#just a little religious guilt for Christine

[glassprism]

"Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests!” - Luke 2:9-14

Hugh Panaro and Sara Jean Ford, Broadway 2014

For @vampyrekat and @pureanonofficial

[lesbianlotties]

Journeys end in lovers meeting - Sam/Deena - Bly Manor AU

Chapters: 5/? Fandom: Fear Street Trilogy (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Samantha "Sam" Fraser/Deena Johnson, Sarah Fier/Hannah Miller (Fear Street), Christine "Ziggy" Berman/Nick Goode, Samantha "Sam" Fraser & Deena Johnson Characters: Samantha "Sam" Fraser (Fear Street), Deena Johnson, Kate Schmidt (Fear Street), Simon Kalivoda, Josh Johnson (Fear Street), Constance (Fear Street Part 3: 1666), Christine "Ziggy" Berman, Nick Goode (Fear Street), Alice (Fear Street Part 2: 1978), Sarah Fier (Fear Street), Hannah Miller (Fear Street), Solomon Goode (Fear Street) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, The Haunting of Bly Manor AU, Not Canon Compliant, Haunted Houses, Ghosts, Character Death, Minor Character Death, Canon Lesbian Relationship, First Meetings, Fluff and Angst, Eventual Smut, Happy Ending, Au Pair Sam, Gardener Deena, Housekeeper Kate, Cook Simon, Josh and Constance as troubled kids, Ziggy and Nick in an unhealthy relationship, minor Cindy/Alice, Martin cameos, special appearances of all the Shadyside killers as ghosts, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, The Rest Is Confetti Summary: The year is 1994. Samantha Fraser recently moved to Shadyside, and she desperately needs a job that will help her leave her troubled past behind. She starts working as au pair at Shadyside Manor, where she is not the only one tortured by ghosts. Grief, regrets, guilt, innocent victims, and an ancient curse. At the center of all of it... love.

Chapter 5: 

When Peter Brody died, all of Sunnyvale mourned. As a teenager, he had been the star of the football team and in a town like that, it meant he was a celebrity. He was loved, known, seen by everyone. Sam, on the other hand, had always lived under his shadow, where she had been cold and lonely but also stuck beyond salvation, she thought. Nobody knew her, nobody saw her. They all saw a small blonde-haired woman that men made fun of and women judged and Peter never really loved, did he? Had any of it been love?  

During Peter’s funeral, luckily, all eyes were still on him, on the closed coffin that is. The truck that hit him hadn’t exactly been forgiving. Sam didn’t mind. She preferred to go unnoticed most of the time but especially on the day she was dealing with the most conflicting emotions of her life. Peter was dead. Did she kill him? He could have killed her. Was this her fault? Her biggest source of pain was gone forever. Should it be her in that coffin? She could be free now. Why wasn’t she feeling sadness, pain, and grief? Why wasn’t the relief hitting either? She was just numb.

She was numb until the moment they were lowering his coffin to the ground. Everyone around her was crying and she couldn’t tear her eyes away from that awful hole on the ground. That is why she noticed, clear as day, the moment a hand, gray and dirty and stained with blood, reached out from the ground and out toward her. She stifled a small gasp and jumped in place, but nobody paid her any mind. Sam closed her eyes tightly and tried to convince herself it was just her mind playing tricks on her. She’d lived in fear of Peter’s hand for so long, it was reasonable that she couldn’t put it down in a matter of days.

So, Sam excused herself from the crowd, knowing nobody would care about her absence. Her mother was crying more than she cried at her ex-husband’s funeral, and more than she’d be crying if it was Sam in the coffin. At least, that’s what Sam thought. She walked away briskly until she could lean against a big tree in the middle of the Sunnyvale cemetery. She took breaths and tried to control her racing heart. This full-body panic wasn’t rare. She was just used to locking herself in the bathroom of the house she used to share with the deceased man.

This time, however, she was in public. She had to get a hold of herself quickly. That was what she had spent a lifetime learning to do. So she pulled out a small mirror from her clutch, knowing she better check her make-up before returning to her mother’s side. She was expected to cry but keep perfect make-up somehow. But, as soon as she saw her reflection in the mirror, Sam realized she had bigger problems. This time she really screamed. She screamed in terror and dropped the mirror and quickly turned around, but he was gone. The image of Peter, just an impossibly black shadow, lifeless and furious and with a bloodstained hand wrapped around Sam’s throat… he was gone. Quickly, Sam picked up the mirror again and didn’t see him. But she skipped the rest of the funeral, she ran all the way home, and in the living room’s mirror, he was right there, waiting for her. In the Sunnyvale school bathroom mirror, he was there. In the cars’ windows, in the stores’ fronts, everywhere she went, he was right there, haunting her all the way to Shadyside Manor.

Away from the house though, surrounded by nothing but damp grass and green trees and nothing showing her reflection back to her, Sam let her guard down. She was sitting around an impressive bonfire in the company of Deena, Kate, and Simon, along with a few bottles of wine they got from the Berman’s old reserve. “It’s not like they’ll be drinking it,” Simon had said.

The last addition to their small gathering was Tommy Slater. Uninvited. Unnoticed. At least, surrounded by those trees he looked a little more at home, with his red plaid shirt and the axe on his hand. He shifted from one foot to the other, as if considering taking a stroll around the gardens he used to love so much. But that wasn’t the case. He’d been there too long. He didn’t move purposefully anymore, he didn’t make any choices, he didn’t even have many thoughts anymore. He simply stood there in the background, in the shadows, in that property he couldn’t escape from.

Around the bonfire, with lively eyes, blushing cheeks and playful smiles, the employees of the Manor looked much more alive. Kate exchanged a knowing look with Simon and then turned her head toward the other two women sitting close by.

“Deena. Don’t you have some story you'd like to share with us?” Kate asked.

She had startled the gardener, who had been a little lost in thought looking at Sam. “Huh? What?” Deena shook her head, but a second later and aided by an exasperated look from Kate, she understood. “Oh, right. Um, actually, yeah,” Deena cleared her throat and then looked at Sam, regaining her usual confidence. “Hey, Sunnyvale, do you want to hear a ghost story?”

“Sure,” Sam shrugged. She was really cold, and still a little put off by the unpleasant memories that had been roaming her mind the entire day. But she smiled nonetheless. “But I think I told you I’m not scared of ghost stories,” she said. How could she be? Although he was a sincerely upsetting company to carry with her everywhere she went, Peter hadn’t hurt her after he died nearly as much as he had while being alive.

“Ah, but what if you found yourself inside of one of those stories?” Deena asked.

“Okay, humor me.”

“Look up,” Deena nodded her head and the four of them looked up at the big tree next to them with branches that reached above their heads. “This is the hanging tree,” Deena said. “Back in the day, before there was Shadyside and Sunnyvale, and junk food and pretty au pairs, there was the settlement of Union. A pretty crappy place run by religious hysteria. They had the bad habit of accusing women of witchcraft. This is the place where they used to hang their witches. Right here, on this same tree.”

A cold breeze passed by, making the sudden silence even more noticeable. Sam shivered and her teeth clattered. “That’s not supernatural though,” she said. “That’s just cruelty, and ignorance.”

“And that’s without mentioning the ones they burned alive,” Simon added, taking a big swing of his wine bottle.

“Simon!” Kate chastised him, slapping his arm.

“What?! It’s true!” he laughed.

At least it proved they could come and go seamlessly from serious and lighthearted moods.

“Hey, they had their reasons,” Deena said, taking the others by surprise. “They used to say that burning a witch was the only way to guarantee she wouldn’t come back to haunt you afterward.”

A bitter chuckle came from Kate. “I know I got a few names I’d like to burn down,” she said.

“Care to share?” Deen tilted her head, intrigued.

Kate’s face had grown serious very suddenly, and she stood up from her seat.

“For Christine Berman,” She said, and everyone listened intently. “Not that I want to burn her memory, not that I don't wish she’d come back… This is in her honor. A brilliant, courageous, simply incomparable woman… with just one stupid fucking weakness. She deserved better than that man. I won’t even say his name. That disgusting man that consumed her away… Now that’s someone I wish I could burn alive.”

“Cheers!” Simon raised his bottle, and everyone followed suit.

Deena stood up next. “For the Bermans. Those good, stupidly kind people,” she said. “For Cindy, especially. And everything she could have been… For as long as she could she was a really, really great mother. More than that, too. She was the heart of this entire place, and she was there for everyone, not just her family or, well, she made all of us family, really. And… Anyway, I think she would be happy to have Sam Fraser join us. This sweet, Sunnyvale weirdo. Cindy would be happy she’s looking after her daughter.”

After she finished, Deena let herself fall back heavily on her chair. While everyone drank for the dearly missed couple, she managed to regain her composure. When she looked at Sam again, her usual easy smile was back in place.

“What about you, Sunnyvale? Anything you want to burn?”

“Me?” Sam said. Through her mind flashed the small group of people that had affected her most throughout her life. What could she talk about? The dead father she barely remembers and still misses? The living mother angry at her that she’s still avoiding? Or the dead ex-fiance she feels responsible for and she’s still scared of? “No, thank you. I’m okay,” Sam shook her head.

Maybe they didn’t need more of an excuse to drink. Maybe her silence was more than enough. Still, when Deena, Kate, and Simon, despite her silence, raised their wine bottles to their lips to drink. Sam felt the comfort of genuine solidarity and understanding like she had never experienced before.

Before the silence could stretch for too long, Simon stood up. “Are you sure?” Kate whispered, reaching out to hold his hand. He squeezed her hand once, then let go and took a step forward.

“So… my mom. She’s, uh, not someone I’d wish to burn alive, obviously,” Simon said, and added a feeble chuckle, but he went on. “But fuck, she deserved to rest already. She lived a long life, and not an easy one. But she was stronger than this entire town, and sweeter than any drug, funnier than me, if you can believe it, and beautiful as an angel until the very last day.” He stopped briefly, and his smile wavered. He ran a hand through his hair, tugging a little harder than necessary, and after a deep breath, he managed to continue. “Her mind, well, it was stopped working as it should a while ago, you know? I was her son, her brother, her father, and sometimes I was a complete stranger… but she was still my mom, always. So… here’s to everything she was, and everyone I had to be for her.”

--

After Peter died, Sam considered moving back in with her mother. It sounded like a nightmare, but a reasonable choice to make, she thought. However, her mother never did or said anything to suggest Sam would be even remotely welcome in her home. So, Sam stayed in that picture-perfect Sunnyvale house. A faultless home except for the fact that Peter was dead and Sam would soon follow suit if he didn’t stop showing up behind her reflection in every mirror she glanced at.

Sam felt hopeless, not free as she had wished to be for so long. She felt terrified, not much more than when Peter was alive, but certainly not any less. She had been starting to worry about what the rest of her life was going to look like. She had been hoping for a miracle, an act of kindness from anybody. And that was when Peter’s mother had knocked on her door. For a moment, Sam had let herself dream of a scenario where that woman showed up with worry in her gentle eyes, a dinner invitation, and a much-needed hug. But that wasn’t Peter’s mother.

Mrs. Brody was, if anything, Sam’s biggest nightmare. A particularly cruel mixture of Peter and Sam’s own mother. Her eyes were cold, she probably would have tried to poison Sam, and they had never hugged for longer than a second. That woman had spent roughly twenty years accusing Sam of taking her son away from her. When Peter’s mother showed up at Sam’s door, it wasn’t to offer any kindness, it was to request Sam start packing her stuff and looking for a place to live, because Peter was dead, they never got married, and that house was no longer hers.

A week later, Sam was living in a Shadyside hostel.

A few months later, Sam was in the middle of the dark and beautiful gardens of Shadyside Manor, walking away from a bonfire and two of her coworkers, her friends .

Most importantly, Sam was walking away with Deena by her side. “Are they going to be okay?” Sam asked the gardener.

“Oh yeah,” Deena nodded confidently. “Getting wasted and reminiscing about the past is part of their daily routine actually.”

Sam smiled, but then Deena met her eyes and matched her smile and Sam had to remind herself to breathe. So she turned away briskly and continued to walk. Deena was kind enough not to laugh at her.

A couple of minutes later the two women had arrived at the greenhouse. It was clearly the place Deena felt most at home in. There were plants on every surface, plants of all kinds and in many different states of health. There wasn’t a lack of personal touches though. There was more than one stray jacket left behind, occasional snack wrappers, books, cups, and more. It looked like Deena spent more time there than at the house in her own room. Then there was the bench where she invited Sam to sit. The closest thing to a couch that could stand the conditions of the greenhouse. It had comfortable cushions on top, a blanket, and Sam caught sight of a sweater that Deena quickly tried to tuck away. The image of Deena taking naps in there to avoid life at the manor was enough to make Sam smile.

“This is nice,” Sam said. “It feels like you have a little bit of everything here.”

Deena shrugged. “I’d add … a drum kit, if I could,” she confessed.

“Really?” Sam wondered, getting a little more comfortable in her seat. “You play drums?”

“For a while, when I was a teen,” Deena replied. She was thoughtful for a moment but, looking at Sam’s face, she seemed to make an important decision. “One of the foster homes where I lived in had a drumkit. It was a good outlet for when life was shit but… I haven’t played since then. I was never able to afford one myself and, anyway, it doesn’t bring up the best memories.”

“Oh,” Sam mumbled, staring at her lap. Suddenly she missed the bottle of wine she had been carrying with her. She couldn’t even remember where she left it. She only wanted to find something good to say, but Deena beat her to it.

“Now’s your turn.”

“What?” Sam finally looked at her.

“Tell me something real, if you want,” Deena smiled at her. “I’d recommend starting with what’s bothering you so much that you finished a wine bottle but you’re still pale as if you’d just come back from the dead.”

Sam laughed, closed her eyes, and leaned against the back of the seat. Of course she had finished that bottle. Of course those memories did nothing but hurt her. Of course Deena would notice, and of course Deena could find a way to ask an impossible question and still make Sam want to speak up her impossible answer.

“The windows,” Sam finally replied and opened her eyes.

“What?” Deena frowned. She was as drunk as Sam, but that answer didn’t explain anything at all.

“All kinds of mirrors really,” Sam continued. “I, uh, sometimes I… I see things… that aren’t there. But they feel, um, they are real, to me. I think. I mean, I know they are. Even if it sounds crazy.”

“What kind of things do you see?” Deena asked her.

Sam blinked. She wasn’t expecting Deena to go along with it, and she wasn’t prepared or sober enough to come up with a lie. “My dead ex-boyfriend,” she said, and didn’t give Deena much time to process that information. “He wasn’t a good guy, he… He wasn’t good… at all. But we, I mean, I tried or, I guess I did, I… I broke up… with him. It was, um, right before he… died.”

“Jesus, Sam, the same day?” Deena wondered.

“Yeah,” the blonde nodded sadly. “But I guess he hasn’t let me go yet.”

Deena bit her lip and tried her hardest to find the right thing to say. There was a lot she wanted to ask, but there were more important things at the moment. “That sounds typical,” Deena said.

“What do you mean?” Sam asked, sounding genuinely tired, but more and more relieved with each passing second.

“I mean… only a Sunnyvale jerk wouldn’t get what a breakup is,” Deena said. She had been holding her breath, but when she saw Sam smile a little, she relaxed. “Like, get over it dude! She’s Shadyside property now,” Deena added, looking around the greenhouse with her best menacing tone.

Sam couldn’t contain her chuckle, but she was back to looking down at her lap. “You’re not making fun of me, are you?” She inquired.

“Sam,” Deena called her name, and waited until Sam was staring into her eyes to continue. “I’ve lived with that hanging tree over my head for years. Ghosts are… complicated, I guess, but nothing to joke about, are they?” She was worried she wasn’t making much sense, but she was genuinely trying her best. Sam shook her head softly, agreeing with her, but her eyes weren’t all that focused on ghosts, and loss, and the past anymore. “I think it’s a matter of understanding-”

All at once, Sam was kissing Deena. She had just leaned in, connected their lips, interrupted Deena with a kiss they had been dying for. At first, Deena’s shock didn’t allow her to do much, but when she caught up, when she made sense of the sweet taste of Sam, the warm press of her lips, the reality of a dream coming true right before her, she reacted. Her hands moved carefully to Sam’s face, as if afraid to break her, but she slowly pushed back. She saw the moment Sam’s blue eyes fluttered open again, and that sight alone was more than enough to steal Deena’s heart.

“Are you sure?” Deena asked her.

Sam couldn’t fight the need to glance around them, just to make sure there weren’t unwanted shadows staring at her from a corner, but there was nothing. They were alone. This moment was completely hers. “Yes,” she replied with a smile, and whatever Deena had tried to say aftward, Sam interrupted her with a kiss, but Deena didn’t seem to mind at all.

They kissed with perfect excitement, their lips were eager, and they tasted of wine, and the first touch of Deena’s tongue on her bottom lip stole a whimper from Sam. They moved closer together, and their restless hands gained confidence. Everything was happening at once, they were in a hurry, they were taking their time, they had only a second, they had all the time in the world. Sam's hand was on Deena’s shoulder, grabbing a fistful of her green jacket, pulling her closer. Deena’s hand was getting lost in Sam’s blonde ponytail, holding her in place, driving her crazy. Every second their kisses renewed and grew in passion, with Deena’s tongue pulling shivers out of Sam, and Sam’s teeth biting down on Deena’s bottom lip, overjoyed to take the other woman by surprise.

It was an accident, though. Sam didn’t really mean to open her eyes when she did. But by the time she realized what had happened, it was too late and the damage was done. She opened her eyes and right there behind Deena, with his monstrous head almost on her shoulder, was Peter. Peter the shadow, the ghost, the darkness, the demon, the ruin of Sam’s entire life.

She gasped and jumped back and away from Deena as if she’d received some kind of lethal shock.

“Fuck,” the two of them said. They were breathless, confused, and hurt. There was a sudden and unbreachable distance between. They were completely alone in the greenhouse.

--

Less than an hour later, and wearing her pajamas, Sam was storming out of her bedroom, down the stairs, and out of the manor. Her thoughts were messier than ever, and only half of it was because of the wine. There was a lot going on in her mind, a lot she couldn’t erase, understand, or even acknowledge. There was a lifetime of expectations and lies that she had endured for too long. There was a kiss from a captivating gardener that wasn’t supposed to be so sweet. There was Deena standing up, apologizing, apologizing as if anything would have possibly been her fault, and walking away from Sam without once looking back. There was a pair of teenagers that jumped out of their beds at that ungodly hour just to make her waste five minutes in the hallway, listening to them explain some genuinely unsettling dreams until they agreed to let her go. Underneath it all, there was one thought standing out from the rest though. Unfair. That’s what Sam thought of it all. It wasn’t fair that she had to deal with that much, since she was a little girl. It wasn’t fair that even after dying Peter still controlled her. It wasn’t fair that she’d found the most incredible person and potentially ruined it all because of her fear.

But, at last, Sam had made it back to the hanging tree, back to the dying embers of the bonfire, which she hoped were strong enough to burn one last memory. She wasn’t alone, of course. Behind her, Ryan Torrest had observed her walk past him. He could barely change his expression anymore, but he looked as concerned as he was capable of. He raised his right hand in front of him to study the knife he still carried. He almost wished he could pass it to the clearly distressed woman, but there was no use. He couldn’t do anything, his knife wasn’t really capable of causing harm to ghosts, no matter how many times he had tested it before on himself. Besides, that woman had to face her ghosts by herself, and this one was a different kind of ghost than the manor's habitants.

A few feet in front of Sam, Peter’s ghost stood. He was just his shadow, just pure darkness resembling his shape, with just enough details for Sam to be able to see the hatred in his eyes. “ I can’t marry you, Peter, ” she had said. “ I don’t love you, I can’t, not you, not any man ,” she had added in an impulsive attempt to appease his already explosive anger. “ I’m sorry! I didn’t ask for this, Peter! Don’t hurt me, please, ” was the last she said to him. Before he raised his arm, before he took a step backward, before the truck hit him.

“What the hell, Peter?” Sam said, facing the silent ghost under the hanging tree.

There was no answer.

“What the fuck do you want from me, huh?” Sam insisted.

The ghost didn’t speak, didn’t move, didn’t react.

“You don’t scare me anymore, Peter,” Sam said, not yelling anymore.

The dark, human-shaped mass only stood there, ominous but immobile.

“You can’t take anything else from me, you know?” Sam sighed.

The woman was just so tired, and the ghost couldn’t do anything, could he?

“If you think you can still hurt me then go for it. Do it, Peter, I don’t care anymore. Kill me, if that’s what you want, but get it over with. Because I’m done! Did you hear me? I’m done… I’m done… I’m not scared anymore. I’m not scared of you anymore.”

The embers left from the bonfire suddenly sparked back to life, burning away what had been left behind.

[aion-rsa]

Evil Season 2 Episode 3 Review: F Is for Fire

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This Evil review contains spoilers.

Evil Season 2 Episode 3

Evil season 2, episode 3, “F Is for Fire,” begins at its hottest point. Dr Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers) is having trouble sleeping, but she’s not being kept awake by some demonic force. Her husband has been off on some mountain climbing expedition, and the last time she tapped an axe, it was into the skull of a serial killer. Even forensic psychologists have needs, and when they do, sometimes the only cure is a nocturnal mission.

Technically, the monster-of-the-week would register higher on the Fahrenheit gauge. It’s an Islamic spirit tied to the element of fire, with flames where his hair should be. But Kristen’s devil-in-Miss Jones routine is a slower burn which the series, and Herbers pulls off extremely well. They set mood music, tilt cameras, drench scenes in torrid gelled lighting, and raid the closet for a change of wardrobe. Dr. Brouchard is completely transformed, but it is too strictly engineered of a transformation. It feels textbook, and Evil is about breaking procedure.

Last week’s episode, “A Is for Angel,” ended after David Acosta (Mike Colter) heard an all-too enthusiastic confession from Leland Townshend (Michael Emerson), who had shooed Sister Andrea (Andrea Martin) out of the room only moments before. The nun knew something was up, and David knew she was in the know. The last words of the episode, “alright, I’ll help you,” were positively uplifting. Sister Andrea’s help, apparently, only goes so far, and Martin perfectly captures her expanding her limitations.

First, Sister Andrea wants nothing to do with David’s sigil map, because he’s not supposed to be in possession of it. He was told to look into it, but not have a physical, visual aid for reference. The nun will not break the rules of the church, even if they are not official commandments. However, when David begins to explain the background, and how it all leads to something more sinister at RSM Fertility, we can see her interest grow. By the time she’s separating alphabets from language to language, letter by letter, Sister Andrea projects her entire process. Even better than this, she leaves the audience with a thousand questions about her past. Why is she such an expert on so many things? She is like Deep Throat, the Well-Manicured Man and X on The X-Files combined, but with far better grounding in reality.

Once Sister Andrea gets to the clue of the coded message, she quickly deciphers the letters of a name, and surprisingly, the family has been wondering why it took so long for the church to get there. David’s backlog of cases is a subtle running joke, but it’s become contagious. But so does the demon at the center of the episode’s mystery. The thing haunting the little girl is called an Ifrit, in Islamic mythology, it is neither good nor evil, just very moody, and often burns very hot.

The subject of the investigation is a girl named Mathilda Maubrey, played by Matilda Lawler, who also played Brenda, the little girl in the mask who took Kristen’s children grave-digging in season 1. Mathilda is the foster child Brian and Jane Castle are thinking of adopting, but mysterious fires keep starting whenever the kid is left alone. The biological mother was arrested for arson. Kristen thinks the daughter might be replicating her mom’s behavior. Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi) is open to the idea the mother might have been put away for crimes Mathilda committed. Or the answer might be found behind door number 3.

Mathilda is very bright, and Lawler plays her intelligently but with a desperate edge. She sweetly tells Kristen she doesn’t need to give examples of the things she’s being questioned about. But she’s really saying she’s at the end of her patience and doesn’t like to be patronized. She is not an angry child. She says she only gets mad after talking to her mom because she misses her. Her parents probably should have led with the nanny-cam tape, though. It is the reason they called in the church, they say. Why make the team linger over this without that information? Kristen throws out a perfectly good tea set. It comes back, but still.

Even though we believe Mathilda, what is she doing with chlorine tablets and brake fluid? Her father has a point. Besides the invading entity, the family also has to endure religious intolerance from the clergy itself. The spiritual workers from the two faiths don’t wrestle the spirit as a tag-team, the priest and the sheikh face off against each other in a pious preliminary.

Poor Ben is forced into defending a mythology he doesn’t buy into because of some form of nationalistic pride. Watching how the priest treats the sheikh before the exorcism rites begin, the audience tends to side with Muslim-raised skeptic. Not only does Ben have to contend with the holier rollers doing wheelies on his family’s faith, Kristen pushes his agnostic buttons with all the guilt of a lapsed Catholic. It’s a good thing he’s got a dream demoness waiting up for him at home.

“Why do you have a retainer,” Ben asks his nighttime friend, and the entire atmosphere gets uneasily creepy. What exactly is he being tempted by and, could the demoness have stolen Lexis’ dental-wear? Kristen’s daughter has been sporting a devilish smile since chomping off the finger of an orthodontic nurse. As it is a night terror scene, it could be foreshadowing of something exceptionally dark and frightening in a very skewered way. The detail could also be some Freudian holdover because Ben had just been chastised by his own sister on his faith. But it could all be leading up to his interpretation of god’s latest punchline, straddling the team “in the middle of Queens watching a sheik and a priest exorcize a 9-year-old girl.”

Kristen’s mother Sheryl (Christine Lahti) turns out to be even more manipulative than any of us, audience or characters, may have given her credit for. I can understand what Leland sees in her. She makes up a fake name, and books herself some sessions with Kristen’s therapist Dr. Boggs (Kurt Fuller). This may sound like it’s underhanded enough, but when she’s caught, she goes all in, dropping to her knees and begging forgiveness from the doctor. It’s scary, but mainly because it works.

“F is For Fire” continues to fan the embers of ambiguity. Everything about Mathilde’s fire-starting abilities seem to have as much of a rational explanation as a spiritual one. Kristen does go burning her candles at both ends as a direct result, but with mitigating factors. But the episode also benefits from the grey areas between the Islamic and Christian beliefs, and the inherent pecking order of spirituality. Evil doesn’t offer easy outs, they prefer intellectual subversions, like ending an episode on a little girl starting fires with a glance.

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Evil airs Sundays on Paramount+.

The post Evil Season 2 Episode 3 Review: F Is for Fire appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[cwhitestone-blog]

Sept 2019

Introduction

I belong to Piney Point Baptist Church, in Rogers, Arkansas.  The church has a women's ministry. Some of us are going to the Women of Joy conference in Branson, MO.  I signed up to go as well. But since I have been studying the postmodern church I had reservations about going. A little research on the speakers at the Women of Joy conference revealed my concerns were not unfounded. I discovered, mostly by watching excellent discernment ministry YouTube videos, that many W of J speakers also speak at conferences, at churches and on so-called Christian television or radio stations which promote a false Christ for a new, emergent spirituality. 

If I did go to the W of J conference, it would be good fellowship with sisters. The speakers would probably not preach anything overtly heretical. It might be fun listening to their stories. After all, these are professional speakers and storytellers. Yet I cannot in good conscience attend. I do not judge anyone for going though. It could be an opportunity to be discerning. 

What am I to do for my sisters who haven't been told the whole story about these hidden things? What is wrong with this Women of Joy conference is what is wrong with the big picture, the emerging new spirituality. I believe my sisters would want to know, so my convictions lead me to share this.

Leaders from different types of churches, from the Bible preaching to the liberal ones, share platforms at conferences and preach at each others' churches. This alliance becomes an amalgam of truth with error. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. 

Some of the speakers at the upcoming Branson MO 2019 W of J conference are part of a group of professional speakers who make the conference rounds. While Women of Joy looks innocuous, many other conferences promote false doctrines and worldly agendas. Why are the same speakers sharing platforms, endorsing false teachers? This is not guilt by association but guilt by participation. 

Many of these speakers who speak at W. of J. confererences also preach at mega churches which promote heresies. I will outline these heresies as we go. They are Word of Faith, the New Apostolic Reformation, the Emergent church and New Age Spirituality. These professional speakers share platforms with those who preach these heresies. Not only do they not challenge the false teachings but they promote the false teachers. But this is spiritual adultery and idolatry....a social club of religious stardom, the speakers forming an entertaining entourage, fame more important than truth. 

Thus, conferences and churches merge, which is an agenda of the emergent church. These professional speakers promote Who's Who in religion, from Joel Olsten, TD Jakes, Joyce Meyer, Rick Warren, Mike Bickel, Kenneth Copeland, Francis Chan...whoever. They use Bible words like grace and love, not sin and holiness. Sadly many sincere seekers are taken in by the religious buzzwords. 

A few of the Women of Joy speakers I researched also speak on the Jesus Calling radio station/podcast.  Jesus Calling by Sarah Young is the bestselling channeled book sold by Christian publishers, which speaks for a false, New Age Jesus. I will elaborate more as we go, what research brought me to this conclusion. Some W of J speakers preach on problematic networks like DayStar TV, which hosts Joseph Prince and other fake healers. 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The following are some of the areas I am going to research and write about in upcoming posts.  Just sharing with you the outline of topics to be discussed.

Let's look at the big picture...

I. How did the church arrive in this crisis? 

A. Mega Churches and who started them

Peter Drucker first groomed Bob Buford, then Rick Warren and Bill Hybels. 

Bob Buford

Rick Warren was heavily influenced by New Age Self-Esteem guru Robert Schuller.

    Robert Schuller:

Seeker-Friendly C3 Churches 

Church growth is a profitable business. These mega churches offer entertainment, community and a promise of heaven for everyone. They preach self esteem pop-psychology, inclusivism and ecumenism. 

B. The Emergent, Merging Church in its many manifestitations 

1. New Age Mysticism and Religious Experience Replace Truth

C. The Fall of the Evangelical Church 

Many faithful believers within SBC churches like Piney Point Baptist love the Lord and want to follow him. They do not know that the leaders of the SBC have joined hands with those who preach false doctrine and that these same people honor and meet with Pope Francis. Pope Francis has been meeting with world leaders saying religions should merge. I believe he intends to be the head of these religions in the name of world peace. (Video)     Yet Rick Warren says, if you love Jesus you'll love Pope Francis. Citation The leader of the SBC, Greer, says we should be fierce advocates for the LGBTQ community. Please watch the YouTube The SBC is Fallen The Southern Baptist Convention has fallen. It is my earnest prayer that the leadership of Piney Point Baptist will get us out of the SBC, so that our tithes do not contribute, even in a tiny way, to ungodly agendas. $$$$$$$$$$ 

The SBC includes, in its compromise with the world, over 45,000 churches. Many of these are not Evangelical, Baptist or Bible teaching. Many help lead people to hell.

E. The New Apostolic Reformation, NAR

F. Word of Faith

G. The Crazy Conference Scene

like Passion, frequented by Word of Faith and NAR heretics; as well as Show Me Your Glory and the Gathering. These conferences blend denominations and apostasies more. .

Chan, Bickle and Louie Giglio did the One Thing Conference. Kevin DeYoung, Together for the Gospel, invited Chan to his conference, even though DeYoung is more orthodox. 

These men speak at The Call, The Send, The Altar Conferences, The New Jesus movement, with its Signs and Wonders (as prophesied, “all lieing signs and wonders”). They speak of “A Dream, God's Dream”...These are their conferences seeking to bring the worldwide transition for the anti christ. That is a nightmare. It's all about Unity. Hellsong, Tod White, Heidi Baker, NAR (New Apostalic Reformation – see Note.) leaders, Jesus Culture (Bill Johnson)...they will all be at The Send conference (like Jesus sent out his apostles). 

Who are the Leaders at the Women of Joy Conferences?

A. First let's look at the leaders at the Branson MO Oct 2019 W of J Conference

Liz Curtis Higgs speaks on LifeTodayTV which features Beth Moore. I believe there is evidence Moore has walked away from the faith. 

Beth Moore used to seem like a good Bible study teacher until she got a vision from God that evangelicals should unite with Catholics. She befriends the superstars of the false church system including Joyce Meyer, the Olsteens, and Hillsong leaders. 

Annie F. Downs

Annie Downs is affiliated with Pastor Ray Johnston's Bayside Church. Bayside does Thrive conferences which host heretics like Francis Chan, who is part of the New Apostolic Reformation (See note.) Ray Johnston replaces doctrine with the social gospel. 

Downs podcasts on the Jesus Calling channel. 

Also, Annie Downs speaks and writes for Relevant, which features Carl Lentz, leader of Hillsong New York. (It is relevant who Relevant represents.) 

Carl Lentz

Karen Kingbury - fine.

Sheila Walsh was a former host of the 700 Club host. She speaks at Saddleback with Warren, and at Hillsong. 

B. Now let's look at speakers at other W of J confererences.

Bianca Olthoff  seems really suspect. I took one look at her picture and thought, “transgender” but, of course, that was my gut reaction and I don't know; although I did find a strange YouTube video which may confirm this. “B*thel C*urch: Dr Bianca Olthoff Preaching Hebrew Swag Conference transgender approved satanic mind control.” At _____, Bianca says, “you can bless my heart if...(pause)...no one told me you could see up my dress.” Her meta message seems to be, don't tell what you might have seen up my dress. I wouldn't doubt that Olthoff would be capable of mocking Christian women in this way since she is affiliated with Bethel Church. She hosts “Bible” studies with names like “Play with Fire Small Group Bible Study.” 

Bethel Church, Bill Johnson

Alli Worthington – links a Katie Perry song to her page which comes with a parental advisory. She makes the rounds. 

Lysa Terkeurst - Lysa wrote a decent book about two gardens but Lysa Terkeurst is someone I will no longer read because she speaks at Elevation, endorsing Steven Furtick. (I recommend women's Bible study books by Susan Heck, who has memorized 23 books of the Bible.) 

Steven Furtick, Elevation

Lisa Harper makes the rounds to Hillsong and Hillsong Colour Conference, Elevation Church, the C3 San Diego Church... She is also on the Jesus Calling Devotional Podcast and the 700 Club. 

Hillsong churches andHillsong Colour Conference

Christine Caine

III. Have they Joined the Heresy Club? 

A. The Respectable Deceived

Even some seemingly spiritual giants are straying. John MacArthur, for instance has put his dubious friendships over truth by sharing speaking platforms with NAR leaders and others. I thank God that MacArthur is still a godly Bible teacher, though. 

What's wrong Ravi Zacharias? He speaks at Saddleback mega church with Rick Warren. Ravi commends Joyce Meyer and Henri Nouwen. Elaborat He can tell you why Christianity makes more sense than the Koran yet he endorses leaders who deceive. 

Lee Strobel makes a convincing case for Christ yet hooks up with Willowcreek mega church. (Elaborate)

These men often preach correct doctrine. Yet, apparently, intellectual assent to a set of propositional truths does not give them spiritual discernment regarding false teachers. They are not heeding scriptures which tell us to watch out for wolves in sheep's clothing. We are certainly not to promote them.

Beth Moore, once a spiritual giant to evangelical women with her Bible studies, is still a darling of the SBC, making the rounds at mega churches, yet she is now preaching a different gospel, a different Jesus. Beth said she had a vision: God wants Protestants to unite with Catholics. Beth is completely inclusive, preaching with Word of Faith Joyce Meyer, both saying, “there should be no divisions.” She has heavily influenced the SBC ecumenist, political operative Roger Moore. 

Francis Chan, NAR, is a popular conference speaker who hangs out with cult leader Mike Bickle, Pastor Rick Warren and Lou Ingle. Chan says if you speak against Rick Warren, God might kill you. YouTube 'Apostasy Report – Francis Chan The Deceiver” Servus Christi. 

Mike Bickle –  YouTube “Mike Bickle false teacher.” 

Btw, I live in Rogers, Arkansas and was curious about The Joppa House of Prayer because I drive by it. When I visited I saw worship leaders from a conservative congregation, Fellowship Bible Church in Lowell, helping with the music in the sanctuary. But when there is no live music, The International House of Prayer is livestreamed on the big screen in the sanctuary. This was my introduction to the IHOP cult. I knew something was wrong right away hearing the Kansas City prophets make false prophesies on the big screen.  But who is sounding the alarm about this at Fellowship Bible Church?  Then I went into the healing rooms and saw advertisements for healings offering which use New Age and Word of Faith practices.

IHOP and the Kansas City Prophets - 

What the Bible Says About False Teachers and Deceivers

Regarding associating with and promoting heretics, read 1 John 1:10, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting.”

Watch  “Mike Bickel IHOP and Mysticism.wmv” – Soapa Preachers. 

Rick Warren – says, if you love Pope Francis you'll love Jesus. One could write books about what is wrong with him; yet Pastor Rick is on Christian radio, with his seemingly harmless checklists for how you are doing in the Christian life. How about what he is doing in the Christian life?! 

Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

Hillsong

Carl Lenz

700 Club

Bethel Church

Steven Furtick, Elevation 

and on and on.

[thewahookid]

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Retreat House in Medjugorje

I recently traveled to Medjugorje for just two days to be interviewed by ABC Nightline for their show on Mary. One of my fondest memories of that blink-of-an-eye pilgrimage entailed visiting Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Retreat House, an impressive castle-like structure that tickles the eye—the home and vision of Patrick and Nancy Latta, who built it, and are still building it, to support, refresh, and foster vocations to religious life.

On the “castle” grounds, I felt like I was walking into ancient history and a bit of Disneyland, all in one. As I walked onto the property, a friendly, vibrant man, with white hair and a white smile, welcomed me like a dear relative. I didn’t know I was shaking the hand of Patrick Latta—the reason I had come there.

Earlier that morning, a fellow pilgrim had told the pilgrims at our breakfast table that Patrick was going to share his testimony, and we weren’t to miss it. I’m so glad I didn’t.

Chapel in the Retreat Center

Later that day, I followed a handful of pilgrims into a petite, round, stone chapel, where Patrick mesmerized us with a lively telling of his story of conversion. With humor and humble self-effacement, mixed with shock and disappointment over his own past behavior, he shared a life of debauchery turned disciple. Just one sentence, from one Medjugorje message, saved him from a life of “doing it my way,” which included affairs, adultery, and alcohol. Once the owner of seven car dealerships, with twenty-eight salesmen working underneath him, he swam in what he worshipped: money. On weekends, he traveled from his home country of Canada all the way to Las Vegas, to “live it up.” And on week nights, he took his employees to a bar, announcing proudly, “Drinks are on me.”

“How much do you think that cost me?” He asked us, as were calculating numbers in our heads.

“Two divorces,” he said, and shared how he ruined his own family and never took any of his four kids to church, although he was supposedly Catholic.

When his son came home one day and asked, “Dad, what’s this God stuff?”

Patrick took out a few bills, gave them to his son, and said, “What is God stuff? Here, my son. Here’s God. Get a sack of these, and you’ve got all the God you want.”

To this day, that one encounter is all the son remembers of his father from his childhood. “Dad,” he said years later. “You handed me money and said it was God.”

“My kids had everything money could buy,” reflected Patrick. “And it corrupted them. I corrupted them.”

Patrick Latta sharing his Medjugorje testimony

Patrick didn’t change his ways, even after marrying his third wife, Nancy, a lapsed Catholic. Then one day, Nancy handed him a book, containing messages from Medjugorje. Patrick gave it back, telling her to throw it away, but his wife retorted, “You throw it away, my pagan husband. Let it be on your conscience.”

Patrick suddenly found himself wrestling with a conscience he didn’t know he had. To allay this strange new feeling of guilt, he decided to read nothing more than “a little two-liner,” before throwing the paperback away. So he opened to the back of the book and laid eyes on the shortest message he could find:

I call you to conversion for the last time.

“I don’t know what happened at that moment,” Patrick told us pilgrims. “I have no idea to this day what happened. All of a sudden, my heart was beating twenty miles per hour, and tears were running down my cheeks.

‘Nancy!” I yelled, ‘Why didn’t you tell me about these messages? Nancy, why didn’t you tell me that they were true? Nancy, that message was for me!’

It was the first time I saw myself. I had been living in mortal sin for thirty years. I had walked away from the Catholic Church when I was fourteen years old, saying, ‘I don’t need this.’ You can walk out of the Church and walk straight into hell quite easily—a lot easier than you can walk into heaven. You get into mortal sin, and then you convince yourself you’re right. ‘I can do what I want. I don’t need Church. I don’t need Confession.’

My Italian immigrant mother—five feet, two inches, both ways—prayed for me for forty-eight years. Forty-eight years of rosaries, and she saw nothing. Then one day, one message changed my life. I believe her prayers helped me believe that the Medjugorje messages were true.”

The Latta's embracing

Nancy complimenting her husband, Patrick

Today, Patrick, alongside his wife, Nancy, serves pilgrims from sun up to long past sun down, as people come and go from their home and retreat center, the “castle.” A friend of mine, who knows Patrick well, said that although he’s seventy-two and his back gives him constant, sometimes debilitating pain, he never complains and treats everyone he meets with a father’s love and acceptance.

Below are videos of Patrick Latta, on the grounds of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Retreat House, giving his testimony of conversion to a large group of pilgrims—an account similar to the one he shared with my little group that day in Medjugorje. His story concludes with him saying . . .

Castle structure on the grounds of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Retreat House

“Our Lady has appeared on this property twelve times, not because I’m holy or spiritual. It’s just that Marija, the visionary, lives next door, and she has four boys. So at about four o’clock in the afternoon, we get out the hot dogs and ice cream for the boys, and she comes over with her kids, and I say, “If you’re bringing us all an apparition, you might as well stay.” The car dealer in me never dies.

It’s been a great grace, and two years ago, Our Lady gave a message for this place. She said through Maria, “I am joyful that you consecrated this place to me and my Son, that He may reign here.” And then Our Lady added the big words, “Those who come here I will bless and protect.”

Imagine that. This is the guy who did everything wrong in his whole life. “Those who come here, I will bless and protect.” Marija was shocked. I was shocked. We were all in tears over this message, because this was a message for a private home. It was unbelievable. But it really did happen. This message is for you!”

By Christine Watkins

[empoprises]

The ACLU - money talks, but do we like what it is saying?

Now you can put a positive spin on this by saying that increased popularity is a good thing, or you can put a negative spin on this by saying that chasing causes that provide the most revenue ends up corrupting your ideals. 

But first, a bit of history. 

From a theoretical stance, the ACLU has always stood for the defense of civil liberties for all, even when people are using civil liberties to espouse unpopular views. The landmark demonstration of this stance was when neo-Nazis wanted to march through Skokie, Illinois, a town with a sizable Jewish population. The ACLU sided with the neo-Nazis.

In 1978, the ACLU took a controversial stand for free speech by defending a neo-Nazi group that wanted to march through the Chicago suburb of Skokie , where many Holocaust survivors lived. The notoriety of the case caused some ACLU members to resign, but to many others the case has come to represent the ACLU's unwavering commitment to principle. In fact, many of the laws the ACLU cited to defend the group's right to free speech and assembly were the same laws it had invoked during the Civil Rights era, when Southern cities tried to shut down civil rights marches with similar claims about the violence and disruption the protests would cause.

https://www.aclu.org/other/aclu-history-taking-stand-free-speech-skokie

Fast forward to 2017, when the ACLU took a principled stand - this time, against discrimination due to religious belief (Muslim religious belief in particular). And something interesting happened.

David Cole: We had all these people coming to us, newly joining the ACLU and wanting to engage. Not wanting just to write a check or push a button. But wanting to actually take action in defense of liberty.

Lesley Stahl: You owe it all to Donald Trump.

David Cole: Exactly. He has reminded people of the importance of standing up and defending liberty.

The ACLU senior staff saw membership nearly quadruple, and online donations came pouring in.

Lesley Stahl: How much?

Anthony Romero: Over $120 million in the first year.

Lesley Stahl: What? $120 million in the first year after Trump was elected?

Anthony Romero: [NODS]

That was 25 times the previous year's number.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-aclu-surprising-new-political-strategy-modeled-in-part-after-the-national-rifle-association-60-minutes/

But when you have a lot of money pouring in, you’re going to pay attention to where that money’s coming from. This can change things - and Lesley Stahl called the ACLU on it.

The ACLU ran tv ads and sent mailers critical of Kobach's record.

ACLU ad continues: ...threatening children with disabilities. Regardless of who you vote for on November 6th, we the people must demand that politicians respect the rule of law. The ACLU does not endorse or oppose candidates.

Lesley Stahl: Here's what I smile at.

Faiz Shakir: Yes.

Lesley Stahl: You have that ad. You tell the voters of Kansas all the things that you strongly disagree with about him. And then at the bottom it says, "We don't endorse candidates."

Faiz Shakir: Yes, that's right. We are also advertising to people that we are a nonpartisan organization, that we don't endorse and oppose candidates. So when you watch an issue--

Lesley Stahl: It's like a wink thing. Ha, ha, we don't endorse--

Faiz Shakir: I don't think it is a wink thing.

Oh, and there’s one more example.

But Glasser says they're stepping up too much, putting progressive politics ahead of traditional civil liberties concerns -- like the presumption of innocence.

Case in point: the ACLU's decision to oppose Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination based on Christine Blasey Ford's allegation of sexual assault and Kavanaugh's response. The ACLU bussed and flew in large numbers of women to Capitol Hill to lobby key senators and ran an ad in four states, insinuating Kavanaugh's guilt by association....

Lesley Stahl: We've heard criticism that the ACLU would oppose someone on an unproven charge. You're usually defending people when there's an unproven charge.

David Cole: Right. And if the question was whether Brett Kavanaugh should go to jail, we would have defended him. But the question was not whether he should go to jail. The question was whether he should be appointed to one of the most powerful positions in government for life.

Lesley Stahl: This wasn't a criminal trial, it wasn't even a civil trial. It was a job interview.

Ira Glasser: I agree with the fact that it was a job interview and not a criminal trial but we're talking about the ACLU taking out a million dollars' worth of ads arguing that an accusation was the equivalent of a finding of guilt. For the ACLU, of all organizations, to be complicit in-- in the national pastime now of converting accusations into convictions without a trial-- [MAKES FACE]  

Oh, and CBS - you know, that wild-eyed fascist right-wing organization - tacked this little code on the end of its piece. 

Political director Faiz Shakir recently announced his departure from the ACLU. His new job. Bernie Sanders' campaign manager.

[alshamey]

Mila Kunis Talks Parenting Two Kids with Ashton Kutcher: 'We're Not Gonna Raise A--holes' http://yourgradgear.com/2017/10/04/mila-kunis-talks-parenting-two-kids-with-ashton-kutcher-were-not-gonna-raise-a-holes/

New Post has been published on http://yourgradgear.com/2017/10/04/mila-kunis-talks-parenting-two-kids-with-ashton-kutcher-were-not-gonna-raise-a-holes/

Mila Kunis Talks Parenting Two Kids with Ashton Kutcher: 'We're Not Gonna Raise A--holes'

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  Mila Kunis may be a self-described “bad mom” in her hit comedy Bad Moms and its upcoming Christmas-themed sequel, but she’s determined not to live up to that title in real life.

The 34-year-old actress — who shares two kids with husband Ashton Kutcher: son Dimitri Portwood, 10 months, and daughter Wyatt Isabelle, 3 — opened up to Entertainment Tonight about her and Kutcher’s desire to raise open-minded children.

“Yeah, we’re not gonna raise a–holes. There’s enough a–holes in this world!” Kunis said. “We don’t need to contribute. But, you know, there’s some nice people.”

Want all the latest pregnancy and birth announcements, plus celebrity mom blogs? Click here to get those and more in the PEOPLE Babies newsletter.

RELATED VIDEO: What is the Parenting Move that Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher Always High-Five Each Other For?

  One of the ways they go about that is not giving Wyatt and Dimitri Christmas presents — a decision they came to after their own parents showered the tiny tots with piles and piles of gifts.

“We’re instituting [no presents] this year because when the kids are [younger than] 1, it doesn’t really matter,” Kunis says. “Last year when we celebrated Christmas, Wyatt was 2, and it was too much. We didn’t give her anything — it was the grandparents. The kid no longer appreciates the one gift. They don’t even know what they’re expecting; they’re just expecting stuff.”

“We’ve told our parents, ‘We’re begging you — if you have to give her something, pick one gift. Otherwise, we’d like to take a charitable donation, to the Children’s Hospital or a pet [or] whatever you want,’ ” she adds.

Noel Vasquez/GC Images

RELATED: Mila Kunis Refuses to Raise Entitled Children: “Mommy and Daddy May Have a Dollar, But You’re Poor”

The holidays were tough for Kunis to navigate at first. “I come from communist Russia, where you’re not allowed to be happy, so my holiday traditions are ‘be quiet,’ ” she jokes. “Coming to America is when you realize Christmas has a magical quality to it.”

“In Russia, back in the day, it was a very religious holiday, so you don’t celebrate Christmas if you’re not Christian and if you’re not at Mass,” she explains. “So, I being Jewish, was like, ‘Christmas is not for you.’ We come to America and we’re like, ‘Christmas is so inclusive.’ ”

“We literally bought a Christmas tree,” Kunis continues. “So as far as tradition goes, my family’s big on any excuse to get the family together and get drunk. Whether it’s Easter, which we’ve now all accepted into our Jewish household, or Christmas, it doesn’t matter. It’s all family time, but having kids, we’re building up our own little versions of tradition.”

STX

RELATED: Ashton Kutcher Admits Mila Kunis Predicted Donald Trump’s Win and Their Son’s Name: “Everything She Says Is Right”

Aside from building traditions, the Family Guy voice actress has her hands full juggling work and motherhood — but that balance has gotten easier.

“I’m a little bit less stressed over what to anticipate. You’re still stressed out and there’s still the idea of the guilt of leaving your kids, but you know that they’ll be okay,” she explains. “Because I’ve already done it once and the kid doesn’t resent me, so I was like, ‘Okay, I think I can do this.’ ”

“I also need to enlist help,” Kunis adds. “Working full time, my husband has moved his company here, so he works full time. We needed help.”

FROM PEN: How Today‘s Savannah Guthrie Copes With a Toddler, a Newborn AND 3 a.m. Wake-Up Calls!

  Filming A Bad Moms Christmas in Atlanta with her kids in tow made things a bit easier on her “mobile tribe,” even if Kunis was constantly busy planning activities for the kids.

“I can write you a book on kid-friendly activities anywhere in the world,” she says. “Because that’s what we do. We used to be like, ‘What’s the coolest club?’ and [now] I’m like, ‘Let me tell you about the zoo in Atlanta and the bouncy house.’ There’s not one kid activity that I haven’t done yet with my child!”

Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

RELATED: Mila Kunis Returns to the Red Carpet 4 Months After Welcoming Son Dimitri – and Talks Being a Tired Mom of Two

“We have a public library card everywhere we go,” the star shares. “When it is really hot outside, we go to the library and read books.”

Somewhere between all of that, Kunis hits the gym. After all, unlike what many may think, her post-baby bod takes work. “Lots of gym-ing,” she says. “I hate someone who’s like, ‘This is all natural.’ Bulls—. It’s not natural.”

A Bad Moms Christmas — which also stars Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Susan Sarandon, Christine Baranski and Cheryl Hines — hits theaters Nov. 3.

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[aion-rsa]

Why Evil is the Only TV Procedural Worth Watching

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This Evil article contains spoilers. You can read a spoiler-free review of the show here.

Who knows what evils lie at the heart of CBS’s Evil? Shadows know. We consulted a book of shadows (not the one Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson) skims, too many spoilers there) to cut into the left ventricle of the darkness feeding the network’s supernatural series, now in production for season 2. The blood of the police procedural pumps through the veins of the paranormal investigation show, but Evil transcends the statutes of those limitations. Occasionally by papal decree. The series is intelligent, filled with symbolism, and its main character, who is training to be a priest, drops acid on a semi-regular basis. And he’s not microdosing. Look at those baggies.

Evil doesn’t debunk demonic possession, which is the main thrust of the team’s investigations. It never treats it as campy. The series believes demons are real, even giving the audience a breakdown of the six different forms possession take. But it deliciously stops short of giving full commitment. The show also explores how to parse out personal responsibility when there’s a supernatural being to blame. In episode 7, “Vatican 3,” we learn “the court does not acknowledge demonic possession” in determining guilt or innocence. The series further muddies the waters when the crew has to take a hard look at a murder committed by someone who wasn’t possessed, such as when the parents of what they believed is a demonically possessed child kill him. The series further turns the screw because the kid they killed to save their other children was born evil. It was literally in his genes.

Evil shares DNA with The X-Files, and David Acosta, played with charisma and empathy by Mike Colter (Luke Cage), is the new show’s Fox “Spooky” Mulder. He is looking for answers beyond the veil, which has the same letters as evil, and he is putting the pieces together like a hidden map of old Manhattan. There’s a truth out there and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to understand it. He’s not in it to solve any crimes against venal sins. He is looking for deeper meaning, and this alone puts the series above most procedurals. David’s got a bit of the scientist Dodge from original The Planet of the Apes film in his cinematic character. One of the first astronauts to delve so deep into the outer reaches of space, “He’d walk naked into a live volcano if he thought he could learn something no other man knew.” David is the same. He was a foreign correspondent in war-ravaged Afghanistan who got to know the soldiers whose stories he reported. Truth and knowledge are the most noble of callings, and ultimately come before his religious calling.

While the basic premise of a spiritual believer teamed with a dissenting psychologist is procedural trope, Evil is out to debunk the law of its diminishing returns. First, the show teams David with not just one skeptical voice, but two. Katja Herbers’ Dr. Kristen Bouchard plays the same role Agent Dana Scully played to Mulder, and with a similar arsenal. She comes from a different perspective, though. Bouchard does indeed believe in miracles, but thinks they all have scientific explanations. She is confident the only reason something might defy natural principles is because science hasn’t been applied properly yet. Scully, who wore a cross and took her faith seriously, accepted miracles on faith. David and Kristen rarely come to the same conclusion.

Ben Shakir, played by Aasif Mandvi, brings common knowledge, and shades his skepticism with cynicism. The former Daily Show correspondent takes on the weight of all three Lone Gunmen but with more constructive skills. Before joining the paranormal team, he was a carpenter, just like Jesus. Ben knows how things work, and when everyday mechanisms like sinks or faulty wiring are the root cause of supernatural phenomena, he can turn the screws, and spot the mold. Ben, “the Magnificent,” as Kristen’s children call him, is also tech savvy, and quite capable of hacking hackers.

Evil also throws things at Ben which he can’t easily spackle over with even the best of tests. Try as he may, and he tries, he can’t explain the light of an angel in the frame of a surveillance video. There is no evidence of doctoring, even at the most expert levels. “The world is weird,” David passes off as dating advice when Ben asks about potential girlfriend Vanessa (Nicole Shalhoub), who wants to know she if she should detach from her dead sister before committing to a new relationship. Vanessa thinks she is “tethered” to her phantom sister by the right arm.

Supernatural science is bizarre, creators Robert and Michelle King (The Good Wife, Braindead) believe. They push the show to diagnose causes the external evidence of exorcisms and stigmata, the bleeding wounds which correspond to the wounds on Christ’s hands when he was nailed to the cross. Because stigmatics display their wounds as they are portrayed artistically, rather than how the Romans historically would have done the crucifixion, it proves it comes from a psychological source. Internal belief causes the phenomena, not external spiritual forces. Evil explains that, allowing ample room for skepticism, belief, and even poetic reasons for spiritual incursions. David quotes Shakespeare to enunciate his faith. The concept of free will doesn’t come up in most procedurals. Neither does the way sociopolitical issues are turned into supernatural questions and tied to the origins of evil.

Evil is almost a character in Evil, and has relatable entry points. Real demons first get to Kristen’s four young daughters through an augmented reality videogame. A little girl who never takes off her Halloween mask almost gets the sisters to bury one alive. We don’t know how much of the characters’ perceptions is the result of a demon character’s influence on them. Each character is slowly being tempted by the dark side.

Kristen joined the team as a rational thinker but has had to accommodate uncomfortable ideas and adjust her comfort zone accordingly. In her usual line of work, she’s analyzed the criminally insane, but the show has pushed her into close contact with people who are evil in the Biblical sense. She is being pushed incrementally by forces in and out of her control. Her own mother Sheryl (Christine Lahti) sides with a manipulative competitor, Leland, over her daughter, and he’s made direct threats. The first season can be seen as Kristen’s slow corruption. The second season may see Kirsten apply her skills to her own situation, which will delve further into the dichotomy between the spiritual and pragmatic.

This is because Kristen may have already fallen. The final episode includes a telltale blood stain, which she wills Ben to unsee. On any procedural this is considered a clue, but here on Evil, the evidence actually points further than a mere homicide. It is the first sign that a main character has gone to the dark side. It is confirmed when the touch of a crucifix blisters her hand. There’s no such thing as an original sin and Kristen has been flirting with temptation long before this.

Kristen is a married nonpracticing Catholic who lost her faith. She’s sexually attracted to David, a man on his way to becoming a priest. When this subject was broached on the classic 1970s cop comedy Barney Miller, a prostitute who was supposed to be a young priest’s last fling before he entered a monastery said “I break laws, not commandments.” It feels like Kristen reminds herself of this every time the two of them are on screen alone together. Their sexual chemistry is that palpable. Yes, this is very similar to the long-gesticulating romance between Mulder and Scully, but he was no priest and she wasn’t married. Not only is Kristen married, but she’s got half a brood of daughters. Annoying things, really, but at least one of them has an excuse. Another reason Evil is the only procedural worth watching is because everyone on it just might be cursed. That’s not found in the manuals.

Evil towers over contemporary procedurals in how it’s going dark. Most procedurals chase a morally compromised arc, but Evil treats it like an encroaching corruption. Kristen, who is sworn to uphold the law, may have gone more than rogue vigilante. Besides the crucifix-burning season closing, David has visions of a goat demon waiting for Kristen with a scythe. She’d been tormented by her own personal demon throughout the season but when the George, the demon-like creature who visits Kristen during sleep paralysis, falls on the knife, it changes nothing. He is just one of many demons. One of them set up practice and is taking office hours with Leland.

The Demon Therapist is an all-male Goat of Mendes, or Baphomet. The show gets into how different biblical angels look from how they’re perceived artistically and by the contemporary faithful, but won’t present a faithful representation of Baphomet. It’s as patriarchal as Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Evil keeps it vague whether the goat demon is real or in Leland’s head. The Demon therapist appears in Kristen’s dreams as well. Lexis (Maddy Crocco) disabled the house alarm for the visiting devil therapist when he invites her to “the next level,” making it seem she is at least susceptible to underworldly influence. The kids are irritating, but they are a bargaining chip and their father, Adam, put them up for grabs when they chanted together offering an exchange of souls. Kristen was co-opted into evil through protective motherly instinct. She doesn’t see the mark of the devil as a badge of honor. When Kristen puts the cross in her palm, she doesn’t look like she expected it as much as feared it.

While the network show will never have the freedoms afforded cable series, the acting is top notch all around. Series like HBO’s Perry Mason or even Showtime’s reimagined second incarnation of Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, provide a wider range of emotion and carnality. But Evil gives us muted, for the most part believable performances, very often underplayed. As are the special effects and use of technology as a narrative device. Too many procedurals treat high tech surveillance and other investigative tools like they are all-seeing eyes which can count nostril hairs.  It has become normalized. Evil doesn’t waste intellectual space with unreasonable gadgets. The tools Ben or Leland use to their computerized ends are believable. At one point, Kristen asks Ben to record a cell phone conversation which is already halfway over. She is surprised he can’t with all his special skills.

The series incorporates real world horrors into mundane life. Even some of the most normal looking settings carry a sense of unease, to underscore the show’s thesis that the supernatural is natural but never quite normalized. Many of the scenes are shot vertically, drawing the viewers’ eyes upward and inferring something is always going on above. The series’ many wide-angle shots put a distance between characters even in close-ups.

The show isn’t afraid to wear its influences on its sleeves, and on several occasions has a lot of fun with it. For Dr. Kurt Boggs’ (Kurt Fuller) arrival at an exorcism, they recreated Father Merrin’s introductory scene in the horror classic The Exorcist, shot for shot, even getting an exact replica of the light post and the same make car, though different year, from the film. They gave nods to Rosemary’s Baby, Misery, Cabin in the Woods, and Children of the Corn.  The climbing ax which Kirsten grabs on her way out to do damage on the serial killer Orson looks like it has teeth. As did the walking stick Lon Chaney’s Larry Talbot carried in The Wolfman. The demon George looks like Freddy Krueger’s good-looking cousin. The tonality of the show is reminiscent of Charles Laughton’s immeasurably influential Night of the Hunter.

The main reason Evil shines above most procedurals is because it is scary, and those scares have been building slowly and deliberately. Commonplace settings feel off, and the world around is filled with conspiracies and coverup. The Vatican asks the team to determine whether a woman who knows the hidden history of the church is a false prophet. The fertility clinic Kristen and her husband Andy used when conceiving Lexis corrupts fetuses with satanic insemination. A witty but innocuous internet meme, Puddy’s Christmas song, is a hummably foreboding earworm. Anything can go evil on Evil.

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Evil season 2 is currently in production. Read more about that here.

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