#(also this made me realize all the crime fiction I like is fairly gay because I’m looking for things to rec and it’s not like I’ll tell her

[cabeswaterdrowned]

recommending a semi conservative relative who likes crime fiction to read Megan Abbott we’ll see how this goes..

[itsclydebitches]

So I came across this take on twitter on the topic of Catra/Adora recently, and it's been gnawing at me. My knowledge of the series is patchy at best, so I was curious to hear your thoughts about this position.

***

At the risk of getting some intense backlash for this, I absolutely agree. Anyone who followed me during Ilia’s reveal knows that I’m very critical of villain-queer relationships. Not that we can’t ever have that, but in a media landscape where queer rep is still so comparatively rare, I’m wary of prioritizing those toxic relationships in the name of “authenticity.” We already get enough heat for being “unnatural” and “damaging.” I’ve lost the article now, but this morning I literally read another headline about how we’ve apparently destroyed the sanctity of marriage, gays are evil, they’re a threat to society, blah blah blah. That shit is still very, very prominent. So, in this climate, I’m really not a promoter of “This woman tried to kill her love’s parents and send her back to her abuser! This one has been trying to kill her and her friends for ages! How romantic!” 

Because - not to get into a huge deconstruction of She-Ra - Catra absolutely continues the cycle of abuse. Is she an abuse victim? Yes. Does she then go on to abuse others? Yes. Sadly, that’s fairly common and a lot of Adora’s growth lately stems from realizing that no matter how many times she begs Catra to stop, she won’t. Some of the reasons why this pairing is so popular despite Catra’s treatment includes: 

They belong to a children’s TV show where the expectation is that, no matter how horrific you might be, you’re always redeemable. A “real” hero never abandons someone and if a villain doesn’t die then they should be forgiven once a hero cares for them (a la Hordak) 

Catra is an abusive victim and we spend a good chunk of the story following her conflicts, not just Adora’s. She is presented as incredibly sympathetic and thus it’s easy to miss/ignore how she’s become the new Shadow Weaver. Catra was introduced as the victim and that’s how she stays in many viewers’ minds, no matter what she might do now that she’s finally gotten power over others 

Coinciding with that sympathetic portrayal and the point about kids’ shows, Catra is very much set up as someone who will eventually be redeemed (especially at the end of this last season). Everyone expects and pictures the day when Catra will be good again and then yay, she can get together with Adora. That expectation and knowledge of how storytelling/TV shows work - of course this sympathetic villain who our hero adores will be redeemed! - colors every action Catra takes. The viewer is primed to forgive her from the get-go 

The fact that, as the tweeter says, there’s absolutely an argument that they had/have feelings for one another. The desire to see them together, again, makes it easy (or at least alluring) to just ignore all the stuff potentially getting in the way of that

But from Adora’s perspective - from the perspective of the canonical show - Catra is a villain. She’s become an abuser. She continually blames Adora for both the abuse they suffered as kids and has spent seasons seeking her destruction, going so far as to risk their entire world purely because she couldn’t stand Adora being right: 

“Adora is right? Adora gets everything she wants! But not this time. This time, I am going to win. I don’t care what it takes. We are opening that portal now.” 

Catra is an incredibly complex character who has equally complex baggage to work through. She deserves to come out of this and find happiness. However, that doesn’t mean that she likewise deserves to get back what she herself destroyed. Her happiness should not stem from the romantic love of a woman she’s done horrific things to. As the tweeter says, go wild with the fanworks, but I wouldn’t want them to be made canon in the show. That would require everyone ignoring the staggering amount of damage Catra has done and sending the horrific message that you should put up with/accept/forgive even the most heinous crimes against you (especially since She-Ra only has one more season to go. There isn’t time to redeem Catra and get her together with Adora in a healthy way). Adora is the hero. She’s the character the audience is supposed to look to. So if she walks happily into an absolutely toxic and arguably abusive relationship, that doesn’t teach people to be forgiving in the general sense. It teaches them that the people who treat you the worst are also the ones who love you the most which... no. So many kid(esque) shows simply don’t take the complexity of abuse and forgiveness into account when writing a Pure and Good Hero who Always Forgives (though thus far She-Ra has done a damn good job). This is one piece of how people - particularly women - learn that giving all of themselves and receiving nothing but harm in return is not just normal, but supposedly romantic. Just keep trying! Metaphorically kill yourself trying to fix someone who isn’t willing to put in any work to improve! You’ll get there eventually! And if you don’t, well, that one time they cried was really heartbreaking, right? Just focus on that and ignore that 95% of the time they’re being cruel at best and trying to kill you at worst. The ending of “And the abuser/abusee lived happily ever after” teaches that if victims aren’t finding that happy ending for themselves, they just need to sacrifice more to achieve it. A fictional happy ending is dangled like a very real carrot in front of anyone who sees themselves in Adora/Catra. “Oh. This isn’t cruelty. This is passion. She needs help! If I just stick around and try harder then I can achieve that too.” To say nothing of, again, the message is sends about queer relationships in general. They’re inherently damaging. 

“Fixing” villains/damaged characters via the Power of Love is hugely alluring. I love that shit in my fandom. But that doesn’t mean it should be perpetuated in the canon and presented as an excellent form of queer rep. There’s a Grand Canyon’s width of difference between antagonist characters who are given excellent redemption arcs and thus may have a relationship later on (someone like Zuko) and villain characters who remain villains up until the last second when they’re “redeemed” and all their horrors are immediately forgotten (someone like Ilia and potentially Catra depending on how Season 5 goes). 

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Sarazanmai Episode 11 [Finale]: “I Want To Connect, So Sarazanmai”

Do you ever just watch an anime episode that’s So Much in so many different ways that it makes you immediately want to lay down and sleep for a hundred years, but in like a good and hopeful way?

Yeah.

It’s very fitting that the final episode title is technically self-referential nonsense that in practice makes complete emotional sense and leaves everything feeling neatly tied together. It just Works [tm].

Thoughts under the cut.

Even though they were in like 5% of this episode I just wanna immediately point out that Reo and Mabu are ALIVE and IN LOVE and my SKIN IS CLEARED. It didn’t exactly happen in the way I expected, but I was hoping that they’d get revived, and here we are. The finale gave absolutely no shits about actually explaining any of the lingering mysteries about them, but I can’t fault them for it when they gave them such an unambiguously happy ending together. And in practice it perfectly fit the dreamy, surreal, intensely emotionally-driven vibe of the whole finale. Seeing their connected rings morph into them flying through the air while holding hands and the sheer power of their gay love literally paving the way for the main trio to finally connect was one of those moments where you just gotta sit back and accept that Ikuhara’s throwing at you, lmao.

Realistically I thought they might get left off on a pretty bittersweet note like a lot of Ikuhara characters, but nah, they’re just straight up back to being alive and happy and they pretty much got to attend their daughter’s magical furry wedding, lmao. They didn’t even get their memories erased like I thought might happen, so the whole confession scene from ep10 is still perfectly intact and now that the whole otter thing’s dealt with, we can probably safely assume that the two of them made up and are back to being The Ultimate Couple. It also looks like the two of them and even Sara and Keppi are still hanging out in the human world, which is kinda unexpected. I thought that even in the best case scenario they’d all just head back to the kappa kingdom, but I guess since that doesn’t really exist anymore they’re just gonna stay in the human world. Reo and Mabu seem to be working as rickshaw drivers now, which makes it even more clear that they’re probably back to being more or less regular people and being part of regular human society, and they’ve probably given up their jobs as cops, which is nice.

None of this answers the still lingering question of ‘how the fuck does the manga even fit into the timeline aaaaaaa’, but I don’t care as much about finding out the answer to that after this finale, so it’s not a big deal. I guess we’re meant to think that it happened before the anime, though. My best guess is that Sara was intentionally sent into the human world as a baby to protect her from the kappa/otter war, or something, and then Reo and Mabu raised her, she magically turned into her teenage/adult self [in an instantaneous fairy tale-y kind of way], then she went back to the kappa kingdom for a bit, and I guess she arranged things with Keppi and had them get recruited into the kappa kingdom? I still think they’re humans that got roped into this like the main trio, so I think that makes sense to me.

Even more so than with the main trio, I think that those two getting a 100% happily ever after with no caveats or drawbacks really spells out how fundamentally optimistic and hopeful this series is, and how they were one way or another victims of a harsh system that didn’t deserve the shit they went through, and so they got given a happy ending. It’d be understandable if people feel upset that they got such a happy ending after having done undeniably awful things, but I don’t mind.

And on the topic of the main trio, hoo boy they sure were the main focus of this episode, lol. And by ‘them’ I mean ‘Toi’ because let’s be honest he was basically the actual main character of the show by the end, and the finale was like 99% focused on his character development specifically. Which isn’t a bad thing. Kazuki’s whole deal had already been more or less resolved by the end of ep6, so it makes sense that the second half in general focused more on Toi.

On the flip side, Enta kinda got the short end of the stick in terms of screen-time and development, and things end in a sorta wishy-washy way in regards to his feelings for Kazuki. It makes enough sense that his whole ending was about choosing not to drown himself in fruitless delusions, even if it feels kinda lame and disappointing compared to the more climactic and intense resolutions that Kazuki and Toi got.

Though tbh a big part of why I don’t feel too negatively about how Enta’s crush on Kazuki kinda fizzled into irrelevancy is because Reo and Mabu got their happy ending that preserved all of their character development, with the obvious implication that they’re back to being in a happy and stable romantic relationship. The fact that there’s at least one happy gay couple at the end of all this makes me much more willing to forgive Enta’s story being handled a bit differently. I mean, that’s part of the whole reason why diversity in storytelling is so important. When you include multiple different gay characters/relationships in your stories, you have the freedom to do different things with them, instead of having all the narrative burdens and expectations being placed on just one character/relationship. It’s annoying when the ONLY gay character in a show ends up having to repress and move on from their feelings, but it’s fine when there are other gay characters who get to have their own happy relationships.

Anyway, I really liked how Toi’s story wrapped up here. A lot of what actually happened in the finale was full on bizarre dream logic nonsense, but the emotional undercurrent of Toi being faced with the prospect of effectively committing suicide in order to free himself from the pain of human connection once and for all, and him coming to the realization on his own terms that he doesn’t want to let go of those connections, got through perfectly clearly. They actually went a lot further with his story than I expected. Literally further, in that we had a whole timeskip epilogue detailing how after the main story ended he went to juvie for a few years and then reunited with Kazuki and Enta when he returned. I’m going to assume that he turned himself in, since there shouldn’t have been any concrete evidence tying him to any of his crimes, except for maybe him shooting Reo [though even then, Reo’s corpse immediately transformed into one of those rings so I don’t think that counts as lasting forensic evidence, lmao]. It was definitely the most brushed-over part of the finale, but it didn’t need to be focused on that much, since the more important part was him reuniting with the other two afterward.

And in terms of timeskips and whatnot, I really loved the whole potential future flashforward sequence showing a what-if scenario of the three of them becoming professional soccer players and being slowly torn apart by interpersonal drama, while the different episode title cards are re-used in this new context to show how their emotional issues and hang-ups might lead to that sort of negative outcome. It did a really nice job of illustrating how they’re willing to face the possibility of future pain in order to hold onto their connections with each other. Which is what the entire show had been building up to, really. It was all about them becoming able to face the harsh realities of being known in order to lead fulfilling lives with meaningful personal relationships.

I do kinda wish their older selves looked a bit more distinct from their base designs, though. Aside from the difference in outfits you can barely tell that they’ve grown up, lol.

I was initially planning on rewatching episode 1 after this, but honestly after what actually happened I don’t really think I’d actually get anything new out of episode 1 now. The very first scene of the show is still a bit of a mystery, even though it’s obviously based around a lot of visual imagery and cinematography from the finale, and the whole deal with the ‘A’ signs is still up for interpretation. But I don’t really think it’s super important one way or another.

I’m actually very happy that the ending didn’t involve any sort of time travel, and that that’s not what the first scene of the show was hinting at. Especially with how this finale really hammered in the importance of living with the consequences of your actions and accepting the future for what it is, it would have felt very cheap if anything got reset in the end.

I guess it’s also worth noting that, at least with the main trio, there weren’t any romantic developments, which I think was fine. With how the story had been building up to this point I think it was fairly obvious that their ending was gonna be more about friendship alone. Which might disappoint some people [and the whole topic of Enta’s unrequited crush on Kazuki is it’s own whole thing], but at the very least, Reo and Mabu got their happy romantic ending together, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out, lol.

Part of me wants to be disappointed that we didn’t really learn anything new about Sara, and that she didn’t exactly, uh, DO anything even in this final episode, but honestly I feel like that’s kinda ‘the joke’. Like, she and Keppi come across as a super tongue in cheek joke about the fairy tale concept of princes and princesses. Sorta like how the Utena movie made the ‘prince’ into a complete joke, Sara and Keppi are just there to be funny plot devices, and their big ending is that they have a big fat furry wedding and that’s that. And honestly that’s fine by me. I feel like Ikuhara’s whole artistic career has involved him becoming more and more flippant and dismissive about the concepts of princes and princesses and how much importance is placed on them in fiction, and that’s valid. It reminds me a bit of how all of the actual major characters are all queer dudes and their relationships with each other are the actually important part of the narrative, whereas straight characters like Sara and Keppi and all the different faceless kappa zombie dudes are mostly just joke characters. There’s something both deeply amusing and deeply vindicating about how this show turns the tables like that, with how it frames different types of love and relationships.

The main trio’s story ended up being not super tied into what the show has to say about sexuality in general [and overall the show is less specifically ‘about’ that than Yuri Kuma Arashi was, from what I understand], but there was definitely a whole lot of social commentary about homophobia going on with Reo and Mabu, and thankfully that part of the narrative came to a satisfying and genuinely subversive ending, with them overcoming the death imposed upon them and regaining their happy lives together. 

Now I’m hoping that Ikuhara will ‘complete the set’, so to say, and have his next anime be about trans/non-binary characters, especially after how Kazuki’s whole cross-dressing thing ended up being kinda unimportant and not about gender identity to begin with. Which is still kinda disappointing to me, but oh well.

Overall, this ending was almost aggressively happy and optimistic compared to what I was bracing myself for, so thankfully it’s left me feeling warm and fuzzy and content. All in all, it was a surprisingly straightforward story in terms of it’s central messages, in spite of it’s over the top and abstract framing, and I think it really benefited from that inherent simplicity, especially in this finale, which was so singularly focused on it’s central trio [and mostly just Toi’s perspective alone]. I was a bit worried the finale might turn into one of those things where a deeply personal conflict gets blown up and tied into literally world-ending stakes, but thankfully they didn’t go unnecessarily far with it. Even the kappa/otter war resolution barely involved the main trio themselves.

At least in hindsight, I think the anime was very tightly woven and was paced surprisingly well for it’s short episode count, and it’s hard to imagine how they could have spent much more time on the main trio, but now that we have a better idea of the timeline of the series, I really think that episode 6 should have been followed up by an episode that basically adapted the ReoMabu manga, plus parts of the twitter account, and the short chapter from the first light novel volume about how they met. That way it would have ended up with a nice round 12-episode length, and I don’t think it would have ‘spoiled the surprise’ of the later reveals and developments with Reo and Mabu. I just think it would have been really good to actually cover that in the anime itself, especially since even in the finale, the whole fact that they literally raised Sara as a baby never got addressed, so it feels like anime-only viewers are missing out on a big chunk of their story. But it’s not a huge deal.

I guess at the end of the day my feelings about the finale boil down to ‘Reo and Mabu are alive and happy and that’s literally all that matters to me’, lol.

I was really worried about how I’d be left feeling after this, but I’m happy that I’ve been following this series ever since it was first announced. This is the only time I’ve watched an Ikuhara show as it’s come out, and oh boy has it been an emotional roller-coaster. The fact that it ended in a satisfying way makes it all feel worth it, though.

I probably won’t get to it immediately since I think my brain needs time to recover from this one, but sometime soon I want to finally get around to watching Penguindrum and then Yuri Kuma Arashi. I don’t think I’ll liveblog them like I’ve been doing with Sarazanmai, though, if only since I’ve already been spoiled on bits and pieces of what happens in them, but we’ll see how it goes.

[ryanmeft]

Ryan’s Top Ten Films of 2017

I happen to think 2017 was a particularly fine year for movies. Of course, I also thought that about 2016, and 2015. If I could remember how I felt before that, I’d probably say the same thing about almost every year. The constant refrain that this is the year movies died or that we’ve fallen from some feverishly imagined golden age rolls off me like water off a stone, and I am unmoved.

In the end, though, as decreed in the esoteric conventions of the movie gods, I had to pick ten. And it was a tough choice. As usual, I did not attempt to decide the ten best films. I only highlighted the ten I liked the most.

I numbered it this year, but for the most part you can shuffle these around and it wouldn’t matter. My list encompasses a daring allegorical film, a story about ambition killing humanity, a rare take on the most famous war in history, a meditative haunting, and a movie about a fishman. In every case, they are on here for the same reason: they affected me at a guttural level, made me think, made me feel, perhaps influenced my own work. On with it.

10. mother! Roger Ebert said of Pulp Fiction “I knew it was either one of the year’s best films, or one of the worst.” One of those comes along every now and then, and I cherish them either way, because it’s impossible to be wishy washy about them. Darren Aronofsky’s uncompromising allegory is such a film. Is it a blood ‘n’ guts version of the book of Genesis? A meditation on ancient paganism? A primal scream about the very act of creating something from an artist who never does anything but exactly what he wants? Who knows? Jennifer Lawrence is a lot better utilized in dark roles like this, and Javier Bardem is an obsessed creator every bit as inscrutable as any god. Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer are Adam and Eve, unless they aren’t. I usually say you ought to leave your baggage at the ticket counter when you see a movie, but mother! Absolutely demands you react to it on a visceral level. There’s no way to walk out of this one and be non-committal.

9. The Shape of Water

This is the kind of film that makes me happy I’m not so jaded as to demand some sort of lofty artistic merit (and who decides what art has merit, I might ask?) from every movie I see. You might fairly point out that some of the characters are not the deepest. You might fairly point out that’s it’s heavy on the sappy romance. You might fairly point out that the film isn’t a heavy hitter intellectually. I might fairly point out, in return, that I don’t care. Guillermo Del Toro’s lavish Cold-War-Meets-Creature-Feature-Love-Story, led by a mute Sally Hawkins, is a watery confection that I loved not because it made me think, but because it made me feel. A talent-loaded cast---Richard Jenkins, Michael Stuhlbarg, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon and Doug Jones as the creature---fuels a movie I just wanted to sink into like a pool under starlight, and to top it off, it treated sex as something people actually do, rather than simply pantomime.

8. The Meyerowitz Stories: New and Selected

To a creative sort, the sting of a parent who is indifferent to your life’s passions can be withering, but Noah Baumbach flips that. Here, a floaty, disinterested, perhaps somewhat delusional aging sculptor, played by Dustin Hoffman, is immensely dissatisfied with his three children’s desire for a normal life. The movies rarely deal in this, because it’s easier to draw sympathy for a hero when their parent is more viscerally abusive. The children all have their own ways of dealing with this, and they are brought to life with immensely affecting performances from Ben Stiller, Elizabeth Marvel, and…Adam Sandler? Yes, to everyone’s shock, Adam Sandler has one of the best roles of the year. I am less shocked, because I know he can act when he desires it. And act he does, playing the dutiful son who remains to endure his father’s stubbornness while the others attain greater degrees of freedom. What do you do with a parent who demands you desire their approval but will only give it on their terms? You learn to live with it.

7. Spider-Man: Homecoming

I’m a sucker for Spider-Man. Really, all you have to do to get me to like a Spider-Man movie is to make a halfway decent one. This one may not have been the all-time classic Spider-Man 2 was, but it gave me a relatable Peter Parker, a cast of affecting friends for him, Michael Keaton as the best on screen Spidey villain since Doc Ock, and plenty of Spider-action. I’m going to be honest with you: I think that’s all I need. If you need more, though consider that the MCU formula, which, critics have rightly said is liberally applied to almost all characters, actually works for Spider-Man. Having this excitable super-powered teenager crack jokes about everything to paper over his insecurities and refuse to take his powers or the world he’s a part of all that seriously, only to learn a harsh lesson about how much that life can cost him, fits not just the character but the John Hughes-esque High School setting perfectly. After Tobey Maguire got Peter Parker right and Andrew Garfield nailed his alter-ego, Tom Holland and director Jon Watts are the first pairing to land both halves. The fact that it is such a near-perfect invocation of my favorite comic superhero didn’t affect my review (I still stand by my judge-a-movie-based-on-the-movie mantra), but it did help land the film on this list. Because it’s my damn list and I’ll do as I please.

6. Call Me by Your Name

It’s impossible to shoot a movie in the environs of rural Italy and not make it look gorgeous, it seems. You just point the camera. Setting a gripping story with compelling characters against this backdrop is a challenge, one that Luca Guadagnino accomplishes. He weaves a languid tale of idle academics in a beautiful place, and normally that would be anathema to me, as I’m not a big fan of stories featuring well-off people who live in paradise. Something about this one, however, grabbed me, and it isn’t just Timothee Chalamet’s career-making performance. I think it is the lack of forced drama. 17-year-old Elio may be the main emotional attraction, but where lesser romances take the easy way out, with histrionics and unrealistic contrivances, Guadagnino creates people, people who are capable of coming to peace with their situations and recognizing that life may not always turn out the way you want, but that there’s a large gap between “fairy tale” and “nightmare”. It isn’t a “gay movie”, but a movie about two people who happen to fall in love. It is erotic in the broadest sense of the word.

5. In This Corner of the World

To the casual moviegoer, it may seem that a war movie without any war in it should be reclassified. Certainly, it once seemed that way to me. I’ve learned better, and Sunao Katabuchi’s film centering around one young woman trying to have something like a normal life while Japan is in the midst of World War II took me by surprise. Whereas Saving Private Ryan or Grave of the Fireflies might hit you in the gut by displaying the most horrible effects of war in graphic detail, ITCOTW takes a different approach. Warships wait languidly in the harbor of an otherwise peaceful town. Rations run low and ordinary people must make sacrifices. Life goes on surrounded by only indirect reminders of pain, and I was hit by a revelation that seemed obvious in hindsight: most citizens were as unaware of the extent of their government’s ambitions as we are, and were at best distant collateral in the pursuit of empire. In one of the most indelible scenes of the year, the residents witness a massive flash of energy come from from far over the mountains, and after a second we realize with a start that it must have been Hiroshima. Then they go about their day.

4. Detroit

Here we have the most egregious Best Picture slight since Inside Llewyn Davis. In 1967, police staged a raid on a party for black veterans, which touched off a riot during which several black men ended up dead at the hands of the police. Kathryn Bigelow takes on this material and decides the audience must be spared no discomfort or disgust in seeing the terror unfold. A row of black men are lined up against a wall and interrogated, including being terrorized by a sadistic game wherein one is taken into another room and pretend-murdered to scare the others. Two white women at the hotel are swept up, their crime to have been spending time with black men. The movie is anchored by a horrifying performance by Will Poulter as a beat cop so vehemently bigoted that even his white superiors hate him, and a sadness-inducing one by John Boyega as a black security guard who knows that even a hundred years after emancipation he must cower and grovel before authoritative whites to maybe, possible, if he’s lucky prevent black deaths. It is as harrowing and nerve-wracking a depiction of systematic violent racism as I’ve seen. If I may get a bit snippy for the moment, it is worth nothing that in a world where well-meaning voices decry both an alleged lack of films about black culture and a definite deficiency of women directors, this movie, despite a wide release, bombed at the box office. Reality is hard to face, but some people don’t have a choice.

3. Kedi

Would I have loved this as much if the focus were on dogs, not cats? Probably not. I am firmly in the cats-r-gud camp, and might even be said to be in the pocket of the powerful pro-kitty lobby. Thing is, I also wouldn’t have loved this movie so much if it were just about cats. Ceyda Torun’s documentary ostensibly about Istanbul street cats is really about life in one of the world’s most ancient cities. The feline stars of the film are simply catalysts for drawing that life into the open. Each of them have a distinct personality and some distinct humans to fit with. My favorite is the one who is absolutely loyal to his shopkeeper human, and also absolutely loyal to his other shopkeeper human. Shot using inventive techniques to capture the lives of the cats when they go out-of-bounds, and infused with a haunting Kira Fontana score and mesmerizing beauty courtesy of cinematographers Alp Korfali and Charlie Wupperman, you need not have a cat to love it, but you do require a heart. These people, all among the “common” working classes of Turkey, commit what will, for the sadly xenophobic world we currently live in, be a mortal sin: they force you to admit everyone, everywhere, is just human. Even the furry ones.

2. A Ghost Story

The most common thing I hear when I bring this one up is “Oh, the bedsheet one!” It makes me remember a time when I could casually write off such a film by reducing it to its most unusual element. Actually seeing the film makes me glad those days are gone. David Lowery’s haunting (pun definitely intended) meditation on life, loss, time, memory, holding on and letting go is not a film you watch if you want everything explained to you, or even want things that can be explained. Like the unfairly-maligned Cloud Atlas, it pokes gently at the mysteries of life and death and love by encouraging the audience to draw their own conclusions. We’re never quite sure of where we are in time and space, or how one scene relates to another, which is the point. As I’ve gotten older, one of the only things I’ve learned to do well is appreciate time not only as it relates to my immediate life, but as a sort of web that everyone experiences differently. I suspect such a mentality will be needed before one can really draw the marrow from this film. Once you do that, though, you’ll be treated to something that will stay in your mind, always.

1. Lucky

From Inside Llewyn Davis to Locke to Fruitvale Station, I’m always going to be a sucker for well-done films about various people just living life, mostly free from the conventions of pumped-up drama. That’s not to say I don’t like drama, but the films that make me reflect on the ordinary, real world are almost always going to end up higher in my esteem at the end-of-year roll call. Such is the case here. Lucky is not about anything. If you’re looking for some anchor for a plot, there isn’t one. Played by the great Harry Dean Stanton in the last performance released during his lifetime, Lucky is a 90-year-old man who is dying. He doesn’t have a disease. He isn’t injured. He’s just old. He’s an avowed atheist. He’s a bar stool philosopher. He’s kind of a prick. These things are not plot. They are just aspects of a man who, after nine decades on earth, has picked up many aspects, not a one of which feels like something a real person wouldn’t acquire. That’s the beauty of John Carroll Lynch’s film: you’re not going to find Lucky doing anything a man like him would be unlikely to do for the sake of cheap entertainment.

So what does happen? He lives in a dusty old town without much in it and watches game shows. He does crosswords. He eats at the diner and drinks at the bar that hasn’t banned him. He goes to a child’s birthday party at one point, sure, but where I was fearful the film would veer off into contrivance, it instead gave me one of the most beautifully natural scenes of the year. Lucky does have a struggle, and it is to face the (admit it) horrible truth that, even if you do everything right and don’t get sick and don’t get broken and live a good life, you still have to die. No one who was familiar with him didn’t feel the loss of Mr. Stanton, but what a film for him to go out on. What a film. Some films almost made the cut, so here are my honorable mentions, in alphabetical order. Most of these movies, if going by the anachronistic system humans seem to prefer, would also have gotten 3 1/2-to-4 star “official ratings”. In the end, though, there could be only one. Er, ten. There could be only ten. Beatriz at Dinner Darkest Hour I, Tonya It Comes at Night Lady Bird The Lost City of Z Mudbound Phantom Thread The Greatest Showman Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

[courtreadsmostlyfiction]

Best books of 2019

I read 179 books in 2019 (and finished the 179th, The Handmaid’s Tale, on 12/31, so I can watch the series and read The Testaments). This is the most I’ve ever read in one year (in 2018, I read 173). I was sharing this update with my grandmother, and she asked me if my goal was to read as many books as possible. I thought about it for a bit, and it’s not but it is? I told her how I knew I only had so many books I’d get to read in a lifetime, and I probably think about that fact too much. I don’t want to read just for quantity’s sake, yet I know that I find some of the best books because I have an insatiable appetite for reading. Too many books, too little (life)time.

I also read instead of watching TV (generally), and love when I’m reading something that pulls me away from social media. I love reading when Grant is reading next to me (on the couch, in bed, across from me at a restaurant on an introvert date).

And last but not least, books have saved my life before many times, and making time for reading helps keep me sane. 

...now onto our program - my favorite books of the year! This year I also blogged more, if not *regularly*, so some of the books below were suggested before. If you got my Christmas card, some of these might not be surprises, either, since we had the fun idea of listing our family member’s favorite books. Some of mine are different, though, since I had to have that done in early December, and there was so much good reading time left in the year! I went on holiday break on the 17th and had saved a lot of good books for my vacation.

TOP ELEVEN (I wrote about all except the last three -- thanks December reading for those books that made this list! -- in previous posts, so will try to capture in one sentence why you might want to pick it up): 

Good Talk (graphic memoir) - I bought my copy at The Strand, and have bought at least 10 copies to give to friends who are parenting in the age of Trump.

(posting this pic to prove my point, even though I’ll likely get shit from Grant about our Amazon bill)

The Most Fun We Ever Had (literary fiction) - a book with a dysfunctional family (yes, please!) and a character who cusses a lot PLUS a ginkgo biloba tree.

Fleishman Is In Trouble (literary fiction) - I want to reread this, and I rarely reread things; a rare 5-star rating from me that made me think about how I participate in misogyny without even realizing it.

Speak No Evil (literary fiction) - a queer, black immigrant high schooler in DC grapples with his identity.

The Nickel Boys (literary fiction) - a fictionalized story of real history: a disciplinary school in Florida where black boys are sent (and often “disappear”); the ending had me crying. (Also on Obama’s list of his fave reads of 2019)

Red, White & Royal Blue (romance) - more romance with bi relationships and politics, please!

Educated (non-fiction, memoir) - it wasn’t what I expected at all, I couldn’t put it down, and ultimately I think it’s about surviving.

Heads of the Colored People (short stories) - stories (and usually I hate short stories) about black identity that I’m STILL thinking about.

Disappearing Earth (mystery) - this was on so many best of lists (including the NYTimes top TEN for the year), and the hard cover had been sitting on my shelf for two long. I had it first on my read-during-winter-break list. As soon as I read two pages, I was sucked in. Two young sisters disappear in Russia’s Far East, and then the story unfolds, told by the perspectives of folks directly and indirectly connected to the crime. 

All This Could Be Yours (literary fiction) - I requested this at the library before it even had a cover :) because I’m a Jami Attenberg fan. A dysfunctional family’s patriarch is dying, and his son and daughter are called to his bedside, where the whole family grapples with his life of crime and abuse.

Juliet Takes A Breath (YA) - Juliet (Nuyorican lesbian) gets a coveted internship with hippy, white feminist author, and white feminism rears it’s ugly head.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: 

Nothing To See Here (literary fiction) - one time, a guy in Chicago had a job at a newspaper where he was the Biblioracle and he would recommend books to folks who wrote in if you told him favorites and what you read recently. 1) I need that job! and 2) he recommended Kevin Wilson’s The Family Fang to me, and I loved it. I was excited to read this, and it felt like such a real representative of politics and friendship even though people literally burst into flames.

The River (literary fiction / mystery) - in Grant’s top 5 of the year, and one of my favorite Peter Heller books (which is saying something, since I loved The Dog Stars and Celine). Two high school boys go for a graduation trip in the boundary waters, and there’s a brushfire growing and possibly a woman missing.

The Chain (thriller) - I keep picking up thrillers that people swear are the next Gone Girl or even better, and nothing is. This didn’t make my top ten, but if you want a page turner with a twist and also think about the banality of evil and what you might or might not do, try this.

Royal Holiday (romance) - Jasmine Guillory is always on point! I couldn’t even save this for Christmas reading!* A personal stylist gets to go to England to style the Meghan Markle (shout out to Suits!) fictionalized equivalent, and her mom goes along and finds romance. 

Intercepted, Fumbled, Blitzed (romance series) - have you read all of Jasmine Guillory? Pick up Alexa Martin next! It’s funny and captures the nuance of being a football fan or former football fan; the book doesn’t deny how it exploits men of color or the traumatic brain injuries. 

They Called Us Enemy (graphic memoir) - I don’t think that I would have ever picked up a graphic memoir if I didn’t already love Mira Jacobs (see Good Talk, above) and George Takei (LOVE him on facebook) already. Now I might seek them out. It’s George’s story of the Japanese internment camps that America likes to not remember.

Slay (YA) - Q: Do you need a YA version of Ready Player One written by a black woman? A: YES! After all of the racism she experiences in gaming, a black high schooler creates a video game only for black folks. No one knows she’s the creator. When a young kid is killed supposedly due to the game, she faces being revealed and wonders what she created.

The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali (YA) - I couldn’t put this book down; it’s about a young, queer Muslim woman whose parents want to marry her off. It’s never the right time to come out, and when they find out unexpectedly, she’s sent off to Bangladesh.

Heaven, My Home (mystery) - The follow up to Bluebird, Bluebird, and just as wonderful. Black Texas Ranger Darren Matthews is back, and is tasked with finding a missing 9 year-old boy from a white supremacist family.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed (non-fiction) - I asked my therapist if she had read this, but she hadn’t yet. She did tell me that she sees a therapist, though. Reading this (and hearing that) made me feel less alone and less crazy. It’s also pretty funny. (AND you know I don’t like non-fiction!!!)

What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About (non-fiction, essays) 

Southernmost (rural fiction) - did I just make up a genre? Yes! If you liked Plainsong or anything by Kent Haruf (and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, read that instead), I think you’d like this. A rural town, where a preacher decides not to turn his back on a gay couple, and then faces the consequences. I found it thoughtful, nuanced, and real. 

The View from Penthouse B (light fiction) - hmm, can’t stop making up genres! This is witty and well written, and I think is the book equivalent of a warm bath. I loved these sisters who end up living together in an NYC penthouse (the sister who owns it: separated from her scandal-ridden husband and lost her fortune in a Madoff-like ponzi scheme, and the sister who moves in is fairly recently widowed and everyone but her is ready for her to get over it).

Daisy Jones & The Six (historical fiction) - I think this was Grant’s favorite of the year, and it was definitely in the top 5. I loved it, too. It felt like the book version of Almost Famous.

American Spy (spy thriller) - it has so many things I’m looking for in a book all-in-one: excellent writing, fully developed characters, and moving plot. The premise is a black woman in U.S. intelligence during the Cold War, and the book grapples with racism and sexism and patriotism and family. So good!

To Night Owl from Dogfish (middle grade fiction) - I picked this up because Meg Wolitzer is one of the authors (wrote The Interestings) and because I’ve seen it on so many (non-middle grade) lists. It didn’t disappoint! Q: Do you need an LGBTQ Parent Trap-like book in your life (A: Yes, obvs). Pick this one up! I will try to read it with Ox in a year or so.

WHEW!

In 2020, I’m hoping for more 5 star reads (only five in 2019 - Good Talk, Fleishman Is In Trouble, Educated, Speak No Evil, Heads of the Colored People), more mysteries to make this list (bonus if it’s a new series [or new-to-me series] I can get lost in), and that I find the time to paint more book covers.

BONUS MEME

*Gah this meme is me, but this is my blog, so whatevs! Also a lot of these memes, too, which I hadn’t seen before!

[marsanj47]

The Green Lantern on CW

Based on the fact that it does not look like that my favorite Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner, will appear in the Green Lantern Corps movie (There used to be a rumor that Kyle will be in the movie, along with Hal and John, but it looks like the movie will be more of a buddy cop movie with Hal and John, no Kyle in sight), I have decided to try my hand at pitching a Green Lantern tv show, with him as the lead. This will include some of the important things of each season, and the characters and actors that I have chosen for each role. I also included one crossover villain that will play a part in the show later on, in a way.

I will only include the first four seasons, as that is how far I have gotten with this. The entire show takes place in a fictional version of Los Angeles, and, based on the fact that most DC shows are on there, it will be on the CW. It will be on the same Earth as Supergirl, which is where he first shows, without a Green Lantern ring, somewhere in a following season.

Warning, this is fairly long. And, if you want, tell me if you would watch this, or just what you think about it in general. Also, I did some edits after the season 2 finale of Supergirl, as you will see. I promise those are the only ones I will make.

Main Characters

Ryan Guzman as Kyle Rayner/Green Lantern/Ion/White Lantern: The main protagonist of the series. He works for Feast Magazine doing a bi-weekly comic strip, and does some freelance graphic art on the side whenever he needs a little extra cash. He becomes the only Green Lantern after a cataclysmic event killed all of the other lanterns. Without any formal training, he ends up having to have more on the job training, always finding new things that the ring allows him to do, and what he can’t do. He lives in an apartment with his girlfriend, Alexandra “Allie” DeWitt, in North Hollywood, where he was born and raised. He was raised by a single mother, and she raised him as an Irish Catholic. At first, he doesn’t really take his job as the Green Lantern all that seriously, but eventually he starts to mature and act more responsible when on the clock. However, that doesn’t stop him from having a bit of fun with his constructs every now and then.

He first shows up, without the ring, in a future episode of Supergirl, while looking for a job at CatCo Magazine. While he does not get it, he does bond with Kara and her friends. Since they are on the same Earth, crossovers between Supergirl and Green Lantern are very likely to happen.

He gets his ring, seemingly, by chance in the pilot. He is given his ring by Ganthet, who says the infamous words “You’ll do.” He eventually rebuilds the Corps, gains nigh-omnipotent powers as Ion (the original way. Pre-retcon), and then proves himself worthy of mastering the emotional spectrum as the White Lantern.

Nina Dobrev as Alexandra “Allie” DeWitt: Kyle’s girlfriend, who works as a photographer for a newspaper. She’s the voice of reason for Kyle, and one of the first people who said that he can be a real hero. While apprehensive of Kyle being a Green Lantern at first, due to her knowing how immature he can be, she eventually agrees to help him as much as she can, even helping him train and design his new uniform.

(Note: I decided to go with Allie to avoid confusion with the other well-known Alex on that Earth, Alex Danvers.)

(Spoiler alert! She dies in the second-to-last episode of the first season. She is murdered by Major Force in the apartment that she and Kyle share. While Nina does occasional appearances in one way or another, like an alternate Earth version of Allie, Black Lantern Allie, memory, etc., this version of the character stays dead.)

Kevin Bacon as Alan Scott/Golden Age Green Lantern: A retired superhero. Due to a fragment of the Starheart, a collection of all the stray mystical energies in the universe, that Alan forges into a ring, he has similar powers to a standard Green Lantern. Because of this, Alan was considered an honorary member of the Green Lantern Corps. He refuses to put his ring back on as he believes that part of his life is over, and that its time for a new hero, like Kyle, to shine. Alan acts as an unofficial mentor for Kyle, and is the one to inform him of what had happened to the other lanterns. He provides Kyle with more conventional training, and is a very “tough love” kind of teacher for him. He also attempts to imbue a sense of honor in Kyle, much like the one he has. Alan is seen by Kyle as a sort of father figure. He has been married twice, the first time ending in his wife, Rose Canton, killing herself. He has a daughter from that previous marriage, Jennifer-Lynn Hayden aka Jade, who was given up for adoption by his former wife out of fear that she will hurt the two of them because of a split personality that she had, Thorn, who wasn’t a very nice person. His current wife is Molly Mayne-Scott.

(Spolier alert: His wife, Molly, dies in front of him and Jennifer very early into season 3, by Parallax. Parallax kills Alan soon after, right in front of Jennifer and the rest of the team. Parallax’s reasoning for this is that he wanted to show that he doesn’t have a specific limitation that the Green Lantern Rings have; he can kill, whenever, whoever, and however he wants. He also does it to show that he has absolutely no qualms about doing it.)

John Cho as Andre Choi: The Art Director of Feast Magazine, and Kyle’s boss. He is initially unaware of his employee’s extracurricular activities, and as such is often left wondering why Kyle seems to be taking so long with his work when previously he could knock out an entire comic strip in very little time. He does care deeply about his employees, although he can come off as a bit of a condescending dick at times. He finds out about Kyle in the mid-season finale of season 2, and becomes a valuable member to the team.

Khylin Rhambo as Terry Berg: A junior in college and Kyle’s intern/assistant. He finds out about Kyle’s double life, and agrees to cover for him whenever Mr. Choi is looking for him. Once his reached puberty, he realized he is gay, but he stayed in the closet. He gets together with his classmate David O’Hara, but still did not come out to his parents. After having a chat with Kyle and David about it, he came out to his parents, both of them with him as he did it. It did not go well, but both Kyle’s and David’s support and understanding of Terry’s situation helped cement the brotherly bond that Terry has with Kyle, and the romantic one he has with David.

(Spoiler alert! Towards the end of season 2, he is the victim of a hate-crime by a group of thugs. He ends up having a broken right arm, both legs broken, left arm mangled, four broken ribs, and a collapsed lung. He survives, but decides that maybe it is for the best if he left Team Lantern, as he feels he does not really contribute as much as the rest of the group. He’s been having these thought for a while, and the rest of team understand and say their goodbyes. He and David promise not to tell anybody about the team’s secret identities. They leave after they finish school. Terry goes on to write a successful book about his trials and tribulations. He occasionally makes guest appearances to catch up with the team, either by himself or with David.)

Vanessa Hudgens as Jennifer-Lynn Hayden/Jade/Green Lantern: After her birth mother, Rose Canton, gave her up for adoption, she was raised by a nice couple from the suburbs, the Haydens. She eventually sought out her birth parents, and found Alan Scott, who told her about her birth mother’s suicide. She stayed in North Hollywood and got a job at Feast Magazine as a photographer. Because of her father’s exposure to mystical energies, she inherited some metahuman powers which also resembled those of the Green Lantern Corps. She befriends Kyle and, using her metahuman powers, helps him whenever she feels he needs it. She becomes close friends with Allie, and is devastated by her death.She loses her metahuman powers in Season 2, but does go on to also join the Green Lantern Corps. She begins to feel romantic feelings for Kyle, but since he was Allie’s boyfriend, she initially feels guilty about it. After some time, she and Kyle begin a romantic relationship.

Recurring Characters That Join The Main Cast In Following Seasons

Meaghan Rath as Arisia Rrab/Green Lantern: A former member of the Green Lantern Corps who was made powerless before the cataclysmic event that wiped out the rest of the Corps. She reached Earth and took up the alias of Cindy Simpson. She meets up with Kyle and his friends, and, while initially wary of being around them out of fear of what happened to the other lanterns, she comes around and becomes an invaluable ally to the team.  Becomes a main cast member in season 2. Also, joins the Green Lantern Corps, again, when Kyle rebuilds it. She and Kyle are the “veterans” of the Corps. In season 3, Sodam Yat, a Daxamite, joins the team and she and him begin to have a romantic relationship.

(Edit: In my original pitch, they got together much sooner, but after the season 2 finale of Supergirl essentially making it that every Daxamite had to leave Earth or die from the lead in the atmosphere, Sodam Yat does not join the show until season 2. For an explanation as to why he can come back to Earth and not die, I suggest you look at his part.)

Rami Malek as Simon Baz/Green Lantern: Introduced in the second season as an engineering grad who found himself financially desperate after losing his job at a factory. He stole a car and was soon accused of being a terrorist because the car he stole had a bomb on board. After being arrested and interrogated, he was going to be sent to Guantanamo Bay, but a Green Lantern ring found its way to him. The ring transported him to Kyle’s apartment. Simon told his story to Kyle, and Kyle believed him. Calling in a favor from his father, he managed to get the charges on Simon dropped. Simon began training to be a Green Lantern soon after. He becomes a member of the main cast in season 3.

Lindsey Morgan as Jessica Cruz/Power Ring/Volthoom/Green Lantern: Introduced part-way through the second season as the unfortunate recipient of a magical ring, the Ring of Volthoom. A witness to the murder of her friends in the woods, she became traumatized. It was that trauma that led the ring to her. It forces her to accept, and begins to feed off her fear. It constantly takes over her body, forcing her to commit many crimes. She faces off with Kyle Rayner as she is under control of the ring, but he manages to get through to her, since he knows that she is not in control. She manages to fight the ring’s control long enough for Kyle to call in a friend who is very aware of magical objects, Aztek. They manage to de-power and remove the ring from Jessica, but she becomes further traumatized from her time as a “villain.” She develops an anxiety disorder. Towards the end of season 2, she is found worthy by a Green Lantern Ring. She accepts. She joins the main cast in season 3.

(Edit: In my original pitch, she was the last person, that would eventually join the main cast, to get a Green Lantern ring, but now after the season 2 finale of Supergirl, I had to make some adjustments. Now, the last person to get a Green Lantern ring is Sodam Yat. For an explanation as to why, see below.)

Keahu Kahuanui as Sodam Yat/Green Lantern: One of the Daxamites on the ships that Queen Rhea brought to Earth. He was always critical of the ways things operated on his planet. When the lead was released into the atmosphere in the season 2 finale of Supergirl, Sodam Yat had to leave Earth, but he did not follow the rest of his people. Instead, he hid away on Mars until he felt he could return to Earth. It is there where he meets Kyle Rayner, who went to Mars to recruit for the new Green Lantern Corps. Sodam Yat is found to be worthy to be a member of the Corps, but is hesitant to return to Earth. After finding out that Green Lantern rings offers some cellular regeneration, he accepts and goes with Kyle to get some training. Once he gets to Earth, he realizes that the only way that he can stay on Earth is to always keep his ring on, so that the ring can constantly be healing him from the lead exposure. He is incredibly gifted when it comes to matters of machines, and is genuinely interested in learning about Earth culture. He ends up having a romantic relationship with fellow Corps member, and his trainer, Arisia Rrab. He joins the main cast on season 3. He is the last person on the main cast to get a Green Lantern ring.

(Edit: In my original pitch, Sodam Yat was on the main cast since the first season, and actually got his ring pretty early in season 2. However, after the season 2 finale of Supergirl, I had to make some adjustments to the story. Now, he doesn’t show up until late season 2, and gets his Green Lantern ring after Jessica Cruz, who originally was the last one to get her ring.)

Important Recurring Characters

Lea Thompson as Maura Rayner: Kyle’s mother who quickly realized her son is flying around saving people. She raised him by herself after her husband, Aaron, left her and Kyle when Kyle was still young. She is a great support system for him, and greatly encouraged his love of art.

(Spoiler alert! She is diagnosed with cancer in season 3. While it looks like she is beating it, she dies in the first episode of season 4. Kyle uses his Ion powers to bring her back to life, but she convinces him to let her go. She tells him that she is ready to move on, and that she is proud of the man that he has become. Kyle undoes what he did, and allows her to move on “to a better place.” Distraught, Kyle goes to remove the power of Ion from himself, and inadvertently creates Oblivion while doing so.)

Kyra Sedgwick as Molly Mayne-Scott: Alan Scott’s wife and former adversary as Harlequin, although her crimes were more harmless fun and mostly for show. She has an altruistic streak, which lead her to joining forces with Alan Scott on many occasions. She quietly retired from her life of crime after working for the government on intelligence missions in exchange for amnesty. She attempts to have a good relationship with her stepdaughter, Jade, but at times comes on a bit too strong.

(Spoiler alert! You probably already know because of what happened with Alan Scott, but I’ll say it again. She dies, along with her husband, by the hands of Parallax in Season 3.)

Michael Trevino as Uno/Aztek: Uno is raised from childhood by a secret organization named the Q Society, in Mexico, to be the champion of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl. His father, Emilio, was a member of the Q Society, and once he died, the role of champion was passed on to Uno. He is given a magical suit of armor that bestows many abilities upon him that complement his peak mental and physical capabilities. He briefly meets Kyle when he first comes to America. They form an alliance when battling a supervillain. He soon leaves to Vanity City, a place in desperate need of a hero. He does reappear ever so often, providing some magical assistance whenever called upon.

Demian Bichir as Aaron Rayner/Gabriel Vasquez: Kyle’s father, and Maura’s ex-husband, who is introduced at the beginning of season 2. Born Gabriel Vasquez, he eventually became CIA agent who was undercover as Aaron Rayner when he met Kyle’s mother. He kept that part of his life secret from his family. One day, in an attempt to keep them safe from his enemies, he walked out on his family. He still kept tabs on them, and occasionally was there to witness some of the major moments in his son’s life, albeit from a distance. Aaron/Gabriel found himself face-to-face with his son, although Kyle did not know this. After getting to know him a bit, he eventually told Kyle the truth. It did not go over well with him. Kyle voiced his feelings about it, and revealed that he was the reason that Kyle had many issues, such as abandonment issues. Time passed, and things begin to get better between the two. Not perfect, but better. Aaron/Gabriel begins to be more a part of his son’s life. When Kyle tells him about being a Green Lantern, he acts surprised, but secretly he knew. He managed to put two and two together before Kyle told him.

Michael Johnston as David O’Hara: Terry’s classmate and eventual boyfriend. While at first he did not think much of Terry, he soon became impressed with Terry’s newfound confidence. Much like Terry, he only recently came out of the closet, however, unlike Terry, when he told his parents, they were more supportive. He is Terry’s first real relationship, just like Terry is David’s. He grows close to Terry and all of the team, but remains unaware of what they do. Terry asks Kyle if it is ok to tell David about the team, and after some convincing from the rest of the team, Kyle agrees. David finds out towards the end of season 2.

(Note: I do not recall the actual David from the comics having a last name, and some research pretty much confirms that. This is why I gave him the name O’Hara.)

(Spoiler alert! David was going to find out earlier, but then Terry was attacked. Terry, while in the hospital, tells David about the team. When David and he finished college, they left town and promised to keep the team’s secret identities a secret. Terry became a writer and David became a police officer. They occasionally come back to visit, either by themselves or together.)

Liza Lapira/Tamlyn Tomita as Rose Canton/Thorn: Alan Scott’s first wife, and Jennifer’s mother, who took her own life. Also, Rose Canton’s villainous split personality.

(Note: The reason that there are two actresses for Rose/Thorn is because she is already dead, and she died in her early 30s, so we see Liza as her in the following scenarios: memory/flashback, dream/hallucination, time travel (either to the past or she is brought to the future), etc. An alternate Earth version of the character does appear, but, since in that Earth she is still alive and is now in her 50s, she is played by Tamyln Tomita.)

Crossover Villains

The Crime Syndicate are the villainous doppelgangers of the heroes, that will be the crossover villains for the first season of the show. But the one that I will focus on is…

Ryan Guzman as Kyle Vasquez/Power Ring/Volthoom: Kyle Rayner’s doppelganger who is under the influence of the Ring of Volthoom. He attempts to kill Allie DeWitt, but he is stopped by Kyle. They get into an intense battle, which ends when Volthoom takes over of Kyle Vasquez, gets the upper-hand, but is then shot by Allie in a split decision. The Ring of Volthoom leaves Vasquez when he dies, and searches for a new host, eventually finding Jessica Cruz in season 2.

Main Antagonists

Season 1

Geno Segers as Clifford Zmeck/Major Force: A prisoner in a high security prison, and sentence to life in prison after several rape and murder charges. He gained powers as a product of a U.S. Federal Project headed by General Wade Eiling. Both he and Eiling eventually join The Quorum, a corrupt top secret government agency. He serves as a physical challenge to Kyle, since the experiments that Eiling had done to him gave him superhuman, strength, speed, endurance, stamina, invulnerability, and an array of other abilities. He kills Kyle’s girlfriend Allie in the second-to-last episode of the first season, and leaves a note challenging him to a fight. He and Kyle face-off, one-on-one, while Kyle is not in the right state of mind, which leads him to eventually putting Major Force in an electric chair construct. The reason he stops is because his friends show up and talk him down. Major Force is soon captured.

Clancy Brown as General Wade Eiling: Much like his Earth-1 counterpart, General Wade Eiling is a corrupt, ruthless military man who will do anything he feels necessary to reach his end goal, even subjecting people to gruesome experimentation in an attempt to give them powers, like he did with Major Force. A brilliant tactician who primarily works in the shadows from his high-up position in The Quorum, Eiling will offer Kyle and his friends a strenuous mental challenge. His one major flaw is overconfidence, which leads him to being captured in the second-to-last episode of the season. His last order was for Major Force to kill the Green Lantern’s girlfriend, which he gladly accepts.

Season 2

Sam Witwer as Grayven: Darkseid’s youngest son, born to an unknown mother. His father views him as “not his real son,” that he is “just the outcome of one meaningless night with a women he can’t be bothered to remember.” Fueled by feelings of abandonment and resentment, Grayven leads a campaign of destruction against the cosmos. He eventually finds himself on Earth where he battles Kyle and the newly rebuilt Green Lantern Corps, but he proves capable of defeating any of them without breaking a sweat. He is the first true test of the Corps ability to function as a team.

Season 3

Jensen Ackles as Parallax: The culprit of the mass murder, and near annihilation, of the Green Lantern Corps. He seeks out Kyle Rayner, and the rest of the Lanterns, to finish the job. He is the most powerful villain they have faced up to this point, with large-scale reality altering powers. Kyle has to become Ion, an equally powerful being, just to be able to stop him.

(Note: Yes, this is Hal Jordan. He has gone crazy and started calling himself Parallax, and refuses to call himself by his real name. The original version of the story. Pre-retcon. No fear-bug business here. It would never be outright stated, but it would be heavily implied. I just think this would be better, storytelling wise.)

Season 4

Ryan Guzman as Oblivion: The physical manifestation of Kyle’s anxieties, greed, rage, fears, doubts and darker impulses, that is created during the process of getting rid of his Ion powers after the passing of his mother. He is also a manifestation of Kyle’s newfound self-loathing, because he believes that he is somehow responsible for all of the bad things that have happened to those closest to him. It is that self-loathing that leads Oblivion to turn to the dark side. His end game is to merge back with Kyle, this time with him in control, in an attempt to “make things right.” Since he was created when Kyle was still Ion, Oblivion retained a lot of that cosmic power. Only by becoming the White Lantern was Kyle Rayner able to defeat his darker half.