I finished S4 of The Magicians last night. I'm glad I was spoiled for it, because that was a hot goddamn mess. Well, the whole season kind of was. It had way too many storylines that just didn't come together.

And I'm left wondering how Margo went from amazing badass to Must Look At A Fish (and also BAKE FOR HIM). What the FUCK. And Julia didn't even get to make the choice of what happened to her, and Kady said out loud that all she ever wanted was to be Penny's girlfriend. What the FUCK happened to how these badass women were written earlier???

I have too many feelings about Quentin to articulate right now.

::pets:: Yeah. Better to have been spoiled by far.

Roswell:

There was a lot packed into this episode, whew. I really liked the way Alex & Forest's date was handled. It really highlighted how debilitating Alex's internalized homophobia is, and how his fear of being out in public is rooted in trauma. He is a confident, capable, powerful man who nearly singlehandedly undermined Jesse Manes' and the Manes family's life work; but all of that accomplishment and self-worth doesn't automatically transfer to all areas of one's life. We can feel confident at work, and simultaneously feel paralyzed by social anxiety.

Now, twice, from Michael and now from Forest, Alex has been told that men he's interested in are not willing to compromise their own self-worth for the furtive pleasures of a secret relationship. Alex has to decide to put in the work, or not, to deal with his shit, if he wants the love life his emo teenage self dreamed of. That's some pretty nuanced character growth for a CW show!

It's interesting to see how deeply Jesse Manes appears to have changed. I don't prefer to think of this as comeuppance -- god knows he made so many people's lives miserable, from his own family to the imprisoned aliens at Caufield, but that is brutal karmic justice, to be so immediately and thoroughly disabled. I don't really *care* about whether or not Jesse can or is interested in repairing his relationship with Alex and Flint and their brothers. But I think that's the direction the show may be going in with him, apart from being a handy exposition resource to move the alien plot along.

Rosa's relapse was very sad. It was always coming, one way or another; Kyle pronouncing her body "free from addiction" upon her revival was the reddest of flags, because addiction isn't merely biological, it is of course deeply psychological. I'm glad she's going to rehab, and I hope it points to positive character development; heaven knows that girl's been through the worst of it all.

I was pretty meh about the whole Cameron thing... I just haven't been invested in her or her storyline, though I like her well enough as a character. I guess the gang's all back together now, wth Cameron's return. I thought Max's choices were interesting, though -- he's clearly struggling so hard with being on restriction, and that Isobel and Michael were able to carry on and grow without him there. For Big Brother Max that's kind of a blow, and his overreaction in white knighting Cameron points to the unresolved psychological shit Max hasn't dealt with from Rosa's revival through his death and now his return.

And we haven't even picked back up on the whole dire alien warning thing! Max's whole "if I am here they will come" deal -- that's a thread that feels entirely too dangly.

Also, I was so excited that Jamie Clayton was the guest star this week -- I loved her in Sense8, and I'm thrilled she's picking up work.

NOMI! Yes, fine, she wasn't Nomi, but in my heart, she was still Nomi.

I hope we're not supposed to buy that Jesse has really changed. It seems rather abrupt.

I think Alex maybe didn't realize exactly how much work he still has to do on himself. I mean, he doesn't even seem to be comfortable going to the gay bar. But then he seemed pretty out in high school. It's a little bit of a yo-yo.

My unspoiled speculation about Forrest:

I suspect he's part of this paramilitary group in Los Alamos.

AND OMG Sanders! People on Tumblr called it back when we first saw him, but OMG! He knew the trio's mothers! He's been looking out for Michael!

Oooh, that's some interesting Forest speculation.

eta: dammit my post got eaten. will reconstruct later this evening.

Do Buffistas post about The Walking Dead? If so, will I find discussion in this thread? It's on AMC, which I don't think counts as premium cable, but it doesn't seem like a Boxed Set show.

EDIT: I didn't remember there was a regular cable drama thread. I think it's in there. We just started watching on Hulu, and I'm curious to see Buffista reaction as the series played out. Sorry for the interruption.

Batwoman:

I am actually kind of bummed about Mouse being killed. I thought he and Alice had good chemistry and he was sweet to her without being a doormat. They've kind of been playing musical villains for a while and I'm wondering how it's going to shake out next season, whenever that comes.

Also the juxtaposition was hilarious:

Kate, holding tiny shard: This is all the Kryptonite left on the planet.

Previously, on Supergirl: Rama Khan steals a literal boatload of Kryptonite.

So...Ruby Rose is leaving Batwoman.

[link]

So next year's crossover will explain why Kate Kane doesn't resemble Ruby Rose anymore?

Oh, wow.