#(the war would have happened anyway eventually. torr is just the reason that it happened Now)

[ehlnofay]

19! :)

19: sea change

In the last few days of the year 200, Torr kills the Emperor. In early 201, a war breaks out.

It’s not wholly unexpected, at least not by those who know where to look. The Emperor’s death is no small blow to Solitude, the city that sent him off on a voyage he would only exit under a pall; especially considering that the guard had patted itself on the back for successfully foiling an assassination attempt right before his ship left, only for his throat to be slit under their noses, anyway. The head of Skyrim’s Penitus Oculatus appears to have vanished. No-one reports seeing anyone out of place on the boat until they started stumbling over the bodies. The Empire mourns through all the official avenues as the heir prepares for succession; Solitude’s government is busy trying desperately to smooth it over, putting out excessive bounties on the assassin that failed and scraping up intel on the one who succeeded. Not that there’s anything much to find – it’s a locked-room murder, and every logical suspect has an alibi that holds up to interrogation. There are no leads to follow.

And Windhelm is a powder keg.

It always has been, ever since the Great War, as long as Torr or any of his kids have been alive. Short-fused and disillusioned, crowds moving hot as blood through its winding stone streets, it’s always been something tough, hard-throated, splintered into careful lined sections. Torr walks whatever lines he wants, but not everyone has the energy to straddle them; not everyone can.  The upper city is all harsh-cut stone and ice, the bricks ancient, the crowds in a hurry, even though none of them seem to know where they’re going; the Grey Quarter is where the snow runs when it turns to slush and the walls are stuffed with rags. The planks keep snapping with dry rot, sharp and gaping as broken teeth. They need to be filled to keep the cold out. The Cornerclub keeps the fire roaring. Talres goes there to work most days and doesn’t come back up to the house until the streets are empty. No-one knows it’s going to happen, not exactly, but there's no way anyone couldn't know. There are a lot of people who have been waiting on an opening, and all eyes are pointed elsewhere.

With little fanfare, the Jarl and his entourage leave Windhelm.

The city stops being a fuse and starts being the wreckage after it’s blown. Torr is told that there’s a span of a few weeks where Talres stops leaving the house completely. Katla gets arrested again and weasels out of it on her own. The ill-drawn posters of something approaching Torr’s face stuck up over the walls of Solitude are covered up with announcements and calls to join the Legion. Windhelm floods with bodies ready for the rebellion. Aventus’ house is already crowded; in a few months, Torr hears, it’s nigh impossible to walk in for the bedrolls and blankets spread over the floor. The city has never been a warm place in any sense of the word; Torr’s siblings are inundated with more kids and more kids with nowhere else to go. They don’t know if Solitude is much better; they look different now than they did on the night of the assassination that wasn’t and then was, hair cropped shorter and uneven, face gaunter, the weight they’d managed to gain over their comfortable months in Falkreath sloughing off them like a spider’s old skin, but even so it’s a bit much to step foot in there so soon, some of the bounty posters still mouldering on their posts. One of the kids says something about needing a whole other house. They’ve only got the one. Still, it makes Torr think.

(Skyrim has one orphanage, a little wooden hall down on the banks of Riften’s canals. And now there is a cursed house in Windhelm.)

Torr doesn’t go to Solitude. They only occasionally go to Windhelm. When they’re not on business, they stay on the outskirts of Danstrar; the Pale, all frozen winds and snow high enough to ice a horse’s knees, is an unappetising enough target that aside from an announcement of alliance with Windhelm’s Stormcloaks the war has not truly reached them yet. Which is ironic, considering.

(If prompted, Torr probably could have seen this coming – Torr, who spent years with his finger on Windhelm’s pulse, moving through the people and hearing endless talk about the government. It was going to happen sooner or later. And of course the Empire reeling from the assassination of its Emperor – the first since around the time of the Oblivion Crisis, which no-one is anxious to repeat, and the reminder of which put plenty of important people quite on edge – is enough of an opportunity to weigh heavily in sooner’s favour. If he’d thought about it with his blade set beneath the hairs of the old man’s beard, he would have known he was setting a war in motion. What Torr doesn’t know is if he would have cared.)

(Probably not. He still doesn’t, after all. Not enough to regret anything.)

Dead winter bleeds into spring; a little ice melts, and the sea begins to change. Torr’s shoulder aches when the weather is bad. There are clashes on the roads, outside cities, described in newspapers and word of mouth. Cyrodiil ships off heaps of soldiers to spill into Solitude’s ports. The house in Windhelm is overrun. But the nightshade kept in the temperate corner that Babette has transformed into a garden begins to bloom months early. The tides still come in and out.

The old Emperor is dead. Skyrim is tearing itself apart. Torr cleans his knife after use with a soap that smells like lavender and tries very hard to dredge up any guilt.

[lunarspiral1127]

Hey, guys. I was gonna post my reaction/commentary/thoughts on the first episode on Falcon & The Winter Soldier, but I couldn’t because I had work early and I watched it with my friend the next day. But, I’ll be back to posting them for the rest of the episodes, and I’ll give my brief thoughts on episode 1 here, so *SPOILERS!*

- The beginning action scenes were really cool to see. I liked Sam in the MCU and I liked seeing him getting his own moments as the Falcon by himself. It shows that he’s a capable fighter, but even he struggles. But, he’s able to keep going and keep trying. My favourite part is when he suddenly shows up in the helicopter and is like “’Sup”. I don’t know why, but I found it pretty funny.

- I like the new costume and the new wings, because it closely resembles more of his comic book costume. With Redwing, I found it odd at first that it was a droid, when it was an actual falcon in the comics. But, I’d understand that having Redwing as a droid would make sense, because having a falcon would be risky to have in battle. At least, I think that’s what the reason is for the change. But, I still like Redwing.

- Seeing Sam’s family was cool. There’s some tension between him and his sister, which I hope things will work out between them. There’s this subplot in the episode of him trying to keep his family’s boat, which could continue later in future episodes.

- Flag Smashers. I’m curious, but I’m not sure what to make of them just yet. They seem to believe that it was better when the snap happened, but I don’t know why. However, considering how chaotic it was when everyone came back in Wandavision, and now people who’re gone for 5 years don’t even get any income and bank loans are even harder to get, maybe those are some of the reasons why? 

- Also, we know that they’re a terrorist group, and they have their own app??? Just to gain more followers and use them to cause commotions so that they can commit their crimes, I guess. But, the guy that this Torres character (the one that was with Sam at the beginning, who apparently takes the Falcon mantle in the comics when Sam was Captain America at the time) tried to stop....is he an enhanced? Like another super soldier-like being like Bucky or the 5 evil super soldiers that Hydra used to keep back in Civil War?

- Bucky is such an awkward guy, I don’t know why but I love it. And, he’s getting therapy, and trying to redeem himself from all the bad things he did as the Winter Soldier, which I liked seeing. The therapy scene was not what I expected though. Like this therapist comes off as tough, but maybe someone like that is needed? I don’t know. Don’t know why Bucky’s ignoring Sam’s calls. Like, I know that they butt heads, but Sam’s a councilor for Vets dealing with PTSD. He could be really helpful to him. Anyway, what hurts though is that he befriended an old man, which I thought was sweet. But, NOPE! He was the father of this guy from the Winter Soldier flashback that Bucky killed. That.....HUUUUUURRRRT!!! Like the moment the father talked about his son, and remembered the guy that Winter Soldier killed in the flashback, I put two and two together and was like “OH S**T! NOOOOOOO!” Also, that date was cute yet awkward at the same time. Had to leave in the middle of it to talk with the father, but he couldn’t do it. I don’t know how he’ll react to Bucky if he finds out the truth, but that’s gonna be something that I’ll dread if it happens.

- RHODEY! Good to see him, and I like that he and Sam are still friends. Especially since the events of Civil War.

- According to the wiki, this show takes place 6 months after Endgame, so this is between Wandavision and Far From Home.

- Steve. At first, I thought that he died and Sam’s going to his funeral, but for all we know, he could still be alive in this timeline or went back to his own. But, it seems that the world thinks that he’s dead. Anyway, it was actually going to give the shield to the museum to put on the Captain America display. I had a feeling that the show would play into Sam doubting himself on taking the Captain America mantle, but I feel like he deserves it. Steve gave Sam the shield for a reason, and that Sam is a good person. I know he’ll get the shield back, eventually, and in the end, he’ll become Captain America. But, considering what happens in the end, he shouldn’t have given up the shield, which leads to the next point.

- F***ING GOVERNMENT AGENCIES!!! They wanted Sam to give the shield up for a museum display, but that one guy just took it and gave it to their own Captain America?! First Hayward taking Vision’s body and wanting to use it for his own intentions, and now this other guy taking the shield and using it for his own intentions! So, this is how John Walker AKA US Agent is introduced into the MCU, and wow, they did a good job casting someone who has a smug, cocky face that make you wanna punch him. Okay, I can’t really judge the character just yet, because not a lot has been shown about him so far. But, I get the feeling that I’m gonna hate him, or hate him at first then feel sorry for him. Probably the former. But, still, WHAT THE HELL?! This is going against Steve’s wishes! Steve gave Sam the shield for a reason! I get why he gave it to the government, but he should’ve kept it! Plus, this would mean that they lied to Sam about what they wanted to do with the shield, but it doesn’t matter because it belongs to them now. This is some BS. >:( 

[tomeandflickcorner]

Falcon And Winter Soldier Episode 5- My Thoughts

Oh boy,  this one might be a bit longer than usual.  There’s a lot to go through in this episode. As always, spoilers under the cut.

It immediately picks up after Walker brutally murdered Nico in that crowded square. We see he’s taken off running, and ends up in some deserted warehouse of some kind.  For a moment, you almost think he’s starting to grasp the gravity of what he’s done, but he’s then plagued by memories of his time with Hoskins, which only leads to him further slipping into insanity and convincing himself that he did what was necessary. That’s when Bucky and Sam enter the scene.  They quickly figure out that Walker’s off his rocker.  Particularly when Walker tries to justify his actions by claiming that Nico was the one who killed Hoskins, even though it was clear that Karli was the one who killed him. They do their best to try and help him realize that revenge is not the same as justice, but Walker isn’t willing to listen.  Sam, slipping into councilor mode, attempts to calm him down. Unfortunately, if his words were having any affect on Walker, it all went downhill fast when Sam told Walker to hand the Shield over to them. Because Walker firmly believed the Shield was his rightful property, so he was not about to willingly give it up.  So Bucky and Sam have no choice but to take the Shield back by force.  At one point during this fight, Bucky gets momentarily dazed upon getting thrown into some sort of circuit breaker box, which also seems to briefly cause his vibranium arm to short-circuit.  Of course, Sam can’t really hold his own against a crazed Super Soldier one-on-one for long, and Walker eventually has him pinned to the ground.  He even destroys Sam’s Falcon wings.  But just before Walker could actually kill Sam- yeah, he was actually about to kill Sam there!- Bucky recovers and rejoins the fight.  Together, Sam and Bucky manage to pry the Shield away from Walker’s tight grip.  Though they have to break his arm in the process. But even then, Walker isn’t backing down.  Because he still firmly believes HE is Captain America.  It takes a pretty awesome combo move from Bucky and Sam to take Walker down. Because not even a Super Soldier can withstand getting swung into a jet-packed fueled blow from the Shield.  With Walker defeated, Bucky pretty much places the Shield at Sam’s feet, effectivly giving it to him once again, before walking off without a word.

So, after that pretty epic battle, the episode allows the characters, and the viewing audience, a chance to catch their breaths. Karli and the Flag Smashers have pretty much gone underground, making it impossible for anyone to locate them. Not that the government doesn’t try, as they conduct raids to all the GRC facilities that housed them, and even arrest the people that offered them shelter.  But still, no sign of Karli anywhere.  So Bucky and Sam decide there’s not much more they can do, particularly since they’ve been benched by the government officials.  Even so, Sam still wants to do what he can in seeing this whole thing to the end. So he asks his friend and associate, Joaquín Torres (who we haven’t seen since Episode 2), to keep him posted. Although, Sam also leaves his broken wingsuit with Joaquín. Which is probably a reference to the fact that Joaquín took up the mantle of Falcon after Sam in the comics.

Of course, there’s still the loose end of Zemo.  Bucky manages to track him down in Sokovia, at the memorial that was put up in honor of everyone who died there during the events of Age of Ultron.  Which does make sense, since Zemo’s wife and children were among the casualties.

Now, I gotta pause for a moment to talk about something here.  During the Previously On segment for this episode, we got reminded of a scene from a previous episode, in which Zemo seemed to be trying to shame Sam and Bucky for not ever visiting the memorial themselves.  Maybe it’s me, but that seems kinda unfair.  For starters, Bucky and Sam weren’t even involved during the events of Age Of Ultron.  With Sam, I don’t think he was officially an Avenger at that point.  He was part of the reserve team, if anything.  And Bucky was in Romania, trying to reacquaint himself with his true identity while hiding from both the CIA and what was left of Hydra. Even if that wasn’t the case, when exactly were they supposed to visit the memorial?  As of the events of Civil War, Sam was on the run as a fugitive alongside Steve and Natasha.  And Bucky was in Wakanda, either in cryofreeze or going through mental rehabilitation.  And then they both got dusted at the end of Infinity War, meaning they were erased from existence for the next five years.  So when exactly could they have visited the Sokovia Memorial to pay their respects? Of course, I do get what the episode was trying to say, since the Avengers didn’t really do much in offering Sokovia any sort of relief efforts.  (Though you could also argue that Tony should have been the one to handle that, considering the whole situation with Ultron was his own fault.  And goodness knows he had the monetary means to do something, with him being the billionaire and all. But I guess that’s all semantics.)

Anyway, Zemo tells Bucky that the only way they can hope to stop Karli now is by killing her, but Bucky tells him they’re going to try to do things their own way.  At this point, Bucky aims a gun at Zemo’s head.  But it’s soon revealed that Bucky had previously made sure the gun was already empty when he shows that he’d removed the bullets beforehand. Which I guess was his way of showing Zemo that he was wrong about him.  And that Bucky, despite being an enhanced individual (something that Zemo clearly hates), still chose to spare his life.  At this point, the Dora Milaje show up, with the intention of bringing Zemo to the Raft, that prison we last saw in Civil War.  Before Zemo is escorted off, he tells Bucky he took the liberty of crossing his name out of Bucky’s book, and that he doesn’t blame Bucky for doing what he thought was right.  Wow, how magnanimous of him, right?  Shame he couldn’t have extended this same level of courtesy towards the rest of the Avengers.

Still, I guess this means we’ve seen the last of Zemo.  At least for now.  Eh, good riddance, I say.  I personally hope we never see him again,  While I do sympathize that he lost his family, I still don’t like him in the slightest.  On the other hand, I did like that Ayo indicated that Bucky is at least partially forgiven for helping break Zemo out of jail.  Sure, she does tell him that he should still stay away from Wakanda for the time being, but she is calling him White Wolf again. Which indicates that their friendship wasn’t broken beyond repair.  Before they part ways, however, Bucky tells Ayo that he has one more favor to ask of her.

Here, the episode begins to focus on Sam as he begins to head back home to Louisiana.  But first, he makes a detour back to Baltimore, in order to sit down and really talk with Isaiah. Which enables us to really learn exactly what happened with him in the 1950s.  Turns out, he didn’t get injected with the Super Serum knowingly  He and a few other Black men were essentially used as guinea pigs, in which they were told they were being given tuberculosis shots or something when it was actually an experimental recreation of the Super Serum.  But it seems that, for some reason, the other Black test subjects begin displaying some manner of unfortunate side effects to the Serum, which suggested it wasn’t stabilizing with them.  Only Isaiah was able to successfully transition into a true Super Soldier like Steve Rogers.  So when the other Black test subjects were captured behind enemy lines (because this was the time of the Korean War), the US government were simply planning to drop bombs on the POW camps, in order to prevent word of their little experiment from getting out.  When Isaiah found out what they were planning, he took it upon himself to get those men out of there, in a similar manner to what Steve did in the first Captain America movie.  Except he was rewarded for his bravery by being locked up like a criminal, with the US government conducting experiments on him to try and figure out why the Super Serum worked with him and not the other test subjects.  They even told Isaiah’s wife that he was dead while making sure he never received any of the letters she’s sent him.  In the end, Isaiah only escaped because this nameless nurse took pity on him and helped him escape by essentially faking his death.  This backstory really is sad and tragic, especially when you realize it’s partially based on an actual historical event.  Just try looking up the Tuskegee Experiment sometime.  It’s really messed up.  Anyway, Isaiah finishes his sad story by telling Sam that, regardless of what he might believe, the world hasn’t changed that much.  And that not only will the world never accept a Black man as Captain America, no self-respecting Black man would even attempt to take up the mantle because of how America has always treated men like them.

With that advice still weighing on his mind, Sam returns home to rejoin his sister, Sarah, and his two nephews, AJ and Cass.  So now we’re getting back to the subplot from the first episode, involving the failing family-run fishing business.  It seems Sarah is still thinking it’s time to throw in the towel and simply sell their family’s fishing boat.  The main issue with that is, because it’s all run down and in need of serious repair, nobody would even consider buying it.  Fortunately, Sam has an idea.  Remembering how their parents, who apparently died some time ago, had been long-standing pillars in the community and had often offered aid to their neighbors, Sam makes a few phone calls and gets the whole community to come pitch in and help repair the old fishing boat, thereby repaying the previous kindness of Sam and Sarah’s late parents.  One of the neighbors even comes by with a brand new engine for the fishing boat. But then, just as Sam is wondering how they’re going to manage getting the heavy-looking boat engine off the back of the truck, Bucky appears out of nowhere, using his Super Soldier strength to effortlessly lift the motor up over his shoulders.

Bucky explains his presence away, stating he’s only there to drop off a crate for Sam, which clearly came from the Wakandans.  It’s implied the contents of the crate have something to do with the favor he asked of Ayo.  But then, Bucky ends up sticking around to help Sam fix up the fishing boat.  Cue a boat repairing montage, complete with a song playing over the whole sequence.  Bit bizarre we’re getting something like this in the penultimate episode, but it’s still pretty enjoyable.  Particularly since we get to see Bucky and Sam actually bonding as themselves.  And yes, there does seem to be vague implications that there might eventually be something between Bucky and Sarah.  Although, I don’t know if I necessarily ship it.  At least not yet.  I’d need to see more of them interacting with each other besides just seeing Bucky saying ‘hi’ to her a few times before I make up my mind.  Granted it would be an interesting thing to explore of course.  Particularly since, to my knowledge, it would be the first biracial couple featured in the MCU.  Unless you count Peter Quill and Gamora, of course.  (And that brief thing that was going on between Peggy and Jason Wilkes in the woefully short-lived Agent Carter series.)  At present, though, I think Bucky’s obvious affection towards Sam’s family seems more tied to his own memories of his life before WW2.  When he wakes up the next morning on the couch (because Sam invited him to crash at the house instead of finding a hotel room somewhere), a genuine smile appears on his face when he catches AJ and Cass playing around with the Shield in the living room.  Those of you who have read Bucky’s bio in the MCU wiki might remember that Bucky was the oldest child of four, so seeing AJ and Cass might be reminding him of how he used to play with his younger sisters.  And interestingly enough, Sam’s sister’s name is Sarah.  Which was also the name of Steve Roger’s mother, which is probably making Bucky feel even more nostalgia.  (Side note- Bucky was actually sleeping on the couch.  Which is a step up from where we first saw him in the first episode, where he was sleeping on the cold, hard floor.  This is probably an indication that Bucky is starting to heal.)

Anyway, we then see Bucky helping train Sam in throwing the Shield around.  They even set up an obstacle course of sorts, with mats being tied to a few of the surrounding trees.  They briefly discuss the lingering issue of the Flag Smashers.  There’s still no sign of Karli, but Sam promises to give Bucky a call when he gets a new lead, and Bucky promises that he’ll come back to assist Sam at that time.  However, the main focus of the scene involves Bucky finally apologizing to Sam for giving him a hard time over the Shield in the first place, with him acknowledging how he and Steve didn’t really grasp what it might feel like to a Black man to be given the Shield.  We also get an indication that Steve and Bucky did discuss Steve’s plans of retiring by staying in the past to live a life with Peggy after returning the Infinity Stones ahead of time. It was vaguely suggested in a read-between-the-lines sort of way at the end of Endgame, but it’s nice they confirmed that Steve didn’t just up and decide to do that on the fly.  Bucky then starts opening up to Sam, admitting to him that the reason why he was so angry about the Shield in the first place was that, to him, the Shield felt like his last connection he had to Steve, who was the closest thing he had to a family.  And that feeling has intensified now that Steve is gone.  (Can we please get some clarification on what they mean by ‘gone,’ by the way?  Did Steve actually pass away from old age offscreen?  Up until now, it’s something they’ve only vaguely inferred to.  Like maybe, maybe, maybe.  But if that’s what happened, I wish they’d quit tiptoeing around the issue and just tell us straight out.)  Anyway, it’s really cool that Bucky is talking to Sam about all of this.  It does show that he truly does trust Sam.  Especially more than he does that crappy therapist they forced on him. Just saying, Bucky was still denying to her that he was having nightmares, despite apparently having sessions with her for six months.  But he freely admits to Sam that he is still having nightmares after only a week or so of them working together.  If that doesn’t illustrate how poorly Bucky’s relationship with his government issued therapist was going, I don’t know what does.  

As if getting how big a deal this is, for Bucky to open up to him like this, Sam once again slips into counselor mode.  He tells Bucky that he shouldn’t put so much concern onto what Steve thought of him, because Bucky can’t let what others think of him determine his own self-value. Or something to that effect.  He also advises Bucky to stop taking the easy way out in regards of alleviating his guilt over what he did as the Winter Soldier. Up until now, Bucky was only going after past Hydra agents to bring them to justice in an effort to make himself feel better.  But if Bucky really wants to gain peace of mind, he should instead focus on helping the victims feel better.  Which probably means that Bucky is going to go back and see that old man, Yori, from Episode 1 again and help him find closure by telling him the truth about what happened to his dead son. I admit, I’m really nervous about watching that scene unfold.  Yeah, Yori does deserve the truth, but I’m scared about how he might take it.  It would be understandable if he ends up blaming Bucky, sure.  But at the same time, it’s kinda been rubbing me the wrong way how this show seems to be acting like Bucky is a reformed assassin who has to atone for what he’s done.  No, that was what Natasha was.  Bucky, on the other hand, was the world’s longest serving POW. Someone who was tortured and brainwashed by evil Nazi scientists who stripped him of his free will and autonomy.  (And, if we consider the implications that Episode 3 gave us, we can also add sexual abuse to the list of things Hydra did to him.)  Yeah, it’s only natural Bucky feels bad for what Hydra made him do.  But that just indicates he’s naturally a good man with a good heart.  I’m not exactly a fan of the idea that he should be made to feel like he should atone for anything he did.  Because he was as much of a victim in all of that as the people Hydra sent him after.  Still, if trying to make up for what Hydra forced him to do is what Bucky needs to do in order to forgive himself, then I guess I can support that.  Do what you have to do to find closure for yourself, buddy.

Anyway, after Bucky leaves, Sam and Sarah continue to finish repairs on the fishing boat in preparation for selling it.  But just before Sam is going to paint over the names of their parents, which is printed on the side of the boat, Sarah stops him. It seems she’s changed her mind about selling the boat, considering the boat is part of their family legacy. Which is something that Sam is relieved to hear, as he didn’t want to see the boat getting sold off, either.  The siblings begin having a heart-to-heart, with Sarah telling Sam that, even though she’s always given him a hard time about the matter, she’d never thought he was running away from things whenever he went off to save the world and whatnot.  She also tells him that she knows he’s been dwelling on what Isaiah said to him, but helps Sam make a decision involving the Shield.  While Isaiah had good reasons for believing the way he did, Sam ultimately decides that the pain Isaiah went through would be in vain if nobody continued to fight for the future.  And so, Sam decides that he’s now willing to accept the mantle of Captain America.  Which leads to another montage.  This time of Sam going through a self-training session with the Shied, with his nephews, AJ and Cass, helping out.  The training montage ends with us seeing that Sam has become a pro at throwing and catching the Shield.

Of course, just when you start to think this episode is feeling like the series finale, with everything wrapping up and setting the stage for a future adventure, we get the reminder that there is still one more episode to go.  It seems that Karli has been pushed over the edge after the death of Nico, as well as seeing all the GRC facilities raided and cleared out of refugees.  And she is now out for revenge.  Specifically, she plans to rally up what remains of her followers and attack the GRC headquarters, as they plan to vote on the Patch Act, which would force millions of people to relocate to their home states. To achieve this goal, Karli manage to join forces with Batroc, who had previously appeared at the beginning of Episode 1.  Strangely enough, an earlier scene does suggest Batroc was actually hired to team up with Karli and the Flag Smashers by Sharon Carter, which only further indicates that Sharon is a bit shady.  What exactly is Sharon up to?  Is she a bad guy now?  That would kinda stink, since she is Peggy Carter’s great niece or something.  Talk about besmirching your family name.  

Anyway, right when the Flag Smasher’s attack on GRC headquarters is about to begin, Sam gets a tip off from Joaquín, who had been keeping his ear to the grapevine in terms of the Flag Smasher’s movements. Apparently, the Flag Smashers coordinate their attacks via this coded cellphone signal, which  Joaquín had figured out how to hack into.  And he notifies Sam that the coded cellphone signal is now showing up in New York City.  Sam seems to figure out what the Flag Smashers are about to do when he sees a news report on the TV about the GRC voting on the Patch Act that evening.  Deciding to go and do something about it, he opens up that Wakandan crate Bucky had dropped off.  The episode ends before we can see what exactly was inside the crate, though.  They’re clearly saving that reveal for the final episode.  Although, my boyfriend, who is also my viewing partner for this show, is a bit of an expert on what went on in the Marvel comics.  (He even worked in a comic book/gaming store before we met.)  It seems that, in the comics, Sam Wilson did end up getting a pair of Falcon wings that utilized hologram technology of some kind.  So he’s theorizing that’s what it is.  Still, we have to wait until next Friday to know for sure.  Either way, it looks like this next episode will decide what happens with Karli and the Flag Smashers.  I honestly don’t see how it’s possible to resolve things with Karli peacefully, though.  She seems too far gone at this point.  But I’m sure Sam will still try to talk her down, which only deepens my respect for him.  And who knows?  Maybe Sam will succeed, with Karli going the Coalhouse Walker route- agreeing to stand down in exchange for the promise of a fair trial, which would allow her to state her case.  (Of course, I hope they don’t do things exactly how it went down in Ragtime.  Because in that story, they pretty much promise Coalhouse that he’ll receive a fair trial, but the moment he surrenders himself, the police immediately open fire and shoot him dead.  Which is not even remotely cool.)

Oh, and then there’s still the matter of Walker.  Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him.  Because even though Sam and Bucky effectivly took him down AND he received a dishonorable discharge by the US government, he still refuses to believe he did anything wrong.  He’s convinced that he still deserves to be Captain America.  While a small part of me does pity him, he really is displaying what appears to be a fragile White male ego.  He even goes up to Hoskin’s grieving parents and sister and lies to them about how Nico was the one who killed their son, and that they should take comfort in the fact that justice was served.  There’s also a mid-credits scene where we see he’s trying to make his own version of the Shield.  Doubt its made of vibranium, of course.  I Gotta say, I’m seeing a lot of parallels between Walker and Karli right now.  Both of them have convinced themselves that they are 100% in the right, and everything they do is completely justified.  Which naturally makes them both very dangerous. However, I’m mostly concerned by this mysterious woman.  Contessa, or whatever it was she called herself.  She approached Walker after his trial to tell him that he didn’t do anything wrong before giving him what appears to be a blank business card.  (I’m guessing there’s some sort of secret decoded message on this business card that Walker will decipher later on.)  I have no idea who this woman is supposed to be or what her goal is.  I’m guessing she’s someone comic book experts would recognize, but my boyfriend/viewing partner, who is familiar with the comics, didn’t seem to recognize her name, either.  So it’s a big mystery at this point.

Before I wrap up my thoughts for this week’s episode, there is something partially unrelated I should mention.  For those of you who haven’t heard, Sebastian Stan’s latest movie, Monday, recently came out.  And it seems that this movie includes Sebastian and his female co-star in a full-frontal nudity scene.  From what I’ve heard, there have been some select individuals who have seen fit to criticize Sebastian’s appearance in this scene, because he wasn’t in perfect shape or something like that.  If you were one of those select individuals who decided to body shame Sebastian after watching this movie?  Grow up!  Bodies come in all shapes and sizes.  And to expect a male actor to have a completely chiseled physique at all times is extremely unrealistic, particularly when they’re portraying an ordinary person.  The fact that people were acting like this is even more disgusting when you consider the fact that Sebastian Stan apparently already has some body issues.  The fact that he was still willing to film this full-frontal scene despite those issues just illustrates his passion and dedication to his skill as an actor and the message this movie was meant to convey.  He did not deserve to have his body objectified the way it was. Nobody does.  So once again, this is me condemning the behavior of those select ‘fans.’ 

[365days365movies]

April 3, 2021: Duck Soup (1933)

Time for talkies! That sounds weird, doesn’t it?

The year after The General, the first writing was put on the wall for Keaton and Chaplin with the controversial film, The Jazz Singer. In that movie (which, yes, prominently features blackface, but moving on for now), the eponymous Jazz Singer talks on screen, with the audio being synched up to his mouth moving. This was the birth of the “talkie”, or a film with diegetic sound (sound coming from the film itself, rather than the score). The silent film industry heard the death knell rapidly approaching.

But from the death of one, comes the birth of another. Sure, slapstick would still persist in talkies, inheriting the remnants of the vaudeville era that Chaplin and Keaton heralded from. But now that sound was available, a whole new form of film comedy could be introduced. Enter: The Marx Brothers.

Leonard (born March 22, 1887), Adolph (born November 2, 1888), Julius (October 2, 1890), Milton (October 23, 1892), and Herbert Marx (February 25, 1901) were all born in New York City to German and French Jewish immigrants. Unsurprisingly, at least one of their parents (their mom, Minnie) was a performer, in a continuing trend with all of these guys. Her entire family were performers, especially her brother Abraham, a very successful vaudevillian who went by A Shean. The five brothers soon also fell into this profession.

The began with their uncle in vaudeville, and they became fairly successful. Originally known for their singing, they shifted to comedy after a performance in 1912. The two eventually fused, turning them into a comedy act with music in it. And at some point during this time period, the brothers were playing a poker game with a cartoonist, who gave the brothers their iconic names. Respectively, they became Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Gummo, and Zeppo. And a new troupe was born, but only on stage. It’d be another 17 years before they broke into film. Well, except for Gummo, who went to World War I, then never came back...to the theatre. Just wasn’t his thing. He went into the raincoat business! Anyway...

By 1929, two more things had happened: the first talkies had been introduced, and the Marx Brothers were one of the most popular theatre acts in the country. They also had some competition in that arena from two other acts. On stage, three brothers, Moses, Jerome, and Samuel Horwitz, also Jewish and also from New York City, joined up with a man named Ted Healy, and a comedian named Larry Fine, and formed the vaudeville group known as the Three Stooges. 

Meanwhile, in silent film, British comedian Stan Laurel teamed up with American comedian Oliver Hardy, and the two made a lot of short silent films together, all of which were shorts. The tall, talkative, and rotund Hardy and the thin, stoic, childlike Laurel were a perfect pair and were known as, of course, Laurel and Hardy.

These two groups were worthy competitors, both for the Marx Brothers, and for Chaplin and Keaton’s form of comedy. And their popularity similarly built over the course of the 1920s. But the Marx Brothers were then given a unique opportunity, before any of the others had the chance. In 1929, Paramount Pictures funded a film, 93 minutes long, which brought the Marx Brothers to the big screen. And this film was a talkie, called The Cocoanuts.

The Cocoanuts was pretty successful, and certainly launched the career of the Marx Brothers. Laurel and Hardy had a talkie come out earlier that month, but it was a short rather than a feature film. And the Stooges wouldn’t be in a film at all until the following year! The Marx Brothers made the leap to the silver screen with verbal comedy, arguably before any other major comedians had the chance to.

The next year, Animal Crackers came out, launching them to even greater fame. This is especially in the case of Groucho Marx, whose greasepaint mustache and quick wit was a huge hit with audiences all over. They moved from New York City to Hollywood, and became bonafide movie stars. Monkey Business in 1931 was their first production not based on their stage acts, and was also a big hit. Horse Feathers in 1932 increased that fame EVEN FURTHER, and there was absolutely no way their stardom could increase from there.

Right?

1933. The Marx Brothers meet up with Leo McCarey, a director you may remember from An Affair to Remember, back in February. They reunite with Margaret Dumont, a comic foil to the brothers who had been in The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers, and the honorary fifth Marx Brother, according to Groucho (sorry, Gummo). Paramount Pictures funded them for the last time, and the brothers would make a film that wouldn’t perform well in the box office...but is considered their great work on film, basically universally.

Let’s watch it, shall we? Time for some Duck Soup! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

After the opening credits, which includes a bunch of ducks in a bucket ON FIRE, JESUS, we enter the country of Freedonia, a small, bankrupt, and fictional country. The leaders, including President Zander (Edmund Breese), are asking wealthy widow Gloria Teasdale (Margaret Dumont) to give them ore money. She agrees, on one condition: that the President step down, and that a man named Rufus T. FIrefly (Groucho Marx) be appointed new leader of Freedonia.

At a party celebrating his ascension, we met Ambassador Trentino (Louis Calhern), the ambassador of a rival nation, Sylvania. With his beautiful spy Vera Marcal (Raquel Torres), he plots to take over by having her woo Firefly. At this point, his secretary, Bob Roland (Zeppo Marx), arrives to the hall, and the group questions where Firefly is. They note that he’s always on time, and begin to sing the national anthem in anticipation of his arrival. Sucks that he’s still in bed.

He slides down a fireman’s pole as they continue to repeat the anthem, as if repeating a theatre cue, and begins...well, he begins being Groucho Marx. He spits out so many lines at such a rapid pace, it’s genuinely difficult to keep up with it while typing. Check out the scene yourself, if you’re curious! Best part is when Teasdale is talking about her late husband.

Get used to clips; I’ll be adding a lot of them, I’m sure. This segues into another song about the new laws that Firefly is planning on imposing with his administration. He forbids whistling, so I’m never going here. He also bans dirty jokes, smoking, chewing gum, amongst other things. He also basically promises that the country’s going to be far worse than it’s been before. So, yeah, promising.

This is interrupted by an appointment to see the House of Representatives, and he heads there with the help of his car’s driver, Pinky (Harpo Marx). However, the sidecar somehow isn’t hooked up to the motorcycle, and Pinky drives off without Firefly anyway. Funnily enough, the silent Pinky is actually a spy for Trentino, along with Chicolini (Chico). They go to report back to Trentino.

Their report reveals two things: they were tailing the wrong person, and they’re very bad spies. Disappointed, Trentino sends them back out for some reason, and they eventually get into a fight outside, which also involves a short-tempered lemonade vendor. Which is, unsurprisingly, another very humorous exchange.

After destroying both his livelihood and sanity, the two pose as peanut vendors and are quickly found by Firefly, who basically IMMEDIATELY appoints Chicolini to a government position, as the Secretary of War. Just then, Pinky steps in, answering a phone with his signature horns as a response.

After replying to all of Firefly’s questions with various pictures on his body (again, this is very funny), Pinky also leaves, only to be replaced by Bob the Secretary, who suggests trying to get rid of the two-faced Trentino by insulting him, with the intent to get Trentino to slap him, and give him cause to get rid of him once and for all. He once again gets in a car driven by Pinky to go there, only for Pinky to take off once again.

At the party, Trentino is trying to woo Mrs. Teasdale, in order to get her money. Firefly shows up, insults Trentino, only for Trentino to insult him back. He slaps Trentino in response, leading to the opposite intent, and Trentino declares that the countries are now on the verge of war. That night, Teasdale speaks with Trentino, who is to be summoned back to his country. However, he promises to remain if Teasdale can convince Rufus against war.

Rufus agrees to come over, and proceeds to flirt with/intensely neg Mrs. Teasdale. He meets with Trentino once again, who is also with Vera. After another confrontation in which Rufus makes a reference to an old song about my African Americans exist (it’s not called that, and it’s SO BAD, but it’s not with malicious intent; just ignorance), and war between Freedonia and Sylvania is even more likely than before.

That night, Pinky and Chicolini are sent by Trentino to infiltrate Mrs. Teasdale’s place, as Vera has discovered that the war plans were given to her for safekeeping (which we actually saw previously). As they search the house, Teasdale calls Firefly, and asks him to come over and take the plans. He agrees, and Chicolini (who was waiting for him at his room), takes the opportunity and locks him in his bathroom. He dresses up as Rufus and impersonates him to get the plans.

However, Pinky does exactly the same thing, leading to three of them in the same house. Chicolini and Pinky run downstairs, and Chicolini heads to get the plans, now knowing their location. He accidentally turns on a speaker, and runs off. He accidentally runs into a mirror, breaking it. This is just as Rufus heads downstairs to look for his imposter, and that...leads to arguably the most iconic comedy sequence of all time.

It’s in almost complete silence, and the two are so perfectly synchronized, it’s unbelievable. And it is VERY funny. I mean, it’s famous for a reason. It’s just genuinely a great sequence. But, at the end, Chicolini is caught, and we next jump to a trial, which is, you guessed it, very funny. It also produces on of Groucho Marx’s best and most famous one-liners.

Gentlemen, Chicolini here may talk like an idiot, and look like an idiot, but don’t let that fool you; he really is an idiot!

However, Mrs. Teasdale makes one last ditch effort to prevent war. However, Rufus talks himself out of the effort, slaps Trentino again, and it’s officially war. And what follows is...well, what I can only define as Marx Brothers musical number chaos. It’s war.

Also, I think that’s the last video I can add on this post. Damn, didn’t know there was a limit for that. Anyway, the whole thing is a crazy-ass production, followed by an insanely chaotic climax on its own. Pinky finds a woman he was looking at romantically earlier, and it turns out that she’s the wife of the lemonade vendor from before. He hides in the bathtub as he’s coming in, then erupts out of the bathtub playing a bugle when he comes in. It’s...it’s hard to describe, but it’s pretty funny.

War begins in earnest VERY quickly, and while this entire sequence is pretty amusing...it just reminds me that World War II is yet to happen, and that these guys have NO IDEA how bad war is going to get in the next few years. Whoof. Anyway, Chicolini and Pinky switch sides a couple of times, until eventually siding with Firefly. But pretty soon, the war destroys most of Freedonia, and Rufus, Chicolini, Pinky, Bob, and Mrs. Teasdale are all together in a shelter.

Trentino shows up, and he gets trapped in the door, as if he were in the stocks. The guys pelt fruit at him while he’s caught in there. Declaring victory, Mrs. Teasdale sings the Freedonia national anthem. The boys respond by throwing fruit at her instead, and...that’s it!

Yeah, that’s Duck Soup! Holy shit, that was...both exactly what I was expecting and not really what I was expecting at all. Huh. I’ll get into it, but it was at least very funny! See you in the Review!

[thefinishedarticle]

The Spain legends who never were

When was Spain’s golden generation?

The obvious answer is the four years between Euro 2008 and Euro 2012. In that halcyon era, Spain ruled the footballing world with a period of sustained dominance which has not been seen before or since: three international trophies in a row, secured with a distinctive, perfected passing style which opposing teams seemed to have no answer to. The empire came crashing down in the opening game of the 2014 World Cup, when the Netherlands avenged the previous final with a 5-1 thrashing, but not before it had left its unique mark on history.

But when it comes to goalscorers, there is only one answer which comes to mind. The list of La Liga’s all time top scorers has been scaled in recent years by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, two of the greatest forwards to play in Spain or indeed anywhere in the world, but their international allegiance lies elsewhere. In terms of Spanish attackers, the names are a little older. Telmo Zarra. Edmundo ‘Mundo’ Suárez. Pahino. Cesar Rodriguez.

Telmo Zarra has an award named after him: the Zarra Trophy, a sort of home-grown Golden Boot for the top Spanish scorer in each season. He recorded a ridiculous 251 goals in 278 games, a ratio of 0.9 goals a game which is only beaten by Messi and Ronaldo, as is his overall total. He won six Golden Boots (Pichichi Trophies), second only to Messi. 

He even kept up his scoring ratio for the national team: in 20 caps for Spain, he scored 20 goals. But he only played for them those twenty times. For context, their top scorers each played five times that: David Villa was capped 98 times (59 goals), Raul 102 times (44 goals), and Fernando Torres 110 times (38 goals). None of them had a goals-to-game ratio of better than 0.6 games. How many more goals might Zarra have scored, if he were given the chance?

The others all have similar stories. Mundo hit 195 goals in 231 games, another astonishing goals-to-games ratio of 0.84. Again, he translated his abilities seamlessly to the international stage, with one goal per every cap he earned for Spain. But again, his time with the national side was short. He played just three times, despite scoring three times. Why? Well, there’s a reason for that. Two reasons, in fact.

One is the same reason that he only scooped up two Pichichi Trophies, despite maintaining that ratio for a career of eleven healthy years. Mundo played from 1939 to 1950. Unfortunately for him, Zarra played from 1940 to 1955. Their careers almost completely overlapped. Like Messi and Ronaldo, their haul of individual trophies would no doubt be much higher if the other wasn’t scoring equally baffling numbers of goals at the same time.

Pahino has the same excuse. Whilst 210 goals in 278 games (0.76 goals per game) would be exceptional in any other era, it was only enough to pick up two Pichichi Trophies, just like Mundo. He also only played three times for Spain, despite taking full advantage of those games to score three goals. Just like Mundo. But just like Mundo, he was unlucky to share his realm with some fellow all-time greats. He played from 1943–1956, overlapping with Zarra and Mundo both.

César’s record looks almost disappointing in comparison. He scored a meagre 223 times in 353 games (0.63), and although he managed 12 games for Spain he only scored 6 times. Of course, that is still impressive by modern standards. The La Liga ratios for current stars, Messi and Ronaldo aside, are nothing in comparison: Samuel Eto’o scored 0.58 goals a game, falling to 0.53 for David Villa, 0.4 for Raul, and Benzema currently averages 0.48 goals per game. But he missed out on a Pichichi Trophy for his efforts.

Mariano Martín managed one, although his overall record isn’t enough to earn him a spot on the top scorers list. His star burned brightly (105 goals in 130 games, or 0.81 goals per game), just not as long. He also only managed three games for Spain, but in his case this is slightly more understandable, given the shorter career and the fact that he failed to score in any of those.

César played from 1939 to 1950. Martín played from 1939 to 1949. No wonder they didn’t win more than one Pichichi between them: they were competing with Zarra, Mundo and Pahino all at the same time. For 12 years, these five players shared the trophy between them. Since the end of their dominance in 1953, it hasn’t gone a decade in Spanish hands. Di Stefano (pre-conversion), Puskas, Húgo Sanchez and more recently Messi and Ronaldo have made sure of that.

So the questions come. How did all of these players happen to play at the same time, only not to be matched by any Spaniard in the seventy years since? How did they play so few times for Spain, given their domestic dominance? Part of that is explained by their overlap, the fierce competition keeping each other out of the side, but that’s still only 41 caps between them across those 12 or 15 years. Assuming that more than one forward would play in each game, that’s still much fewer than we might expect.

History answers the rest. For one point, the start date of 1939 is no coincidence. This was the date of the end of the Spanish Civil War, with domestic football having been paused for the three years from 1936 to 1939. When it returned, it did so with a new wave of goalscoring talent which would continue for the next decade and a half. Perhaps teams were weakened by the war, and goals were easier to come by. But that still seems not to explain why they lasted up to 1950 and later, and why no new blood emerged during this period with similar scoring records to continue after they had gone.

For a second point, the lack of caps for Spain is no surprise. The Second World War caused the suspension of the World Cup from 1938 to 1950, exactly the career span of these players. This may be linked (a lack of international imports reduced competition/made goals easier to come by, although it doesn’t seem that they were common anyway), but it may also just be dreadfully unlucky: if we are accepting the start date of their careers to be the resumption of domestic football in 1939, it is just coincidence that the natural span of a footballer’s career (from age 20-35) from this date was mirrored by the span of the war. 

There was a World Cup in 1938, but Spain couldn’t participate due to the Civil War. Then, just as domestic football resumed the next year, international football ceased for the next decade. For the Spanish FA, it was sheer bad luck. The national team had reached the quarter-final in 1934 (going out to eventual winners Italy), and were reaching their peak, but then the Civil War disrupted everything. Then this new generation of goalscorers emerged, but there were no opportunities for them to test their worth on the biggest stage.

When the 1950 World Cup finally came around, most of these forwards were nearing the twilight of their careers, but Zarra played all six of their games and scored in four of them. The others, like César, were unused, but Silvestre Igoa,  another talent from the 1940-50 pool (150 in 200 in the league, but 7 in 10 for Spain) chipped in with another two. That was that. Spain didn’t qualify for the 1954 World Cup, thanks to archaic rules which treated their two-legged tie against Turkey (4-1 at home, 0-1 away) as a draw, and Turkey had their name pulled out of a hat by a blindfolded child.

If World Cups had been played during that lost period, might Spain have had a chance? Could these strikers translate their domestic dominance onto the world’s greatest stage, as the hinted at in the few caps they were able to obtain? We may never know.

[redstarbonky]

tfatws ep 2 not-really-live liveblog (SPOILERS AHEAD! SPOILERS HERE! HERE BE SPOILERS!)

and i must reiterate again THERE ARE SPOILERS AFOOT

i can’t believe it’s only been a week! the suez canal fat boat incident has really slowed down the previous few days 🥴 something else different is that this is the first ep i’ve stayed up late to watch! hype hype hype!

anyway AAAAAAAAAAAAA I HOPE THERE’S SOME ZEMO. give me the bruhl. we only have six episodes...

i just appreciate this recap because SAM is in it and BUCKY is in it and TORRES is in it and SARAH is in it and WINTER SOLDIER is in it and oh hello john walker again

zipper shot...zipper shot...zipper shot...

i am open to john walker not being awful, i promise

is this his sister? friend? girlfriend? ok probably girlfriend

“they're gonna love you” ma’am..............have you looked at the fandom lately.............

they're doing the chorus girl thing to this guy! steve hated it too, john...steve hated it too

every time i see steve in the marvel intro i feel a little bit stabbed in the neck 🙃

THE SONG IS EVEN THE SAME. did they get a real band and flag team and dance team to do the performance?

is he not enhanced then? no serum? i find that hard to believe. eh, maybe he's doping

please i’m begging you to stop mentioning tony stark

BUCKY’S FACE...nooooo...literally looks like he's about to cry 😭

sam and torres my beloveds

sam 😭 pls 😭 i’m 😭 so 😭 upset 😭 about 😭 this 😭😭😭 *eternally shrieking*

androids, aliens, and wizards. sam is completely correct, that’s who they fight. they’re not on any of that friendly neighborhood spider-man business

bucky you’re a nerd, aren’t you

man sam haven’t you heard of the thousand yard stare? one of the most obvious PTSD symptoms that exists, observed even before we had PTSD as a diagnosis?? 😭

“no you’re not coming with me” said sam as bucky came with him anyway sdkfjsdjhbg

does torres know...about the...never mind

bucky: “i am juiced on experimental fascist serum, i am 100% sure i can survive this plummet into a forest”

redwing my beloved...

ahaha that little attempted swat :]

yeeeeaaaa white wolf nickname came back. sam’s “bwuh?” response to that made me giggle

sam just being casually cool as usual

SHHH GUYS THEY’RE COMING

[skyrim guard voice] “must’ve been my imagination” they really failed that spot check lol

alright get em lads! obtain hostage! ... that other truck should really be noticing them shouldn’t it

i immediately do not trust this girl but bucky switching off Business Mode to be polite to her is very nice and good

ok are these people ALL juiced on fascist serum? that’s a lot of juice?? WHERE DID THEY GET THE JUICE?? 🧃🧃🧃

NO REDWING!!!! REDWINDFKHNFGJHNFGJSDF AAAAAAAAAAA

redwing better be ok in the next ep.

john’s goofy grin was ok. not as good as steve’s tho. gotta say john has the “i used to play football in high school” look completely down pat. well done

bucky: [cattily hands the shield back]

JEEZ these fellas are made of iron

GO SAM! once again being casually cool

i just heard the shippers scream in delight at their roll in the goldenrods ahaha. honestly? this was probably the first hug bucky has had since steve ditched him. i don’t blame him for lingering a bit

lol do they have to just...traipse back through rural germany...

oh good their uber is here!

stop making fun of his PTSD symptom c’mon

sam is having none of this, clearly...

love how the last straw for bucky was hearing that hoskins has a dorky nickname. you’re one to talk, bucky

so, uh, supersoldiers...how's it hangin.

hmrhmhm if it were me, i would accept the homemade food politely, because if someone troubles themselves to MAKE food for me, i feel it would be rude to refuse, even if it were something i didn’t eat? i could give it to a family member or something instead? idk just seems rude for a guy giving them hospitality. hospitality is a near-universal virtue for a reason!

i feel like this villain group is really vague? i’m also waiting for HYDRA to be behind them all along

how this exchange went in my head bucky: “let’s do a crime...” sam, swatting him with a rolled-up newspaper: “no.”

sam being on the run with steve for two years...what did they actually do? did they hang out a lot? do some painting? fanfiction writers probably filled in that time already but i really wanna know

who is bucky’s mysterious acquaintance?!

sam is good with kids as usual...also that seems like a funny/sad dig at a lot of black heroes in comics having ‘black’ in front of their names. i don’t read a lot of comics but i sincerely hope they’re not still doing that

is this another amending? another name on the list? oh no...

jeez a whole lot happened in that scene :[ and a lot was implied! like, if the government had access to the serum in the 1950s, that creates some terrifying possibilities, especially if they were able to produce a great quantity. i hope isaiah is returned to eventually because his situation looked rough. he seemed pretty afraid of bucky but he stood his ground and didn’t sound afraid at all. his kid/grandkid/great-grandkid (idk he seemed really young) was very protective of him. it’s clear isaiah never told him about his run-in with the winter soldier but...it seems like he wasn’t totally surprised by isaiah’s outburst or super strength...aaa i’m dying to know more. pls marvel, go back and see them sometime

anyway yeah i can totally sympathize with why isaiah doesn’t want at all to tangle with whatever bucky has going on.

GO AWAY, COPS GO AWAY, COPS GO AWAY, COPS GO AWAY, COPS GO AWAY, COPS

[to the tune of “gidget goes to hell”] ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh bucky goes to jail

john what are you doing?? “ya bucky is mine now” no????

we now know the therapist’s name! dr. raynor! finally!

lol this is actually couples’ therapy? the shippers just popped in a shower of confetti hehe (but tbh couples’ therapy techniques work for any pair of people who have to be in close contact a lot, not just romantic couples!)

the way sam grabbed bucky’s chair and bucky’s like “whoa ok~” the number of fanfics arising from that interaction alone will be enormous mother of mercy

i want to hide under my blanket ashfgdfhg my face is pulled back into some horrible rictus grin aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

oh no. OH NO

IM GONNA CRY

the feelings...jsndfkj.....kbnvnnm...

sammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

😭😭😭😭😭😭 *dissolves into sadness forever*

hopefully this’ll be that trope where the two bickering parties say they will finish their current task and then never talk to the other again, but after all they go through, they decide to stick together :V please. my happiness depends on this

GO AWAY COPS oh it’s just john

GO AWAY JOHN I’M NOT SURE HOW I FEEL ABOUT YOU AND I’M VERY EMOTIONALLY WRECKED RIGHT NOW

i cannot help but like battlestar? idk?? he’s cool??? i feel like he and sam and bucky would get along like a house on fire?? if there weren’t all the *makes john walker-shaped gestures*???????? i can’t not think of battlestar galactica though

sam was way nicer about that mess than he needed to be! anyway they’re totally gonna fight aren’t they. maybe in episode 5 or 6. i think sam would win because he can fly. obviously that overrules everything else. like the fact that i still don’t know whether john is JUICED

so uhhh...HYDRA. are they gonna

THEY’RE GONNA GO SEE ZEMO. HE SAID IT. SAM SAID THE THING. SAM SAID THE THING. THIS IS NOT A DRILL

isn't this “lacrimosa”? that feels fitting

aaaaand there’s helmut!!!!! at last!!!!!!!!!! it’s been so long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and he’s stuck in what appears to be an ultra high security prison

i wonder what creepy/manipulative/douchebag stuff he’ll say! “ah, sam wilson. what is it they call you? the man-bird? and james barnes! what is it they call you? the war criminal?”

just realized i totally glazed over during the flag smasher escape scene i’m sorry guys you’re just really vague. got any pamphlets? literature? any theory i could read? i’m actually too stupid to read theory please don’t send me theory

and now to wait eternally for another week ugh. just drop an entire season so i can binge it!! netflix does this WHY CAN’T YOU