The Time Warriors and Beyond

TW Reviews The War Between the Land and the Sea S01E05 Spoilers

By Owen Quinn author Photos copyright BBC/Disney

So, this is it. The climax to the war between humanity and the Sea Devils. And boy, am I feeling somewhat confused.

So, everything we have seen thus far was a distraction from the Sea Devils’ actual plan; to melt the ice caps and flood the world. Or was it the aqua amphibian’s plan? Or was it the fish thing we saw arrive at the delegation in the first episode? Who were they? Oh yes, it was never explained. Maybe some poor cast off from the last Star Wars project desperate for an unexplained cameo. Well, didn’t he come to the right place.

I am just bewildered. The resolution was very much in the style of Kate’s dad, Brigadier Gordon Lethbridge, in the original story introducing the Silurian’s, the Sea Devils’ cousins. If in doubt, kill any threat to humanity whether it be with bombs or biowarfare. Quick point here. The Silurians lived on land in a thriving civilisation yet they are not included in the Sea Devil flood the world plan. And we know they do exist aplenty as seen in the 11th and 12th Doctor era and a certain lady Victorian crime buster that ate Jack the Ripper. So where’s the thought about them in all this? There are still clusters of both species in hibernation all over the world as we saw in Warriors of the Deep.

Ultimately, this story was a love story between Barclay and Salt. But it feels so hollow and daft given the scale of the story and insular aspects at the same time. While I did enjpy Kate’s story and the lengths she would go to in order to get what she wants, I felt Barclay was left a pathetic figure in the end after his build up as the ordinary bloke thrown into a situation where he would rise or fall. But he fell. Badly. He will now inherit the Aquaman mantle as the man who fucked a fish. I use this because it is said to invoke laughs but given the collateral damage here, it’s not funny. If anything, it just shpws Barclay is nothing special and only concerned with what he wants.

This was just a lot of sitting around in between his sneaky night trips to the ocean to call for Salt. The man’s in love but given the events of the last four episodes it is really uncomfortable to have a happy ending. Faced with a life of UNIT protection, Barclay has gone from the great hope to great fool. This also means his daughter and ex-wife will also live like this. Yet the ending of both lovers reunited with Barclay’s new gills and swimming off to shag and spawn a new half human, half amphibian species, left me shaking my head in disbelief. While I suppose the now single Kate, following Christofer’s murder, watching them cavort of ,i s meant to be some sort of healing for her But no. It is a slap in the face.

Barclay and Salt are virtually man and wife now but at what cost?

The murder of the peace delegation at the end of episode three along side the present Sea Devils? The mass murder at the hands of humans of 90% of the Sea Devil population makes me ask how many amphibians died and how many of those fish things from episode one. As there is obviously three aspects to the underwater culture, how much of each trident was affected? Christofer was murdered because of this. Why would Tide warn man that they have five years left and then someone comment that they couldn’t clean a river in five years, never mind the ocean. So it’s an idle threat.

I hark back to the plastic storm in episode two. Are we to believe that the super powerful Sea Devils only vomited a portion of the pollution from the ocean and kept the reest for man to clear up? Doubt it very much. People have died here but the greatest sacrifice is a young girl, weeping for the loss of her dad while being cradled in the arms of her mother. How wonderful Barclay the wimp is swimming the depths of the ocean while his wife and daughter will have to , at the very least, be put into a witness protection programme. They will never be able to acknowledge any connection to Barclay after all this. Yet we are to celebrate the two lovers flapping off to God knows where. happily ever after. Barclay would have been better dying or someone murdering Salt to give him a new purpose.

I’ve so many questions here. I might remind you that the Doctor sacrificed another life for his fdaughter lost in reality. A world saved at the cost of one life, is no world at all. I can take downer endings any time but this is just a mess. Love across species is an old theme but it doesn’t for the horrors left in its wake. Delta and the Bannermen worked well in doing that with the Chimeron Queen so we know it can be done. If you want a really good Sea Devil/Silurian story, read the Final Genesis comic strip featuring the seventh Doctor or Blood Heat also featuring that Doctor.

The only thing stopping Russell Tovey going nude is the prewatershed time slot.

Who authorised the experiment on Barclay to turn him into a man with gills ala SeaQuest’s Tony Piccolo? What was the aim of that? The Sea Devils and amphibians giving themselves up to the rule of man seemed a bit quick, given the rust weapon, melting ice caps in six hours rather than decades and super storm technolgy. It simply doesn’t make sense at all.

Full scale murder is the only way out of this story (no, I haven’t forgotten about accord). i am bitterly disappointed by the way this has unfolded because it started so well. New writers needed now please and I’m first to volunteer. Try the Time Warriors book series to see what good storytelling really is. Unlike the War between the Land and the sea, you won’t be disappointed.

TW Reviews The War Between the Land and the Sea S01E02 Plastic Apocalypse Spoilers

By Owen Quinn author Photos copyright BBC/Disney

It’s not long before staff are paid off and samples of the dead Sea Devil babies are being bought in rainy streets. Other parties, both political and private, are seeing recession on the horizon if they bow down to the Sea Devils so the deal must include the destruction of the sea dwellers. Barclay’s identity as the new ambassador is leaked causing a media frenzy.

Barclay is reunited with his family with Kate guiding him in his new role.

I have to say the return of scientific advisor, Shirley Bingham, is a let down. I really wanted Lenny Rush’s Morris Gibbons back. He is a much more interesting character and would bring a child’s, even a genius child’s, view to global destruction. There is room for it here but alas, we will never know.

As I said in the last review, this story writes itself and when Barclay must stand before the first official negotiation, it quickly becomes us, the audience, speaking. Salt challenges him to drink a glass of water from the Thames but it is so polluted, he cannot. Barclay ignores the dialogue that has been written for him and just goes off on one. He says what we are all thinking as normal every day citizens. We don’t even know what is in our water supplies any more yet it is always someone else’s problem and we stew in social media. It is beautifully written and hits home because it is what we all know. Water companies and world governments don’t care as long as the money keeps coming. Jack Harkness once said that the 21st century is when it all changes and here it is, in a touching exchange between Barclay and his daughter. He is buzzing about his first performance as ambassador but for every high, there is a greater fall.

In this case, the Sea Devils are furious that the humans say it will take 40 years to achieve just 50% of pollution reversal. Kate compares Barclay to the Doctor, going off script and winging it. But he loses control as the skies darken and every last scrap of rubbish ever dumped into a canal or an ocean falls from the sky back on to the land. Barclay’s ex wife and daughter are almost killed. This is Torchwood/Sound of Drums drama scale as everything from plastic bottles to the Titanic itself is thrown back on to the land. But with such power, why are they bothering to talk? Do the Sea Devils have another agenda?

Helpless, Barclay faces a more cautious negotiation this time as the Sea Devils make three demands. All pollution stops immediately. They demand all the oceans and waterways as their territory including the skies above them and man will not be permitted to leave land. With no air or sea travel, the ecomony will collapse. This causes chaos and suddenly Salt becomes more male, shifting in appearance and voice. If they had done with with the old Sea devil mask design then it wouldn’t have worked so well. Gugu’s performance is electric as she holds all the cards here. Just a flick of her head fins or narrowing of her eyes as she waits for Barclay to drink the water dances off the screen.

She gives me the impression, she still holds hope that Barclay can break the deadlock and use his own mind rather than words written by UNIT. The third is on their terms which Kate urges Barclay not to agree to. It is a beautiful dance between the two characters. Could Salt be testing the ordinary people of Earth because she knows how governments lie and cheat? When she mentioned that humans started this, could she be referring to brigadier Lethbridge Stewart killing the Silurians with a bomb behind the Doctor’s back and similarly, the Sea Devil colony during the 3rd Doctor era?

And yes, you can’t help but think, where is the 14th Doctor? Is he off world with Rose or Donna or is he standing back? His presence is very much felt as Barclay inadvertently becomes a child of time like all the companions who ever met or travelled with the Doctor. Barclay was nervous, insecure, had a failed marriage and just a low key worker so this is making him see he can be better. He can make a difference and the sudden realisation that he is now a historical figure loses its allure by the end of the episode.

The third condition Salt wants is for Barclay to meet the Sea Devils on their turf. and take the negotiation further.

At the bottom of the ocean.

Given what he has seen them do, Barclay agrees against Kate’s wishes.

I’m now at the wow stage of this story. The pollution rain of rubbish is excellent and foreshadowed by a solitary plastic bag in some great direction. This feels Children of Earth like, in that the threat is so big and the enemy so powerful, that man may well be prisoners on his own planet while the original inhabitants take back their world.

Roll on the next episode.

TW Reviews The War Between the Land and the Sea S01E01 Homo Aqua Spoilers

By Owen Quinn author Photos copyright BBC/Disney

So my biggest problem with this is that when it was announced as the return of Martha Jones, actress Freema Agyeman. But as more publicity stuff merged, there was no sign of her. Russell Tovey was rumoured to be the Master with Gugu Mbatha Raw who played Martha’s sister previously also joining as was the nasty American general from Torchwood Children of Earth. UNIT were to face off against the Sea Devils and the 15th Doctor mentions the war between the land and the sea in 73 Yards. So there was a lot of buzz around this.

So, no Martha in a return in the same vein as Mel, Ace and Tegan but Gemma Redgrave is back as Kate Stewart, now in a relationship with her officer, Christofer Ibrahim.

To be honest, this story kind of writes itself as a no brainer. Humanity has polluted the oceans so the Sea Devils rise up to kick some human arse. I was kind of hoping the original Sea Devil design would be used but here we have a redesigned one. It retains elements of the old ones we have already met with the 3rd, 5th and 13th Doctors but for me, they look like something from the Marvel/DC universe with their tridents. It is also a chance to expand on their culture and we get two more sub species of Sea Devils (I refuse to use Homo Aqua).

One is a fish of some sorts and the other, Salt, played by Gugu. She is more in line with the Silurian recon of the Matt Smith era and works well enough. When a Sea Devil is murdered by some fishermen who display it’s body, UNIT arrives including Russell Tovey’s Barclay to quell the situation. I liked the Doctor Who history recap and the implication that this is not the only time since the 3rd Doctor story that the Sea Devils have surfaced.

This is a global threat and I have to say the scenery is spectacular and wide sweeping. The Sea Devil cities rising from the deep are well done. The threat is very much real as we are surrounded by oceans. The Sea Devils have technology older than us therefore what can we do if they want to attack? We’d be helpless.

This is very much a message story ala the 13th Doctor’s episode Praxeous where plastic was killing us, triggered by an alien virus. The most chilling scene of the whole episode is when Salt throws the dead bodies of her stillborn children on the floor of the negotiation room for all the world to see. They died from choking on plastic, oil even excrement which man has ploughed into the oceans for decades.

But with no Martha, it is down to simple admin officer Barcaly Pierre-Dupont. Thanks to a clerical error, he is assigned to top secret missions by mistake. This error is a theme that Doctor Who has mastered over its history. Ordinary people in the wrong place at the wrong time yet when thrust into strange situations, coming up trumps. Kate, at first hostile, recognises this, especially when all the pomp and ceremony of ambassadors and world governments is cast aside by Salt and she picks Barclay for one very simple reason.

When Barclay at the start of the episode, made the sign of the cruciix before the dead Sea Devil. This mark of respect for a fallen creature he never even knew existed impressed Salt. It showed her he had compassion and something no politician could ever hope to give her. This says a lot as it seems part of Salt hopes war can be averted. Someone who shows her dead children to the thoughtless humans who caused it, should be full of vengeance and hate, without even the possibility of talks in her head. Yet she wants to talk. Whether or not, she likes what she hears is still to be seen.

Russell Tovey is spot on as the awkward, divorced, father of one, nervous Barclay, thrown into this madness as the sudden saviour of the world. I think the Doctor would approve given his hate of politicians. Indeed, Barclay has been touched by a simple hello from the Doctor, the year before when they met briefly. But that hello is in his head every day since. He is full of self doubt and fear but he now has to stand and be the man Salt hopes he is. He was horrified to see two UNIT personnel killed very unpleasantly by being sucked into ground before it solidified around them once the Sea Devils had retrieved their dead comrade.

He is the civilian. UNIT policy states that in these situations, a civilian must document it alongside UNIT, maintaining the tradition of the Doctor and his companion. These are all lovely touches that add to the overall mix.

This is a good start, a nice exploration of Kate Stewart and UNIT away from the Doctor and a very real threat as a war man cannot win looms. There is a lot to like here so hopefully they can maintain the quality.

Michael Cudlitz: The Definitive Lex Luthor

by Owen Quinn author

Photos copyright CW

When it was announced that The Walking Dead star Michael Culditz aka Abraham would be joining the cast of The CW’s Superman And Lois, it was an exciting casting choice.

But little did we know that this Lex Luthor would become the definitive version of the Kryptonian’s nemesis. We have had the movie’s Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey and Jesse Eisenberg as well as Smallville’s Michael Rosenbaum to name but a few and they all had an element of humour about them, a humanity at some points. But no one could match the sheer power of the Cudlitz version.

For me, this was the first time I was actually afraid of Lex Luthor.

His arrival was foreshadowed in the cancer storyline featuring Chad L Coleman as Bruno Mannheim, a criminal that is working to restore Hell’s Kitchen which he blames Superman for abandoning. He has also had dealings with Lex Luthor who went to prison seventeen years ago. It turns out he went down for a crime he didn’t commit because of Lois and Superman. He committed many other crimes and Mannheim was happy to see him go away. Lex has total control of the prison and its warden controlling his empire from behind bars. His servant Ottis accompanies him when he is released from prison.

With the long ginger beard and bald head, this is a Luthor that is on a mission. he has been stewing for revenge for seventeen years and is determined to get it. He immediately goes to Smallville and to the Kent farm. He warns Lois to retire. He knows all about Lois and her kids, every last detail of her life. He warns her she should have listened to him as now he is going to take everything from her. Lex is furious that he has lost his daughter and Lois’s words will not be enough. She has her twins while his daughter is now thirty something and hidden from him. He never wants to read her words again; one way or the other. He doesn’t care how it happens but it will happen.

There is no doubt that the first meeting is electrifying. You can feel Luthor’s fury as he faces the woman who took his life from him for seventeen years. Even his roaring at Clark to shut his mouth explodes off the screen. Cudlitz’s very expression is terrifying. There is no doubting he will do what he says and nothing and no one will stand in his way.

The first thing he does is turn Bizarro into the lethal Doomsday. He doesn’t care that this is a person who lost his wife and family in the Bizarro world. Luthor is relentless as he tortures him to death over and over, each time bringing him a step closer to being Doomsday. Such is his anger that Bizarro’s tortured screams are silent to him. All he wants is the ultimate weapon that can kill Superman.

Season three ended with the classic Superman versus Doomsday fight which left viewers breathless as they battled on the moon.

In season four, Luthor’s plans went further with the death of Superman. He has no compassion for Lois or her boys when he finds out who Superman really is. All he sees is two more targets to take out as part of his plan.

That also includes destroying Smallville itself.

We get to see his machinations at play with his cohorts doing his bidding like Otis, Gretchen Kelly/Cheryl Kimble and most especially Amanda McCoy.

When Doomsday kills Superman and delivers his heart to Luthor, the quest for vengeance does not end there. Luthor is a master manipulator and realising Jordan is the son of Superman, he plays upon the grief and anguish of the boy to lure him into a trap. He incapacitates him and calls Lois telling her to choose which son she wants to live. Left with no choice, she picks Johnathan because he has no powers. Luthor later plays the recording to Jordan breaking the bond between mother and son. Jordan is broken also bcause Luthor crushed Superman’s heart beneath his boot inches from the helpless Jordan’s face. Whatever way he can break apart the Kents he will do so.

Another force driving Luthor is tracking down his lost daughter. Only Lois’ father, General Sam Lane knows where she is. Luthor has been buying up property in Smallville and intends to build his new headquarters. He almost kills Sam but Jordan finds him just in time. Sacrificing himself with Superman’s blood running though his veins allows Superman to return to life with Sam’s heart beating in his chest.

Superman asks Luthor man to man to stop this and call a truce but he refuses. Even when Lois appeals to his fatherly side, there is the glimmer of hope that Luthor may change his ways. Erika, his daughter played by Agents of Shield’s Natalie Moon, meets with her father in Smallville. Luthor is to be a grandfather and when talks between them fail, Clark steps in and begs Natalie to give it another shot. We see the past in flashback to the days Luthor lost his daughter. Erika almost persuades her father to come with her and be the father she lost and the grandfather he could be but Luthor’s need to destroy the Kents is too deep for him to let go. We see a softer side to Luthor here who is just a father happy to have his daughter back. To see him switch from a revenge filled war machine to a man about to welcome a grandchild to the world shows depths rarely seen in the character.

Luthor gives up his family for a final battle. He employs Milton Fine, a genius and puts him to work on a new plan.

In Smallville, Clark goes to face Luthor man to man and discovers Luthor has mined the street outside his home with red light that robs Clark of his powers. They have a savage fight to determine the fate of Smallville; no powers, just two men beating each other for control of the town. But even when Clark wins and sends him packing, Luthor never stops. He is consumed. He sends Otis to murder Lana Lane so she cannot prevent him buying up Smallville. The residents, urged by Lois, say no to his over generous offers to buy their farmland which angers him more. It is clear Clark’s secret is about to be exposed so he takes that power away by telling the world who he is. Jonathan (who now has powers) and Jordan find a new found celebrity status.

In a change of tactics, he arranges a televised debate with Lois in which he manages to twist things to show her as the bad guy. He even uses the footage of Clark beating him to a pulp as evidence that he is a victim in all this given he was in jail for a crime he did not commit. While the interview takes palce, Milton is rescued from a car crash by Natalie and John in their battlesuits. However Milton is able to take control of the suits. Just as Erika is about to expose her own father, the remote controlled suits attack forcing Clark and the boys to fight them.

Amanda thinks she and Lex are in love and that she is indispensable to Lexcorp but she is just another outlet for him to get what he wants. The implication is they are sleeping together but she is convinced he loves her despite Lois’s warnings that he did the same thing to Cheryl and now she is dead.

Knowing now that Superman is losing his power, Luthor gets Fine to refine John’s stolen battle suit into one capable of destroying this new weakened Superman. He also soups up Doomsday now immune from Lois’ pleas to its humanity and launches his final plan. If he cannot have Smallville then he will wipe it off the face of the planet. He hovers in the sky watching Doomsday and Superman battle it out beside the super twins. Using John’s hammer, they smash Luthor’s suit leaving him a wreck in the streets of the town he wanted to destroy.

Carted back to prison for life in Stryker’s Island, Luthor thinks he can start again where he left off but this time he is powerless and secured in his cell with no amenities. Bruno Mannheim is in charge now and Luthor will be his bitch now.

In the flashfrward detailing the rest of Superman and Lois’ life, we see a dejected Luthor in a black suit sitting at a table in the Kent household. Clark puts his hand on his shoulder as a show of forgiveness. Luthor, who has lost his chance at a family for the sake of revenge, realises too late how stupid he has been.

And that is part of the brilliance of this version. He has spent his time trying to destory the Kent family but never realised just how wide that family was. All the money in the world doesn’t make you happy; being surrounded by people you love does. These binds can never be smashed no matter what you do to try and break them. If he had accepted his daughter’s offer to go with her and be a grandfather, Luthor would have found the peace he sought. The Kents had what he always sought deep down and he was trying to destroy that thinking it would satisfy his emptiness.

The Luthor in this show was a rampaging madman that was prepared to destroy everything to quench his thirst. Cudlitz was brash but friendly as Abraham in The Walking Dead but here he is a simmering powerhouse of rage, engaging one plan after another to kill the Kents. Cudlitz masterfully steps from super criminal to a man on the cusp of happiness having got his daughter back only be consumed once gain by the darkness. The makers of Superman and Lois have never shied away from brutish reality and in their design for Luthor, they have made a version so deadly that it is a shame that the show has been cancelled to make way for the James Gunn movie.

Family has always been the heart of the show. It is almost like Luthor sees it as the cruxifix to his vampire. He uses Bizarro, who is grieving the loss of his family, to become the weapon of mass destruction to kill his other self who has what he has lost. This is what Luthor is attacking; family. He is flawed because he had the chance to get that for himself but blew it. So if he cannot have it then no one shall have that. Smallville itself is not just a town but everything that stands for family. The Kents are not the heart of this family but part of it. In a way, this theme echoes Smallville to some degree as that Lex Luthor wanted to be part of a family and saw the Kents as that adopted option. His father is pure evil and Lex tried to be part of the Kents but they rejected him outright. So in a way, the Kents helped create the supervillain we know and love in both shows. All he wants is to be part of that love and connection. For the Cudlitz version, he lost all that when his wife divorced him and took his daughter when he went to prison. Lois went on to build her own life and that is what is at the centre of Luthor’s rage.

This version will forever remain masterpiece on how to write a villain the right way.

Star Trek & Monster Actor for Dublin Comic Con Summer 2026

He’s brought monsters, angels, aliens, and fairy-tale nightmares to life… and now he’s coming to Dublin.

We’re thrilled to announce Doug Jones as a guest for Dublin Comic Con: Summer Edition on August 8th and 9th, 2026!

From Abe Sapien to The Amphibian Man, from The Pale Man to Saru, Doug’s performances have shaped modern fantasy and horror cinema.

Meet the legend himself at the DCC next August!!

TW Reviews Stranger Things S05E04 The Sorcerer

By Owen Quinn author Photos copyright Owen Quinn and Netflix

WARNING – SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

The first thing that struck me was, that if I had to protect a kid as vile as Derek, I’d just throw him to the demogorgon and let Vecna do what he liked to the little shit. It’s nice to see Joyce’s good mom nature get kicked in the nuts by him. It brings humour to this very dangerous situation. We know the monster is on its way yet Derek is a brat. But he still needs protected.

These scenes are a beautiful dance of horror, comedy and action as they battle the monster. I loved Derek running from Erica. She isn’t in it nearly enough for me. One of the scariest things I have ever watched is Torchwood Children of Earth when the government took thousands of children to be handed over for food for the alien 456. It was done without parental consent and those that resisted were beaten and straggler kids hunted down.

It is a terrifying notion to all good parents so when the military take all kids aged 9 to 10 years old from their homes, away to the Big Mac complex to draw demogorgons out, Derek suddenly finds himself the hero. When one plan ends another begins. I love the character arc they did for Derek. One minute, he’s a brat in dire need of a kick in the backside, the next, he’s undercover saving other kids, calling out a snitch and fighting side by side with Mike and Will against a pack of demogorgons and soldiers shooting as they are massacred. He is now my favourite character. Such beautiful writing.

Dustin, Nancy, Jonathan and Steve are now in the Upside Down while Mike and the others devise a plan to get the kids out of the base with a wonderful sense of humour. And it’s all down to Robin declaring she loves dick. But not that kind of dick. It comes from her watching the Great Escape where they were three tunnels dug by the prisoners. Tom, Dick and Harry were the names of the tunnels. Derek must become the insider and organise the kids for their own great escape.

In the meantime, we finally get to see what happened to Max and why she is in the same place as Holly. Vecna is scared of the cave she has set up home in but why? More layers are peeled away as we discover that there are more kids missing, sparking the military taking the kids. The fact that Holly was not the first kid to be taken, just reinforces that time is running out. The kids are all in some sort of spire, a control tower perhaps that Vecna needs them to power?

But that is all i’m going to tell you. This is a sort of midseason finale, before the Boxing Day episodes, and we are on a rollercoaster. The demogorgons are coming for the kids, and everyone else is collateral damage. What you have seen in the trailer doesn’t even reflect a second of what is really going on. Just like the end of episode one, multiple cliffhangers are weaving and things are grim. Death is literally at the door and there is a massive secret in the chamber allegedly holding Vecna. Everyone is in danger. When Vecna finally appears and lifts Will into the air, you will not expect what happens next. From the lab scenes with Hopper and Elle facing Dr Kay to the final shot, it’s just nonstop. The rug was completely pulled out from under the audience.

Just as they did with the end of season four, we are left with our jaws hanging, as what we thought was happening escalates into something else.

This is story telling at its best. This is Stranger Things at its best and my heart is still pumping after the credits have rolled.

What do you want for Christmas? The next episodes please!

TW Reviews Stranger Things S05E03 The Turnbow Trap

By Owen Quinn author Photos copyright Owen Quinn and Netflix

WARNING – SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!

I’ve said already, there’s very much a Nightmare on Elm Street / IT feel to this season continuing from last season and the opening moments only reinforce that notion. I’ve also said that this is not the kids and Hawkins we know. They are hardened, fighting for survival. That is demonstrated beautifully when Will turns on his mother and tells her what he really thinks of her plan and clinginess. He says they don’t have time for safe because he now knows Vecna’s plan. I have to add, the inclusion of Robin in this scene makes it fun. The humour is much needed in this tense moment. It is a mother realising her child is now a man and she has to find a way to cut the apron strings or at least, loosen them a bit.

Jamie Campbell Bower continues to be as haunting and evil as Pennywise or Freddy ever were, appearing to his chosen victims. That first scene as he smiles at the spoiled, foul mouthed, Derek, in the classroom is pure run like hell fear. As with Holly, the kids don’t fear Vecna, now looking like his old self and using his real name, Henry. He is their friend and that opens up so many parental horrors like Vecna is grooming them for his own devices. Jamie is just so serpentine and demonic in his performance when he stands still and smiles from behind those glasses. His manipulation of Holly is horrifying as he nests her in an Elm Street house in the middle of nowhere with the warning not to go near the woodds or the monsters will get her. The greatest threat is the one you can’t see standing in front of you, wearing the face of a friend.

If you recall the Reverend Henry Kane from Poltergeist 2, then that is the air I’m getting watching Jamie Campbell Bower’s performance here. Vecna and Kane are literal sharks as is Pennywise but evil works best when it uses the familiar to trap us.

I have to say though that from a personal point of view, having met Jamie in Dublin this year, every time I see him, I just think “Ach, there’s our Jamie!” He is the nicest celebrity I’ve ever met and truly genuine when meeting and talking to fans. So, Vecna is alright with me.

Each episode is peeling a layer off an onion as more questions form. We are getting the jigsaw pieces but no box to see what picture it is meant to show.

We were told that the gang would be actively hunting Vecna and bringing the fight to him from the get go. Well, here it is in full flow and Will is right. There is no more safe. They have to fight and a daring plan is hatched. The excitement I feel watching them work together is exhilarting because these characters are engrained into our psyches, our buddies. Add to that, with the return of Erica, we are on to a winner. This plan is very Home Alone times ten. But then, Kevin never drugged a family before to monster proof their house and nobody could do it better than Erica.

They need to track the demogorgon to follow it back to Vecna’s hiding place. Where that is, the kids are. They need to shoot it with a bullet containing a tracking device that Dustin, Steve and company can follow in the car. But it goes dangerously wrong leaving us on a cliffhanger. The build up to the trap being sprung in the Turnbull house is funny and the demogorgons seem more terrifying this year for some reason.

But Hopper and Elle are fighting their own war as we discover the army has a weapon to paralyse Elle leaving Hopper to fight for his daughter in a do or die scenario. Hopper has always known she is a target and their bond grew even closer last episode when he opened up to her about his daughter that died from cancer. Harbour gives a beautiful performance here. They continue to butt heads but from a place of love rather than conflict.

Murray and Erica bring some much needed humour especially as Murray is aghast that Jonathan has not had sex with Nancy yet. It seems sex guru Murray has a failed student. The humour is much needed given the dire straits everyone is in, between Hopper and Elle battling the military, each other and the mysterious wall in the Upside Down to the plan to save Derek from the demogorgon hound ready to snatch the kid.

But more layers of the onion are peeled as Hopper and Elle interrogate a high ranking soldier under Dr Kay in their own unique ways. We see the hardened edge I spoke of earlier as Hopper knows no bounds in finding out what he wants to know. There are no limits to the lengths he will go to where his daughter is concerned. Elle discovers that there is something as powerful as her locked in the military base. Is it Vecna? And how is he reaching out to steal the children?

Holly finds a note from Henry telling to meet him in a specific place even though Henry’s instructions were to stay out of the woods in case she gets eaten by monsters. Away she goes with shades of Red Riding Hood and Litttle Miss Muffett. These are subtle clues as to where she really is. She finds a monster in a cave that chases her into the woods. Trapped, she hides but the monster finds her and is revealed as….

Tune in next episode but the ending of this is going make you scream.

TW Reviews Stranger Things S05E02 The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW!!

By Owen Quinn author Photos copyright Netflix

Well, your face is well and truly slammed into the mud as we pick up from the terrifying events at the climax of the first episode. I meant to say that there are portions of the soundtrack here that remind me of John Carpenter’s The Fog (the good original version.)

This is pure horror and terror and our kids are growing up fast, faced with these dangers. I loved how Robin and Lucas are the centres of calm and reason here. Will’s seeming possession becomes something they can use because Robin figures out why Will is experiencing visions. While Lucas points out that they are also on the edge of the anniversary of Will first disappearing and if Vecna has not come back, then who attacked the Wheelers? Things are grim. Elle is now in the Upside Down in pursuit of Holly but like Max, she cannot find her. She does find an annoyed Hopper, leading to some heart to hearts.

I’m not liking these heart to hearts because they always come before somebody dies. The Duffer brothers are playing with our heart strings and expectation of death in the final season. Similarly, Dustin is found, battered and bloody, leading to some lovely moments between him and Steve like a lover’s quarrel. You can see they can read each other like books and are as close as brothers. I think there may be a part of Steve that is angry that Dustin won’t open up to him about Eddie’s death. He feels left out because they are so close, the most unlikely friendship of them all.

The bonds between these guys is very much on show for us all to see. Plus it’s never too late for team ups not seen before. Will and Robin make a great mystery solving team as they figure out that Will is able to tap into Vecna’s mind.

The identity of Holly’s imaginary friend is thrilling and beautifully revealed as Will and Robin figure it out. At the same time, Mrs Wheeler, badly injured in hospital and unable to speak, is able to write down the name of the man only her daughter can see and hear and it’s…….

Well, you’ll have to see for yourself. All I could feel watching this season is very much a Welcome to Derry feel mixed with a Nightmare on Elm Street. Add that to the living wall Hopper and Elle find in the Upside Down and we realise there is something else going on here.

They thought they knew Vecna’s intentions but they have all been fooled. Aa they say, it’s always the quiet ones you watch. Hawkins is nothing more than all you can eat buffet now. The terror is only beginning. The strands all seem separate now but you can feel the tensions are coming from an unpredicted direction.

The attack on the Wheelers is devastating and shocking. The house is wrecked. Indeed, those scenes where Holly fights off the demogorgon in her room are brutal. There is blood everywhere and the parents are in emergency surgery. Nancy and Lucas clash with Nancy blaming herself as this was all shown to her by Vecna and she never took it seriously. But with every scare, we get a nervous laugh of relief. The Duffer brothers do this so well.

This episode kicks it all off compared to the more sombre opening. The terror was bad enough when you could leave Hawkins but now this is a contained world where whatever is plotting from the Upside Down, can take its time, secure that the military will shoot or imprison anyone breaking their rules. It also puts the pressure on to find Vecna and as we saw earlier, after 37 scouting crawls, it is something that is exhausting them. Now the gang are spit up again, will this make them easier targets or a force to be reckoned with? And now, Elle is on the military’s radar thanks to traffic cameras but regardless, they have to stop what happened to Will, from happening to Holly.

TW Reviews Stranger Things S05E01 The Crawl

SPOILERS BELOW!!

By Owen Quinn author. Photos copyright Netflix.

So here it is. The most hyped and eagerly awaited television event in years, the final season of Stranger Things. There have been rumours of death and bloodshed, trailers that have been dissected more than the Roswell alien and theories flying all over the place. Who is going to die or is it a double bluff? Is Vecna the real villain or have we been misdirected? What is Linda Hamilton’s role? Who is going to die? Yep, I’ve said it twice because that’s all people want to know. Bets are high that it is Steve’s last days on Earth but we will have that answered in the New Year. So here we go. And yes, I stayed up to watch it at one o’clock in the morning with my snacks and Coke Zero and yes, tomorrow in work is going to be fun.

As you saw from the release of the first five minutes recently, season one Will is dodging demogorgons in the Upside Down. But he is captured and out of the shadows appears Vecna. Tendrils appear and pin Will to the wall as something is pumped down his throat. After the devastating cliffhanger where Vecna has managed to partially combine the Upside Down and Hawkins, life is very different. We were promised that the show would hit the ground running and it really does. Our own imaginations and anticipation adds to this. We love these characters deeply so we care what happens to them. That’s the mark of good writing.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Hawkins is now a sealed quarantine zone with a heavy military presence. The cracks they thought were caused by the season four finale earthquake have been sealed with steel. Everyone is told to blend in and comply. Food is rationed. It’s been one year since the town was sealed off from the rest of the world and our heroes are not the gung ho kids we knew any more.

Will and his family live with the Wheelers now. Holly Wheeler, Mike’s sister is seeing a man whom no one else can, the mysterious Mr Whatsit but says he is there to protect them from the monsters. Will is having visions of spinning skies and demogorgons, Holly being taken yet they cannot find a single sign of Vecna. Steve and Jonathan are still in competition with each other but they are all trapped in this nightmare. Robin has a new girlfriend and runs the local radio station where she feeds coded information to the others that they got from contraband-laden Murray.

This tells them it is time for a crawl. They are a unit but relationships between them is strained. This is down to Dustin’s refusal to blend in. The Hellfire club have gotten the blame for everything and while Dustin cannot tell anyone what really happened to Eddie, he proudly wears the Hellfire shirt. He is grieving and it’s showing.

This only makes him a target for the brutal bullies and at Eddie’s vandalised grave, Dustin is left badly beaten. His absence puts the team’s plan in jeopardy for the crawl.

Thanks to Murray, they discover that Hopper will have to do a crawl when the soldiers burn a way through to the Upside Down. They have a base there run by Linda Hamilton’s Dr Kay which mirrors the one in Hawkins, the Big Mac. She just loves slicing open the creatures in the strange place but needs the girl. But is she talking about Elle or Holly?

Elle has been training hard for her battle with Vecna but Hopper has refused to let her come search the Upside Down because it is full of soldiers and she is most wanted number one.

What stands out here is the tremendous stress they are all under. Only they know Vecna is behind it all so they having been searching zones and clearing them over 37 times now. There is no sign of Vecna, so where is he hiding? But they are fighting with each other. Dustin refuses to back down and be compliant. Hopper and Elle are fighting over his decision not to let her join the crawl. The Wheelers are fighting over their over crowded house, causing a subtle alcohol problem for Mrs Wheeler. Robin has to cancel her date with her new nurse girlfriend beccause the fight comes first. There are so many secrets right now that it’s all going to implode.

But there are wonderful character moments like Murray popping up. Elle and Mike having a heart to heart on the rooftop. There conversation about what happens after the happily ever after just screams bad vibes to me given we know someone is not going to make it out alive. It’s classic horror when they say, “Let’s split up!” Speaking of which, am I the only one that thinks that is Vecna’s distorted face in the cloud above them? Similarly, Hopper and Joyce talk about his refusal to let Elle go on the crawl. It is a lovely glimpse into Hopper’s deep feelings as a father terrified about losing his daughter to Vecna and the military which is why he has kept them off the grid since the quarantine.

We are hit with multiple cliffhangers aat the episode climax which means you are most certainly coming back for more. Hopper, Holly, Dustin and the Wheelers are all in deadly danger and you are waiting for someone to die.

As Holly discovers, it is bad enough for a monster under the bed but when it comes out of the ceiling it’s another matter entirely.

Stranger Things Moments: Running Up That Hill

By Owen Quinn author. Photo copyright Netflix

Stranger Things season 4 is full of iconic moments. It is full of exciting, heart stopping sequences and who would have thought that a song and artist I have been a fan of from childhood would become an icon for a whole new generation of fans while us older ones sat smiling?

I get caught up in the emotions and excitement of certain things, usually to the point I swear, cry or speak out loud in a cinema. But never have I jumped up in my seat and yelled at the screen.

Max, as played by the brilliant, Sadie Sink knows that Vecna is gunning for her in order to unlock the walls that separate the Upside Down from our world. She goes to the grave of her late brother, Billy, possessed by the Mind Fayer in season three. Billy sacrificed himself to save his sister and the others. Dustin, Steve and Lucas take her there and wait in the car for her.

But as she reads a letter she has written to her brother, she is possessed by Vecna. As we have seen, he is brutal and every possession is the same. The victim’s eyes go white, they levitate in the air where all of their limbs are broken before Vecna takes their life.

The boys rush forward when they see Max is not right. The only thing that can save her is if she hears her favourite song. They scramble helplessly to find it in her cassette case. Max, in the meantime, finds herself stuck in Vecna’s realm. He traps her in tendrils and taunts her.

Jamie Campbell Bower is exquisite here as his long fingers expand to take Max’s life. His performance is so delicate and nuanced that he could be a shark coming through the water. He and Max are in a devastated landscape, drenched in red. Rubble floats in the air. Max fights to the end.

That is, until the sound of Kate Bush singing, Running Up That Hill, comes over her headphones. But is it too late? As she floats into the air, seconds away from being murdered, the boys call to her frantically.

As the song echoes around where she is trapped with Vecna, Max remembers what she has to live for. She recalls her friends, all the good times she has had, the bonds she has formed and her love for Lucas. She sees her friends still in the graveyard through a rip in this reality.

With the lyrics pumping through her mind, she breaks free through sheer force of will and runs for her life.

Vecan tries to stop her by bringing rubble down from the sky. It was at that point I jumped up and roared, “Run Max!!”

Would she make it? Would Vecna stop her ? Would her death trigger Armageddon?

The screen goes black leaving us uncertain for a moment if she made it.

Then we cut to her in the air and her eyes snap open. She falls from the air and on the ground, surrounded by the boys. For now, Max is safe.

It was interesting to note that she hurt Vecna during her escape. Maybe that gave her the edge allowing her to escape?

This is such a heart stopping sequence that just delivers on every level. You can feel their fear, shiver at the cold callousness of Vecna murdering a child without a second thought, make a mental note to download the song first chance you get and literally be sweating with dread at how close Max was to being the next victim.

Whomever thought of using the Kate Bush song for this sequence was a genius. From the writing to the directing to the performances, Max’s narrow escape is breathtaking.

And it never gets dull. I have watched this part countless times and it still maintains the excitement I felt upon first viewing.

If you want a lesson on how to cement your audience in place, then Running Up That Hill is the template to use.