#(they're mentioned in the very first episode of doctor who!)

[claraoswalds]

The Giggle // The Devil's Chord

+bonus

[solitaryandwandering]

A Ramble: Love in the Big City Eps 1-2

I just watched episode 2 of Love in the Big City and I am... reeling. Cried when Kim Nam Gyu died, when Yeong and Mi Rae sang together at the wedding, cried at the crushing ending line. I loved the direction in these two episodes; one of the reasons I was super excited to watch this was because they're switching up the directors for each part. Such a cool way to signal transitions in Yeong's life. Now that I've seen the caliber Son Tae Gyum operated at I'm intrigued to see how direction will affect the next parts. Maybe I'll write up a thing about that in the end, but I'm hopeful others will as well! I am chomping at the bit to read the book, seriously!!

I have to mention first what a BALLSY move it was for them to open on Yeong's tryst with a man who was cheating on someone currently in the military. And he walks in the door, STILL IN UNIFORM. What a fucking slap in the face to hegemonic masculinity!!

After this first part what I am really lingering on are two things: queer loneliness and heteronormativity's relationship to misogyny. I'm just gonna put down my half-baked thoughts, I don't have the time or spoons to formulate coherent sentences haha

Though I saw Nam Gyu's death coming just based on vibes in the first episode, its impact wasn't lessened. Its significance didn't really hit me until I saw how empty his funeral was. Loneliness shaped his life - repression, liberation in meeting another gay man, falling in love with him way too fast, forming a dependent attachment, his desperation/obsessiveness in losing it so abruptly. He expressed his queerness in his photography, voyeuristic and seeking closeness with his subjects in the only way he felt was available to him. He had no friends, no relationships outside of his with Yeong. When Yeong breaks up with him and when he visits him drunk in ep 2, he says "falling in love is not a sin." To me, this shows just how removed from a loving community he has been, how nascent his queerness. He's still processing homophobia, it still influences every move he makes, everything he thinks. Clearly he has not had close relationships with other queers, where he may feel free to unburden himself. He falls back on heteronormative performance of romance, searching the best places for dates, not having anyone to ask. Knowing he's older makes this hurt more.

His story brought to mind the futility of AIDS-related deaths in the U.S., to be honest. I lost my gay uncle before I even knew him, and I know no one from his life. I know it's not a perfect parallel, but that funeral... this emptiness carries beyond one queer person's death. And Yeong's journey in these two episodes is about queer loneliness, of course. But his story is not as tragic as Nam Gyu's. He has (amazing) queer friends, and at one point had Mi Rae. He is much more connected to the queer community than Nam Gyu ever was. Despite his immaturity, Yeong is also much more familiar and comfortable with his queerness. I imagine this thread of self-actualization in the face of loneliness will continue in the rest of the show.

@twig-tea and @poetry-protest-pornography also wrote about queer loneliness in this show: here and here

And then we have Mi Rae, a vitally important relationship in Yeong's life, the love this part of the story is about. I met my best friend in college as well, so this part of the story was bringing up a lot of feelings too. To me, their friendship was as much about navigating heteronormativity as anything else, reflected in Yeong's reflection that "she learned that being a gay man sucks, and I learned that being a woman sucks just as much." Mi Rae is impacted by misogyny in every step of her character's journey: male classmates labeling her a slut and claiming her body for theirs, being groped, her challenges obtaining an abortion and mistreatment by a male doctor (where she literally claims her uterus back), her conflict with her parents (I'm assuming her mother had very rigid ideas of what a woman should be, based on her behavior at the wedding), hiding her past from her boyfriend, forced to defend herself when he questions why she lives with a man, shutting herself off from her relationship with Yeong (and thus rejecting her past) after the wedding. I looked up the status of abortion in Korea (a legal gray zone) and was reminded of how badly women there have it, which provided more context for her behavior.

Yeong must also traverse heteronormativity, which is what ultimately drives a wedge between the two and ends their friendship. In the beginning, their mutual rejection of heteronormative scriptures is what brings them together. He stands up for her against those male classmates, in an interaction steeped with assumptions of his heterosexuality. In rejecting her objectification he made himself a pariah for refusing to participate in normative masculinity. And their relationship continues thus, with her promising never to out him. She betrays him in a moment where she feels her participation in normative heterosexuality is threatened (and, indeed, it is a legitimately precarious position to be put in as a woman). Their brief reconciliation mainly consists of Yeong participating in a heterosexual ritual - he has no access to marriage in Korea. Her singing with him and letting go of her inhibitions for one last time was her goodbye to him and her ultimate acceptance of a more heteronormative life. One he can't participate in.

I hope that made any lick of sense. So looking forward to watching the next week. I am holding myself back from watching the next episodes right now. So hard.

[soshadysoquiet]

An attempt to salvage S4, for your delectation. S4E1

Okay, I think I'm ready. This is so long that I'll have to post it episode by episode. [FYI this isn't written Fic or script style so much as a play-by-play]

This is I'm sure an imperfect fix but I do think this would have been better especially if used as a base to work on - if anyone does want to, please feel free!

Rules I gave myself: Keep the 6 episode formula. The characters have to start Ep 1 in the same state (jobs, accommodation etc) they do in the show. Use as much as is salvageable from S4 to make the base of this cake.

I will say that I think one easy fix the show should have done was to keep the long-running theme of using flashbacks at the beginning of each ep to flesh out the story; so I've done that off the bat. Every character has a beginning flashback, but they all include Ben or Jennifer to a degree (because this is his season) and Diego and Lila have to share because there isn't enough room soz y'all.

EPISODE 1:

Starts with Viktor's Flashback: Over a series of 2 years him having a terrible time at family reunions where Diego and Lila are squabbling, Luther is being harrangued. He's working as a bar tender and they keep showing up at his bar; Klaus gets carted off by them to rehab there for being stoned, he has to kick Five out for being too drunk and disorderly. Viktor starts looking for a bar elsewhere, sees the one in Canada and moves there. Shows him chatting up the ladies, being unable to connect to them on a deeper level. In the background of all these scenes we see the Rise and Fall of Ben on the bar's TV. - he's an up and comer, he's in the big leagues! He's one of the wealthiest people in the world! He's committed tax fraud and being taken to jail!

Viktor in present time is being asked about going to Gracie's B day party, and torn about it, by Luther.

Luther is at his work.

Diego is lazily delivering packages, one of them with a symbol of an inside out umbrella on it, he is seen to pocket.

Lila is stressing over the kids party bits and another parent mentions seeing her at book club tonight.

Ben is getting out of prison, he's told by the guards that no one's due to come for him despite him arguing that someone should be, and that his parole officer demands someone be responsible for him. Ben is shown resigned picking up the phone.

Allison's work is running over and she has to call Klaus

Klaus takes Claire to her destination very cautiously

Five is at his work in CIA, staring at blueprints of the country, bitching to his boss about not being given access to blow through a wall to look at the hidden network of stations he's uncovered. Bitches to his assistant about how a few years ago this wouldn't have been an issue - assistant refers to the fact that a few years ago he was lucky to have been given this opportunity before he nearly drank himself out of his doctorate.

Luther comes to pick Ben up, he's pleased. Ben is pissed and seems edgy. They discuss in the car how Luther wasn't Ben's first choice, Luther asks who that would be, Klaus? Ben angry and claims that no, he has a girlfriend, she should have been there,  doesn't know where she is. Luther sympathises, saying he's been there, he'll help Ben look surely it was just a misunderstanding. Ben asks in a slightly scathing, though less than normal way, whether he's still looking for Sloane. Luther wishes he could hope still that she's out there, but it's fainter by the day. Ben and he share a small moment, that it's nice he's not the only one who remembers his family.

Gracie's party, much is the same

Viktor turns up late, is confronted by a blonde woman (Abigail) Abigail gives him the box of cross-timeline paraphernalia plus marigold jar. Says they're needed to save both his brother Ben and Jennifer, that they need to save the world. Leaves while Viktor is asking who Jennifer is.

Viktor goes into the party (it's wrapping up) shows the marigolds and they set up a meeting for later (the kids are still there)- there is frustration about commitments getting in the way and mixed excitement and dread.

They go separate ways, Lila is shown going to her 'book club' meeting where they talk about the Cleanse and the umbrella effect, it's Abigail, though Lila doesn't know who she is.

Diego after waving Lila off is seen pulling out the package he'd pocketed with the umbrella on it in his study full of papers and files, he goes to open it, tries to do a trick with a letter opener and it falls from his fingers, frustratedly he tosses the package as his in laws call for him to come help with something.

Five has gone down into the subway, he's staring at the wall, clenches his fists.

Allison, Klaus and Claire go home. It's quiet between Klaus and Allison. They have a stilted conversation about how they clearly don't want to have their powers back, and Allison asks for help prepping for the audition, Klaus jokes that at least acing those would have been easier with powers, she jokes back that with their powers she wouldn't have need to feel guilty killing his immortal ass for being a jerk.

Ben is with Viktor and Luther at Luther's place demanding what the woman said to Viktor who says he'd rather wait for the others but then admits about saving Jennifer and him, Luther asks who Jennifer is and guesses his 'prison girlfriend'. Viktor is a bit suspicious.

The others turn up, they go through the box properly.

Five and Lila notice items of interest in the box - subway map, umbrella inside out printed on things, items from other timelines, and both notice that Diego has much less subtly shown recognition and pocketed an umbrella item too. The two share a glance but both shrug as neither knows what's going on. Klaus finds and takes the dog tags.

Ben is on edge and demanding they get out and find Jennifer, that they take the marigolds, the others all agree they don't want their powers, though a few of them give some assurances to help Ben find Jennifer.

Ben pockets the marigolds and spikes everyone when they do a toast to another odd thing happening around their family before they all leave. (Viktor stays the night begrudgingly with Ben and Luther.)

[amuseoffyre]

Thinking about the current series of Who again in the context of the overall arc beginning with the Toymaker episode and the running thread of media and self-awareness within the show.

The Toymaker set things in motion with Stookie Bill, invading and overpowering the world through the very first television broadcast and "if the very first image has been hiding in every screen ever since, sneaking into your head, carving a wave and waiting", wouldn't something like that leave a mark?

We know the Toymaker has 'children' of a kind in the shape of Maestro, a creature that consumes and manipulates music. We also know a fragment of the Toymaker (eta. forgot it was the Master trapped in there) was picked up by someone/something at the end of the episode.

We also know there's something bigger than Maestro on its way - The One Who Waits.

It got me thinking about the genre jumping this season has been doing all over the place and the way different kinds of media and watching and use of media is critical to every bit of the plot.

The Church on Ruby Road - Ruby's life is very literally the subject of a television show which is the trigger for her becoming the target of the Goblins (Documentary)

Space Babies - a group of children confined in a space station with tasks and jobs and monitored by someone unseen who is watching them and will speak to them through an audio system (Big Brother)

The Devil's Chord - Centred on real musicians saving the day with a show-stopping finale significantly with "we should visit [Star Trek]", Maestro playing the Who theme music, diagetic sound being mentioned and multiple characters breaking the fourth wall, suggesting self-awareness of being part of the media (Musicals)

Boom - A dramatic war story where someone goes in search of their lost father on the battlefield spiced up with conspiracy of Big Capitalism's war profiteering (War films)

73 Yards - All the broadcast and media related elements that help Ruby piece together her role and defeat the villain of the episode without doing anything herself with all cameras pointed and focused on her - she is the object who is being watched but uses that as a weapon, turning the MP character into the subject (Horror/Fairytales)

Dot and Bubble - this one speaks for itself, really. The echo-chamber of 'influencers' sustaining themselves on a self-feeding fatuous loop of people so awful that the AI designed to protect them eats them XD (Youtube-style media)

Rogue - they're cosplaying Bridgerton. The Doctor, Rogue, Ruby, the villains. They're all cosplaying Bridgerton and say as much in the dialogue. It's a play. A drama within a drama. About watching and waiting for the narrative beats and recognising the arcs and trying to rewrite the story (Bridgerton)

Then we have the recurring character (played by Susan Twist) who appears through all of the episodes, which is what's bringing me back to Stookie Bill and the concept of someone being present inside the story from the beginning.

What if she is the one who waits? She keeps recurring in every storyline they stumble into because - like Stookie Bill - she's "hiding in every screen ever since, sneaking into your head, carving a wave and waiting".

And, because my brain makes giant leaps of logic, it made me think of the most famous icon of the BBC from back in the day: the Test Card F screen, that was put on the screen when no shows were playing. It was on screens across the world for decades. It was iconic and it was a sign to wait for your shows to come.

One who waits with a puppet and a game :D

[folklore-barnes]

Grotesquerie 1x08 | 1x09

Thoughts

We need to discuss how Redd used the word “ritual” twice in her scene with Marshall, and then later used it again when talking to Lois. Like????

I needed Megan to murder that nasty man so bad. I was so ready to ride at dawn for her, but thankfully Lois took care of it, and it was so satisfying.

Marshall is so diabolical, pls😭. Whisphering in Lois' ear that he wanted her to “fucking die” was insane. And then calling her a c***???? Like ik we're using that word a little more lightly these days (I still can't bring myself to say it or even write it), but the way he said it was crazy. Like he really meant every bit of what he said. I'm giving all the flowers of the world to Courtney B. Vance.

I wanted to be suspicious of the psychiatrist, but he looked so nice, like I could not see an ounce of evil in his eyes. And that's precisely why a part of me still believes there's something wrong with him.

I loved the confirmation that Megan was possessed in Lois' dream because I love being right.

Lois and Megan's chemistry still intact. You love to see it.

Doctor Charlie looking a little worried when Lois said that she heard everything, like... sir what are you hiding? A part of me thinks that he's obviously very evil, and another part of me thinks he said freaky things to Lois while she was asleep and maybe that's why she pictured him as freaky in her dream. Which would explain why he seemed to look at her with desire when he approached her the second time.

Maisie started off creepy, but when just got really endearing and funny, but with some creepiness still lingering.

I could feel Merritt's disdain towards Lois through the screen. Oh, Raven Godwin, the queen that you are.

Guys... wdym Merritt was in a cult?🧍🏽‍♀️

I'm sorry but Lois being in a coma 'cause of COVID out of all things was so stupid to me. Like I genuinely thought it would've been something bigger that could've been possibly related to the story, so it was a little disappointing to know that it was because of that.

Redd wanting to go to the same place that Lois suggested she'd move away too pissed me off so bad. Like okay, so now you want everything Lois wants or has??? That aside, I love Redd idc. She's so wholesome.

That last scene of Ep 9 was so weird and satisfying at the same time. Like a part of me is questioning that reality as well, especially 'cause Ryan mentioned there'd be more than one “reset” in the last episodes. But another part of me thought that Megan and that asshole were saying it wasn't real to use her former state against her and confuse her, so she wouldn't do anything. And ALSO???? That Justin guy was repeating the same thing that the old man said in the conference the psychiatrist had attended to. What the hell was that about???

The cross in the knife that Megan cut Lois has me wondering a lot 'cause wth was that about as well.

In conclusion, I'd lie to you if I said I wasn't expecting something else. I was expecting them to wrap it up a little bit quicker and for us to see more than one of the crimes. But looking back at it, I'm glad they didn't because now it makes even more sense for them to have a second season like Ryan mentioned because there'd still so many things to wonder about. I know some folks have been saying that it was boring after the twist and I understand where they're coming from, but I'm glad that they took some time to show us Lois coming to terms with her new reality, trying to make sense of it and dealing with the people in her life that were affected by her bad decisions. That led to some great acting performances from all of the main cast members, especially Niecy, Courtney, Raven and Micaela, who we got to see the most on the screen. I also think there's a lot more going on than we think, so I'm very intrigued to see what that's about.

Teaser

At first I just thought the three men are guilty. But there's no way they're telling us that in the teaser, so my guess is Ed and Marshall will be framed or are doing some sus activity that's being misunderstood or is not as bad as what the actual brains of the operation is doing. I have no idea.

Creepy dude in the shadow looks a lot like Charlie and the shot that is shown after hints at it. It's making him look hella sus, but a part of me thinks there's no way they're making it that obvious. So we'll see...

[13thdoctorposts]

At some point 13 fans needs to actually put the numbers to paper on the era's audience numbers, because my recollection is that they're perfectly on par and at times even better than Capaldi's and several of the latest specials. I'm tired of haters whining about 'everyone hated it' when they mean misogynists targeted it and boycotted it from the very instance of a rumour that 13 would be a woman.

Peter Nolan from Blogtor Who did a post on the numbers after the airing of Power of the Doctor, in one section of the post he compares the Whittaker and Capaldi eras…

“It’s remarkable then, that the Whittaker era of Doctor Who is overall on course not only to retain the audience it was given, but actually very slightly grow it. The average Thirteenth Doctor was watched by 4.67m viewers, up 0.12m (2.6%) on the 4.55m average of the Twelfth Doctor. It’s median viewing figure of 4.21m, meanwhile, is 0.34m (7.4%) lower than Capaldi’s, representing the boost Whittaker’s average is given by the large audiences for her first series. But overall, we haven’t seen Doctor Who just do a respectable job all things considered. Rather, it actually got ratings that would be good a decade ago.”

You can check out the whole article here https://www.blogtorwho.com/doctor-who-power-of-the-doctor-viewing-figures/?amp=1

As you can see the Whittier era did quite well especially when considering it had to fight to get through the Pandemic, which people seem to like to act like isn’t a big deal with their revisionist history of how difficult that time actually was. Not only were millions dying and getting sick, people were losing their jobs and lock downs were keeping people at home and a number of parents learnt how hard it was to home school your child even with a teacher on zoom, some while also having to work full time at home. This isn’t to mention the ridiculous amount of restrictions on how they could make the show and keep everyone safe. Sadly they also just didn’t have budget, it was why they needed Disney to come in. In the Who Corner to Corner podcast Chibs talks about how he wanted to do a new years special after Flux but was told there was no budget and he couldn’t do it but he wanted there to be a new year special so he ask if he used monster from the cupboard (a couple daleks they had sitting there) a warehouse and only 2 guest stars could he do it and they still told him they didn’t think so but he told them they were doing it and then we got Eve of the Daleks, one of my fav episodes of the run.

This goes to show the show was struggling to afford to make episodes it had no real money for marketing. If series 12 and Flux got the marketing series 11 did of course we would have seen even bigger numbers but Chibs stated in his Radio Free Skaro podcast from Gally One in 2023 that the only marketing budget they had after series 11 was marketing that could be done on the BBC that’s extremely limiting. They also didn’t have a brand manager unlike all previous eras. If you can afford a brand manager you’re not going to choose to not have one and having one probably would have also help quite a bit.

It’s not 2008 anymore, even Tennent couldn’t pull his 2008 numbers and that was with the big Disney budget to make the show and market the show, and they had a year to market the show and the most well known Doctor, so considering that vs what Chibs had to work with the Whittaker era is a solid era of Doctor Who. It just came at a time when the Budget was struggling, and the TV landscape was changing along with a campaign to try and destroy it before it began simply because they chose a Woman to be the Doctor, as demonstrated by the fact the BBC had to release a press statement backing Whittakers casting and the change to a Female Doctor. And that did have a snow ball effect of people picking everything apart to an insane level they do not do with any of the episodes from the male Doctors episodes a lot of which could be seen as far more problematic.

All this to say could the numbers had been better? Yes, if they had budget to market the show the way it needs to be marketed in a landscape with a million competing shows on far more streaming services than there were regular channels back in the day. But did the show do well with the limited resources it had. Also Yes.

[ketterdamskaelishprince]

lenore and the yellow wallpaper (a ramble)

so this is all one entire big and large ramble session from me, so ignore if you want because this has no actual point, and i also haven't touched the yellow wallpaper since i handed it in with my coursework so i'm bound to get things wrong. this is no high-brow analysis, this is just be rambling. i've finally gotten the courage as well to go on the big scary tumblr and speak so be nice please :)

anyways, now we have that out of the way– i bring you my observation.

so i've been rereading nevermore (because i am deep in the trenches of my hyperfixation on it right now and have firmly planted myself there) and i noticed something in episode 21 that i remember noticing the first time.

just for a recap, episode 21 is when they're facing the dementophobia trial, and lenore has gotten herself sucked into a hallucination. through this, we (presumably along with her) are shown parts of her past, and the fallout of her brother dying. in a long scene, we basically see the attic which lenore is forced to 'rest' in.

sorry if this is like an obvious tell, but my little rat brain was vibrating out of my seat to say this.

well, first off, let me just give you a little summary of the yellow wallpaper. we have this nameless woman (who's married) who's also our narrator, her husband: john who's a doctor and we also have john's sister: jennie. jennie isn't too important in the summary but she exists and stuff and there's loads of journals out there probably that could tell you super interesting things about her role in the story.

anyways, i digress. the narrator has been diagnosed with slight nervous tendencies and is given the rest cure therapy as treatment. she ends up slowly going insane in the attic (?) which doubles as a nursery, and there's this fugly yellow wallpaper, which the narrator comments to be basically like a crime to art and to colour in general. anyways, the more she stares at this wallpaper and the longer she stays in the attic, she starts to see a woman behind the wallpaper– and the short story ends with her ripping the wallpaper off and freeing the woman but then also, the story ends essentially with her throwing herself out of the window of the attic and yeah, suicide. there's like allusions to the woman behind the wallpaper and her being one at the end, but WE AREN'T FOCUSSING ON THAT, i've rambled enough.

anyways, how does this all link to nevermore?

THIS PANEL RIGHT HERE.

idk, the act of ripping off the wallpaper just distinctly reminded me of the yellow wallpaper, and i have no idea if the creators drew inspo from the yellow wallpaper for this or if it was one of poe's works (i'm not heavily versed in all of his works, but i have a collection of his stuff i should probably sift through and read). but yeah, thought it was cute.

i know thematically they probably vary, but there is something to be said that both of them are in a situation where society wants so badly to silence them and punishes their defiance with the diagnosis 'madness'.

i dunno, just a nice little thought. there's also the whole rest cure therapy too, and the fact that they're both in the attics of their homes– and i presume lenore is in a secluded countryside place here like the narrator of the yellow wallpaper is. so, you know– other connections!

also, as a side note–

this bad boy right here? ether? well some ether smells sweet, so i thought maybe (as a very dumb end to this ramble) that maybe, lenore associates the sweet smelling scent of what she used to be knocked out with to the sweet scent of flowers– i have no idea if that's why she hates flowers but i thought that was a fun little mention. food for thought, you know?

anyways, if you disagree that is totally ok, i truly don't know what i'm talking about half the time, but this has been bouncing on my tiny brain for the past few days and i decided i needed to let it out before i start plaguing the people i know in real life with my obsession. and also, friends, feel free to correct me if i'm disgustingly wrong on anything– i love to learn <3

and... yeah, that's all folks. gonna go rot now :)

[bishounenbtr]

i like to think about the guys's family situation a lot because it's barely, and i mean barely, touched on in the show.

these are just some headcanons that i believe, but i feel like most of these are universal.

kendall: so obviously, we have ms. mama jennifer knight and katie. his dad's out of the picture for reasons unmentioned. however, kendall and jennifer's actors confirmed that initially, it was supposed to be that kendall's dad cheated on jennifer and walked out on them (presumably right before katie's birth.) it makes a lot of sense when you put it into context with kendall's actions throughout the show. for example, in s2ep1, "welcome back big time," kendall literally almost ruins his relationship with jo after suspecting her of cheating on him, even though she reassured him multiple times. another example is during "big time concert" when kendall is upset at gustavo because he "didn't even say goodbye." i think that struck a particular nerve in him.

also, speaking of gustavo, i know we like to talk about the parallels between him and kendall. i mean, the show even outwardly mentions it in the first episode. in "big time mansion," kelly mentions that gustavo didn't really have a chance to have a fun childhood. another popular headcanon that i totally agree with is that kendall had to grow up faster than other kids, what with his dad walking out. they both had to grow up fast in their own respective ways.

james: we actually get to see BOTH of his parents! even if we see his dad for literally one second during big time concert. also, semi-unrelated, whoever cast lisa rinna as his mom is an absolute fucking genius. anyway, we got to know a lot about james's family. his mom and dad are divorced, and his dad then goes on to marry a woman 15 years younger. james's mom is controlling and overbearing, but ultimately just cares. back in minnesota, i'd like to think that james mainly lives at his mom's place, but his mom's a workaholic and isn't home that often. james would probably stay at his dad's place every weekend or every other weekend. and, i don't think he would be fond of his step-mom at all. his dad and his step-mom would have a baby and i think james would hold a lot of resentment towards the kid like he's being replaced. but, he just considers himself an only child.

carlos: we get to see both of his parents ! but they're actually super chill and normal. we meet carlos's dad (i can't remember his name, if it's even mentioned) in "big time break," who is a police officer. and then, of course, we meet his mom, sylvia, in the mom episode. and she is an it data analyst! i see carlos as the baby of the family with 2 or 3 sisters that are college-aged and older, so they were all moved out, even back in minnesota. idk imho, carlos probably has the most normal, traditional and loving family.

logan: his family situation is the most vague out of the 4. we meet his mom, joanna, in the mom episode. god bless the mom episode. and she is a real estate agent! logan is definitely an only child. his parents are both work-aholics, so they are not around. i see his dad as having a medical job, maybe a surgeon, which is why logan wants to be a doctor so bad. i think his dad holds very high expectations for him regarding academics and whatnot. like "son 'a' is for AVERAGE so i expect you to get them." yadda yadda.

and yeah thx for reading. lmk if you guys have any other headcanons

[cornyonmains]

Going back and rewatching the first two episodes of 4 minutes, because I've been writing a lot of meta off the top of my head, and when I watch these shows, there's a lot I tend to notice and forget once an NC scene ensconces me into a horny brain fog.

A few minutes into episode 1 and it becomes apparent I completely glossed over this show's use of numerology, specifically angel numbers.

In numerology, angel numbers are believed to be numbers used by the spiritual universe to offer people insight and direction.

A lot of people have been noting the use of the number 11, which is an angel number, but what I overlooked at first glance, as did many others it seems, is the use of the number 200. With 200 being the number of joules the doctor at the beginning of episode 1 orders the defibrillator set to.

The number 200 is considered an angel number, one the universe sends to tell you you need more balance in your life, that one needs to take a step back and examine where they're headed. This number is also a sign that time is right for union with a twin flame.

Astrology.com has a good write-up on it:

I also think it's very telling that the doctor ordering that voltage is the one who originally tried to talk Tyme into becoming a teacher. He's also the reason I don't think it's Tyme on the bed. I think it's Great, having managed to switch places with Tyme, which is why we see the wounds in the same place. We're seeing the end result of Great succeeding in saving Tyme. I don't think that doctor would have been in the room if it was Tyme, because that would have been a conflict of interest. Also, I compared nipples. I'm like 90% sure it's Great.

It's also worth noting all the angel numbers we see in this show have 2 baked into them in some way, like 11 being 1 + 1 = 2. Or 200 being 2+0+0 = 2. This is important because in numerology these numbers mean union.

There's a pretty fascinating amount of new age spiritualism and fringe sciences going into the creation of this show. I mentioned in an earlier meta how the show's use of theme and color made Tyme and Great seem like black and white holes. Two characters in a state of thermal equilibrium, necessary to each other, but not sharing energy despite a permeable path to heat. The end resolution seems to be to get these two characters to follow that heat path and become gray, which is another color used quite often. And the show is using the concept of time asymmetry, which exists within black/white holes to achieve this. It's worth noting in numerology that the angel number 200 instructs one to trust the path they're on. Everything happening to Great is putting him on a collision course with Tyme much faster than it would have happened in the original timeline.

Now, if anyone thinks this sounds like a lot of overthought hokum, I'd also note that NDEs have been documented as causing electromagnetic weirdness with people who experience them. And I'm fairly certain the time asymmetry the show is using, if scientifically accurate, would definitely result in electromagnetic interference as electromagnetics play a pretty big role in general relativity. I'd break down the relationship, but I'd have to read for like 15 minutes, and I already did that once for the numerology stuff. It's been stream of consciousness since then.

Anyways, back to the smut. Will drop more meta as it comes.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s2 episode 5 thoughts

boy. where this episode started out and where this episode ended were two VASTLY different spaces. come along while i undergo this journey.

the first thing we see is a dog! a doggy! it's a border collie, and it looks like it could be the same one we see in s1 episode 8- maybe dog actors are in short supply! but border collies are famously very smart and to me the cutest of all dogs, so i was pleased to see a friendly face <3

and then things escalated. aliens arrived to fetch the dog's owner.

thankfully they left the dog alone- perhaps they saw the threatening "ALIENS, STAY AWAY FROM THAT DOG" i had written in my notes- but whatever they are inflicting upon this gentleman seems. unpleasant.

(the aliens are obviously terrifying but they're always shown vaguely wiggling in some cold white light and it does make me laugh. ohhhh here they come. the wigglers)

so in the morning our gentleman- duane- was taken to a correctional facility and he hasn't been taking his meds... and then he hurts his doctor! they always find the kindest looking people to play doctors on this show and then make them suffer

THE NEXT THING WE SEE IS: a pool? the pool scene i wrote about seeing a while ago in my last post! the one where mulder emerges mostly naked from his exercise to face this new guy who looks like he covers his beer stench with a designer cologne!

i rewound to see whose pool it was mulder was swimming in but gained no clues. would be sick if the FBI had an in house pool.

breaking news: this SOAKING WET MAN is called to a HOSTAGE SITUATION!

(i do find it endearing that he swims recreationally <3)

next thing i wrote was "alex is pissing me off" and i don't even remember what he did but i stand by it

so mulder is at the scene, duane has four hostages, and claims to be abducted by aliens. now to mulder it makes perfect sense to ask about his abduction experience, and he's trying to do his homework and follow the rules for hostage negotiation, but duane knows all the tricks because he's former FBI which they DID NOT TELL MULDER!

he walks up to the head of the hostage situation and very angrily asks if she knows about how aliens will take your brains out and fuck with your ovaries and she tries not to laugh at him. mulder tell me what they do to ovaries i'll listen. i'll take notes.

and then alex is trying to be all sickly sweet puppy dog boy and asks if he can do anything to help. so the head of the hostage situation tells him to get her a coffee. HA! POINT AT HIM AND LAUGH.

cutscene to SCULLY CAM!!!! <3 she's gonna sleuth for his medical records

ohhh the power went out and duane started blasting. he shot someone so they're gonna send mulder and another guy in (an excuse for mulder to wear a paramedic uniform.......)

mulder's like nooo i won't tell him i believe in aliens (<- said by a man who is lying)

and off to the races, can you imagine it, he does JUST that, says he believes duane and trades himself for the guy who was shot... he says it happened to his sister OHHHHHHH sister mention

he's got the guy monologuing about his tortures from the aliens and honestly, these aliens are bitches. there is NO reason to do all of this. drilling holes in his teeth??? that's fucked

alex is on the phone with scully who is freaking tf out because duane is lying about who he says he is... when he tells her he traded himself for the injured hostage she says "WHAT!" so loudly and is filled with intense urgency

! MULDER LORE REVEAL ! his sister was 8 when they took her

(for some reason i thought she was 10 when it happened, but the larger age gap between them explains a lot in terms of his instinctive level of Protectiveness towards all creatures big and small)

this next part had me GAGGED: SCULLY FLEW IN FROM WASHINGTON!!!! she is AT THE SCENE and she is YELLING at someone who isn't listening to her

alex made a VERY FATAL mistake in telling her to "calm down" while mulder is a HOSTAGE and she RIGHTFULLY told him off (and frankly she could have kept going and i wouldn't have complained) but she's a woman who gets things done so she finds someone who will actually listen to her

she says he has a very unique case of being shot in a specific part of the brain which happened to another guy before and then that guy became a pathological liar so she is basically saying "duane is the nastiest skank bitch i have ever met do NOT trust him"

so back to the scene. duane is saying the government is there while the aliens do all this. which i have no idea how to interpret so i'm just storing it here for later use.

SCULLY CAN HEAR HIM! she's on his secret wire mic and talking to him. duane can hear her a little bit but is going on about "the mountains"... it was at this point, with scully talking in mulder's ear, that everything was so tense i had a brief moment where i remembered that this is actually a tv show i'm watching in my free time and not an actual life or death thing

mulder convinces duane to let the women go and the younger one says she believes him which had to be impactful i'd think

but the snipers are closing in!!! mulder sees the line of fire on him and calls him over to get him out of the way so he won't get shot....

he asks duane if she was lying to distract him and now he's VERY VERY VERY ANGRY and he tries to calm him back down and say hey... you forgot to lock the door.... please go lock the door...

and he goes over to the door and bam. duane's shot.

we see scully and mulder watch as he's loaded into the ambulance and mulder looks deeply conflicted and once again has his sad wet eyes on because he still believes duane was telling the truth. scully tells mulder he did the right thing in getting him to go to the door, because we all know by now that mulder has a complicated set of feelings towards any loss of life.

"whatever you're feeling, you did the right thing" <- augh. scully loves him so much. oh to love anyone how truly and deeply scully loves this man

(shhhh i'm not getting into what kind of love it is. i don't know and whatever your answer for its flavor is, you cannot deny that she loves him. that she tries to find the exact words he wants to hear to soothe that internal Guilt he wears like a heavy jacket.)

later he smiles when the lead hostage negotiator calls him to thank him because he broke all of her rules and thought he was going to get yelled at LMAOOO that lil smile was very sweet

and he goes to see duane but the REAL reason she called him in was to tell him about the metal they extracted from duane's body... the doctors claim that the stuff in his teeth could not have been made from any current technology... alien life confirmed??

((i thought the episode would end here on a little cliffhanger that never gets resolved but boy. i was off))

no, instead of an episode's conclusion, we see mulder bring the metal pieces to scully, who once again has the most beautiful freckles in the world, and she says she'll take it down to be analyzed.

mulder leaves the room without saying a word which i thought to be cold in the moment and now that i'm typing this knowing what happens next i might actually cry.

she goes to the store and she's buying some stuff... we see kodak film in the background... sigh instant cameras i love you and your work... but she buys $11 of groceries and then sneaks the metal chip across the barcode reader and it makes the whole thing break down!!!!

the poor cashier is freaking out because the machine is going wild and she looks at scully like "did you touch it?" and she says no and awkwardly leaves LMAOOOOOOO i was howling because girl idk wtf i would have done in that situtation either

duane wakes up to more aliens and rips all his medical stuff off and runs like he didn't get shot very recently and he's on the prowl for something

scully's back at her place, calling mulder, telling him about how the barcode scanned, and she's really worked up about the whole thing, when she hears a rustle, but it's just a thunderstorm...

but she goes to the window and DUANE IS THERE!!! a look of horror passes over her face, and we hear her through mulder's answering machine, screaming for help while he takes her

(everything happened SO quickly, it transpired in my notes like this: WHAT!!! he's outside her window WHAT THE FUCK TO BE CONTINUED??)

yes. we get a "TO BE CONTINUED" on the outtro scene.

i sat there, baffled for a few moments, trying to process what i just saw.

but then i thought i noticed something else: her place looked different than it did in s1. at least, i thought it did- we didn't see it much, but perhaps she got fed up with folks showing up like eugene tooms did in s1 and bought a nicer space. i thought the old space was cute though, and maybe it really is the same space but from a different angle, but then i thought about how it looked like mulder's space also changed from s1, so maybe they both moved, or maybe i'm just not good at noticing things, but oh yeah, scully's in virigina now since she's at the academy, so she probably DID move, although i thought the drive from DC to virigina was doable, but maybe not?

none of this changes the fact that scully has been TAKEN.

(i won't lie, i knew this was going to happen at some point, because i read the s2 episode descriptions and saw something about her being "returned", which implies being taken in the first place. but still. it was very abrupt. they had thoroughly lulled me into expecting a vague sort of non-answer of an ending and then switched out the formula at just the right time so i never grew suspicious)

to be continued!!! this is soooo evil, especially because i don't have time to watch the next episode tomorrow. so i'm gonna walk around all day tomorrow at important work events thinking about what horrors scully must be enduring and get NO conclusion as to what they might be. duane i have fists and you are not real and i am small but i am unafraid to bludgeon you. stay away from her if you even LOOK at her ohhhh you're gonna learn a lot more than what it feels like when aliens take out ur brain just keep that in mind!

(and man. i'm sitting here typing. thinking about how mulder never said a real goodbye to her the last time they spoke. and i wonder if that's gonna haunt him. and i wonder if when he gets her back, he always always always makes sure to take the time for a goodbye. just on the off chance it might really be the last one. fuck.)

[asoulwithadream]

Shoscombe Old Place / Part 1 - Sherlock & Co From the diary of ASoulWithADream...

I'm really enjoying this episode so far! The domesticity coupled with the rising tension, and references to something which both scares and intrigues me. As I see my summaries grow shorter, my commentary grows longer, and I think I find it a welcome change.

Live Soul Reaction (my on-the-spot commentary):

A HOOVER?

Sherlock wouldn't be good at poker.

I love that in almost all pseudo-official works of Sherlock Holmes and his adventures (as documented by Doctor John Watson), he never fucking cleans.

MARIANA. I know this gives us an adventure more centred on John-Sherlock but MARIANAAAA NO-

I think John saying "holly-bobs" has cured me.

Their little tangents bring me so much life. They remind me so much of me and my own best-friend, seamlessly flowing from one topic (where one of us may be more knowledgable) to the other. They've captured the chemistry of friendship so incredible well.

SWINDON TOWN! WOO!

"Right, well, let's just say: she didn't just get a double-D in Maths and French…" JONK.

John "bit of a slut" Watson.

"There's no episode," yeah right, everything's an episode. You are an episode. I am an episode. We are episode…

I love John's town lore. The world-building is insane and both so normal and so outrageous, meeting somewhere in the middle. John doesn't feel like a character in my phone, I can imagine him actually outside Swindon right now.

"You are an idiot," <33333333

You know who Carol Watson reminds me of? Colm McCool from Derry Girls.

Yapping runs in the family, I guess.

Formed to that shape over thousands of year. Like a river. Water. River. Water falling. What.

"And that was a prize, was it?" "Hah, shut up," <3

I see what you did there Jonk. I don't think him recording was a mistake. He wanted a case, and he knew a case would appear, because cases seem to follow Sherlock like mice to a piper. No argument over the game being afoot? Immediately starting the case from the first lead? John, you wanted this to happen. <3

"The entire species? Or a particular suborder?" "THE Beatles."

I thought Gary Lineker was that one guy Sherlock called a hunk.

"Did she have any animosity towards the creature?" Sherlock what.

"She's an eighty-six year old woman in San Tropez, John. I ain't got a scooby, mate." I LOVE YOU JOE!!! I <3 YOU!!!

"You don't realise a place is run down when you live in it, do you?" The nostalgia of that sentence hit me like a bull train. The tragedy of decay can co-exist with the love for a place in it.

Also, what's with the poker/card-game references? Is this relevant, or just an inside joke?

TATTOO REMOVAL??? CLOSE INSPECTION???? ONCE OR TWICE??????

I love that Sherlock is trying to ease John with having Carrie involved with the case, offering to avoid talking to her, being the one to contact instead, he's being so kind and thoughtful and I love seeing Sherlock act like this.

This hobbit aah music has got me joining the gnome vs knight war.

"To see this, trickle through the countryside, knowing what he'll eventually become. Journey, growth, and finally, lost, to much deeper, complex waters. Unrecognisable in the homogeny." That's a the second explicit mention of water, very poetically phrased as both a metaphor for something I can not quite put my finger on, and also… waterfalls. I think I was right to comment on the Final Problem a few days ago. Wrong in my theory, right with time.

"Bliss, cheers." <3

THE FUCK.

ARCHIE.

WITH HER??? HE WAS WHO'S?

CARRIE.

They're getting better at cliffhangers (pun intended). How do I know? I'm getting more and more frustrated.

[intuitive-revelations]

Legend of Ruby Sunday live notes

Obviously spoilers below, recorded as I watched. Definitely gonna watch again though. I think I might do a seperate write up about 'what to take away' because oh my god does this episode throw a lot at you!

"Uncle"!!

We're definitiely getting a UNIT spin-off aren't we? I recognised the soldier guy straight away (tbh, when I first saw the 60th trailers he looked so odd in the shots used I thought he was cgi/deepfaked). If we do get it, I do hope they go for the military vs science conflict like I imagine - he'd be a good 'antagonist' for Kate in that regard.

Ooh... just pointing out the anagram in-universe....huh.

"TARDIS technology." Oh she's doomed this episode, I can feel it coming.

Oh! And we're doing the Susan mention?! Ok?!

AND THAT'S THE END OF THE PRE-TITLES WHAT? WHY?

Must be a redirect, though, surely? 'Susan' is not much to go off. It's silly they're jumping to this straight away in-universe, even with the TARDIS anagram.

"Well, except the obvious." "We'll get him." Is that a Musk slam?

Mel!

"Call me Sue" that's a bit of evidence against. Though if it is somehow Susan, her actually being 'really nice' would be cute.

Ruby Rose besties! Ruby Rose besties!

Hm. If this is somehow Susan, we are so going to dissect that thing about Sue Triad's parents.

Donna mention. :)

Oh my god, I've just realised. The TARDIS is a central part of this mystery, and that's exactly what Mrs Flood claimed to recognise...

Uhh.... what's up with Flood?

"HE WAITS NO MORE."

We're really settling on the Susan thing, huh.

"He never mentioned a granddaughter." Five Doctors fans keep losing.

"If you've got a granddaughter, that means you've got kids." "Well, not quite. Not yet." OMG WE'RE DOING THIS?

(Also...he definitely HAS had kids before - and not just Jenny and Miranda. But wild that we're implying Susan isn't the child of one of them.)

"I bring disaster. What if I go back and ruin her?" Hmm... so far kinda compatible with To the Death?

"Especially the Prime Minister." lol.

"N-dimenionsal time", thanks, I'll absorb that into my interpretation of time, time tracks etc. in the whoniverse.

Mel lost her family. Is that a reference? Doesn't immediately bring something to mind.

I like the way the lights are fading up and down, very TARDIS-y.

Ooh, the VHS-y environment.

"The greatest power of all: memory. Time is remembered. Memory is time." MEMORY TARDIS MEMORY TARDIS.

"What is the memory of a time machine?" No way.

Ok, getting ready for a twist. RTD said where people were is important.

...or not?

The one who waits?!

Well there goes the colonel. No surprise.

Hmm... the description "it's everything" sounds a lot like the Void ship from Doomsday.

"It's the Beast." Not that 'Beast' surely?

"It's so old. It's been waiting. It's been waiting for so long." So those "one"s are the same, confirmed?

"It's the TARDIS" AHHHH.

It's groaning again! "It's made that noise before."

"What if it exists around the TARDIS now and we just can't see it?"

I don't think this is our Susan, but if she somehow is I'm really enjoying her dorkiness.

...that's two "no more" drops so far. Hmm...

"AND I THINK WE CAN SUCCEED" Hello?!

It's woven into the TARDIS? Some sort of parasite maybe? Didn't RTD say something about the splitting in The Giggle being important?

"He has hidden in the Howling Void. He has hidden within the tempest." WAIT I WAS RIGHT?! It's Void related. The Eternals called it the Howling didn't they?!

"All this time, he whispered and delighted and seduced, and the vessel did obey. For none should be more mighty and none should be more wise than the King himself." UHHHHH.

HARRIET F*CKING ARBINGER (and she said she was born for this... of course)

WAIT THAT'S SAXON'S THEME WTF

"I dream of worlds with orange skies." HUH? I guess that could be from Boom, but you know what I'm thinking

"There is the Toymaker: the God of Games. There is Trickster: the God of traps." I f*cking knew it. The 'Pantheon' is the Pantheon of Discord!

"There is Maestro: the God of Music. There is Reprobate: of Spite. There is the Mara, the God of Beasts, and the three-fold deity of malice and mischeif and misery." Ok Mara mention... BUT also, "three-fold" that's deliberate right?! Like the Six-Fold God?

"The mother and father and other of them all."

SUTEKH!

"Did you think I was family, Doctor?" Phew...

And it's Gabriel Woolf voicing him! That's good.

Wait... he also voiced the Beast... huh. What does that mean with the reference this episode?

[stargazerlily7210]

Hello, and welcome to my TED Talk.

In this essay, I will demonstrate why I think Mrs. Flood is Susan Foreman (aka The Doctor's Granddaughter, aka The Unearthly Child, aka The Boss, aka The One Who Waits).

I know, I know. Not exactly the hottest take out there.

But buckle in, cause this goes deep.

Getting this out of the way first: I know this season has been billed as a bit of a fresh start (what with calling it Season 1, and all) and thus people are wary about assuming Mrs. Flood is a returning character. But let's be real. Just look at the 60th anniversary specials. Ya know, the massive 3 parter whose plot has set everything in motion for this next season.

They feature The 14th Doctor (aka The 10th Doctor revamped) with Donna Noble and her family (from the 2000's), Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (from the 2010's) who is both the current leader of UNIT (from Classic Who) and the daughter of The Brigadier: original leader of UNIT (throughout all of Classic Who), The Meep (from a Classic Who comic strip of all things) The Toymaker (Classic Who) and Mel (Classic Who).

And that's just the characters. Never mind the near constant references to both New and Classic Who.

They made it appealing and approachable to new viewers, sure. But they've already proven they're not actually interested in distancing themselves from the show's past.

So why do I think she's Susan, specifically?

Well, for starters, although the age of an actress doesn't really mean much in a 60 yr old time-travel show that's already had (MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVENT SEEN THE 11TH DOCTOR'S EPISODES!!) a parent-child dynamic where the daughter is not just played by an actress who's noticably older than the parents, but also canonically met the doctor first, despite her parents being the primary companions, (and each of them are played by both adult and child actors). But Anita Dobson is 74. Which would have made her 14/15 when the show started in 1963. Around the same age Susan Foreman is supposed to be/appear.

But again, that doesn't really mean anything in this show. So why else would I think she's Susan? And why do I think this means she's also The Boss mentioned by the Meep, AND The One Who Waits mentioned by The Toymaker?

Well, because I think it all falls into place with some of the big themes they've been pushing in the episodes so far, if she's Susan.

I mean, from what I know of Susan, she was a refugee from Galifrey, with her grandfather, The Doctor. As far as we know, he's her only family. He'd basically been raising her until she caught feelings for a human guy, so The Doctor decided she'd be better off staying on Earth. Effectively abandoning his very traumatized teenage granddaughter in 1960's London. It wasn't malicious, he was trying to do what's best for her. But he still left her there against her will and never came back for her.

So she's an orphaned teenage refugee, raised in a high-tech alien culture, stuck in the 1960's, with her first major crush as her primary confidant and caregiver. Let's be real. She'd have been deemed a mentally unstable minor, and at best institutionalized, at worst dissected/studied, in a heartbeat (or rather, two heartbeats (a surprise tool that'll help us later)).

So here we have a woman who's likely been drugged and tortured ("psychotherapy" in the 1960s, am I right?), gaslit, and desperately isolated for a significant portion of her life. With a massive list of reasons to both deeply resent and have seriously dissociated from The Doctor and the TARDIS.

And now we finally get to the new episodes:

The Meep says that creatures with two hearts are so rare that it can't wait to tell The Boss about The Doctor. So we have The Meep, who just happened to pick Earth to "crash land" on, answering to a nameless Boss who's on the lookout for 2 hearted creatures. Thus, we're looking for someone with both a connection to Earth and intimate knowledge of Timelord biology.

The Toymaker says even he didn't dare face The One Who Waits. Which says a lot, considering the importance and prevalence of people described as Waiting with a capitol W.

(MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE 10TH and 11TH DOCTOR'S EPISODES!!) Off the top of my head, I can think of Jack Harkness aka The Face of Boe who waited billions of years to see The Doctor again. We have Amy Pond aka The Girl Who Waited, and Rory Williams aka The Boy Who Waited. We even have Sara Jane Smith, who's first real conversation with the The Doctor after finding him again had her admitting she'd spent her whole adult life waiting for him to come back. So to be The One Who Waited, above and beyond all others? You'd have to have somehow waited more than the rest. And when you're already talking about Waiting upwards of 5 Billion years, that's tough to do. Unless you're looking at it from The Doctor's perspective. And the Granddaughter he'd abandoned 15 lifetimes ago would absolutely fit that bill.

So we have an individual who is intelligent/knowledgeable enough to be called The Boss by an alien kapable of mind control and space flight, who's searching for creatures with 2 hearts. Who's earned the title of The One Who Waits, above so many other candidates.

And we just so happen to meet a character who's being played by an actress the same age Susan should be.

Speaking of, we can finally look at Mrs. Flood herself. When I first watched the episode, it struck me just how angry she was at seeing the TARDIS. When it's far more normal to see people ignoring the thing. So her reaction is weird, both in general, and for a character the actress herself described as a friendly neighbor lady.

It's only after she's utterly shocked by the TARDIS disappearing in front of her that she starts acting different. As if seeing that unlocked her memories. From there on out, she's a different person who knows exactly what's going on. She even addresses the audience at the end and knows to call it a TARDIS. Which Susan of all people would know, as Susan claimed to have come up with the acronym herself, during her time with the 1st Doctor (whether that's technically canon or not, idk).

It's also worthy to note, that if you look at the houses during the scene where she's complaining about the TARDIS, you'll see that on the outside, her house, while the most extravagantly decorated outside, is noticably stark and empty inside, unlike each of the other houses where you can clearly see decorations through the windows. Not to mention, her door is the only one that looks like the TARDIS. The other doors are either the wrong shade, or style, or both. And her's is the only one that doesn't have stairs going to the second level. I don't know how much of this is just working within the confines of the location, and how much is intentional, or what it would mean, but we see enough wide shots of the house fronts, it seems potentially relevant.

So if Mrs. Flood is, in fact, Susan Foreman, she's exactly the right age, she'd have had more than enough reason to be triggered by the sight of the TARDIS, more than enough intelligence/knowledge to reach Boss status in her search for a rare two-hearted creature and being The Doctor's Granddaughter, could absolutely intimidate The Toymaker, and have more than enough claim to the title of The One Who Waited.

And if she turned out to be a future Big Bad, she would have the trauma, reasoning, skillset, and intelligence to truly challenge The Doctor and force him to deal with the repercussions of his habit of never stopping or looking back at his actions or mistakes.

We've never seen if Susan can regenerate as far as I'm aware, but we know she's a Timelord and significantly younger than The Doctor. So if she can, the actress has already suggested that Mrs. Flood will go through quite a transformation throughout future episodes. We might be seeing the birth of a new antagonist for a new generation of the show.

Honorable Mention: I feel like The Boss is right up there with The Doctor and The Master. And RTD would absolutely make The Boss a bada** boss babe.

Phew. That was a whole essay. If you've made it this far, congrats!! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

[musings-of-a-rose]

I've been a Joel supporter since the game came out and after watching that episode, and especially now that I've become a mom since the game, I still stand firm in my choice to support what Joel did.

For those saying "But he lied to Ellie!" - yeah. He did. But you know who else did? The Fireflies. Marlene. She even had the balls to say to Joel "You're not giving her the choice because you know what she'd choose." Implying that she would choose to be operated on. But you know what? She didn't give Ellie a choice either. Marlene even said they sedated her and told her nothing so she wouldn't be afraid. That right there says Marlene doesn't know for sure that Ellie would choose self sacrifice, so she withheld that rather important piece of information from her.

Ellie is also 14 years old. This sort of decision is way too much to put on her shoulders, and I say this as a very mature 14 year old when I was that age.

"Ok, but this is the fate of the world!" Says who? What they didn't give you in the show was the letters/notes Joel finds in the hospital saying Ellie wasn't the first immune person that they've performed lethal surgery on to poke around in a brain. And you know what? None of it worked. Could Ellie have worked? Maybe. But it's a slim chance in hell it would and that just wasn't worth it to Joel.

You also can't vaccinate a fungal infection. It doesn't work that way, which is why doctors give people creams and hope for the best when they have fungal infections.

Also, this was ONE doctor with some nurses. A doctor and a scientist are not the same thing. Granted, a doctor would be better at figuring something out, but that wasn't his area of expertise. He'd need a whole team of experts to even hope to find a cure IF it was there. They also had no equipment, no mri's or cat scans, nothing. Yes, they were in a hospital but right before Joel enters the room, one of them asks "Do we have enough power?" They're not even sure they can power the room to perform the surgery - how ar they going to spend countless months and years on a supposed cure?

BUT let's overlook all of that and say by some miracle they find a cure. How are they going to mass produce said cure? They most likely don't have the resources for this as everything is shut down and 20 years old. And even if they did, how to mass distribute it? Marlene said the Fireflies would, but so many people distrust them so who's to say they'd accept it? Not to mention Joel, by himself, took out an entire building of them.

Marlene also had the audacity to say to Joel that she understands his plight because she was there when Ellie was born so she gets it. No, you don't. You took your friend's baby out of obligation and put her in an orphanage and straight into a FEDRA school/camp. Marlene came back when Ellie was bit, chained her up in a room for weeks, and kept performing experiments on her to see if she would turn. She didn't raise Ellie so she couldn't possibly have known that sort of connection.

In the end, Joel chose love because he loves Ellie like he loved his daughter. And if I were in his shoes, I 100% would've made the exact same decision.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[reikunrei]

It's Always the Dad

Yes, we have another installment of comparing Stranger Things and Doctor Who! Today we'll be going through:

Season 1, Episode 8: Father's Day

The general premise of this episode is Rose and the Doctor going back in time to the day her dad, Pete, was killed in a hit-and-run accident. Initially, she just wanted to be there for him during his passing, since he died alone with no one around. However, in a split-second decision, Rose runs out and pushes him out of the way, thus saving him. This causes a "wound" in time, as the Doctor puts it, which summons creatures called Reapers that start killing and "consuming" everything in the vicinity. It even makes the Tardis unusable, leaving them stranded with no way out and no clear method to fix things.

Immediately getting hit with the name Peter is soooo... even getting an Alan in there?? Anyway.

We open on a flashback of Rose as a young child talking to her mother, Jackie, about Pete. Jackie mentions that how, when he died, "I only wish there'd been someone there for him." Now Rose, in the present day, talks to the Doctor about how she wishes she could be that someone, and asks if he could take her to him. He agrees, but when the moment comes, Rose freezes up and Pete dies before she can go comfort him.

She asks if she can try again, but the Doctor warns her that they have to be very careful this time. He says it's dangerous having two sets of them there at the same time, though he doesn't elaborate further than that, instead simply warning her that, while she doesn't "have to do anything [she] [doesn't] want to," this is the last chance they'll have, as they won't be able to come back a third time without it getting risky.

However, overcome with the sudden understanding that she could save her dad, Rose runs out before Pete's been hit by the car, exposing herself to the past versions of Rose and the Doctor, and shoves him out of the way as the car peels off around the corner. The past Rose and Doctor disappear and Rose introduces herself to Pete, who notes how it's a "coincidence," seeing as she shares a name with his baby daughter.

Blurting out that she knows of the wedding Pete was on his way to, she goes with the Doctor and Pete back to his apartment to finish getting ready. We then get an overhead shot, shrouded in red, of the city from the eyes of an unseen creature.

Obviously, what Rose did was bad. Really bad. But we have yet to see the full damage, and first get this exchange between her and the Doctor at Pete's apartment.

Rose protests, saying that now her dad is alive, that what she did was a good thing, but the Doctor counters with the fact that his entire race of people is dead and "Do you think it never occurred to me to go back and save them?" Rose further argues, saying that it's not like she "changed history" in a meaningful way.

Obviously this jumps out in conjunction with Vecna's "he was an ordinary, mediocre man" comment about Brenner. The idea of Pete being important because he's ordinary will come up again later in this episode, and it's something I've spoken of before in some of my prior DW posts.

This concept is present in Stranger Things, and, notably, for the most part, it is presented as a very good thing. It's often highlighted that our protagonists are underdogs and outcasts, specifically people who, while on the fringes, are still very ordinary. They're messy, they're imperfect, and characters like El, who are extraordinary, have a desire to become ordinary, or at the very least to just fit in and live as normal a life they can lead. Characters like El and Henry and the other lab kids are put on pedestals for their abilities, but we're shown time and again that it's really not all it's cracked up to be, especially if they want to be able to exist out in the world and be loved for who they are, not for what they can offer.

This does then, however, quite neatly lead me back around to Brenner. Our protagonists are shown to be ordinary, but so are our antagonists. Everyone in Stranger Things is just someone, and that means everyone. No one character is any more "special" than another, and that's a core facet of the entire show. And again, I mean everyone. Even the bad guys. Even Vecna. They are all ordinary.

Thus, our "good guys" and our "bad guys" are put in the same camp. They're equated to one another. Therefore, one can't simply be cast aside, because doing so entirely undermines the other and strips the story of one of its load-bearing columns.

When it comes to Brenner, as I spoke about in this post analyzing another episode, this idea leads me to believe that we're meant to deeply humanize Brenner. Brenner is said to be seeking out greatness in others in order to uplift himself, in order to make himself extraordinary, and while Vecna makes his "...ordinary, mediocre..." statement as a means to knock Brenner out at the knees, I believe it's also meant as a way to ground him in with all the other characters in the show. If our "big bad," the guy who created the Child Torture Basement, is "ordinary," then what does that make the rest of us? Certainly not worse than him, but not better either.

Moving back to the DW episode, the spat between the Doctor and Rose continues, and we get this gem of a back-and-forth that (combined with the last screenshot in the previous collage) reads very much like the byler rain fight scene and thus also the brennry argument in TFS (which you can see side-by-side comparisons of here from @henrysglock).

Even with the pseudo-"you'll come crawling back" line? Please.

So, the Doctor storms off, leaving Rose with Pete, who tries to comfort her about her "boyfriend" walking out on her.

Tell me I don't need to get into detail with this. Even the stuff with the loony bin? Come on, now... Even the little comment about the Bermuda Triangle, which is something @aemiron-main has cooking up in a post somewhere/has spoken about it personally with me in the past... wrow.

Then we cut to the church where the aforementioned wedding is taking place, where multiple people comment that so many guests are "missing." In a prior scene, we got more of those red overhead shots followed by people in the city being snatched up by our unseen danger. The groom's father jokes with the groom about how it's not too late for him to back out.

Of course we combine time being weird with it getting cold and a “turn back the clock” line… sure.

While driving to the wedding, Pete asks Rose how she knows Jackie, and Rose says that Jackie, when talking about Pete, says she "picked the most wonderful man in the world." Pete scoffs at this, saying, "Must be a different Jackie, then. She'd never say that." This is something Rose finds odd, but I'll talk about it more in-depth and my thoughts on it later.

They're interrupted by the radio suddenly changing channels, which begins playing a rap song that Rose recognizes as having not been released yet in 1987. She pulls out her cell phone to check her messages and presumably call the Doctor, but all she gets is a repeated voice saying, "Watson, come here. I need you." Then, the car that almost ran Pete over earlier appears in the rear view mirror before disappearing.

Pete and Rose pull up at the chapel, and, again, the car appears out of nowhere and nearly runs into them.

Then Jackie comes over and immediately begins a row with Pete while Rose just gawks. The following screenshots are a collection rather than the shot-for-shot, line-by-line progression because... boy she has words.

Jackie has always been fiery and hot-headed, so this isn't exactly out of character for her, but Rose is shocked by the fact that they're fighting so terribly when all Jackie ever told her growing up was that Pete was wonderful and they were happy. Briefly after this, Rose does see them sort of "make up" and have a firm but more civil conversation about Jackie being upset about their instability and Pete promising things will get better, but even after that, she's still very short with him and insults him repeatedly.

While, obviously, it's not the same situation, it made me think of what 001 partially monologues about in 4.07, wherein he complains that while his family put on this happy, perfect image, it was all a veneer to hide how dysfunctional they really were. In DW, Jackie, after his death, spoke highly of Pete, possibly so Rose wouldn't think poorly of him (though, knowing Jackie, I'd say it was also partially to soothe herself lol). When Rose was at their apartment, she saw all of his awards and accolades on display while, in the modern day, they're all boxed up and tucked away. Rose commented on all of Pete's entrepreneurial goods scattered around the house, and though Jackie spoke exasperatedly of it all, it's framed very much as a fond exasperation. Meanwhile, in this chapel scene, it's clear that Jackie vehemently hates it.

I still need to do some exploring through more episodes of DW, but I have a little hunch that aspects of Rose's character and arcs may have been at least partial inspiration for the Creels and Henry specifically, so seeing this family dysfunction crop up had my radar beeping a little faster.

We then get a brief scene of several children at a nearby playground being snatched up one at a time by our red-tinted villains, and one boy races around to the church shouting about monsters "going to eat us!" and one of the other wedding guests asks, "What sort of monsters, sweetheart? Is it aliens?" and several of the adults laugh. Okay.

At this point, we've also been made aware that the Tardis is out of service. The Doctor, after having left Rose at the apartment, finds that the Tardis is empty, just looking like a normal police call box on the inside. He races back to where Rose is (he goes crawling back!), finding her at the church and yelling for her to get inside as we get a first look at our monsters.

They're giant bat-like creatures, of course, because what else would they be, that swoop down and consume several guests (including the pastor) on the outer steps of the church while everyone else races inside to safety.

Rose, babygirl, quit saying Henry words.

The Doctor is also given the groom's father's cell phone, which is also receiving that "Watson, come here. I need you" interference. The Doctor excitedly says that that's "the very first phone call" from Alexander Graham Bell. I'm sure you picked up on it when I mentioned it before, but evidently with this "wound" in time, we're getting a "bleeding" effect where time is sort of overlapping. The area is now unstable because of the way Rose interfered, so we're getting snippets from long before and after 1987.

This makes me think of all the stuff with anachronisms in ST, which has been spoken about heavily by Em and others, specifically in posts like this one irt TFS. This "bleeding" phenomenon is even present on-screen, specifically with the newspapers that Nancy and Robin read at the library, given that they see a newspaper with the name Edward Creel in it, yet they come to only verbally mention Henry. While we're not sure why this is happening in ST yet, as it's used here in DW, it's meant to be a hint toward an overlap/collapse in time and space. Therefore, who's to say it's not something similar, or at least some hint at general instability, in ST?

I also want to briefly highlight the religious undertones we get within this episode, due to the fact that the majority of it takes place inside the church. We already had that one shot I posted earlier of the groom and his father talking, in which we get a prolonged moment on the stained glass window depicting the crucifixion of Jesus followed by the comment of it being "cold." Here, now with everyone hiding inside, we get this shot of the shadow of one of the Reapers through the same window.

This happens several times through the episode across all the windows of the church, but this one is especially pointed and instantly makes me think of all of the TFS promo that heavily favored religious imagery, as well as the recent ST5 leaks showing that a church will definitely be involved, even with UD vines covering it (Creel exorcism, anyone?). To bring it even closer to the MF, these shots of the Reapers remind me of the MF looking through the gate as El closes it in ST2.

We even get a moment later where the Doctor stands behind the pulpit in order to explain their plan to get the Tardis back. That paired with Brenner's Time Lord imagery, and even Mr. Newby in TFS originally being listed as Father Newby, sure had me raising my eyebrows.

Pete and the Doctor have a brief moment while they're going around making sure all the windows and doors are locked, wherein the Doctor spots the disappearing-reappearing car that almost hit Pete going around the corner. Pete catches a glimpse, but when he asks the Doctor what it was, the Doctor says it was nothing to worry about and moves on.

Then we get one of my favorite moments.

This had me jumping for joy because of the Fringe of it all. Spoilers ahead, but, in Fringe, after Peter Bishop was wiped from the universe, he was returned only for the universe around him to not shift to accommodate his presence again. While he still had all of his past memories, even ones that he shared with Walter and Olivia, nobody else had any of those shared memories. He wasn't inserted back into their world retroactively, he was just placed in the present as-is. In the original universe, Olivia and Peter were in a romantic relationship, but that ceased to exist when he was wiped, yet she begins acting like they're in a relationship and being affectionate. When Peter asks why she's doing that, she says she doesn't really know why, just that she knows she loves him even if she has none of the memories to go with it.

Earlier in this DW episode, in the screenshots I posted above shortly after the Doctor leaves, Pete admits he feels he knows Rose from somewhere. Deep down, he knows he's her dad, but he just had to see it.

Given that Fringe is a huge inspiration for ST, I was so pleased to see this concept crop up here too. It reminds me a lot of what we see in the NINA arc in ST4, wherein El is dropped in front of 001 and seems to almost instantly trust him with her life. She doesn't remember what happened, but she seems to know that she loves him and he loves her, which feels further aided by her lashing out at him when he appears "off" to her. Hell, even her still trying to break through to Vecna points to the idea that she knows she loves the man (allegedly) in there, and perhaps even knows more about the truth of the situation than she remembers/than what Brenner has led her to believe. She's being presented with the worst possible image of this person, but part of her still hesitates in condemning him.

Now let's return again to our lovely idea of ordinary being best. The Doctor is approached by the bride and groom of the wedding, and the bride asks if he'll save them.

While these people are deemed "ordinary" and they think themselves "unimportant," the Doctor protests. They have their own individual, unique lives and experiences, ones that he, by virtue of who and what he is, will never get to experience. This is a big reason why the Doctor, across the entire history of the DW series, always comes back to Earth. He's fascinated by humans, which is something I've spoken about before. It's very reminiscent of Gandalf being smitten by Hobbits in LotR.

I've already spoken about how our main characters in ST are deemed "outcasts" and "freaks," and while those monikers feel inherently at odds with the "ordinary" label I slapped on them earlier, the whole point of our main cast is that they're representative of “the everyman,” and they’re meant to be generally sympathetic to everyone in the audience. We're even shown the "ordinary" characters being anything but that (specifically thinking of Karen and how Nancy talks about her in ST1 compared to their conversation in ST3; and Jason being the "perfect boy" before he snaps and loses his head entirely; and, of course, the Creel family seeming picture-perfect before revealing in TFS that Virginia really was Like That with Henry). Point is, there's the "ordinary" we're told, and then the true "ordinary" we're shown.

The "ordinary", or "normal" as it's often dubbed in ST, we're told about it always a facade of some kind, and in fact almost everyone in ST is un-ordinary beneath the surface or due to varying circumstances. In short, this is an extremely long-winded way of, again, saying that there isn't really any "ordinary vs freaks," because everyone is on the same playing field.

So for just one second I want to be That Bitch and talk about how this made me think of the comparisons between Henry and Will, and the common fanon idea of bringing Will "up" to "Henry"'s "level" of supposed greatness by giving him world-altering powers. While I don't doubt that Will has some kind of ability that will aid them, especially given that he can still sense the Shadow when he's back in proximity of it, I find it quite a stretch to believe that he'll be given powers akin or adjacent to what El or Henry have.

While El often falls back on her powers to help/defend herself and others, we also see her crave a "normal" life and claim she "doesn't belong" because she's different (read: has/had powers and lived a wholly different life from her peers because of it). It's something that's heavily emphasized with Henry in TFS as well, with him claiming he's not "normal" and that something is wrong with him because of his affliction with the Shadow and his newfound powers he has yet to understand or control. His entire life has been turned upside down (ha ha), and flashes of medical reports in the play outline that he was a "normal" boy before his flaying in the (alleged) Nevada cave. Overall, the powers are framed as something undesirable that makes life harder than it already is for them.

Obviously everyone knows that Will's homosexuality and El's powers are meant to sort of parallel each other in this sense. And thus, I can kind of see the argument that, if he had powers of his own, this could be a way to tie it together. If he had powers of some kind, they could be another literal representation of his queerness or otherness that needs to be "accepted." However, I find that, to put it bluntly, completely pointless. Him being gay already represents him being gay. It feels demeaning to his arc to give him a proxy to accept himself through rather than just accepting himself... for himself.

Besides, we already have El grappling with the powers aspect on her own in her "am I the monster or the superhero?" struggle. She already has that whole idea covered, so why does Will need to take it from her? Why does he have to accept it first before she does?

Rather, as I've been discussing, I believe it's because Will is "ordinary" (read: doesn't have powers) that he'll be of greater help toward fixing things. He, along with El, very closely parallel Henry's life experiences, with El paralleling his time in the lab and Will paralleling his time outside of it/prior to it (which is something James has spoken of in the past, though I cannot find a post about it !!). However, it's less about them being the same and more about highlighting how they're different.

- Will's family stuck by his side and tried to help him while Henry's tossed him to the dogs. - Will had his life saved and the Shadow removed while Henry was left to fester with it for months, at the very least. - Will had a group of friends willing to give him the benefit of the doubt/help him when he was flayed while Henry never had someone listen to his side of the story, instead choosing to believe he really did everything of his own volition.

Therefore, it feels extremely logical to me to assume that Will would be left without profound powers like the ones Henry gained (which, for the record, we still don't know how he got). They're not meant to match each other beat for beat, but, as people, they're meant to highlight a disparity within society and what circumstances can do to a person. They share experiences, but they don't share outcomes.

I can't say all of this with complete confidence, obviously, as the Duffers haven't given us all the answers yet, but i feel very confident in my agreement with James, as I stated before, that El is meant to closely parallel Henry as a lab-kid and someone with powers, while Will is meant to closely parallel Henry pre-flaying and who he is without powers.

In short: having nothing "special" going on (aka not being a Time Lord or having psychic abilities) is not a detraction and, in fact, just being who you are is what makes someone exceptionally important.

Back to the episode!

The Doctor, in a moment of reprieve while he's trying to think of how to get everyone out of there, is tasked with keeping an eye on baby!Rose. Adult!Rose approaches, but the Doctor physically prevents her from touching her infant self. Doing so would cause a paradox, since they're the same person, and any further disturbance in time might make the Reapers strong enough to break into the church.

At this point, the Doctor is still miffed at Rose for having unintentionally caused all of this, and we get a fun moment where she snaps at him that she's "not stupid" and he responds with "could've fooled me." Hey, Russell T. Davies called, he wants his ST2 El and Hopper arguments back.

Ultimately, Rose apologizes, because she does feel guilty for causing this, and then the Doctor holds her face and hugs her... in the same way Pete just did not long ago but hey we don't need to unpack her love interest acting like her dad right now that's fine-

At this point, Pete still doesn't know he's supposed to have died, so he asks Rose if he and Jackie are still together in the future and if he's a good dad. Rose spins a tale that he read her a bedtime story every night and they all went out for a picnic every Saturday; that he was always someone she could really rely on. All Pete responds with is "That's not me."

I discussed this earlier, but while this does remind me of the whole "facade" thing we have going on in ST, it reminds me too of the idea of alternate selves and different timelines. Which, in the case of DW, I swear is not a stretch because later in season 2, Rose and the Doctor go to a parallel universe where they meet the Pete from that world, who didn't die, and ultimately becomes a great father figure to Rose.

Eventually, Pete figures out that he's meant to be dead. He sees the disappearing-reappearing car going in its loop around the corner, recognizing it as the one that almost ran him over, and on top of the weird way Rose has been acting with his questions and the cryptic way the Doctor keeps talking about how "the thing [Rose] changed will stay changed" (wow, cool TFS word), he finally puts the pieces together.

At this point, Jackie finally overhears Pete call himself Rose's dad, which they'd since been keeping a secret, and we get... uh

Sorry, this one really just made me laugh. Don't mention the lab child breeding program, it's fine.

She even balks at him calling her Rose, asking if he "calls them all Rose," because she assumes Rose is an affair partner and is disgusted that he'd give his own daughter a "second-hand name" from his mistress. I can't even get into this, I just have to move on.

Pete, in his attempt to get her to understand that they're the same Rose, makes to hand baby!Rose to adult!Rose. Too late for Rose or the Doctor to stop it, they touch, and the paradox gives one of the Reapers enough strength to make its way into the church. The Doctor puts himself between the Reaper and the rest of the people, saying that he's "the oldest thing in here" and thus just what the Reaper would want most. It consumes him and disappears, and Rose cries that he's dead and the whole world is over because of her.

Pete, however, realizes what he's meant to do. He tells Rose that he's going to sacrifice himself and complete what was meant to be completed. He even convinces Jackie that Rose is their daughter, and the three of them have an incredibly somber moment.

My leaking tear ducts aside, the "extra hours" reminded me of some weird language that comes up in TFS, specifically something Brenner says to Henry about his "missing hours." Pete gets extra hours outside of "real hours," hours that were never meant to happen, like how Henry may have “lost hours” without actually losing time, if that makes sense. It even makes me think about NINA and how 001 very well be sentient in there, at least to some degree, and therefore would he feel like interacting with El in there was like getting "extra hours" with his daughter?

James has also spoken to me about how time moves strangely in TFS, and not even in the sense that "it's a play and that's just sort of how the transitions within that medium work." Specifically, he's pointed out how the days and scenes bleed into each other in ways like Henry's skipping around hours (which, coincidentally, is similar to a phenomenon that occurs in another DW episode I've spoken about). A really obvious example is Henry in the attic scene in which "he" kills Prancer, wherein it should be at night/before bed. However, when he comes out of it, Virginia is knocking on the attic door telling him it's 9:45 and they need to go to church. Henry even squeaks "in the morning!?", just as shocked as we are to learn an entire night has passed in such a brief sequence of events.

Also I don't have any real commentary on the rest of it other than I would Die if we get a similar exchange between Victor and Henry, or Henry and El, or something. Pretty please. Something something you have to be your dad, but for good. Something something doing everything they can to save their children.

With no other feasible plan, Pete leaves the church and rushes to the street corner, where he steps out in front of the car and allows himself to be hit. This time, Rose does go to him, and holds his hand as he passes. As soon as he dies, the Reapers vanish, time stops going wonky, and everyone who'd been consumed is returned, Doctor included.

Now, we get another flashback like the start of the episode, with Jackie talking to kid Rose, but this time the story of Pete has slightly changed. Jackie says that the guy who hit him was just a kid, it wasn't his fault, because Pete just stepped out into the road. Jackie even mentions a "girl" who stayed with Pete until he died, and then she just... was gone, and they never found out who she was.

Oh yeah btw peep that date lol lmao.

This I thought was really interesting. Sometimes the trope of “history has to say the same” can become boring and predictable when there’s no way around a specific outcome. However, when it’s done well, it’s done well. I don’t think this is one of the best ever examples of this, but I did find it very intriguing that, while the same outcome occurred (Pete was killed), the situation surrounding it has been slightly recontextualized.

Where Jackie once lied (strong word, but you get the point) that Pete was the most wonderful man in the world, now he really was the most wonderful man in the world because he decided to correct the error that was made and save the world by sacrificing himself. It should be noted that, iirc, no one remembers what actually happened because Pete essentially just reset the timeline to where it’s supposed to be.

It’s something I could very easily see occurring, at least in a symbolic sense, in ST, especially what with the truth of Henry’s situation being so murky. Even if it’s without an attempt to “change” things, simply the act of looking at what happened through a different lens can make everything click into place.

Now I just want to wrap this up with some final odds and ends of what various parts of this episode reminded me of irt ST that I haven’t touched on yet.

At the start of the episode, we learn that Rose’s motive for visiting her dad on the day of his death is so she can simply be someone who’s there for him when he passes; she doesn’t want him to be alone. The concept of loneliness is not unfamiliar to ST, and it’s especially on the nose with Henry and Patty in TFS, and comes up fairly frequently with characters like Will, Mike, and El on-screen. We see it in scripts for ST4 with Brenner, and we get it in ST1 with Joyce berating Jonathan for doing things alone. It all comes back to community and support. Being with someone to curb their loneliness can make all the difference, especially when it’s genuine. Especially especially when someone is going through something scary and otherworldly.

And that’s the whole point, isn’t it? Being there for each other, even in our worst moments?

This isn’t a form of compassion that’s exclusive to “the good guys” either. As I said above, the plague of loneliness even affects Brenner, and even a character like Vecna, who’s been trapped alone in the UD for years, probably just needs a good shoulder to lean on for once.

Henry, as per TFS, didn’t really have anyone. We’re told about a boy (or two) in Nevada who very likely was close to him, but he’s otherwise very reclusive from his family (at least post-flaying). When he meets Patty, he latches on the moment he finds her compatible and, despite her mistreatment of him, he doesn’t let go. He’s finally not alone anymore, and even if it resulted in disaster, he wanted it to work. There were just too many outside forces at play convoluting things. All he needed was someone to be there for him with genuine intentions, and I believe that’s something he will receive, come ST5.

I also want to touch on Rose having to “try again” at the start of the episode. I don’t have too much to say about this, but it did make me think of James’s theories irt Henward possibly having turned back the clock in order to save himself. Something about going into it with neutral-to-good intentions, only for something to go wrong and bring it all crashing down. Not that we know for certain if that’s what’s going on with Henry, but there’s something in the continuous tragedy of his life and the earnest attempt at making things better, only for it to go much, much worse, and having to return to the un-ideal square one.

It doesn’t even have to just be about Henry doing it to himself. Someone else might be sticking themselves in, toying with timelines, in an attempt to help Henry, only for other, unknown forces to muck it all up. But now we’re getting a bit into James’s territory, so you can just chew on that concept a bit. The last thing I’ll say on it is I did find Rose seeking out her dad reminiscent of TFS Brenner seeking out answers to his father’s experience in Dimension X, but alas, I’m running out of steam.

Exploring this DW episode wasn’t much anything new, but I found it very satisfying to see even more concepts confirmed and expanded upon that I’ve spoken about in my other posts, as well as touching on ideas that my friends have talked about before. Overall, I’ve reached the conclusion that I need to explore more of Rose’s episodes and see what’s up lol. There's even more within this episode I could pull on further, but a lot of it is just pointing at the words that are said and going "that's the words!!! the words from the show!!!" so. Sort of an "iykyk" situation atp. But! Lots to chew on, and likely more to come in the future!

[homeofthemany]

jack's family & his relationship with kai

the parents in kickin' it as a series are generally not mentioned at all, or they're mentioned for concerning jokes. you can take it as them being somewhat absent depending on which main kid we're talking about, but it likely comes down to kickin' it being a show for young teens that wants to follow other young teens around—not their parents, but other weird wacky adults.

most of what we can gather about each character's family is either said in passing, as a joke, or implied through other things. i think it's fair to say that jerry has some of the more remarkable examples like being raised by wolves [1x03], having too many siblings / cousins to the point where he's being neglected & sleeping in a locker [1x17], you get the idea. but we actually know very little about jack's family & he's arguably the main character of the show.

very long analysis incoming! also i don't remember season 4 very well, so if i'm missing something, whoops. i'm going to drift into some darker territory [abuse, specifically] so if you're triggered by that or are of the "it's a kid show it ain't that deep" opinion, this probably isn't the post for you lol.

again, TW for general discussion of abuse—physical abuse & neglect in particular. it's very light & i don't go too far into detail, but just in case.

jack's parents

going strictly off of canon, jack's parents themselves are only mentioned once or twice. if i remember correctly, "a slip down memory lane" [2x15] is our most direct mention of them [i forgot if they're mentioned in 2x14 when he's about to leave for otai academy lol] because rudy says that they're out of town, having called them after jack gets a concussion and develops amnesia; they don't think it's necessary to head back and take care of him?

it's worth mentioning that depending on their circumstances and where exactly they traveled, they might not be able to make it back in time to help him with his recovery. in real time though, jack probably wouldn't recover in just... 30min-1hr? since memory recovery can take several days depending on mechanism of injury? not even talking about the actual concussion, by the way, which could take longer on its own. but i'm not a doctor lol. so to be fair, last-minute traveling isn't exactly necessary if they truly trust rudy enough to watch him until they get back.

on the other hand, it's odd that they didn't want to stick around to watch him break the world record in the first place, so it makes me wonder if he'd even told them he was training to accomplish that—and if he did, whether or not they chose to leave seaford anyway. at best, jack's parents are vaguely absent, and at worst, they're negligent.

we're also not given any clear evidence on whether or not they're supportive of his martial arts. we can assume that they're at least aware of it since it seems to be a family tradition of some kind ["my family were really embarrassed of kai," - jack 1x19], but they're never really shown to be openly supportive like jerry's family, or initially disapproving like milton's dad until he comes around in the pilot.

we see jerry's family, milton's dad, kim's dad, eddie's mom, & rudy's uncle, but don't see jack's parents once throughout the entire series. the only relative of jack's we get to actually meet is one he has a very negative experience with.

also he literally goes to china for a tournament he'd been "dreaming about since he got into martial arts" without them there to watch his fights. actually all of the kids go to china without their parents!! AND THEY LET THEM GO WITH RUDY LMFAO. but speaking of china!

jack, kai, & their grandfather

...assuming that jack & kai are first cousins. lol.

we know that jack has a cousin who beat the shit out of him two years prior to the episode we meet him in [kai, seen in 1x19 & 3x09], and he also has a grandfather who trained one of the biggest martial arts action stars in the kickin' it universe [mentioned in 1x01 & 1x06; oh, bobby wasabi the character that you could've been].

other than that, we don't have much else to go off of other than his line about his family in general being embarrassed of kai. because of that, i'm going to assume that the fight they had was part of some kind of family event / tournament. with how skilled jack & kai both are, as well as how skilled & respected his grandfather is [assuming he was at least somewhat famous for training bobby], it's not a stretch to assume that training in martial arts is very much a family thing, or at least is highly important to the majority of them too.

to look at jack's relationship with kai, we're going to drift out of canon while looking more towards his grandfather & how they were both trained. this is where the abuse part comes in!

although there is no real canon evidence of this because it's a kids show, i think the idea of jack & kai having a very strict and unforgiving grandfather is a very interesting one to consider. i don't think i have to go into detail here, but i can imagine jack & kai being overworked & overtrained, experiencing a lot of negative reinforcement, & potentially being physically punished for not getting things right or mastering things at the pace he wanted them to. i think he would push them past their body's limits & be either satisfied or disappointed depending on how well they'd perform afterwards.

back to kai, it's interesting to me that jack doesn't talk about his family's reaction to his supposedly devastating loss to kai ["a kid named kai beat me so badly, i gave up karate till i came here," - jack, 1x19].

it seems like kai isn't necessarily considered better than jack despite winning the fight. it would be easy for a kids show on disney to make it a "he won & got all the praise, but he cheated & my family never believed me so i want to prove myself to them / find my own closure" plot, but the conflict between jack & kai is completely personal. their family probably tried to forget the match ever happened, or more likely, regard it as an event that should just never be brought up again because it was so disturbing and / or tragic—or worse, they thought it was disappointing.

kai didn't gain any respect, he just won the fight. in fact, his presumably violent win is what got them cast out in the first place.

jack & kai are childhood rivals who would likely be competing for their grandfather's praise, so as a result, kai takes things too far to prove himself and seriously injures jack during the match that he lost. rather than gain his family's approval, though, kai's display of aggression gets them both exiled; they look down on jack for losing to "someone like kai", while also disapproving of kai's brutal & undisciplined display of power. jack shamefully gives up karate [i have other thoughts about how something like this would traumatize him] while kai continues to train, but now has even less of a regard for maintaining his "honor". if it wasn't about hurting people before, it certainly would be now.

small thing about their match

i'm more interested in how exactly kai won against jack LOL. i feel like there's a certain point where their sensei has to decide "okay, this is going too far", but then again, if we assume that their grandfather was the one to set up the match? ouh. he already wasn't training them in healthy ways, so he might not have bothered to stop them. did somebody step in or was it already somewhat of a dirty match to begin with, just so he could see how far they could push themselves? because neither of those stubborn students would tap out themselves.

after a certain point, i think their grandfather would probably step in but less because of jack's injuries & more because of kai losing his form. we've already established that he trains these poor kids to hell and back so i think that if anything would get him to call the match, it'd be something like that.

in conclusion

hooray, traumatized disneyxd characters! i was going to do a breakdown of "kickin' it in china" here too & what it must've been like for jack to face his past while fighting for his future, but then i realized the post was getting too long lol.