chucklee118

[chucklee118]

If episode 1 is about establishing a world and introducing the protagonists, episode 2 is about establishing the dynamic between said protagonists.

Within the first minute, the episode's conflict is presented to the audience; the foreground blurring in motion and action between the opening credits, Spear enters the scene at pace in pursuit of a boar. The animation's means of expressing dynamic movement is once again KILLER, paired with the increasing tempo of the soundtrack approaching a climax as he hurls his weapon. . .

Only for Fang to snatch the prey in her jaws just before the spear lands, instead embedding itself into a tree.

While Fang mashes down the boar a bit to ensure the kill before she starts eating, Spear is fairly put off by what he sees as a kill-steal and skulks away.

Thus the conflict of the episode; the difficulties in Spear and Fang coexisting in a dynamic that is, at least on the surface, unbalanced. As well as the disconnect between how each of them defines coexistence.

Incidents keep occurring that leave Spear with mounting frustration and second-guessing his decision to exist with Fang at the end of the first episode: she steals his kills, eats first even when he manages to land the kill first, her breathing when she sleeps sounds like a small engine

and does she ever shit.

It doesn't help that he's still very much grieving the loss of his children, and that his new, tentative partner is of a similar species to that which killed his family.

Certain aspects are simply things one gradually becomes accustomed to with time, but by and large the primary problem is that Fang and Spear each seem to be attempting to exist independently. As in, Fang hunts, eats and sleeps, and Spear just happens to also be there; the only distinction being that he's a creature she's elected not to kill.

Tension mounts and mounts in Spear, manifesting in him behaving and being drawn far more. . . well, primal, his illustration leaning more toward primate and primitive as he vents his frustration, until Fang yet again steals a kill and the two of them end up trading blows.

The rain pours, lightning flashes and thunder booms as the two of them teeter closer and closer to a line they can't return from.

Quite literally; their fight brings them to the very edge of a massive, moving wall of snakes. Slithering and hissing around each other, thematically red as the mist that preceded the alpha rexes from the first episode. A symbol of the broiling tension that's followed them throughout the episode.

A single misstep further, and the pair would have been inviting death.

And in that moment, they realize as one; they don't want to get any closer. They may not know how they'll survive, but the first step is fleeing.

A flash flood overtakes them, bringing the snakes with it; they are left awash and forced to navigate the river of snakes to survive.

The largest snake, the monster of the episode, dies off screen, and Spear and Fang demonstrate their first effective communication of the episode under pressure as the river's current pushes them toward a waterfall.

Using the snake's body as a rope, they each take an end and split themselves between a rock sitting at the precipice of the waterfall; the difference in their body weight again illustrates the inherent difficulty of their shared existence without effort on both sides. Fang dangles over the edge, hanging by her teeth to the snake while Spear struggles to grip his end and prevent her huge body from falling.

For all that Fang's heavier, the fact is that when Spear's grip inevitably fails without proper purchase, he's the one who has farther to fall. Thus taking on far more damage than Fang in the descent, head bashed against the jagged rocks in the pond at waterfall's base.

Fang brings him ashore; retrieves the point of his broken spear as a means of amends.

Having traversed the initial tensions between them and resolving themselves to truly coexist, we see Spear astride Fang as he was at the end of the first episode; hunting together, eating together. . .

and, as Spear kills a stray snake that nearly puts Fang in a panic, protecting each other.

And thus, their dynamic for the duration of the show is established.

[chucklee118]

"Uh, Fred. Like, og-day is ick-say."

Fred blinked. Shaggy may have been the only one in the group fluent in Pig Latin, but everyone in the gang knew that phrase off the top of their heads. A quick downward glance was all it took to confirm Shaggy's report; it certainly explained the incident of only one Scooby snack instead of three.

"What's that, son?" The sheriff asked.

Fred scrambled his brain for something to say, even as he searched his pockets for the keys to the van and tried to wrap up his handshake with the dean.

"Oh, it's just an inside joke," Daphne explained with one of her winning smiles; interjecting seamlessly to take Fred's elbow as an excuse to free up both his hands and move things along. "Do anything as long as we have and you end up with a lot of them."

The dean's eye gravitated toward Scooby Doo in a daze Fred didn't like the look of.

"Something wrong, sir?" He asked, placing himself between the man and the dog; he waved his hand behind him, urging Shaggy to start leaving.

"I don't," the dean said with a shake of his head. He stopped and started a few times. "I could've sworn-did I hear that dog speak earlier?"

Fred winced. Things were gonna get really bad if people started asking.

"Textbook stress response," Velma said, speaking with that matter-of-fact tone that got people to listen whether or not they bought what she was selling. "My opinion is admittedly amateur, but I recommend a vacation; a talking dog would be almost as supernatural as your so-called specter."

"Take him away, officer!" Fred called over his shoulder, rushing with the rest of the gang toward the van before they could get pulled into any further conversation.

He unlocked the Mystery Machine with the electronic clicker.

"Velma, give me the quickest way out of town."

"We're a little short on gas"

"I'll walk back for a refuel later if I need to." Fred said.

"How're ya doin' pal?" Shaggy asked; he lifted a shaky Scooby into the back, Daphne jumping in behind them and yanking the doors closed just as Fred started the van.

"Roo r-rold. . ." Scooby's reply came out shivering and quiet, and it stabbed right through to Fred's heart.

"I'm sorry," he said, pulling away from the university. "I shouldn't have made you sniff around the campus church."

"Fred, this isn't your fault." Daphne said, pulling out a pair of blankets.

Fred didn't respond; he gave the call to split up and search for clues, he pointed out where they'd look. It sure felt like his fault.

Velma skillfully navigated him through the back roads, avoiding the rush hour traffic on the freeway. He knew all of them felt every minute of Scooby's whimpers, but finally, just shy of half an hour later, they were out of the city.

"S'okay buddy," Shaggy soothed. "You can relax now."

The long, heavy sigh Scooby released felt like permission for Fred to let go of the tension he'd been holding in his shoulders.

As he eased off the gas pedal and cruised, he glanced in the rear view mirror; the form of a Great Dane with his head in Shaggy's lap shimmered and faded.

Three of seven eyes looked back at Fred through the mirror before they all slowly shut in slumber.

[chucklee118]

My toxic trait is getting really angry whenever following the recipe leads to some kitchen disaster

I trusted you and your recipe; I put my trust in your recipe that said I needed a teaspoon of baking power and soda for two sweet loaves split between two 8x4 pans.

Now there's burnt on the shelves and floor of my oven

I mean this with my entire chest

Fuck You.

[chucklee118]

I dissociated so hard in the middle of my drive home from work after closing that I ended up at the exit I take off the highway to get to a friend's house

Said friend's house is NOT on the way home from work

I need to pass out

[chucklee118]

Chapter 18:

WAAAAAAAH IRUMAAAAAA!

[chucklee118]

Well, I finished the Team Dark story.

You're pretty much guaranteed an A rank in Final Fortress if you go through the stage killing enemies as you go and make it to the end without dying

Simple.

But I don't have any desire to revisit that stage for that story.

[chucklee118]

Hank Green's a gem

that's the post

[chucklee118]

I've had the same fucking cold for about two weeks

I've been napping like a champ; to the point that my brain's just restless and there's still gunk to expel

There's only one remedy to this

vidja games

[chucklee118]

I only know of Riverdale from Alex Meyers' videos on the series, and the brief scenes that YouTube allows him to show in his commentaries

But that is more than enough to say: It's existence is utterly baffling, and nothing less than the ultimate inspiration for anyone who suffers from imposter syndrome or doubts they can write

Riverdale is real, against all odds. Roberto what'shisface has been handed several big projects, culminating in seven seasons of Riverdale

Follow your dreams everyone

The most baffling thing, beyond the meme'd to death poor dialogue, the 'plot twists' overused to the point of redundancy, the creepy amount of runtime dedicated to framing these characters sexually; beyond everything, the most baffling aspect is that, in all of it's inconsistency, Riverdale is only consistent in whiffing every chance it has to produce something decent after the finale of season one.

I mean, I know practically nothing, and it's obvious even to me how wide open for opportunity for character moments and dynamics that finale left things. I mean, just off the top of my head:

Archie, in the hospital after speeding through town to save his dad, the gang all show up to support him.

Mood is tense, Jughead can't come up with a punchline to lighten things, Betty's anxious, maybe clenching her fists too hard again because she doesn't know how to help even though she's supposed to know things. Veronica moves off, goes to the bathroom or something, notices Cheryl is there for an entirely different reason (her mother in the aftermath of the fire)

Cheryl's trying to maintain what she thinks is her powerful bad girl look, but Veronica notices faint cracks, because she used to live the life of the powerful bad girl; her instinct is to dig at those vulnerabilities, doubly so after all the suspicion Cheryl subjected the gang to, but she hesitates because she wants to do better.

They talk, albeit reluctantly, awkwardly, finding out why the other is there. Part ways; Cheryl mutters the quietest "sorry" under her breath before ducking into her mother's patient room. Camera holds on her in a corner, arms clenched together in an uncomfortable hospital chair; more than ever before, she's alone in the world

Back to Archie, his friends eventually persuade him to go home and take a shower. Veronica takes him while Jughead and Betty go to Pops, (no, the teenage girl does not go to 'comfort' him with. . . anyway), waits in his room; gets a call from her mom that she ignores. Ends up sharing what she saw of Cheryl, maybe because she can't help it, maybe because she wants to give him something else to think about.

It doesn't help; just reminds him that, right after they figured out the mystery of one murder and wrapped things up, another killer is in Riverdale. Overwhelmed, they fall asleep and the camera cuts short just after Veronica gets a text telling her that Hiram's back

Archie goes to Betty later because he knows she'll look into the Black Hood

Veronica wants to help but gets pulled into Lodge empire nonsense; eventually figures she might as well use the resources for a good cause under Hiram's nose

The time apart strains her and Archie's relationship

Jughead joins the Serpents hoping to be the gangs in for the Riverdale's underbelly

Archie's conflicted; he knows the history of Jughead's dad and doesn't want to push any of his friends into risking their safety

Betty's "dark side" might be teased with how easily she can talk on the gang's level when she lets herself

Cheryl tries to be better at school upon realizing that no one likes her

The ultimate reveal about Betty's dad is more dramatic and pushes Betty over the edge; a moment of Jughead barely ducking into a car she starts joyriding around town and then into the forest at dangerously high speeds, barely avoiding fatal injuries

It's not a full plot, but like, the pieces are all there to start from; the potential for character moments and arcs. Hell, if they're feeling extra clever, they can tease supernatural elements for later seasons when they wanna go batshit

Whiffing to such a legendary degree is just. . . I mean, holy shit

[chucklee118]

Episode 1 of Primal is a masterclass of introducing an audience to a world and the protagonists of. As if the rest of the series isn't also masterful, but I'll get there in other posts.

At twenty-five seconds in, we get the first look at one of the series' deutertagonists; approximately three seconds after he silently introduces himself through his weapon of choice, Spear. It's 64 seconds in before we get the first title card, but there's a decent bit of information in that time.

Like I said, Spear introduces himself by catching fish; the blood that trails along his line (I don't know the name of the tool he uses for hooking and carrying his catches) shows that injury and blood won't be shied away from (and from the fact that we watch the fish suffocate in his hand, death won't be shied from either), and, the instant before the title card drop, we get clued into the savagery of the world and how suddenly a visually powerful and capable hunter like Spear can go from predator to prey when the prehistoric crocodilian bursts from the river.

Title card.

The episode's basically divided into two halves; Spear's introduction and tragedy, and then Fang's; we get the first real look at our girl at just after the ten minute mark.

One of several things I love about this as a first episode is how much each moment gets to breathe; good tension is built and emotional moments have weight even if we just met these characters, owing largely to how expressive the art makes a caveman and a tyrannosaurus (the moment Spear realizes Fang isn't the one who killed his family, the way his eyes go wide seeing her young, the frustration that follows at being reminded he failed to protect his own), but also because the episode doesn't try to do too much too soon. There's no frontloaded exposition, so each beat of the story has an impact.

Spear's ideation on the cliff, paired with how the music crescendos right as he toes the edge? Chills.

And it's very clear that both Spear and Fang were made to be protectors; to be parents, and how much those roles matter to them.

The way Spear shoves Fang's babies out of the way when the Alpha Rex appears, and the way grief drives Fang to charge in fully blind without a care for her life when they get eaten. . .

The color palettes are also fantastic. I'm a writer, not an animator or an artist, but the way the episode begins with mostly bright greens, some darker colors as Spear makes his way home and then the crimsons and red mists when the smaller Alpha Rexes attack; transitioning to darkness as he climbs and then sits on the cliff, brightening again with the rising sun and the imagery of his family wanting him to see another day, then back to green, albeit not as vibrant as the beginning?

Mwah.

I've heard a couple interpretations for Fang's behavior at the end on the beach; that maybe she's following Spear because she sees him as her young, or at least a substitute for them that she can latch onto.

But listening to her mournful whines and sighs as she lays down, submissive even as Spear holds his weapon with both hands. . .

I think the direction of her thinking mirrors what Spear had been considering earlier; asking for his help to make it happen.

As for the triumphant moment at the very end. . . ties in a bit to the next episode, so I'll get into that there.

[chucklee118]

FUCK THE FU-

I'm IN THE MIDST OF FINISHING A CHAPTER AO3

WHY NOOOOOOOOOW?!!

[chucklee118]

If I ever get the urge to comment with actual opinions backed up by real thought on IG again I beg you to throw me into the abyss

the literacy and things that happen to fandom on there are so mind-numbingly atrocious

[chucklee118]

I'm so fucking sleepy.

Fuck inventory on New Year's Day

[chucklee118]

I appreciate my mutuals who honestly believe that the number of people who know who I am breaches the double digits

My polls are irrevocably boring and devoid of people

Extra reblogs will not help that

[chucklee118]

CHAPTER 112 SPOILERS:

MARIN USED GOJO'S GIVEN NAME!

SHE STUTTERED OVER SAYING "WAKANA"

HALF THE CHAPTER WAS HER AGGRESSIVELY PUSHING FOR PDA JUST FOR HER TO TRIP AT THE END!

THEY'RE SO FUCKING CUTE!

[chucklee118]

All this backstory and character development for Alice got me fucking feral

I love this spinoff!

[chucklee118]

Why would anyone read a Peggy Sue fic and then complain when familiar events are recounted in the author's own words/voice rather than entirely skipped over?

You clicked on the time travel fic; you knew certain events were going to be relevant