth and Lydia, a pharmacy tech with a love of pop culture, specifically action movies, stole every single scene she was in and helped the audience crack a smile when things got tense and well...it's a shame she couldn't pop up in every single moment of this episode because holy cow...was there a dark cloud hanging over this tale since Hollow Sky is pulling out all the stops to get their hands on Holden. We saw Pastor Ian sneakily offer Luke a job to get him face time with Hollow Sky's philosophies and heck, even Shoemacher was doing her best to get into his good graces as well for who knows what in case things went south with Yellow Jacket's plan to snatch up Holden. 

Which brings us back to our favorite hero...and what we finally learned about Holden and the purpose behind his abilities. As it turns out, while Jeff and Lydia worked to pull the bullet out of Holden's body, the trauma of taking a round in the shoulder jarred loose the last of his memories of the Realm, and his dealings with Arthur, where the kind doctor worked hard to train Holden to save mankind from falling to pieces at a fundamental level. Because as Arthur put it, 'death is what gives life meaning' and it's clear now that Frost needs Holden to reach the Afterlife to bridge the gap between the living and the dead and that has all kinds of terrifying implications, since it would mean the collapse of a fundamental belief and design to our society and who knows what kinds of chaos and terror would come out of that since the worst that humanity has to offer, would take full advantage of something like that. 

It makes Holden's safety all the more important and it made the final moments of the episode all the more uncomfortable because unfortunately...Yellow Jacket did indeed get his hands on Holden and he is no doubt on his way to Hollow Sky for what should be one heck of a showdown between he and Frost and I think it's safe to assume that Frost will hurt anyone and everyone near and dear to Holden to get what he wants and well...I simply cannot wait for next week to arrive. I have to know how this ends and I have to know how Holden will hopefully save the world from what would definitely be a terrible mistake if Frost is able to bridge the gap between our world and the Afterlife...until next time.