Welcome to Gracie Mae DeLunac's life, via the computer. This is where you'll see updates on my stories and whatnot. I'll post when I can about what new stuff has occurred in my mind, in the world, and whatever goes. Benvenue, everyone!
This is a show review for "Good Omens 2" (second season of "Good Omens" 2019), released 2023. I watched this on Amazon Prime in February 2024.
Trailer
Cast
David Tennant - Crowley
Michael Sheen - Aziraphale
Miranda Richardson - Shax
Jon Hamm - Gabriel / Archangel Gabriel
Shelley Conn - Beelzebub
Plot
Crowley and Aziraphale have tried settling into life after saving the world from the Apocalypse and everything seemed normal until a naked man shows up at the door to Aziraphale's book shop. It is none other than the Archangel Gabriel without his memory. What happened? What's heading our way? Can we solve the mystery of Gabriel's memory being lost before the world (or at least the bookshop) is destroyed?
Rating Criteria
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the show.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful show all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.
3/5 - *SPOILERS!*
I was so excited to see the second season but it was disappointing. Seriously, wtf was this about! Let me just smack my head against a wall......
Long story short, Gabriel fell in love (is that what it was?) with Beelzebub because they got to know each other after the avoided Apocalypse. Gabriel ended up not approving of a reset of the Apocalypse, so he was demoted from the supreme Archangel status.
Okay, so Archangel Gabriel is demoted. So what? Well, he manages to seal away his memory before Heaven wipes his memory from him. So a brain-wiped ex-Archangel is walking around naked on Earth, in London, to angel Aziraphale's bookshop..... Seriously. And Heaven and Hell are both on a rampage trying to find / find out what happened to Gabriel, so Crowley and Aziraphale do a combination miracle to hide him from both sides. A "small" miracle which turns out to be a major beacon to Heaven that says that there was a massive energy miracle performed at Aziraphale's shop. Aziraphale, upon being questioned by some other angels, plays it off as him trying to make two local shop keepers fall in love (since the record selling gal has a thing for the coffee shop gal). [I'm not even joking..... This is how it went.]
So the episodes have Aziraphale running around trying to solve Gabriel's memory mystery, Aziraphale and Crowley trying to help the record lady and the coffee shop lady fall in love, and then we have to talk about the bromance between Crowley and Aziraphale. Once it is revealed that Gabriel hid his own memory and that he fell for Beelzebub, and the romance between the record lady and coffee shop lady has started off, the attention is turned to the relationship between Crowley and Aziraphale.
I admit, I thought that the bromance between the two (especially in the first season) was freaking adorable but to make it more into a romance thing.... -sigh- Well, anyways, Aziraphale is offered the supreme Archangel position in Heaven right before Crowley confronts him saying "if they can get away from all of this madness, why can't we?". Aziraphale is like "come to Heaven, be reinstated, and be my right-hand angel so we can work together" whereas Crowley kiss him ("there could have been an "us" ").
End of episode really just cuts off there, leaving an awkward and painful gap between the two as Crowley drives off (hurt) and Aziraphale takes an elevator to Heaven, being told about "we call it the Second Coming".
-sigh- I liked season one a lot and was soooo excited to see season two being announced but I was disappointed by this season and how everything went. I loved the bromance between Crowley and Aziraphale but trying to push the homosexual theme [between the record lady and the coffee shop lady, and between Crowley and Aziraphale] was tough to take. Live and let live, in my opinion, but this was way more than that. Like, why couldn't they promote love without promoting homosexuality? I mean, like "Frozen" was supposed to show that true love can be for one sibling to another without being about sex and incest and whatnot, this could have been really good. Why did they have to take it to the next level? Sure, the two shop keepers could have their thing but why did they have to make Crowley and Aziraphale go to the next level? Maybe that's why Aziraphale was like "ummm... we work together?". I don't know. The ending left a bitter taste in my mouth, metaphorically speaking, especially after the wait for the release of the second season.
Am I put off for watching the third season if they ever make it? No. I am interested and I hope that they redeem the series/characters.
Anyways, that's my show review/rant. Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave a comment.
This is a show review for "Hazbin Hotel", released on Amazon Prime 2024. The original Pilot episode was released in 2019. I watched this season on Amazon Prime in February 2024.
WARNING: NOT for everyone!
Trailer
Cast
Erika Henningsen - Charlie Morningstar
Stephanie Beatriz - Vaggie
Blake Roman - Angel Dust
Alex Brightman - Sir Pentious
Keith David - Husk
Kimiko Glenn - Niffty
Amir Talai - Alastor
Plot
Hell isn't the most fun place to be, considering Heaven sends angels down to kill the demons/lost souls to make sure that they will not become overpopulated in Hell. Charlie Morningstar, daughter of Lucifer Morningstar (fallen angel and ruler of Hell) and Lilith (wife to Lucifer), wants to find a way to look at the world with positivity and hope. Is there a way to redeem the demons and lost souls of hell? Charlie hopes so and wishes to aid them in their quest to redemption through her hotel "Hazbin Hotel". With the assistance of her girlfriend/bodyguard Vaggie, the radio demon Alastor, the cleaner Niffy, the drunkard bar tender Husk, Charlie hopes to save her people. Of course, it doesn't come that easily since this is residents of Hell we're talking about.
Rating Criteria
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the show.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful show all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.
4/5 - *SPOILERS*
I thought this show was very cute but very naive, for the being the princess of Hell. I mean, do you see what everyone's doing?! You are exposed to watching BDSM, cannibalism, senseless shootings and killings and violence, etc. And you think that you can save these people? *facepalm* I like that she is so optimistic but it just seems like a pointless endeavor.
I did find it interesting that she exposed (in Heaven) that they were doing the exterminations and that folks in Heaven were appalled by it, but they still didn't approve of Charlie's redemption plan.
The reveal that Vaggie is actually an ex-exterminator angel was a little baffling but at the same time wasn't too earth-shattering.
I liked how they stood up against Heaven for their own survival and bonded together.
The ending of the season was good but also lackluster. I would be interested in watching the next season whenever it comes out but hopefully we don't have to wait for 5 years for it to come out.
The thing I liked the most about this show was Alastor, honestly - doing everything for his own entertainment. :-) There were some good songs, but Alastor glowed brightest in this season with "Stayed Gone". Husk and Angel Dust also were amazing in "Loser, Baby".
Is this for everyone? NO!!! Keep sensitive people (and younger children) away from this! I warned you.
Anyways, that's my review. I look forward to the second season, but will miss Sir Pentious as a resident of Hell. [I totally want to see what happens to him being in Heaven.]
Thank you for reading! More reviews to come eventually!
This is an anime show review for "Good Night World". This show was released October 12, 2023 on the Internet. I watched this in January 2024 on Netflix with Japanese audio, English subtitles.
Trailer
Cast
Unsure of which were the Japanese voice actors/actresses.
Plot
A game developer name Hojiro Arima created the world of PLANET. He also created his own character and joins the game, forming a party of four with none other than his IRL family - his two sons, himself and his wife. They have issues (emotional, grieving, trust issues, etc) in the real world but enjoy playing the game with each other in PLANET. The one rule that they have is to never ask each other about real life, so no one knows that they are an actual family IRL as well as in the game.
Something happens that changes the PLANET world: the end-game boss "Black Bird" shows up at their house in PLANET. The prize to defeat the Black Bird is 300 million yen. So all guilds and players want to go after it, but there is a trick to this ultimate boss: it is a virus that can kill you.
Can they survive? Where is the edge of reality? Can they figure out how to be a family in real life? What does it mean to "be human" or "alive"?
Rating Criteria
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the show.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful show all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.
4/5 - *SPOILERS*
This was an interesting show. It kept me on the edge and was very intriguing. However, I was wondering why they put the game developer into the game. Except for in Sword Art Online, I have not seen another game developer actually want to play in his/her own game. That seemed different and strange to me. Also, how did his assistant know that his real family was part of his in-game family but he didn't know?
The ending of the show was a bit vague because, like Taichiro said, "isn't is strange that we never found the bodies of dad and Kamuro?". He also saw the Red Dragon briefly at the end and paused for a minute. He said "sh*t" then walked away, with what looked like a glitch in the system at his back. Does this mean that the PLANET/Earth fusion didn't go away? Dad had said that both Asuma and Taichiro would be okay living in the fused world but he couldn't. Did dad only take himself out of it? There is a suggestion that this could be the case, since the fusion happened without putting on gear and therefore would not need the gear to be removed. Either way, the ending is not definite [kind of like the movie "Inception" playing with your mind wondering whether the main character actually got back or not because the top didn't fall over].
Anyways, I enjoyed this show. It is graphic - a character's head gets squished to her death, dad's legs get sliced off, etc. (When the character got her head squished, I was thinking "ELFEN LIED!!!!!!".) But it makes you think about what AI can actually do, what technology might accomplish/destroy in the future, and what creates humans [memories/feelings/thoughts are just electrical processes in the brain].
If there is a second season eventually, I would be interested in it. Would I be up for the manga? Maybe, but not right now.
Is it for everyone? No, definitely not. If you're squeamish, stay away. If you don't like sci fi, stay away.
That's my show review. Thank you for reading! More reviews to come eventually.
This is a movie review for "Event Horizon", released August 15, 1997.
I know I am not caught up to my movie reviews but a friend of mine wanted me to watch this ASAP so I could watch something he was doing with the content of this movie. So I watched this January 16, 2024 and am writing the review now (ahead of all of the ones I haven't written yet over the last 3-4 years....). It doesn't mean you won't get those reviews, so don't worry!
Let's get at it!
Trailer
Genre
Space Sci-Fi, Sci-Fi, Horror, Thriller
Cast
Laurence Fishburne - Miller
Sam Neill - Weir
Kathleen Quinlan - Peters
Joely Richardson - Starck
Richard T. Jones - Cooper
Jack Noseworthy - Justin
Jason Isaacs - D.J.
Sean Pertwee - Smith
Plot
Humans like to explore and expand as far as they can by any means possible. Exploring space is no different. Why not find a way to go faster than light? When humankind's first faster-than-light spaceship (the "Event Horizon") disappears out of radio range and comes back seven years later, humankind wonders what happened. Is the ship functional? Did the crew survive? Why haven't we gotten any feedback from the experiment? Did they actually travel to a place beyond our galaxy? Is travel-faster-than-light sustainable?
To answer all of the questions, Dr. Weir (creator of the faster-than-light hyperdrive) teams up with a search and rescue team [the crew of the "Lewis and Clark"] to go to the orbit of Neptune and to see what information they can get from the "Event Horizon".
Rating Criteria
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.
4/5 - *SPOILERS*
This movie is not for the faint of heart.
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie but there were things that bothered me significantly, which dropped the rating down from 5/5 to a 4/5. (It dropped from 4.5 to 4 as I wrote the review because of all that bothered me...)
Let's talk about the bad.
First off, we are never told much about Dr. Weir. He tells us that he created the hyperdrive of the Event Horizon but no science mumbo jumbo explaining how he did so or how he got the technology to do so. Pretty much said "I'm going with you because she's my baby". Generically speaking, if someone creates something, that person puts his/her intentions into it and it affects how something works. Like if you had good intent, it most likely will be well intended. But considering how the ship turns out, did Dr. Weir really have good intents?
You can argue that it is "just a ship" and intentions do not matter but we have seen many science fiction vehicles with sentience: the TARDIS from Doctor Who, Moira and Talon from Farscape, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang from the movie of the same name, etc. True, not all of these can talk or communicate or express themselves like humanoids can but they change to deal with situations, get themselves out of dangerous situations, etc. So was the Event Horizon sentient before the 7-year disappearance? They never gave us an indication about it but I doubt it, since there was no mention.
The reason I bring up the sentience of the ship is because of one point where Starck said that the ship was trying to get rid of them like parasites and when Miller said that he was going to blow the ship up, the ship routed power away to find a way to deter him from doing just that. Sentience? Possibly. From a hellscape? Unsure how these two work with each other.
Secondly, whatever was on the other side of the gateway was never explained. Justin got a look into it when he stupidly got pulled through the gateway. [He totally pulled a Dr. Daniel Jackson move from "Stargate" the movie by touching the event horizon of the gateway. Yes, Stargate called the surface of the gateway the "event horizon" so is that how the ship got its name in this (Event Horizon) movie?]
"Event Horizon" : Justin and the Core
"Stargate" : Dr Daniel Jackson goes through the Stargate for the first time
Anyways, we get small glimpses at what might be on the other side of the gateway but there is no definite answer. Something caused and is causing the humans on board to want to be violent, self mutilate (claw/pop their eyes out?!), rape, murder, etc. It has something to do with the other side of the gateway, supposedly, but there is no definite answer. Again, the question of the ship being sentient comes up regarding whether the ship is causing this chaos or if something from the other side is causing this? There is no answer. We just have to take it as is.
I personally find this hard to accept because I want to know the reason behind it. If everyone's acting like reavers from the sci-fi western show "Firefly" (kill, rape, skin, and eat and lucky if in that order), then just say something like the Firefly show says "they got out to the edge of the universe, saw the black nothingness, and went bibledy over it". I can accept the madness from the darkness, or actually going mad because there is nothing past Neptune except rock/space, but essentially saying "we broke the rules of science, bent space, went somewhere we shouldn't have gone (which was a bad place?), and lost our minds" just isn't enough for me. Show me the other side and not just in hints and glimpses!
Thirdly, Dr. Weir is a dick. Why didn't he give them a "here's the layout of the ship" explanation before they got to the blasted ship! Or did he want this to go badly? A simple "this is what the ship does, how it works, don't put your hand into the gateway" would have gone a long way.
Fourthly, who was this chick Dr. Weir was seeing? I think it was supposed to be his wife, but they never give a good clarification on her. She pops up randomly and for nearly no reason, except him seeing her committing suicide in the bathroom and her (though dead and maybe a hallucination?) saying "it's okay, you're with me now". He then gouges his eyes out. Like wtf is with you, dude?! ...serious plot issues if Dr. Weir was supposed to be a level-headed scientist. 🤦♀️ Again, if we had known more about him prior.....
I guess the biggest issue to understand this movie is Dr. Weir. If we had known more about him, how he created the ship/hyperdrive, who that chick was, and if he had warned the crew about the dangers, then this movie would have been much easier to understand or to flow. But I guess one could argue that is the genius of this movie - the unknown isn't just on the other side of a gateway but can be right next to you.
Let's talk about the good.
- This movie pops up after the Alien franchise had already released their third movie, but this movie had more special effects than Alien, Aliens, or Alien³. The technology behind this movie is amazing. It was spectacular for a late 1990s film: CGI for fire, floating fluids, etc.
- It keeps you interested, and on the edge some. Watch out for the jump scares!
- The design of the gateway / hyperdrive was beautiful. Unfortunately we didn't get to see it actually working, but the spinning discs and the core had so much intricate details that it was mesmerizing to look at.
- The design of the Event Horizon ship gave me Klingon vibes but meh. I guess it was slightly necessary for the middle bridge thing to explode later.
There's not much more I can say about this movie. I personally am shocked that I had never watched this before now. I rank it high on the sci-fi scale, but still am disappointed by lack of some information. (At least Ripley told the soldiers in Aliens what they were going against, unlike Dr. Weir about this ship in this movie!)
It was interesting watching Dr. Grant from "Jurassic Park", Morpheus from "The Matrix", and Lucius Malfoy from "Harry Potter" work together in this movie. 😆
Do I recommend? Yes. It is definitely not for everyone, considering the gore, suicides, and brutality, but could be a decent watch for those brave enough.
That's my movie review! Thank you for reading. More reviews to come soon.
This is a movie review for "A Civil Action", released December 25, 1998. We watched this October 20, 2020.
Trailer
Genre
Drama
Cast
John Travolta - Jan Schlichtmann
Robert Duvall - Jerome Facher
Tony Shalhoub - Kevin Conway
William H. Macy - James Gordon
Zeljko Ivanek - Bill Crowley
Bruce Norris - William Cheeseman
John Lithgow - Judge Walter J. Skinner
Plot
When children start developing childhood leukemia in a local town, the town starts to ask questions and demand a fix to the problem. Eight families ban together to file a civil lawsuit against a factory nearby that is making their water contaminated and unusable. Can they get justice? Can they fix their water?
Rating Criteria
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.
4/5 - *SPOILERS*
This is based on a true story about a water aquifer being contaminated in Woburn, Massachusetts in the late 1970s. The case (from what I can see) lasted into 1990 after everything was dealt with, including appeals.
"1982 lawsuit accusing corporate giants W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods of contaminating the waters of Woburn, Mass."¹ with "the issue of trichloroethylene, an industrial solvent, and its contamination of a local aquifer"².
Anyways, this is a long drawn out battle of a few families with a few lawyers going against a corporation with a plethora of lawyers. The partners fighting for the families start going broke because they aren't paid through the lengthy process and it causes tensions between the partners.
I had the biggest issue with the ending. It wrapped up fairly well, especially for being a "based on a true story" tale. The issue I had was the fact that they didn't really tell what happened between the main lawyer and his ex-partners, but it did tell the verdict that the case eventually came to.
The ending (don't watch if you don't want a spoiler):
Aside this one point, it was a good movie. It has been over 3 years since I watched it, and honestly I have forgotten about it by now so it took me a while to research to recollect, but it was good. Not super noteworthy or one to really remember, but decent. Worth it? Go for it. It isn't as action packed as a Mission Impossible movie, obviously, but not a waste of time (especially if you like case solving things and court hearing stuff, and justice, etc).
That's it! Thank you for reading. More to come in the future. Still about a dozen left to write for movies watched in 2020. ^.^'
This is a movie review for "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" (aka "Borat 2"), released October 23, 2020. We watched this on the release date of October 23, 2020.
Trailer
Genre
Comedy
Cast
Sacha Baron Cohen - Borat Sagdiyev
Maria Bakalova - Tutar Sagdiyev
Plot
Borat, after finishing his first film about America, returned home to Kazakhstan. He was judged for his film about America and somewhat shamed. After a while, the President of Kazakhstan gave Borat a new mission: go back to America and bring a gift for someone of high importance. The catch is that the monkey they were going to bring didn't make the trip so his daughter (stowaway) will have to be the substitute for the gift. Considering Borat's background and Kazakhstan's ways, can he manage to get through the USA with his daughter? Can the gift be given safely? What could possibly go wrong?
Rating Criteria
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.
4/5 - For the year 2020, this was the funniest movie I had seen up to the end of October. The year had been rough and this was a mockumentary about life and COVID-19, not just about the United States. Would it be suggested to watch now that COVID-19 is mostly in the rear view mirror? I'm unsure about that but it is a cheesy/funny/stupid movie that was perfect for the time that it was released.
For a stand-alone movie, I would say that the first Borat movie was better than this one. This one did give a flashback/update at the beginning so all could (somewhat) understand the character's background but watching the first one would make it easier to understand. That being said, it was okay as it's own movie (as a second).
Watch at your own risk, especially if you get offended way easily.
The end has come for a favorite show of ours: Manifest. An American drama / supernatural television show that debuted in 2018 and managed to survive the global pandemic, as well as a cancelation, has made it to the final season. Season 4 was split into two parts with the first part coming out in November 2022. Season 4 part 2 was released in the United States on June 2, 2023 via Netflix.
Before we go any further, I must warn of spoilers! It is good... Really good. A tear jerker but good.
Let's start from the beginning.
The premise of the show was that, back in 2018, a plane filled with overflow passengers from a flight to New York, Montego Air Flight 828, took off from Jamiaca but disappeared. Five and a half years later, the plane (still containing all of its crew and passengers) lands in New York. The folks inside of the plane have skipped over time and haven't aged a day whereas the world went on without them.
The main two passengers we come to know and love are siblings Ben Stone and Michaela "Mick" Stone, and Ben's son Cal Stone. Their mother passed away during their absence. Ben's wife Grace got rid of all of Ben's and Cal's things and was trying to move on as she had to raise her daughter Olive Stone alone. Olive, being Cal's twin sibling, had said she thought he was still out there somehow, tried to help keep their memories alive. Trying to repair their family takes time and patience but Grace and Ben work it out and reconnect.
Mick's boyfriend (Jared Vasquez) had proposed to her before her trip to Jamaica with the family. Since he assumed she was dead, he ended up marrying her best friend during the absence. It doesn't mean he doesn't still love her a lot, though! This makes it complicated for him and he eventually starts trying to get back with her.
Saanvi Bahl is a doctor that was on the plane that was working to cure cancers like Cal Stone had been diagnosed with prior to Jamaica. She worked hard to figure out what happened to / with the 828 passengers (828ers).
Anyways, after the plane touches down 5.5 years after they should have landed, supernatural things started happening. The strangest thing is this thing called "Callings": premonitions, visions, hints of something happening/ going to happen, etc. Mick is one of the first ones to investigate these Callings as she is a police officer. Handy, isn't it?
She follows these Callings and, most of the time, they turn out good - save a life, stop a kidnapping ring, realize a connection between strangers, etc.
Ben and Cal and a few others start looking into these Callings and trying to do good. However, Cal gets a warning Calling that there is a looming Death Date, when everything ends. All of the 828ers will die on this preset Death Date, almost 5.5 years precisely from when they returned (which would mirror how long they were gone). So is there a way to prevent the Death Date?
Death Date: There were three instances aside the 828ersOne Calling led Mick to meet a guy named Zeke. He had disappeared in a cave and was presumed dead for a while. However, he had disappeared like 828 and returned. The equivalent amount of time that he had been gone passed and he started freezing to death. He ends up saving Cal from three kidnappers and survived his personal Death Date. Those three came back and also had their own personal Death Date, the result of which was not pretty and caused concern for the 828ers because one bad dude could cause all of us to die ("sink the lifeboat"). We also find out that Zeke had this crazy empathy thing that he can feel others' emotions, which in turn helps him become an awesome therapist.
Along the way, we see the Xers ("no to 828ers!"), radical believers that think the 828ers are God's messengers or chosen ones, and everything in between. To say the least, they have made a wave. We see 828ers being attacked and murdered. At one point, they are forced to start reporting weekly as if they are prisoners on parole/probation, for the 828er's sake and for the public's safety.
Then we have the radicals inside of the 828ers... There is Adrian, who started a cult centered around the 828ers. This cult eventually made bombs out of fertilizer! I cannot recall why but it was messed up. Anyways, Adrian saw the error of his ways and eventually tried to do good. Before turning his life around, though, he gave bad advice to another passenger named Angelina.
Angelina is just a sad character all around and throughout the series. She was raised by a strong Bible-thumping family that ended up locking her up in the basement when they found out about her Callings. Cal/Mick helped release her. She ended up living with the Stone family, getting obsessed with Olive (cutting her hair, wearing her clothes, etc). Olive wanted to kick her out but Cal said that she had a purpose for sticking around.
At one point, Angelina was convinced that Eden Stone (Grace and Ben's 3rd child, born after the return of the 828ers) was her angel. She lit Eden's bedroom on fire even! The Stone family survived and kicked Angelina out. She came back, used the hide-a-key, stabbed Grace [murdered Grace], and kidnapped Eden. (It doesn't stop there....)
Angelina then goes on to brainwash the young Eden. Ben and his family fight to find Eden, get her back, and un brainwash her, all while they're grieving Grace's death and trying to find a way to survive the Death Date.
Along the way, Saanvi, Ben, and a non 828er Vance (Director of the NSA investigating the 828ers and everything related to them) connected to research Flight 828. A theme about sapphire and the beyond/divine pops up for everyone to look into. Supposedly, during the time that they were disappeared, they were in this white light. This white light area allowed them visions of things that could happen and the Callings are memories of what they had seen in the white light. The sapphire has mythological and historical meaning that it is a "tool to connect to the divine", so they search for the purest sapphire to try figuring out what they can do about the Death Date. "The Omega Sapphire is the key", they think.
They also find that a piece of the Noah's Ark and a piece of Montego Air Flight 828 were both covered with sapphire, hence touched by the Divine. (Oh, and Cal touched the tailfin of Flight 828 and disappeared again. He also came back, more in touch with the divine/Callings and at his proper age for the time. Like literally the same age as Olive! So that had to be hidden from everyone so he wouldn't be a test subject for forever.)
Okay so that's bringing us up to the Season 4.
The Death Date is coming.
Cal's cancer is back. Zeke is losing control of his empathic powers or his own emotional well-being. Vasquez is seeing Mick's friend / ex NYPD co-worker Drea Mikami. Things are ramping up against the 828ers.
The Alpha Sapphire might help save us. Even the worm-of-a-man 828 passenger Eagan Tehrani tries to get a hold of the Omega Sapphire. One of his Callings would have led him directly to it long before season 4 but he didn't realize this. He searches for the Omega Sapphire but somehow it falls into the hands of Angelina. Or should I say "hand"? It fell into lava and she picked it up with her bare hand, embedding it into her hand. (That's where they left off the end of Season 4 part 1.)
So Angelina now has the Omega Sapphire embedded in her hand and she thinks that she is the prophet that God has sent to Earth to find the few chosen, saving them specifically from the world's destruction. Since that is the end, it is a nothing-barred take on survival. This includes poisoning a lady by swapping her anxiety medication out and putting rat poison in her pills.
Cal realizes, with signs and a dream, that two sapphires must connect to help save them. Since he cannot connect with Angelina and her "let everything burn" take, he searches for the Ark piece that Saanvi threw into a volcanic fissure years a while ago. This brings him, his family, Saanvi, Drea, Vasquez, Olive's 828 boyfriend TJ, and Vance to the place the piece was tossed. There in the road is the volcano fissure scar and looks identical to the dragon scar that Cal has on his arm. Coincidence? No, of course not.
There's a gathering of the group and, feeling the last hours before their Death Date, they talk about what life would have been like if the whole 828 thing had never been. Mick comes to realize that, since Drea is expecting Vasquez's kid and that the two of them really care for each other, maybe he should be with her instead. Ben says something about "would have Eden either way". Saanvi says that she still loves her ex Alex, and understands Ben's feelings towards his belated wife Grace.
Things come to a close for the night and everyone hugs. In the middle of the night, Cal wakes up, goes to the crack, and (after talking with his dad) goes to the glowing fissure. He disappears and a huge beam of light bursts upwards. This is the last we see of Cal (in that time line).
Morning comes but all of the 828ers at the site wake up choking. "It is the start of the Death Date. This is how we died - choking. It could be flames and other nasty things!" So Olive, Eden, Vance, Vasquez and Drea leave to go figure out one more thing at home as the 828ers are prepping to face their Death Date.
The beam of light had caught all of the 828 passengers' attention and they all came to the dragon mark site. Even the Flight 828 plane itself is "thrown up" from the ground, popping up through the volcano cracks and pushing out through magma. It was intense! (I definitely fangirled here. 😂)
This arrival also included Angelina and her "chosen" group. With everything that had happened to then, I was terrified to see her show up but nobody was killed in the stand off (Saanvi got shot in the arm). Her group got onto the plane with everyone else. Angelina falls when the earth quakes and hits her head. She tells Ben to leave her because she killed Grace and regrets it every day.
Olive, back at home, translates the signs and calls to let Ben know that the sign of Ben walking through fire carrying someone was not only when he saved her but that he needed to save Angelina. He never gets the phone call but he does pick up Angelina and carry her through fire to bring her onto the plane.
As the Earth was being overrun by volcanos, the only option was for the plane to take off. With copilot Amuta and Mick at the helm, the plane takes off. The final judgment then comes.
Flying above the Earth, some people start seeing volcano lines cracking their skin. If they are deemed of a heavy heart / bad person, they spontaneously burst and turn into a pile of ash! Seriously.
Adrian is one of the people that starts having volcano lines cracking his skin. He accepted it but Eagan, sitting next to him, says something to the effect of "no, you've also done a lot of good. If anything, I should be the one to go instead of you" since he didn't have the cracking. It fades from Adrian and starts on Eagan. Eagan just goes "yup, this is my fate" but Adrian goes "are you kidding? Sacrificing yourself is one of the least selfish things anyone can do". The cracking stops on Eagan and both of them survive.
Another significant person with cracking is Saanvi. She had accidentally murdered someone as she had been trying to solve the 828 mystery. The guilt on her consciousness made her tell Ben that it was right for her to die. Ben reminded her of all the good that she had done, and the cracking stopped.
Angelina, and a few of her followers, died and turned to piles of ash.
After a little bit, the darkness (of those that had died) collected itself and became a phantasmic Grim Reaper / Angel of Death. Ben called everyone together to stand against it. He reminds this Angel of Death that the 828 group was a random sampling of the world, nothing special about any of them, but they had followed the Callings and had done much good: stopped a kid smuggling ring, helped save many lives, etc. As he reminds the Angel of Death of all the good that they had done, they walk forward towards the Angel of Death and effectively "push" it out/off of the plane via the tail.
They look around and say "what now?". There is a blue light that Amuta has admitted he has seen before. It had chased them back before the 828 incident. Ben suggests chasing it. They do and eventually find themselves in a blinding white light, not moving. The door to outside opens. They take a "leap of faith" and walk out of the door.
...to walk back into the past. They walk back to when they should have landed in New York after leaving Jamaica. [Seriously. I was like "no..... 😕" at first.]
Everything is literally what it should have been when they took off. 2018. All the 828ers that survived can recall the last 5.5 years of the other realm and have learned a lesson: be kind to each other. Love.
A few passengers that were lost on the way (murdered, died) also came back with them. The Captain did not as he had admitted he had not been a good man prior to 828. The passengers that had been deemed bad also did not come back.
Vance was on that case immediately considering how many people disappeared from the flight mid-flight, though he did not know the 828 survivors. (And though the fact that the Captain wasn't there was also not discussed.)
Cal is a kid again, with cancer, but now the Stones know Saanvi and she can help cure his cancer. Saanvi met up with Alex and fixed that relationship.
Ben and Grace met back up. He apologized about being super occupied trying to save their son and that he cared for her, and that they had to go work on getting a third kid (he doesn't say "Eden").
Mick met up with Vasquez and she said that she appreciated his care but that there was someone better for him, that she did not want to keep him from it. As Drea had called their kid "Hope", Mick also says that Vasquez has to look for that other person and that he has "to have hope" (double meaning because of the kid's name they were going to have). Vasquez ends up meeting Drea as she's walking in with Vance to investigate the new 828 case. Immediately, they are dynamic (which made me squeal).
Mick remembers something Zeke had said from the blinding white light / divine. He had said there were so many "close calls" that they could have met before they had in the alternate line. One of them was that he was driving taxi the day that the 828 plane disappeared, so she runs off (after giving Vasquez her answer about the proposal) and searches the taxi cabs. She finds Zeke and manages to grab the cab - "sorry, can I have this one? This is my husband" she says to someone else. The guy lets her take the cab and she gets into the front seat. Zeke's like "wtf. Does that work often?". She laughs and says it was her first try. She immediately searches his glove box and finds snacks that she isn't surprised to find. He's like "so do I know you?". She says something to the effect of "just drive around. There's so much to catch up on". He shrugs and they leave.
That's it! I wish there was an epilogue but it was a good ending.
So in conclusion, the last episode really just reversed everything that happened in the whole show but at least there was a lesson learned for those that survived and remembered what happened.
For us viewers, we should learn from their experiences - Love, forgive, heal, and try to be kind. We won't be able to get a second chance at this life so make the most of it. "Live as if you're dying" says one song because you don't know what the future holds.
Rating Criteria
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful show all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.
Last bit of a note- beware the cliffhangers. This show is riddled with cliffhangers.
