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America’s Next Top Model C24E11 Recap

K.F. Cumberbatch
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0
America’s Next Top Model C24E11 Recap

The Challenge

This week’s challenge started immediately after last week’s judging. The contestants had to create an avatar of themselves in the America’s Next Top Model Mobile Game, complete with a backstory, in just fifteen minutes. The winner was chosen by the app’s creator, David Ortiz, and Law – who would be styling the winner for the next panel, using clothing from L.A.’s top showroom.

Rio’s avatar looked a lot like her. Her outfit didn’t seem very much like Rio, however, because I don’t recall her wearing something like that on the show. Kyla’s also had a strong resemblance to her, but her backstory was a little weird. I loved that Shanice brought Shanasty to her avatar and I liked the way that Shanice styled her.

Khrystyana had a cool outfit for her avatar as well and if she wins the competition, I need her avatar to have that Russian catchphrase. Jeana’s avatar wore just about the same thing as Shanice’s and unlike Law, I didn’t hate it. Her avatar didn’t seem to have much of a story though and seemed rather boring.

My two stand outs were Khrystyana and Shanice, but I could see why Law and David would have picked Rio. After all of the girls went, though, it was clear that Khrystyana was the winner. She has the lightest, most fun and funniest personality in the house and is always good vibes. She brought that to her presentation.

At The House

Rio was being so cocky. Just as cocky as her good friend Jeana was saying that Shanice had been acting just one episode ago, in fact. Like Kyle said, everyone has something they’re insecure about and for Rio, as we know, that’s when anyone does better than her. Of course, her dear friend Jeana wouldn’t call Rio out on her cockiness the same way she did Shanice. Not just because she wouldn’t see it, but because she had her own insecurities to deal with.

The person who came out looking the best after Jeana’s little breakdown was Khrystyana honestly. She’s better than most of us; she actually went to and comforted Jeana even after she’d been mean to her. Most other people would have left Jeana alone to wallow.

Jeana was the latest contestant in the competition to feel the pressure of it. She was very upset that Law told her that she has no personality. While I do agree with her that he doesn’t actually know her so he can’t exactly say that, on the other hand, ANTM has always stressed the importance of having personality. Jeana is, perhaps, too quiet and serious for ANTM. She just needs to come out of her shell the way that Shanice did.

The Video Shoot

The girls did another fashion music video with Director X this week. The video was set to the song “Lake Shrine” by Maejor. As with the challenge, the girls needed to show personality.

At the start of the shoot, the girls sat at a dinner table with Maejor and had to look bored. Rio looked far more disgusted that bored and Jeana was leaning into sexy and there was nothing “bored” about what she was doing. They really, really struggled. Hadn’t Rio just said that she’s not struggling? Kyla surprised me far more than anyone. She has been going up in the competition lately, but it still caught me off guard how well she did.

Kyla continued to rock it during her solo moment and she never looked that model-esque or that sexy before. She did so well. I didn’t think that Jeana’s performance was bad, she just didn’t go big enough; she was too restrained for what the intention of the shoot was. Rio was trying too hard, but even then she wasn’t doing enough for Drew and Director X. That mouth open thing she did was very unattractive.

Shanice was on fire. Not just in terms of her performance, she was h-a-w-t. I don’t think she’s been quite so sexy before. Not even compared to last week’s photoshoot. Khrystyana broke her shoe so she didn’t get as much time to work it and still she turned it out. Jeana just…I don’t even know. No one on set called her out for jumping into the shot so either it was intentional or it worked so well that they didn’t mind.

From what Khrystyana said, however, it seemed like the former was not the case. Why else would she have been on set with them, though? She looked so bitter, angry and spiteful standing in the corner watching Khrystyana and Shanice. I’m glad that Khrystyana confronted her about the shoe and her pushing herself into the video. I didn’t believe Jeana when she said she wasn’t happy that Khrystyana broke her shoe and that Director X told her to get into the shot.

After the shoot I was positive that Jeana and Rio would be in the bottom two and Jeana was the one I wanted to go home the most.

Judging

Kyla’s shots were everything! The girl in those shots was not the shy, nervous girl who was flustered because she was standing in front of Director X. She was confident and oozing sex appeal. Khrystyana can do no wrong. Her shots were cute, playful and feminine, but also sexy in a way that wasn’t overt like Kyla’s. Jeana looked beautiful in her shots, but she was really boring. She just fell flat. Rio was also pretty boring. Shanice was in the middle this week; a lot better than Rio and Jeana, but fell a bit short of being as good as Khrystyana and Kyla.

Click for full size image.

Shanice just had to bring up Jeana jumping into the shot and I’m glad that she did. Jeana wasn’t lying when she said that Director X told her to get into the scene after all. She did seem rather ticked off when she said that she was shoving them in character and not being spiteful, understandably. However, she was rather childish when she hid herself under the blanket as Khrystyana apologised for not believing her and tried to explain how she felt. Jeana became a real bitch in this episode. Her “F**k everybody” attitude was such a turn off.

Call Order and The Elimination

Called it! Jeana and Rio were in the bottom two. The top three contestants this week was an obvious one to call; they did much better than the bottom two. It didn’t matter to me who was called first between Khrystyana and Kyla. They were hands down the top two. As much as I love Shanice, I didn’t think that she deserved to be called before either of the two of them this week.

I can’t be the only one who was happy to see Jeana leave. She was insufferable in this episode and her stank attitude would have grated on me had she stayed longer. Of course she didn’t hug anyone besides Rio when she left, not that we were shown anyway and she just couldn’t leave without saying one last bitchy thing about the others.

Random thoughts:

  1. Rio irritates me too Shanice.
  2. Oh yea, I forgot that Rio had a brain tumor.
  3. Lol Khrystyana still can’t say “bitch” with a mean face.
  4. Jeana is so damn salty and doesn’t realise she’s as bitchy as she says that Law is.
  5. At least Rio had best photo to go home to.
  6. Oh no…not that wig…
  7. Kyla told Drew she likes Director X.
  8. So glad that Khrystyana sees how much of a bitch Jeana is.
  9. Shanice’s stank walk just came out a little.
  10. Lol Tyra is not here for their drama.
  11. Dammit! Jeana’s back in the next episode.

America’s Next Top Model airs Tuesdays at 8 PM on VH1.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story S02E08 Recap

K.F. Cumberbatch
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The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story S02E08 Recap

This episode managed to do what the last episode came close to doing, but just didn’t quite achieve and that was making me feel sympathy and empathy for Andrew Cunanan. I still despise him for the human being we saw that he eventually became in earlier episodes, but this one in particular put him into sharper context than any of the others had. This was his origin story. Not only did this episode make me feel sorry for Andrew, it actually gave me someone to despise more than him; his father, Modesto.

The continued juxtaposition of crucial, similar points in the lives of Andrew and Versace are some of the best parts of this show. Especially because Versace was everything that Andrew wanted to be and likely could have been.

The episode didn’t go as in-depth into Versace’s childhood as it did Andrews, but we saw enough. I loved Versace’s mother instantly. I half-expected her to take his sketch and tear it up and berate him, demean him as a “pansy” like the boy did in his class. But she didn’t. I also loved that her immediate reaction to him telling her that his teacher called him a pervert, was to take the very thing that made the teacher call him that and encourage him to make real. I really wanted her to go to the school and rip that teacher a new one.

Andrew’s upbringing wasn’t quite so supportive. At least not in the way that Versace’s mother supported him.

I didn’t – and still don’t – understand why Modesto was so fixated on him and favoured him more than his siblings. He had three other children right there and he seemingly hated all of them. Surprisingly enough, not everything that Andrew had told David about his childhood was a lie. He did get the master bedroom, he did get the car and he had at least one lobster dinner. He was showered with any material thing that he could have wanted and spoiled well beyond rotten.

I liked how Modesto and Andrew’s respective interviews for a prestigious job and acceptance into a prestigious school, respectively, were intercut. It was clear that Modesto’s “lessons” had taken hold of Andrew in his interview when his responses to what he wished were materialistic and vain, but as questionable as his response was, his interview went better than his father’s in my opinion.

Although Modesto did get the job, I was certain that he had bombed the interview. He did not focus on what the interviewers wanted to talk about, which was how he could do the job he was interviewing for. Sure, he talked about how he worked hard to move up in the world, but now how he managed to achieve it. So I was awfully surprised that he got the job, but not surprised when it was shown that he sucked at it. I think he wanted to be a stock broker for the title and wealth and nothing else.

I thought that one of the two would fail, so I didn’t think that Andrew would get into The Bishop’s School. His father buying him a car for that achievement was more than excessive, but I didn’t buy that that was the reason; that scene did follow him failing miserably on his first day at Merrill Lynch after all. It was him overcompensating.

When he brought up that he had been the one to raise Andrew while his mother recovered from postpartum depression – which I think is clear she suffered from – I considered that that is perhaps why Andrew was his favourite. It was also obvious that he resented Mary. Despite us having seen her been unstable in previous episode, here I don’t believe that she was, as Modesto kept throwing in her face. I think that that was just him being emotionally abusive. In any case, it still doesn’t really explain for me why Andrew was looked on so incredibly highly.

As horrible at his job as he was, I didn’t think that Modesto was defrauding people. At the same time, I wasn’t shocked to find out that he was.  It felt well within his character to lie, cheat and steal. Because a lot of what Andrew had told David turned out to be true, I thought that maybe his father really had relocated to a Merrill Lynch office in the Philippines, but that revelation quickly dispelled that notion. It certainly explained why in the last two episodes Mary was living in an apartment she could barely afford and not in their luxurious home. I had wondered how she’d gone from the latter to the former.

I thought that Modesto would have been caught by the FBI – wanted it even – and that Andrew lied about him having gone back to Manila to cover that up. He did go back to Manila, though, and ended up right where he started. Karma sure did a number on him, but he didn’t seem upset or dejected about his situation. Which didn’t make it feel like he got what he deserved at all.

It was kind of heartbreaking seeing how much faith Andrew had in his father and his integrity as a man, husband, father and provider, when the truth was that he was a “dirty rat” (as Mary put it). Even more so when it he realised that the perfect man that his father had made him believe he was, never existed. That the man he looked up to was a lie and a liar, that his life was a lie. Everything he’d ever known and believed fell apart. It was only natural that he cried. Then Modesto had the gall to ridicule him for it.

Not just the crying, but for being exactly what he’d raised Andrew to be; spoiled and lazy. Modesto was so proud that he was blind to his own failings as a man and as a parent. So much so that he couldn’t even see that the very qualities he was “ashamed” of were the same ones that he had instilled in Andrew to begin with.

He never taught Andrew that anything he wanted he needed to work for an earn. He raised him to believe that anything he wanted he would just get because he was “special.” You can’t raise your child to be a certain way and then hate them for being exactly that. He absolutely disgusted me when he spat on Andrew and when he slapped him. In fact, he disgusted me for this entire episode but those two things, especially the spitting, were the peak.

Modesto was the first and only person in this series that I wanted Andrew to kill. I was so hoping that it would turn out that his father was his first victim. The Andrew in this episode, though, was not the cold, heartless killer we’d seen before so he didn’t go through with it unfortunately. Modesto broke that poor child.

Random thoughts:

  1. So Gianni is a pervert for drawing a dress? How does one even draw that conclusion?
  2. Andrew has siblings?
  3. Did this man just stuff his family in the back of a vehicle with no ventilation?!
  4. This is the second last episode. The only place we can go from here is seeing Gianni and Andrew in-utero or going forward in time to the day that Andrew killed himself.
  5. The fact that they flinched when he turned around…
  6. Andrew been doing this mooching off of older people thing forever…
  7. Okay damn, that red jumpsuit actually looks really good on him.
  8. You go ahead and dance and enjoy yourself and let your gay flag fly high Andrew! Screw the haters!

The final episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story will air this Wednesday at 10 PM on FX.

SMS Model Search 2018: Legacy

K.F. Cumberbatch
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0
SMS Model Search 2018: Legacy

Last Saturday, after five months of hard work, a number of photo shoots and a night of competition and camaraderie, Shomari Smith and Dana Begg claimed the titles of Mr. and Miss SMS Model Search 2018. Joining them on the, figurative, winners’ podium were first runners-up Tramal Whitehall and Tiana Jerson and second runners-up Brandon Sealy and Kiann Conliffe. All of them were the clear front runners of the competition from virtually the beginning.

Begg additionally won Best Improved Female and also shared the prize for Best Unity with her king Shomari Smith, who took home the Principal’s Achievement Award as well.

In the first two segments, which were each split into two sections, the contestants wore designer clothing. The girls wore swimsuits from Suga Apple Swim by Kimberly Ann Boyce, in a section dubbed “Suga Apples” as well as dresses from Pink Lemonade by Rotchelle Parris. As for the boys, they were styled by odBo!h in T-shirts from their Street Approved Camo, Tie-dye and Cosmo collections in a section called “odBo!h Way of Life” and by designer Lisa Holder.

The students did well overall in these segments, with the girls pulling ahead of the boys. As a group, the girls had better runway walks. As stated previously, Begg, Jerson and Conliffe stood out as top performers amongst the female contestant more or less from the start, but Alika Rouse deserve special mention for the “Suga Apples” section; she stunned with every step she took as she strut up and down the runway.

Of the boys Smith, Whitehall and Sealy immediately stood out because they had so much personality and were, for lack of a better term, “extra”, but in a very good way. They had charm, charisma and were likeable and endearing. Of the three however, Whitehall was an apparent audience favourite; he got the loudest audience response (aside from Pirez who pretty much had the biggest crowd response of all of the boys) for the first few sections.

They boys did at times look quite a bit uncoordinated in the parts of their sections when they had to perform as a group; like they didn’t have the choreography down pat and it was obvious when they were waiting for and watching each other for their cues.

The third segment, Unity Collection, was a joy. In this segment the contestants had to collaborate with each other and create their own looks inspired by the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster, Black Panther and each look had to feature a wild cat print.

The students did exceedingly well in creating the designs for this segment. These were some show stopping looks. As much as I love cosplay as an art form, I loved that despite the section being inspired by a film, the students didn’t go in that direction. In fact, none of the designs looked like costumes from the film, except perhaps Killmonger’s Black Panther suit which was black and gold. I was expecting Black Panther and Dora Milaje costumes. Instead the students focused on fashion and not on costuming.

“Legacy” was the final segment. This was the haute couture segment and the contestants were tasked with envisioning themselves as the legends of tomorrow. They didn’t need to wear formal wear, but they could. For the most party they went in that direction, particularly the girls.

The boys’ looks were decidedly more drab than the girls’ in terms of their use of colour. The only boy who used a great deal of it was Shamani Ashby who wore a bright red shirt. The boys did all look very good and fashionable, however, particularly Sealy who looked every bit the classy gentlemen. It’s no surprise that he won the segment.

The girls looked beautifully stunning in their gowns, of which it was tough to pick a favourite, but the most eye catching were those worn by Jerson, Begg and Rouse. Vaughn, however, gets a special mention for being the only girl to wear pants. Begg’s dress was clearly difficult to walk in, but she never once faltered. She powered through it and made it work.

The show also featured prize giveaways, a special appearance by the Alexandra Model Search 2018: Fashion Movement contestants, a performance by singer and St. Michael School student Megan Greene and a performance by MC for the night, Kirk Brown.

Visit our Facebook page for a full album of photos from the show: SMS Model Search 2018: Legacy.

Here is the full list of winners:

Most Improved Male: Rashad Crichlow
Most Improved Female: Dana Begg

People’s Choice Male: Ben Pirez
People’s Choice Female: Tiana Jerson

Mr. Photogenic: Ben Pirez
Ms. Photogenic: Kiann Conliffe

Best Unity Male: Shomari Smith
Best Unity Female: Dana Begg

Best Legacy Male: Brandon Sealy
Best Legacy Female: Tiana Jerson

Principal’s Achievement Award: Shomari Smith

Second Runner-Up Male: Brandon Sealy
Second Runner-Up Female: Kiann Conliffe

First Runner-Up Male: Tramal Whitehall
First Runner-Up Female: Tiana Jerson

Mr. SMS Model Search 2018: Shomari Smith
Ms. SMS Model Search 2018: Dana Begg

 

We Need To Talk About The New “Avengers: Infinity War” Trailer

K.F. Cumberbatch
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0
We Need To Talk About The New “Avengers: Infinity War” Trailer

Finally, after what has felt like forever, a new trailer for Avengers: Infinity War has arrived on the internet for all of us rabid MCU fans to consume. And there is So Much New Footage. I don’t think that a single shot in this trailer was repeated from the last one. It’s 100% brand new. Even if some of the shots are from the same scenes we got glimpses of in the first widely released trailer (technically the second trailer overall – making this one the third – since there was that one at SDCC).

Not only is there new footage, there’s so much crossing over of characters in this trailer that I do so believe that we got a lot more of it than in the first trailer.

Without further ado, let’s get into some of the highlights of this trailer. This isn’t all of them, of course, but there are so very, very many that this article was getting pretty long. So I cut it down to the most highlight-iest of highlights. For me at least.

Gamora Opened The Trailer

I was not expecting that. When she started speaking I was like “Who the hell is this?” Because, ya know, this an Avengers movie and even though I know that main characters from every film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (for the most part) will be coming together in this one, it hasn’t clicked in my brain that The Guardians are going to meet everybody else or that there will be so much cross pollination for that matter. I don’t think it will be real to me until I see the movie.

Even then it won’t lose its punch because it’s still so novel that the entire MCU (for the most part) will be in this movie. Just watching this trailer, how pumped were you to see Peter (not that one, the other one) and Drax interacting with Tony, half of the Avengers in Wakanda and Thor with Groot and Rocket?

It totally makes sense that Gamora would be the one to educate everyone about Thanos. He raised her! He made her. She is the only person besides Nebula who knows him well.

Thanos Has His Armour

Thank the heavens that Thanos will don his armour in this movie. I really hate the wife beater wearing version of Thanos we got in the last trailer. That look still shows up in this trailer, but we got two shots of him in his armour and that’s more than enough to comfort me that I won’t have to see his gun-show for the entire movie. No one wants to see your biceps Thanos!

The Gang’s [Almost] All Here

In the shot of Cap and Black Widow arriving in Wakanda we see Bruce, War Machine, Falcon, Scarlet Witch and more importantly Vision. That’s like half of the Avengers! Or half of the people who fought in Captain America: Civil War. So they’re kind of assembled? Anyways, that’s not the best part. Yea it’s cool to see the Avengers in Wakanda and all, but Shuri gets her hands on Vision! We even see her with a little hologram of him in her hand. Imagine how much fun she’s going to have examining him! I have no doubt that if he dies when the Mind Stone is taken out of his forehead that she’ll be the one to fix him.

Peter Meets Tony (And Peter’s Just Happy To Be There)

What happens when you get two really sarcastic guys in a room (or rather, movie) together? You get that interaction between Peter (not that one, the other one) and Tony. Look at Tony’s face! He’s so hilariously annoyed with Peter (maybe we should just call him Star Lord to avoid confusion) even before he tells him that the plan sucks. Imagine the exchange that happened before that moment that made Tony so clearly tired of him already. Tony’s now on the receiving end of the sarcasm and he just can’t take it.

There has to be a moment in this movie when someone yells “Peter!” and both Quill and Parker respond. The joke is right there! We know Marvel loves its comedy!

Baby Gamora!

Will we be getting a flash back to her childhood with Thanos? His armed forces are there with them on whatever planet they’re on so either this is when he attacked her home planet or this is one of his planet destroying missions and he’s taken her along with him. I’m inclined to think it’s the latter since she one, isn’t dirty as far as we can see and two, seems to be going along with him pretty willingly. I’d think that if he just murdered her entire family – and people – that she’d be resistant. If it is the latter though, he started her on genocidal killing sprees really darn young.

Our First Clear Shot of Thanos’ Black Order (And Loki’s With Them)

I don’t know much about them besides the name of the group and I don’t care much to look into them before watching this movie either. Well, I looked them up in so far as what their names are. Here we have: Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw, Corvus Glaive, and Black Dwarf. I don’t know who is who besides Proxima Midnight. All I know is that comic book fans are hyped to see them in this film, apparently, so that makes me hype to see them too. Especially the full scene of Cap catching Proxima’s spear from the last trailer.

Loki, Loki, Loki…what are we going to do with you? My first thought was that he goes over to Thanos’s side, just because it’s Loki and we know he will and have seen him do whatever is necessary to save his own skin. However, giving him the benefit of the doubt, he has also done the right thing in the past (most recently in Thor: Ragnarok) so he may just be playing double agent here? Proxima does have her spear aimed at him. Who knows! We’ll have to see the movie.

Tony Is So Going To Die

They’re signaling it so hard! This is a trailer so it’s very likely that those two clips aren’t even related in the movie, but come on! Thanos saying “I hope they remember you” followed by a clip of Tony in half destroyed armour? There is no stronger signal! Of course it could all be misdirection to make us fear for Tony, thinking that he’ll die in this movie, and he’ll come out of it perfectly fine. Or, they could be preparing us for his death so it doesn’t hurt so much when it happens (for those of us who like Tony at least; I’m sure some fans would be more than a little happy to see him go). We have six weeks until we find out Tony’s fate.

Thor and Cap vs Thanos

First Tony got the most savage bitch-slap in all of cinema from Thanos in the first trailer and in this one we see Thor looking worse for wear and being dragged up by the head by Thanos, so clearly his encounter with him doesn’t go well either.

Then there’s Cap, who Thanos is struggling with! Struggling! That Super Soldier Serum is something else that it made Cap, a regular old human – not an Asgardian or a billionaire-playboy-philanthropist in an armoured super suit – capable of going toe to toe with the Mad Titan himself. While he’s wearing the Infinity Gauntlet with the Power and Space Stones in it! Look at the effort of Thanos’ face! There’s far more effort on Cap’s face, but still.

Cap is another character that’s slated to die in this so maybe we’re seeing the moment of his death.

Avengers: Infinity War is slated to be released day and date on April 27th. Here’s hoping Barbados get is then too. These cinemas here won’t confirm it at all!

Black Lightning S01E08 Recap

K.F. Cumberbatch
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0
Black Lightning S01E08 Recap

It looks like everything is starting to come together for the remainder of the season and we’re heading into the final stretch now that there’re only five episodes left. We got a lot of new information in this episode that put most of the things that have been happening throughout the season into context.

Firstly, we need to talk about Gambi. We finally found out why it is that he has been so very, very shady and why he’s been lying to Jefferson for all of this time. In so doing, we learned exactly how he is and was involved with Lady Eve and company, what said company is and what it is they’re doing in Freeland. And I have to say, I was quite surprised.

I never would have guessed that the ASA is a government agency/intuition/organisation or whatever word we want to use to describe them. The point is, they’re part of the U.S. government. Yes, the U.S. government has done some terrible things to the Black community – as one of my friends pointed out, what the ASA is doing is awfully similar to how Reagan flooded Black communities with crack – but I wouldn’t have assumed that this whole thing was caused by the government.

When Gambi met with Martin Proctor and he dropped the bomb that the ASA is dissecting and studying meta-humans in order to make their own and that Freeland is part of that experiment, I thought that that would be the only insight that we got into what the ASA was doing and what they were after. However, it wasn’t. Gambi dropped a whole other info-bomb on us near the end of the episode and it was all thanks to Lynn.

I was weary of Lynn continuing to look into Alvin’s research after the break-in; surely if the ASA went after her once they would go after her again. While we’re talking about Alvin’s research, even though I know that that’s the reason for the break-in, I still don’t buy that it is. I still maintain that the show made no connection between her getting the research and the break-in other than to say that the former was the cause of the latter. There were absolutely no hints that the two had to do with each other.

I thought that Lynn would have still had Alvin’s research since Anissa interrupted the robbery and as far as I can remember, we didn’t see the perpetrators leave with anything in hand. So I was surprised when she discovered that it was missing. Besides breaking into Lynn’s lab and killing David Poe, the ASA was also busy breaking into the lab where Lynn sent the powder sample to be tested. Still, Lynn got a hard copy of the test results. What she discovered was that the powder was a vaccine and that it’s the active ingredient in Green Light. When she went to Gambi for more answers, that’s when the entire truth came out.

The vaccine was made by the ASA to keep the population of Freeland docile in a time of social upheaval in the late 80’s and it inadvertently created metas and killed children. That perfectly explains what happened to the nine missing children and why Jefferson’s brain scans look like those of someone on Green Light. The ASA’s dissection of metas also explains the scene in an earlier episode when Lady Eve was dissecting a live person. Being a mortician would have been a perfect cover for Lady Eve experimenting on the dead, or living in that one case.

We also now know why Gambi was playing both sides of the field; he was Alvin’s source and leaked the information to him and was therefore responsible for his murder. All of these year’s he’s been protecting Jefferson from the ASA so that they wouldn’t find him and kill him. Here I was beginning to think that he didn’t actually care about the people on either side, was solely on his own side and was just doing whatever it took to get research on meta-humans.

Elsewhere in the episode Jefferson was busy training Anissa and the two were hard at work trying to clear Black Lightning’s name for Lady Eve’s murder. During said work, they did two things that I thought were stupid and risky; not wearing disguises and not wearing gloves.

Even if he couldn’t be seen as Black Lightning since the police were after him, he still should have hidden his appearance somehow. Sure, the writers didn’t write for them to get caught or anything, but Jefferson and Anissa still need to act like sensible people even if the plot doesn’t call for them to be found out. They don’t know that they’re the protagonists in a TV show. If that one guy hadn’t been blown up by the gun used to kill Lady Eve, he would have seen Jefferson’s face.

Speaking of, my first thought when Jefferson called Henderson to alert him to the burial site of the assassins and the weapons, my first thought was that he couldn’t leave the area before Henderson got there in case someone else showed up to get rid of the evidence. And someone did! Thankfully Jefferson was smart enough to stay close by and watch and wait for Henderson’s arrival. Regardless of if Jefferson and Anissa were there, though, that guy would still have ended up accidentally blowing himself up. Had Anissa not be there…Jefferson would be dead. Am I the only one who was elated by how excited by and proud of Anissa Jefferson was for saving his life? His energy was infectious.

Unfortunately for Jefferson and Lynn, just when they accepted that Anissa has powers and wants to be a superhero, they now have Jennifer’s powers manifesting to deal with! Poor Lynn has to go through this three times! At least she accepts it exponentially faster with each successive one. When Keisha started climbing that scaffolding I knew immediately that Jennifer’s powers were going to manifest. I’m surprised that they did. I wasn’t expecting her to get her powers until the next season.

The return of Lala has been strange to say the least. The man is actively having conversations with a hallucination of Lawanda who seems to be a manifestation of the worst parts of himself. The Lawanda he sees is not the Lawanda we saw before he killed her. The shower scene between the two was incredibly weird, made even weirder by the fact that she called him “baby” and they kissed. I have no idea what’s going on with that story line, but we’ll see I guess.

Random thoughts:

  1. “Kung Fu Fighting” song.
  2. Anissa’s power is so inconvenient.
  3. They really should be using gloves for this.
  4. Okay, but. Even if Black Lightning never killed anyone, that’s still no reason why the coroner wouldn’t or shouldn’t know the wound pattern of being struck by lightning. Anissa and Gambi certainly did.
  5. Lala done lost his mind.
  6. This is clearly the white church.
  7. Gambi gave himself away! His choice of words was designed to make Lynn put two and two together!
  8. Drinking beer and eating carrots. So contradictory Jefferson!
  9. I laughed so hard when Anissa asked Jennifer if she was pregnant.

Black Lightning airs Tuesdays at 9 PM on The CW.

America’s Next Top Model C24E10 Recap

K.F. Cumberbatch
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0
America’s Next Top Model C24E10 Recap

At The House

Rio’s salty, hating ways are definitely starting to rub off on Jeana. She was mighty upset about Shanice celebrating her winning Best Photo, or maybe even just how she was celebrating. She accused Shanice of getting comfortable and cocky because she won Best Photo. Celebrating an achievement does not equate to getting comfortable and cocky. It was very telling when she went on to say that it was frustrating that someone who doesn’t have experience (read: is as experienced as her) got best photo. Girl please.

Sure, she was upset about being in the bottom two. That’s an experience that always scares the girl who ends up staying home and I get that. She also said that she thought that she wasn’t going anywhere in the competition and had plateaued. That’s also understandable. However, it’s ugly as hell that because she’s feeling down and like a failure, she’s hating on someone else’s success. Don’t be like Rio, Jeana.

I know that some fans don’t particularly like the new judges, but I have to say that I love Law. He went over to the model house to tell the contestants about their go-see challenge for the week – they’d be meeting with three designers who were each looking to cast one girl in their show – and to evaluate their runway walks in preparation for that. He also gave them tips on how to dress for the go-sees.

There have been runway challenges in previous episodes of this season and I really don’t know how it slipped past everyone that Shanice had, as Law put it, a “stank” walk. Because she totally did. She walked like she was trying to keep her legs apart as opposed to letting them cross. Plus, she was incredibly stiff. It was dreadful. Law’s impression of her walk was hilarious.

The girls also got to meet Jerrold Blackwell, the New Faces Agent, from Next Management and he gave them their portfolios for the go-sees. Law split them up into two groups of three; Kyla, Rio and Erin (Group 1) and Khrystyana, Jeana and Shanice (Group 2) and sent them on their way.

The Go-Sees

The first designer that Group 2 met with was Chris Mena of Kunst.NYC. The group overall looked to have done well enough and Shanice’s walk looked a little bit better. She even had a bit of moment with Chris due to the fact that they’d both lost close family members.

Group 1’s first designer was Barbara Starsmore of Band of Gypsies. Just given the look of the clothing I thought that Kyla would be the perfect fit. The designers like Rio, but her look is too hard and edgy for that kind of clothing to me. Erin perhaps was doing too much and coming on too strong with the energy in the go-see, the designers didn’t seem to like it at all.

The next go-sees were inverted, with Group 2 going to Band of Gypsies and Group 1 going to Kunst.NYC. Kunst.NYC was definitely a fit with Rio’s look and Erin and Kyla’s as well, but I think it looked best on Rio. Khrystyana and Jeana looked beautiful in Band of Gypsies and I think they really suited the brand. Shanice, not so much, but I think it was down to the dress they gave her; I didn’t like it.

The very last go-see was with Maggie Barry, who had the boldest, most unique clothing of all of the designers. All of the girls looked amazing in what they were given. Shanice was a bit too extra, though. One thing I will give Jeana credit for, is that she does have the best walk of all of the girls in the house. She really rocked the clothing.

Rio booked Kunst.NYC, which wasn’t a surprise, and Maggie Barry, which was; Jeana was so good in that go-see that I thought that she had it in the bag. Kyla – also no surprise – booked Band of Gypsies. Along with booking the fashion shows, they got to keep a look from each designer. I was really happy for Kyla having booked something since she wanted to prove herself after being in the bottom two and she did just that.

At The House 2

Okay, maybe there was something to Jeana’s saying that Shanice had gotten cocky, because that girl just did not want to listen when it came to her walk. It was terrible. It really was and she didn’t seem to think that it was or needed any kind of fixing. Do not pull a Camille, Shanice. I actually didn’t think that Jeana was being mean or malicious when she showed her how she walked and told her how to improve it. Shanice was letting her dislike of Jeana get in the way of receiving constructive criticism.

The Photoshoot

This week’s photoshoot was for the cover of Paper Magazine, which the winner of America’s Next Top Model would have published digitally. For the cover Drew created special transformations for each contestant. Kyla would be the “Cyber-Sexy-Beauty”, Khrystyana went “dark, slick and androgynous”, for Jeana he accentuated her “bald beauty”, Erin’s look was “90’s Hip-Hop Music Video”, Rio was a “50’s Dreamgirl” and Shanice was “red carpet ready”, complete with a wig, which she was super excited for since she didn’t get a trademark look.

Erin was so into the shoot and I loved her energy…but it looked like she did too much and went too far, just like she did in the go-see. When she was sitting on the stool, posing and giving face, she looked good. But Drew and the photographer didn’t seem to be there at all for her antics.  Rio looked elegant, poised and actually pretty darn cute with that wig. She did quite well.

Shanice really disappointed me with the attitude on set. I don’t think that she even realised how rude she was being. She approached it like the shoot was all about her and how she wanted to look when that was not even the case. She came off like such a diva. All of that being said, it really didn’t look good and Drew agreed. The second look was much better, but she was still complaining. Thankfully for her she performed beautifully on set.

Khrystyana looked gorgeous and like a supermodel in her look, especially with the hair and makeup and I liked what she was doing. Jeana had an amazing look, but she didn’t change her face much to me. Even so, she looked fierce. Kyla struggled so much on set that I had my doubts that she would get a good photo. Drew looked so bored with her and uninspired.

Judging

Jeana’s photo was fine. It didn’t “wow” me as much as the look itself did. I wasn’t drawn to it and I didn’t get much from it. Erin really got into character. I loved her face and her energy came through. It was a good photo, but she didn’t look like a model to me. Kyla’s photo was pretty weak, as expected. She looked like a snob and not like she couldn’t care less, as Drew instructed. I didn’t hate the photo, though.

Click for full size image.

Khrystyana’s photo was divine! I loved it the second it appeared on screen. She was exuding power, strength and a bit of arrogance and looked so much like Shalom Harlow. The face and the pose were on point. I didn’t like the photo that the judges chose for Rio; it wasn’t very flattering to her features for me. It had personality yes, but I liked the other things she was doing on set when she was being kind of delicate and soft. I loved Shanice’s cover. She looked sexy, cool and confident.

Calling Order and Elimination

Lies and propaganda! Rio did not have the best photo. That belonged to Khrystyana hands down, no question. #KhrystyanaWasRobbed! Just based on the photo I would not have called Jeana third. Shanice, in my opinion, should have been right behind Khrystyana, but her attitude on set is landed her at the bottom of the pack. I knew that it would have pushed her down further, but not in the bottom two. I thought that that would have been Erin and Kyla. But because Shanice was in the bottom two, I knew that it would be Erin going home.

Random thoughts:

  1. I thought that Erin had five kids?
  2. Jeana thinks that Shanice is cocky and Shanice thinks the same of her. Funny.
  3. That was clearly Shanice in the clip from the runway show in the “Coming Up” segment. Spoilers!
  4. Oh, it was Rio and not Shanice. It had looked like Shanice’s stank walk.
  5. Kyla looks really good as a platinum blonde.
  6. Tyra’s boobs look really big in that dress.
  7. Law is psychic.

America’s Next Top Model airs Tuesdays at 8 PM on VH1.

Scandal S07E13 Recap

K.F. Cumberbatch
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0
Scandal S07E13 Recap

I know I said this about the last episode, but it’s true of this one as well; this was one of the best episodes of the season so far. It was most definitely one of the most tense. I was at the edge of my seat, leaning in toward the screen with my hands squeezed tightly for pretty much the entire episode and man was it such a thrill. I really enjoyed this episode.

From the moment that the plane was hijacked I thought that it was Jake and Mellie who had done it. Just because they seemed kind of shady and like they were lying to Cyrus when they rearranged his schedule so that he was no longer giving the speech. I didn’t think that it was along the lines of what Cyrus suggested, that they were trying to push him out to position Jake to succeed Mellie, I thought that they arranged it to give him the “turn” that he said he was being denied.

It was too perfect that just when Cyrus was complaining about being pushed aside that this opportunity for him to prove himself as an effective, cool-under-pressure, leader just happened to fall into his lap right after. With Mellie and Jake having been the ones who were responsible for Cyrus being there, I was sure it had to have been them who arranged it…until they realised that the hijacking was an attack. Jake and Mellie, I think, wouldn’t have gone that far.

I did begin to consider Cyrus’ assertion that it was Jake trying to get rid of him when Jake ordered the fighter jets be put in place to shoot down the plane, though. Even though I was pretty sure that Jake wasn’t behind it for the reasons that Cyrus thought that he would be. Then Mellie started to doubt Jake and think that he was behind it – although to be fair, I can’t really blame her – and it was like the guy just couldn’t catch a break in this episode. But like Jake said, he has always served at the pleasure of the President (or Olivia) and if one thing is true about him, it’s that he’s a loyal servant to whomever he’s in service of. I don’t think he would have gone off and done such on his own.

The reporter with the cellphone was kind of annoying. I understood that that was her job and that the hijacking was a huge story and as someone on the inside, experiencing it first hand, she had a unique perspective as well as a juicy scoop. Still, it was irritating that the first thing she did in the crisis was pull out her phone to record Cyrus. I started to suspect her a little when she snuck into (what I assume to be) the communications room and said that she still had her phone after everyone else had theirs confiscated. She quickly dispelled that by saying that people had a right to know what was going on in the plane.

When she did the live stream from the plane my first question was: “Is the person sitting next to her not seeing this phone that’s right in front of their face?” My second was how the news station even got the live stream and then I wonder why the hacker was allowing the livestream to continue in the first place when they’d cut off all communications to the plane? No one found it weird that they couldn’t communicate with the plane, but yet still they could get a live stream from it?

It all made sense in the end though because, as it turned out, Cyrus himself was behind the attack! The episode doesn’t go into specific details like if he arranged for himself to be rescheduled so that he could be on the plane and set the hijacking in motion or if he came up with and set the plan in motion after Mellie kicked him off of doing the speech and gave it to Jake. I’d think it’s the latter more so than anything, but it really doesn’t matter when he plotted this. It also explains why the reporter was a little shady and why he nodded at her toward the end. So she was in on it!

I was right about the motive behind the attack, but I was wrong about the perpetrator. I even considered Mama Pope when she told Olivia that it was embarrassing that she was crying over and worrying about the same people who kicked her out of the White House. She was trying to get back at them because of what they did to her daughter perhaps? But Olivia never accused her of being the culprit so I thought that it was unlikely.

Speaking of Olivia and her mother, I found it so weird that she was all smiling, laughing, happy and bubbly going over to where she was holding her prisoner to celebrate her birthday. I thought that she had an ulterior motive same as her mother did. She and Mama Pope didn’t have a great relationship at all and Olivia never liked her much since she came back into her life. However, Olivia was genuinely trying to have a loving mother-daughter moment of celebration with her. She ignored a phone call and everything! Which was just so weird! But Olivia is on a journey toward being a better person than she was as of late, so.

Another relationship that was in the spotlight in the episode was Abby and David’s. I was so confused as to why she seemed so freaked out by the idea of him proposing to her. I completely forgot that she had been married before and had been in an abusive relationship with her previous husband. Thanks to Huck for the reminder! She may not like fluffy and warm Huck and Charlie, but I love fluffy and warm Huck and Charlie. They were hilarious.

I appreciated that the episode subverted the trope of a woman who doesn’t want to get married suddenly wanting to, because a life or death event made her realise how much she loves her boyfriend and that she does in fact want to marry him. I loved that David came to realise that he did know Abby really well and said that since he does, the only way he would propose to her is if he wanted to lose her. It was so sweet that I literally cried.

Random thoughts:

  1. NO ABBY! Don’t look into what David is doing! If he’s proposing it won’t be a surprise and if he’s not you’re only going to be disappointed.
  2. Cyrus so salty that he thinks Air Force Two is a dumb. Cyrus please!
  3. You can hack a plane?
  4. Except Mama Pope deserves to be in prison.
  5. I could not tell if Mama Pope was happy to be out of her prison or sad that she was being separated from Olivia…or both…
  6. Holy shiznit! Cyrus did it! That thought never crossed my mind. I thought we were past this with Cyrus.

Scandal airs Thursdays at 9 PM on ABC.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story S02E07 Recap

K.F. Cumberbatch
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0
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story S02E07 Recap

I actually didn’t hate Andrew in this episode. I didn’t like him or empathise or sympathise with him, but I didn’t despise him as much as I usually do while watching this show. He was far less insufferable than he usually is. I don’t know if that’s because I’ve gotten used to his particular brand of unlikeable or if he actually was a less despicable person in this episode. I kind of feel like it was the latter, mostly because he wasn’t as much of a pathological liar in this episode and we really got to see how he started heading down the path that led him where he ended up at the beginning of the series.

It was a little satisfying to see him as a “lowly” supermarket employee, considering how lofty his ideas of and goals for himself were and how much better than everyone he thought that he was. He looked so utterly bored and utterly unhappy. In the last episode we learned that he’d dropped out of university, so I found it interesting that he lied to the customer about finishing is PhD. Unless he hadn’t quit school at that point as yet? In any case, here we saw that he had someone else in his life – his manager – encouraging him to get his life together and work hard. But of course, Andrew wasn’t about any of that.

The frustrating thing about Andrew is that he was very intelligent, or at least very knowledgeable. As we saw when he recited the facts about Häagen-Dazs and the play he’d gone to. Not only that, he was charming to a fault and worked pretty hard to get what he wanted, he just put that energy into achieving it the faster, easier way.

He naturally had everything he need to succeed, he had every potential to be what he wanted to be, but as was established in the last episode, he was just lazy. If he’d just put that much effort where he should have, he’d have been everything he wanted to be and maybe, just maybe, never would have become a serial killer. Instead, Andrew decided to become an escort and live off of rich, older, gay, men.

Since we’d seen Andrew in a relationship with Norman, I was surprised that it was Lincoln he’d ended up with and was curious to see how he’d go from one man to the other. Lo and behold, it was actually quite grisly. When I saw Lincoln approach the man in the bar, for a second I thought that Andrew had hired him to kill Lincoln since he’d been spurned. He does react violently to being rejected. Instead, it seems like Lincoln’s murderer was just a man who was so deeply closeted, that he reacted violently to even the most minor of interactions with an openly gay man.

Not only did we get to see Andrew’s journey to Norman, we got to see how he met David. And it was far more random than I would have expected. David seemed like someone that Andrew would have targeted, which I guess he sort of did – he saw him at the bar alone, bought him a drink and invited him over – but targeted in the way that he did Norman. And I must say that their first meeting was rather sweet, but gosh does it make David’s demise so much sadder.

David seemed so happy and comfortable with Andrew and the way that Andrew looked at him made me think that perhaps his feelings for him were genuine. Which I didn’t really think before. In my mind he loved what David represented and could give him and not David himself. But the two seemed pretty taken with each other. Andrew was lying to him at the time, though, and continued to throughout their friendship. I can see now why Andrew was so smitten with him and wanted him so badly. But then he stole David’s story in order to lure Norman to him and just ruined it.

Andrew’s mother didn’t act as imbalanced as she had in the last episode and I expected more of that from her since she featured heavily in this one and I thought that maybe she wouldn’t go there. Then she freaked the hell out when Andrew was leaving. Did she really think she’d go with him in a literal sense? Even if Andrew had meant it, which I doubt that he did, it would have been figurative. She didn’t know that he was lying, but considering she thought that he was telling the truth about travelling for work, he certainly couldn’t take her with him. That she thought that he would and could was just…disturbing, especially given her reaction to not going.

I love the scenes between Donatella and Versace! The immense love they have for each other as siblings and the close bond that they share always comes through. It’s palpable and heartbreaking and it’s all thanks to the sublime performances by Penelope Cruz and Édgar Ramírez. Honestly I don’t know why the Versace estate was so against this series. It portrays both siblings with such reverence and respect and paints them in a positive light.

Even when the two siblings were fighting and disagreeing you could feel how much they loved each other and understood perfectly where they were coming from. It was obvious that Versace was being so harsh with Donatella because he wanted her to rely on her own talent and blossom into a designer and was grooming her to take over when he died. We didn’t even need the scene that followed that expressed precisely that. It was well conveyed by Cruz and Ramírez.

I was so scared when Versace let go of Donatella’s hand and left her to take the spotlight for herself. I could feel the tension and it wasn’t even a moment that was particularly drawn out, the way some creators do when they want to create tension. The emotional stakes were there already thanks to not just the scene that immediately preceded it, but the opening scenes as well. This was Versace’s moment to position his sister to replace him as the head and face of his company. So much was riding on it and it went very, very well.

I was so not ready for Versace to lose his hearing, even though it had been hinted it in the scene as it progressed. I was really curious as to why he kept telling the woman to speak up. I assumed he was just annoyed and taking it out on her. That was such a tragic moment and it hurt to see him so scared, Donatella as well, especially in the context of their story for this episode. For much of the episode she was as unprepared to lose her brother as she was to take over, but thanks to his fading health, by the end, I think she came into her own as leader of the company. She had no choice.

Random thoughts:

  1. Oh look, she hated Antonio so much and he stuck up for her.
  2. Look at Andrew, pretending even with strangers. Unnecessarily.
  3. Even something as minor as ice-cream he needs to have “the best.”
  4. That is a DRESS!
  5. Norman!
  6. Norman’s friend had Andrew pegged from the beginning.
  7. David!
  8. Well that dude was clearly very afraid of his own sexuality.
  9. Andrew showed real emotion and it was remorse! Of all things!

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story airs Wednesdays at 10 PM on FX.

Black Lightning S01E07 Recap

K.F. Cumberbatch
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0
Black Lightning S01E07 Recap

Continuing on from last week’s episode, in which Anissa and Jefferson learned about each  other’s superhero alter egos, the episode went just as I had expected. When it came to another story line in this episode, the one involving Lady Eve, that one didn’t turn out as expected. Or, rather, I didn’t see where it was going until right up to the last second. Mostly because of preconceived notions I had.

Lynn and Jefferson took the news about Anissa’s superheroing about as well as anyone would think, which was badly, and of course with Anissa being Anissa, she was not there for their disapproval at all. Anissa was, in my opinion, a bit too snappy with Lynn at the beginning of the episode when she was voicing her concerns for why she didn’t want her be a superhero. Plus a little misguided in telling Lynn that she didn’t know what she was going through. Clearly Lynn knew of Jefferson’s powers and his identity as Black Lightning. Didn’t it occur to her that her mother would have been on that journey with him and witness his struggles first hand?

Poor Lynn, just as she came to accept Jefferson as Black Lightning after nearly a decade of hating it, she now had to deal with Anissa doing the same thing that he was. The person in question being her child this time, I could completely understand why she was so against it. I was happy when she sat down with Anissa and told her exactly why she didn’t want her to do it instead of just telling her “no” like she had earlier in the episode. Anissa though, still wasn’t having it; she had superpowers and she intended to use them for the good of the people of Freeland. Like she told Lynn, her parents did raise her that way after all.

It didn’t much help Anissa’s case, however, that she made some dumb decisions since she got said powers. Like destroying the statue at the school and, the main concern of this episode, giving Lynn Alvin’s box of research. In this episode Lynn and Jefferson theorise that it was because Anissa gave Lynn the research that got Alvin killed that that was why Lynn’s lab was broken into. But in the last episode there was zero indication that that was the case.

In fact, the show made a point to make it look awfully suspicious that Lynn’s research assistant was on the phone with someone when he saw her comparing Jefferson’s brain scans to those of someone on green light. There was nothing during or after the scene in which Anissa gave Lynn the box that suggested Lynn would be in danger because she had it. It felt like such a disconnect anytime someone brought it up and I’m hoping it’s just a case of the character’s thinking that that was the reason and that it truly isn’t. The show didn’t play it that way though.

Gambi, ever the suspicious, shady character, provided his own explanation as to why Lynn was attacked and I didn’t buy his either and he offered up his explanation before Lynn and Jefferson considered Alvin’s box. It was too easy for him to have found that answer and it was too random a motive; why would the show go off on an unnecessary tangent like that? I didn’t trust him any more when it was revealed that he had enlisted the help of Lady Eve to make the two men who attacked Lynn disappear. Clearly he knew who they were and why they were there. Why else would he personally see to them being eliminated and go to Lady Eve for it no less? Isn’t he supposed to be out of whatever business it is that they used to do together?

Speaking of, it really doesn’t look like he’s out of whatever business they did together. Not only did he get her to kill Lynn’s attackers, he advised and urged her to get Tobias under control. He was far more actively involved in making sure that the man’s presence was kept under wraps than I thought he was. He even went out and killed Joey Toledo to send Tobias a message himself. At the behest of Lady Eve! What the hell is Gambi doing? At this point it’s like he’s playing for both teams; working to uphold the criminal underworld while at the same time working to dismantle it. The show is taking too long to contextualise his actions. Gambi is unattractively confusing as a character.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Gambi was the one who killed Mr. Poe.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Gambi had something to do with the same experiments and misisng children that Alvin’s research was about either. Clearly Lady Eve and the people he “used to” work with had something to do with it. The second that Mr. Poe’s name came up, it was predictable that once Anissa went to see him, we’d find out that he was dead. This episode pushed the box of research as the reason for Lynn’s attack far too hard for that not to be the case and his death only seemed like a way for the show to confirm that it was. He was killed around the same time that Lynn was attacked after all.

I thought that discovering that Mr. Poe was dead would make Anissa reconsider being a superhero. That for a moment she’d have second thoughts since her actions were the direct cause of his having been murdered. But nothing like that came up. In fact, the next time we saw Anissa she was perfectly normal. Happy even, because Lynn had come to accept her being a superhero and told her as much. Thankfully, Lynn’s acceptance came packaged with a whole new super-suit for Anissa – which she asked Gambi to make – and after this episode we won’t ever have to see her first one ever again. A gold strip of paint on her eyes does not work to hide her identity at all.

Jefferson came around as well, but only because he got Tori killed (didn’t see that coming) and that caused him to get into a bit of self reflection. Something that should have happened with Anissa in this episode when the exact same thing happened with her. But I digress. Now both Lynn and Jefferson are on board and he will train Anissa in the ways of crime fighting.

Another death I didn’t see coming was Lady Eve’s. I really thought that she was going to get out of her funeral home alive. She seemed like such a big character, with such presence, reach and power – more so than Tobias’ – that I assumed that she would stick around and be the ultimate big bad once Tobias had been dealt with. That isn’t going to be the case apparently. Tobias is quite impatient, reckless and a little restless to boot, so at this point I think that he will have a hand in his own demise.

I’m really curious as to where Lady Eve’s assassins got their guns from. We haven’t seen anything like them in the show yet, not that I recall, and the only one we know of so far who is capable of making anything like them is Gambi. I don’t think – I at least hope – that he had nothing to do with their creation. Despite the beams they emitted looking like Black Lightning’s lightning bolts, it didn’t occur to me that he would be framed for Lady Eve’s murder until Henderson called him. Given the fact that Black Lightning has never killed anyone before, I’d think that the police would be more skeptical about his being the culprit. Not that they would have any other explanation, but that they wouldn’t be so quick to assume. It also looks like Lady Eve’s criminal activities weren’t known to them.

I have no words for the final scene in this episode with Lala and LaWanda. I am positively baffled by what is going on there and will just wait until it’s all explained later. I won’t even try to guess. Honestly that scene made me give up on trying to figure out this show, what it is, where it’s going and what it’s trying to be because it was so random and different from anything we’d seen so far. Maybe it will make sense when everything is revealed.

Random thoughts:

  1. It’s not unreasonable that The 100 would come after Jefferson as Jefferson and not Black Lightning.
  2. Slow your roll Anissa. Let Jefferson get on board with your being a superhero before you go making plans.
  3. Man they are really positioning this box as the reason for Lynn’s attack.
  4. Lol Jennifer is too sharp for their lies.
  5. Toledo’s henchman looks like Hurt Bae’s ex.
  6. I hate how Tobias consistently disparages Black people.
  7. Lady Eve doesn’t realise that she’s just spurring Tobias on.

Black Lightning airs Tuesdays at 9PM on The CW.

America’s Next Top Model C24E09 Recap

K.F. Cumberbatch
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0
America’s Next Top Model C24E09 Recap

The Challenge

In this week’s challenge the contestants worked with Movement Coach Jermaine Browne. Before getting into the teach for the day, Jermaine had the ladies show him how they moved so that he knew what he was working with. From what we saw, for the most part, the girls looked pretty good. Shanice though, did steal the show with her clap which, despite her being criticised for it, was the absolute best! The others don’t know a good thing when they see it. This girl keeps giving me reason to love her.

After the girls learned their choreography for the challenge, they had to perform it in Philipp Plein sportswear while having their photos taken and posing with and being lifted by Jermaine. The winner of the challenge got to keep the look they modeled and a spa day with a friend. The ladies had not that much to do and the routine was surprisingly short.

Shanice wasn’t very refined with her movements, but she killed it in my opinion. Jeana looked a little clumsy, which was unexpected. I did like the little foot switch she did at the end, though, and she kept her face fierce. Brendi K. was so awkward and I knew that she was going to be. Although she wasn’t that bad when Jermaine asked them to show him how they move.

I was so shocked that Khrystyana screwed up! But she recovered well and kept it cute. Rio was robotic, just went through the motions and her face was so bland and unenthusiastic. Erin was also pretty lackluster, but she really pulled it together in the end with the pose. I was so afraid for Kyla and she was as bad as I thought that she would be; she was so ungainly it was cringe-worthy. The pose at the end from the waist up though, kind-of-sort-of worked.

I sympathized with Brendi K. feeling upset about how she performed at the challenge. Her mood was about more than just that one challenge on that one day; she’s been struggling for a while and the pressure of the competition seemed to be getting to her at that point.

I honestly had Shanice to win the challenge with her, Jeana and Erin being the other standouts. I felt like Shanice deserved it, but that may just be my growing dislike of Jeana talking to be honest.

At The House

Rio and Jeana returned from their spa day…and no one cared. Or wanted to speak to them for that matter. Except for Khrystyana – that we saw – who is just the sweetest thing and I feel like it’s impossible for her to not be nice to someone. Brendi K. was probably a little too quick to diss the two of them, but she did look to be in a better mood since the challenge (which was good) and I found it interesting that Jeana remembered what she said slightly differently but in a significant enough way that it made what Brendi K. said far ruder. That’s probably a reflection of how offended she was by it.

There’s definitely a divide in the house between Rio and Jeana and the other contestants. Quite frankly I side with the latter. Gosh darn this reality TV editing and how it skews context and reality to make people look worse than they really are/were, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it’s been successful in making me not like or trust Rio and Jeana anymore. Well, Jeana. Rio I was largely indifferent about before.

Brendi K.’s good mood didn’t last very long. It broke my heart when she started crying. The second she opened her mouth and said that she wanted to go home I was 110% against it. I didn’t want her to go home at all; not like that, not because she was giving up. If she need to for her well-being, then absolutely. But although it seemed like she reached her breaking point, I didn’t want her to let the competition defeat her. That was what it felt like she was doing.

It was such a beautiful moment when Kyla, Erin, Shanice and Khrystyana all ran in and hugged her and comforted her. Given what Brendi K. said of her background, I don’t think that she’d ever experienced love like that and even if she did decide to leave the competition, I was happy that she got to know what that felt like before she did.

The Photoshoot

For this week’s photoshoot the contestants had an unusual partner…a parachute. Which they were supposed to work in unison with.

They also had to contend with high winds and a random sandstorm which Jeana alleged to have caused a flying tent to hit her in the back of the head with a metal pole. I’m with Shanice; that tent did not hit Jeana at all. At least not from what we saw in the footage. Maybe she stood next to another tent that flew over? Who knows. But that tent that we saw in the footage did not hit her.

I loved that despite how down she was feeling Brendi K. still gave her best on set and her best was very good. Drew loved what she was doing even. Kyla also did very well and the styling was stunning; her legs looked endless. Khrystyana returned to form and turned it out on set; she looked amazing. Erin seemed to have gone back to her 1980’s modelling a little bit; she looked fine. What we were shown of her didn’t impress me as much as what the other contestants did.

Rio also wasn’t very awe-inspiring, but I had no doubt that her photo would be beautiful. Shanice was awesome! She really continues to grow every week and it’s such a treat watching that happen. Drew and I did not agree on Jeana’s performance. I loved how she was posing and how she moved her body.

Judging

I wasn’t very fond of Shanice’s photo. Given what we saw her doing on set I feel like that couldn’t have truly been the very best. The more I looked at it, though, the more that I liked it. She was graceful and elegant. I loved Kyla’s photo; she looked almost showgirl-meets-model. There was an energy to her photo and that dress made her legs look really good. Erin’s photo, on the other hand, wasn’t good. Somehow she slid backward a whole lot and the pose was super, duper, dated. I didn’t like it at all.

I didn’t like Rio’s photo either. There was nothing “fashion” or “model” about it. She looked like a toddler playing and jumping around. Khrystyana’s shot was basically perfect; there was movement, energy and she looked beautiful, like a model and fierce. I really liked Jeana’s pose, especially the curves she made with the lines of her body, even though she looked more like a dancer than a model. Her face wasn’t all there, to me, though.

Before judging could conclude, Brendi K. unfortunately chose to leave the competiton. I really wanted Brendi K. to stay, but even after a good day she was still feeling very down and depressed. She truly was at a point where regardless of what happened, nothing was making her feel better or happy and as much as I hated to see her go, I was glad that she did what was best with her.

Call Order and The Elimination

I knew that Shanice and Khrystyana would be one and two, just not who would be one and who would be two. I expected Rio to be called third and Erin fourth, not the other way around. It was pretty obvious that Jeana and Kyla would be in the bottom two.

Lo and behold, despite Tyra’s assertion that Brendi K.’s voluntary departure would not mean that there would be no elimination, there really wasn’t one. Both Jeana and Kyla were chosen to stay in the competition. If I’m being honest, I wanted Jeana to go home.

Random thoughts:

  1. Hater Rio still hating; praising and insulting Kyla at the same time.
  2. Again, reality TV editing, but who the hell would trust Rio? That just makes me look at Jeana funny.
  3. Clearly Shanice has a different idea of who is deserving of joining in on challenge wins. I feel like this is the second time she said that she would have chosen the runner up? Or was that someone else?
  4. Good gosh Jeana. Have some sympathy!
  5. I don’t feel bad for Jeana and her tears strictly because she was so dismissive of Brendi K. (Yes I’m being that petty).
  6. No! But Brendi K. did so well at the shoot! She’s down again. Maybe she really does need to go home.
  7. I hope Brendi K. and Shanice stayed friends.

America’s Next Top Model airs Tuesdays at 8 PM on VH1.

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