#(paget has good voice acting)

[maschotch]

Do you think JJs actress is a good actress?

i havent seen her in anything else, so i cant say

[notallwonder]

Alright. We are here. At the end(ish). CM 16x10 "Dead End".

Spoilers and whatever my addled brain wants to express under the cut. This may be a long one.

I don't know why this show makes me so happy despite its many deficiencies. tbh I think it's bc I am job hunting and this at least gives me a lil shot of dopamine or seratonin or whatever the fuck. Also Paget Brewster.

The things I want out of this season finale: Prentiss. I hope she gets to smile and smirk and not just be mad/sad/worried. I wanna see some good moments for Luke, though I'm less hopeful on that front. I want to see something good for Tara. What that could be...dunno. As for the rest - I don't think I even care that much? I suspect it will end in some sort of cliffhanger.

Okay, now that I have unwisely embarked on this journey in the wee hours of the night...

I wonder who will get to wear the Brown Jacket this episode?

oh boo the black & white flashbacks are still here...I hate that choice.

it's a pleasure to see Krystall again tho. I always liked her.

laying on the ol' "FBI behavioral analysis heroes stop real monsters" schtick real thick there guys. it's funny of me to get annoyed about this on this, the "FBI are real heroes" show. but I do.

good onya Dave, found the mood lighting. LOL at the oxygen meter. LMAO even MORE at Dave finding the wifi router.

it's still so stupid that Will is there lol

this is the first time I have truly hated Elias Voit. who would rather speak to Bailey when Emily Prentiss is right there on the phone? only a stupid little man apparently. although - Bailey would be way easier to manipulate so maybe not so stupid.

omg incredible forehead moment there. ma'am your eyebrows (what have i become)

love the implication that Dave just recites quotes to himself. kinda tracks

this situation with Bailey makes me go *grimace emoji*

has Bailey been a gold star lesbian this whole time?

t's so stupid that Will gets lines and Luke still gets shafted. I don't hate Will, but...really?

god now JJ says "wheels up"? sorry, hate it

WOW okay. So Gold Star is a secret program of some kind. And now we're talking "legal" and "extralegal" options with the AG. boy. whew. god why did I get attached to this fucking show.

though - AG slaying in that black suit/purple blouse situation.

"they would see through it, the BAU" - because the BAU are the good guys, not involved in (implied unethical?) secret shit? what the ever loving shit is this.

Adam Rodriguez just doing the most with his beautiful face and voice. thank you sir

bummer that I have to watch most of Joe Mantegna's acting from a weird vantage point and on a phone screen on a TV screen.

oh wait now we get a Badass Marine Rossi Montage

absolutely incredible, the bizarre combinations of ads I get when I watch this show. After Rossi's explosive moment, I just got served an ad about a disease that causes curvature of the erection due to scar tissue. what the fuck paramount plus

is it just me or did the audio get weird now that we're back in Emily's office

"politics" there that is again

Ghost of Krystall Past! Welcome to the shitshow! you look fabulous

"we were just getting started" I wish they did this echo thing with lines that actually were interesting

I do love Emily being constantly like "WHAT tHE Frickle FRACKLE" but I worry for her blood pressure. can she ride along. I want her in every scene, not just stuck at the BAU on Chicken Roaster time

Elias please tell your wife you want to wear the Moose dog collar and that's why you saved it. whoops missed opportunity babe

Emily. ma'am. you are beautiful, gorgeous, smokin'. etc.

what are you Bailey, a vampire

I mean...I am intrigued about what the fuck this is all about. they've got me on the hook. can they reel me in?

the implication here is that Voit has knowledge/dirt that they want kept secret. So he's a little bit in kind of a Snowden position?

OH SHIT BAILEY DEAD

WILL BEEN SHOT (saw that one coming, why else would he be there). dont worry he's fine guys. no stakes

YAS Tara. There's that steel. I missed that steel.

JJ and Sydney. Classic mom to mom interview, right?

LOL they're begging Sydney to help them find David Rossi, that annoying old dude that accosted her in the cereal aisle.

in my opinion this episode has a weird denouement energy. like...it didn't feel climactic even in the shootout scene. maybe on rewatch

it's really too bad that me and the CME showrunner(s) have such a disagreement on what parts of this show/world are worth expanding upon. the emotional beats/storyline with Elias and family are fine. They are kind of interesting even. More interesting to me than plenty of the 300 some previous unsubs. but...a simple 2 minutes scene of Emily Prentiss in her own home? I would dine on that for weeks, months, years. it's all about priorities. I get it. I've been thinking about that - about the fact that I have not been watching the same show they've been making. I mean...literally I have. But that's how art works in some sense. someone creates a thing, and I encounter that thing, engage with it. I bring whatever I bring to the encounter, and walk away having had an experience that the original creator *might* have intended in and might not, depending on how you define that. maybe we're ships passing in the night. i'm sure i'm not articulating this very well. it's almost 3 a.m. here.

good news for the Tyler dislikers out there

Rossi now that you're back at the BAU the first thing you better be doing is groveling at Emily Prentiss's feet and apologizing for your behavior sir.

oh, BIG HUG! *heart eyes*

oh my GOD I am just CACKLING WITH LAUGHTER. Emily Prentiss big embrace to Mr. JJ, Will Lamontagne Jr. INCREDIBLE. IN-CRED-IBLE!!!!!!! this kind of comedy is...I don't have words for it. it's like...a teeny tiny version of what I imagine that Supernatural Nov 5 Emotion was like. I witnessed but did not feel that feel. but this might be a related feel.

aw Bailey. you join the dead agents wall. aw Emily - big sigh. sweet sad face. couldn't love you more.

yesssss, I have collected yet another line spoken between JJ and Emily that is not case-related!! (I think I am up to 2? 3?). "your eulogy was beautiful". classic jemily right there!

Prentiss cogs still turning

LOL calling Bailey a "comrade-in-arms" sorry it's just funny that this is supposed to have real emotional weight. I get it that it has weight for the team; but the audience...we barely knew ye Doug Noodle.

not lost on me that we're winding down on the "couples" here. Pen & Luke; Will & JJ; Tara & Emily lol

JJ's line to Will "I have a confession to make...I liked it a lot better when I didn't have to see you in the line of fire." Wow, groundbreaking confession there. I mean...we already know this. Not only is that, like, a very normal sentiment regarding someone you love, but also remember Hit/Run? I do really enjoy JJ insulting her husband. "yeah, well next time don't get shot [idiot]" I like that as part of their dynamic. it feels authentic to JJ in some way. she does that sarcastic thing.

GOD I wanted SO HARD to see Voit's shoes, which I assume were government issued dirty orange Crocs

y'all, so help me, I liked this season. I like that it's given me more raw material to work with, I guess. I LOVE that it gave me silver fox Prentiss. The ham-handedness and bad writing and pacing issues and all of that are clear weaknesses that are also pretty clear carry overs from the original run. No shock or surprise there, and I am (too) forgiving, especially because they have genuinely tried to do something new-ish. Did they succeed? I mean. yeah. Did they succeed *well*? Not really.

As for the ending...they set themselves up for the new season, enough intrigue to get me to keep watching (I would have anyway because i somewhat embarrassingly have ONE priority). It feels like some secret spy shit, which I can only hope means *something* in terms of call backs to Emily's secret spy shit days (it won't since this isn't the Emily Prentiss show, which I will always be sad about).

I cannot bring myself to be mad about various choices like Garcia's characterization, the JJ and Emily situation such as it isn't, even Rebecca. I think the door is still open for Rebecca to be part of the story moving forward. The Garcia character assassination is...well it is jarring and still feels oddly simplistic to me, though I think they are aiming for complexity. I am still waiting on some real consequences / real accountability for her and I'm not sure I'll ever be satisfied in that arena. She admitted in the finale that she fell back into old patterns, and Luke joked that if people didn't do that they'd be out of a job, with the hilarious implication that PG's bad relationship habits are comparable to...serial killer shit. Adam Rodriguez stays giving a really enjoyable performance as a man who loves this woman honestly more than seems wise - he is getting his heart stepped on but won't abandon her. And I don't know that he's necessarily pining, so much as he is committed to being her friend despite her carelessness. I am mad that Luke didn't get much of anything of his own this season.

I hope the folks creating CME take some time to do a critical post-mortem. I hope they're not just patting themselves on the back. I generally appreciate what they're trying to do, but I want them to figure out how to do it better.

[swiss-cheeze]

Please || Matthew Gray Gubler

Requested, YES/NO: Can I please request a female reader where she is chubby and by about her appearance and she and Matthew are in a relationship but she is scared he is going to leave her for someone more pretty. So he gets into an argument about why she is acting weird and she confesses and basically it ends with him showing her how beautiful she is and smut and after care?

Gender: she/her, female.

Warnings: body worship, talk of food and weight gaining due to food (unhealthy mindset from the reader i guess?), reader calls themself a ‘troll’, self-abuse/hurtful words to oneself, sex.

-------

“You ready pumpkin?” Matthew asked as he walked into the shared bedroom; only to see you in your underwear squishing your stomach with a sad frown, “oh baby” Matthew pouted as he came up behind you, his arms wrapped around your stomach and pulled you into his back, “just not a good day?” you shrugged, it was hard to speak without crying, “we don't have to go out,” his voice was small as he peppered kisses down your neck while thumbing at your stomach. Your breath shuddered as you walked to your closet and picked out your comfort outfit and sniffled, “sweetie i promise we don't have to go” Matthew stood still in the middle of the room while you stood in front of the closet trying your hardest not to break down, “you can stay here, i'll go alone bubby”

“I'll be okay,” your voice was scratchy and barely a whisper but Matthew somehow heard it.

“I don't want you to go somewhere where you’re not comfortable,” Matthew retorted, god you loved this man.

“Please,” it was a whimper.

Please just drop it.

Please just let me do this.

Please hold me.

Please tell me if I'm enough.

Please don't touch me.

Please help me.

The thing that brought you back to earth was the kiss Matthew gave to the crown of your head before exiting the room; leaving you with the click of the door and the screams of your inner demons and voices. You shook your head to try and rid yourself of the voices before grabbing your comfort outfit and getting dressed; it was a red carpet event after all, you couldn't be late, or look bad.

-----

“Oh my god it's Jennifer Aniston!” Matthew whispered with a grin as said model and actor stepped out of her car and started making her way onto the carpet. Matthew hugged your sides - your chubby sides - and squeezed you into him as cameras flashed.

“Matthew over here!”

“Gubler this way!”

“Oi, look at me! Perfect!”

God it was so loud even in this open venue. You tried to keep your smile light and happy but anyone who was anyone could see exactly what was going on in your head; you were only brought back to earth for the second time today by the pull of Matthew. You're leaving! Finally! After a-

“Hello! I am here with Matthew Gray Gubler and girlfriend (Y/n) (L/n)!” a voice called.

Fuck.

Interview.

Smile and wave boys, just smile and wave.

“How are you enjoying the place so far Matthew?” the interviewer asked as you finally got a good look at her; long blonde hair, perfectly chiseled face, tight waist, small stomach, skin tight dress, long legs, perfect pedicure and manicure…

“(Y/n)?” Matthew jolted you slightly as you stared at the interviewer.

“Yes?” you questioned.

“How do you feel tonight? You've got many models and actors around you, is it a bit overwhelming being with an actor?” god even her voice was sexy.

“Um, no, no it's good!” you gave a fake small and jolted yourself to a fake happy, “it's great being around those i admire and watch in shows and movies; Chris Evans, Simon Pegg; i think even Ben Hardy and a few others i admire are here too” you gave a grin and looked around while talking to give the impression you were looking for the people you were talking about.

“Well that sounds good!” The interviewer gave a forced laugh, almost like she was bored, “are you wearing anything special or is this just the sunday look?” her giggle was what caught you on the insult.

“Excuse me?” Matthews hand on your waist tightened as you spoke.

“Darling-”

“Your outfit is a bit old…” the interviewer paused, “a bit outdated?” this made you go quiet; now your comfort outfit is ruined.

“Excuse us,” Matthew mumbled as he guided you away from the interviewer and into a quiet corner.

“What-”

“Did you want to go home?” Matthew cut you off, he was stern and to the point.

“What? No of course not-”

“Your comfort outfit has just been insulted, I know how much you love this outfit and I know how amazing it makes you look every single time you wear it,” Matthew waited a moment as he looked at you with all the love in the world.

“But what about-”

“It's just a party” Matthew reminded you, he always had a habit of making bad situations into good ones.

“No, no I promise I'm okay baby,” you gave the most convincing smile you could, Matthew was hesitant but eventually gave in as you continued the red carpet and did another 3 interviews...all while being surrounded by lovely size 6 women who have flat stomachs, nice legs and nice breasts. While you were on the heavier side of the spectrum you couldn't help but thank yourself for your breasts; they were not huge but they weren't small like some actresses were because their body was small in comparison. And Matthew adored your breasts; always held them and stuffed his face in them to make you laugh, always leaving marks and bruises in the perfect places that only you know about...so you just kept that same mentality through the rest of the night.

He loves me.

That's all I need.

He loves all of me.

He could go for better.

But he chose me.

God he could totally go for better.

Look there’s Aniston and her perfect body-

No stop!

God and now A.J., and Paget; even Kirsten looks better in any outfit than i do.

No matter how much you tried you just couldn't stop thinking how much better Matthew would be with someone smaller than you; someone who could give him lap dances and not have rolls, someone he could throw over his shoulder easy, someone he could pick up from behind, someone who could sit on his face and not crush him...this is gonna be a long night.

------

When you got home that night all you wanted to do was law down in bed and weep, but of course you had a boyfriend whom you lived with.

“Did you like the movie (Y/n)?” Matthew asked as he hung his coat, a big dopey grin plastered on his face. You shrugged.

“Was a movie,” was your only response before walking into the bedroom and striping to your underwear.

“Okay…” Matthew mumbled, he knew something was up but he didn't want to push it, “want to order in or something then?” he called through the house, “maccas? Thai? Ooo I could go for some good sushi or honey soy chicken; oh my god AND NOODLES!” he sounded too excited for what seemed to be a weight gaining meal. Matthew bounded into the bedroom with a grin before stopping short.

There you were.

Head in your hands.

Shoulders shaking.

Silently sobbing.

“Baby?”

“Please leave me alone,”

“Please tell me what's wrong...you’ve never been like this; you've always loved yourself,”

You sniffled before going silent for a moment.

“I've always been like this; i'm just good at hiding it from everyone,”

And it suddenly made sense.

When you get a smaller plate than you normally would in restaurants, a salad instead of a cupcake, a healthy shake rather than milkshake, exercising more, covering yourself with layers when you go out together.

“Oh sweetheart,”

Matthew sat down next to you, he was about to reach a hand out to touch you but cowered back when he realised you most likely wouldn't like it.

“You know you're...you’re a lot like Spencer Reid even if he's only fictional,” this seemed to make you smile as you thought of the times you got to spend on set with your second family, “you give great advice, you’re smart in places others aren't, you ramble...but then again you're so different: you’re warm, inviting, open hearted, head full, eccentric, extravagant-”

“Well i wouldn't say extravagant-”

“Well I do,” you finally looked at Matthew; his face faltered when he saw how tear stained and red splotched you where. But god you were still the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

“I know i'm probably a troll by now-”

“No, no no baby; never,” Matthew raised his hands and cupped your jaw to keep you looking at him, “you’re always the most beautiful thing i ever had the pleasure of meeting,” you wanted to smile, and you did, but that was only your face.

“Yeah? Then what about the rest of me-”

“Dont” Matthew was quick to cut you off, “you are beautiful, all of you is beautiful,”

“But I've got, I've got rolls! A-and marks! Hair! I-i smell, I'm flabby, I jiggle…”

“I have rolls too and you love them,” your eyes darted to Spencers stomach where you knew his soft rolls where, “i have marks,” your eyes traveled to his hips were you knew some stretch marks looked like bolts of lightning from Zeus and Thor themselves, “i have hair,” you probably shouldn't have but you looked to his pant-covered crotch where you knew there was a recently trimmed patch of dark hair, “i smell,” you giggled at this as you both did kind of smell due to the day out in the hot movie theater, “im flabby and i jiggle,” he wasn't wrong, his arms sometimes jiggled when you moved them the same as his tummy whenever he danced weirdly.

“But youre skinny-”

“No buts,”

“I eat too much”

“So do I”

“You don't gain weight from it”

“Because i couldn't swallow for 26 days and have a fast metabolism”

“You have cheekbones”

“So do you”

“You cant see mine”

“I was a model; I had to bite the inside of my cheeks”

“Chiseled jaw,”

“Jaw exercises because i was a model; plus eating you o-”

“OKAY SHUSH,” you waved Matthew off with a laugh before standing up quickly.

“Can we please just go to bed? I just want this day to end,” you asked as your hands unconsciously covered your naked stomach; Matthew only now realised you had stripped from your dress before he came into the room. The look in his eyes when he scanned you from top to bottom included a range of emotions, from love and lust, to anger; anger being that you couldn't see what he sees and saw every day of his life.

“Can you at least let me show you how amazing your body is? And how much I adore you, your body and your mind?” a red flush went over your whole body as you realised what he was asking. Of course he asked. Consent is sexy.

That’s when it all fell into place; as soon as you nodded Matthew was all over you.

The plush bed moved under you as Matthew guided you down to the pillows and left feather-like kisses along your neck while muttering praises under his breath.

“Beautiful”

“Goddess”

“Princess”

“Elegant”

“One of a kind”

“Plush”

“Perfect”

“Impenetrable”

“Lovely”

“Divine”

“Angelic”

“Captivating”

“Foxy”

Each kiss left a word, each word left a purple bruise, each bruise lit a fire inside you you never knew you had. Nibbles trailed from your neck to your panty line before dispersing around your stomach in red and splotchy hickies and bites. Matthews hands went under you to unclasp your bra before leaving it somewhere on the bed or the floor; you couldn't really care less. His rough hands were the first to touch you and play with your nipples before his tongue, mouth and teeth followed; nipping and biting your nipples, pulling them slightly, twisting and licking. It felt like a dream.

“Sh-shit Matthew,” you let out a breathy whine while your body twitched under Matthews hands and mouth, one hand went down to your waist to hold you still while the other stayed playing with the plush flesh.

“Always loved these,” Matthew mumbled into your breast, he took a moment to plunge his face in your cleavage causing you to laugh, “just gimme a sec lovely,” Matthews voice came out muffled as he sat still; your arms coming up to play with his hair. His hands gripped both of your breasts softly before pushing them into the sides of his face, again, causing you to laugh.

“Is this your way of showing me how much you love me?” you questioned, Matthew stayed silent before a nod came from him, again, causing you to laugh harder before the man brought his face back to the real world with a harsh intake of breath.

“Couldn't breath,” Matthew said breathlessly, obviously. You both laughed for a moment before Matthew dove in for a kiss; heated, breathless, full of love and admiration for you. It honestly caught you off guard and made you forget what all of this was really for; until Matthews hands started pawing at your stomach.

“Gube-”

“Please”

And suddenly you were brought back to this morning; except this was different.

Please let me.

Please let me love you.

Please let me show you how amazing you are.

Please let me show you how beautiful you are.

Please let me show you how perfect you are.

Please allow me to be with you.

Please let me hold you.

Please.

And that was all it took.

“Okay,” you smiled a teary smile, as Matthew kissed your cheek and then trailed down to your stomach, peppering kisses, nibbles and licks all over your tummy.

“I love your stomach,” Matthew mumbled, “it holds your intestines together, it holds your food in, it keeps you together,” his nibbles soon went lower; leaving marks on the apex of your thighs as well as your inner thighs.

“Babe please…” your fingers threaded through Matthews hair as you tried to guide him to the place you really wanted but he stayed at your thighs.

“Darling just let me love you,” Matthew requested.

“Love me between my legs Gube” you whined while tugging at the mop on Matthews head until finally, finally! Matthew started to pull down your underwear before spreading your legs and...staring, “Gube…” you started to feel uncomfortable and closed your legs.

“Sunshine im sorry,” Matthew finally looked to you rather than your sex, “you’re just beautiful everywhere,”

“I know, i just haven't shaved and-”

“No, stop,” Matthew kissed your panty line, “this is about loving all of you; when have I ever cared if you’ve shaved or not?” the man gave you an unanswerable question, “answer me baby,”

“Never…”

“Never. Exactly,” he smiled before crawling back up to you and kissing your nose for a moment before going back down and licking a stripe up your slit causing you to moan from the suddenness, “god and you taste perfect,”

“Please don't say I taste like strawberry or something,” you giggled, Matthew laughed softly before shaking his head with his tongue on your clit; giving you pleasure while saying ‘no’. You tugged on his hair some more while the pleasure lasted. Matthew swiftly tore off his pants, boxers and shirt before lifting your legs and positioning himself at your entrance.

“You ready sweetheart?” Matthew mumbled, his hair was tousled with sex hair, his eyes bore into you with love, he was breathing heavily, a slight sheen of sweat was on his forehead he was like-

“A god,” you mumbled, hands finding Matthews cheeks and holding him softly.

“What…?”

“You’re like an actual god,” you spoke again, your voice was quiet as your eyes started to tear up.

“Oh darling,” Matthew mumbled, his hands coming up to wipe the tears away, “then you’re my goddess,” you nodded before bringing Matthew down for a kiss the same time he entered you; a low moan rumbling from the both of you as Matthew stilled, “you feel so good around me darling; wet and tight,” that's when he started thrusting; it felt like nothing you’d dot together before.

“H-holy shit,” your moans mixed together as Matthew held you tightly, his head buried itself in your neck and started sucking on the skin he could make contact with as his thrusts sped up; your legs encased Matthew as he hit that perfect spot in you.

“God you’re so beautiful,” Matthew mumbled softly through laboured breaths, “you’re so amazing; always there for me, helping me with everything, being perfect,”

“I love you so much,” you whimpered, Matthews hand snaked down between your thighs and started rubbing your clit expertly like he always did causing your moans to become louder as well as your approaching orgasm.

“I love you so much too doll,” Matthew whispered, “you gonna come sweetheart?”, you nodded while a large moan escaped you, “you’re beautiful in every way,” you nodded as your hips met Matthews; eyes scrunched and brows knitted you placed your forehead on Matthews as his hands encased your hips and sped up yet again. You’re sure bruises would be forming on your hips later tonight but that just made everything better; it just made you want to love yourself even more with every bruise, bump, lump, mark, scratch and roll. The image of Matthew kissing every inch of your body was what set you off. A silent moan left you as your mouth formed an ‘o’ and your tongue went dry due to the intakes of breath, you keened as Matthew thrusted for a first, second, third time and came with you. The warmth spread through you as Matthew held you close; encasing you with his arms as your legs wrapped around him.

It took a moment for the two of you to come back down to earth, but when you did it felt like everything was new. Matthew flopped beside you breathing heavily as a smile grew on both of your faces, a few moments passed before the lanky man himself stood up and walked to the bathroom before coming back with a washcloth and cleaning you up.

“Thank you,” you mumbled as Matthew finally cozzied back up to you under the covers, bringing you into his chest and kissing the top of your head.

“Anything for you,”

“Yeah? Anything?”

“Yeah,” Matthew looked at you with a smile, “anything,” and it was a promise.

[popculturebuffet]

Since you're okay with it, which scene would you say the main cast of Ducktales 2017 (David Tennant (Scrooge), Danny Pudi (Huey), Ben Schwartz (Dewey), Bobby Moynihan (Louie), Kate Micucci (Webby), Tony Anselmo (Donald), Paget Brewster (Della), Beck Bennett (Launchpad), and Toks Olagundoye (Beakley)) shined the best individually for voice performances and why?

OKay (Cracks knuckles David Tennant: The climax of "last crash of the sunchaser". To have scrooge be as unlikeable as he gets while still being sympahtetic is amazing. He had other good performances over the show, but this one still takes the case, crescndoing with that "I am"... just the pure bitterness and trying to fool not beakley but himself echoed in that line. It's genius. Danny Pudi: A hard choice given Huey is my faviorite and danny brings it every time with him. But I have to go with one of my faviorite scenes in the show: Huey's legs. Just the way he tries to project an air of maturity in a way that dosen't work before breaking it with "I'm not good at imagination stuff okay?" and his proundcation of "top most shelf"... so fucking beautiful. Ben Schwartz: I was going to go more dramatic.. but I have ot go with from the same scene as above "Why huey why huey why.. huey why why huey whyyyyy" Only ben could make the same phrase about 8 times sound so fucking funny. Bobby Moynihan: One simple sentence "You lied about mom, that's not okay". The sheer hurt packed into 6 words really cuts apart Dewey and Huey's argument and breaks down whyt hei rso hurt and it's the first time we'd seen louie this vunerable. It wouldn't be the lats but ti still cuts the deepest Kate Micucci: 

Comes very close, but I have to give it to Webby confronting Beakley in the finale. Most of the great dramatic acting in this series comes from pure pain and this is no exception. 

Tony Anselmo: A hard one given this is easily the best he’s done in the role.. but despite thinking of a handful of dramatic moments.. I gotta give it to “I was in the will?” Just the sheer SUPRISE in his voice that Scrooge kept him and the great comedic timing there, it’s magic. It sums up WHy tony has kept the role so well: while he gets to do a lot of deeper stuff with donald here, his ablility to time the character’s jokes just as much verbally as the animation does physically is impecable especially having to do one of the hardest voices in animation. 

Paget Brewster: Della’s breakdown in moonvasion. Just that slow realization of just what she’s doing to the boys and the fading in her voice.. it’s pure art as it is pure pain. Also bonus one “OH no he’s gonna hurt everybody! No time to lay blame we gotta move!”

Beck Bennett: The ending of “The Duck Knight Returns’ his encouragment of drake. While Beck gets PLENTY of great comedic moments nad let’s face it, outside of a few moments Launchpad’s entire purpose is “comic relief”, here he gets a bit more depth as he makes it clear just how much he belivies in both drake, and in the concept of darkwing being for real.

Toks: Some of these were hard, this one was pure easy. The climax of Beakley’s plot in “escape from the impossibin” The entire damn thing. From the pain in her voice to the desperation as she’s doing these extreme, terrible things.. because she’s scared of loosing her daughter. It hits even HARDER after the finale, as it now becomes even more painfully clear WHY FOWL coming back hits so badly and why she’s so paranoid and you can tell that in her performance in hindsight. Truly masterful

[autolenaphilia]

My thoughts on the 1989-2010 BBC Radio Drama adaptation of Sherlock Holmes with Clive Merrison

Michael Williams and Clive Merrison

The Sherlock Holmes BBC radio drama series starring Clive Merrison is known to be the first adaptation to adapt every canonical story. It is also in my opinion, the best adaptation.

But let’s start with the basic facts of this radio series. There were technically two series of Holmes adaptations, both starring Clive Merrison as Holmes.

The first was the complete adaptation of all 60 of the canonical stories. They were broadcast from 1989 to 1998. They starred Michael Williams as Doctor Watson. They were made in two formats. The short story adaptations were about 45 minutes long, and were broadcast from 1990 to 1995 in the order the original stories are in the book collections (probably the first adaptation to be that systematic about it, earlier adaptations did them out of order). Each adaptation of the four longer stories are in two parts, each one hour long. The first two novels were first broadcast in 1989, the latter two in 1997 and 1998.

The 45 minute format for the short stories matter because while Holmes has often been adapted to radio before this BBC series, it had seldom or perhaps even never had a regular series of this length. Most adaptations for radio of the stories until that point were just 30 minutes long. That was what Rathbone and Bruce had to work with in their radio series (even less actually due to the commercials), and also that was the episode length of the Gielgud/Richardson series and the Carleton Hobbs/Norman Shelley series. The 45 minute format meant that the stories had time to breathe but also meant that especially the shorter and simpler stories had to be expanded upon.

The adaptations are still largely faithful, the basic plot and characters of the original are still there in the radio dramas, but they all have extra scenes to work out in the 45 minute format.

This extra material is technically filler, but doesn’t feel like it. Instead of just taking up airtime, the writers actually try to add something to the canonical story being told. The radio plays dramatize what is only talked about in passing in the original, try to add emotional depth and motivations to characters, or even outright try to fix faults in the original story.

To name some examples, we get to hear the dramatic backstory actually be dramatized in “The Crooked Man”, Violet Smith gets to confront Carruthers about how he played cards for her in “The Solitary Cyclist”, a socially awkward Holmes tries to invite Watson to spend Christmas with him in “The Blue Carbuncle” and we learn who the mysterious Mrs Turner is in “A Scandal in Bohemia” (one of Conan Doyle’s many continuity errors, where he forgot Mrs Hudson’s name and called her Turner. This gets elegantly solved solved by making Ms Turner someone Mrs Hudson hired to fill in for her when Mrs Hudson was ill.)

The results are overall brilliant, thanks to the quality of writing. The adaptations of canonical material is generally well-done, with the expansion of the stories strengthening the episodes instead of just being filler. The writers varied over the series, even if the most prolific was Bert Coules, who wrote the scripts for all four of the novels and 24 of the short stories. Yet the radio series feels quite tonally coherent and the quality of the writing is overall high.

The adaptations of the great stories in the canon never let down their source material and are overall well-done. Practically all of my own personal favourites, like “The Copper Beeches”, “The Naval Treaty”, “Charles Augustus Milverton”, “The Bruce-Partington Plans” and “The Illustrious Client” (to just pick one from each collection, I have several more favourites of course), get solid adaptations.

The adapters are able to find the merits of even the odder stories in the canon and make good use of them in their adaptations. A good example is “The Engineer’s Thumb” (odd because Holmes and Watson largely don’t do anything and just listen to their clients story), which skilfully turns the suspense of the original story into suspenseful radio.

At its best, the radio dramas actually improve on the original story being adapted. “The Dying Detective” is not a bad story, but the radio drama is actually better. The original is a rather short story and there is a lot of extra story material needed to make it work as a 45 minute radio play. And the script by Robert Forrest uses all this free airtime to expand Culverton Smith’s character into something more complex. Here we get to hear scenes depicting the lead-up to his nephew’s murder, and Smith’s reasons for committing it. Smith is more sympathetic in this version, the nephew is depicted as a foolish rich racist snob, even if the flashbacks come from Smith’s own monologue, making him potentially an unreliable narrator. The expanded adaptation also gives Holmes more to do in his role as a dying and raving man, and Merrison makes the most out of it.

“His Last Bow” is another radio episode that improves on its source material. The original is a thin story, a simple propagandistic spy story notable really only for being Holmes and Watson’s final adventure in-universe.  The script for the radio adaptation makes it feel more epic by depicting the lead-up to the central scene in the original story in detail. It imagines Holmes’s personal reasons for retiring (something left unexplained in the canon) and makes Von Bork into a far more formidable foe worthy of Holmes’s attentions.

Probably the adaptation that most improves on its source material is probably “The Lion’s Mane”. If I would rank all the stories, I’m pretty sure “The Lion’s Mane” would end up towards the bottom, and I think most fans would agree with me about that. Yet the radio drama adapted from it is one of my favourites from the series. The adaptation radically re-imagines the story and is odd even by the series’s own standards.  The events of the original story are already past, with Holmes already having solved the mystery when the radio drama takes place. Instead it takes place when Watson later visits Holmes in his retirement. And during that visit, Holmes tells him about the mystery he experienced and invites Watson to solve it himself for fun. It has an odd structure for the series, where there is no supporting cast or characters, no dramatized flashbacks to the events being talked about, only Merrison’s Holmes and Williams’s Watson. The entire episode is a series of dialogues between the two. And it works wonderfully. The repartee and general chemistry between Holmes and Watson is one of the strengths of this radio series, and this episode is full of that.

Let’s talk about Holmes and Watson in this series.

Merrison has a remarkable resemblance to Sidney Paget’s conception of Holmes

Clive Merrison’s Holmes is outstanding. It is a performance filled with manic energy, eccentricity and theatrical flair. Holmes is energetic when interested, bored with life when he can’t divert himself. Occasionally rude (especially against the upper class) and socially awkward, he also is capable of great kindness, has a drive for justice and a close friendship with Watson. If this description sounds exactly like the Holmes of canon, it is because Merrison’s Holmes is exceptionally true to the text. It is a great voice actor doing his utmost to bring the Holmes of the page to life using his voice. It is an immense achievement and Merrison is my favourite Holmes. Whenever I imagine Holmes’s voice, it is Merrison I hear.

Michael Williams played Watson in all of the canonical adaptations, and he is equally great. Watson is an equal partner in these adaptations, not any kind of comic relief side-kick and Williams plays him accordingly. Williams’s Watson is a strong, intelligent, courageous and warm-hearted man. He is the embodiment of Victorian virtues, the “normal” antipole to Holmes’s eccentricity.

He is tolerant, yet naturally exasperated with Holmes sometimes. Watson often verbally spars with Holmes, with them bickering with each other like an old married couple. Yet there is always a strong sense of the love, friendship and undying loyalty in their relationship. Again, if Williams’s Watson sounds like the canonical Watson it is because he basically is. It is a great performance, and like with Merrison and Holmes, Williams’s warm voice is what I imagine the character of Watson to sound like.

Merrison and Williams are the only constants in the series, but they are far from the only good actors. The acting in this series is of the highest quality all the way through.

Recurring characters are sometimes re-cast but it seldom proves jarring. John Hartley is a good Myrcroft, very soft-spoken but sharply intelligent. Mrs Hudson is sadly under-used, but played very well by Joan Matheson especially (Matheson was the most frequent but not the only Mrs Hudson). Judi Dench (who was married to Michael Williams) also appears in the role as a special guest in “The Hound of the Baskervilles”.

Unlike other adaptations, the radio series has the sense to not over-use Lestrade and they don’t put him in stories where he did not appear, instead having a variety of inspectors like in the canon. Still Donald Gee and Stephen Thorne both do an admirable job of portraying the police inspector.

Of course the Holmes stories are just as much about the people Holmes and Watson meet during their adventures as it is about them. There are many well-known actors which fill those roles like Brian Blessed and Denis Quilley, yet also relatively unknown actors like Imogen Stubbs. The quality of the acting however never wavers and is overall very fine indeed.

The quality of the acting attests to the overall high production quality of this radio series. The direction, largely by Patrick Rayner and Enyd Williams who between them directed and produced most of the series, is excellent.

The sound design and effects are very well-made, and create the kind of convincing atmosphere that great audio drama is so good at. I forget that I’m listening to actors in a studio, and instead get a vivid impression of the environments they are in through the sound design.

The result is perhaps the greatest of the many Sherlock Holmes adaptations. It is the first to adapt every story, but the radio series is not just complete, the quality of the adaptations in writing, acting and production is excellent.

If any adaptation is definitive, this radio series is it. I love and respect the Granada series, but the BBC radio series is more consistent in quality and did actually finish adapting the entire canon. The only reason it isn’t more well-known I suspect is the popular prejudice against audio drama as a medium. Audio drama is seen as outdated and suffers from invisibility compared to tv and film. It is an unfair prejudice and the BBC radio Holmes adaptations is more than proof of that.

After the entire canon was adapted, the popularity of the shows led to the decision to continue the series with original scripts, all written by Bert Coules. This new series was called “The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”.

It consists of 16 episodes, all around 45 minutes long, and aired in four series from 2002 to 2010. The final series was one story in two parts as a grand finale for the whole venture, making 15 stories overall.

Clive Merrison continued to star as Holmes, but the unfortunate death of Michael Williams after he had finished the complete adaptation of the canon led to the role of Watson having to be re-cast.

  Andrew Sachs and Clive Merrison

The new Watson for “The Further Adventures is Andrew Sachs. Most well-know for playing Manuel in Fawlty Towers, he had an extensive career in radio drama and appeared previously on the show playing the King in “A Scandal in Bohemia”.

Hearing Merrison as Holmes with Sachs as Watson is admittedly a bit jarring at first after being so used to Williams’s portrayal. But I soon got used to him and the fine qualities of the performance became evident. This Watson is similar to Williams’s Watson in his intelligence, capabilities and compassion. The most evident change is that Sachs’s Watson is more soft-spoken. This changes the tone of the dialogue between Holmes and Watson, with Watson less often directly expressing anger and indicating his disagreements through subtle uses of wit and sarcasm. Yet the love and loyalty of the relationship between Holmes and Watson is still very much evident. The “old married couple who bicker but love each other” feel of their relationship is perhaps even stronger in their arguments now, with Watson almost literally going “yes, dear” in response to Holmes’s outlandish actions. It is an excellent performance.

The new stories written by Coules are based on references to untold stories in the canon. We get to learn about Colonel Warburton’s madness, the peculiar prosecution of John Vincent Harden, the Abergavenny murder, who “Merridew of abominable memory” was, and in the finale, “the whole story concerning the politician, the lighthouse, and the trained cormorant“.

The scripts are in general very good and present several enjoyable mysteries with strong characterizations. Some of my favourites are “The Singular Inheritance of Gloria Wilson”, “The Abergavenny Murder” and “The Remarkable performance of Frederick Merridew”. There are some lighter episodes, but the tone overall is noticeably dark, with Coules having the goal of exploring subjects that Conan Doyle wouldn’t because of the time he was writing in. We thus get episodes involving child murder and suicide.

The new episodes feel like a natural continuation of the early canon adaptations. The style is of course not a direct pastiche of the canon, but rather of the earlier BBC radio adaptations of the canon.

This form of auto-pastiche succeeds thanks to the production values being of the same high standard as before. Patrick Rayner, one of the main director-producers of the original series of canon adaptations continues his work here as the sole director-producer with similar great results. The sound effects and design are just as immersive in this series.

The acting is once again superb. Merrison continues his great performance as Holmes and Sachs is an excellent replacement for Michael Williams. The supporting cast is made-up of the same high quality actors as before, with famous names like Tom Baker and Toyah Wilcox having guest star roles.

“The Further Adventures” is overall a worthy continuation of the BBC’s adaptations of the Holmes canon. The high standards of the original series in writing, acting and direction are once again fulfilled and anyone who has enjoyed the canon adaptations and wanted more stories with Merrison as Holmes made by the BBC will probably be satisfied with “The Further Adventures”.

In particular, “The Marlbourne Point Mystery” is a worthy finale to the great undertaking that the BBC series starring Merrison has been. And the final scene, with Holmes and Watson reflecting on how Watson’s stories have made the two immortal is extremely moving.

I must also mention the book “221BBC” by Bert Coules, which is published by the Wessex Press and available from their website.  This book is a personal account of the making of the BBC series, with information on every episode Coules was involved in. The book is well-written and the anecdotes and information in it is highly interesting for any fan of this radio series. The book can be a bit pricy if international shipping is factored in, but very much worth it.

Other resources worth mentioning are the semi-official site about the series. There are also some podcast interviews of people involved that are well worth hearing, like The I Hear of Sherlock everywhere podcast interviews with Bert Coules and Clive Merrison. Coules has also appeared on the Baker Street Babes podcast.

The radio series can fairly easily be found online, both legally and otherwise. And if my fan-girly ramblings haven’t made it totally clear, I fully recommend you to listen to it if you have any interest at all in Sherlock Holmes.

[rottenroyalebooks]

The Prank That Ended the War - MGG

Pairing: Matthew Gray Gubler X Fem!Reader

Requested: No, this came to me one night at 1am and I can't stop thinking about it.

Warnings: None

Summary: You and Matthew are co-stars in Criminal Minds and you play Spencer's love interest SSA Ellie Lauren. The two of you have been great friends since you started on the show and have been in an ongoing prank war. His last prank was filling your car with rubber ducks and you decided to end the prank war with one he couldn't possibly top; You were going to trick him into marrying you. The Fic takes place during an interview after the fact.

A/N: If you guys like this and want me to write a version of this while the prank is going on please let me know! I will not complain in the least.

~~~

"Our next guest has recently been in the media for an over-the-top prank she pulled while filming the hit Criminal Drama show Criminal Minds. Here to talk all about it is the beautiful and fascinating Y/N L/N!" Drew's interduction brought me to the stage as the crowd cheered. I waved to the audience as I sat down in the seat across from Drew.

"Hello Drew!" I said with a giggle in my voice as I crossed my ankles.

"Hello Y/N. Thank you so much for being here. Let's cut to the chase here, recently a video of a very anticipated scene being filmed on your show was leaked onto YouTube of your character Ellie Lauren marrying Matthew Gray Gubler's character Dr. Spencer Reid; except it was a take of you guys getting married that ended with you celebrating the fact that you pulled off a prank on Gubler. For those who have not seen or heard about this viral video and rumors, would you like to explain what happened?" Drew was smirking and I nodded.

"I would love to explain. It's a long story so buckle up. When I first started on Criminal Minds I was extremely nervous, like I could barely remember my lines kind of nervous and Matthew noticed, so he decided to make me feel more comfortable by pulling a prank on me." I started to explain, moving my hair out of my face, "The prank was something small, he put my cellphone into jello, so I decided to prank him back with a simple whoopee cushion under his seat whilst filming. That was the beginning of the prank war." I smiled at the memory, remembering the red that flooded his cheeks when the cast and crew couldn't contain their laughter.

"For five years the pranks just kept escalating and our friendship grew stronger. I dyed the tips of his hair blue while he was asleep once. Asleep!" I said and Drew laughed.

"So what was the prank that made you do this?"

"He filled my car with Rubber ducks and I was running out of ideas. After years of back and forth pranking each other you'd be bound to use every prank in the book so I was trying to come up with the prank that would finally end the war while I was reading the script for Ellie and Spencer's wedding scene when it hit me," I paused as I let the audience think about the prank, "What if I tricked Matthew into marrying me in real life?"

The audience cheered and I nodded my head, "I know! At first I thought it was crazy, how could I pull this off? I wanted to see if I could get away with it. So I started planning,"

"How long was the planning process?" Drew interrupted and I sighed in an exasperated way.

"Oh goodness Drew, I only had a week to plan this prank! A week! I basically planned a wedding in a week, well technically the wedding part was planned out by the show I just needed to think of the technicalities; like how am I going to get him to sign the marriage licenses?" I shrugged my shoulders for effect.

"You see, Matthew tends to do this thing where he doesn't fully read documents before signing them. He doesn't really read them at all, but if I was the one who gave him the things he needed to sign in order for the marriage to be real he would become suspicious; so I asked Shemar Moore, who plays Derek Morgan on the show to help me."

"Did you fill him in on the plan?"

"Of course I did, Drew, he told me I was crazy but agreed to do it because he wanted to see the reaction. I was anxious as hell when he disappeared into Matthew's trailer and I paced through mine the whole time. He returned quickly with the biggest smile on his face and I knew that the hardest part of the prank was over. I sobbed," That earned a large laugh from the audience, "No it's true! I was so relieved that I started to full on sob in my trailer. I knew i needed to see this to the end. It had to be done. I did all the boring stuff with the papers and then came another tough spot."

"Who's going to be the one to officiate the wedding?" Drew was very invested in the story.

"Exactly! In the show, Spencer and Ellie begged David Rossi to officiate their wedding so he was going to be the one during the scene. I went to Joe and filled him in on my crazy plot. I then asked him if he would get ordained for this prank; I told him I would pay for anything he needed and I would owe him for life, but he agreed because he wanted to see if I would get caught. Soon I realized I had to fill in some other people on the prank when the time came for filming so I told the director, some of the crew, and the main cast. It was crazy and Matthew was totally completely unaware of this prank." I shook my head, I still can't believe that I managed to pull this off.

"Of course, I was friendly with his mother so I got the OK to invite her to be an extra in the scene so she could witness her son getting married. She told me I was a genius and would make sure she wouldn't get caught by him so I flew her out. It was fantastic." I laughed at myself.

"When the day came I was scared that he was going to be so mad that he would end the friendship, but I thought the plan was genius that I was willing to risk it. Everything was ready since the wedding was planned, there were rings, I had the dress and hair and makeup done, and I was so excited. I had told my parents about what I was doing and my dad actually plays Ellie's father in the show so he would be walking me down the aisle. He wasn't so pleased to learn that I was actually getting married for real."

Drew burst out laughing. "Should we play the video that was leaked?" He asked and i nodded.

"Be my guest." I said turning to the screen.

The scene started at the middle of the scene where we were saying the vows as Spencer and Ellie. It was clear that I was nervous and everyone was slightly panicky. I had just finished saying Ellie's vows and Joe began to speak, purposefully messing up the lines to reveal the prank to Matthew.

"It's with my greatest pleasure to announce the newlywed couple by the state of California; Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Gray Gubler! You may now kiss the bride!"

It didn't seem to register in his head as he pulled me in for the kiss, but then the director called "Cut!" And I almost passed out at the fact that I had somehow managed to actually pull this off. It wasn't until he stopped the kiss when Joe's lack of acting finally clicked into his head.

"Ha, ha. Very funny Joe." He said, but everyone of the main cast; AJ, Shemar, Thomas, Paget, Kristin, Joe, and I all burst out laughing out of shock.

"What!?! Why are you all laughing?" He was laughing too out of awkwardness.

"I actually did it holy shit! Okay, Matthew you're going to hate me, but I just pulled the most epic prank on you." I was still laughing, barely able to get the words out.

He was confused, "What?"

Shemar pulled the copies of the marriage license out of his pocket and handed it to him, "Read it and wheep."

Matthew opened the copies and his mouth dropped open, "Certificate of marriage!?! How did you get me to sign this!?!" He was shocked as it started to click in his head.

I finally had calmed down a bit by now, "You really need to start reading things people give to you to sign." I explained with a snort and he gaped at me.

"Wait, so we're legally married? Joe are you actually ordained?" He asked, shock filled his face as he nodded his head.

"Oh my god." His face turned bright red and he laughed, then he noticed his mother and almost passed out at that.

I turned to the camera, "May this be known as the day Y/N L/N won the prank war and now has full on bragging rights as I am now the legal wife of Matthew Gray Gubler. I can now die happy as my life is complete."

The video ended and the audience cheered loudly. I stood up, bowing down at the applause, "Thank you! Thank you, it really was some of my best work." I joked sitting back down.

Drew was clapping as well, "So what I got out of this was that you wanted the bragging rights?"

I nodded, "Oh but of course, at first it was just 'Hey, what if I tried?' But soon I became so invested in this prank that failure was not an option. I put so much effort into this that I could not fail." I laughed, "Besides, I get to say that I married him. Not many people would be able to say that." I joked and he chuckled.

"So, are you two planning on getting the marriage annulled?" He asked and i chuckled.

"We tried, the next day the two of us went to the courthouse to get a judge to agree, but apparently because of the way I did it we have to wait four months to get it annulled. I didn't think about that part." I admitted.

"Was he angry? About the prank?"

"Shockingly, no. He was very impressed that I managed to pull something this crazy off; hell I was impressed with myself. He even admitted that there wasn't anything he could do to top this prank and thus the prank war had ended. He's a bit annoyed that we have to wait to get it annulled, but not with me." I explained and he nodded.

"I have officially peaked in life, nothing will ever top that moment." I say pointing to the screen.

"You are quite the genius Miss. L/N. Do you have anything to add?" He asked and I hummed, looking at the camera that was on.

"Do not do that with your friends. Don't trick someone into marrying you as a prank, it's a pain in the ass to get undone and it could hurt some feelings. Matthew and I have been friends for years and set rules for the prank war, this prank was purely for shits and giggles. Don't do something that drastic with your friends." The audience clapped at my speech, "Don't prabk someone with a relationship period, it could really hurt someone's feelings and bring insecurities to light."

"I just have one more question for you, what if you and Matthew were to get into a relationship during these four months. Would you annull the marriage still or stay married?"

The blush on my face came as a shock to myself, would I want a relationship with Matthew?

"Honestly, Drew, Matt is such a great guy. He's funny, smart, attractive; I wouldn't be surprised if I fell in love with him. Who knows, all the romantic scenes might get to me," I joke, but the audience cooed, "If that were to happen, I'm not sure what his thoughts would be so I can't speak for him, but I would probably get the marriage annulled because if I were to marry him I wouldn't want the wedding to be a Spencer and Ellie wedding; I would want a Matthew and Y/N wedding which is a completely different experience."

"Oh I bet it would be. Thank you for being here tonight."

I smiled, "Thank you for having me! I love talking about the prank."

"Y/N L/N everyone!"

***

A/N: Part 2?

[everyepisodeofcommunity]

100.

Basic Crisis Room Decorum.

100 episodes is the threshold a show traditionally needs to cross in order to be rerun in syndication. That’s a thing which I know is true, but, being British, I don’t totally understand what that means or why it’s the case. Still - the random number generator has today dropped us on the exact episode where Community hits triple digits, and gives us our first visit to the Actually Pretty Good sixth season.

When Community was first airing, I stopped watching during season 4 and never picked it up again, and only recently saw season six for the first time here in the present (2021ish) and I quite liked it. It rarely has the sheer electricity or frequency of laugh out loud jokes of Seasons 1 and 2 but it also doesn’t have most of the stuff I found occasionally noxious in Seasons 3, 4 and 5. It’s a smaller and less ambitious show, but a fun one. 

And this is one of its smallest and most fun episodes. There’s definitely an alternate timeline version of BCRD (everyone’s calling it that) that takes place entirely in the Study Room in real-time, but even without strictly adhering to the limits, this has the compressed and focussed feel of a bottle episode, for the most part. The downside of that is that it doesn’t feel particularly bold or new - Abed’s position here mirrors his control room work when the gang didn’t really go to space - but we are seeing new characters and their dynamics with the group, this is a strong Frankie ep and I think only the second appearance of Elroy? (I try to work from a fresh watch of the episode alone when writing these, I could check this but I won’t). I am as close to a full on Frankie stan as you can get while hating Ayn Rand and she is perfect throughout this episode - her opening gag of only resting one half of her brain at a time, her bonding with Annie, actually the best part of this episode is the Annie - Frankie - Jeff triangle, as they bounce off their different views of what does and does not matter in the situation, the idea of the truth and our old friend moral relativism (booyah). 

Elroy doesn’t contribute a huge amount here but he’s good when he does - the introduction of Natalie Is Freezing is a weird new part of the Community mythos and it’s a shame that we never reach the chorus of Pillar of Garbage because that is a SPOT on 90s radio-alt-rock parody, full marks to everyone involved in composing and recording the snippet. It also gives Britta one thing to do in an episode that otherwise kind of serves as the nadir of the Homer-Simpsonification of her character - she enters stage left and immediately shits her pants because she’s so drunk, even though she is clearly not shit-your-pants drunk, a level of drunk I understand to exist that is absolutely not being exhibited here and would be very hard to achieve while tending bar well enough to not get fired. IMHO. Other than that, she’s barely in this episode which maybe speaks to the writers figuring out this version of the ensemble - where does Britta fit in if Jeff and Frankie are arguing the philosophy of law and butting heads with the ever idealistic Annie? 

I’m sure they’d have figured it out in season 7. If a dog can almost get a degree, what can’t a talented writing staff achieve? (........ making Chang work, I guess, but, you know, there are no perfect shows) 

NOTES

- I don’t love the business with The Dean and the Japanese teenagers with their comically broken English. Firstly because it feels DICEY, but secondly because it’s one of those things that seems to operate on a separate level of cartoon reality. And I’m not a Plot Hole Hunter TV Sins guy by any means, I don’t care if shit makes sense or not, but I care a lot about Feel and Tone and this just feels like it’s from a wackier show. Yes, wackier than the one about investigating wether a community college almost gave a degree to a dog! 

- On the other hand, it does bless us with Jeff’s reaction to The Dean putting down the olives which is very funny in a strange understated way  - “I’m really confused by this” is a great line reading 

- You know who else has great line readings? Paget Brewster. From her immediate leap into no-nonsense texting to her bonding with Annie over their shared love of competence and I love the “Jeff said I sounded like Abed” to “You know he’s unstable right?” run. It makes sense that Frankie is the person who recognises that it’s fucking weird that they all just hang out with Chang 

- Ugh, fine, quickly - the Chang pornography thing is horrible and not funny and I hate it! 

- There’s a LOT of Craig in this episode and I’m not a huge fan of that (The Dean works best in small tactical bursts, imho) but he is great in the closing infomercial. 

- Big fan of Abed’s 0 degree turn into “The Attack Ad” tone of voice 

- Truly, truly great Facial Expression Acting from Alison Brie, Paget Brewster and Jim Rash in the scene where they discover the nature of the attack ad and Frankie asks the big question. Perfect moment.

[drummergirl231-2]

So, which scene would you say the main cast individually (David (Scrooge), Danny (Huey), Ben (Dewey), Bobby (Louie), Kate (Webby), Beck (Launchpad), Toks (Beakley), Tony (Donald), and Paget (Della)) show off their best performances as their characters? Keep in mind I mean having these nine actors individually, not in the same scene necessarily.

Holy molars, where to start? XD

My first thought is to go straight to the scenes where they’re the most emotional or the most crazy, and that works for some of the characters, but not all. 

For Scrooge, I definitely think some of David Tennant’s best work is in those emotional scenes. He did the entire Spear of Selene monologue from “The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!” in one take. He also did a lot of great work in “The Shadow War! Part 1.” I’m always moved by his reunion scene with Della, as well. 

Then there are some scenes where his comedic acting is just... I can’t stop smiling and giggling during these scenes and it’s all to do with his line delivery. Some examples that come to mind are when he’s going over Glomgold’s plan in “Moonvasion,” when he’s faking embracing the hippie lifestyle of the Mervanans, and then... this.

Going in the order you provided, I’m gonna move on to Huey next. 

My guess is, with this being Huey’s season, some of Danny Pudi’s best work is yet to come, but he’s had a lot of great moments already. His meltdowns are well done, and his singing voice is lovely. 

I think a really great scene for Huey is in “Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!” when he and Violet are on top of the volcano, from when he first starts trying to cross on the rope to when he and Violet are sinking down into the crater. He has a lot of range in that scene (anxiety, mild-moderate insanity, regret, acceptance, more anxiety) and Danny nails all of it.

For Dewey, I think Ben Schwartz really shines in scenes involving Della, whether Dewey’s thinking about her or interacting with her. His sweet little “Merry Christmas, Mom,” in “Last Christmas!” brings the feels every time, and he displayed amazing range all throughout “Raiders of the Doomsday Vault!” One scene that gives a good example of his range though is from “Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!” when he first meets his mom. He went from joyfully declaring he knew he was part robot, to making those soft little hugging-someone-tight noises in his mommy’s arms, to yelling:

Ben really doesn’t hold back. Also, I flipping love every one of his line deliveries in the scene with tall Huey.

Louie’s another character where it’s hard to narrow it down to one scene. Bobby Moynihan is great at the scenes in which Louie is emotional, like when he was cradling his mom’s jacket in “The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck!” and when he met his mom in “Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!” 

I also love Louie’s little businessman/commercial voice he does, and I was crazy impressed with how he was able to hit the notes in the lullaby in “Moonvasion! Part 2.” I’ve heard Bobby complain of having to redo lines to sound more like a kid more than Danny and Ben complain about it, so I can imagine it must’ve been annoying to be told, “Now sound like a kid, and sing in falsetto as that kid.” BUGH. And while Louie doesn’t exactly have Huey’s pipes, I have mad respect for him hitting those high notes.

I think Louie’s best overall episode so far has definitely been “Timephoon!” though. I think that one showed his range the way “Raiders of the Doomsday Vault!” did for Dewey.

I think Webby’s best moments are when she’s disillusioned. She had a great moment after reading Lena’s journal in “The Shadow War! Part 2,” but I really love Kate Micucci’s work in “The Lost Harp of Mervanna!”

Webby sinking into cynicism gave Kate a little more room to explore Webby’s emotional depth, and it made me really excited to see what’s coming in Webby’s arc this season.

I also love all of Webby’s moments when she’s super excited and she makes those cute li’l *squeee* sounds, or when her heart’s “too full.” 

Maybe it’s the nostalgia talking, but I think one of Beck Bennett’s best moments as Launchpad was when LP had his Darkwing Duck monologue. I’m a little bummed that other characters talked over some of it, but getting to hear LP speak so eloquently, and even quote some of the DWD theme song lyrics, was definitely a treat.

But like, also though, “Double-O-Duck in You Only Crash Twice!” 

Hearing Beck keep his Launchpad voice while sounding so much more intelligent (partially because of the words he used, and partially because of his new accent) was unexpected and delightful. It was great to hear him playing the same character but playing him so differently. 

For Mrs. Beakley, I think this is another instance where the best is yet to come, even though we’ve already seen/heard a lot of great moments with her already. Toks Olagundoye is insanely talented (like did you guys see that live reading of “McMystery at McDuck McManor!” where she filled in for Margo Martindale as Ma Beagle???), and she’s able to convey Beakley’s toughness and gentleness with equal ease.

So far I think “The Lost Harp of Mervana!” is probably Toks’ best work, as well.

I’m really excited to hear Toks’ vocal work as Beakley comes to terms with not being able to run from her past. 

As for Tony Anselmo, the guy’s a Disney legend. He’s Donald Duck. He’s been Donald my whole life and longer. Donald doesn’t get a ton of lines in most episodes due to being hard to understand (and Donald, as a character, probably doesn’t like trying to talk much because it’s such a struggle to be understood anyway), but there’s one scene in particular that blows me away every time I see it, and that’s his scene with Dewey in the first half of “Last Christmas!” 

You’d think having to do Donald’s quacky voice would really limit Tony’s range when it comes to conveying emotion, but somehow, it doesn’t. That “Oh...” Donald gives as he leaves the room gets me every time. He still carries so much grief. He missed his sister so much. And knowing Dewey was grieving her that Christmas, too just added to that sense of loss for Donald. Like, how did Tony pack so much emotion into one syllable? Just... GAHHHH my heart!

And then there’s Della... she talks a heck of a lot more than Donald, ya know? XD Paget Brewster is up for an Emmy for her performance as Della, and she couldn’t deserve it more. It’s hard to narrow it down to a few scenes or an episode because Paget handles Della’s funny moments and vulnerable moments so well. If I’m gonna narrow it down to one episode... nope, forget that. I’m doing two episodes. “Timephoon!” and “What Ever Happened to Della Duck?!” 

“Timephoon!” reeeeally captures her range of funny to angsty (please everyone no fighting about this episode on this post, okay? Go make your own), and “What Ever Happened to Della Duck?!” is such a solid debut episode with a solid performance. 

[pagetgram]

Getting To Know The Cast Of Criminal Minds

As Criminal Minds rolls out its 15th and final season, the beloved cast gathers to discuss serial killers (what else?), special guest stars, and their millions of phenomenal fans in this exclusive interview. (x,x)

As Criminal Minds rolls out its 15th and final season, the beloved cast gathers to discuss serial killers (what else?), special guest stars, and their millions of phenomenal fans in this exclusive interview.

By David Hochman

The scene is quintessential Hollywood: a train station at dusk. Steam billowing up from the tracks. Loved ones bracing for their emotional farewells. What could be more fitting for the cast of Criminal Minds?

Chugging into its 15th and final season after more than 300 episodes, the police procedural is among the 10 longest-running dramas of all time, and in the top 20 for longest-running scripted television shows. "This is Gunsmoke and Guinness Book territory," says Matthew Gray Gubler, who has played quirky FBI brainiac Dr. Spencer Reid since episode 1.

To honor the landmark occasion, all eight series regulars are gathered at a railway museum in L.A.'s Griffith Park for photos, poignant reflections, and a few behind-the-scenes confessions (mostly involving a tradition called "hot tub wine machine"—stay tuned).

On TV, the tenacious profilers of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit—or simply "BAU" to fans—are a hard-bitten bunch, tracking down serial killers and other vicious "unsubs." But in person, clearly good friends across the board and decked out today in their spiffiest finery, the cast can scarcely hold back tears as they get candid about their extended journey together and what it means to come to the end—sniff, sniff—of Criminal Minds.

Originally published in Watch! Magazine, July-August 2019.

Judging from the misty eyes and group hugs, it looks like the series wrap-up is generating "all the feels," as they say. Are you able to get through scenes this season without a tissue break?

Joe Mantegna (Senior Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi, Seasons 3-present): This is my 50th year in show business, and next to voicing on The Simpsons, Rossi is my longest-running role. I came in with dark hair and now it's gray. I arrived without much of a game plan, and the show and character are now a deep part of who I am. This cast is a true family for me. So every episode this year has an added bittersweet layer. When the director announces, "This is the last profile scene" or "This is our last scene on the jet," you look around with a real sense of passing. It's monumental.

Kirsten Vangsness (BAU Technical Analyst and Media Liaison Penelope Garcia, Seasons 1-present): The term that keeps coming up is "ambiguous loss"—that feeling of losing something you love, and that everything's about to change. In this case it's not a person, thank goodness. But still, in the middle of a scene, it hits you. But you can't cry; you have all this makeup on. Plus, what are you crying for? It's been such an incredible experience. I will have done every single episode except episode 5, every episode of the first spinoff, and two episodes of the second spinoff. I love these people. No, sir. I'm not crying. You're crying. [Editor's note: She's crying.]

Paget Brewster (Supervisory Special Agent and BAU Unit Chief Emily Prentiss, Seasons 2-7, 9, 11-present): Um, I'm in complete denial, so I'll break down into tears the week after we end, but not before. I'm pretending this show's never, ever going to end.

Without spoiling anything, what can you say about Season 15?

A.J. Cook (Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer "JJ" Jareau, Seasons 1-present): Well, I can tell you that we will find out what happens now that JJ has expressed her true feelings for Dr. Reid.

Matthew Gray Gubler (Supervisory Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid, Seasons 1-present): Don't you mean "Jeid?" That's what the internet is calling us. Hey, I'm not spoiling anything. I mean, don't rule out, uh, "Jemily" or "Jarcia" this season, either!

Adam Rodriguez (Supervisory Special Agent Luke Alvez, Seasons 12-present): And we do have guest stars. We love guest stars! [Editor's note: Among others, watch for Jane Lynch to return as Reid's schizophrenic mother, and for Rachael Leigh Cook as a potential new love interest for Reid.]

Daniel Henney (Supervisory Special Agent Matt Simmons, Seasons 10, 12-present): Overall, I'd say 15 has more of an arc through the episodes than previous seasons. Our unsub, Chameleon, is played by Michael Mosley, and he's definitely into some gruesome, creepy stuff.

Brewster: Like, we have a scene where a bunch of body parts are hanging from a tree. Our prop guy, who's a professional fisherman in real life, was on top of a 15-foot ladder with a foot and an ear hanging off his fishing pole.

Aisha Tyler (Special Agent Dr. Tara Lewis and forensic psychologist, Seasons 11-present): And people wonder why my house in L.A. is like a fortress and I'm armed! I'd say it's a direct result of Criminal Minds. This show is definitely dark. I'm not going around profiling sociopaths and serial killers, but, yeah, being on Criminal Minds, you become more perceptive about people's bad behavior.

Anybody else find it hard letting go in real life after chasing serial killers at work all day?

Cook: I'm blessed with a good shut-off switch. Once the day's done, I can block everything out. But as soon as I became a mom, something shifted where the naive girl from Canada got the boot and mama bear arrived. We saw that happen with JJ on the show, too. When she became a mom, it was suddenly like, "Whoa, watch out for that guy in the park!"

Henney: I'll tell you a story. About two months ago, I'm at home sleeping and a burglar alarm goes off, and I literally switched into Simmons mode. All the training I'd done with the FBI guys and our tech advisers instantly came into play. I threw on black sweatpants. I was creeping around the perimeter of my house, FBI-style. I clocked all my points of ingress and egress. When you do so many episodes, basic instincts kick in.

Did you identify the unsub?

Henney: Nobody was there! It was a stupid, faulty window sensor.

Brewster: The show definitely sharpens your reactions to your surroundings. When you start the show, you have access to the FBI training manual, which, frankly, no civilian should ever see because the photographs are so grisly. You end up going through a period of hypervigilance where you can't go into a sandwich shop or airport without thinking, Uh-oh! I think that couple's going to end up in a domestic dispute tonight.

Group question: What's your standout memory from these many seasons?

Rodriguez: I jumped onto this flying carpet 12 seasons in, and my first scene was out in the middle of the desert, and we shot all night long. There was an old car that was supposed to be in the scene, but it broke down and they ended up rolling it into the shot, which was funny. But more than that, I remember how welcoming people were. I was the new guy, but I felt immediately at home.

Brewster: We watched your family grow, too, Adam. You had a kid. A.J. had two kids. I met my husband on set. We've been lucky enough to live our lives and develop together as people.

Cook: For me, having both my boys appear in the show was an absolute treasure. Mekhai, who's 10, has been doing it way longer than Phoenix, who's 4, and he loves it, though I can't tell if it's the acting or that everybody's giving him cookies and ice cream all the time.

Henney: I was really proud to play Simmons because, as an Asian American actor, you don't often get the chance to play the quintessential American guy's guy. He's married to a Caucasian woman and has mixed-race children—which is true with me, too [Henney is also of mixed descent]—and I loved representing that on television. To have a kissing scene with Kelly, my wife on the show—you weren't seeing that 10 years ago.

Tyler: Directing a couple episodes was an incredible opportunity. But for me, just the experience of seeing this through to the end is so rewarding. I was only supposed to do six episodes. Everything's been gravy since then.

Mantegna: Hands down, my highlight was being able to work in my passion for law enforcement and the military by making my FBI character a former Marine. That allowed me to bring in Meshach Taylor, one of my dearest, oldest friends, as my commanding officer in Vietnam, and directing two of the three episodes that involved him as a character.

That included the episode where his character died, because Meshach had died. To actually bury him on camera as my dear friend—I'm the godfather of his kids, and he's the godfather of mine—it was everything. If I do nothing else on television, doing that for Meshach to me means the top of the ladder.

TV shows come and go. How do you explain the enduring success of Criminal Minds?

Tyler: Well, I'd say it's not about prurient interest in the macabre. I think the reason people like the show is because we want to know that there's a smart, dedicated team of professionals out there working very hard to make sure that the rest of us stay safe. Even if we don't know who they are and we can't see them, it's comforting that people are sacrificing their personal lives and their relationships so that they can put evil people away.

Rodriguez: I meet young people all the time, teenagers, who love the show and say they love the game of it all—figuring out how these processes work and the skills that go into solving crimes. I think we've probably inspired a generation of people to go into this important work—on the good-guy side, not on the bad.

Cook: So many people have struggled in their lives, and they can relate to what they see on the show. Hardworking moms, people that have been abused, people who've experienced loss.

Vangsness: I think it comes down to a show with some of the greatest characters on television. Garcia is just a bundle of positive energy, and that resonated. Her desk is a living piece of art to how she's connected with the audience. I've got a papier-mâché heart pen a fan from France gave me. There's a little rabbit from a fan in Japan. A German woman knitted a Penelope doll that's sitting there. Oh, and Richard Simmons gave me a necklace one time because he loved the show!

Criminal Minds fans are a devoted bunch.

Henney: I once checked into a ski lodge in Switzerland and my television wasn't working, so I went to the front desk. The two desk guys started staring at me like zombies and pointed to their TV, where Criminal Minds was on, with me on the screen.

Brewster: It takes you by surprise in the weirdest places. You'll be in a bathroom at a movie theater and girls are outside whispering, That's Emily Prentiss, and they wait for you to finish so you can wash your hands and hug them.

What are you going to miss most about the show?

Cook: Um, everything. The scenes in the jet are my favorites because it's such a tight space that we forget we're on a TV show and just enjoy hanging out together. This show, for me, was a coming of age. You can look online and find me in the beginning of season 1 wearing this ridiculous pink pinstriped blazer that will haunt me forever. I look like I'm 12. But I've grown up along with JJ. [Tearing up.] I'll miss it all so much.

Gubler: Likewise, I really look up to Spencer Reid, and I feel so honored to have played him for so long. I will miss his long, you know, three-page monologues of technical jargon about protons or whatever. I'll miss the way he holds his hands like an ostrich foot when he's solving a problem. He's definitely way smarter than I'll ever be, but I like to think that some Dr. Reid qualities have imbued themselves into my own personality a little bit. If nothing else, I've adopted his ever-changing hairstyles.

Tyler: I'll miss being an FBI badass. I'd love to take the FBI jacket, but it's absolutely illegal to walk around wearing it.

Vangsness: I can tell you what I won't miss. Garcia's glasses—because I have them all already. I've bought every pair she's ever worn, so I have a collection of around 65 at home. They remind me to be confident like her, to see life through her eyes. Garcia is my Sasha Fierce.

Brewster: I will miss the hot tub wine machine.

Hot tub wine machine?

Vangsness: You heard that right, mister. It's an epic hot tub party at my house that the women on the show have turned into a standing gig—or more like a floating gig.

Brewster: It's basically a therapy and gossip and splashing-around session fueled by chardonnay and rosé.

Tyler: And it's ladies only because it gets kinda frisky.

Rodriguez: This is a sore subject for me even as a very securely and happily married man.

Mantegna: They do send us pictures on group text, which is thoughtful of them.

Vangsness: I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to tell you that this fine tradition makes it into our last episode. I co-wrote the finale, and we tried to cram in as many little Easter eggs and satisfying plot tie-ups as we could, both for fans and for each other. So within the episode, you'll see the BAU version of hot tub time machine. We worked really hard solving these super-intense crimes over what will be 325 episodes. After all these years, don't you think we deserve a little spa time?

[constantlyirksome]

An Optimistic Season of ‘’Bojack’’ isn’t All That it Seems. (Bojack Horseman season 6A review.)

When watching the first episode of Bojack Horseman season sic (part 1) entitled “A Horse Walks Into a Rehab,” my best friend turned to me and said, “You know if all the characters in this show were human it would be unbearable.” We all know this, it’s one of TV’s most somber shows. But this new season, split in half so there’s still half a season left, does so much to help its characters heal in realistic, cathartic ways. It’s still heavy, it’s still irreverent and whacky, but there’s definitely a feeling the show is barrelling towards its end. Or more like doomsday prepping towards its end, as the first half of the season seems to do more prep work for the end than actually pushing new stories forward.

We opened on a flashback to Bojack explaining to cops what may have happened to Sarah Lynn, while avoiding his role in her tragic demise, lying about where she got the drugs. This is some foreshadowing, as a thin storyline involving her mother bubbles up, believing there was foul play, before two fast-talking newspaper reporters in the last episode promise to get to the bottom of things. Paget Brewster as Paige Sinclair, a newsie fast talker in an old frill wedding dress is one of the new characters that has me very excited, and although she’s only in one episode it’s got me pumped to see more of her.

Anyway while that story simmers, Bojack is in rehab. At first resistant to any kind of change, dragging everyone in the place down with him including a young mother who he helps break out, he makes the first real steps towards healing himself. He starts absorbing the lessons taught to him by the lovely Dr Champ, a horse rehab doctor voiced by Veep's Sam Richardson. Champ is one of my favourite Bojack characters ever but predictably gets his life ruined by just knowing Bojack. The difference is that, after months in rehab, Bojack has learned some responsibility and knowledge and does everything in his power to help Champ. There’s this idea that champ is the only positive horse role model Bojack has ever had, the shows first dip into the connections between species race and racism, which is a very intriguing concept.

You see glimpses of his history with alcohol as well, from his father giving him bourbon to make him forget something he doesn’t want his son knowing, to needing some Dutch courage on the set of Horsin’ Around, to him getting a hairdresser on the show fired after Sarah Lynn finds one of his bottles of vodka. It’s interesting and moves past the regular trope of just a douche with a drinking problem into a very damaged man who’s taken one too many hits.

Champ isn’t the only person Bojack helps this season, and it’s through these small acts of kindness, like indulging Mr Peanutbutter in a little crossover fantasy on the old set of Mr. Peanutbutters house, that we see how much Bojack has grown. It’s one of the show's biggest tragedies that after all of this change things will turn for him again, but more on that in a bit.

The other major players in the show get some lovely plotlines as well. Princess Caroline, a new mother to a lively baby porcupine that she names Ruthie, learns slowly but surely how to juggle responsibility and delegate. It’s a rough start though; in the second episode “The New Client” she worries she’s a bad mother, as the show represents her frazzled new life and mindset by showing a hundred different Carolyn’s trying to do so many things at once. She slowly get’s the hang of it, you see her blossom into motherhood, although the exact parameters and titles of the other things she’s working on are murky and unclear, she’s just a very busy lady. There’s a very cute moment where she bonds with Ruthie over the lunacy of one of her amazing tongue twisters, you know the ones Amy Sedaris hates reading. (Side note, the season’s best one? “Your dumb drone downed a tower and drowned downtown Julie browns dummy drumming dum dum dum dum, dousing her newly found goose down, hand me down gown?”) She then rehires my absolute favorite character of all time Judah!! Oh how I’ve missed his monotone, no-nonsense professionalism.

Dianne finds a kindred spirit in her Girl Croosh cameraman Guy the bison (voiced by Lakeith Stanfield) that is more emotionally compatible than MR Peanutbutter. He’s smart, socially conscious, a good dad, his only problem is he lives in Chicago, and Dianne lives in Hollywoo. She, like Bojack, has a bit of a wakeup call, as Guy helps her release it’s okay to be a bit of a mess, so long as you take steps to look after yourself. In a touching final shot, after having a conversation about taking antidepressants, that she says make her gain weight and feel less driven, we see a slightly bulkier Dianne, hair grown out, waiting for Guy so they can live together in Chicago.

One of my favorite episodes of the season, episode four “Surprise!” focuses on Mr. Peanutbutter and Pickles's new lives together. Their friends decide to throw them a surprise party for their engagement. But when the couple arrives at their house they are fighting up a storm about Mr. Peanutbutters infidelity with Diane last season. I cared so much more about Pickles feelings at this point because MPB has shown a general disregard for the feelings in his life, and has the impulse control of, well, a golden retriever. But the beauty of the episode came from the surprise party guests still being in the house, scurrying under furniture and hiding behind picture frames in order to not be seen (which actually works!) as they try and catch baby Ruthie. It was an episode where the tension was perfectly balanced with the typical Bojack witticism and visual gaggery.

The seasons midseason finale “A Quick One While He’s Away,” is the season’s crown jewel, as after a season of moving forward, we take a look back into the lives of some of Bojack's victims in his path of self-destruction. While Bojack is healing, Hollyhock, Gina, and Kelsie are still scrambling to repair the damage that he’s done. Kelsie’s career is in a spin after Bojack getting her fired and pulling out of her project. Gina has become a diva, a drama queen of the highest order whose unreasonable behavior is just a cover for the deep trauma she experienced on the set of Philbert last season. Hollyhock has trouble being a normal college student with PTSD. It’s a solid reminder that while characters are getting closure, the show's dark history is going to come back in a big way in the final eight episodes.

As Hollyhock is told about Bojack’s time in New Mexico from one of the kids who was there at the time, and the reporters quickly move in on the Sarah Lynn story, I’m predicting a final season fully fitting of the devastating horse cartoon we all know and love. Will Bojack get his happy ending? More importantly, does he deserve it?

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

Your New Favorite Kind of Day

Characters: Matthew Gray Gubler x Reader, minor characters

Word Count: 1,763

Warnings: pure fluff, implied smut

Summary: On your days off from work you dedicate them to your pool, making it pool day. When Matthew comes over, pool day turns into something new.

Author’s Note: This is the July 1st fic “Pool Day” for the 30 Day Writing Challenge and if you have any requests, please send them in! this is unbeta’d and every mistake is all on me.

Feedback the glue that holds my writing together

Tags at the bottom

Glad to finally have a day off work, you wanted to spend most of it in the sun. It was a good thing you lived so close to set just in case they needed you, you could be right over. However, Thomas had informed you that the directors were experiencing some technical issue that was going to take all day to fix, therefore, giving you and the rest of the cast a day off. Every time you had a day off, you were most likely swimming in your gigantic pool. When you bought the house, you had the architect make room for a big enough pool to have a party in. The water was heated, there was a jacuzzi attached to it, and it went deep enough to have a diving board which you loved. Whenever your nieces and nephews came over, that was a popular thing to play with.

Since it was just you, you decided to just relax in the pool and maybe get in a few laps. The bathing suit you wore was brand new, and it happened to look very sexy on you. Granted it was a one piece, but you kind of rocked it. The whole thing was flower print, but it was the delicate kind and not the kind that felt too overwhelming. It was backless, and there was a love design in the front around the chest area that tied the whole thing together. The other reason why you loved pool day so much was because you got to show off your tattoos that the directors made you hide when you were filming.

The biggest one you had is on your left outer thigh. It was of a huge dream catcher with three red roses at the top of it with feathers and beads. The words “dream as if you’ll live forever” were etched on the side of it, and you couldn’t have been more happy of it. There was a total of six tattoos to litter your body, but that was the biggest and most beautiful one. When the artist was finished, you could not believe your eyes. It hurt like a bitch, but it was all worth it in the end.

Grabbing your sunscreen, you lathered it all over your skin before heading out. Dismissing the diving board, you ran and dove into the deep end, enjoying the feel of the water caressing your skin. Ever since you learned how to swim, you have always enjoyed the water. When you went on vacations with your family near water, you were always the one to beg to go into the water whether that be the beach, a pool, a lake, or a river. Any kind of water activity had you on your toes, and you’ve tried to get your castmates to come with you. The only one who was likely to do these things with you was Matthew.

He was such a free-spirited person that would try almost anything. He was weird, smart, goofy, and had a heart of gold. He was such good company to have, and there was never a dull moment with him. He brought smiles and laughter on set when things were serious, he loved to joke around and pull harmless pranks, and everyone seemed to love him.

Especially you.

When you first got hired on the show, your character was meant to be Spencer’s cousin who was just as smart as he was with a bit more personality. However, when the directors saw how much chemistry you two had, it was clear they didn’t want to go in the direction they originally wanted to go in. Instead, they made you Spencer’s love interest, and you’ve been that since the beginning. The more you had gotten to know him, the more you fell in love with him. The directors and other cast members could see just how well the two of you worked, and that meant they could tell how big your crush was on the guy.

Shemar made the point about you asking Matthew out first, but you had always been a traditionalist kind of girl. When the guy asked the girl out first, you thought that was romantic, and you told him you were going to wait until he either asked you out first or got a different girlfriend. Shemar left it alone, but he wished you would see things differently. Matthew was by no means shy, but he was when it came to liking someone. He was just a weird adult that was into childish things, so he was scared of asking a woman out in fear they would make fun of the things he was into. It’s why you two were such great friends. You always encouraged him to talk about the things he loved, and you often participated in those activities.

When he came to you and told you he wanted to write a children’s book, you were nothing but supportive, and now he has sold a million copies of Rumble Buttercup. Every day you tell him how proud you are of him, and that he was the bestest friend a woman could ask for. He loved so close to you, you often had sleepovers that ended in at least one of you without any clothes on. There was no say in how a night would end with Matthew which is why you loved being around him. However, right now, you enjoyed the peace and quiet by yourself.

After taking a few laps, you got out of the pool and walked over to your phone to see if you had any messages. While your back was turned to the door, you heard a low whistle and the voice of your favorite person.

“Damn Y/N, you should wear that on set,” Matthew jokes. Turning around, you smiled at the welcomed but unexpected visit. He was the only one out of everyone on set to have a key to your house.

“Ha-ha, very funny,” you grinned. “What are you doing here?”

“Thomas texted. We’re all wanted on set. They finally got everything fixed and needed to film what they couldn’t yesterday.”

“No, I was enjoying time by myself. It’s pool day,” you groaned as you pointed to the pool that begged you to jump in.

“I know,” he chuckled.

“Do they need us right away?”

“We have a few scenes, but it’s mostly Thomas, Shemar, and Paget.”

“Then we can afford to be late,” you grinned as you ran towards the pool and jumped in. Matthew couldn’t help but smile at this, and he set down his phone and bag by your things before walking over to the edge of the pool.

“We really do need to go in. I’ll buy you ice cream,” he proposed, trying to get you out of the water. Looking at him, the light bulb in your head went off when you got an idea. He was so close to the edge, and he was more inclined to stay with you if he was wet.

“Strawberry flavor? With chunks of strawberry in it?”

“Is there any other kind?” he laughed.

“Fine, help me out?” you asked. He held out his hand as he leaned down. Swimming to the edge, you slipped your hand into his, and he used his God-given strength to pull you out of the water. However, you caught him off guard when you yanked on his arm, sending him toppling into the pool. Grinning, you waited until he came up for air.

“Now that was the most childish thing you could have ever done,” he said as he spit out water and moved his hair away from his eyes.

“Come on, you’re already in the pool. Stay a bit.”

“Only because you dragged me in here,” he chuckled. Maybe Shemar was right, maybe you did need to initiate things if you wanted anything to happen between you and Matthew. Taking a gulp of air, you swam closer to him so that you were a few inches apart.

“Please? Stay with me,” you whispered as you caught his gaze. He stared into your questioning eyed with an emotion of his own—and it wasn’t questioning.

“Y/N…” he breathed, itching to put his hands on your body.

“Come on, Matthew. Just for a little bit. I’ll make it worth your while,” you grinned as you swam even closer to him.

“What would I want?”

“This,” you whispered just as your legs wrapped around his torso. He immediately placed his hands on your hips as yours went around his neck. Your lips planted themselves over his, and passion erupted immediately. The grip on your hips tightened as you moved your lips against his soft ones. Your tongue poked out to swipe at his bottom lip, but before you could invade his mouth, he snaked his tongue into yours. Grinning into the kiss, you pulled him closer if that were possible.

He turned you to face the edge of the pool, and he backed you into it until you couldn’t go any further. Moaning softly in the kiss, you let him detach his lips from yours before he kissed down your neck.

“Matthew,” you whispered as your fingers threaded through his soft hair. He latched onto the piece of skin his character knew so well, but this wasn’t acting. This was something different because it was just the two of you, and these were real feelings instead of the feelings coming from your characters. He sucked at your pulse point, no doubt leaving a mark. This made you come to the realization that you would proudly wear his marks if it meant he would replace them.

“Fuck,” you groaned before pulling him up back to your lips. He would have continued, but your phone rang which broke the silence.

“That’s probably work,” he whispered.

“Probably.”

“We can finish this afterward, yeah?”

“Hell yes,” you grinned before kissing him once more. Breaking the kiss and the connection your bodies had, you led him out of the pool through your steps before making your way over to the phones.

“It looks like they didn’t need us after all,” you grinned when you read the message from Paget saying the problems are continuing so they won’t be filming anything right now.

“How about we finish what you started?” he grinned as he backed you into the wall.

“You know where my bedroom is,” you said before jumping into his arms and resuming the kiss. Pool days were your favorite days for a whole new reason.

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@adlerorzel-blog @kendall-michele @megsyrae @bitchwhytho @lucipie666

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 120: Storm in the Room

“Sometimes I wonder if it’s even you up there.”

There are certain episodes of Steven Universe that act as culminations to multiple stories from the past. Pseudo-finales like The Return and Earthlings rely on tons of backstory to show how far we’ve come in the series, and big showstoppers like Mr. Greg that do likewise for specific characters rather than the show as a whole. But as our saga continues, we’re blessed with stories that have the same vast reference pool as these payoff episodes without the finality; at this stage, so much has happened that “regular episodes” can also be riddled with nods to how small elements of Steven’s overall journey have shaped his universe. Storm in the Room isn’t about solving problems, but acknowledging them, and because the problem at hand involves the past catching up with the present, I love how much this episode looks back.

We start right as The New Crystal Gems ends, making this the seventh episode in a row documenting a very long day in Steven’s life (granted, one of them is him listening to what his friends were up to on Earth, but he’s still stuck in the Zoo uniform). Connie, glad to relinquish her guardian duties, gets nervous when Dr. Maheswaran doesn’t answer her phone, and Steven tries to relieve the tension in a way that seems insensitive at face value. His insistence on playing games when she’s clearly upset is awkward as hell, but he eventually acknowledges Connie’s feelings in a way that shows that in his own flawed way he was trying to help. The problem is that his version of help involves ignoring problems instead of facing them, and if this seems familiar, Connie completes the reference by practicing a calming breath from Mindful Education: she learned that episode’s lesson, but just like his mother, Steven’s instinct is to push his issues away.

Connie’s reunion with the good doctor evokes the ending of Nightmare Hospital, with Steven gazing from a distance at a mother and child embracing after a scare. But this time we don’t get the bittersweet imagery of his big smile slowly fading as he hugs Rose’s sword; he’s just alone, a background character to something he’s never experienced, all bitter and no sweet.

The tonal shift when Connie departs is stark and sudden. So far the episode has been full of Steven’s chattering, Aivi and Surasshu’s subtle score, and the ambient sounds of crashing waves as Steven says goodbye, but as soon as he shuts the door we’re met with crushing silence. It’s not hard to guess that his cheer has been forced, but it’s still brutal to see the act drop all at once before an extended and largely wordless routine of taking care of himself because nobody’s around to take care of him. We might not know it until A Single Pale Rose, but just like his approach to problem solving, his double life as an outwardly chipper hero that’s secretly suffering is another way he’s his mother’s son.

From the start of this quiet period, we see his discomfort with the portrait of Rose that’s graced his room for the entire series. The last time it’s been this prominent was Rose’s Scabbard, another eye-opening episode about her past, but now it haunts Steven as he makes his way through an empty home, magnified to show how small he’s made to feel by the cosmic scale of his burdens.

Steven briefly heads outside to avoid the picture staring at him through closed eyes, and we get a moment of pleasant rain that earns some murmured approval, but it morphs from the baptismal drizzle of The Answer and When It Rains to the harrowing downpour of Alone At Sea. Only when he’s back inside, with his dinner ruined and nowhere else to turn, does he truly speak. And for the first time in ages, since the era of An Indirect Kiss and Lion 3, he speaks to Rose.

It might be enhanced by the silence preceding it, but Zach Callison’s performance here is tremendous, even for him. Steven doesn’t even have the energy to be angry, he’s just cold and weary as he finally starts verbalizing his negative thoughts. They’re enough to make his mother’s door glow, and he knows as well as we do by now that Rose’s Room is a place of horror as well as wonder, but he steps inside anyway.

It’s so important that Steven admits right off the bat that none of what he's about to see is real, not just because it’s been a while since young viewers saw this place, but to preface the emotional illusion with his mental awareness of its fakery. He isn’t being fooled like he has in the past, but he’s so desperate for this connection that he’s willing to take questionable means to get it. When he asks to see his mom (rather than asking to see Rose Quartz), the clouds form into another image of her with her eyes closed, but unlike the portrait, she can open them right up.

Steven is already nervous when he enters the room, and gets even more flustered at the voice of his mother coming out of the simulacrum. But the illusion is so real that he composes himself, and despite his earlier nod to reality, he’s clearly drawn in no matter how much his head might tell him not to be.

There are tells, of course. Fake Rose Quartz Rose Ersatz is all about what Steven wants to do, lets him win at his video game with a patronizing “Hooray,” and gives a dramatic speech about the value of sports because the only reference point Steven has to her voice is the similar tone of her message from Lion 3. But beyond the appearance factor, there are tricky ways Faux Quartz seems more real than Connterfeit from Open Book: she’s inquisitive about the video game, she’s willing to pull pranks on her kid, and she provides a compelling rebuttal to Steven’s anger that suggests that maybe, just maybe, her room has a good enough grasp of the genuine article that this is more than a simple fake. After all, back in Rose’s Room, the most detailed deception was Greg, the person Steven encounters that Rose knew best.

But before we get into that conclusion and rebuttal, let’s look at the prank. There’s a certain mythological power to yanking a football away from a kicker: Charlie Brown isn’t that different from the likes of Tantalus or Sisyphus in this metaphor for futility, and while it’s obviously a funnier gag than trying to push a bolder up a hill, the inherent sadness of classic Peanuts is inextricable from the laughs. The glimmer of hope has to be built up every time, only to be dashed when Lucy betrays Charlie Brown’s trust, and it’s not hard to see the parallel with Steven trying again and again to understand the truth.

(While I loved my Peanuts growing up, my favorite iteration of the football gag is this spoken word reenactment starring Paget Brewster as Lucy, John Moe as Charlie Brown, and two of my comedy heroes, Paul F. Tompkins and “Weird Al” Yankovic, enjoying the show between them. It’s brilliant both as a tribute and a deconstruction of Charles Schulz.)

Given the setting, it’s inevitable that the situation turns dark. But despite the turmoil Steven endures, there’s a sense of catharsis as he unloads all his angst after spending so long bottling it up. As with Joy Ride and Steven vs. Amethyst, our hero reveals new insights into what’s going on in his head in a way that can’t be done right without saying it outright. His anger is sold by its specificity, and Callison again proves his chops in a damning monologue about all the ways Rose failed the expectations that have been built for him.

Out of the gate he connects her lie about bubbling Bismuth with the hypocrisy of her shattering Pink Diamond while punishing her friend for suggesting it. It’s a problem that was at the forefront of my concerns when the news of the shattering was first told, and while I felt vindicated in the show talking about it at last, it sucks that this didn’t lead to freeing Bismuth to continue the conversation. He’s just getting revved up, but I’m not sure I’ll ever get past how Bismuth was left high and dry for so long when I assess the show as a whole.

The real meat of the rant involves Steven isolating Rose’s biggest flaw. It’s visible from the second episode of the series, which revolves around Steven looking for a cannon that Rose could’ve told her friends about before passing: she has trouble telling the truth. Sometimes it’s negligence, as with the cannon, but often it’s deception. It was so ingrained that Pearl interpreted it as a sign of great leadership in Rose’s Scabbard, and Garnet’s obfuscating attitude before her character development kicks in could be read as an influence of the old boss’s style. So it’s about time that Steven out and calls her a liar.

I love that after so long worshiping Rose, Steven does a full swing in the opposite direction when forced to confront her imperfections. He’s not interested in seeing anything from her point of view, but assumes the worst possible intentions: we go from her causing harm (which is certain) to her intending to cause harm (which is probably not the case) to Steven worrying that he only exists as the ultimate escape option (which is definitely not the case). Even though Rose Quack counters this last point with calm grace, and Steven seems to accept that the tape was telling the truth, it’s hard to trust a character defined by mistruths. We’ll see in Lion 4 that even though he lets her off the hook at the end of the conversation, his doubts persist.

Regardless of the details, Steven’s fate is set. Whether or not she meant for it to happen, he did inherit Rose’s messes, and because his martyr complex has taken root, he’s all set to sacrifice himself at the end of the season. He took the big step in addressing how awful his situation is, which is better than letting it fester the way it’s been doing for sixteen episodes, but the step is perhaps too big. There’s a balance he has to reach for him to truly be happy, but it’ll be a while yet before he finds it, because he’s a fourteen-year-old kid.

After such a heavy episode, it makes sense that we end with some hope. Steven sorta oversells a sense of surprise that all four members of his immediate family have returned, but he’s been through a lot so I’ll cut him a break. We get pizza with the wrong topping, but as Greg predicted in Keystone Motel, Steven has learned to accept all pizza.

Perhaps the most important aspect of Storm in the Room is that it actually sticks. Mindful Education seems to be the start of a new outlook, and Steven does start looking for more answers after futzing around for a bit, but a more apparent shift takes place here that it’s gonna take a while to pull out of. He’s not trying to find the truth anymore, because the sheer scale of untruths surrounding Rose makes real answers seem impossible; plus, the last time he tried his dad was almost stolen forever. So for now, he’ll have to settle with sulking. Thank goodness the show makes it interesting to watch.

Future Vision!

Steven’s discomfort with Rose’s portrait never really goes away; after a couple of years, he decides to store it in Lion’s mane at the end of Rose Buds.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

A heavy episode, gorgeously paced and directed, but honestly it’s such a bummer that I don’t watch it that often, and the conclusion with Steven’s living family feels just a bit too cute for this to crack the top of my list.

Top Twenty

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

Last One Out of Beach City

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Mindful Education

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Earthlings

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Bismuth

Steven’s Dream

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Chille Tid

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Catch and Release

When It Rains

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Crack the Whip

Beta

Back to the Moon

Kindergarten Kid

Buddy’s Book

Gem Harvest

Three Gems and a Baby

That Will Be All

The New Crystal Gems

Storm in the Room

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Gem Hunt

Steven vs. Amethyst

Bubbled

Adventures in Light Distortion

Gem Heist

The Zoo

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

Know Your Fusion

Future Boy Zoltron

No Thanks!

     6. Horror Club      5. Fusion Cuisine      4. House Guest      3. Onion Gang      2. Sadie’s Song      1. Island Adventure

[stargleeksil-blog]

Criminal Minds s04e17 Demonology review - or more aptly named, the episode where Paget Brewster acted for her life and I love this show so fucking much right now.

Episode 17 – Demonology

Hey guys! So last episode was interesting, to say the least. Let’s see what happens here.

Oh god, the title does not bode well. Are talking about satanic mumbo jumbo that they have to deal with? Oh boy.

Let’s see what happens.

I’m really not liking the opening scene. Ew. Just plain old ew.

What is Prentiss doing meeting this dude at a bar? What’s going on?

Wait. So an acquaintance of hers is dead? Oh boy.

Oh god, so the guy wants Emily to investigate the case? Oh god. I hope it’s worth it.

“My lord, it’s kitties and poodles out there.”

Oh my god, Penelope’s version of ‘it’s raining cats and dogs out there’ is officially my slogan.

“Is Hotch still here?”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure he lives here.”

Oh god. Emily is totally out of it. Honey.

Aw, it’s so cute how Hotch is offering to help Emily. I’ve never seen her this emotional. I love it.

Leonardo Da Vinci: “He who does not punish evil commands it to be done.” Huh?

I love how Derek is trying to help Emily find the unnatural cause of death. Come on, guys. Help a sister out.

Reid’s like, why’s she asking if I believe in the soul? And then Rossi answers yes and I’m like, okay.

Well, someone’s happy he’s gone.

Wait. They mention Prentiss and they get kicked out of the house? Oh boy.

“They were extremely religious. They thought I was a bad influence.”

Emily? A bad influence? What?

“According to my snooping …” oh god, I love this lady.

And someone needs to nuzzle those lovely tatas.

Wait. So these guys were both attending churches and their families thought they were possessed by demons? Oh boy.

I was right.

“Drug addiction and schizophrenia are two afflictions most likely to present as demonic possessions.”

Oh dear.

“You think these were exorcisms.”

Can I say something? His voice is so much deeper right now, I love it.

“Look, I know the bible just as well as anyone, but I also know there’s nothing more open to behavioral interpretation than religion.”

Word.

“I think it’s dangerous for us to find a connection between these deaths.”

Why?

So he consulted a priest? And he wasn’t all that annoying? I like this priest.

And he just got annoying again.

Oh boy. This episode is messed up in the fucking head. Damn.

And another one. Bam.

Fuck.

“This is kind of starting to freak me out a little bit.”

Oh honey.

“Let’s figure out if we have a crime before we start freaking out.”

I’m with Morgan, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not in the mood. I think there is something here.

Ruh-roh. Prentiss is going all personal on that. Fuck.

“Emily.

Oh dear.

“I apologize for the intrusion.”

I forgive you.

Whoa. Derek raised his eyebrows. Oh boy.

“Prentiss, I’m trying to protect you.”

Oh honey. She don’t need protection.

“Hotch just said he got a complaint, and he didn’t come down on you.”

Damn.

“We have to approach this just like we do any other case.”

Meaning what?

“Grief can make us wanna believe there’s a reason for things when there’s not.”

True to some extent, honeybuns, but I truly believe there is one here.

“It’s not about religion. It’s about evil.”

I love you, Rossi, with all my heart.

“All hail the mistress of information.”

Bam.

Since when does Rossi buy the girls coffee?

“There are nicer places to take a girl for coffee.”

Dang straight.

Paget is one amazing actress. I love how she gets emotional about Emily’s past. Love you.\

Wait. What? She got pregnant at fifteen? Damn.

So Matthew helped her get an abortion, and despite the priest telling them they wouldn’t be welcome, he took her inside. Damn.

Hmm. So the unsub might be a priest who’s trying to get all those who killed a priest in Galicia. Yikes. This doesn’t look too good.

Pretty poodle on the phone.

“Speak, boy wonder.” XD

“Oh, I sense a cross-check in my future.” Oh god, her voice is so sexy here.

Wait. Did that priest just confess? Why?

Speaks Italian.

“What did he say?”

Cutie.

I don’t like where this is going. At all.

Crap. Hotch trying to help Emily, and now he’s in the hot seat.

“And they’re all devout.”

Well, that’s true enough.

“So Hotch bypasses the state department, goes straight to the Italian consulate.”

Oh you innocent bunny.

“And loses his career.”

Yup.

“Well, there’s some real politics for you.”

Sarcastic Derek? Oh boy.

“In his mind, he has a job to do.”

“Which doesn’t end until the end of the month.”

Oh boy.

“There’s another victim on his list.”

Yup.

Well, there goes the leeway.

“I don’t want to see you in the office for the next few days.”

Oh boy.

I love Rossi.

So his father held him down during the exorcism? Dang.

“You stood there and watched Matthew die?”

Oh god.

God, I hate those parents so much. I’m sorry, I just don’t believe in all that satanic mumbo j umbo and I just think that allowing it to control your life is just … wrong.

Wait. So that John guy lied about Matthew’s dad calling him to say he died? Oh fuck.

It’s John.

DING DING DING!

Crazy calling!

“This one is all on me.”

I love you, Rossi.

“I can’t protect them.”

“I don’t accept that.”

Some one hug him for me.

“Why not go straight to the Vatican?”

They can do that?

Wait. It was the priest all along?

I’m confused here.

“Rossi, don’t tell me  you believe in evil.”

“Don’t tell me you do this job and you don’t.”

“I believe there are evil acts, but those are choices, brain chemistry.”

I AM WITH MORGAN A HUNDRED PER CENT!

“Thank you.”

“Always.”

I died.

James Joyce: “There is no heresy or philosophy so abhorrent to the church as a human being.”

Damn.

 Okay, so this episode was seriously weird in all kinds of ways. I loved that we finally got some Emily backstory and we got to see Paget Brewster act insanely well. It was seriously amazing. They interspersed it with just the right amount of humor to not take away from the gravity of the episode and it’s meaning to Emily. I love it!

Can’t wait for the next one.

I kind of backed out for work in the middle, so now it’s nearing midnight and this gal needs some snoozes so she can sell assholes coffee tomorrow ;)

Thank you all for being so supportive and amazing, it is not taken for granted, I assure you.

LOVE YOU ALL!

Byers!

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Batman and Harley Quinn (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: So this movie was released on digital four days ago now but if you haven’t seen the movie yet I will be talking spoilers so go watch it then read on.

General Reaction:

Dear Gotham Penthouse forum...is clearly how Bruce Timm started his pitch for this movie based on what the actual movie turned out to be like. Timm is very much on a self-destruct mission to undo all the good he did with Paul Dini creating Batman: The Animated Series back in the 90s, first with that horrendously pointless Batgirl prologue in The Killing Joke and now with what he has done particularly in the first half of this movie to his original creation Harley Quinn.

Now that’s not to say Harley has never been overly sexualized; Everyone remembers the infamous “You wanna rev up your Harley? Vroom vroom!” scene in the animated series and of course Harley is one of DC’s bombshells for a reason most recently made apparent with Margot Robbie’s portrayal of the character in Suicide Squad, but Harley’s sex appeal has always more or less been an allusion in animation...never has it gone to the degree where I genuinely feel I’m watching animated porn.

Also the fact that Nightwing basically goes along with this, is slightly better than originally perceived in the trailer with Harley overpowering him, but also once again portrays men as collateral in a movie that is trying to show women at the forefront.

Speaking of which the “Batman” part of this movie title is very much overshadowed by the Harley Quinn part as he doesn’t really progress or add to the story in any way other than identifying Jason Woodrue isn’t Swamp Thing and also telling Nightwing to go get Harley Quinn. Nightwing, as I pointed out earlier, is only used basically as a play thing for Harley and Jason Woodrue aka Floronic Man...on first appearance I thought was Swamp Thing and in terms of character just basically acts like Poison Ivy’s Joker...also Swamp Thing does make an appearance at the end and I continue to not see the point of this character; he was in the animated Justice League Dark and also is a player in Injustice 2...both see him yammering on about “the green” and neither really sees him doing anything. I get he’s supposed to be a passive eco-warrior but seriously I was with Harley in this movie where he should’ve kicked Woodrue’s ass.

On the subject of Poison Ivy, I was pleasantly surprised to see her in this movie and did like how the movie kept the animated series’ design work for her was great, also for Nightwing but not so much for everyone else as it looked really cheap. But I did like how Ivy was one of the main villains in this movie but was turned away because of her love/friendship for Harley...I still don’t see the outright villainy in Ivy as all she wants to do is protect the eco-system and it is great to see Ivy used more in recent animation.

Voice Work:

The standout in this movie is definitely Melissa Rauch, who proves herself to be quite the versatile actress as if you didn’t know who she was by name you’d find it hard to make the link between this version of Harley and Bernadette from The Big Bang Theory. Also Rauch has a surprisingly good singing voice, I wasn’t sold on her basically turning ditsy Harley into bitter Harley with the change-up in voice but with that song she won me over.

Also Kevin Conroy and Loren Lester returning as Batman and Nightwing respectively was good to see; Conroy of course reprised his Batman role last year with The Killing Joke which for me was where he worked out better because why he would agree to return here is beyond me but with Loren Lester, he doesn’t really have the same gravitas as Conroy but he is still he is still the original actor and the most famous portrayal of Nightwing so again could sign on for better work than this.

Kevin Michael Richardson as main villain Jason Woodrue, whenever I heard him I just think of either Jerome or Principal Lewis giving into villainy and Paget Brewster, I haven’t seen physically work since Kathy in Friends but more recently have heard as Peter’s psycho ex Gretchen in Family Guy. Both did a great job along with Rauch as the newbies but Rauch definitely outshined them.

DCAU Legacy:

I do worry slightly for recent DC fans that see movies like this as an access point for earlier works in the DC Animated Universe. I think what Dini and Timm did not just for DC but superhero animation back in the day was so ground-breaking and the fact the Batman animated series is still used today either in reference or in callback is such a bar raiser that when you consider this movie to be part of that universe taints the memory of it slightly, again also when you consider Batman: The Animated Series is where the Harley Quinn character originated.

Recommendation:

If you grew up with the DCAU or are a fan of it then I’d suggest watching this movie for that nostalgia feel of seeing the old character designs as well as Conroy and Lester’s voice work. If you’re a Harley Quinn fan you’ll want to watch and see what they’ve done differently with the character. If you’re looking for a great movie you won’t find it here because even the storyline is flimsy but it the movie and particularly that Harley and Nightwing scene will be a discussion point among comic-book fans.

Overall I rate the movie a 5/10, this is by no means a solid movie but for what Melissa Rauch brings it’s not terrible to sit through...it is just slightly awkward in at least three scenes.

So that’s my review of Batman and Harley Quinn, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more DC Movie Reviews, as well as other Movie Reviews and posts.

[psyclownsis]

YA GIRL JUST WATCHED BATMAN & HARLEY QUINN AND FEELS PURIFIED AND REGENERATED ON A SPIRITUAL LEVEL SO HERE’S MY VERY MINIMALLY MINOR-SPOILERY REVIEW

me? almost crying during the opening sequence because we haven’t had any dcau harley content in years? more likely than you think!

whoever wrote this script is a comedic genius i almost fell out of my chair laughing on multiple occasions

it was really skeevy and unnecessary to have harley and nightwing Do The Diddly but honestly? it was like 1 minute of mild discomfort out of 90+ minutes of them having the platonic dynamic of my dreams, so ????? like i said. skeevy and unnecessary but ultimately not something that would make the movie not worth watching

unlike some animated movies featuring clowns and batkids

bruce timm, if you’re reading this, it’s time to stop. put the pen down. literally nobody wants to see this except you and some nasty-ass fake nerd boys who don’t realize batwoman is an actual character

ANYWAY

the fight scenes? for everybody? kisses my fingers like an italian chef

there’s one specific fight scene that you will have extra appreciation for if you have boobs, you’ll know when you watch it

paget brewster as poison ivy was something my bi ass was not prepared for and i hope we get much, much, much more of it

melissa rauch as harley isn’t the harley of my dreams BUT she did a wonderful job and she had a blast while doing it and that’s what counts tbh

would’ve been nice if pam and harley actually kissed or referred to each other as their girlfriend but again this is bruce timm so i will.......... not complain too loudly

batman and harley’s dynamic? was perfect? i wish there was more of it? i am always thirsty for good harley and batman stories?

ivy and woodrue’s dynamic was p good but it could have been better but at the same time there’s a couple parts that are Really Fuckin Good and we never see that kind of thing anywhere ever with ivy and woodrue

henchmen

the ending shot killed me i don’t care if it was out of character or dumb or anything like that it was GOOD and PURE and WHOLESOME and WHAT HARLEY DESERVES IN LIFE

overall i’d give the movie 7/10. really funny, managed to be a more adult take on the dcau without becoming gross or overly edgy (save for the nightwing and harley thing), shows a huge range of harley’s interactions and dynamics with different people which we don’t get a lot of, shows a side of ivy we don’t often see, has wonderful animation and voice acting. not as deep as i expected it to be but that’s okay. overall it was really fun and i laughed more than i’ve laughed at any movie in a while and it’s definitely worth watching if you like any of the characters involved.

[granada-brett-crumbs]

There's No Place Like Holmes, TV Guide October 22, 1988:

PBS’s Mystery! ushers in the return of sherlock Holmes with the first of a two part story” The Sign of Four”, on Thursday, Oct 27, at 9 P.P. (ET). Check Local listings for time and channel in your area. 

Jeremy Brett is working the crowd as Granada Television’s press preview of “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” and the “darlings” are falling like rain in an English April on scribbles of both sexes. For two hours they have watched him impersonate, as he has been doing for the past five years, a Sherlock Holmes high of brow and keen of eye, his very ears alert with deductive intelligence, as befits a Holmes who once played Hamlet.

The Production which will be seen on Mystery! this season, is spooky and handsome with moments of quirky humor (”My I run my finger along your parietal fissure?” an earnest phrenologist beseeches Holmes “Oh, I had a great deal of trouble keeping a straight face at that,” Brett whispers). Now Brett is caressing the company with his seductive voice, the one Sherlock Holmes uses to persuade finesses with embarrassing secrets to come across. He look younger than he does on-scree, very “anyone-for-lawn-tennis?” in a blue jacket over white shirt, trousers and shoes. Acknowledging for the umpteenth time that it was daunting to follow in the shadows of so many other actors, he croons, “I'm just bending the willow that little bit.” Assuring a reporter of his full cooperation, he murmurs, “I shall just spread myself around you like a meat paste, darling, and you lap up the bits you like.”

One day later, Brett is letting his hair down a bit, or at least letting it flop casually over his forehead, as he prepares for a run-through of “The Secret of Sherlock Holmes,” a play that incorporates part of the classic Conan Doyle saga into a new exploration of the sleuth’s tortured psyche. (It opened in London last month, and there are plans to brin it to the U.S. next year.) The mood is more manic than yesterday's, and more mundane —the white shoes rescued now, and the inky blue jacket and tie have been replaced with a T-shirt listing the 1980 repertoire of the royal Shakespeare Company. Introducing a visitor as “the lady who's going to write a lovely piece about me,” he is teased about his confidence. “Well, if it isn't lovely, darling,” he replies blandly, “I'll slap your face,” and darts off to ginger up the rest of a select audience of colleagues and friends.

Joining Edward Hardwicke, his companion of the TV series, as Dr. Watson, Brett then swings into his portrayal of the overdeveloped brain who is deficient in human civility. But human frailties abound in his Holmes, and Brett, his voice booming out theatrical, his gestures large, creates a sizable character whom he then cuts down to size, the lines edging out in a halting, dreamy way, the laughter self-mocking. At the end of two hours, the audience applauds and Brett gradually bows, not a little shaky himself with his face dripping sweat.

In the six Sherlock Holmes stories to be telecast on PBS this season, we will se an actor who not only has become an expert at reconstructing the great detective but has put his own life together after a shattering breakdown following the death of his wife.

At dinner, Jeremy Brett is assiduous hostile, fussing over the proper arrangement of the table and the chair, attending to the emotional needs of the waitress (“How are you? Only so-so? Ho can we help?”). When he talks about himself however, what emerges is a diffident personality, more willing to discuss his failures than his successes and inclined to explain the successes away.

The youngest son of a hot-tempered lieutenant colonel, Brett, now 53, grew up in an Elizabethan manor house in Warwickshire and had an intensely sporting childhood, becoming a champion archer and riding to hounds. “I was blooded when I was 8,” yea says, referring to the old custom of initiating a child into the hunt by smearing his face with the blood and excrement-stained severed tail of the fox. When the Eton graduate announced his choice of career, a cousin recalls, “At first, one was horrified,” but says that everyone gradually accepted it. Brett makes it plain that acceptance is not enthusiasm. “When I go back, they say, ‘Are you still play-acting?’”

In order not to disgrace the family name of Huggins, Brett took his new name from the label of his only suit. After drama school, he worked in a repertory theater in Manchester, where, a company member recalls, “he almost got the sack because the leading lady thought he made her look a little older than was absolutely necessary.” He then attracted the eye of “my great god, Laurence Olivier,” who eventually brought him to the National Theatre. On the first night of “Love's Labour's Lost.” Olivier gave him a list of do's and don'ts (Do blaze, do be valiant, don’t be gabble some, don’t be adorable”), which he still takes everywhere. “It applies to everything I do.”

The problem that Brett ran into at te beginning of his career continued to vex him, as his Etonian accent and the youthful good looks he retained into middle age went against the fashion for working-class heroes. Speaking of the roles he is proudest of, Brett goes back to his Shakespearean parts of nearly two decades ago, to his Orlando at the National, his Bassanio and his Berowne. For much of his career, though, Brett has been the eternal jeune premier, a fate rather cruelly bracketed by his playing Freddy Eynsford-Hill in the fill “My Fair Lady” and then, 20 years later, supporting Rex Harrison once more in “Aren’t We All?” as “the oldest juvenile on Broadway.” An attempt to become a movie star in the ‘70s, of which Brett moved to Los Angeles, flopped, and “I lunged from one TV guest shot to other.”

Distinguished parts awaited him in British television, however—Maxim de Winder in “Rebecca,” the disillusioned Edward Ashburnham in “The Good Soldier,” In 1983 he began incarnating the cerebral detective, looking for “cracks in the marble” to humanize him, and in the process shivering his own surface. After months of immersion in Victorian horror, his sleep would be disturbed by nightmares. “I was terrified for the first two years. It’s much easier now.”

In 1985, Brett experienced a full-scale break-down upon the death of his wife of eight years, Joan Wilson, the executive producer of Masterpiece Theatre in Boston, who developed the Mystery! series. (An early, brief marriage to the actress Anna Massey produced a son, Brett’s only child.)  The two had met after she saw him on-stage in “Design for Living.” Brett smiles at the memory. “She said she liked the way I changed weight from one leg to the other”. A former actress, Wilson was a warm, gregarious person, remembered by her colleagues as an energetic perfectionist. “We were very, very deeply in love,” Brett says, though the two were in the same city only three months a year. “She was very bossy,” he recalls affectionately. “I used to say to her, ‘Darling, I’m glad we don’t live together all year.’ But when we were together, it was a bonfire of fun. She was my confidence. She understood the hell actors go through.” Wilson’s position makes a certain question inevitable. Brett admits that he has wondered about the answer himself. “If I thought it was because of Joan that I had been asked to play Sherlock Holmes, I would feel castrated.” He asked the executive producer, Michael Cox, was told it was because he looked like the original Sidney Paget drawings of Holmes, and has decided to be content with that.

His confidence whisked away after Wilson’s death, Brett says, “I tottered to the edge and fell over.” After hallucinating that eerie lights were coming through the window of his penthouse and having exasperated dialogues with God, he vas institutionalized for 10 weeks. “There were 16 people in the room. I sang to them in the ambulance all the way.” The hospital was an incentive to recovery, though not in a positive way. “You know,” he says, “the people who take care of you in those places, darling—they really can be quite naughty.” He adds quickly, “But of course they have a terrible job—it’s the worst job in the world.” The distress and concern of his friends also pulled him through. “When I saw my son looking at me with tears in his eyes, I decided I would not let that happen again.” The best cure, he found, was work, and he plunged back into the Holmes series. “They were wonderful at Granada. No one ever mentioned it.”

In Holmes, Brett has found a security and an identity that he has not had for some time. But doesn’t he worry that the par is taking up too much of his life, that, as Conan Doyle worried, Holmes is overshadowing his other, more serious achievements? Yes, he says, there is always the danger of being typecast—but he adds, with a smile, “If I’m typecast as a genius, who cares?” END

—London-based Rhoda Koening writes for New York magazine and the British Vogue.

(source)