In Plain Fright, A Psych Review

Wow, off-topic already. That must be a record.

In Plain Fright is the eleventh episode of the fifth season of the USA mystery comedy Psych. And, for the first time since Shawn 2.0, is actually pretty damn good.

While One, Maybe Two, Ways Out and Extradition II: The Actual Extradition Part were able to keep me interested due mainly to the anticipation of Shawn and Jules actually getting together (and a very enjoyable guest appearance by the Dread Pirate Roberts himself), the mysteries themselves were kind of stale and the humor just wasn't there. With the newest episode (which aired this past Wednesday), however, the show is back to what it does best, and that's funny movie references and a mystery that, while easy to figure out ahead of time, is still fun to watch unravel.

With that said, this episode is not as good as the show has been in the past. This entire season has been something of a let down. After last year's string of great episodes, most of the offerings this year haven't lived up to the show's potential. There have only been two really great episodes this season (Viagra Falls and the aforementioned Shawn 2.0), but In Plain Fright is something of a return to the norm, not great, but not crappy.

I could do a recap of the plot like most reviews do, but I think that would be something of a bore, for me and for anyone reading this. I will point out a couple of my favorite moments, however.

It was really funny when, at the beginning of the episode, Shawn and Gus are in the haunted house Gus repeatedly puts his head down and closes his eyes. Not only is it staying in character for Gus, but it's something I can relate to. When I was a kid and went through those ride-through haunted houses at amusment parks, I always did the same. And speaking of Gus, the conversation after Shawn reveals to Gus that he's dating Jules while being chased by two murderers was a highlight of the episode, as was the conversation between the three proceeding it back at Psych.

The whole thing with the carnival dude guessing Juliet's weight was funny too.

Hopefully, this episode is a sign that Psych is picking back up for an enjoyable conclusion to the season. The third (and supposedly final) Mr. Yin series episode is this year's season finale, and if at least that is good, I'll have no reason to complain. And there's a Christmas special coming soon as well. I'm eager to see how that'll turn out.

RATING: *** [Average]

Brienne, Chapter 1

Meh, this chapter was better than the previous ones, but not great.

It reminded me a lot of watching an episode of the Death Note anime or one of the two clip shows from Legend of the Seeker. There was new material, and it was good, but it was mostly old stuff repeated to remind you what happened last time, I suppose it would've been helpful if I was reading this five years after finishing A Storm of Swords, or even five months after, but about five days just makes it tedious,

Ser Piggy is next.

Expect most future posts to be around this size. There may not be a post for Sam's first chapter.

Cersei, Chapter 1

The only thing I have to say about this chapter is this: what the hell is a valonqar? And what was Cersei talking (thinking) about, woman in the tent?* I'm sure I'll find out, but who knows how many pages it will be to another (probably just as boring) Cersei chapter?

So far, A Feast For Crows does not impress me nearly as much as A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, and A Storm of Swords did.

Are there any Bran chapters in this book?* Brienne is next. She was dull as a secondary character in the last two books, will she be just as dull as a POV character?

*These questions are rhetorical. Please do not answer them and spoil the surprise.

The Captain of Guards, Chapter 1

So farm it seems that every chapter in A Feast For Crows is a prologue.

Once again, many new characters were introduced, and we got to see Dorne for the first time. We learned that he Viper of Dorne has eight daughters, called the Sand Snakes, and that they each have different ideas in which to avenge their fallen father, who was killed at the hands of Ser Gregor Clegane, the Mountain That Rides, in the last book acting as champion of the defendant in Tyrion Lannister's trial.

Other than that, this was a boring chapter. I personally hope that the youngest of the Sand Snakes introduced, Tyene, gets her way and Myrcella is crowned Queen. It would be interesting to see Cersei fret over which of her children she valued more. She'd probably just kidnap Myrcella and have her marry her brother to insure she keeps the throne.

Cersei's next, so I might actually know some of the characters in the next chapter. King's Landing, here I come.

The Prophet, Chapter 1

And so, the War of the Five Kings becomes the War of Five Kings, Three Queens, and A Crapload of Pagan Sailors!*

The Prophet turned out to be the late King Balon's (I did have his name right in the last post) brother, Aeron Greyjoy, called the Damphair. He's the one who almost drowned during Robert's Rebellion (or was it Balon's Rebellion, or are they the same thing?) and then became a priest. The Ironborn worship the Sea God, who's locked in an everlasting battle with the Storm Lord, his greatest enemy (note to all Greyjoys: don't fuck with Dany "Stormborn" Targareyan).

This chapter was pretty boring. I never really liked Theon, Balon, or Asha, and I don't like ol' Damphair here, either. Then again, I didn't like the Onion Lord at first either, so by the end of the book, the fish priest might be my new favorite character. Hey, someone's got to fill in for Tyrion!

I'm calling right now that this Kingsmoot (which I assume is some kind of election in which candidates drown their opponents instead of claiming they're African Muslim Terrorists From Mars Who Want Children To Think Being An Indian ("HEY, AREN'T THEM INDIANS ALL MUSLIMS!") And Killing American Generals Is Fun) is going to end with the dude who struggled while he was being drowned being crowned King of the Isles and the North (by the way, he seems to be the most sane character in this chapter; most characters in the series tend to do some stupid shit *coughSansacough* so it's nice to see a character who actually tries to, um, not be executed *coughNedcough*). I'm calling Asha for victor over the entire throne though,

Hopefully the next chapter, which is from the POV of someone called Captain of the Guards, will be better. Maybe he'll also be a minor character from two books ago!

I use way too many parentheses.

*5 Kings: Tommen, Stannis, Euron, Victarion, and Bran/Jon (hey, one of them are Robb's heir)

3 Queens: Cersei (Queen Dowager/Regent), Dany, and Asha. Might as well thrown in Zombie Cat and call it four.

Prologue

First, and this should go without saying (and will henceforth), spoilers for all four A Song of Ice and Fire books, as well as the television series A Game of Thrones, will be everywhere from here on in.

Second, I've decided that I will not write one of these blog post for every chapter in the book. Just the ones I actually have something to say about. This will make it seem like less of a chore or job, and make it more enjoyable (for me, at least).

Now, on to the actual reflection part of the post.

The prologues of these books have become somewhat predictable by now. They tend to set up a major threat or plot point in the book via killing off a one-time POV* character. But, even predictable, it's still damn good storytelling. Martin is a terrific writer, and even though no less than a half-dozen new characters were introduced in this chapter (most of which I'm sure will never be seen again), I never got any of them confused with one another, and within a few pages knew their personalities and a couple of backstories. Though bit players, they're all fully developed.

The main point of this introduction was probably to tell us that news of Dany's dragons has started to spread to Westeros. I'm sure that this will be built on more throughout the story, and it'll be interesting to watch Cersei sweat with news of the last Targareyan seemingly growing stronger.

Speaking of Cersei, I wonder what her next step will be. With both Joffrey and Tywin dead, and Tyrion on the run, she'll be in full control of King's Landing via Tommen. This would be a great time for Stannis to strike, but I doubt he'll do so, as it seems he'll be pretty busy up at the wall with Lord Commander Snow for a while. This would also, by the way, be the best time for the Greyjoys to decide on a replacement for Theon's father (his name escapes me at the moment, but I think it was Balon).

It will also be interesting to see what will happen with that Alchemist.

Oh, and how stupid is Pate? I mean, wanting to get laid is one thing, but is stealing from the Citadel so he could afford a whore really the best solution? He was too stupid not to be killed. Maybe if he hadn't demanded to see The Alchemist's face he would've let him live. (Nah, prolly not)

Also, I've heard that two of my favorite characters, Tyrion Lannister and Dany Targareyan, aren't in this book at all, and that the third, Jon Snow, only gets a few POV chapters. That's a bummer, but Martin's books are anything but disappointments, so I'm sure he'll introduce new characters just as interesting.

This post has become much too long now, so I'll end here. Thanks for reading.

*Point of view

Let's Read A Feast For Crows, by George R. R. Martin

There's a blog, called A Blog of Ice and Fire, which details a reader's thoughts and reflections on A Game of Thrones and some of A Clash of Kings on Blogger. It inspired me to do the same thing, only with A Feast For Crows instead. Having finished A Storm of Swords a few days ago, I bought A Feast For Crows yesterday while waiting at a book signing for a different author (Darren Shan, if any one's interested). It's the first time I'm reading this book, and, if I enjoy doing this, I might do it again when A Dance of Dragons is released. Be warned, however, that there's a decent chance that I'll grow bored and just stop writing. I might disable comments to avoid spoilers in the future. For now, I'll leave them on, but, if any one posts any spoilers, even slight ones that seem like nothing in the grand scheme of things, you'll ruin it for everyone and I'll disable comments until after I finish reading the book.

Because this post is only meant to introduce the purpose of this blog, I'll be posting my real first entry, about the prologue of the book, very shortly.