The more I sit down to re watch all of Battlestar Galactica, the more I find myself stunned at how sweeping a tragedy this story truly is. You already have 99% of humanity wiped out in the series premiere and despite that, the show is more than happy to pour on the sorrow and hardships and that was never more evident than in the fourth episode of the series, "Act of Contrition".

Oddly enough though, this particular chapter in the story actually managed to start off on a chipper note. With a pilot celebrating his 1,000th landing. It meant all kinds of cheers on the deck, and a few traditions to go along with it. Heck, it was so momentous an occasions that we even learn a little more about the Commander's more foolish days in his youth and career. But all of that comes crashing down when a hanger accident/explosion results in thirteen pilots dead, including our hero of the moment, and seven more injured.

The disaster ends up putting the fleet in a tough position and that's when this episode becomes quite Kara centric since she is tasked with finding and training new pilots to fill the ranks of the fallen and as is always the case when it comes to its characters, BSG shines bright with this little twist. It's this piece of storytelling that really gives us insight into the mystery that is Starbuck as we see her hesitance in training these "Nuggets" as they are called because the sheer act of doing it takes her back to one of the darkest hours in her life...the death of Zak Adama, her former fiancé and piloting pupil. It chews at her soul in fact, simply because she was the one to pass Zak at the academy, even though he wasn't qualified to be a pilot and she blames himself for her death.

It leads to erratic behavior from Starbuck, as she pushes the Nuggets to their breaking point and since none of them satisfy her incredibly high standards...she essentially fails all of them. This behavior of course concerns Lee Adama who takes the issue to his dad who in turn confronts Kara and well...this is the most heartbreaking moment in the episode as Starbuck is forced to admit to the Commander, the man she sees as a father, what really happened to his son. It was actually quite an emotional and difficult scene to get through after all these years, kudos to it for holding up. Commander Adama of course orders her to give the Nuggets another try and on a quality training run, trouble arrives in the form of the Cylons and knowing that her trainee squadron won't make it back to Galactica in time...Kara and her rookies engage the enemy, and during the battle her Viper is damaged and spiraling out of control into an unknown planet's atmosphere...

In the end, we are left with our first cliffhanger of the series since the premiere and damn...this was one heavy episode. So first and foremost, props to Katee Sackhoff and Edward James Olmos for their outstanding acting in this episode. It would not have worked with anyone else in my opinion since Starbuck's painful journey sucks you in along the ride, and that's a good thing if you ask me. While the show was and remains stellar at this point, this is the first real time it put a microscope on these fascinating characters and I'm glad they did. It made for one compelling story and I distinctly recall being frustrated at reading the always ominous "To Be Continued" in the final moments, which is exactly where we will pick up next time. Until then...

I love looking back at a season after it has ended and the Netflix Marvel series' as a whole have captured my heart with how they work out.  Making it so easy to watch a season over a weekend or two, you don’t seem to forget where the characters started and where they finished up.  It makes it much easier to become attached to your favorites and watch as they accomplish their goals, or not, whichever you like to see.  So without further ado, let’s jump into the characters from Jessica Jones, starting with the lead.

Jessica Jones – Now I was honest when I started watching this series that I knew very little about this character and I think that this show has done her justice, maybe even cleaned up her act a little bit.  Living in the bottle, Jessica wants to help the good people of Hell’s Kitchen, but has to take the odd job when money gets tight.  She does not allow anyone to get to close to her after her run in with Kilgrave and for good reason, she does not know who she can trust.  Not saying that she is the perfect hero, if you ask her, she is far from one, but she does have it in her to do the right thing and stand up for those who need to be heard.  I fell in love with this character after the trailer came out and she said, ‘it’s called whiskey’ and after the series has ended, she is more of a role model than I expected.  I raise a glass to you Ms. Jones.

Luke Cage – What can I say about Luke Cage overall?  He is just a powerful man that wants to fly under the radar after all of the craziness that happened in the city.  He is also moral driven, but don’t get me wrong, he is no Captain America when it comes right down to it, but he will not mess around with a married woman…as long as he knows.  He just wants to live his life and find out who is responsible for killing his wife that terrible night.  He is also very emotional, which is good for a man in a series like this since you don’t get to see a lot of emotions out of characters that are not the top billed.  He and Jessica also broke his bed, which made me laugh.  I really did enjoy watching Luke change from lover to fighter when he found out Jessica was responsible for killing his wife and even though it hurt him to the core, he was still keeping an eye on his friend, to the end.

Trish Walker – Patsy, I still cannot get David Tennant’s voice out of my head when he called her this.  Trish is trying to make sure that nobody will ever hurt her, especially when Jessica dropped out of the superhero game.  With her apartment being locked up like Fort Knox, you would think that she could not take care of herself, but she has been training for some time to ensure her own safety.  Trish desperately wanted her friend to be the hero, but in her own way, Trish is the hero to many more than she could ever know.  She does not back down from a fight, especially when she takes it to Kilgrave on the air and threatens her own existence.  She is also a go getter and will not stop when a wall appears in front of her.  Keeping the investigations working at all costs, she also knows what it is like to be in the underbelly of the city with her drug problem.  Knowing what people look like when they are taking, as well as being able to tell when they are not themselves, she is an unsung hero of Hell’s Kitchen.

Malcolm Ducasse – Malcolm was strung out when he first entered the series and although Jessica blamed it on Kilgrave, Malcolm comes clean about doing it himself as well.  Keeping tabs on Jessica for Kilgrave was a cheap and easy way to stay stoned out of his mind, but when Jessica confronted him about it, the real Malcolm came out.  Getting cleaned up, Malcolm headed the Kilgrave support group and you could tell that it is what he was meant for.  Caring about other people’s problems, along with Jessica’s, he is ready to take that next step in becoming someone that needs to have more background revealed as he will not let anything happen to his friends.  

Jeri Hogarth – The blood sucking lawyer that nobody is supposed to like.  Well they got that part right when her divorce was not going the way that she expected.  I will not lie, I did not like the storyline that they put her into with the divorce, I would have rather seen her more in the court room and defending the innocent, or the villains with a ton of money and Jessica telling her that she was wrong.  But overall Jeri is the woman you want on your side if anything goes wrong legally.  She wants to win and those are the only cases that she takes.  She wants the finest, they is why her love has transferred from Wendy to Pam.  She only wants the best of the best in her life and that is why she hires Jessica on occasion, since she is the best.

William Simpson – Officer Simpson, well oh well.  After falling victim to Kilgrave’s commands, Will feels terrible about what he has done to Trish.  Earning Trish’s trust, he is able to get on the inside of what is really happening with Kilgrave and he wants in.  With plenty of special operations training, he is ready to take the fight to the mind controller, but Jessica will not let him go all the way.  After losing his men on an operation, Will is forced to call in his old friend Dr. Kozlov to help him in his recovery.  Knowing how things used to work and how he is being instructed to work now, Will stays with the old ways.  Will’s mind gets blinded by rage when it comes to taking his super solider pills and is only thought is on revenge.  After Trish breaks up with him, he has to depend on the one thing that he is good at and that is killing whoever gets in his way.  Could there be a shot at redemption for Will in the next season, I don’t think so since Trish almost died taking his pills, but you never know.  All I know is that he is not a man you want to get on the bad side of.

Kilgrave – I know a lot of people are going to tune in to see David Tennant in his glory of being a baddy and they should, he played an awesome bad guy.  When you first see Kilgrave, he is obsessed with getting Jessica back from when she decided to leave him.  Knowing that he has power, his story goes much deeper than that when you get to see him being part of an experiment that eventually saved his young life.  Getting everything he wanted just by saying it, it appeared that he never lived a hard life.  But without his parents there to tell him good from bad, right from wrong, he never developed that little voice inside of his head to say no.  It was great watching him trying to convince people to do things without using his power as he grossly overpaid for Jessica’s childhood home.  Then to see the love/hate relationship between him and Jessica, well it was phenomenal. 

Well, that is what I got for the characters that made the show for me.  I know I left off the twins and Pam, but they did not amount to much in to me in what made the show work.  Actually, I could have done without Pam, but the actress did bring a huge presence to the screen and Robyn did make Jessica’s life a living nightmare when the time was right.

I really am digging on the Jessica Jones story and might have to go get some comics to see where the storyline will take me next year.  I was impressed by how dark the show appeared, but with the light hearted banter going on, you never really noticed.  But it was dark enough that I did take a break to watch some comedies, I needed a pick me up.  I also liked how the Avengers played into the storyline a little bit when it came to people not liking the gifted individuals in the city.  I really wanted more overlap between Jessica Jones and Daredevil however and even though we got some, it would have been fantastic to see Matt Murdock shoe up to defend her case when the time called for it.  Maybe next season, you never know.  I raise a glass, or Jessica Jones style, a bottle to the writers, cast and crew for delivering another great series.  I hope that the Marvel movies that are coming out can take a page from the Netflix series and bring us an actual baddy that we can be afraid of like Kilgrave, he was the worst to date and I really enjoyed it.  Well, whatever series comes out next, I don’t care, I just want to sit back and watch them as they seem to be getting better and better as time moves on. 

After beating Luke with a shotgun blast to the head, Jessica does the right thing and helps get him to the hospital.  When the nurse on duty tries to inject him with some painkillers, he is quickly replaced when he is not able to get a needle into his skin.  Claire Temple is called into action and quickly finds out that Luke is one of them, a super human.  Seeing the police presence in the hospital, Jessica knows that she will have to get her friend out before he gets charged with assaulting an officer and put into prison.  Although Claire does not know Jessica, she has been on the receiving end of superheroes around the city before and helps the two to flee before the police make their arrest.

Kilgrave is lying in wait at the hospital to see if he is really powerful enough to control Jessica Jones.  When he sees his love making a run for it with her friend, he uses his new power over the entire hospital to try and kill her.  When he sees that she is on her way for him, he is able to escape, but is not giving into the idea that he won't be able to control her once again. With a 60-40 chance that he may die from the final injection, he commands his father to give it to him.  Finding that he has even a stronger pull on everyone around him, Kilgrave is ready to put it to the test one last time and try to get Jessica to love him the way that he loves her. 

Jessica has to find Kilgrave before he is able to escape the city and infect more people’s lives over the world.  Finding out where he has been staying, Jessica gets a ride from Trish and the two come up with a ‘safe word’ to indicate if she is infected or not.  Checking around the apartment, Jessica finds Albert dying on the floor and he gives her all of the advice that she needs to defeat his son.  With Trish on her side, Jessica is ready to make a final push on her promise to kill the madman for all of the deaths he has left in his wake. 

While being unconscious on Jessica’s bed, Luke is little help but Jessica comes clean about her feelings for him.  Seeing a future with the powerful man, Jessica feels regret for her choices in shooting him to survive their battle.  With help from Claire, Luke comes through his concussion with little loss and when he awakes, he does not want to be known by anyone, even the woman that saved his life. Leaving the apartment unseen, Luke is back on the streets and looking for safety once again.

Finding the dock where Kilgrave is slated to make his departure, Jessica has a plan to bring him down once and for all.  Sending in Trish with headphones, she never looks Kilgrave in the face and is immune to his commands.  When Kilgrave sees the deception, he sees Jessica coming in for the kill and makes it to his yacht without issue, but his love is still on his tail.  With a large group on the dock under his control, Kilgrave orders them all to kill each other to keep Jessica from reaching him, but when she makes it through the bunch without issue, he orders everyone to STOP.  Jessica dead in her tracks has to stand and listen to Kilgrave and his dastardly plans.  She even had to watch as Trish was tossed back into the mix and told to be his traveling companion.  Was Jessica under the control of Kilgrave once again…or was she just putting on a show to get closer to man that had tormented her for so long.  I guess you will have to watch to find out as I will not tell you the ending on this one.

Well, it has finally come to an end and Jessica Jones went out in style to say the least.  As season finales go, this was one on of the best that I have seen in a long time.  Mostly because they finally gave a little bit of a Daredevil crossover that I have been dying to see since they mentioned Hell’s Kitchen.  I cannot believe that they did not do this sooner as Claire and Jessica seemed to have a great rapport on the screen, I hope this continues into next season.  Malcolm was great as well, as you find out he wanted to be a social worker before he was put under Kilgrave’s spell.  This had to be the strongest episode for Kilgrave as well as you get to see him making his plans for what to do when he finally gets his control of Jessica back and how his mind changes when he actually gets it.  With Trish in many of the scenes, we did not get enough from her, but she was there when it mattered and that is all that counts. That’s it, season one of Jessica Jones is in the books and I cannot wait to see it next year, even though it is possible the cast will have to change a bit, I am ready to see where the story goes next.

After pulling Luke Cage from the rubble of his old bar, Jessica knows that he is yet another victim of Kilgrave and his power.  Knowing the timing of the effects and all, Jessica takes Luke home with her and listens to the police scanner to listen for any news on the mad man. When the twelve hours have passed, Jessica is now ready to have Luke along on the hunt for Kilgrave but now the search has turned to medical facilities since Jessica has found out that if Kilgrave is not going to kill his father, he will use his father’s research to make him stronger.

Meanwhile, Trish is recovering in the hospital when she gets an unwanted visitor, her mother.  Dorothy is trying to get back into her daughter’s life, whether she wants it or not.  Admitting to not being a perfect parent is a start, but Trish will need much more from her mother if she ever is willing to allow her back into the circle of trust.  But Dorothy’s attempts are just starting when she eavesdrops on Trish’s conversation about the IGH company and having nobody behind it.  Finding something in her old files from the adoption of Jessica, IGH paid for the young girls medical bills while she was recovering in the hospital.  Needing to give this information to Jessica and find out what she knows about the super solider drug that almost killed her, Trish is giddy to deliver the news.

As Luke and Jessica continue their hunt for Kilgrave, Luke is having problems himself when it comes to being controlled by Kilgrave. Originally not believing Jessica and her stories about the mind control, he is starting to understand what she might have felt in the past.  Going along for the ride, Luke is ready for some revenge of his own on the monster that has taken much more of his life than others and when the two find a research lab that supplies the drugs that Kilgrave was tested with when he was a child, the two follow the only person to enter the complex.  Knowing that he is still susceptible to the effects of Kilgrave, Luke hangs back when trying to find him, but if a new concoction of the formula is made, it may not be far enough.    
Kilgrave is happy to have his father alive and along on his next venture, mainly because he wants to get stronger and be able to hold power over Jessica once again.  With the time being extended and the distance being widened for his powers, Kilgrave is putting his abilities to the test.  Not knowing, much less caring if Jessica finds him since he has a flawless backup plan, the body count continues to pile up.  When Jessica and Luke find him working the stage at the club, Kilgrave has a little surprise for them both, one that Jessica will never forget.  Without knowing for sure if his mind control would work on Jessica again, he gives it a go, but when she walks right through his commands, he calls someone bigger into play to stop her wrath.

This episode starts to pull at your feel bads for the loss of Ruben as his sister is still in mourning over his death. Thinking that everyone is under the control of Kilgrave now, Malcolm makes it his responsibility to make sure she is able to cope with what has happened over the past couple of days.  Jessica is on the march to find and kill Kilgrave, but no matter how close she gets to him, he has a plan that will keep pushing her away.  Kilgrave has improved his power, but the only person he wants to be able to control is Jessica.  Making his father work tirelessly on the new formula, you can see that he is less patient and wants to get back in the drivers seat in the relationship.  The Trish and Dorothy storyline took over the episode and I am unsure what Dorothy really wants from her daughter.  She says she wants a relationship with her girl, but you can tell from all of the past storylines that she is not to be trusted, but she has the information that everyone needs to find out what happened to Jessica while in the hospital when she was younger.  It was great to have Luke Cage back this week and even if it does not seem to be going well at the end of the episode for him and Jessica, he shows more emotion than I thought we would ever see.  I just hope the next Captain America movie has taken notes on the epic battle at the end of this episode, it had better rival this when Tony takes on Steve, just saying.  One more episode left and I don’t want to watch it, because when it is over, it will be over for a year…or longer!

Season Finales are such a bittersweet experience. On one hand, we know that once this particular hour of the show is over, our lovely experiences and adventures come to an end if only for a little while, but at the same time...we're no doubt getting the resolution of a story that we so desperately crave and that's exactly how I felt heading into the season two finale of The Librarians.

After all, last week set the stage for a grand showdown with the wizard Prospero, leaving the fate of the world hanging in the balance and this week, our intrepid heroes wasted no time in trying to figure out not only what Prospero was up to...but how to stop him. We learned quickly that the internet and power had completely disappeared but thanks to Cassandra's quick thinking the gang was able to capture news feeds from a few of the networks before the world went dark and lo and behold, Prospero's plan came into focus, turns out he is slowly turning the world into a giant forest, thus undoing all of mankind. 

His reason for this? To put mankind into a place where they can find joy and simplicity and with a few days or possibly hours left to stop Prospero, it means the Librarians will need the staff to defeat him and in order to get it...it's time to go back to when the staff was in one piece, which means only one thing...time travel! In fact this was by far one of my absolute favorite moments in the show to date with all the lovely easter eggs we found in the Time Travel Room...since blink and you'll miss seeing the TARDIS and DeLorean hiding in there but I digress, because there's a world to save and complications on the horizon for the Librarians since Flynn and Eve go back to 1611 to stop the wizard...only to have their time travel device shatter, leaving them trapped long ago and per Eve's orders...if she and Flynn didn't make it back, the Librarians had to find a way to stop Prospero in the present.

It leads to an interesting style of storytelling for the show, one that takes us between past and present as both groups converge upon the place where Shakespeare accidentally summoned Prospero. In the past, Eve and Flynn are joined by Moriarty, who plans to betray Prospero and put and end to all of this in the past by killing Shakespeare, especially after realizing the wizard has no purpose for him after this. But Moriarty's plan is foiled by Flynn, giving him court with the legendary playwright himself and it doesn't take long for Flynn to realize the Staff is actually part of Shakespeare's quill and well...with the old playwright furious about his career winding down, his fury does something interesting with the quill...it turns him into Prospero. It means that the staff must be broken, and quickly before Prospero unleashes his fury and it leads to a showdown in the past that costs Moriarty his fictional life and sends Eve into the waiting arms of the strange ladies of the lake before she returns with Excalibur allowing Flynn to vanquish Prospero and break the staff.  

But the Prospero of the present must still be dealt with, and the Librarians find clues left by Flynn and Eve to put an end to this madness at last, by trapping Prospero/Shakespeare and binding him before reading words from William's work, words that sound oddly like the journey each individual Librarian went on this year...and those words do the trick, freeing the old bard of his own magic and allowing him to return to his own time...at a cost, Flynn and Eve will still be trapped in the past. Of course, Flynn finds a way out of that rule, using the magic of the quill to be turned into a stone statue with Eve so that the two of them can be tucked away in the Library to be released at just the right time and once they are free...everything wraps up happy. Prospero is defeated. The world is saved and it looks like Flynn might stick around for a while. 

So I have to say, what a lovely little season finale. There were laughs to be found everywhere, plenty of plot twists because I did not see that whole thing coming with Shakespeare actually turning into Prospero instead of summoning him and I loved the fact that Flynn is finally sticking around for a change as the Librarians settle in to their new home. No side missions this go round, no splitting up, they're a team at last...no, they're a family and that made for one fine ending. But alas, the season has now come to its end, and the wonderful adventures we enjoy going on with the Librarians are on hold...for now. After all, there's no wondering this time, the good news already came down that Season 3 is on its way...and as much as this show has stolen my heart, it's going to be a tough but worthwhile wait for the next chapter of the story. Until then. 

As Jessica has Kilgrave in her grasp, he is able to escape once again and this time taking his father with him and leaving a lasting reminder to Jessica about his power.  When Hope stabs herself in the neck with the bottom of a broken wine glass and Jessica is forced to use her strength to help save all of the members of the Kilgrave support group that turned on her, she is left with her own thoughts on what to do next.  Knowing that the police will become involved in the situation, Jessica begs everyone involved in the latest incident to tell the same story, since now she is going to kill the monster.

Trish is following Jessica all around town and not by her own doing.  Knowing that Jessica is on a losing streak, Trish is trying to talk some sense into her friend before she gets hurt.  But Jessica does not want to give up and tracking down Kilgrave is the only thing she can do to make things right.  Throughout her day, Trish gets miscellaneous text messages from her friend for help and knowing that she is the only one Jessica trusts, she keeps her secret from Simpson as he is slowly starting to come back into the picture.  Trish knows that there is something wrong with her guy friend and wants him to end his drug trial, but the drugs are becoming more important as she is soon to find out.

Will Simpson is searching around town, trying to find Jessica to apologize for what he has said and done, at least that is what he would like everyone to believe.  Simpson is on a mission and will not be stopped by anyone, he needs Kilgrave dead and he blames Jessica for letting the monster live and escape more than once.  Bent on revenge, Simpson starts to stalk Trish’s work and apartment to find out where her friend is and knows that she is holding back on telling him what is really happening.  Locking Trish up and using her phone, Simpson is able to get set a meeting with his new nemesis and with her injured body, Jessica may not be up to the task.  Simpson wants revenge for the loss of his friends and is looking to take it out of Jessica’s hide, but he does not know that Jessica is never alone and there is always someone looking out for her.

This episode should have been called ‘I Am Jessica!’ or something like that.  We get to see Jessica growing up after her family died in a car accident and Trish’s mother brought her in and raised her.  Dorothy Walker knew that this would be the best for her daughter’s pubic image, to bring her friend in after she lost her parents but Jessica found out early on that her family was dead as she was awake in the hospital bed and listening to Patsy and Dorothy taking about it.  As time passed and Jessica moved into Trish’s home, she found that she had super strength while trying to ignore the abuse happening outside of the bathroom door.

I really liked this episode, you got to see how Jessica gained her powers and I have been dying to see this from the start of the series.  And the hunt for Kilgrave is now being handled on two fronts, one by Jessica who is stalking the local morgues to find the body of the monster's father and the other being led by Simpson who has taken his possession personally and wants revenge.  But Simpson is not only looking for Kilgrave, he needs closure for his friend’s deaths that he blames on Jessica, so she is now a target as well.  Trish finds out firsthand what the super solider pills are capable of when she is trying to defend Jessica from her now former boyfriend.  Malcolm is continues to try and help the other Kilgrave victims, but after a group tried to kill themselves, they are losing faith in the support group, and with Jessica’s plan to kill the monster their lives have been altered forever.  Hearing about Jessica’s search around the city for him, Kilgrave sends an invite to her to see her boyfriend one last time before he takes his own life and Jessica arrives just in time to see Luke closing up his bar before it explodes.  Only two episodes left and now I am beyond excited to see how the season finishes up and how everything gets resolved.

Kilgrave is in one piece and on the run with his new friend Jeri.  Having the lawyer take him to a doctor that she trusts, Jeri winds up on Wendy’s doorstep.  Knowing that Kilgrave can get patched up and force Wendy to sign the divorce papers, it seems like a win win for Jeri, but little does she know the power of Kilgrave and what he is capable of doing.  After bonding with his doctor about how much worse Jessica is than Jeri, when the doorbell rings, he fears that Jessica has found him and turns Wendy lose on her ex-wife, offering a thousand cuts for the pain Jeri caused.  Walking into the room and seeing her fiancé being attacked, Pam is able to knock Wendy off, but kills her in the process.

After everyone gets their wits back in the lab from Kilgrave’s control, Jessica finds out that she has become immune to his commands.  Kilgrave’s father admits that his power comes from a virus and he and his wife have been trying to make up a vaccine for it and Jessica’s blood may be the key to unlocking what could save lives.  Although he is not free from his son’s commands yet, Trish offers to take him back to the hotel and be his hands while creating the vaccine.  With only one way to make sure that the vaccine works, Albert is working tirelessly and will be the guinea pig when he is taken to see his son. 

Will Simpson is back and on the case.  Needing to find Trish and Kilgrave, he finds the lab torn to shreds with Detective Clemons on the scene. Wanting to know what happened is not the true nature of his visit, he wants to put Kilgrave in the ground and has to find the madman before more people can get hurt.  Killing anyone that gets in his way, Simpson is able to find the hotel where Trish and Albert are being held up and acts as if he wants to work on the vaccine with them. But Trish knows better when looking into his eyes, he is not the same man that she has been falling for the past couple of days.  Knowing that he is on some powerful drugs and was in Special Ops, Albert suggests a super solider drug should not be eliminated from the equation.  When the vaccine is finished, there is no time to test it, Albert has a meeting with his son that has Hope’s life swinging in the balance.

The Kilgrave Support Group is in full swing and Malcolm is doing his best to keep everyone on the same page.  But the group is only able to talk about their problems and not able to do much more.  When Malcolm is questioned about what is really happening, he lets it slip that he helped hide Ruben’s body within earshot of his sister Robyn.  Robyn will not put up with the lies that she has been told and is looking for revenge for her lost brother and blames Jessica Jones for his death.  Firing up some of the others in the group, the small mob breaks into Jessica’s office and knock her out, but they also find a stranger tied up on the floor.  Seeing that Kilgrave has been freed once again, Jessica has to rush down to the police station to claim Hope since the deal is still on the table, Hope’s life for his father’s.

This series continues to blow me away with how intense each episode continues to get.  Overall advice if you are trying to binge watch this, you might need to loosen up your mood with a Disney movie or something in between.  Kilgrave wants revenge on his parents and after making his mother kill herself, I hate to see what he will do with his father for all of the lost years of his youth.  Jessica is battling time and after seeing that the vaccine does not appear to work, she is literally the only one that can stop Kilgrave.  I am not one that likes to give everyone away about the episodes, just in case you have not seen it yet, but there is a shot that blew my mind with the ones that freed Kilgrave lined up on the bar, it was an amazing shot, but I will leave it at that.  Trish does not know what is wrong with her man, but he is in trouble.  Simpson’s rampage may become more of a problem than a solution and after killing Clemons and destroying the evidence that was found against Kilgrave, he is going to have to face the piper as well, or maybe Jessica again.  Final stretch and only three episodes left and I don’t want this series to end.

Jessica has finally been able to claim her prize, she has captured Kilgrave once and for all.  Having him locked up in his own prison, Jessica now needs to be able to find proof that Kilgrave does in fact have the power of mind control.  Forcing him to relive his days in the laboratory and stand in several inches of water hooked up to an electrical current, Jessica believes that she is close to making him break, but Kilgrave is one tough customer and when the camera is on, he is more in charge of his own mind than anyone could have expected.

Simpson was able to get ahold of Trish to take him to the hospital after being delivered a bomb from Kilgrave.  With his entire team down, Simpson will only allow Dr. Kozlov to treat his injuries and even though he is not on staff at the hospital, he is on call.  Before Trish is sent on her way after saving her man’s life, Simpson pleads with her to kill Kilgrave with the pistol that he gave her.  With so much power and no responsibility, Kilgrave can hurt more people than doing good on any given day and that has to end before more people get hurt.  After waking up from his operation, Simpson is back on Kozlov’s team and with the right medication, he may turn into a solider that cannot be stopped.

With the act that Kilgrave is putting on in his cell, Jessica has to find something else that can make the man crack.  Leaving Jeri in charge of watching the evil man seems like a good idea, but when he is able to get into her head, she knows that there is something he can do to help her.  Complaining about women problems, Kilgrave knows about the divorce and in a roundabout way, he offers Jeri an out since it is getting to be more violent than she expected.  When Jeri stops by for the second time to take watch, she is ready to release the madman back into the world, but Jessica arrives at the right time to make sure nothing bad has happened.

Looking into Kilgrave’s past, Jessica is able to pinpoint the lab where Kilgrave was experimented on and also got the madman’s parents’ names.  Seeing the photos, Jessica recognized the woman as someone that she has seen in the Kilgrave Support group.  Having Malcolm set up an emergency meeting, Jessica’s prayers came true when she sees the old woman show up.  Following her home, Jessica confronts the parents, but finds out that Kilgrave’s story about being abused was off the mark, his parents were trying to keep him from going brain dead and he was given one of the greatest side effects imaginable.  Getting Kilgrave’s parents to agree to come down to her little prison and confront their son to make him crack will be enough and getting Detective Clemons to be in attendance as well will prove that the tape is not a fraud and a piece of evidence that will swing in Hope’s benefit. But leaving Jeri alone with Kilgrave turns out to be the wrong idea, since she is more worried about her own life than what the man behind the glass can do to everyone in attendance. 

Wow, if I was to say that this episode did not pack a punch, I would be outright lying.  As the story escalates, you get to see how much Jeri’s lively hood is worth to her and it does not matter to her who gets hurt as long as she is ok.  Meeting Kilgrave’s parents was my favorite part of the episode and I am saddened that they will not be around to hear more from, but you did get the impression that they were living in hell when their boy got his powers.  Hope is not lost for Hope as she has just passed up on a plea deal by the DA that would have given her twenty years and not life, because Jessica was able to capture evidence on camera of Kilgrave’s powers.  It will be interesting to see what happens next after the grand finale of an escape that freed Kilgrave and possibly gave him a bit of closure from his childhood.

As Kilgrave has made an open promise to Jessica, he is looking forward to having a house guest.  When Jessica arrives at her childhood home, she sees that Kilgrave has pulled out all of the stops to making it look like the house she lived in several years ago.  With his own staff working in the house, Jessica finds out that they are not being held under mind control, and neither will she for the time being.  Kilgrave wants to find a way to make Jessica fall for him, but as she is late for dinner, he is starting to understand how hard life is for people that don’t have his powers.

Drinking her dinner, Jessica sees that not everything that Kilgrave has stated is true as he has a contingency plan for her getting out of hand.  Promising not to act out again and heading to bed, Jessica finds out that there is a bomb in the basement of the house and has to alert her host.  Seeing that Jessica has some feelings for him, Kilgrave starts to extend the leash he has given her and puts his guard down.  That might not be enough for Jessica as she is still wanting to prove that he is able to control people’s actions with his powers.  As a new day has started and Jessica is having problems facing her past, her old neighbor comes over and asks about what the young couple is up to.  Knowing Jessica since she was a baby, Mrs. De Luca is trying to find a way to live in the past and brings up Jessica’s dead family. 

Kilgrave sees what is happening and puts an end to the conversation by sending the woman back home.  Not wanting to hurt Jessica in any way, he is ready to put his cards on the table and shows her what made him the man he is today.  Without a doubt, Kilgrave’s childhood was hell, being experimented on by his parents, he never had a childhood, much less anyone to show him right from wrong.  Watching the news as a hostage situation is taking place, Jessica challenges Kilgrave to be the hero rather than the villain.  Using his power, Kilgrave is able to free the family that is being held by their father, and when he is ready to make the situation end in his normal manner, Jessica steps in and has Kilgrave release the father from certain death and turn himself into the police.

Seeing that he can be the hero, Kilgrave is ecstatic over his revelation, and believes that he may be able to even up the body count that he has left in his wake by saving many more.  Even though this does not add up, Jessica is now faced with a decision that can will change her life.  Keeping an eye on Kilgrave day in and day out does not float her boat, but she would have the power to make the world a better place with his power.  Asking Trish for advice, Jessica knows what the answer is and heads back to Kilgrave’s home to offer her solution.  Bringing dinner for everyone in the house, she is opening the next door in her life and knows that even though it will be difficult to walk through, she can carry anyone out.

Trish is having a breakdown of her own.  When she did not get called by Simpson, she fears that he has been taken by Kilgrave, but the mind controller knows nothing about it.  Trish is worried about her friends and what they have encountered by way of the mad man and when she sees Simpson walking home with some old military buddies, she has a feeling that something is afoot.  Simpson wants to have Kilgrave taken off of the face of the planet and when he has his chance to end the game, Jessica will not allow it for Hope’s sake.  As long as Kilgrave is alive, they can prove the young girls innocence, but if he is dead, well, everyone that has been controlled by him to do something bad will still be held accountable for their own actions.

This is a brilliant episode since you get to see how Kilgrave was created.  With all of the tests being done on him as a child, the moment of his change to protect himself was great and he has carried the power to this day.  He has opened his home and arms to Jessica to try and win her love, and when he agrees to become the hero with her by his side, Jessica has no other choice but to trust him.  After her talk with Trish about what is happening, Jessica comes up with a plan of her own, but has no ideas what safeguards Kilgrave has set up in the event of him being abducted again.  Will Simpson is working on his own time and after confronting Jessica about their being a bomb in the basement, he is starting to see where her allegiances are.  Then there is the divorce settlement going on between Jeri and Wendy, I am not a huge fan of this storyline, but after watching Kilgrave receive the text for help from Jeri, I know that it is going to play a role in the ending of the series, but to what length, I do not know. We are starting down the back half of the series and I know that I will want more when it ends.

When it comes to our favorite films, we can always pin point the moment a franchise or a particular story called to us in incredible fashion, captivating our imagination and drawing us in as a fan forever. When it comes to Star Wars, that moment arrived for me in the summer of 1983 when the sixth entry in the franchise arrived in theaters; Return of the Jedi.

I was young in '83, young enough that I was just discovering the wonder of science fiction and fantasy thanks to the many re runs on television at my disposal on the weekends and after seeing commercials for this particular movie, I told my dad I wanted to see it and my dad being one of the big reasons I'm the giant geek I am today, was more than happy to take me to the Cooper 7 theater to let see what this movie was all about. 

Needless to say, I still remember just about every minute of that magical day. I'm sure there were other people in the theater that day but to me, it was just my pops and I, in awe of what was playing out on the screen once the movie began. I'd never seen an adventure this epic, action this incredible and I was instantly whisked away to this magical galaxy, far, far away and I never wanted to leave. It left me smiling for weeks on end, we went back and saw it a few more times, but sadly that sense of wonder and excitement I felt in the theater that day slowly faded from my memory as the years went on, even eventually disappearing from my mind...that is until last Friday.

This was the day I was able to settle in and enjoy The Force Awakens and let me tell you, once the music began and the titles scrolled across the screen, I was right there again, a young boy lost in the midst of an incredible story and I know I'm not the only one who felt goosebumps when the Millennium Falcon appeared on screen for the first time or cheered and clapped when Han and Chewie appeared on camera after all this time and it got me to wondering. What made this film so special? Why was this one able to recapture the wonder and awe of the original trilogy when the prequels could not? Well I found that the answers to these questions were surprisingly simple.

First and foremost, The Force Awakens brings back the fun. While the prequel trilogy was filled to the brim with incredible actors and stunning visuals, that set of films turned out to be incredibly boring. Let's be honest we weren't interested in Votes of No Confidence, trade negotiations or petty political mumbo jumbo. We have CNN for that, while Star Wars is designed to whisk us away to someplace special and the movie did just that. Between the laughs and the thrilling adventure laid out before us in this motion picture, good times are front and center once again. 

But I think what matters most when it comes to this film, is the fact that it manages to completely captivate our imagination one more time in all the right ways. There is plenty of mystery to be found within The Force Awakens, so much in fact that I've spent the days after seeing it discussing almost every aspect of the film with my friends. So many of us have questions now, none of which I pose here because let's keep spoilers out of this, but the sheer fact that days after seeing this film we are already thirsting to know more, to see more is a solid sign that the movie has accomplished wonders. In fact, after seeing Jedi years ago I made sure to get my hands on A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back to learn everything I could about the story and I'm already preparing to dive into the new stories that happen between ROTJ and TFA.

But I digress.  The bottom line is that J.J. Abrams has managed to recapture the magic of the original trilogy and yes, I've heard the criticism that it is too much like Episode IV and quite frankly, it doesn't matter because it pays respect to that wonderful film all while giving us something new and for that, I can forgive any homages found in this flick. Regardless, this is a Star Wars film that is already near and dear to my heart because it does what this franchise was always meant to do, it unifies fans and inspires generations of families and I am so thankful that this film transports all of us to that special moment when we fell in love with the franchise and I will no doubt be seeing this film multiple times for another opportunity to find myself staring at the screen with the same wonder and awe that captured my imagination so long ago.