One of my favourite Japanese TV genres has got to be the tough love teaching genre. You know, like Dangerous Minds but with teachers who have a background other than teaching that always comes to the surface at the worst possible time. Gokusen had a female teacher who was the grand daughter of a Yakuza boss, Misaki Number 1 featured a hostess turned teacher, and Onizuka-sensei of GTO fame (my all-time favourite show in this genre) was a yankee/bad-ass biker who wanted to be a teacher so he could get with high school girls.

In Hammer Session our fish out of water is a convicted con man who escapes from a transport vehicle and is found hiding on the grounds of a high school. In exchange for the principal not turning him and his fellow escapee over to the authorities, Otowa Yonko (played by Mokomichi Hayama) must assume the identity of a new teacher and help get the students on the right track. Otowa becomes Hatchisuka Goro, using his skills to help his troubled students.

But like all good teacher dramas, the secret won’t last forever. The principal’s daughter, who works side by side with “Hatchisuka-sensei” is suspicious, as is one of his students, Kaede Tachibana (Shida Mirai from 14sai no Haha), a spunky girl who just so happens to be the daughter of the police detective out to capture him.

While most of the situations the students find themselves in have been rehashed time and time again in other teaching-based comedies, Mokomichi’s humourous delivery and frequent shirtless moments slathering on suntan lotion make it more memorable than it would have been if another actor had taken on the role.

Starring: Mokomichi Hayama, Shida Mirai, Higa Manami, Kohinata Fumiyo
Original Air Dates July 10 to Sept 18, 2010
Number of Episodes: 11
Genre: High School Comedy
Broadcast Network: TBS

Based on the Manga Written By: Yamato Koganemaru & Namoshiro Tanahashi

Status: Main game completed, varying difficulties

When I spot games that are under $10 I instinctively want to add them to my game library (much to the chagrin of my husband). Hence why I’m rarely allowed to peruse the game section at Fry’s when we stop in there. For the most part I’ve scored big, finding titles that I’d either forgotten I wanted or oddities that seemed to fly under everyone’s radar.

I really only picked up Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 because 1) it was cheap, and 2) I wanted to see just how well this surgical game played. I’d heard about the ridiculousness of having to disarm a bomb using medical supplies in a previous installment, probably what had originally caused me to avoid the franchise.

Truth be told, I didn’t care too much about the story of Under the Knife 2. Sure, I glanced it over as I mashed my way through to start the operations and I caught a bit of it. Some super virus that the Trauma Center team believed they’d previously put a stop to has resurfaced and they are dealing with a new medical group who will stop at nothing to get their names on the map. Or something like that. I don’t normally skim story like this but all I wanted from Trauma Center was the surgical experience.

(Also, the “voice acting” in Trauma Center is awful. Random short clips of speaking come up every once in a while, more often than not clashing with the actual text. I’ll take no voice over the over exaggerated bits. It just amazes me that the Professor Layton series can do so well with including and incorporating audio on a DS cart while so many others can’t get the formula right.)

Anyway, back to the important part – the gameplay.

Left: Reassembling the ribcage | Right: Draining blood & removing the shattered bones

You won’t be able to waltz into a hospital with the skills to perform heart surgery but you will improve your hand-eye coordination after spending hours upon hours digitally operating on patients. Starting out with simpler tasks like removing benign tumors and suturing wounds, you’ll get a handle on the basic tools of Derek Stiles’ trade. Then the story starts throwing crazy stuff at you. GUILT, a creation of bio-terrorists and c0-star of the previous installment, rears its ugly head with various new strains and mutations for you to deal with. Things get more complicated, requiring the use of every surgical implement at your disposal as well as Derek’s super power: Healing Touch.

Derek’s Healing Touch is activated by drawing a star over the patient, slowing the timer so you can add a few precious seconds to the clock. Generally, Healing Touch may only be used once per operation so making sure you use it at the right time (if you need it at all) is imperative. Every surgery has a time limit noted at the top of the screen with other pertinent information about the procedure you are undertaking and your attending nurse will give you status updates should the patient’s health drop or they notice anything significant happening. When Healing Touch was available to me I did my best to save it for use near the end of my procedures, just in case I need a few extra seconds to stitch, disinfect and bandage my charges.

At the start of each operation you can select from three difficulties. I’ve only been able to run through a couple at the beginning on Hard, with most of them finished on Normal or Easy modes. This was a game I was checking out for the experience, so I wasn’t going to beat myself up for coasting through on Easy. Besides, even on Easy some of those surgeries prove challenging.

I’d been very impressed as I found myself nearing ever closer to the end of the game that my time had been spent treating those in need and not doing the impossible. Then I found myself using a scalpel to open a locked door. Because this is a scenario doctors would find themselves in. Even more ridiculous was that for part of this event I had to use the Healing Touch on part of the lock so I could slice through some cables.

Unrealistic situations aside, the surgeries themselves can get pretty intense. So much so that at one point I was gripping the DS so tightly with my left hand during a scenario which took three attempts for me to save a patient that I managed to pull a muscle in my arm. My husband bugged me about it relentlessly after I told him about it, joking that I would make a horrible doctor. I also had to switch from my larger stylus (a Lost in Blue preorder bonus) to the thin stylus so that using the scalpel felt more natural; I was making clumsy incisions using the other.

Hope I didn't lose anything in there, like a watch or a sandwich

Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 was a nice change of pace from my usual gaming habits. Being able to play doctor for a fraction of what medical school would cost with the added bonus of not throwing up at the thought of really cutting open a body gave me a sense of accomplishment, granted one that didn’t come with a fancy piece of paper or a paying job.

Overall Opinion

While I had a great time trying out a genre that was never in my go to bag, I can’t say that my time with Derek and team will continue. Trauma Center was an experience I felt I needed to enhance my overall gaming comprehension. If you want to be a well rounded gamer, you should leave your comfort zone and give new ideas a try every so often. Even with the outlandish story and below sub-par voice acting, there is a style of gameplay that I had never attempted before and proved a pleasant discovery for me. That in itself trumped my issues with the other aspects of this game and I believe I am a better gamer for it.

Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 can be purchased via Amazon

After months of driving by and playing the “Oh yeah! They’re open” game, Matt & I decided to try out Smashburger on Windward Parkway. Both of us had been madly craving a juicy burger and thought we’d check out the new kid in town instead of visiting our favourite Five Guys.

Apparently we chose the worst possible night to venture into the unknown.

When we entered the restaurant we noticed that nearly every booth was full or had just been vacated as garbage or debris needed to be cleared away. There was a family and two gentlemen ahead of us in the line. One employee was working the registers with a second jumping on and off if they were able to. When the men in front of us stepped up to order, we heard the cashier explain there was a wait as they were dealing with an influx of customers redeeming Groupon vouchers that were expiring this evening. Twenty five minutes seemed a touch long, but since I’d never been here before I felt it was worth the wait to try something new.

We weren’t planning on dining in so after grabbing a menu off the front counter (the wall unit being empty when we arrived) and checking out their offerings, we both decided to build our own burgers. Matt added three premium topping to his: Pimina cheese, peach BBQ sauce and vidalia slaw. I went with a basic cheeseburger: lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup and mustard on their classic egg bun with a slice of sharp cheddar. We also ordered a side of their sweet potato fries seasoned with garlic, rosemary and olive oil.

Since the waiting bar and bench were full, we took the table directly in front of the registers and patiently waited our 25 minutes.

I watched and listened as new customers arrived being told of the wait time and placed their orders. Not everyone wanted to wait, but those with expiring Groupons did.

After 30 minutes had passed, I begun to notice people approaching the shift manager asking for refunds. Most of these were families with younger children. Completely understandable as asking a three year old to patiently wait for food is virtually impossible.

At this point I have realized that the store is way too understaffed and unprepared for the influx. The kitchen is overwhelmed and the shift manager was doing her best to accommodate the patrons, but clearly feeling the pressure. Why the store manager wasn’t here was beyond me, but I do hear one staff member from the kitchen tell an angry customer that he did come in on his day off.

50 minutes into our wait, Matt wonders if we should cancel our order and go someplace else but I tell him no. It’s been 50 minutes! Surely our order will be up soon, considering how many customers canceled and left.

The shift manager comes over while she has a small break from refunding to offer us a couple of vouchers for free burgers on our next visit and apologizes again for the wait. But when she returns to the desk to fill them out, more people cancel and she forgets to give them to us. The employee expediting from the window gives them to us when we bring it up and ask how much longer our food will take. He estimates another 10 minutes.

By now our stomachs are growling and we’ve hit the point of no return – we’re sticking it out and going to try these burgers. Our eyes are glued to the counter and we watch as some food goes to the few other tables who stuck it out while other food go back to the kitchen when they realize they just made a canceled order. Everyone except for the one employee at the window is in the back preparing food. The dining room needs serious attention but most likely won’t see any until the backlog is gone.

At 9:24pm, we finally see our food make its way into the take out bags. Starving, we forgo our usual quality check and drive straight home to eat.

We should have checked.

Back at the apartment, Matt takes out his burger to discover the vidalia slaw missing. There is no way we are going to go back now, so we just suck it up and dig into our meal.

I didn’t find the burger special. I’ll chalk that up to the kitchen being so far behind. My bun had gotten soggy in the 5 minute drive from the restaurant back home and I wasn’t a fan of the giant leaf of lettuce hanging over an inch outside of the bun. I had to tear a good bit off so my first bite wasn’t completely greens. The meat itself was cooked medium-ish, fine for me but not so much for Matt who thought they were all well-done since we weren’t asked how we’d like the meat done. The sweet potato fries were very tasty, but unfortunately had a bit too much olive oil on them making them greasier than I would have liked.

Having worked in the food service industry, I can sympathize to a degree with what happened at Smashburger tonight. Sometimes you get a rush out of the blue that throws you for a loop, but you roll up your sleeves and get it done. However, they knew those Groupon vouchers were going to expire and the store manager should have scheduled a few more bodies to pitch in if need be. It’s easier to send people home than it is to get them in when you need them on short notice.

But I won’t judge them on tonight alone. In a week or so we’ll head back to claim our free meals and hopefully enjoy a much better experience. If not, Five Guys will remain my go-to burger joint.

Photos from Alpharetta-Milton Patch

Xbox 360

• Alan Wake – The Signal & The Writer DLC (Completed!)
• Beautiful Katamari
• BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
• Blue Dragon
• Brutal Legend
• Dead Rising
• Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (Completed!)
• Fairytale Fights
• Last Remnant
• Left 4 Dead
• Left 4 Dead 2
• LEGO Batman
• Lost Planet
• Mass Effect
• Mass Effect 2
• Orange Box
• Prototype
• Portal 2
• Record of Agarest War
• Silent Hill: Homecoming
• Simpsons Game
• Soul Calibur 4
• Tales of Vesperia
• TMNT
• Transformers: The Game (Cybertron Edition)
• Virtua Fighter 5
• Viva Pinata
• Viva Pinata 2
• Viva Pinata: Party Animals
• You Don’t Know Jack
• You’re in the Movies

Playstation 3

• 3D Dot Game Heroes
• Kung Fu Rider
• LittleBigPlanet
• LittleBigPlanet 2
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• ModNation Racers
• Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
• Singstar +Dance
• Sport Champions

Nintendo Wii

• Squeeballs
• Super Mario Bros. All Stars

Nintendo DS

• Big Bang Mini
• Feel the Magic
• Gardening Mama (Finished – Apr 13, 2012)
• Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
• Luminous Arc 2
• Master of Illusion
• Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2
• The World Ends With You

Playstation Portable

• Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles
• Death Jr 2: Root of Evil
• Patapon 1
• Patapon 3
• Persona
• Silent Hill Origins

Playstation 2

• Persona 4 (Completed Oct 4, 2011)

Status: Unlocked a good chunk of gardenables, only a few seeds left for my collection

As a fan of the first two Cooking Mama titles, I was excited to try the first franchise off-shoot, Gardening Mama. Mama and I had gotten along pretty well in those first two games and the prospect of moving to a new environment was inviting. By the end of Cooking Mama 2 things were getting a bit too repetitive for my liking and I needed a break from the kitchen.

Unfortunately, not a lot had really changed from Cooking Mama to Gardening Mama.

In single player mode (or Let’s Get Growing), the garden is broken up into sections: flowers, roses, fruit, and vegetables. Like any garden, you can only do so much at once with any particular plant, so more often than not you’ll be dividing your attentions amongst the various gardens tending to weeds, pests, and sprouts. And that makes sense as that’s typically how a garden operates. Once you’ve unlocked some more seeds and gardens, you’ll instinctively want to plant more items but the game has other plans.

Watering the sprouts

After finishing a task on one plant, you start getting notifications that other plants need tending to. Sure you can push them off, but if you do the plants won’t last for long and die off, forcing you to start from scratch and take a failing grade. So you are forced into a nearly unending cycle of rushing from one wilting plant to the next time after time, leaving you very little opportunity to start something new. When this turned into a regular occurrence, my desire to keep playing dropped substantially.

The controls for Gardening Mama have not gotten any better. If anything, Mama has become more vague with her directions and I felt like I had no real freedom to do as much as I wanted to. Most of the directions were the same as before: drawing shapes on the screen, pouring water, blowing into the mic. However some instructions come simply with a vague description and no visual aid to assist you. I have yet to successfully bend a sapling’s trunk to tie down onto a trellis because I can’t seem to find the right spot on the thing to bend it and always run out of time or somehow snap it in half. If Mama didn’t want to get angry with me every time it happens, you’d think she’d give better directions to her students.

But I don't want Mama to fix it!

Once a plant has completed a full life cycle, you receive your overall score and see what sort of butterfly you’ve attracted. The one I’ve seen most often is the white cabbage butterfly. If you’ve unlocked any new seeds or a special item, that will pop up for you as well. Exactly like every Mama game I’ve played before it and every other game I refuse to touch.

Gardening Mama also features a multiplayer mode where you can link up with other players to exchange items or compete in mini-games. I skipped this feature but did mess around with customizing my garden accessories and dressing up Mama. It’s always nice to be able to change things up a bit, I only it had helped keep me interested in playing the game more.

Overall Opinion

Usually I go for 100% unlocks in a game, especially in genres such as this one, however I just can’t bring myself to put this cartridge back into my DSi XL. Even if a game is based on chores, it shouldn’t feel like a chore to play it. Gardening Mama has confirmed for me that I am finished with the Mama franchise. There will be no Crafting, Camping, or Babysitting Mama in my future and it saddens me to say that I now wish this series would just go away. It started off with promise and has turned into another Babiez/Horsez/Dogz-esque pile of mediocre and uninspiring code that should join the Atari 2600 E.T. game in a pit.

You can purchase Gardening Mama via Amazon

Plants grow happy with rainbow water time

Status: Finished completely through several times over
Trophies: 9 of 14

When Microsoft fails to give me the amazingly different and unique IP (intellectual property) I crave, I know I can turn to my PS3. Betsy doesn’t get as heavy a workout as Betty, her 360 counterpart, but she knows that when she does, she is about to be part of something truly special.

ThatGameGompany’s masterpiece has me going back for thirds, fourths, and fifths. If digital food had calories, I’d be too fat to get off my couch by now. Journey is indeed that delicious to behold. Stunning isn’t a strong enough word to describe the eye candy I’ve been ingesting these last few days. I can tell you it’s going to be ages before I get the Return trophy because I can’t see myself waiting a week to play this again anytime soon. Daily exposure is on my menu for the next month at least.

As told completely through visuals, Journey tells the tale of a civilization that once inhabited the land. Beginning in the desert with a goal of reaching a grand mountain in the distance, you will follow in the footsteps of your ancestors as you fight the elements and traverse a great distance to make your way home.

I’ve played both flOw and flOwer and loved them, but the beautiful, wordless storytelling and direction of Journey has trumped it’s predecessors. While all three of the PSN exclusives embrace the “feel” aspect that TGC advocate, Journey is definitely the most successful. The immersive  feeling of trudging or sliding through sand greatly varies from trudging through the snowdrifts and massive winds as I neared the mountain goal. And as a Canadian used to tromping through waist-deep snowdrifts and 50/kph winds in the dead of winter, I can assure you that the way TGC presented Snow is exactly dead on.

For the first level of the game as you make your initial walk through the desert expanse toward the first cluster of massive buildings known as the Hub, you’ll notice a mountain in the distance that the game automatically focuses the camera on. Without a word, Journey has told the player that your goal is the mountain and the beam of light at its peak. Once you’ve reached the Hub, you may notice other players exploring the world with you. Multiplayer in Journey is encouraged but not a requirement; if you want to spend your time exploring every nook and cranny alone or team up with another person who wants to help guide you to some of the more elusive secrets, the choice is yours.

Head toward the mountain with a Companion or alone

Communicating with other players or the ribbon creatures that will aid you on your travels toward the mountain is done with the push of a button. The circle button is your voice: a simple chime that can call the ribbons to you to replenish the energy in your scarf or to beckon your Companion to follow. Along with that chime is a glyph that appears over the players’ heads that is unique to them for that particular run through the game. At the end of your Journey you will be able to see the PSN tag that matched the glyphs of those you spent time with. These are randomly assigned at the start of each new quest so it’s very likely you’ll see the same symbols several times.

There are other glyphs to be found along the way, each one adding length to your scarf. It is with this energy that you can jump and fly; the longer the scarf, the longer you can soar. Most levels have three or four of these for you to find, with some hidden and others in plain sight. Find all of these and you will be able to don a special outfit at the start of your next adventure. I am currently searching for the last three that I need to unlock this item in my game.

I absolutely love gliding over this bridge

Some may argue that Journey is too short, as most of the time you can finish within 90 minutes. My response is that it’s all about discovery. The first time through everything is fresh and there is so much to take in that you may be distracted by one thing and miss several others. Each time you revisit a level it seems there is something more to find that you missed previously.

Overall Opinion

I have been waiting for what seems like ages for a game like Journey to come along and remind me that there really is more to gaming than the same old stuff we get year after year. Sure, I love those adventures as well, but the experience one has with Journey is unlike anything else. It’s calming zen-ness, a perfect blend of music, stunning visuals and relaxing atmosphere, is what makes Journey so special and brings you back for more.

Official Website: http://thatgamecompany.com/games/journey/

Toshiaki Nagashima has long been intrigued by the mitochondria contained within human cells, currently researching them full-time alongside one of his university professors and mentoring others in the field. What he doesn’t know is that his wife Kiyomi hosts Eve, a being surviving eons within female mitochondrial cells waiting for the time when conditions will be just right for her to break free and create a new race. 

Over the years, Eve has been manipulating Kiyomi’s body to further Her plans. She’s had her become a kidney donor and altered Her hosts features to make sure she was the perfect woman for Toshiaki. And now that She’s able to full take over Her host, Eve causes Kiyomi to crash her car, leaving her brain dead.

Toshiaki’s shock over his wife’s death and his susceptibility to Eve’s wishes leads him to secure Kiyomi’s liver and bring it back to the research lab. Toshiaki’s training and his desire to keep some closeness with his wife lead him to prepare and cultivate the liver cells for study. Little does he know that Eve has wanted this all along, as only he can help Her achieve the independence She needs to make Her vision become a reality.

First things first, this is not a video game novelization! This is the original story that the Parasite Eve games were based off of. So if you were hoping to read about Aya Brea, you’ll be very disappointed. But if you are looking for a good medical horror story, then you’re in the right place.

My only major issue with Parasite Eve is that there is a lot of medical references and science to read through. So much so that on several occasions I would find myself re-reading passages (sometimes pages) and referring to the glossary to get my head around what was going on. It’s not until the final third of the book that the spontaneous combustion, brutal deaths and copious amounts of gore finally come into play.

They do say to write what you know, so I can’t blame author and pharmacologist Hideaki Sena for doing just that with his debut novel. Now I just wish I could find translations of his other novels to see if it was a one time thing.

You can purchase Parasite Eve from Amazon or RightStuf 

Image copyright Vertical 2008

Arthur, Gwen, Tristan, Isolde and Merlin have reached the woods just outside the village, but Agravaine is hot on their tail. Merlin urges the others to keep going, offering to cover their tracks. With the others further ahead, Merlin calls his friend the Great Dragon to aid him. While Merlin runs to meet up with his friends, the Dragon comes up from behind and attacks Agravaine’s men. When the Dragon comes around for a second pass, Agravaine and his remaining companions flee in the same direction Arthur’s party has gone.

Merlin aids his friends through the tunnels he used to play in as a child, a little fuzzy with his memory as to which way they should go. As they crawl through narrow passages, Tristan asks Gwen about herself and why she follows Arthur. The noise the group makes as they continue on has alerted Agravaine to their whereabouts. Merlin again offers to go back and create a diversion, and after Arthur tells him not to do anything stupid (he can’t just simply say “Be careful”, can he?), Merlin backtracks to a larger corridor.

Merlin leads Agravaine in another direction for a bit, letting him catch up. Agravaine threatens to kill Merlin if he doesn’t tell him where he is, but Merlin shrugs it off. As Agravaine takes a step towards him, Merlin uses his magic and throws the men back against the cavern wall. Unfortunately, Agravaine isn’t down long and realizes that Merlin is Emrys, complementing him on getting so close to Arthur. But when Merlin ignores a gesture of friendship, Agravaine draws his sword. Merlin counters by blowing him back harder so that the traitor’s skull cracks against the rock, finally killing Agravaine. Once Merlin is sure the king’s uncle cannot follow him, he turns to catch up with his friends.

Death becomes him

Arthur has the party stop when he hears footsteps coming closer to them. He runs off only to find Merlin, admitting he came back to find his only friend, but making light of it by acting as though it was a joke.

When they come out on the other side of the tunnels, the group needs to decide where to go. They can’t venture into Lot’s kingdom as he is no friend of the Pendragons, and as fugitives of Camelot they’d risk the lives of anyone who gave them shelter. They end up heading toward one of the greater forests surrounding Arthur’s castle, hoping to find others who’ve survived Morgana’s army.

Elyan, Gawaine and Gaius in the dungeons

Meanwhile, back in the castle, Gawaine and Elyan tend to Gaius as best they can inside their cell. Gawaine is dragged off to fight for their supper with Morgana giving him a wooden child’s sword as his only weapon. If he wants to help his fellow captives, Gawaine must defeat a couple dozen of Helios’ armed men. He’s brought back successful once more with Morgana tossing the men a moldy chunk of bread and warning them that it will be their last meal. Elyan tries to get Gaius to eat, but the physician knows he doesn’t have much longer to live.

Tristan still hasn’t figured out Arthur, confused as to why the king would go back to rescue a servant and then help out by gathering firewood instead of leaving it to the others. He reminds Arthur that he really is just like everyone else now, no longer king as his throne has been taken away. Tristan walks back toward Isolde, giving Gwen a chance to talk with Arthur. Arthur insists that everything there was between himself and Gwen is gone now, and all she can do is apologize once more.

The former king of Camelot stares into the campfire contemplating recent events. He’s beginning to lose faith in himself, blaming himself for believing in the wrong people. Merlin tries to remind Arthur that he is a great king and leader, but Arthur is too busy having a pity party of one. Unsure of what he can do for his friend, Merlin calls for the Dragon to meet him in the woods. He tells Merlin that only he can convince Arthur that he can be a king again and that there isn’t anything he can do about it. Standing there, a plan begins to brew in Merlin’s head and he asks the Dragon if he can help him find the survivors.

Excalibur awaits

In the morning, Merlin wakes up Arthur and leads him through the woods. He wants to tell Arthur a story he claims Gaius once recounted to him of a sword that the first king of Camelot plunged into a stone to be a test should there be a question of one’s validity as king of the realm. Merlin leads Arthur to the very rock he stuck Excalibur into, and upon seeing it, Arthur believes that Merlin’s tale may indeed be true after all.

Arthur walks toward the sword in the stone, and as he does so, survivors walk out before his eyes to bare witness. Among them are Percival and Leon. Arthur has a feeling that Merlin is up to something, especially because he views the task of pulling a sword out of a rock as impossible. With his hands wrapped around the hilt, Arthur makes a first try to removing the sword. Merlin stands behind him, urging his friend to believe in himself and have faith. Arthur tries again, with a single hand gripping it in a familiar stance, closing his eyes and before everyone gathered, drawing the sword out and high into the sky above him.

Arthur and Excalibur

Helios brings Morgana some rather disheartening news. His men found Agravaine’s detachment burnt and Agravaine himself dead. Morgana is sure that this was Emrys and walks away from her accomplice frightened.

Arthur and his men makes plans to infiltrate the citadel and reclaim Arthur’s throne. Leon and Percival insist that the men fight not for Camelot, but for Arthur – an exchange that Tristan and Isolde witness. It appears as though the two have a changed opinion about the man they once hated. Arthur tells Merlin he isn’t worried about Helios’ men, but Morgana. His half-sister has grown so powerful and he has nothing that can match it. Merlin then tells Arthur there is one last piece to the story he was telling earlier. That the man who would remove the sword from the stone would become the greatest king Albion would ever know.

Emrys makes a visit to the castle

While the others get some rest, Merlin breaks into the castle and transforms himself into his Emrys form. He wants to scare Morgana and makes sure she catches a glimpse of him in the halls. After losing some guards, Merlin heads for Morgana’s chambers and places a hex under her bed. Then he steals a guard’s uniform and slips away. Helios escorts Morgana to her room where she tries to get some rest.

Arthur’s army prepares to set off for the citadel, and when Tristan and Isolde approach he is ready to say goodbye to them. However, after seeing how Arthur truly acts and treats his people, the pair offer to fight at his side and he accepts them warmly. Gwen also approaches Arthur and tells him that she understands why he can’t forgive her; she only wants him to know that she never once stopped loving him. She then walks away before he can say anything in response.

Percival in action

Armed with all they could find, Arthur’s army moves on the city. Split into smaller groups, they take out as many sentries as they can before the alarm bells are rung. Arthur fights his way toward Morgana while the other groups do as much damage as possible. Percival and Leon head to the dungeons to rescue Gaius and the other prisoners. The clanging of swords rings throughout of hall of the citadel and Morgana knows Arthur is nearby.

Here's Arthur!

Ready to storm the throne room, Arthur knocks down the door and expects an army around his sister. Once inside, his group is shocked to find only Morgana and Helios present. Arthur is sad to see Morgana as she is now and tells her she can’t blame him for Uther’s actions. The two acknowledge that they are both like their father to some degree, and then Morgana moves to attack her brother. However, her spells will not work and she flees the room with Merlin and Gwen chasing after her. Arthur, Tristan and Isolde remain behind to take care of Helios and his approaching men.

Arthur and Helios are going at each other when Helios manages to land an elbow to Arthur’s jaw, causing the king to stumble. As he readies his sword to plunge into Arthur, Helios is run through by Isolde. But she doesn’t get away clean as Helios manages to swing his sword around to run through her stomach.

Morgana fleeing the castle

It is Gwen who finds Morgana in one of the hallways, the witch with a fresh abdominal wound. While they exchange blows, Gwen asks what she’s done that’s made Morgana hate her so much. Morgana replies that it’s nothing she’s done but what she’s destined to do as she disarms her old friend. With Gwen staring down Morgana’s blade, Merlin hides behind her and uses magic to push Morgana back and cause part of the ceiling to crumble over her but when he looks to where she was, Merlin sees her missing. Merlin and Gwen rejoin the others in the throne room where Tristan holds his dying Isolde. Arthur and Gwen look at each other with tears in their eyes across the room.

King Arthur finally has his Queen Gwen

A day or two later, Gwen is cleaning up one of the rooms in the castle when Arthur finds her and admits he doesn’t want her to leave. He asks her if she will marry him and she quickly agrees. They are promptly married and Gwen crowned Queen of Camelot.

Morgana has been stumbling about powerless and wounded for days, when she finally falls over and dies. Only she’s not dead for long as a grown up Aithusa breathes life back into her before flying away.

Aithusa saves Morgana

Box sets for Season One , Season Two and Season Three of Merlin are now available to purchase in the US via Amazon

But all I wanted to do was make banana bread. So I did.

I probably shouldn’t have made any, being as we just started a new meal plan two weeks back. The dietitian didn’t say I couldn’t bake anymore, just to watch how often I do and to limit my intake of sweets. But today’s a long day at home alone while my husband’s at work and then out bowling with his development team. So I figured a little treat to perk me up would be a good thing.

As an added bonus, I noticed three very ripe bananas on the counter this morning. Probably what planted the whole banana bread thing in my brain when I stumbled through there for breakfast.

Then I had a debate with myself about adding chocolate chips. I probably shouldn’t have but what the hell, it’s a treat. At least I put in less than I would have a few years ago.

Not that baking something easy like banana bread takes up a lot of time or anything. But Tweeting about it and texting a friend taunting them with it sure will keep a girl too busy to remember to write.

Mmmmm Banomnom Bread!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas, smashed up
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I used milk choco)

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add in eggs & mix well. Mix in banana and set aside. In a smaller bowl, stir together remaining ingredients, then add to banana mixture. Pour into a greased loaf pan (9x5x3 inch) and bake for 50-60 minutes at 350F, or until a toothpick comes out relatively clean. Then let it cool for a bit so you don’t burn your taste buds off. =)

One morning, just like every other morning during summer break, Toshi wakes up and gets herself ready to head off to cram school. However this morning, unlike the other mornings, Toshi hears a loud crash, possibly something glass, coming from her neighbour’s house. After dismissing it as something just breaking, she heads out the door only to find the son from next door running out looking a bit frazzled and out of it.

Later on that day, which hasn’t been a good one for Toshi, with her bike and cell phone being stolen, she discovers that the police are looking for the boy. Worm, as Toshi refers to him, killed his mother that morning, and is now wanted by the police. Using Toshi’s cell, he drags her and her friends into his escape one at a time. Each one connecting with him in their own way as he flees from the police. Each one exploring the darkness within themselves through this horrible experience, helping him for reasons hidden deep within their hearts.

Real World shows us how something so horrible can snowball and make us question ourselves and the world around us. How innocent people can become part of something so big and drag them into the darkest parts of their hearts when they feel alone and as if they don’t fit in. Kirino gives us a glimpse into what goes on in the minds of the new Japanese teenager.

You can purchase Real World on Amazon

Image copywrite Vintage International 2009