#[ s1 i overall really really like but there are parts that make me roll my eyes fr ]

[king7doms]

there is so much about h.otd s1 that doesn't even make sense like why would rhaenys have any say over the betrothal of daemon's children??? cutting laena's and rhaenyra's friendship was a crime in general b/c they're the ones that decided to betroth their kids. which was also dumb politically to give two of their kids to either other's kids like you should have saved one for other alliances??? I know that's the book tho i'm critical of the book too sometimes. listen i know how crude and whatever that sounds but royal marriages literally were political alliances get off my back about that one

[steveharrington]

have you ever thought about how tommy steve and carol became friends? do you think it was like since they were all babies or like they knew each other peripherally but only became close during middle school or something? i love anything that involves tommy and carol and i wish they would show up in the last season somehow

my little made up history for them is that steve and tommy have been friends literally since like. pre-k mostly because their moms knew each other from like mommy groups in the community and set up play dates. i know it’s easy to make steve’s parents into these 2-D evil caricatures but i do think often about steve’s mom being stuck in this loveless marriage that makes her more and more paranoid about her loser husband being unfaithful….im sure before that she tried to make hawkins work…i think she was good friends with tommy’s mom and they spent a lot of time together which is how we get the steve-tommy dynamic in season one where they almost seem like brothers. steve smacking him and rolling his eyes when tommy says something shitty but still continuing the conversation as normal and hanging out with him the same as always, almost as if he feels like tommy is just a permanent fixture in his life and his cruelty is just a part of the deal

i think carol moved to hawkins a little later in middle school and as soon as she stepped in the doors a little censor went off in her head that guided her to tommy immediately because their genetic bitchiness is a 100% match. i think steve adopted carol in and essentially also sees her as a little sister (forever thinking about the Choice in s1 of showing us steve giving carol his applesauce and meatloaf off his own plate….) and overall i think that’s how steve rationalizes their behavior in his brain. he’s like “well… yeah maybe they shouldn’t have said that….but what can i do, they’re like family! that’s just the way they are! what am i gonna do, cut them off?? it’s tommy and carol!”

to me that’s more compelling than steve just sticking with tommy and carol for Status. that doesn’t really make sense because it’s not like we see the three of them flanked by their peers at lunch, or inviting masses of people to their party. i don’t think carol and tommy are particularly popular and that steve clings to them because They as people determine his social ranking, but more because they’ve been his best friends for so long that he just can’t really fathom existing without them. maybe he parties a lot and has a lot of girlfriends and is a star athlete or whatever, but when steve invites people over on a tuesday night, he only invites tommy and carol (and later nancy and barb). they’re his only Friends, clearly, who mean anything to him. so as they get older and tommy and carol get crueler and sharper and more prone to escalate situations, steve just kinda averts his eyes to avoid this cataclysmic break up between the three of them

tommy and carol so endlessly fascinate me. in such a short time we learn so much about the depth of their history with steve, the way they feel comfortable joking and laughing about his parents relationship (in a way that to me almost feels like siblings laughing at the antics of their shared parental unit), the way they seem determined to kinda press on the wound of steve’s insecurity about cheating and infidelity until he freaks the fuck out on nancy and jonathan. there’s like a possessiveness that they seem to feel when steve actually starts to form a close bond with nancy that is so interesting…. ugh i could yap about them forever. they are such an important part of the tapestry of steve’s life……and chester rushing said tommy is in gay love with steve ❤️

[roseofcards90]

Ah, before I forget. What were your overall thoughts on Link Click? Like, s1 vs s2, favourite characters or arcs, that kind of thing? ^^

Omg!!! I'm so sorry about the wait 😭 I was trying to get all my thoughts together so I can type something coherent here so it's not just me rambling about how amazing the show is LMAO

Link Click spoilers below btw!!!

First off, I just wanted to say the overall mystery??? Executed very well! I was definitely not expecting both Tianchen and Tianxi to have powers (I thought something else was going on like they both swapped places/identities or something 😭), but it makes sense since they're siblings and they're meant to parallel the Shiguang duo! Even in the first season, I assumed it was only going to be one person that was the culprit behind the murders, but the show pleasantly surprised me with that! The siblings themselves were also just pretty tragic omg 😭 that whole flashback sequence with them being the foxes in the story, and Tianxi slowly sees Tianchen go down his dark path was so good. You already saw that post I made about them, but yeah I love tragic and doomed siblings as a trope it's great <3

One of my absolute favorite parts from the whole show tbh is the entirety of Season 1 Episode 11. That was a perfect final episode to end things off on and tease a season 2. Like the nonstop twists they kept pulling??? Like how they first initially present Emma's death as a suicide as a red herring but it turned out to actually be the case is so much more impactful and tragic than just having her be another person who was possessed by Tianchen. That whole scene with her and CXS on the bridge OUGHHH IT BROKE ME 😭 THAT WAS SO WELL DONE!!! The song, combined with the montage of all the people he and Lu Guang helped, him talking her down from ending it all and reaching out his hand to her with the sunshine rising above him...EMOTIONAL DAMAGE FR. Like I knew it wasn't going to end all happily, but the emotional impact was definitely there. And that ending omg — having Qiao Ling, one of the main characters we've gotten attached to and love dearly, be shown to have stabbed Lu Guang was brutal, especially for Cheng Xiaoshi 😭 the angst that came out of that and Qiao Ling feeling guilt for hurting Lu Guang even if it wasn't really her was all really heartbreaking. That whole thing, as well as Qiao Ling knowing what Lu Guang did to save Cheng Xiaoshi's life, really makes their relationship pretty rocky but also interesting!!! I want to see more of their duo together since the show has had plenty focus on Qiao Ling with CXS and CXS with LG, and also angst I want to see them both go through the horrors while CXS is standing there like :D LMAO

I would definitely say that Cheng Xiaoshi is my fave character out of the whole cast. I absolutely adore everyone else don't get me wrong, but I think what makes CXS so special and unique to me is how they made empathy one of his core defining traits. Because he’s lived through so many different lives and experiences, he just has a lot of compassion and understanding for all kinds of different people, and that's pretty admirable! Idk, I don't see that often much, especially in a time travel story of all places, but the premise works here very well along with how CXS is initially characterized as a very easygoing person who wants to help people at his core.

As for other stuff exclusive to season 2, I'm very curious to see what direction they'll go in for season 3 just with the way season 2 ended with that bombshell lol. When a season 3 does roll around, I hope we get more character exploration on the guy who's seemingly the main antagonist, Liu Xiao. I know we got some characterization with him because of his past with Tianchen, but I would love to see more of him and what his plans really are with trying to "bring more parallel lines together". Also Lu Guang betraying his own rules to save Cheng Xiaoshi I don't have anything else to say other than GOOD SHIT!!! I love it when characters are hypocrites I love it when characters in time travel stories break time itself to save the person they love <333 it's like crack to me I swear lol.

Other extra things!!! Soundtrack absolutely amazing, I've been listening to all the ops and eds on spotify lol. Character designs, voice acting (I watched the original Chinese version), and overall animation was amazing. High marks all around for me fr!!! I think personally I enjoy season 1 just a bit more? Only because that final episode was beautiful for me and I loved seeing all the different clients the duo had, but in terms of overall plot, I would put season 2 above season 1.

[kmze]

Thoughts on 1x12-1x22! Tbh I'm happy to be done with S1 while I liked the nostalgia, I have some gripes with this season and IMO it's really not one my favorites in the overall series (I know that's controversial). The mythology was great and I loved the magical macguffins but it's just so dramatic all the time I felt. My memory of this season is terrible and I had forgotten a lot of movement in the plot so sometimes I felt like I was watching something new. S2 will probably be easier for me to get through. More under the cut and remember these are all my opinion and I am not here to argue about them :)

Yeah I completely forgot it was Anna who turned Logan and her dumb henchmen. Will miss her, she knew how to use minions to not get her hands dirty.

I really felt bad for Jeremy. His relationship with Anna was cute but tragic and then he has to deal with his sister lying to him all the time. Then giving him sad eyes to please forgive her she was just protecting him *rolls eyes* he should have gotten the chance to kill Damon at least once.

I love how uneasy Uncle John makes Damon. He's the only one who is unmoved by his attempts at charm and you can see how much it annoys Damon that he knows EVERYTHING. I also appreciate that John doesn't care that everyone hates him. Just a man on a mission.

It was jarring how long Bonnie was gone but could not help but clap at how she was like 'fuck y'all' when she returned after what happened to Grams. I did not remember this and was very pleased with the development! I also forgot the awful wig they gave her when she returned (thankfully it looked much better in the finale) Kat should have sued.

I swear there was a founding-family-mystic-falls-event every single episode in the second half of the season and that plot device has really started to run it's course for me. Unfortunately I've got at least two more seasons of it I think *deep sigh*

My god do I hate Matt and Caroline, I hate the way they frame EVERYTHING with Caroline having to be ‘notElena’ with him. I especially got annoyed in 1x14 when she had to keep giving him “speeches” to apologize for BEING HERSELF. Especially apologizing for the hand holding like Matt doesn’t constantly make her feel inadequate next to Elena. Matt telling Caroline he just needed to be alone after they found Vicki's body and then when he sees Elena he hugs her is just cruel.

The overall treatment of Caroline this season was honestly the worst part for me. The fact that they have her say "I'm a terrible awful person but I'm working on it" ?? In what context is Caroline an awful person especially on a show where characters are literal serial killers. This is exactly where the "Caroline was annoying in S1 but got better" nonsense comes from. When really she was just a 17 year old girl with a type A personality. This is probably the biggest reason I struggled watching this season. It just all felt very deliberate in the way it was written, to make the viewer think Caroline is annoying.

Stefan was better in the second half of the season but it was so LOL that the moment he started being a little fun Elena was like "what's wrong with you" HA! Of course something was wrong and kudos to Paul because the Stefan-blood-addiction storyline was really well done . I always liked how it was played as an addiction (and even better in S6 when they confirm it was a genetic thing with Lily as addiction is usually genetic). I have seen most of those scenes tons of times but watching them in succession again made me appreciate it again.

I truly don't like Damon :-/ his only purpose for me currently is he makes me laugh. I can't stand how he acts like he knows everything and is orchestrating everything when really he's kind of a moron and extremely impulsive. Genuinely what was his plan killing John and throwing him off the roof at the 8th straight founding family function? I wish Bonnie had kept her energy from 1x22 and killed him.

This is probably just bias and age but I don't care about the triangle at all. It's just kinda there doesn't move me. Stefan and Elena are very serious all the time (there is so much hugging). Then there's Damon and Elena who just eye-thing each other in every scene they share. Though I will say her wishy-washiness made it easier to believe she actually kissed Damon.

Katherine's reveal is still one of the best moments of the series (best part of season by far!) It was so funny watching the scene too knowing it's Katherine and how she just looked all moody as Damon gives her all the details she needs with zero strain on her part. Then when she says to Aunt Jenna "I don't want to talk about it" like a moody teenager LMFAO. I love her.

Lines that made me laugh:

Damon: Let's not kill anyone tonight. Your words. Just pointing that out. (ah the good ol' days when I enjoyed the Damon/Alaric friendship)

Stefan: You mean we did all that dancing for nothing (I know I keep saying he’s too serious but he is funny in a self-deprecating way)

[thestupidhelmet]

That ‘90s Show Reviews

“Lip Smackers”

Three episodes into That ‘90s Show, and I don’t get a That ‘70s Show feeling from it at all despite Red and Kitty’s strong presence and other recognizable elements. Mentally and emotionally, it’s a bit discombobulating for me. I watched T7S when it originally aired. And for the last thirteen years, I’ve been steeped in the T7S fandom, analyzing the show, talking about it with fellow fans, writing millions of words of fanfic, and drawing thousands of comics. T9S doesn’t have the same flavor (in a metaphorical sense) as T7S despite what it’s inherited and taken from T7S. That being said, I’m overall enjoying That ‘90s Show as its own thing and getting more Red-and-Kitty content, but aspects of T9S—beyond how it doesn’t fit in T7S’s universe—are throwing me off.

--Fez #6 is CAMPY. Which is not an issue in and of itself. But Fez isn’t campy on T7S. He’s a fish out of water (in all versions but T7S season 8, where his main personality traits morphed into sexism and womanizing). At least he’s holding a Tootsie Roll in his salon commercia and says, “I said good day,” which are nods to T7S!Fez. --Oz getting stuck in Nate and Nikki’s make-out gave me a laugh. --Finally, some real Oz content and background. Some, but I’d like to know what his friendships are like with the other characters. Go deeper, show. What connects Oz to them? What connects them to Oz? Why do they care about one another? What’s their history? (Yes, it’s only episode three. But I do hope these questions are answered by the first half of the season.) --I’d also like to know more about Nikki, but the force of her personality is very strong. We get a lot simply from her actress’s performance. Great casting, imo. --I am happy that T9S decided to stick with T7S S1-S7’s ongoing joke of us never learning where Fez is from. Another part of T7S season 8 has been erased … from existence (well, the T9S universe). I would like to know what Kitty said while her voice was drowned out, lol. --Aaaaand a meld of T7S S7-S8 Fez season is in the house. --Fez and Kitty’s conversation in Fez’s salon reminds me of their dynamic in season 8. Fez being rich and successful—no problem with that. How, though … the salon … and the fact T7S season 8 ended with Jackie sweeping at the salon Fez worked at in order to “humble her” (since the S8 showrunners hated her character with more than a touch of misogyny). I’m glad for Jackie that S8, as well as T9S, are on-screen AUs and not canon. By their very nature, they can’t be canon since real!Jackie would never make the choices she makes in those AUs. --When describing Sherri, Fez says he “hasn’t felt this way about a girl since Jackie.” Kitty asks what happened between him and Jackie. Real World Explanation: The actors who played Jackie and Kelso got married, and the people behind T9S wanted to capitalize on that. That ‘90s Show’s Explanation: Jackie left Fez for Kelso. Simple. What we all thought. But, really, Fez was heartbroken over her for fifteen years? Uh, no. (Of course, they never actually dated in the canon T7S universe, so none of this is real. Moving on … for now?) --Kitty gets turned on by Fez for a moment. Just like she, er, appreciated Kelso’s body in That ‘90s Show after he hugged her. For “the laughs”. Not fidelity to character. (Reminds me a bit of the T7S parody porn. I saw the version with all the sex parts cut out (thankfully). But these Kitty-is-attracted-to-her-surrogate-kids-now-that-they’re-adults moments are beyond cringey. They’re squicky. --Leia’s awkwardness trying to get her first kiss at the mall reminds me of Eric. --Jay Kelso has been characterized as a man-whore by Oz and Gwen. --Fez got his MOM on the phone, according to Sherri. (Man, my T7S brain and my T9S-as-a-canon-divergent-AU brain are clashing. There are answers to questions I wish T7S had given us and never did, but T9S’s answers don’t fit with T7S’s universe). --Red in the massage chair is hilarious. He doesn’t need a circle. He just needs a chair from Sharper Image. The fact he asks if he and Kitty should get a cat tells us he is out of his mind, lmao. (He hates cats.) --Jay and Leia’s scene on the car. Depth for Jay (yay). --Oh, man. Fez made a sex joke about Kitty (but he did that on T7S, so that’s nothing new). --Fez being shocked about Sherri being in her forties and saying, that he “really dodged a bullet there,” is season-8!Fez all over. Real!Fez loves them big, loves them small; he loves them all (that applies to age, too—legal age).And his reaction to Sherri having kids, he’d be more like Gus on Psych, wanting to become insta!Dad to them, not scared off. --Gwen [frustrated] to Leia, “You dork! I’ve been telling you how all along how awesome you are, but it took some guy to say that for it all to sink in.” A lot of Gwen and Leia’s interactions and dialogue so far can reasonably be interpreted as having romantic subtext (despite that this is not the writers’ intentions). --Glad Oz’s boyfriend is real.   --Final thoughts on T9S!Fez as depicted in this episode: he is cobbled-together mess of characterization. It’s all over the place. While he is recognizable as Fez, I don’t truly know or understand who that Fez is. It’s vague, nebulous, and ungrounded.

[lucidpantone]

I agree the writing is weaker in S2 and some parts were definitely too unbelievable (the general indifference towards Wilmon by the rest of the characters - let’s remember only a two week Christmas break passed in-universe, no way gossip would have died down that quickly). My problem with YR S2 is that it felt it advanced very little in terms of the overall story. By the end of S1, they’re dealing with the fallout of the sex tape. By the end of S2 and credits start rolling, they’re still about to deal with that again.

So maybe am a gossip queen but I agree on the students just dropping this sex tape and not speaking about it again. Particularly because Simon is so melodramatic that he got off the table when Wille admitted to kissing Felice. Like you know that would have spiraled the gossip machine. Like your telling me Walter who basically went screaming in forest ridge that wilhelm kissed felice didnt make any innuendos when Simon literally walked off in the middle of Wilhelm's declaration. I mean in many ways s2 really advanced August's arc and the general dynamic of the royal family and how it operates when their heir isnt staying in line and I think its important how Erik absence isnt something that just resolved itself because I do think Wilhelm extreme moods are a by product of some form of grief over erik and losing simon who is the only person he can talk to about his feelings. So it was nice to see his progress. Also simon discovery that being moral is not always as easy as it seems. But Wilmon themselves i agree didnt make huge strides but i think individually simon and wilhelm needed to discover some things. I saw alot of YouTube call this season 1.5 and i couldn't agree more and also 6 episode is just not enough i hope we get 8 in the final season.

[animehouse-moe]

Konosuba: An Explosion On This Wonderful World! Episode 1: The Crimson-Eyed Wizards

The deranged explosion specialist, Megumin, is the first of her party to grace our screens in nearly 4 years now. A large gap (though not quite a decade like some other series), a prequel story, the third studio for the anime series. The cards are quite stacked against it, no? Well, through perseverance, chance, or some matter of fate, Megumin not only makes it to our screens again (and before Kazuma), but does so in impressive fashion. So, where to begin?

Maybe I'll address the changes first. Konosuba is under new direction (and storyboarding), found in Abe Yuujirou. A relative newcomer to series director, they've got a good few credits under their belt for episode direction. The biggest (and most important) being Kaguya-Sama. In total, they only did 4 episodes from S1+S2, but I think the impact of being an episode director for Kaguya-Sama is plain as day.

Visual comedy is an important aspect of both titles, so having worked on such a visually creative show beforehand gives me a lot of confidence in Yuujirou's approach. Sure, it might be a little "flat" at times, as in it opts for a lot of 2 dimensional scenes, but I think there's plenty of moments that help accentuate the comedy of various interactions, like this one.

Though to temper expectations, I'd still caution at the fact that it's not stellar direction on all fronts, as more often than not you'll get a "left-right" representation of a scene, almost like a stage play.

I'm a pretty big advocate for avoiding this sort of thing when you have (an imaginary) 3D space to work with. I wouldn't say it's the end of the world, but it's like the bare minimum in a two-way conversation for showing their involvement.

At the end of the day though, I don't think it really gets in the way of the visual comedy, and even sometimes, the more lax layouts can help with it. Take this scene for example. It's pretty straightforward, but does it job of showing how comically large the school is in comparison to the number of students that it takes in.

I guess to put a cork in my waffling, the overall direction and storyboarding isn't quite as outstanding as I'd hoped, but at the end of the day it ends up aiding quite well in the delivery of the overall comedy. The heart of the Crimson Demons of course is what runs away with the episode, and we get a lot of that on display in almost exclusively a flashy nature.

But oddly enough, the core of the Crimson Demons isn't near as much a driving force as Kazuma's ability to parody isekai anime. Sure, it dominates the episode and brings about the vast majority of the best parts, but peeling back that façade you get a more genuine approach with characters as well. Just little bits and pieces that keep the ball rolling and help Megumin find her way to being an explosion specialist.

And of course, who could say no to an explosion to cap the episode off?

Well apparently, Drive.

Overall, I think with tempered expectations, this first episode back is a treat. Its comedy hits just right, the visual effects look ridiculously cool still, and Takahashi Rie is killing it as Megumin once more. With the change in course towards a more fleshed out and directed story, I think there is certainly bumps in the road that stop it from being really great, but that's tertiary to the main point of watching this. You want funny and hilariously overpowered chuuni magic users as the main course, it's just that you get a little bit of story as a side dish.

[isleofair]

For the tiger and bunny ask game!

2, 12, 13, and 15 if don’t mind :)

Mind?!? I am SO excited that you came up with this, thank you and thank you again for the ask!!! 😍😍😍💖💖💖

2. Who are your top three favourite characters and why

Number one is definitely Nathan (my beloved) 💖💖💖. As for the why... I don't even know if I can articulate it properly, but I'll give it a try.

She is, in a way, about as different from me as a character can be (well, except for the fact that neither of us is one of the bad guys, I guess), and yet she resonates with me on a level I can't fully explain. If a show has just one explicitly queer character, I do tend to gravitate towards them, but with the way Nathan was handled in S1, this didn't really happen the usual way here. The fact that I find their identity so fascinating is definitely a factor, I suppose (it has... definitely given me thoughts, I'll say that much), but I think overall the reason I love Nathan so much is that if you look closely enough, pretty much every aspect of her has just as many facets as her gender, and yet deep down her character can be distilled into a very simple, very relatable core: she wants to be accepted, and she wants to be loved, just as she is. 🩷

Close behind her is Keith, who is a precious cinnamon roll angel bean of a man, too good for this world, we do not deserve him (like we don't deserve dogs)... And yet, much like Nathan, he is much more complex than he appears at a glance. He may be a bit of an airhead, and have what most people might deem to be too much faith in humanity, but he is not stupid, and in fact, he is not even that naive. He chooses to believe in people, to give everybody a chance, just as he chooses, over and over, to keep doing his absolute best for everyone. He's a treasure (and I find his silliest aspects and his struggles with communication very relatable). 💜

And third has to be Kotetsu, who was my initial fave, whom I relate to for more reasons than just being "middle-aged", and who hits my taste for the layered character cake of "silly goofball on top of a genuinely good heart on top of a vast chasm of unbearable sadness" pretty much spot on. 🥺💚

12. Favourite arc

OUGH. Let's go with the Jake arc. I genuinely love it and the other ones all have parts that make me too damn sad.

(The fact that I rewatched it over and over to put it into my favorite fic probably helps my love for it, as well. 😅)

13. Favourite non hero

BEN JACKSON MY BELOVED 💖💖💖

He's a great man and a loyal friend, while being a realist who calls out Kotetsu (not unkindly) when needed, and he has a lovely sense of humor on top of everything else. I. Love. Ben. 💚

(Honorable mentions to Kaede, Anju, and of course John and Johnjohn.)

15. Is there any character you wish we saw more of their family life

NATHAN AND KEITH NATHAN AND KEITH NATHAN AND KEITH

We know Nathan's sister exists and that they talk, but she's not in that picture in the nightmare in The Rising (maybe they decided she existed only when making the supplemental materials for the movie? Maybe they decided not to include her in the picture for clarity? Who knows) . And we see Nathan's parents, again, only in that nightmare. We actually do not know for sure what their current relationship is (although we know Nathan's parents were very loving and supportive when she was a kid, given the story about them making her a makeshift trophy when she failed to win an art contest in school, and how she still cherishes that trophy now). Were their lines in that scene things they actually said to Nathan, or were those more projections of Nathan's thoughts and fears, in the same way her old selves tell her she should just die?!? 😭

And as for Keith... we know NOTHING about his family. N O T H I N G. Just that, apparently, he doesn't have much of a social life, so if he has relatives, he probably doesn't see them often? I need to know more 🥺

(The Tiger & Bunny ask game!)

[gleefullypolin]

Oh my, the fighting in the OUAT fandom was wild. I stepped in the tags once and saw the most ridiculous fights. Captain Swan was canon at the time and I saw them consistently attacked by other Emma ships and I was like, welp, I'm always down for a non-canon ship but I also have the critical thinking skills to understand what canon means, haha.

That pirate might have been the time I realized I have a very specific type. 😤

I always love a good underdog so I immediately loved Pen, she had my whole heart because she was trying so hard and just kept struggling. I don't think enough people pay attention to just how much some of the things she's done to protect people, even if the methods are maybe not the best, affects her. She's carrying such an immense burden but in a time where women aren't allowed to have the accomplishments she does, she's also got this thing that's hers and hers alone, she's successful because she made it that way, no one else.

They could make me very invested in Eloise's season but I agree, it will probably depend on how this season and next (if Benedict's) goes. It feels like they gave Eloise Colin's jealousy about LW from the books which I think makes more sense for the show, Penelope was doing all of the things Eloise had talked about doing. If Eloise had paid Penelope any real attention in s2 she would have figured it out much more quickly.

Which makes me hope Colin's reaction is more of the protective anger we saw in the books, that man was incensed and scared to death. With how protective Colin already is of her in general, I feel like it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility.

Oh yes, I am not usually one for period stuff but the Polin of it all took me down. I enjoyed s1 as it was. I think s2 was more interesting overall for me but I wasn't really watching for more than Polin and Eloise.

Book Colin was absolutely insane over Penelope physically and I think that would be something that would be a good addition, and having him say what he does about being with others vs her in the books is something that should be included, whether he says it or it's woven throughout the brothel/polin scenes. There needs to be a marked difference in the way he is in them and I think we'll see that. It was obvious with Anthony (I don't remember the s1 scenes tbh ha) so I think that's part of their narrative for the male leads. The way Colin is with her is definitely why we love them, if they could kiss already that would be great.

I get fanon vs canon. I mean I ship Black Widow with Captain America so I totally feel the sting of shipping something you will never see on screen. I live in fan fiction for that. But I would never go after the Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers fans over it. Like it wouldn’t even occur to me to start a fight over it.

The OUAT stuff, well there were so many ships that were canon and fanon that were going after Captain Swan, and I was like…nope I’ll just enjoy the show because damn they were already angsty enough as it was on the show without the outside influence. They didn’t need anyone else saying “What if they don’t end up together” because damn I had no idea if they were going to leave him dead or not towards the end of that and it was painful enough having that last season without Emma around…

But YES, I love the underdog. And back to our beloved ship at hand, Pen that poor girl. I must say that I could give her an award for her brilliant eye rolls and looks of disgust she gives that no one pays attention to. Gotta love her true disgust with society. People truly do discount her, so one can’t blame her for wanting to go after that. I think many people forget how young she is and do not allow the mistakes she has made for her age. To think of the mistakes I had made by age 19. Damn! If no one had forgiven me for those, where would I be.

I feel like Eloise hasn’t paid nearly enough attention to her friend to have not figured out LW sooner OR to have figured out that she’s head over goo goo gaga for her brother. To think that she was writing Colin just to hear about his travels…sure girl.

I will give my right arm to see protective angry Colin. That whole taking her hand into the room and smashing the necklace thing last season leading right into a dance….yeah give me puffed out chest, this is my Pen, Colin, and no one is going to hurt her, terrified that the Queen is going to cut off her head, Colin.

I saw Nic’s comments today about how they didn’t hear them yell cut in the carriage scene, and they kept filming and I’m thinking holy hell when we get to that scene in June I may melt down for how much that scene will kill everyone and no one is going to even remember there were ever other suitors or women that even existed. I think the moment they kiss in episode 2 the entire Polin fandom will be too numb to argue about anything! And if they aren’t I don’t think either of us could help them anyway!

[idealisticrealism]

Hey @igetthebag! Firstly, no need to apologise about your English! If I tried to write something like this in my second language I would probably sound like an 8 year old lol. Secondly, thank you so much for the compliment on my writing talent (that means a lot, seriously) and for suggesting that I could be Miranda K haha! Man, I would be absolutely living the dream if I could be a showrunner like her.

Honestly though I know my positivity for the show/S2 isn't the typical reaction that a lot of fans have had; I think part of it was that I fell so hard for S1 that I went into S2 already very prepared to love it even if it didn't give me everything I wanted, but also as you probably noticed in my recaps (I'm honoured that you went to the effort of reading them all btw, I know that must have taken quite a while!! haha) I very much tend to look at canon and come to my own conclusions about why certain things happened or why characters behaved the way they did. I completely respect that you didn't think S2 was done well and that you were disappointed by it (everyone has a right to their own opinion, and yours is absolutely a fair one!), but I do still stand by my opinion that S2 was overall well-written and had good character development. There certainly were some plotlines that were rushed, but I think it would be hard to avoid that when you have just 12 episodes to fit everything into.

Like yes, Marco's death was surprisingly sudden, but tbh I really doubt there was much more of an interesting story to be told with him alive- probably just more of the same of him being a shouty asshole lol- and I felt that his death created an engaging new plotline for the season with Thony now needing to cover it up and protect Chris. (Ngl I was personally very happy to see Marco gotten rid of, especially because Thony couldn't legally divorce him, so as long as he was alive he'd always be a problem for her plan to stay in Vegas with Fi and the kids, and therefore for the show's entire premise). Kamdar was certainly an odd and eccentric character, and there were moments I did want to roll my eyes at the way his dialogue or mannerisms were written, but I did appreciate that they made him feel like a very different villain from Hayak. To me, Kamdar's presence narratively made sense, as the season needed a villain that would create new challenges for the characters- and yes, the writers did keep raising the stakes, but that's kind of the point of a second installment of anything, I think. For example, look at The Hunger Games: the first book is Katniss fighting for her own life in the arena. The second book adds the threat against her loved ones from President Snow, so now she's fighting to save her life AND the lives of everyone she loves. Then in book 3 she becomes the symbol of the rebellion so she's fighting for herself, her loved ones, and the lives of all the citizens of her nation. The stakes always have to get higher to keep people interested, and TCL did that in S2 by making Thony (and Arman) contend with Kamdar, the FBI, and Sin Cara, plus the ever-present Luca situation.

(Yes, I will admit I am getting a bit tired of Luca's illness as a plot device, but I'm also in the medical field so I'm very aware of the fact that as a transplant recipient, this kid will literally never not be dependent on constant medical care to survive. Which means that Luca repeatedly getting sick or needing complex treatments isn't lazy or repetitive writing, it's accurate writing, as is the way Thony reacts as the mother of a seriously ill child. Luca has been her entire world for over 6 years so of course practically everything she does and thinks about will revolve around him).

Speaking of which, I feel like the whole point of this season was to show that Thony, while the hero of this story, isn't actually a superhero; she's just human, just a woman in a shitty situation who is doing her best while in a constant state of fear and exhaustion. And so, like any human- especially one under extreme duress- she can have the best of intentions but still make mistakes and bad decisions. In her case, these usually arise from her trying to do everything alone, or her not being willing to give up control and trust in others where Luca's safety is concerned, which is is extremely accurate to her character's history and personality. Which means she's not trying to betray Arman or anyone else, she's just so caught up in her own terror that she sometimes makes bad calls. (For example, she never chose protecting Kamdar over Arman; she chose the course of action that she believed had the highest chance of keeping Luca alive, and then took measures to protect Arman as well, knowing he was at risk. You might notice that when Luca isn't involved, she is willing to give up complete control and just trust Arman's judgement even when it goes against her instincts or morals, like with the plan in 1x10 or selling the drugs in 2x05, but when Luca's safety comes into the equation she simply can't break free of the tunnel vision that comes from her Mama Bear mode, and hand over control to someone else.)

But honestly, good luck finding a character in this show that doesn't make bad calls or unintentionally screw others over; they literally all do, but we're just so much more aware of Thony's mistakes because she's who our focus is on. Her decisions, and the consequences of those decisions, are literally the plot of the show. In S1 she generally got lucky and things mostly worked out for her, and plus the writers' goal was to make us love her and become invested in her so that we'd continue to watch, so her mistakes were kept to a minimum (1x09 stands out as one where she really messed up through her own impatience and stubbornness and refusal to listen, and I think it was deliberate that the writers waited til almost the end of the season to really show that part of her). In S2 her luck definitely ran out and she started truly facing the consequences, and it's important to recognise that some of those were the consequences from her actions in S1 which she had simply managed to outrun thus far, but which finally caught up with her. If you'll excuse my language, this season was the 'find out' part of 'fuck around and find out' lol. Thony has made a string of decisions since 1x01, and as a result she or the people she cares about often ended up in even more danger than the situation she was trying to escape from, leading her to then take steps to escape that situation, often to only end up in even worse trouble again. (eg, she tries to sneak back into the US in 1x09 and gets caught and arrested; so then she has to get Arman to help her take down Hayak with the FBI, landing Arman in jail; then Arman has to go into debt to get out of jail before he's murdered; they start selling the drugs to get Arman out of debt to Kamdar before Kamdar destroys him; they get caught by the FBI and forced to set up a sting to take down Cortes and Kamdar; Sin Cara discovers their drug smuggling and nearly kills them; Kamdar nearly kills Thony and does kill Garrett; Arman ends up dead and Thony ends up with a price on her head from Sin Cara, etc etc etc). Basically, what I'm saying is that all through S2 Thony is continually trying to save herself and her loved ones (just like she did in S1) but this time shit just keeps going wrong, because that's what happens when you take risks and mess with dangerous people. And aside from Marco's death, pretty much all the worst stuff happened right near the end of S2, so I expect that much of season 3 is going to be about the impact of those events on her and how she finds her way back from there.

As for Armony; I get it. Having so many barriers between them sucked, but given that literally all of the stressful, terrible events of S2 happened over a period of less than 50 days, her not having the time to focus on her love life seemed pretty realistic to me, especially when the man she was in love with was dealing with significant problems of his own, and had also been unwillingly re-chained to his wife (who I agree deserves better, and should have left him sooner!!) by circumstances outside of his control. Their reunion in 2x03 was disappointing in some ways, yes, but I mean... well, firstly, her husband's funeral had been only days before, and secondly, they met in Nadia's workplace, in front of all her staff... of course they're not going to act like anything more than coworkers in that situation? Thony and Arman have literally never interacted in a visibly intimate way in the club when anyone else was present. I think their reunion might have looked different if it had happened somewhere else, but even then... where would that have been? Even at her house it would have been super inappropriate to show any kind of intimacy given Marco's death, and with his family being right there. If I had my way, Armony would have met somewhere else more private like the clinic, and they would have had a looong hug for sure lol- though nothing more than that, because again, the circumstances were too complicated. But regardless, don't forget that only 3 days after their very reserved reunion, Arman literally dropped everything (despite the threat of Kamdar) to go help Thony, including killing a man for her. 2x04 was an incredible Armony ep and I will defend it to my grave lol. Imo S2 really did give us some great Armony content and really strengthened the bond between them, but with everything going on, it was not exactly the ideal conditions for the two of them to be making out or to fall into bed together. (If you want to cry, think of it this way: they thought they had time. They thought that there would be an after, a calm place where they could reunite once they were free of the threats they faced. They didn't know they would never get that.) But ugh. Anyway. I'll admit that I'm sad they never got to be together physically and have that special moment that they deserved, but we still got so many other amazing scenes that truly showed the depth of their love and devotion for each other, and to me that was far more important. You mentioned 2x08 where Thony suggested the reconciliation- the suggestion did make sense because if Arman got close to Nadia again, he could get access to the keycard; and yeah, of course there were absolutely other ways this could have been achieved, but the writers were clearly going for the angstiest option lol, and the one that would create the most interesting drama and character conflict. And I don't think Thony was specifically telling him to go sleep with her, but it was fairly mutually understood that that would probably happen as part of him and Nadia getting back together. As for Arman's "I don't know" lol, I didn't see that as him being genuinely unsure; to me, it was meant to be understood by the viewers that he was straight-up lying. He knew he loved Thony, but he also knew that telling Nadia he loved Thony would get him kicked out of the house without the keycard, and so he said what he needed to say and did what he needed to do. I fully respect your right to interpret Arman however you want but personally I will forever stand by the opinion that he fell in love with Thony in S1 and he 100% knew it by the time 1x10 happened.

Anyway oops this is getting huge again, so just a few other quick things: I don't think Jazz actually knows the truth about Chris and Marco? I don't think anyone has told her. And yes Garrett 'cleaned up' the Marco situation in 2x07 by giving Thony (who the cops think killed Marco) FBI protection. In canon time, that only happens 2 weeks before the end of the season, and Garrett dies within a week of that. So it is possible that the cops might come after Thony again for Marco's murder in S3 now that Garrett is gone, but it also might be a plotline that is considered finished by the writers because the cops can't interfere with FBI business and so Thony is considered immune in the case of Marco's death. Who knows. Tbh I more wonder about how in 1x09 Homeland Security told her they were going to deport her after she faced trial, and then they just completely disappeared, presumably because she assisted the FBI with taking down Hayak? Her connection with Garrett was a literal get-out-of-jail-free card on multiple occasions so it's going to be so interesting to see her navigate S3 without him and his protection (and especially now that she's without Arman as well).

I guess that that's where the new guys come in though (ugh), and yeah you're right that both Jorge and this other new guy do sound like they will be interested in Thony romantically. I hated that they described the 2nd guy as having an 'instant connection' with her ugh. But honestly maybe the fact that Thony has recently lost everyone she relies on means that she finds herself more vulnerable to actually trusting someone new because she is just so desperate not to be so totally alone, and that's where her friendship(?) with this 2nd guy comes in. It's funny bc I think I already hate him more than I hate Jorge probably because Jorge is at least upfront about being a bad guy whereas it sounds like this other one tricks her. But anyway hopefully Thony doesn't take long to realise that she doesn't need these guys because she does actually still have someone she can turn to: Nadia. Through the series they have had elements of being rivals or adversaries, but they have also been kind to each other and helped each other in the past, and so like I said, in the future I really hope they will become reluctant allies bonded by the loss of Arman and everything they've gone through. In my mind, Thony will make every effort to protect Nadia like she's her own family now that Arman is gone, because she knows it's what he would have wanted... but that might just be wishful thinking.

Anyway I'm not entirely sure if I answered everything but I figure I've already said more than enough words so I'm going to stop there haha 😅

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!

Well, I'm glad I've reached a point where I can watch this and actually feel eager to have the show back, and interested about what's going to happen next... but I don't know, some of the latest info about all these new characters etc is making me feel weird all over again.

Literally from the moment I started watching this show in S1, I just always assumed it would be, at most, a 3 season show-- and then after losing Adan, I was so sure that they meant to complete the story with this season and let it end there. I want it to end there. I want the resolution of Arman's arc and the culmination of Thony's to stop at the same place, because if the show continues on (like some of Miranda Kwok's recent comments make it feel like is their plan) then it will mean that Arman is left behind. That he was only a temporary part of the story, and not laced throughout it from start to finish-- because even despite his death this season, I feel sure that he is still going to very much be a part of its story, as central to the events of the season and as vital to Thony's arc as Fiona is. But if they're going for a season 4 or even beyond, the plot will move on without him, and I just don't know if I could face that, not when he (and his connection with Thony) was the very thing that drew me to the show in the first place.

Anyway, if you have thoughts, I'd like to hear them; honestly I'd like any chance to talk about this show, to speculate like we used to, because I think it's the only thing that's going to make this coming season any easier to bear.

[thebeautysurrounds]

THIS CONTAINS SLIGHT SPOILERS FOR NEVER HAVE I EVER S2 READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

This is quite long I had a lot to unpack.

Since watching the 2nd season of Never Have I Ever a few things have been bothering me about the way people are reacting to Devi, and the show overall but mostly Devi. First of all she’s what a sophomore in high school? and she’s doing this all while being the only brown girl (up until kinda the middle of S2) and still dealing with grief and having absolutely no idea who she is yet. To me outside of being an honor roll student she is not doing things FOR HER she is doing this to appease her mother. Who while she means well pushing Devi to succeed to certain extremes which if Devi shows the slightest behavior of fucking up her mother makes harsh comments instead of understanding Devi is a literal teenager and needs room for fucking up.

Is Devi hella unreasonable at times? YES does she often times act strictly on impulse without a second thought…YES. But as a girl who virtually has no one outside of her friends who also are staring to drift from her and get into their first relationships themselves and have their own activities she essentially is left to navigate the world and her teenage angst alone. While I will give Nalini credit for all the work and time she has put in to not only being a single mother and navigating her own grief but also being a working mother who is a doctor and quite possibly has her own struggles with being a brown women in that filed. My problem lies with her not being able to balance or even let go of a strong arm parenting style that mostly focuses on Devi’s fuck up more than her accomplishments and makes comments on how her fuck ups that haven’t even happened yet. I’m not sure Nalini even realizes Devi is at the very very top of her class because I truly believe (after S1) even though Nalini apologized to Devi Nalini has a ‘hoping for the best but expecting the worst’ attitude when it comes to Devi and that’s in the for front of her mind so much she doesn’t realize Devi goes above and beyond not only for herself but to make her mother proud of her all for her mother to just not acknowledge that.

Now with Devi’s characterization I get where some people are coming from on saying Devi shouldn’t have been “boy crazy” or that they “ruined her character development” but here’s my problem those critiques while valid and your allowed to have those opinions…It’s just not really realistic and let me tell you why like I stated Devi is what a sophomore in high school and she has made it a abundantly clear her parents forbid her to date cause it’s school and extra curriculars only. Which will lead to a good college which thus will turn into a good career. While that’s all well and good. I don’t think y’all realize the FOMO of being in high school and growing up with very strict parents, and wanting to have your first relationship. Wanting to be an actual teenager and not wanting to think about 3-4 years down the line which most teenagers don’t/can’t visualize cause it’s not the right now. Devi wants to have those experiences and there’s nothing wrong with that does she go about it the right way…not exactly but y’all act like YOU have never been a teenager and said and done awful things out of anger or just pure immature stupidity. For the boy crazy part Devi is literally having her first feelings and experiences with boys she has 0 clue what she is doing outside of probably books, tv, movies and what her friends assume they know (even though they mean well) the only person Devi would remotely trusts is gone, and she can’t ask her mother cause her mother would honestly probably shut her down and make her feel guilty for even wanting to start having her first experiences with boys. Y’all have such a warped view of not only real teenagers and high school aged kids but also fictional ones. Y’all are so use to shows having protagonist being awful or starting off kinda okay but then their character turns awful and remains that way. What some of you fail to realize is actual teenagers and “teenagers” in shows can/are VERY morally grey. 

Should Devi have been honest and possibly communicated to both Ben and Paxton that she has some sort of feelings for them both..possibly but Devi is a teenager do you think she is having a in depth analysis and talk with herself (outside of a pros and cons list) about what infatuation versus lust versus genuine connection versus romantic attraction looks like probably not. Let’s also analyze how she literally goes from being in her eyes forgettable to being noticed and even though it’s not talked about in the show explicitly she honestly probably struggles with self esteem/self image issues. To go from being a girl who to her no one cares about/notices to one who is getting the attention of two boys who are in Devi’s eyes attractive in their own right. She is so consumed with two guys ACTUALLY being interested in her that she fails to realize she is/and will hurt them both, Do I think Paxton is genuinely attracted to Devi…maybe. But I’m still on the fence about their relationship to me in the beginning I felt Paxton felt Devi is just another meaningless high school fling that he will forget about once he gets to college but to Devi here’s this guy who is “popular” very attractive and he pays attention to her is she looking at the semantics of the situation and how Paxton is more than likely just using her and is only engaging with Devi to get a passing grade and to basically give her the superficial experience of a “high school boyfriend” no she’s not she’s looking at it like here’s this guy who is attractive and he wants to be with someone like me. But do I also believe Devi in S1 was using Paxton and then fell for him DEFINITELY but I will give credit to Paxton for trying at a real relationship with Devi and I hope he will try to be more open and honest.

Do I think Ben likes Devi I honestly do, While the insensitive jokes (exchanged between both) should be discussed I think Ben over time started to see Devi as a girl who finally saw him not the rich, annoying, know it all. But in his view Devi and him are on equal playing fields because they are both overly driven smart individuals and when she said yes to going out with him it was probably the first time he felt like a girl saw the real him. While Ben too more than likely struggles with abandonment issues him dating Devi in a way made him feel like this was the first time he could actual be happy about something cause it was something he actually wanted and not something he just did to earn points in others books and impress people he genuinely got something on his own and that he was actually happy not a front he put on. To me Ben’s abandonment issues come out even more than in S1 when he tells Devi why he’s so hurt and it’s the night of the party when she runs after Paxton (who he sees has it all) and Devi doesn’t “choose him” Do I think Ben and Devi should date cause they share some form of the same trauma no. But again Devi is not use and doesn’t even know what to do with the attention of two people. Again is Devi looking at the semantics of her relationship with Ben…No. I don’t think Devi even realizes she’s quite literally hurting two people cause we could also discuss how Ben and Paxton probably have had other flings and relationships without a second thought while Devi having no relationship experiences and this is territory for her and she has no idea what she is doing or how to properly navigate this situation.

I’m almost done with this long ass rant I promise but it’s two more things I want to make light of/point out I don’t think anyone really gives Devi credit for still going to therapy, loosing a parent is unbearable especially loosing one as young as Devi did, especially when you feel the only parent that truly understood and supported you is gone. Devi doing things that are impulsive and unreasonable because she quite literally has no guidance her mother is only consumed with Devi not making the family “look bad” Devi’s grief is so heavy and she feels she’s going at it alone because her mother doesn’t take genuine time to talk to her. Now was Devi “stalking” her mother extremely inappropriate yes for sure but do Nalini and her need to communicate better for Devi to understand that her mother wasn’t dating sure even if Nalini was on a date their should have been communication there. Devi will probably never stop grieving her father hell he literally came to her in a dream to tell her she deserves better when it came to “dating” Paxton and Nalini will probably never stop grieving her husband but she deserves happiness too and I believe if Devi and Nalini were both honest with each other her slowly dating again wouldn’t have been a problem. Another point I wanna make connecting Devi, Paxton, and Ben is they all have this view that the grass is greener on the other side and that’s just not the case. Ben is jealous of Paxton cause he feels he has the “Perfect life” but in actuality Paxton is extremely flawed and honestly insecure his own family doesn’t believe in him and he knows people only like him because he is attractive, while Paxton looks at Ben like this, while annoying Ben is smart, rich, and no one ever questions Ben’s intelligence but in actuality Ben is very lonely and has spent most of his life alone or being raised by other people which has caused him to put on a huge front to people and often times overcompensate in his social life, and Devi looks at other girls like they have it all and have 0 struggles or problems (I.e her views on Anissa) but Devi fails to realize thy also struggle, are insecure, is struggling with mental illness, and don’t have themselves figured out, and Devi is looking at this man her mom is “dating” as if he’s taking something away but In actuality he is experiencing his own losses. All in all Never Have I Ever gets teenage angst and messy problematic morally grey teenagers right and the fact that y’all beg for more “flawed or problematic” characters and when you get them you don’t like that they are just that it’s odd to me it seems like y’all only want problematic characters if it’s how you see fit.

TL;DR: Y’all need to stop acting like y’all weren’t gross annoying and had fuck ups as teenagers y’all should really stop pretending like teenagers in real and some of us as teens didn’t have/engage in relationships that weren’t good but we learned from it while this show isn’t real it shows y’all will scream let people fuck up and let them grow but you don’t actually mean it. Devi is a teenager and requires room to grow she even admits she acts out and is impulsive but y’all act like she’s supposed to have the self awareness of a 60 year old.

[beyondd-dazedd]

I LITERALLY COULDNT NOT DO THIS POST NOW!! so hsmtmts stans, portwell nation, literally everyone who wants to read me practically screaming for 10 paragraphs here is the hsmtmts season 2 finale EPISODE👏 REVIEW👏

starting off strong with redlyn. my beauties. my loves. my sunshines. i LOVED that the whole cast knew about red’s plan. just carlos, ricky and ej being like ah yes locker letters😉😉 and everyone being all smiley and knowing SO CUTE!! i hated seeing ash sad but GOD RED SPENDING THE WHOLE NIGHT MAKING THIS THING TO SHOW ASHLYN HOW MUCH HE APPRECIATES HER?? GOD TIER. also the crew just wATCHING FROM THE DOOR WHILE REDLYN IS IN THEIR OWN WORLD?? MY HEART they’re just such a genuine couple. i love their sweet awkward moments. i also love that lights is their reoccurring thing. it just makes me so happy. y’all just KNOW red calls ashlyn his sunshine and i don’t take criticisms on that. i also really wanted an i love you confession there but they’re so cute that i will allow it to wait

HOWIE AND KOURTNEY!!! at first (bc ep. 11) i was like HOWIE NO YOU CANT HAVE DONE ALL OF THIS STUFF TO HELP EAST AND THEN STAB THEM AND KOURTNEY IN THE BACK but the fact that he was literally just in awe of kourtney and so nervous to be around her because he thinks she’s so talented mADE MY HEART RACE truly incredible. also loved kourt standing up for herself. we LOVE and STAN a straight forward QUEEN also their dorky arm in arm walk was so adorable. also drum rolls being their thing. also honorable mention to kourt’s (dara’s) mom WE STAN

ej helping mr. mazzarra get that job?? I LOVE THEIR RELATIONSHIP SO MUCH.

PORTWELL ANGST SCENE I CRY. ALSO DID I CALL THAT SCENE OR DID I CALL THAT SCENE?? if you read the fic i posted like 7 hours ago you’ll know what i’m talking about. anyways back to the show. gina joking around and then realizing that ej means not rescheduling ever and her just pretending like she’s fine with it?? OUCH OUCH OUCH i would’ve rather her immediately been heart broken. DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON EJ’S FACE AFTER SHE WALKS AWAY. matt absolutely killed that part. you can tell he waited just long enough for her to walk away when he lets his face fall and IT HURTS YOU CAN LITERALLY SEE HIM WANTING TO STAY CRYING BEFORE HE TURNS AWAY

rini moment. not the dressing room parallel. it was PAINFUL. the juxtaposition between the scene in the s1 finale and this scene?? OUCH. ricky saying if we’re literally on the same page (something they struggled with throughout the entire season) and nini saying just for a moment. i just wanna talk to the writers I JUST WANNA TALK BECAUSE THAT WAS RUDE.

seblos being cuties and ms. jenn on some fuck shit. she was having a MOMENT. like chill it’s high school theater it’s alright sis.

GINA LOOKING IN THE MIRROR AND SOBBING I HATED IT. I HATED IT.

gini moment?? i loved it. also nini’s right. portwell is so powerful for so many reasons. period sis. and she’s right WE ARE LUCKY TO KNOW GINA. i loved their moment of solidarity and friendship. imma be honest for like 0.1 seconds i thought if portwell doesn’t work out gini might be the move bUT DONT WORRY IM A PORTWELL WARRIOR FOREVER also y’all called gina talking to nini about jamie and her music. YALL CALLED THAT SHIT

i liked ms. jenn and ricky’s moment. i loved josh’s acting in this scene because it’s just so well done. like doesn’t seem like he’s acting at all and it translates so well in this scene. it was very heartfelt and such a mature moment for ricky. so reflective. i love ricky

second chances GAVE ME CHILLS the whole staging, the vocals, the core four. CHILLS. the acting from all of them for this song WAS INCREDIBLE. it was so simple but really made the scene. i’m also a sucker for songs structured like this. with like the rounds and the switching lyrics over top of each other. LOVE.

ok literally all of them booing when lily and antoine showed up sENT ME because me too THE FUCK. antoine saying “big red. you were also in it” mADE ME SNORT. ricky literally shooing them out made me laugh and lily’s whirling turn and ricky like startling back a bit made me laugh. i hate lily but her confession was literally me. like i like his big brown eyes and his big brown hair too you ain’t special bitch. antoine’s thumbs up was SO FUNNY. andrew was hilarious in this role.

also i didn’t love that they were like well fuck the menkies after that was a major plot point of the season but like also i get it. just being like MEH the stress isn’t worth it. EJ’S SPEECH HES LITERALLY VOICE BREAK JUST THE FUCKING GROWTH THAT HES HAD I LOVE HIM

jennzzarra flirting in front of the kids?? kinda cute ngl. also am i muted? SENT ME. also love that howie is just chilling there while they’re talking about dropping out. KOURT SAID LETS BURN THOSE RESULTS

benjamin being BOLD BOLD good for him

big star nini?? good for her!

ashlyn being like YIKES i’m sorry i didn’t realize you thought of ej that way and her being like hahah ok... wait WHAT? but i KNEW ash was going to progress that along somehow. like obvs ej and gina were sulking and ashlyn HAD to be the one to step in. she do be the #1 portwell warrior. thank you for your service ma’am

i will only allow ricky and lily to be a thing IF it’s a summer fling, if it means antoine gets to stay around and if it pushes rini back together and if none of that happens then wtf is even the point of pairing those two up. but we already know ricky is a sucker for misunderstood competitive women (minus nini)

GINA CHASING AFTER EJ!!! HIS FACE OF JUST OH GOD PLEASE LET ME BE HEARTBROKEN!! YOU GOT BAD INTEL!! THE CAN I... CAN YOU WHAT? CAN I KISS YOU with her little giddy laugh and her smile GIRL YOURE GLOWING and then ej’s swallow as he turns to fully look at her. WILL YOU BE MY FIRST KISS!!!! HIM JUST SLOWLY SMILING FROM EAR TO EAR AND DROPPING HIS BAG TO WALK TO HER AND THEN THEM RUNNING WHEN THEY GET CLOSER AND GINA’S LITTLE GIGGLING I CANNOT EVEN

i am so so SO HERE FOR SUMMER FLUFFY IN LOVE PORTWELL

overall am i a little sad it was so short? yes. do i understand the insane restrictions they were working under? yes. am i confident about a season 3? absolutely. i am HERE for a summer season.

anyways PORTWELL IS CANNON!!

[redrobin-detective]

Crawls out from the Pit

Alright so after about 2 and half weeks I have finished all 8 seasons, 80 episodes of Ben 10 Omniverse. I’m a little sad to be done but also glad to have my free time back (also if I have to hear that motherFUCKING opening theme again I will actually cry). So it was an experiencing one that was both super enjoyable but also infuriating. Let me break down my thoughts (with some spoilers) under the cut.

Things I liked

- From the very first episode I was, and still am just fascinated by the basic world set up. Ben Tennyson is known across the entire universe as a hero and wielder of the Omnitrix, everyone he meets knows who he is. Coming off series with locked down secret identities Ben’s status as a universal celebrity had both pros and cons and was simply fascinating to watch.

 - Aliens are common in his hometown of Bellwood and there’s a thriving populous under the city. Watching aliens and humans interact with awkward moments and periods of adjustment was damn interesting, great world building in there too.

- The Plumbers being intergalactic peace keepers of sorts (again with all the good and bad that come with essentially being space cops) and having a presence on earth and beyond. Ben’s status as being part of the organization but not a true member, one who really answers only to himself was intriguing.

- For all that I nitpick Ben and Rook’s relationship (stilllll not seeing shippers sorry) I loved Rook Blonko as a character, he was delightful. I also did like Ben and Rook’s relationship bc their individual prejudices and problems kept them from becoming actually close and reliant on one another and while it came close at times it never really resolved which I’m okay with.

- Love the time travel shit *chefs kiss* Professor Paradox my beloved. Also I would die for No Watch Ben. And why is Ben 23 so popular? He’s a lil bitch.

- Genuinely did love the cartoony artstyle, I was obsessed with how green Ben’s eyes were. My personal fanon is the Omnitrix has slowly made them green and glowy over the years. Also the flashbacks to 10-11 year old Ben, baby diagnosed. Such a cutie patootie. 

- Speaking of which, loved the frequent callbacks to the original series (my first and favorite). OV felt way more connected to that Ben that I first fell in love with than AF or UAF.

- Ben, when his character was executed right, was wonderful. A big hearted teen who has way too much power and responsibility just doing his best. He covers his fear of failure with jokes and a deceptively casual attitude. While he can be lazy and overconfident and doesn’t think things through, he is dedicated to what he does not for fame but to help people and his determination and adaptability always see him through. 

Things I Didn’t Like

- So when Ben was done right it was great but my biggest peeve was how they changed his personality, maturity, competency level episode by episode. Sometimes he was capable of complex negotiations, sometimes all he could do was complain and eat junk foods, sometimes he he could sheer climb walls, other times he was pathetically weak without his Omnitrix. Needless to say I was really irked by the dangerously immature & reckless, rude to the point of being mean, willfully idiotic moron version of Ben who didn’t care about anything.

- When I first started someone said the first half of OV was good and the rest was not. They were right, loved S1-4, 5-8 had good episodes but overall was either cringing or rolling my eyes. S5 in particular aggravated me with Ben being at his worst. I was pulling my hair out at Ben yelling about how ugly and monstrous the citizens of Anur Transyl were like Ben... you regularly turn into those aliens.... your whole deal is being able to see from other’s perspectives...

- Just, the lack of taking itself seriously or following through on some damn interesting storylines. Like Ben being put on trial for recreating the universe? And being found guilty not just of that but misusing the Omnitrix??? That’s good shit right there but they waved it all away with some trial by combat bullshit and well back to normal. I know its a cartoon but that episode infuriated me. 

- Gwen and Kevin... didn’t care for them much here. Their characters just felt flat and shoved in whenever it was convenient with no real meaningful interactions between the supposedly close trio. They really were thrown under the bus to make room for Rook and the whole Plumbers thing.

- Kai *long groan* Honestly any attempt to address Ben’s love life was so nightmarishly bad. Everyone who says that Ben is Aromatic is absolutely correct. Boy hardly showed any interest in dates and tried to get out of most of them and yet he was ‘destined’ to be with a girl who was shown only to care about his transformations and not him? And that he didn’t really respect back? Hell no.

- Most of the villains were kinda Meh. Maltruant was cool but underused, we hardly got ANYTHING interesting out of the series big bad Vilgax, Albedo was... still don’t know what to think of him. Malware was cool tho, the whole Feedback thing was painful.

So overall the good outweighs the bad but I liked it far more at the beginning than I did the end. I’ll rewatch some of my favorites but probably won’t do a full binge again. Still, I love the idea of this particular universe and really did enjoy most of my watch!

[cdyssey]

Finished the first four eps of S7 and these are my big thoughts!

Grace and Frankie’s unadulterated and selfless loyalty and love for each other was on full display in these four episodes, and that alone makes me so excited for the rest of S7. God, when Frankie said she would make up a holiday just to spend it with Grace, I TEARED UP. And I really appreciated how the one minor conflict that they had was resolved so quickly??? It’s a small thing, but it shows how much their relationship has grown over the past years. They’ve been through hell and back together, and now they can and want to resolve small disputes between themselves as soon as possible because they know that being on the same page is better.

I really want to know where the writers are going with Grace and Frankie’s relationship, lol. Like, Grace’s perfect marriage is her husband being imprisoned in jail, so she only has to visit him for one hour a day, and any imposition he makes to to the home she shares with Frankie is unwelcome. Like, what WKSKSKNSJS???? And the fact that everyone and their cousins, including Frankie (!!), was like Grace, do you not care that your hubby is in jail? AJSJSJSN.

I hated the money laundering plot. It def felt forced. I would have much rather Nick’s couch money been an unquestioned deus ex machina as opposed to watch G&F being embarrassingly bad at breaking the law, lmao.

Similarly, the whole arraignment scene was a bit over the top for me, especially with the judge breaking decorum to grill Grace about her marital life. I do like how we got to see Grace be incredibly vulnerable and specific about her needs, though; she doesn’t want a traditional marriage, and she doesn’t want to be defined by equally traditional labels. This sort of clear-eyed and self-aware declaration would have been impossible for S1 Grace!!

I tend to roll my eyes at at least one Hanson-Bergstein kid per story arc, and this one it’s honestly been Brianna. She’s mostly been my favorite of the four, but her cruelty in these past episodes, especially to Barry, seems a little bit regressive. And surprisingly, I was really moved by Coyote’s story, especially with the frank conversation he had about his lucky coin. It felt earnest and sincere in the way the best G&F stories are!

Overall: A bit of an uneven opening, but I’m still incredibly excited for the rest of everything G&F has to offer. These four episodes showed me that the writers still fully understand the most important part of this show—that at the end of the day, it comes down to Grace and Frankie and their unconventional but unconditional love for each other. And if that never gets forgotten, then I’m perfectly happy. At any rate, it just felt so damn good to be in Grace and Frankie’s crazy world again. I’ve missed them so much.

[blodreina-noumou]

The 100: One Final Rewatch - Part 2

Introduction

This is it. My send-off to The 100. One full, complete rewatch. Season one to season seven. Episode 1 to episode 100. Every cringeworthy, beautiful, brutal, heartwarming moment. Every chopped plot thread, every inspiring character arc, every sailing and sunken ship. Every gut-wrenching death and every narrow escape. The best, the worst, the utterly mediocre.

All of it, in order, one last time.

(Part One.)

Episode 1x01: “Earth Skills”

Highlights

Best quotes:

“When the last man from the ground died on the Ark, he wasn’t the last Grounder.” - I love this in part because later in the season we get a glimpse of the list of Ark-Grounders. It’s a fun little world-building detail.

“What’s up here,” gestures to Monty’s brain, “is going to save us all.” - And it did. If we pretend s7 never happened.

“You’re the youngest zero G mechanic on the ark in 50 years.” ... “52, but...so what?” - Raven’s love of accuracy coming through, as well as a cute little humblebrag. God I love s1 Raven so much.

Best moments:

1. A pretty small thing, but I love all the background shots of The Hundred going absolutely buckwild as Wells returns from burying the ones who died on the dropship. The two teenagers just openly making out on the forest ground. The boys chasing and tackling each other. The fucking drum circle. Those little background moments are so dumb and fun. Some magic was lost along with the Delinquents. The Hundred deserved more attention and time.

2. Raven! Spacewalking! Smiling! Sneaking around places and learning things she shouldn’t! Raven figuring out the kids were taking the wristbands off in like two seconds! My heart soared when I saw her. Raven!

3. When Bellamy seriously considers killing Clarke in that spike pit. If only the other boys hadn’t shown up to help him save her. Can you imagine how different this show would be if Bellamy killed Clarke in episode 2?? One can dream.

Lowlights

Worst quotes:

“What’s wrong with a little chaos?”

“You’re too hot to be my brother’s bitch.”

“No, Atom. I won’t be disobeyed.”

(These are all gonna have to do with Bellamy until he calms tf down, sorry.)

Worst moments:

1. Less than two minutes into the episode, the crew stumbles on a humanoid skeleton, with one creepy twist - the skull is misshapen and strange. This is never explained. The Grounders are just normal humans. The Reapers? Normal humans on drugs that make them scary cannibals. There is nothing in this universe that ends up with a skull shaped like that and it will always make me mad.

2. I really wanted to skip through all the scenes with Team Adult. The only thing that saves the scenes on the Ark in these early episodes is Raven. I was rolling my eyes so much in all the scenes with Kane and Abby and Jaha. I just don’t care. 

3. I have to bring it up again because god - Bellamy stringing up Atom in the woods for kissing Octavia is not only cruel but also insanely childish and possessive of his little sister. It’s so weird and I think a lot of Bellamy fans gloss over this, and a lot of the other shitty things he does, in these first few episodes. He is literally an antagonist for the first five episodes! He does fucked up shit and no one talks about it!!

Small Things

What I Never Noticed Until Now

1. Kane says Bellamy is from Factory Station. That means Octavia and Aurora were also from Factory Station, right? I guess it makes sense, since Aurora was a seamstress. I’ve always had a hard time paying attention to the Ark scenes in the beginning. (This is also yet another example of world-building that had a lot of potential and no follow-through. A full prequel about the Ark would interest me. I want to know more about the different stations and their roles.)

2 - I don’t know how I missed it, I guess it’s testament to how little these episodes interest me, but the squad rescuing Jasper gets attacked by a (poorly CGI’d) big cat and Wells shoots the shit out of it and Bellamy says, “Now she sees you,” right in front of Clarke?? It’s a weird moment and I’m so glad the show drops a lot of this dumb teen love drama after s1. Apparently I didn’t think at all about where they got the meat at the end. I swear I paid more attention as the series went on.

MVP of the Episode

Raven Reyes!! She brings so much life to this series. A sassy but capable young mechanic whose just old enough to have missed getting sent to the ground, pairing up with the clueless adults around her so she can save her boyfriend’s life. She brings a lot of wit and heart to the series before it fully figures out what those things are. 

Overall Impression

This episode improves on the pilot...barely. Everyone has settled into their post-pilot looks, which is comforting. A lot of the writing is still really clunky, but it seems like the actors are starting to settle into their characters and figuring out the tone of the show. It could be better, but it could’ve been a lot worse.

Episode Rating: 4/10

The first four episodes are going to get low rankings, y’all. But there are brighter moments ahead! Because, as we know, shit gets real in the next episode.

[darkpoisonouslove]

Riven x Musa

Ok, so I keep seeing posts everywhere that basically badmouth S8 and after seeing ten seconds of the trailer (YIKES to the animation, what’s wrong with the industry that they are making everything anime? Powerpuff Gen Z, I’m looking at you – obs: I didn’t watch it fully yet) I can see where some of the criticism is coming from but anyways…

My favorite Winx!couple EVER has always been Musa x Riven since I was kid and first watched the show (Netflix is not helping ‘cause I ship them even there).

I remember yawning at Bloom/Sky, rolling my eyes at Stella/Brandom and making a completely incredulous expression that I could literally feel forming on my face at Helia/Flora (can anyone say ‘unrealistic’?). Timmy/Tecna are a second favorite.

And why my Winx OTP are Riven x Musa followed after Timmy x Tecna? Because it reflects real life. In real life you’re not gonna stumble into people whose real and deep relationship problems are solved in twenty four minutes (not even that considering that some episodes present the “problem” half-way through said 24 minute-episode).

The breakup between Riven and Musa in S6 (spoilers everywhere after all) was one of the most mature breakups in the history of breakups with the hope for the future (yes, I’m completely ignoring S7, sue me, the whole thing was one huge filler anyways). And, after reading a lot of opinions on both ends (defending Musa/attacking Riven and defending Riven/attacking Musa) and watching the episodes in question (reuniting through reconciling) I think I can give my own analysis.

Since Musa AND Riven (individually and as couple) are my favorite characters in Winx, I think I CAN give a fairly unbiased view (hopefully).

*clears throat*

Ok, keep in mind that I’m defending BOTH of them, because I ship them too hard not to.

Musa Being OC (sometimes being called ‘brat’): C'mon, people! Musa and Tecna are OC since S4 anyways, where are the tomboy and the nerd? With the sneakers, T-shirt and comfortable-looking clothes? Noooo, now they all need neat skirts and hot pink high heels and long, glamorous hair. Do they look good? Of course, but and I would totally be less pissed if there was ANY indication on the reason for the change. Are they just maturing? Expressing themselves differently? Crowd mentality? Tune and Stella finally broke Musa down and Tecna followed soon after? Was it just to please Riven and Timmy? ANYTHING (even the 'pleasing a boy’ would at least be A reason - a ridiculous one that would piss me off, but A reason none the less), was just a sudden impulse that took?

Sure, we can talk about “character growth” until we are blue in the face, but the matter of the fact is that there was none.

The changes we see in Musa and Tecna are basically the creators making them more like the rest of the Winx (I’m including Aisha in this too, where is the sporty girl that matched the boy’s interest in extreme sports? C'mon! Even Bloom and her Girl Next Door looks are replaced with Bratz and Clueless-level of outfits).

Is anyone really going to look me in the eye and say Stella wasn’t a shallow (if friendly and good-natured) Mean Girl? She got better, but as I re-watch the show (currently in S3, meaning almost half-way through the content), Stella still worries more about her hair than anything else even while under literal fire.

More and more, Musa, Tecna and Aisha are losing their identities and what made them, IMO, the more badass Winx.

How did the two on the left went from this…

… to this:

Yeah, yeah, Musa still sings, Tecna still technobabble and Aisha is still a Warrior Princess but Aisha was the first one to go Bloom and Stella on us with Musa and then Tecna following soon after. It’s not just their clothing style, it’s the way they carried themselves too.

Right now? The only thing keeping them apart is their BF blues (different kind of blues) and some personal interests (singing, shopping, tech, the whole drama with Domino/Sparks, etc). But that’s IT, their personalities are going down the drain!

Sorry for the long-winded text, but the reason I’m expressing my disappointment at their change is because Musa’s reaction fits it. S6 we have such an AMAZING breakup (didn’t even think that was possible, WTH, right? Amazing breakup?) only for her to be mad as hell at Riven at S8? Bad writing, that has been dragging her (and the rest of the Winx) down to becoming just one unilateral, shallow character (the Specialists are also falling into that pit, what in the world did they do Helia in S8? He sounds like Thor telling about his “brave exploits” there, yikes). And continuity what? What continuity? Do they even remember how the breakup was written?

But ok, let’s put the Audience View aside for a moment and focus only on the In-Universe terms.

S6: You’ll always be my hero.

S8: What on EARTH are you doing here. 

I laughed a bit, the contrast just got to me but instead of getting mad at one or the other like most of the fandom, I laughed.

Musa followed that by saying that Riven has not maintained contact and just in that I would be beyond pissed as well and giving my support to Musa. WTH, Riven? I think that each season is more less six months to a year? Sort of? Still, zero contact for so long even after ending on amicable terms and wanting to stay friends? And he went off on his own! A text now going, “I’m not dead” would be the bare basics for Musa not to worry herself bald!

BUT then I also read comments about how this was a two-way street, why didn’t Musa call either? That’s unfortunately something that I very much doubt will ever be explained. One of those: did it or didn’t it? Musa could have called and went straight to voicemail with no signs of life from Riven or she might not have called and just expected him to call as if feminism were dead and all initiative must come from the guy (which doesn’t even fit because they parted as friends).

Since we have no info on the above, I put it on both of them. It’s not fair to say, “HE should have called!” or “Why didn’t SHE call?” because we don’t have fricking context. So the only thing we can take is: no contact.

BECAUSE I put the lack of contact on both of them, Musa’s reaction was a little too much, however, Riven shows up all smirks and leaning against a tree with his arms crossed and I would have flashbacks to S1 if it wasn’t for the animation style that made all the guys look like girls. Dude! Not the time for that kind of posture. Not saying that he should be all sheepish and rubbing his arm as if he had done something horrible (again: we don’t have context on the no contact) but a more neutral approach was warranted here. Nobody does themselves any favors with that kind of attitude no matter what how high of a horse they may be (rightly or not) riding on, if anything I would react like Musa solely on that one.

Next episode we have that Riven convinced the guys to follow the girls in some mission and Musa was angry. Again: I would be too. WTH? Yes, yes, they helped and if it wasn’t for them, the Winx would gotten seriously injured but Musa did have a point saying that this demonstrated that they had no trust in them and need their hand held, it was no sanctioned mission like on Earth after all. BUT, Riven does something that I would never expect from in S1-4: he explains, he reasons it, he puts it in all the words that he does trust Musa and co and that he only wanted to show that he’d be there for her (you know? One of the main issues in S6 that made them breakup in the first place? His inability to conciliate Specialist work with supporting his girlfriend and ultimately failing or feeling like failing in both?) and Musa still pouts, crosses her arms, and turns around. Geez. I expected that one from Stella, not Musa. I think the closest Musa has ever come to THIS was back in S2 when Jared explains that Riven was the one to recommend that he interview Musa and yada yada yada and she got mad and stomped off on the poor guy that didn’t even understand what was going on (only to immediately apologize to Jared and recognizing that it wasn’t him that she was mad at… like I said: what character growth?).

Riven then goes to show that he indeed grew when he asked for advice from Sky and Brandon (WTH, right? Can we picture that happening back in S1-3? He very grudgingly would LISTEN to UNSOLICITED advice from Nabu and Helia in S4-6). And does a very, very goofy and embarrassing show of affection. Yeah… again… I can picture Stella loving the light show with her face for IDK how many people to see but not Musa (although can we really blame the guy after the series went out of its way to make Musa all Stella-like? Clothes, attitude, the only thing missing is making Riven carry her shopping bags around and call him “Shnookums” (although the mental image is already enough for me to fall over laughing, just for the face Riven would make). Still, I have to count that one against Riven if only because (as much as the show gives only lip service to it) Musa isn’t Stella.

Riven being mind controlled (again) aside, those two are back together. And on the overall? Riven showed more growth than any other character in the show COMBINED (he is the Zuko of the show), that doesn’t go to say that he didn’t make mistakes since coming back in S8 (but that was more a guy trying to win back a girl than… betraying his friends for a pair of nice legs or… IDEK like in S1 – where, mind control or not the show itself made sure to make it clear that he had free will) or that he is now the one out of Musa’s league. I think that NOW it can actually work… if the show allows him to keep the progress, Musa is the next to see her flaws and work on them (which she showed to be able to do since S2) and put effort in the relationship. The difference between them is that Musa can actually work on herself and the relationship at the same time. That’s not me saying she is better than Riven in any way, everybody has their own pace and their own way to cope, to improve and to self-reflect.

I still root for them.

~*~

PS-IDK why, but I read posts about how Riven changed so much and posts about how all his progress disappeared and he is now back to his S1 attitude and I’m just cofused. Yeah, different of opinions and so on, but such opposite opinions on the subject of a guy whose relationship was focused on three episodes?