Book Retorts

Danielle concludes Francine Pascal's saga of the evil twin with her second Sweet Valley High book: Return of the Evil Twin. One year after the traumatic encounter with their inexplicable doppelgänger, the Wakefield twins prepare to celebrate the new year, still lacking the therapy they so desperately need...

This week Danielle introduces the Sweet Valley High universe to Sam with the Francine Pascal novel The Evil Twin. Meet Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield, identical twins who are somehow enmeshed in an endless series of ludicrously dramatic events...

Sam closes out Shark Week by sharing Jaws: The Revenge, the fourth installment in the Jaws franchise. Follow the Brody family (except Roy Scheider, the one you care about) as they are assailed by a shark determined to take revenge. Revenge for what we're not exactly sure, possibly to restore shark honor. What we can say for sure is that this movie contains both a probable shark psychic and Michael Caine, and we are so here for it...

Danielle kicks-off our Shark Week special with the Australian/Singaporean co-production Bait. When a tsunami strikes, a former lifeguard must face his greatest fear while trapped in a flooded grocery store: his ex-fiancé (oh, and sharks). How do you survive such a deadly situation? Do you sacrifice another person? A small dog? Construct rudimentary shark armor from grocery baskets? The answer is clearly all of the above...

Sam shares his love for the film Highlander with Danielle, a cult classic from 1986. Have you ever wondered what it would be like if a secret race of immortals walked among us? Highlander posits that they spend most of their time popping out of thin air to surprise each other with sword fights as they battle to the death for the fabled prize...

Danielle shares the second half of the Korean drama Love Cells (연애세포) and it is pure, concentrated nonsense. If you were confused by how love cells worked, prepare to understand, somehow, even less than before. The (rather perfunctory) love triangle continues while our potential suitors struggle with scandals, kidnapping, and tiger costumes, none of which are as exciting as they sound (except the tiger costume, it's cute as heck)...

Danielle shares our first TV show with part one of the Korean drama Love Cells (연애세포). This show teaches important life-lessons, mainly that if you don't date for long enough your love cells will wither and die. In a last-ditch effort to save themselves, these love cells may even take human form to help fix your dating life. "What's a love cell," you ask? Great question.

The thrilling conclusion of Sam's journey with the Lords of the Sky! The massive book ends with all (some) of our questions answered and the establishment of a poorly conceived new world order. We finally journey to the lands of the Ahn to (briefly) explore their mysterious land and learn almost nothing about them. None of that matters, however, because there's a dragon named Deburah; seriously, it's the best.

Sam is half-way through explaining the book Lords of the Sky to Danielle, and in this part the plot finally seems to enter the picture. Mysterious new characters, new cultures, mutiny, basic philosophy, prison breaks, amnesia, politics, it's all here, kinda. And at long last, yes, there are even dragons!

In this episode Sam continues his exploration of the book Lords of the Sky by Angus Wells. In part two Daviot (whose name is impossible for Danielle to remember) leaves school to wander the land telling stories and is given far more importance than he deserves. We somehow manage to talk about this for over an hour. Danielle realizes that boats aren't always boats. There are still no dragons.