LOL! The Radio stunt.

One great thing about flashbacks is the way you can chart the progress of characters. Mike and Katherine for instance.

But then, this is not flashback is it?

Spoilers. Oh man, spoilers.

A long time ago, I made the point that maybe one of the bad guys wanted to take Earth. All that technology-power, apart from Odi.

For all Oren's insistence that it was real enough as far as it went, the fact is that all came from Shauna's head, maybe with Oren's help. It's all one point of view, admittedly powerful and with a lot of time.

I loved the way it played out though. A Post-Magic apocalypse. Magic and machine at war. most good fantasy went that way.

The difference, was that Oren's story played out in one world. Shauna's played out in ours.

The themes remain the same however, and the bad guy's plan finally comes into view. How to storm the Gates of Heaven?

Something that never occurred to me though, was that the bad guy was immortal. Immortals play for a much longer game. But for all their age and power, they have to start somewhere. We have seen Shauna start out with the same path. I guess growing up is the same however you are.

So now we know. We were right about the University and Oren, we were right about the Legion.

This is how all Empires and/or Crusades begin.

You start with the ideal, you get knocked down by those who disagree, or worse, who use it for their own ends, you start hitting back, they start hitting back harder, wars are fought, last man to shoot wins; the saint and the martyr rule from the tomb.

But when you can literally just step back and let centuries pass and the world go back to sleep, you can play the game over and over again.

Like most of Shauna's episodes in the second season, they sort of stand apart from the rest of the story. Just keeping the point made that time is passing for her to.

Oh lordy, how time is passing for Shauna Brown.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm seriously hoping that Mike and Katherine never find her. Even knowing that it never happened, Shauna's been rotting away for 900 years and left nothing but her stubborn certainty that she has right on her side. Conquer enough cities for a 'truth', and that's all you have left, making you a fanatic. Listen to the history played out here. Shauna wiped out the world, went to sleep, came back and tried again.

And I hate to say it, but things would probably have played out that way. Except for one thing. In Shauna's simulation, she had magic. If it wasn't for Oren, she never would have been able to do any of it.

So Oren found a way to cheat the rules: he let someone else do it for him. Either to think of something he couldn't see, or to check his math and make sure that this time he's got the magic formula, I'm not certain. His flaw was that he needed someone as powerful as he was. Once he got that he let her get bitter and old as he was. he others he tried with either screwed it up, or refused to go as far as he would. Oren's mistake was making another like him. Once you're willing to wipe out the east coast and bring humanity to near extinction, it must be hard to share.

Dreams reveal the truth of things. At least in the Dreamtime according to Oren. I hate to say it, but the scene may be different and the script will play out the same. Katherine and Mike united against Shauna going too far and the damage she's doing to get there. With the Hunters of truth plus the university turned on their head by Fesmer, Jareth and Targonanne, it's going to be bloody. and Shauna's led the war against them before. After a fashion.

I honestly couldn't tell you what happens next.

Or more to the point, I can tell you exactly what will happen next. It's been played out by both our super-human guys over and over again. Just a question of how we get there this time. What is past is prologue.

I will close with a bow to the lead. Becki was unthinkably good in this episode. Seriously, I had chills. Going from the kid behind the counter to the girl in an interrogation booth to "Freedom Forever!" to the impatient immortal General, and finally to the Dark Lord. Seriously good to listen to.

The last half of this reminds me of a song I heard once on the radio, called Mother Earth by Within Temptation.

You can read more of Matt's work at mattstephens.me