I hope you all had a great weekend and are ready to kick off another week of great scifi and fantasy episodes.  So tonight we had three hits on our plate,  Walking Dead is back with its all new season, Episode three of Once upon a time in Neverland and the second episode of Witches of East End. I only watched two, the third I’m going to leave to the other writers because I’m  way behind in the Walking Dead series. Also I don’t want to turn gonnageek.com into my facebook page, which I avoided all night, where every other entry was  the Walking Dead.

Once Upon a Time in Neverland: Quite a Common Fairy

Once Upon a Time in Neverland: Quite a Common Fairy

So with this episode i have to say I was pretty bored out of my mind. The hour featured four separate storylines — journey to find Tinker Bell, Tink’s history with Regina , Henry’s life among the Lost Boys, and Neal’s plan to get from the Enchanted Forest to Neverland. From a writer’s point of view this is a chapter that was all set up and honestly probably could have been done without depending on where they go from here. With the our merry band of misfits, we see Regina struggling with not using magic to save henry and  Hook finding out that Prince Charming was cut with the poison.  We also have a scene where Snow White and Prince charming is talking and she says that home is wherever he is leading the prince to continue hide that he is hurt.  Maybe its just me but I’m getting sick at the over the top lovey dovey between the two. I know true love and all,  but I know of no couple whose marriage lasted 10 year or more that is that joined of the hip. Tink and Regina’s history was interesting that, Regina cause Tinkerbell to lose her magic, but the cgi during the flashbacks was really poor and pulled you out of the fantasy. I was not a big fan of how they changed the belief in fairies for this tale.  The head fairy told Tink that she didn’t believe in her,  all fairies tales says its a child’s belief that gives the fairies their powers.  This change also kinda bleed over to Robin Hood and Neal finding a way to Neverland through Robin Hood’s son.  They used the child’s belief to summon the shadow to take him to the second star to the right. Clever way of doing it but what about the happy thoughts?  I found my self hurling popcorn at the screen muttering if it was that simple I would have been found my way by age six.  The last ten minutes of the night probably was the most shocking. We find out Mulan has feelings for  Princess Aurora, who is currently pregnant. In this storybook everyone has one true love, and we’ve seen everything from different stories  origins  to different species  but its always been one man and one woman. This makes Mulan’s attraction to Aurora a pretty huge milestone.  general lack of LGBT characters in Disney properties — this twist is an even bigger deal. Remember, too, that Aurora isn’t the first recipient of Mulan’s unrequited love; back in the beginning of season 2, the warrior maiden had a thing for, Prince Phillip. That means Mulan isn’t simply a lesbian — she’s bisexual, not to mention one of the few bisexual characters on TV whose orientation isn’t a punchline. cough cough Glee  cough cough Here is a quick look at next week’s episode.

Witches of East End :Millicent Fenwick, R.I.P

So we continue our snoozefest tonight  with Lifetime’s Witches.  This episode was basically a tie up of most of the plot lines in the premiere.   Freya is tied up in the bar painting but manages under stress to make her ropes disappear allowing her to get a jump on the ex boyfriend bent on revenge. She smashes his head with a statue and escapes out the hole in the wall to wake up by being kissed by her fiance.  Meanwhile  Ingrid explores the grimoire that was hidden behind the false back of the cabinet. Here she comes  across a resurrection spell that she performs on Wendy. Once Wendy comes back to life she  explains that Ingrid should have let her come back naturally using her cat magic, but because of her doing the spell there will have to be balance in the universe and someone else will die that she loves.   As Her and Wendy rush to save Freya we see her in the background making out with her fiance.    Joanna is questioned by the police about her murder charge, and request her lawyer which happens to be an immortal as well.  He calls in a favor  from another supernatural and they are able get her released on bale  that happens to be buried in Aunt Millie’s grave.  As Wendy and the girls dig it up Wendy is impressed at her sister’s  resourcefulness  creating a dead relative and taking the girls to visit the grave so if things happened they would know exactly where to go. Freya however is upset  that she was made to feel like she was damaged because she suspected it.   She runs off to talk to Killan about things in a round about way, i honestly think she just needed to not be alone, but wanted to stay mad for a while. When she comes home the house is empty, so she think, instead the deranged boyfriend  has ran the bath tub full of water with plans to drown and freeze  here in the water. Mom and Wendy came in just in time and put  him back into a painting. At least  this one was not desert, so he won’t be sunburned. In order to keep the girls safe they bury the painting with Millie.

Overall both  series this week I could have skipped and I  wouldn’t have had any trouble catching up with just the commercials for the next episode.  I’m am hoping that this is the quiet before the storm with theses shows or I don’t think the views will be staying.

For our popcorn tonight we are going to have a little Italian flair.  This is one of my favorite ways to have popcorn.  This popcorn is perfect for movie night, game day, or everyday snacking.

Garlic Rosemary Parmesan Popcorn

Yield: 8 cups popcorn, Prep Time: 5 minutes, Cook Time: 7 minutes, Total Time: 12 minutes

Garlic Rosemary Parmesan Popcorn

ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter (We used 1 half-stick Land ‘O Lakes Sea Salt & Olive Oil Butter)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary

3 tablespoons canola oil

1/3 cup popcorn

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Salt, to taste

directions:

1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Stir in the garlic and fresh rosemary. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until garlic is lightly browned. Remove from heat and set aside.

2. To pop the popcorn, heat the canola oil in a 3-quart saucepan on medium high heat. Put a couple popcorn kernels into the oil to see if it is hot enough. If they pop, then it’s ready.

3. Add the popcorn kernels in an even layer. Cover the pan with a lid, remove from heat for about 30 seconds. Return the pan to the heat and gently shake the pan by moving it back and forth over the burner. You will hear the popcorn popping. Keep the lid slightly ajar so the steam can escape. If you remove the lid completely, you will have a popcorn mess. When the popcorn is done popping, remove the pan from the heat. Pour the popcorn into a large bowl.

4. Pour the butter,garlic, and rosemary mixture over the popcorn and gently toss. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the warm popcorn. Season with salt, to taste.

Note-you can use microwave or air-popped popcorn if you wish.