Gen V: The Kids Are Not All Right

 "I saw my first vagina here."

"Ok. Thanks for that."

"You're welcome."

Wow. This episode took several unexpected turns. Yet it has us asking so many questions about Cipher. What does he want? Why does Marie's potential mean so much to him? Is Jordan right that he's in so much pain? What's going on with his dad, and all the hardcore carer stuff he does? He's sleeping with Sage, but what are he and his genius lover planning? He certainly doesn't seem to have Homelander's welfare in mind.

It's likely he manipulates everything for Marie, Jordan and Emma, sending Cate to Elmira as scapegoat as a blatant trap for the three of them, who are obviously going to spring them. It feels inevitable that they're all going to end up in that hellhole, and so it comes to pass. But there are so many nuances here. There's the shock of how Cate is treated when she arrived, her wig and fake forearm being removed. There's her genuine surprise and appreciation at what the others did for.

But... what Cipher pulls with Annabeth to manipulate Marie? Wow. And did Marie resurrect her? 

The scenes with Sam and his parents are nicely done too. At first it seems as though he's going to inevitably end up lashing out and killing them- but that gets subverted, and instead he learns a truth about who he is: his instability isn't Compound V, it's just genes.

This episode is... mad. This season feels as though anything can happen. The fact that we're kept guessing about Cipher just makes everything feel charged and exciting. And Hamish Linklater is literally acting his face off. 

Jason X (2001)

 "Be glad you weren't alive during the Microsoft conflict..."

It's the tail end of a tired slasher franchise, known for its very straightforward take on the genre. The last instalment was eight long years ago. Things have fizzled out. So what to do? Put Jason Voorhees.... in space. yes, it's utterly bonkers. But it really works. However mad an idea mayu be, if the execution is good, the end result is good. And this film, laregely devoid of big names (despite a rare acting cameo from David Cronenberg, no less) is one of the finest instalments in the Friday the 13th series, rivalled only by the sixth film.

I have, perhaps, been overly kind to this franchise in the past. A slasher film lives and dies by its characters more than any other genre of horror. We need to get to know them for the deaths to have meaning. And too many of the earlier instalments failed in this regard. I gave them too much credot for the fact they are from a pre-Scream era when the slasher genre was less associated with the fourth wall.

This film, of course, has a good few metatextual moments (love the reference to weed, alcohol and pre-marital sex), but these are not the real focus. What really impresses is the lived-in, well-designed future world with robots, nanotech medicine, interstellar travel and a new Earth to replace the environmentally devastated old one. There are nice little ironic comments on what we expect from the future- the mention of "beaming up" gets a puzzled look.

Yet people in 2455 are the same as ever. There is greed. There is denial. There is fear. There is cowardice. These feel like real people. Human nature doesn't change. Yet there is also courage, integrity, nobility. Regardless of the future, space setting, the core of this film is its characters. That gives meaning to the threat Jason poses.And it's why this film is such an unexpected gem.