Witch Trials, Soul Stealing Houses and Punching a Nazi or Two
Quantum Leap 2.7, SurrealEstate 2.10, and I finally watched the last Indiana Jones
Quantum Leap Season 2, Episode 7 “A Kind of Magic”
Alas, this isn’t a pun on Magic’s name. Ben gets transported to 1692, into a female body, in a town in Massachusetts that is not, in fact, Salem.
Smart, because that allows them more freedom with what happens. He’s there to save a woman named Goody from being burned as a witch for hexing her husband.
There’s also an actual witch, a woman named Morgan who knows potions and stuff…the village healer. Which is, ya know, what a witch actually is.
Ben screws up and it ends up with all three of them being fitted for stakes. He saves the life of a young man with CPR…Ben, you should have prayed loudly, then you would have got away with it.
It’s all about magic being science we don’t understand yet. Ian resorts to a séance, because of course they do.
And at the end, Addison is Ben’s hologram again. Also, her partner is very absent from this episode…
They have the challenge of no good records and all they know is he saves all three women…and, in fact, the entire town from the taint in their well. (In Salem it was probably ergot).
It was actually pretty well done.
But I’m still mad it wasn’t a pun on Magic’s name.
SurrealEstate Season 2, Episode 10 “Letting Go”
The season finale nicely ties together all of the threads. Turns out the agoraphobic immortal, far from being an amusing problem for Lomax to deal with is, in fact, key to saving Susan from the evil, obsessive house…and protecting everyone else from it. She wants a forever home she never has to leave. The house wants an owner who won’t go anywhere. It’s a match made in…oh, more likely hell than heaven, but…
Luke has his powers back and is ready to let his dad cross over. Susan came “back” last episode, but was still possessed by the house. Which turned her into a royal bitch, treating Zoe like the help (ow, especially with the racial makeup there), considering killing the team. Basically, the house still had her soul.
Thankfully, she’s back…and it’s now the Ronan-Ireland agency.
But Auggie has quit to go back to science and his girlfriend. Phil is moving to Rome with his husband and daughter to help with a tricky demon problem. Zoe is heading off to law school.
It felt like the show has been canceled. Has it?
Not canceled, not renewed, and per the creator this is not supposed to be the end. It isn’t a terrible ending if they’re canceled, but there’s plenty of interesting ways to go if it’s renewed.
But if it’s renewed Phil had better come back! He’s my favorite character, with Zoe a close second…
Up to the network now, though.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
I’m probably going to do a longer post on this, but I was honestly impressed. Ford has said this will be his last movie, and they dealt with his physical limitations by having him play a same age Indy, retiring as a professor, separated from his wife, and depressed.
Yeah, it’s that plot. The old guy has to find his youth again through adventure. Except it doesn’t feel quite like that.
He’s still done with adventure. The younger sidekicks can’t make his body work the way it did decades earlier. But he does get back with his wife (and it was nice to see the kiss and make up scene with people that age).
Helena Shaw was the other star…I’d say female lead, but that has implications this movie 100% avoided. There was absolutely no creepy unresolved sexual tension between Indy and Helena, who was played by the wonderful Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Helena is Indy’s god-daughter, and Waller-Bridge pulls off the action star remarkably well given her history, which is heavy on comedy.
And she comes with a sidekick, played by French child actor Ethann Isidore, who seemed to be having a lot of fun.
There will not be another Indiana Jones movie. Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, has said that she will not do a reboot. There was some thought that Waller-Bridge might lead a spin off, but unfortunately the movie did not do well (which is undeserved, it was every bit as good as the rest of the series).
I think I agree, though, with those who are saying that the franchise is done. Many younger people are put off by the vague colonialism (everything belongs in the white guy’s museum). I’m happy to say goodbye at this point.
(And also, Indiana Jones has never actually been an archaeologist).
Doctor Who: The Giggle
Oh, RTD, you did it again. I am spoiler marking this…
…don’t read past this point if you haven’t seen it.
First of all, the Toymaker got out of his dimension into ours. (Mavity appears to have just been a throwaway joke…for now).
And everywhere he goes, the world goes into game logic. Unfortunately, Davies can’t resist a rant about social media that was a little off putting, and I still think Wild Blue Yonder is the best of the three as a result.
The scientist turns out to not be a full time wheelchair user, which I like, and RTD makes a snide comment through dialogue that implies people who don’t respect part time wheelchair users…
That one I appreciated. I’ve seen what happens.
Then the Doctor split into two. As did the TARDIS. Apparently permanently, and there’s an implication the other Doctors might have lived longer in other timelines. At some levels this annoys me as much as Timeless Child.
At others, it finally explains the Curator!
(Also, the Master is coming back. Yay. Curious to see who they will cast this time).
Fourteen settles down for a while with Donna’s family. Fifteen goes off to do Doctor stuff. (Although saying the Doctor hasn’t rested ignores the several decades he spent with River Song. Ahem. Do I have a better memory than Davies? Possibly…)
So, I’m not sure what to think, except that it gives the possibility of any Doctor showing up at any time and makes multi-Doctor stuff a lot easier to do. Not to mention the possibility of new “side timeline” Doctors. Is Ruth actually that, not a regeneration before one as we thought?
Gatwa didn’t have quite as much manic energy as I hoped, but also spent the entire episode without pants and didn’t seem to notice, which is…well…that gives me hope!