A Spy Ring, A Killer Virus, and a Body Double Trying to Steal Carolina’s Life: High Seas Season Three (2020)

So last year my friend and I started watching Alta Mar/High Seas after watching the trailer as it looked really good. We were both thoroughly pleased as it was AMAZING and we couldn’t stop until we finished it.

The story is of two sisters, Eva and Carolina Villanueve. They lost their father, their home country of Spain was greatly changed because of WWII, and both ladies are looking for something new. Carolina had been running the family business, but decided to sell the company and is planning to marry Fernando Fábregas (owner of the ocean liner the Barbara de Braganza). Her sister Eva doesn’t like the changes Carolina is making but is still supporting her. She is also traveling on the Barbara de Braganza to Brazil to meet with a publisher interested in her book.

On our way!

They are on their way to the ship’s dock and hit a woman, a woman running away from an abusive man with powerful connections. Eva takes pity on her, ignores Carolina, and sneaks her aboard as a stowaway. However, this woman is not who she says she is and the sisters are in for quite the journey.

Someone is murdered on the ship, and it turns out their uncle Pedro and family friend Dr. Rojas have some secret they are keeping from the girls, their stowaway vanishes, someone they thought was dead is alive, and more. All this while they are on a ship in the middle of the ocean-you can see how it makes for one fantastic season.

While the first season was amazing, the second was horrible. First Mate Nicolás and Eva have fallen in love and tons of fangirls were ecstatic, but in season 2 they broke them up as Nicolás’ wife turned out to be alive.

Carolina found out that her husband was going to run off before the wedding, but his girlfriend disappeared-murdered. So yeah, their marriage isn’t going that great. And it turned out that Francesca their surrogate mother and housekeeper murdered Rosa Marin.

Veronica broke up with Sebastian, he lost all his money [although they say that’s not why they broke up], and she got with Dimas (he deserves better).

Let’s see…what else happened? Oh yes, Clara committed suicide as she couldn’t handle her rape, killing her rapist (it was in self-defense), and the rapist’s wife/co-killer going after her boyfriend.

So…yeah I hated Season 3, not as much as Season 2 as it did have one amazing storyline. But it was cut short and just not good as a whole.

***Spoilers***

So  we start off with the series with Coronavirus type disease floating in the ocean-weird choice.

What??

So Eva has had her book published and goes into a bookstore to look at it, so happy and pleased! There she is approached by a man going by “Fabio” who is a spy and needs to get on the ship and look at the passports as they are searching for a scientist or his helper who created a killer virus. She agrees, although I don’t know why she would after all that she and her sister have been through, you think they would be the most least trusting people on the planet. Wouldn’t you? I mean the first girl was a crazy lady after gold, the second was a fake psychic trying to drive her sister crazy, plus both their father and surrogate mother were crazy and killed people.

She and Carolina should be like how Sydney was at the beginning of Scream 3 not wanting to befriend or trust anyone.

I don’t trust her.

They prepare to be off.

Let’s go!

Meanwhile in the ship we have Nicolás who is there with his wife Chantel. I tried to hate her but she was tortured in the concentration camps, so….yeah I can’t. Nicolás actually is hardly in this as the other ship’s captain disappears. Nicolás is still first mate, although I don’t know why they let the previous captain keep his job when he was going crazy in the previous seasons, but anyway-so he is set to take care of that ship and is in the first episode, a little in the middle, and then just in the end. What the heck? Why wasn’t he in this.

I watch for Nicolás and Eva, not Eva and Fabio. 

Ugh…

So Pierre (Clara’s former fiance) is moved up to first mate.

So this other ship belongs to Carolina. She put her half of the fortune from selling her father’s company into her own ships. She is still married to Fernando but is freezing him out. I love it as Fernando actually treats her good and tries anything he can to get her to warm up and she is just an Ice Queen. You deserve it Fernando.

So Fabio and his supervising agent come, and they can’t tell anything from the passports. The other agent recognizes someone on the boat and dies-they don’t know who the person is, and now Fabio is stuck on the ship with Eva. He’s supposed to be her love interest I guess, but I don’t like him. Ugh, Fabio get out.

So Carolina has the most interesting storyline. So there is another group interested in the virus-the ship’s new doctor, Dr. Ayala, (we had to replace the murdering one from Season 1 +2), is traveling with a friend of their Uncle Pedro, Carmen. Carmen is taking the trip with her very sick and injured daughter Diana. She’s covered in bandages so we can’t see her. You know what that means-she’s not sick but just disguising herself.

Hmm…

I’m right of course as it turns out she has had surgery to look just like Carolina. Alejandra Onieva is a fantastic actress in her movements and her manner as she goes from street tough Diana to classy Carolina. The whole reason behind her appearance is to befriend Eva and get information out of her.

Diana does what she is told, but she also likes Carolina’s life. She likes the money, the clothes, the husband, etc. Fernando is enthused to have his wife want to be with him, although he feels uncertain about. Whenever he poses a question Diana distracts him. One day he finds a mole on her shoulder that he was 100% sure she didn’t have, but then…like always-she convinces him to focus on other things.

From The Great Gatsby

So Diana continues with her job, taking anything Eva shares and working against her and Fabio. However, she wants to change the terms-she wants Carolina’s life. The doctor doesn’t care, but Carmen is starting to have second thoughts.

Eva notices things are weird too as Carolina has seemed to forget everything that happened in the previous cruise. However, the drugs on the real Carolina have rubbed off a bit that she tries to communicate with Veronique, who’s been assigned as “Diana’s” special nurse. Veronique worries about “Diana” as she seems scared of her mother and the doctor. One day she is really troubled that she returns with help and when she comes back with help, they can’t find “Diana”, they go searching and finds Carolina/Diana trying to kill her…Carolina/Diana?  Who is the real Carolina, Eva has to figure it out, you know after she gets over the shock of seeing two of her sister.

Where is going on?

And I liked Fernando in this, which surprised me as I hated him the last two seasons. He was really trying to make things right with his wife. When he sees the real Carolina and how they had been drugging her.m, he is so upset and worried for her. That was cute.

So yeah, the Carolina and Diana storyline was the best as it sucked me in right away and never let go.

I just had to know what was going to happen next!

So they are after the virus, meanwhile Pierre has made the captain think he is crazy, and has taken over the ship with a plan made with the new first mate. You see-Pierre wanted to ruin Natalia Fábregas and teamed up with the first mate to destroy the company, but it turns out they are terrorists with the virus and planning to unleash it on the ship. They give it to Carolina, but it turns out it was really given to Diana instead.

Hmm…

Nicolas comes and turns everything on the ship right, as Pierre and his people had taken over and mutined. It’s like really fast, snap that’s over.

Well…

Dr. Ayala turns out to be the evil torturous doctor from the concentration camps that hurt Chantel, but they need him as they need a doctor to make an antidote. And surprise, surprise he does in like no time at all from the blood of maid Alex, who is the creator of the virus and had already taken the antidote. And not only is he able to an antidote with the few supplies they had around on the ship, but he creates enough to save everyone onboard. But that doesn’t save them as Mexico bombs the ship as they can’t stand having the people come in and possibly spread the virus. Like why wouldn’t they contact them first.

Eva and Nicholas rush together, but he is stabbed by Alex who survives all the blood being drawn from her, which is literally impossible.

There is no way. I have been with friends who had a little blood drawn and they couldn’t handle driving, let alone running and stabbing someone.

And don’t get me started on Nicolás’ death. First of all I am angry and appalled as I loved Nicolás and wanted him and Eva to somehow be reunited. And secondly I am extremely angry that is all they give us. To be honest if that’s all they were going to do, why didn’t they just not have him come back? He could have told Eva he loves her but as his wife is alive he is taking a job on another ship or he could have written a letter or telegram? And who’s great idea was it to write Fabio? He was boring and we knew nothing about him, and there was zero chemistry. I was extremely disappointed and heartbroken.

The ship goes down destroyed, just like my hopes and dreams of another seeason to love.

For more on High Seas, go to A Psychic Arrives and a Ghost Haunts the Ship: High Seas Season Two (2019)

For more spy stories, go to Murder, False Imprisonment, Nuclear Bombs, and Nazi Spies: Bon Voyage (2003)

Women are Like Werewolves

So I’m back from my mini vacation with my niece, and my review of the second half of The Buccaneers, isn’t finished. So we will have a brief intermission with this post.

Have you ever noticed that women are like werewolves?

Huh?

I know some of you might find it weird, rude, and possibly offensive for me to suggest it-but hear me out. I have shared this on twitter before-but thought I would go a bit more in-depth on here.

So I’m on my period, and I’ve talked about this before-it sucks.

Yep, that pretty much sums it up.

And every time it comes the same thought enters my mind. A woman on her period is like a werewolf.

So werewolves-they are affected by a full moon which happens to be about 4-6 days once a month (sometimes two if the days fall a certain way.)

Women have their period once a month (sometimes two if the month falls a certain way or stressful situations arise) and it lasts about 4-7 days. Hmm…

Hmm…

When a werewolf changes he has no control over his emotions or body. They get hairy, larger, claws, etc They can’t fit in their clothes right-it seems like none of the tops ever fit, only the pants-barely.

And for us ladies on our period-acne, aches and pains, I always feel I’m more hairier, and I feel gigantic in everything. I can’t go clothes shopping as I’m bloated and there are certain clothes that do not fit.

Ugh!

And it isn’t a painless process either. Like I hate modern adaptions where the werewolves change and it is no sweat, in legend and original films the transformation was a painful thing.

And same for us ladies. Every time my period comes, constant pain.

No joke this enters m mind every month

Not to mention the anger. Original werewolf tales-angry, furious, and can’t control it.

I Was a Teenage Werewolf

When I’m on my period-watch out!

When one is transformed into a werewolf, they crave strange substances-human blood, flesh, raw meat…

And I don’t know about you, but when I’m on my period I start craving the strangest things. I’m not really a sugar person but on my period all I can think of is candy, cake, pie, brownies, etc. And I’m not a big meat eater-mostly vegetarian, but whenever my period comes-I’m dreaming of steak, burgers, pepperoni and sausage pizza, etc. And I want to eat all the time.

I know some of you think I’m crazy, but I’m not.

I just think us women are like werewolves.

I hope you all enjoyed this silly post, and of you have anything for me to add, leave a comment.

For more werewolf posts, go to Mr. Hyde Versus the Werewolf: Dr. Jekyll Versus the Werewolf (1972)

For more period posts, go to Period Days are Reading Days

 

I Will Wait for You: This Episode Sucks, Psych (2011)

Romantic Moment #7

“This Episode Sucks” Psych (2011) 

I love Psych.

I found the show absolutely hilarious and started watching it all the time. That is until they mentioned the last season. I stopped watching as I didn’t want it to end right away. But of course, if you love something you can’t stay away from it too long.

So the show is about Shawn Spencer (James Roday) who is just your average guy, except for one thing. He has a photographic memory.

His father was a cop and honed a thousand such skills, like psychology of body language, how to detect liars, etc- in him. He rebelled from his father and left his home of Santa Barbara, CA to travel all over the world. When he returns, he is able to solve tons of crimes just from watching the news reports. When the cops get suspicious on how he is doing it, thinking he is actually committing some of these crimes, he lies and says he is a psychic.

Oh, well

Soon he has roped his best friend since childhood, Burton “Gus” Guster into being a part of his crime solving crew, and the duo become consultants for the SBPD (Santa Barbara Police Department).

So a lot of stuff has happened when this episode airs. Shawn and Gus have cemented themselves as consultants for the SBPD and have solved tons of cases. Shawn has started dating Officer Juliet O’Hara, after a long series of him trying to get with her.

Carlton Lassiter and Shawn have a relationship in which most of the time they can’t stand each other, but do have moments where they actually work together.

Carlton wife has divorced him, he’s lonely and unhappy with life. One night as he is drinking at a bar he is approached by a beautiful blonde woman, Marlowe. For serious fans, you’ll recignize her as Kristy Swanson, the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Sh disappears, and Carlton searches for her. The next morning he’s called to a crime scene where a victim has lost all their blood and has two pinpricks at the neck and wrist.

hmm…

Of course Shawn and Gus immediately think Vampire.

And they start investigating as others are attacked and the local blood bank is hit.

Juliet O’Hara; Shawn Spencer as Lestat from Interview With a Vampire; and Gus Guster as Mamuwalde from Blacula

Marlowe ties into all this somehow-could she be a killer? Or worse-a vampire?

Most Romantic Moment: I Will Wait for You

***Spoiler Warning***

So this romantic moment comes at the very end of the episode. Carlton has fallen for Marlowe, only to discover that she originally approached him to knock him out and drain his blood for her brother-someone who suffers from a rare blood type and rare disease that keeps him in constant need of transfusions.

Ouch

She didn’t go through with it, and wanted to date him for him-but has to serve jail time for breaking into the local blood bank and stealing vials for her brother.

She asks him to visit so she can talk to him and he comes.

Marlowe Viccellio: [in jail] I wasn’t sure you’d come.

Carlton Lassiter: I’m a man of my word.

Marlowe Viccellio: I’m so sorry. I wish I…

Carlton Lassiter: Look, you did what you thought you had to do. If there’s an upside to any of this, it’s that your brother will finally get the care he needs now that he’s going to be in the system for a long, long, long time…Can I ask you something?

Marlowe Viccellio: Anything.

Carlton Lassiter: Where would you rate “Pink Cadillac” in the Eastwood canon?

Marlowe Viccellio: Not very high, I’m afraid. I mean, I suppose it’s good as a companion piece to “City Heat”, but he’s much funnier with the orangutan.

[Lassiter turns away, hastily scribbles a note on a scrap of paper, then turns back around and presses the note against the glass]

Awwwwwwwww, so romantic!

Aw!

Not only is he loyal and waits for her, but faithfully visits her every Wednesday.

Aw! How sweet!

To start Romance is in the Air: Part V, go to Who Says I Have to Stop: Fireproof (2008)

For the previous post, go to You Can Be Yourself With Me: George of the Jungle (1997)

For more Psych, go to It’s A Fan World After All

For more on Carlton Lassiter, go to At the End of the Rainbow: 17 More Irish Heroes

For more on Vampires, go to Scarlet Night: Archie’s Weird Mysteries (2000)

I Don’t Kill People Anymore: Psycho II (1983)

I don’t kill people anymore.

So you all know how I feel about sequels.

I can’t stand them, there are few and far between that I can actually watch, let alone love.

But I decided to review the sequel to Friday the 13th on Friday the 13th. And to take that one step further, I’ll be reviewing a sequel to horror films that spanned sequels and influenced the horror genre. First one:

You all know that I love Alfred Hitchcock:

Master

And how much I love Psycho.

So I thought I would give this a watch when it came up on AMC‘s Fear Friday. This film takes place 22 years after the original, Norman having been receiving help that whole time has finished the program and will be released to society and the Bates Motel.

Norman thinks he is ready to live his life again, but there are many others who are not. One of which is Marion’s sister Lila Loomis (she and Sam ended up getting married).

Lila Loomis: What about his victims? I have a petition here signed by 743 people against Norman Bates’ release, including the relatives of the seven people he murdered.

Norman sets about living a normal life as much as he can, hopeful that life will be better.

Dr. Raymond: You don’t have to stay. I could find you a place in town.

Norman Bates: No, no. I… I want to stay here.

Dr. Raymond: As long as you realize the memories are more likely to reoccur here. But you know how to handle that now, don’t you?

Norman Bates: Sure.

He discovers the person placed in charge of the motel while Norman was sent away was using the motel as an hourly one and to deal drugs. Norman kicks him out, takes a job at the local diner run by Mrs. Spool, and things seem to be going well. He even befriends a young waitress, Mary Samuels.

Things start going downhill fast when Norman is given mysterious notes and phone calls from Mrs. Bates.

Then a womanly figure in black is seen running around the complex and bodies are piling up.

Norman is trying to keep it together, but is feeling the pressure and unraveling with every attack. Objects in blood are found in the house, he starts forgetting what he was doing and where he was, items of his mother’s he thought were given/thrown away all end up back in the house.

Mary feels bad for him as he is trying so hard, she ends up moving in with him to help him keep it together. And when the sheriff comes to question him about an incident, she outright lies to protect him.

Sheriff John Hunt: Are you sure neither one of you heard anything between four to five this afternoon?

Norman Bates: No, I was…

Mary: [cutting Norman off] He was with me all afternoon. We were walking in the fields behind the house around that time.

Sheriff John Hunt: Okay. Nice to see you again, Norman. [the sheriff and his deputy walk out. Mary closes the front door and watches them walk away]

Norman Bates: [to Mary; bewildered] Why did you do THAT?

Mary: Do what?

Norman Bates: Lie to the sheriff. You weren’t with me all afternoon!

Mary: I had to do something! He was going to arrest you! [Norman suddenly holds his head in pain, and slumps down into a nearby armchair] Norman, what’s wrong?

Norman Bates: It’s starting again.

Is someone trying to make Norman go crazy? Has Mrs. Bates risen from the grave? Or is Norman starting to kill again?

I have mixed feelings about this movie.

Hmm…

Let’s start with the negative:

So this movie was made in the ’80s and they decided that the classy way the original film was made wasn’t going to fly with modern viewers. So there is a lot of blood, gore, sex, etc.

Now what was positive:

I like this

I loved that they had the original actors reprise their roles. Anthony Perkins is just sheer perfection at playing a sweet innocent man you just feel sympathy and empathy for-and at the same time flip and be frightening.

I liked that the director really concentrated on trying to copy Alfred Hitchcock’s style and use the same angles and lighting he did.

The story line had a few issues, but for the most part they tried hard to be suspenseful like the original and have an ending you weren’t expecting.

To start Horrorfest VI from the beginning, go to One of Our Guests is a Werewolf, I Know It.: The Beast Must Die (1974)

For the previous post, go to For All You Know, A Witch Might Be Living Next Door to You: The Witches (1990)

For more on Psycho, go to We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes: Psycho (1960)

For more sequels, go to But If Any of It Fell Into the Wrong Hands…:Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, Secret of the Ooze (1991)

For more ’80s films, go to That’s What We’re Trying to Find out! We’re Trying to Find Out Who Killed Him, and Where, and With What!: Clue (1985)

For more on Fear Fridays, go to Dracula. Not Myth, Nor Ravings of a Mad Irish Novelist, Oh No, He’s Real: Dracula 2000 (2000)

The Little Moreland

So you all are aware I’m a Disney fan right? I mean after my 30 Days of Disney I think it’s pretty obvious.

So being female, I loved the Disney princesses, my favorite being Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and Belle from The Beauty and the Beast.

Now in the past I have compared myself to Cinderella, Snow White, and Belle; but I never thought I would compare myself to Ariel.

Although now that I’m a redhead, I can see it.

In fact, I once took a quiz that said I was her, and I thought yeah right, that’s not me.

Go here to see which you belong in/are

But the other day I was full on The Little Mermaid. Although, truth be told it wasn’t really the Disney version, but the hardcore Hans Christian Anderson one.

You see in the original story The Little Mermaid was the youngest of six sisters. On her 15th birthday she is able to go up to the surface where she sees the prince and saves his life during a storm.

She visits him everyday at his palace at the seashore and falls in love.

So romantic!

She soons becomes heartbroken as she can’t be with him. Nothing makes her happy, all she wants is to be human.

The other mermaids tell her to be happy, she can live for over 300 years. But she won’t have it. She travels to the sea-witch who lives in a horrible area and is an awful crazy person. The sea-witch turns her into a human, for her voice. However, their are strong consequences. One, she can never, ever be a mermaid again. Two, every step will be agonizing pain. Three, if the prince marries another, the next morning she will die with no soul but turn into foam. The Little Mermaid agrees and her tongue is cut out.

She washes up on shore and the prince takes her into his house. He clothes her and cares for her, as if she was his little sister. He tells her of the girl that saved his life and that she will be the only one he will ever love.

Yay!

Well time comes when the prince has to marry. And the girl chosen is so beautiful he agrees. In fact, he asks the Little Mermaid to be in the ceremony.

She is in so much heartbreak as she is doomed to die while the man she loves is to be married to another.

Her five sisters come to see her. They have cut off all their hair and given it to the sea-witch. They give her a knife and tell her that if she kills the prince and sprinkles his blood on her feet then she will be a mermaid again. But she must do it before the sunrise. She goes into the room to kill him…but she can’t do it. She loves him too much.

So she dies.

Noooooooooo!!!!!!!

Yes she dies. But she doesn’t turn to foam. She instead is given an eternal soul because she sacrificed herself for another.

I always knew the books we read as kids strongly affect us.

But I didn’t know how much until now.

So you are probably wondering what this has to do with me? How am I like The Little Mermaid? Book or film, I’m pretty sure all of you are wanting me to get to the point.

Well for Halloween this year I decided to be Poison Ivy. She is my favorite villainess, as I think she is just amazing. I did a post on her that includes pics of the costume.

So anyways, this past summer I mentioned I was in Wyoming, and that is the land of meat + potatoes. Fruit and veggies are few and far between. So since that summer, I’ve been feeling large.

Yes I do, but I noticed I have put more weight on in the butt/thigh area, or at least that’s what it feels like. So I decided that it was time to get into shape. I started doing squats and did about 100.  I was feeling pretty good about it too.

The next day I was a bit sore, but still feeling good.

The next day that was radically different. I drove to an interview, wearing my two inch boots, preparing to change into my four-inch heels when I got there. When I reached the site, I had to park a bit away. After I parked I changed into my heels.

Now I love heels. If you remember from a previous post, I’m short. I’m only 5’3, so heels are great as they finally make me closer to my dream height. They make me feel powerful and awesome. The higher the better.

So walking in 3-5 inch heels is not unusual for me. However, this time was much different. It WAS SO PAINFUL.

No no no no no

I felt just like The Little Mermaid.

“It will feel like a sword were passing through your body…each step you take will feel like sharp knives piercing your feet. “

That’s how it felt with me. Each step was utter agony as my muscles just burned and were so inexplicably sore.

I had to take so many breaks. As soon as I could I went to my car and changed my shoes. I’ve decided to rest from squats. And heels. I’ll just have to accept my bod for what it is.

Or focus on a different exercise!

For more on The Little Mermaid, go to I’m Not Gonna Lose Her Again

For more on Hans Christian Anderson, go to Disney Lesson

For more on my fashion style, go to Fashionably Postworthy

For more on Disney, go to Who’s Afraid of Cory Wolf?

For more fairy tales, go to Happily Ever Aftermath

For more book-y posts, go to Conan the Librarian

For more of my favorite quotes, go to Part XI: A Movie Line List ‘s Excellent Adventure