#ALSO CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE ANGLES NEW USED THIS EP?????

[moonkhao]

You really don’t like me? I don’t know. You don’t know about what? You really don’t know? [...] Do you somehow know it now? How about you? Do you somehow know it too?

WE ARE | EP10

[romchat]

Unknown (2024) visual analysis (ep. 1-8): How to film heartache

This show.

The writing and acting continue to be fantastic, but I feel like I haven't seen enough appreciation for Unknown's cinematography, which captures the heartache of Qian and Yuan's changing relationship so beautifully.

Here are some of my favorite moments of visual storytelling so far...

Framing & Composition

Something that I immediately noticed about Unknown is how much dirty framing it uses. "Dirtying the frame" is when a cinematographer uses architecture, nature, objects, or even people in the foreground to add depth to a shot. In earlier episodes, we often see Qian and Yuan framed together by everyday household objects.

These shots emphasize the uniqueness of their relationship: they are brothers because of the domesticity surrounding them and yet at the same time the framing almost tucks them away into a private space of their own. Their relationship is born from yet separate from the familial space they share with Lilli.

So when Yuan drunkenly confesses his feelings and shatters any lies Qian might have been telling himself about their complex relationship, the camera language loses its earlier intimacy.

We suddenly see more medium and long (versus close-up) clean shots where the characters are surrounded by tons of negative space, isolated from each other.

I also don't think it's an accident that we start seeing more dirty frames again once Yuan leaves for America and Qian realizes how much he misses him.

The New Years scene is a perfect example of this. As Qian miserably cheers an absent Yuan, we see the camera subtly pans to the side of the table where he'd usually sit. No one has been able to occupy that private space at home or in Qian's heart.

Visual Parallelism

In a previous post, I've talked about how visual parallelism (when we link characters, events, storylines, etc. through a shared image) can signal major changes in the relationship between two characters, and the show uses this technique in multiple ways. (Yuan’s cheeky and completely satisfying “is there something you want me to do?” in Episode 8’s seatbelt scene, for one.)

But I think the most striking moment is when Yuan asks Qian to confront his own feelings at the end of Episode 8.

When we look at the composition, camera angles, and actor blocking (how the actors are positioned in relation to one another) we can see that the scene directly mirrors the moment that Yuan gifts Qian with cufflinks in Episode 6. In that episode, Yuan is shot from a high angle, making him look even younger and more vulnerable, while Qian cups his face from above, anchoring him as he tries to give misguided advice:

Qian: I actually feel sorry for you. Isn't it tiring to love him? Yuan: It is. It's so tiring to like someone you shouldn't like. Qian: Then what are you doing? Why are you limiting yourself?

It's notable then that during the last scene of Episode 8, the roles are reversed and the blocking and camera language changes accordingly. Throughout Episodes 7-8, we can see the ways Yuan adopts a more mature approach to his interactions with Qian. He has made it clear that he still cares about him but he will only make another move if Qian clearly expresses his desires. Now it's Qian who is the most unsure and vulnerable, with Yuan anchoring him:

Yuan: Wei Qian, don't you like Wei Zhiyuan? If you do, is it only because we're brothers? This thing about us, is it that you don't want it or that you don't dare?

Like Qian had advised him years ago, Yuan now asks why Qian insists on limiting himself by denying what he wants.

Bonus Parallelism:

Both Yuan and Qian's kiss fantasies mirror each other as well.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - it was a pretty darn good time, frankly

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Feb 2024 Wk 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

The Sign (Sat YT) ep 12fin - Everyone looked like they were having a lot of fun in the fight sequences. I’m very happy for them. I’m not surprised they shot Khem and Chart. A little shocked it wasn’t also Yai, TBH.

I found this final episode rushed. According to rumors, The Sign was originally slated to be 14 eps, and it probably should’ve been. And I don’t say that often about Thai BL. But we all knew it was getting too bloated for its britches, so I'm not surprised they fumbled the ending. For me personally, it just wasn't that bad. It was fine and I was fine with it.

Tho, Billy does not look good with facial fur, messes up those gorgeous angles.

I was ultimately amused that the solution to the mythology thread was simply to talk to the river god and persuaded him to give up... off screen. It felt very old school wuxia. Or like Aeschylus or something. I did adore the stinger, Saint was basically like “I want wings too”. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

This show is literally everything (except straight) all at once. It's BL, queer, band of brothers, romcom, erotica, PNR, fated mates, police procedural, fantasy, mystery, suspense, and slasher. It’s the king of genre mash-up chaos. Sure, it's madness but there is genius in it. Was it a crazy unhinged mess +1 roll for damage? Yes. Yes it was. Did it manage to hold all those tangled threads together? No it did not. Was it also a charming, sexy, engaging, non-stop piece of entertainment? Sure thing. I think this show is basically my KinnPorsche, and frankly I’ve been chasing that dragon naga since KP aired. Is it perfect? No. But it was balls to the wall FUN and that gets a 9/10 from me.

I'm thinking of doing a full recap review (partly because I have so many great screen shots.)

Cherry Magic (Sat YouTube grey) ep 10-11 of 12 - Since this series is following the yaoi so closely, I knew these were the separation eps. (Also I knew with would be a soft non-doom ep 11, Japan rarerly does these.) I like that they used it to show improve communication and development in all relationships, but, frankly, TayNew are just best when they are TayNew together on screen. So yeah. Let’s keep them back together, please?

Meanwhile, TayNew gifted us a gorgeous loving sweet sex scene. Thanks OG for doing us a solid. 

I wanna add, it sure is fun to see New play as soft and vulnerable character, I feel like he hasn’t done that since SOTUS. 

(Read all about distribution issues here.)

Cooking Crush (Sun YT) ep 12fin - 1/3 of this is a sweet romance about a student doctor falling in love with a student chef, and the rest of it is utter dross. Look the OffGun bits were GREAT.. In fact, I think they’re better AS A PAIR in this show than in any of their other BLS. And I'm a hard sell on any OffGun being better than PickRome. Saying that, how can I review a show where I could only tolerate 1/3 of it? Because I didn’t like any other aspect of this show, no other pairs and no other plots. That gives me: 9/10 for the OffGun bits, 5/10 for everything else. Frankly it probably should be an 8 but I gotta go with my gut and it's upset about this so 7/10. Sorry boys. It’s GMMTV’s fault. Your heart was in this show, mine wasn’t. 

City of Stars (Fri iQIYI) ep 4 of 12 - These two are so good at making heart eyes at each other. It’s ridiculous. They don’t need any cartoon images or noises. Moot crush but "I wanna flirt and court more" is so flipping awesome. I love this for them… and us. 

1000 Years Old ep 2 of 12 - It’s very silly and we have been gifted with the dorkiest vampire ever. But... the smell thing makes me so happy. And I like that the vamp uses chan/nai or tan = v old fashioned. Nahlak. I love our ghost girl. Did you notice she wasn’t in the room with them but they left an empty chair for her? Also nahlak.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Perfect Propose (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 5 of 6 - Kai was pretty much just “you're a workaholic but I basically married you whether you like it or not.” SMOOCH. What can I say? I'm a sucker for this dynamic.

AntiReset (Taiwan Fri Viki/Gaga) ep 5 of 10 - How is this show so cute? How do they both love and hurt each other so much. They are both just scared of loosing each other. Gah.

Unknown (Taiwan Sat Youku YouTube) 1 of 12 eps - Youku dropped the first ep to their YouTube channel but I doubt we can expect that to continue. Still, it was nice to be able to watch it in a convenient way. I enjoyed it. But I am cautious about it. Of course this is possibly two of my favorite tropes of all time (stepbrothers or a variation + hyung romance). So I’m looking forward to the romantic thread, but from the gritty style, it feels a lot more like a Taiwanese short. Which means it could go very dark and may not end happy. 

Although I Love You and You AKA Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 7 of 10 - I just don’t know if the main couple should be a couple. But when they finally get around to talking to each other, they sure are lovely. Also how great is it to see a uke initiate a kiss? Even if it’s not a very good kiss. 

My Strawberry Film (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 2 of 8 - I am still not sure about this one. I am not contesting its quality, just saying it’s not for me. Also I’m not wild about what amounts to basically a redo of everything that already happened in the first episode from a different perspective. I know it’s a tall order with Japan, but I would like (when it’s a short series) for each new installment to actually move the plot (such as it is) along in someway. Am I asking too much?

It's done but I have no time

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - will binge when I have any spare time. 2024 is crazy busy for me so far.

The Servant and the Young Master - from Vietnam, it's on YouTube. I will give it a try when I have a window of time.

Began Beginning (Myanmar YouTube) - A Burmese BL? @heretherebedork vouched for it, so I will give it a watch.

It's airing but...

Dead Friend Forever (Thai iQIYI) - rumors are it's interesting but full of unlikable characters. I'm waiting to know how it ends.

Ossans Love Season 2 (Japan Gaga) - 5 years later, will anything have changed? This is Japan so… probubly not. I won't be watching this. I disliked Season one and actively hated the follow ups. No thank you.

Playboyy (Thurs Gaga) 14 eps - Dear Playboyy, it's not you, it’s me… I hate you. You’re about as deep (and as palatable) as a shot glass of cum. While I'm sure you’re someone’s kink, you're my weakest link. Goodbye. I DNFed this at ep 5. Frankly I'm impressed with myself for getting that far. Ends next week TF.

Time the series (Tue Gaga/YT) 10 eps - dropped it at ep 4.

A Secretly Love (Thai WeTV) - I tried but I can't get into my WeTV account anymore and I'm way too lazy to figure it out. Should I bother to go grey for it?

To Be Continued (Thai C3 Thailand YT) - High school sweethearts who had a bad break up reunite when both of them have full time jobs but coming out is still a problem. You can watch this on YT but it has no Eng Subs.

Next Week Looks Like This:

We're light on content right now, but frankly I'm so busy with work I don't really mind.

3/6 Born to be Y (Thai ????) 10 eps - 14 contestants who audition to compete in Born To Be Y, a program that searches for the best couple of the year to work together on a giant project. Described as semi-reality series. So I probably won't bother.

3/7 Deep Night (Thai iQiyi) 10 eps - Multiple romances set in a host clubs. Nice to see First back on my screen but this is not my favorite setting.

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

The eyes have it.

Your random BL moment brought to you by my ult-bias being a hyung smartass to his maknae.

(Last week)

[blujayeyes]

TMAGP OIAR Theory under the cut⬇️

Hi! It’s me! If you were on tmagp tiktok in the VERY early days of tmagp(I’m talking first two episodes just released) I was that one guy in the comments of every tmagp related video telling people my ship name for Chester and Noris(bEYEnary bfs). It is very likely you have no fuckin clue what I’m talking about, and if so, yeah that’s fair I’m assuming that’s most people reading this; HOWEVER either way in the past several months since tmagp 1&2, I have been working on my theory board(red string and all) and I have created a conspiracy board that would put Collin’s to shame, and looks just as insane, but using this I think I have solved the OIAR’s purpose within tmagp’s alchemy based fearscape, and bottom line, everyone is screwed.

So it all started when I saw these two images being compared on here

So then I was like yeah that’s interesting from the alchemy angle but what does it mean but then I saw someone saying that if you look closely at the OIAR logo you can see the symbols for sulphur, salt, and mercury, the soul, body and mind, and then my curiosity got the best of me. So I started theorizing about this on my coarkbord and did some digging into the philosopher’s stone.

It was said to be a red stone that alchemists would try to make due to it’s properties of being able to turn base metals precious metals BUT it was also said that it could be used to create the elixir of life which could indefinitely prolong life aka immortality AKA one of the major reoccurring themes of tma AKA Jonah Magnus’s main goal that motivated him into starting the eyepocalipse AKA the thing we learnt was impossible in the fearpocalypse because no new people were being born and the end would eventually get them all.

So what did Lena say the OIAR’s job was to Gwen? To keep the wheel forever turning. So logically that would probably mean keeping the entities fed but preventing the end of the world. In other words sustainable fear. Keeping the wheel FOREVER turning. Are you starting to get it? So using that logic that clearly shows why she works so hard to keep the externals(avatars) at such a distance. But in her phrasing she made it sound like the OIAR is something they would jump to take if given the chance.

And then it hit me. Going back to my previous point we have been showed how much avatars and alchemy overlap, especially with the more recent episodes highlighting how avatars are partaking in alchemy, with tmagp 19 showing both the Magnus institute and sir Isaac newton were very involved with using alchemy in their spooky shit. Even as far back as the first two episodes we see this, and although it is more implied in episode 1 with red canary seeing “weird symbols” in the Magnus institute, it is said overtly in ep 2!

Which leads me to at least theorize that wether metaphorically or literally, the reason the avatars so intertwined with alchemy want to take control of the OIAR so bad, is because the OIAR(and probably FR3-D1, let’s be real) is the philosopher’s stone of their patrons, granting them eternal fear with perfect balance, just as Robert Smirke always dreamed. And the reason Lena wants to keep the place so secure is because if one did take it, it would unbalance the scale, making it lose it’s function and the possibility of an apocalypse imminent. And Gwen just weakened Lena’s boundaries by letting lady mowbray into the building.

Or I’m wrong. There’s every possibility that I’m wrong. After all this is my theory board

And it’s like, 40% Elias theories. Jon would be proud.

But I’m like, 72% sure I’m right.

[sins-and-wins-with-vix]

Everything Right/Wrong with Ninjago “Rebooted” E3: Blackout

Disclaimers: Show owned by LEGO. This is not a professional review/critique - it’s mainly intended for comedy.

Reblog, comment, and/or like! And make sure to tell me your thoughts!

- At least the theme hasn’t been tainted by the love triangle ✅

- Given the angle that Lloyd is holding these rocks at, Garmadon must have glued them together to make them not fall ❌

- “I’m already the golden ninja. How much more power do I need?” That’d be a great argument… IF it had anything to do with Garmadon’s monologue, but it didn’t. All he was saying was that people grew too reliant on tech and it backfired. He makes the same point about Lloyd and golden power later this ep, but that has little to do with how much of his power Lloyd needs to tap into ❌

- Garmadon is standing on a tall, narrow pillar of rock. Where in the hell did he get this massive boulder from?? ❌

- The “cloaked figure’s” purple and black belt is actually pretty good foreshadowing ✅

- Triple foreshadowing points for the way he moves around (his hips swaying like the serpentine do when they slither), and his voice breaking in and out (almost making him sound out of breath at times) hinting he’s sick/injured ✅

- “You are vital to the mission! And you are vital to me.” Zane the rizz-droid✅

- “Judging from Perfect Match CompatibilityTM, perhaps Nya and Cole would be a better comparison?” Yeah, I’m gonna need a full MLA-formatted research paper with a works’ cited page in order to believe that one, Pix ❌

- Ed is in such shock from hearing about Cole and Nya that while his son loses his mind, Ed just stands there. Smiling. menacingly. ❌

- “Quiet in here. What’d I miss? Another signature Jay gut-buster?😇” This line isn’t even meant to be the punchline but the timing of it alone is so perfect that I don’t even care about the rest of the joke ✅

- But also, since when does Cole ever admit to Jay being funny? ❌

- “You rely too much on your golden power - let this be a lesson. Center yourself and move the mountain with your mind.” Being able to move mountains IS a part of his golden power - we know this because there is never any attempt to learn how to do it after he gives the golden power up, implying that he physically can’t. If Garmadon wants Lloyd to learn not to rely so much on his golden power, he should be telling him to find a way across the mountain w/o using any powers - just his own wits and combat skill. ❌

- I know I’ve been bashing on Garm’s goal this ep, but he does have a point about Lloyd needing to learn to rely on something other than his powers. After all, you can learn all the new skills ya want Green Bean, but ya never know when a group of writers are just gonna retcon half of em away… not that that would ever happen 🙂 /s ❌

- “I’m not the FSM, and I never wanted to be!” This line. This should be talked about more. ✅

- “I know… I was once like this too…” So should this! But this one’s counting as a sin because, unlike above, the writers actually had several perfect opportunities to talk about it and still never did. Seriously, how much more engaging and gut-wrenching could Lloyd’s fears of being like his father during the Wildbrain seasons have been if there had been more scenes/references showing us how similar they are? How much more character could’ve been added to their dynamic if we had seen them give the exact same snarky, one-line reply to something Wu said? How much better could we have understood Lloyd’s fears if we had heard just one or two lines like “your father used to say stuff like that.” How much more interesting could Lloyd be if we had seen just one scene of Wu or Misako watching Lloyd and Garm fight alongside each other, said watcher’s eyes glancing between the two and maybe shifting in concern as they note how similar the two’s fighting styles are. Not even just Lloyd! How much more could we understand Garmadon if we had seen scenes of him as a kid struggling to sit still and meditate, like we see from Lloyd in S11? One of my favorite things about Lloyd and Garmadon is that, when you really look at it, they are so similar. When you really look at the two as they play their roles as hero and villain (not their characters’ as a whole but their version of themselves they display to outside people), Lloyd is all the best parts of Garmadon and Garmadon is all the worst parts of Lloyd. Lloyd is wise, strategic, and reasonable. Garmadon is stubborn, untrusting, and easy to anger. All of the traits that one puts out to the world, the other locks behind closed doors. It puts the two in a perfect position to help each other accept and embrace the parts of themselves behind those doors, and it just makes me sad that we haven’t seen that utilized in the show❌

- “Well what’s the point in being a blue ninja? Unless you’re trying to hide out in some goofy clown college!” If they’re going to force this stupid love triangle plot onto us they could’ve at least made the insults good ❌

- Also, Cole has no reason to start throwing insults at Jay because we have seen nothing showing that he has any feelings for Nya. It makes it come off as though Cole only starts trying to win her over out of spite because he’s pissed off at Jay for attacking him and treating him like it’s his fault in the first place ❌

- That in mind, how much funnier would this subplot be if, instead of Cole and Jay fighting for Nya’s affection, Jay was constantly competing/picking fights with Cole, behaving as if there’s some rivalry between them based on the grounds that they’re both into the same girl, all while Cole just exasperatedly repeats “DUDE, I SWEAR I’m not trying to date Nya! I don’t even like her!!” Only for Jay to reply, “Tryin’ to make me let my guard down huh? Well it won’t work!”

- “There are reputable entertainers that attend clown college!” At least the unfunny insult led into a slightly funny joke ig? ✅

- Show tries to gaslight us into thinking that this fist fight is equally matched despite it being a guy with super strength vs. fucking Jay ❌

- “I don’t see why you wanted to settle this arm wrestling. You know I have super strength!” Show even acknowledges previous sin but still acts as if it’s just a minor detail ❌

- Wu revives the nindroids using some eels on a staff and I was gonna sin it because I didn’t think they could survive more than a few minutes out of water, but apparently eels can actually survive several hours on land due to the thickness of their skin. So, to save me from the shame I feel whenever one of my sins backfires on me, I’m just gonna say this is the third edition to our newest segment: “Fun facts with Vix!”

- I get that a lot’s going on right now but did NONE of them hear the massive car that Wu threw across the junkyard? Really? ❌

- “This macho stuff is making you both look like fools!” Show’s rating prevents Nya from saying dumbasses ❌

- “Maybe you belong together!” Nya introduces an entire generation of kids to the concept of gay. Good for her good for her ✅

- “The machines haven’t worked since the outage. What’s powering them?” “Nindroids!” No, the nindroids are controlling them, but they aren’t the power source ❌

- “They are after the technoblades.” For context, everyone is in Ed and Edna’s trailer, which is being thrown around in circles by one of those massive construction magnets. Everyone is pinned to the walls, screaming for their lives, and Pixal- beloved Pixal- literally from on top of Zane, says that line in the most casual, steady, normal voice I have ever heard. How can people not love her? ✅

- “Yeah well they almost hit MY MOTHER” Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing - stop. Go to Netflix, Ninjago s3e3, time stamp: 08:58, and listen to this line. Then look me in the eye and tell me that between the timing, the voice acting, the set-up, and everything else, this isn’t the BEST line in the season. You can’t. You can’t! Because it is. Hands down. I will fight about this ✅

- “Did ya make [a jetpack] for me?” “Uh, sorry honey. You hardly ever come to visit!” Get fucking wrecked Jay ✅

- “Your heart… splitting it must’ve inhibited your fighting abilities.” At least it does until it becomes inconvenient to the plot. At that point they’re fine again ❌

- In some clips, Wu’s forehead wrinkles transfer over to the metal plate covering his face ❌

- Mindroid is alive again by the way, so I’m pretty sure the writers genuinely forgot they killed him… and don’t give me the “he can be rebuilt” because my guy was fucking VAPORIZED in that beam ❌

- Teaching kids that it’s okay to punch glass ❌

- “It’s like we were made…” “… to fight together!” Inaccurate considering the only reason it’s like this is because of the very recent event of splitting Zane’s power source, but I see what they’re going for and it’s wholesome so I guess they can take their win ✅

- “Which color did you choose?” “Like I’ll ever tell!” Seriously?! All that and we never figure out which wire she cut? I’m genuinely convinced this entire subplot exists only to piss everyone off ❌

- Also, that line brings me back to the point of why Cole cares about what color she picked in the first place. He’s shown NO signs of liking Nya. He only starts acting like this because the writers wanted to force the love triangle ❌

- How is evil Wu THIS bad at fighting? It’s painful to watch ❌

- I heard somewhere that the writers regret having wasted the evil Wu arc and wish they could’ve redone it to make it better. I 100% agree with this. For example, instead of having him freed from the Overlord’s control, I simply would’ve made one of the ninja kill him. Ya know. For the plot.

- “More like Tech Wu!” Was this supposed to be a pun? I- huh?? ❌

- “Who the heck was that guy?” “Or gal!” Nya supports feminism!…. But fuck the enbies, demigenders, agenders, bigenders, genderfluids, and anyone else who’s under the nonbinary umbrella I guess? ❌ /lh

- “Whoever it is, they turned our Sensei against us!” At least Kai supports trans rights ✅

- Climbing a mountain this steep is dangerous enough, but climbing it with LEGO HANDS has to be a death wish ❌

- “Wish you still had 4 hands? It would’ve come in handy!” It took me an embarrassingly long number of years to figure out that this was a pun. Idek who this sin is on anymore ❌

- “Your potential is great. NOT your sense of humor.” Imagine getting told your jokes suck by a literal dad ✅

- “Still won’t let me use the golden dreagon?” My biggest regret in life is not winning every single instance of “draegon” in the previous two seasons ✅

- “It’s going to know someone has touched its young!” “It? Who?” “Daddy.” Please, for all that is good in this world, do NOT let the Garmadon simps know that this line exists ❌

- “You’re not gonna fall on my watch😇🥰😉” “Your compassion is NOT helping!😡🤬” These two have such a good dynamic, and the show does a really good job of portraying it, and even post-evil Garmadon in general - which I’ll get into more during ToE ✅

- “You just moved a mountain son…” I can FEEL the proud DadTM energy coming from this line ✅

- “Whoever you are… I like you.” Gay ✅

Sentence: Watching the love triangle scenes on repeat

[shouldiusemyname]

Step by step ep 9 - Jeng v. Pat

I get that this ep felt somewhat confusing and all over the place, but I think that even if it wasn't the intention, it works for the story.

I will explain.

We have two characters, Jeng and Pat, that up until now seemed to be moving forward to...somewhere, I guess. They were getting along well, they seemed to have things in common, they were clearly finding each other interesting.

However! These two were operating on different planes ALL THIS TIME. I'm going to argue that even though we got more of Pat's perspective up until now, we were actually put in a position that made the viewer perceive Pat as Jeng does. Being happy, easy going most of the time if it's not work related, flirty and so on. We were not getting ANY of his romantic insecurities about Jeng, because once he closed the door on that option, it was closed. Nothing was showing on the outside. Not for Jeng and not for us. It did show when Pat didn't know Jeng was his boss - we saw him talking to the others at the restaurant saying Jeng was too perfect. But everything after that was all about Jeng being a boss and not a potential partner.

Last week's ep made me realize that drunk Pat is the real Pat. When he drinks he lets his guard down and it takes over. His reactions and behaviors are true to his feelings. Which is why I think he's having trouble remembering what happens when he drinks. Sober Pat shoves everything back deep inside.

So now, ep 9 has two steps -

After Pat learns Jeng is gay, but still doesn't remember the confession on the dancefloor.

After the second clear and sober (for Pat) confession.

We were thinking that Pat's issue is going to be about Jeng praising him regarding work, questioning Jeng's motives. However, when Pat learns Jeng is gay, he is thrown right back to the first deception (as he sees it). He is now understanding that Jeng has been manipulating him from day one:

Jeng knew that Pat was an employee of his company while he was an executive.

Jeng knew that he was Pat's boss while Pat was going on about how everyone is worried about the new boss.

Even if only for a very short time, Jeng knew that Pat was a customer at his restaurant before Pat knew Jeng was the one in the kitchen cooking his food.

Jeng is a micromanager.

Jeng knows Pat is gay while Pat is obsessed with finding the woman Jeng is hiding.

Jeng somehow knows Put.

Jeng knows he loves likes Pat while Pat is oblivious.

Jeng is always one step ahead of Pat and the only thing it's doing is making Pat believe that Jeng is a manipulative controlling person that cannot be trusted.

All of this is happening in Pat's brain after the gay confession - aka step one.

After the second confession - aka step two, Pat just loses it. Don't text me, Don't call me, If it's not work related I don't wanna hear about it. This confession being the cherry on top of a huge deception cake, is just further proof for Pat that he is being manipulated.

Pat can't see how this person is either:

good for him, being the manipulative control freak Jeng is perceived to be,

OR

has any actual interest in him, being the perfect person Jeng is.

All he sees is that Jeng wants something from him and he can't figure out what exactly - is it sexual? is it work related?

The Parent Reaction

Poor Pat's parents. Their son is breaking down in front of them and they are also trying to figure out what the hell is going on. I can remember times in my life when I was just an emotional mess and was unable to share why with my parents. But this is what parents do - your kid is in distress and you try to figure out what's wrong. The only thing they can think of, with what he's giving them, is their divorce, so they go with it. I really do love them. They seem to be good parents and Pat likes them.

The Jeng Angle (aka Jangle)

As for Jeng... That poor man is an emotional mess. He is just spiralling, firing in all directions, hoping something will hit. Honestly, His breakdown felt way too personal.

Not only did he put his heart out there risking rejection, he was rejected violently both from having his feelings accepted AND from being Pat's safe zone, which is what he really actually wants to be.

If last week we got a glimpse into Jeng's internal monologue, this ep we are getting to feel him.

This ep feels like Jeng does.

So, basically, the ep being all over the place is quite fitting for both of their situations.

[mare-sanguis]

Notes on "Ambidextrous Angle" here

Notes on "Lady Justice" here

Notes on the Flowers in ep.8 here

Notes on the colors in ep.10 here

Lets talk numerology

As episode 11 will be rescheduled to next week (and while this is quite a bummer), it also gave me a chance to delve deeper into the numbers (+ combinations) present on the plates of the car of No. 3 and KMC.

Its really fascinating and fitting (personality wise) what I found out after a long and deep dive into all of it.

Here we go

Meaning of the numbers

The history/mythology behind each of them (note: I cannot include each mythology or can expand on them)

Korean numerology meaning of the numbers

Interesting fact about KSJs house number (177)

Number plate of the parcel driver

Lets dive into the topic!

Lets start with the number combinations present on the plate of No.3's car

31.

Also called an angel number, 31 represents new beginnings, fresh opportunities, creativity, positivity, motivation and progress. It helps to let go of old habits, to move forwards.

When this number appears in someones life, the angels are telling them that new beginnings are on the way. They want people to trust themselves and the universe to make the necessary changes to achieve their goals.

It also signifies the need for open communication, honest and trust (especially with a partner)

67.

Yet another angel number, 67 exist to represent spiritual awakening, fulfilling purpose and shows the "right path"

It is also associated with new beginnings, fresh starts and new opportunities. If someone is looking for a change in their life, the number 67 may be a sign that they should make some changes. (It is a powerful combination of 6 and 7, more on these numbers later)

In the bible, 67 has a significant meaning as well, It appears on multiple occasions:

1. The Apostle Paul conducts his final and fifth missionary journey between 63 to 67 A.D. His journey begins in Rome after the Roman Empire acquits him of the charges against him and he is freed. He then sails to Crete and travels to Nicopolis where he will write the books of 1. Timothy and Titus. In 67 A.D., while in prison, Paul writes his final and fourteenth book called 2. Timothy. It is a heartfelt letter to his best friend and fellow evangelist Timothy. It offered both encouragement and a warning that his martyrdom was fast approaching. »But as for you, be vigilant in all things, endure hardships, do the work of an evangelist; fully carry out your ministry. For I (Paul) am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith (2Timothy 4:5 - 7)« 67 A.D. will prove to be the last full year of Paul's life. Nero, who had recently begun the first state sponsored persecution of Christians, shows no mercy to Paul the Roman citizen. He condemns him to death by beheading in 68 A.D. just before he himself commits suicide on June 9.

2. The twelve Minor Prophets (Amos, Habakkuk, Haggai, Hosea, Joel, Jonah, Malachi, Micah, Nahum, Obadiah, Zechariah, and Zephaniah) have a total number of 67 chapters.

3. Psalm 67, credited to King David, is a song praising God that expresses his desire that the whole world come to understand the salvation the Eternal offers to all humans. »May God be gracious to us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us. Selah. So that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations . . . Let the people praise You, O God; let all the people praise You (verses 1 - 2, 5).«

90.

Here we have yet another angel number. This time, it helps to manifestin dreams, signifies positive energy and development and just like 67, its to be associated with enlightenment and spiritual awakening. It also symbolizes the imminent endings and terminations of some events in ones life.

3.

In numerology, a 3 is associated with harmoney, wisdom, understanding, joy, abundance, success and good fortune. It is also associated with Jupiter (both the god and the planet)

It also appears in the bible on multiple occasions:

1. Number 3 is mentioned 467 times in God's word. It derives its symbolism from the fact that it is the first of four spiritually perfect numerals (the others being 7, 10 and 12). The 3 righteous patriarchs before the flood were Abel, Enoch and Noah. After the deluge, there was the three righteous "fathers" of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 2. Jesus prayed three times in the Garden of Gethsemane before His arrest. He was placed on the cross at the 3rd hour of the day (9 a.m.) and died at the 9th hour. There were 3 hours of darkness that covered the land while Jesus was suffering on the cross from the 6th hour to the 9th hour. Christ was dead for three full days and nights. 3. In Christianity, there exists the "threefold office" which states that Christ performs the functions of prophet, priest, and king.

In Norse Mythology it also holds significance

1. Prior to Ragnarök, there will be three hard winters without an intervening summer. These winters are called "Fimbulwinter" (meaning awful, migthy winter in old norse)- these winters mean no summer in between, but filled with snow, bitter frost and icy storms. (There is speculation that climate change, which began in Scandinavia at the end of the Nordic Bronze Age, gave rise to the legend of the Fimbulwinter.) 2. Odin endured three hardships upon the World Tree in his quest for the runes: he hanged himself, wounded himself with a spear, and suffered from hunger and thirst. 3. Bor had three sons: Odin (father god in norse mythology associated with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, sorcery, poetry, frenzy, and the runic alphabet), Vili and  Vé. All three sons are the creators of the world.

In greek mythology it too makes its appearance through the 3 sons of Cronos (god of time)

1. Zeus (god of sky and thunder) known for: turning his first wife into a fly which he then ate, cursing Sisyphus to push a giant boulder up a hill forever, chaining prometheus to a rock so an eagle could eat his liver, consistently being unfaithful to his wife (Hera), confining Tantalus in the underworld out of pure reach of nourishment, turning into a cloud to seduce Io, tricking Pandora into opening the box and ultimately turning herself into the burden of humanity, wiping out humankind, binding Ixion to an eternally burning wheel, forcing Atlas to hold the world on his shoulders, raping Callisto (whom he then turned into a bear) as well as Antiope and Alcmene (and many other female gods) 2. Poseidon (god of sea, storms, earthquakes and horses) known for: fighting in the troja war where he created such a huge earthquake it nearly destroyed the underworld, raping Athena and Demeter (and many more) 3. Hades (god of the underworld and the dead) known for kidnapping Persephone and tricking her into marrying him

(The roman equivalents are Saturn, Jupiter, Neptun and Pluto)

Other religions also reference the number 3

The Wiccan Rule of Three. The Triple Goddess: Maiden, Mother, Crone (the three fates) The Slavic god Triglav has three heads. There were three primary gods in Babylonia mythology (Anu, Bel, Ea) Three aspects to the Egyptian sun god (Khepri, Re, Atum)

And it represents the male principles

The number 3 is a very mystical and spiritual number featured in many folktales (three wishes, three guesses, three little pigs, three bears, three billy goats gruff). Plato saw 3 as being symbolic of the triangle, the simplest spatial shape, and considered the world to have been built from triangles.

In German folklore a paper triangle with a cross in each corner and a prayer in the middle was thought to act as protection against gout, as well as protecting a cradle from witches.

Three black animals were often sacrificed when attempting to conjure up demons. On the other hand, a three-coloured cat was a protective spirit. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1606–07) there are three witches, and their spell begins, “Thrice the brindled cat hath mewed,” reflecting such superstitions.

Also, 3 is the dimension of the smallest magic square in which every row, column, and diagonal sums to 15

We continue with the number combination on the plate of KMC's car

21.

Again, another angel number. It signifies good luck and faith.

21 means to enter a time of abundance. For those who have been dealing with a time of transition or facing difficulties, seeing this number can be a positive sign that soon this period will be behind you, and you can take the lessons of the past and put them to good use in your bright and beautiful future. This number has a special meaning - one connected to comfort, protection, and positive energy, helping you enter the next chapter of your life path.

In the bible, 21 is present as well

1. It represents great wickedness of rebellion and sin. After the people left Egyptian bondage, they had twenty-one major rebellious events as they wandered the wilderness. 2. The book of Judges and the gospel of John contain 21 chapter 3. The book of Hebrews contains materials from twetnty-one Old Testament books 4. In 2. Timothy the apostel Paul writes of 21 sins which show the exceeding wickedness of self and sin. He begins chapter 3 with a warning; "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will…" he then proceeds to list the sind humans will indulge in: 1) selfishly love themselves 2) Love money 3) Bragging 4) Be proud of themselves 5) Blaspheme 6) Disregard and disobe their parents 7) Not be thankful for what they have 8) Reject being holy 9) Will not have natural affection 10) Will be uncompromising 11) Falsely accuse others 12) Lack of any self-control 13) Will be fierce 14) Hate anyone who does good 15) Betray others 16) Will act hardheaded 17) Will have exalted, selfish views 18) Lovers of pleasure 19) Reject loving god 20) Will seem superficially to be godly 21) Deny God's power

0.

The number of nothingness. freedom and no limitations. It is also often referred to as the void, as it represents potential and choice. It most likely means that positive change is on the way

In Chinse numerology on the other hand it takes on a quite positive meaning (beginning of all things (and is generally considered a good number, because it sounds like 良 (pinyin: liáng), which means 'good'.

9.

The number of completion, although not a final ending. 9 means "near the final destination", and represents fulfillment of one cycle so you can prelare to initiate the next one as well as ebb and flow.

Again, another important number in the bible

It represents the fruits of God's Holy Spirit. These fruits are faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, joy, kindness, long suffering, love, peace and self-control

And it also appears in Norse Mythology

1. The universe is divided into nine worlds which are all connected by the world tree "Yggdrasil". 2. The number is also associated with Odin, as that is how many days he hung from the world tree Yggdrasil before attaining knowledge of the runes » Odin's self-sacrifice: But he wanted to know everything and gain wisdom and knowledge of things hidden from him (runes). This was a desire that drove him to sacrifice himself. He sacrificed his eye in Mimir's well and he threw himself on his spear Gungnir in a kind of symbolic, ritual suicide.«

As well as in Greek Mythology

1. There exist nine Muses in Greek mythology named: - Calliope (epic poetry) - Clio (history) - Erato (erotic poetry) - Euterpe (lyric poetry) - Melpomene (tragedy) - Polyhymnia (song) - Terpsichore (dance) - Thalia (comedy) - Urania (astronomy). 2. The River Styx, across which souls were ferried to the underworld, is described as having nine twists. 3. It takes nine days (for an anvil) to fall from heaven to earth, and nine more to fall from earth to Tartarus (place of punishment in the underworld) 4. Leto (goddess of motherhood and protectress of the young) labored for nine days and nine nights for Apollo, according to the Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo.

The number 9 also often represents pain or sadness. The 16th-century Catholic theologian Peter Bungus pointed out that the Ninth Psalm predicts the coming of the Antichrist. In Islamic cosmology the universe is made from nine spheres—the traditional eight of Ptolemy, plus a ninth added by the Arab astronomer Thābit ibn Qurrah about 900 CE to explain the precession of the equinoxes.

In Anglo-Saxon cultures 9 crops up frequently. The early inhabitants of Wales used nine steps to measure distance in legal contexts; for example, a dog that has bitten someone can be killed if it is nine steps away from its owner’s house, and nine people assaulting one constituted a genuine attack.

In German law the ownership of land terminated after the ninth generation. Many folk sayings involve the number 9. A stitch in time saves nine. Cloud nine is the ultimate in happiness. A cat has nine lives.

76.

And of course, yet another angel number and associated with luck, success, wealth, clarity, thought, love and creativity. The number also shows to focus your attention on your goals and continue to work hard to achieve them. It is a powerful combination of the number 6 and 7 (more on these numbers below)

2.

In numerology, the number represents teamwork, service, love, friendship, patience, personal growth, learning, emotional balance, partnership, acceptance, peace, bonding and mutual interests.

It again shows up in Christianity as an important number as it represent Adam (the failure, sinner and destructor) and Jesus (the sucess), Lilith (Adams first wife) and Eva (Adams second wife)

The number 2 symbolizes many of the basic dualities: me/you, male/female, yes/no, alive/dead, left/right, yin/yang, and so on. Dualities are common in human approaches to the world, probably because of our preference for two-valued logic—yet another duality, true/false. Although 2 was female to the Pythagoreans (Members of a religious-philosophical and politically active school, the Pythagoras of Samos in the 20s of the 6th century BC), other numerological schemes viewed it as male.

In Agrippa von Nettesheim’s De occulta philosophia (1533; “On the Philosophy of the Occult”), 2 is the symbol for man, sex, and evil. One reason that some have associated 2 with evil is that the biblical book of Genesis does not use the formula “and it was good” when referring to the second day of Creation.

Some religions are dualistic, with two gods in place of the one God of monotheism. Examples include Zoroastrianism, where Ahura Mazdā (the god of light and goodness) battles with Ahriman (the god of darkness and evil).

The number 2 is often associated with negatives, as in the words duplicity and two-faced. Northwest Coast Indians required the parents of twins to observe various taboos because they believed that supernatural powers would bring the wishes of twins to fruition.

It is also symbolic of the female principles

This part will include number 1, 6 and 7

1.

This number represents confidence, movement, newness, creation, birth of all things, origin of the universe, opportunity, to turn circumstances into anything we wish, control of future, independence, goal oriented, innovative, forceful, risky, doubtful, power and action in numerology.

Not surprisingly, the number 1 is generally treated as a symbol of unity.

The Pythagoreans did not consider 1 to be a number at all because number means plurality and 1 is singular. However, they considered it to be the source of all numbers because adding many 1s together can create any other (positive whole) number. In their system, where odd numbers were male and even numbers female, the number 1 was neither; instead, it changed each to the other. If 1 is added to an even number, it becomes odd; similarly, if 1 is added to an odd number, it becomes even.

In the faiths of Islamic, Jewish and Christian cultures the number 1 is associated with the unity of God. For medieval alchemists and metaphysicians the number was associated with the Philosopher's Stone, the unknown catalyst that was thought to transform base metals magically into gold.

The number 1 is also associated with the following deities:

Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of Love

Apollo, the Greek God of Beauty and Truth

Diana, the Roman Goddess of the Hunt

Vesta, the Roman Hearth Goddess

Freya, the Norse Goddess of Fertility

Pangu, the Chinese God who seperated earth and heaven

The number 1 is associated with the colors red, crimson, scarlet and cherry. Gemstones associated with the number 1 are ruby and garnet. Flowers associated with the number are red roses and red carnations.

Common superstitions about the number one are:

  Break one egg and you will break a leg

  It is unlucky to walk around the house in one slipper

  Only keep money in one pocket or you will lose it.

  People with one hand are psychic.

  A one-eyed person is a witch.

  Seeing one magpie bodes a death in your future.

  Seeing one white horse brings bad luck.

  If you wash your hair on the first day of the month you will have a short life.

 It is unlucky to get married August 1st or January 1st.

6.

The number of domestic happiness, stability, harmony and blessing.

In Christianity, it holds a significance

1. It appears as the number of six days of Creation in Genesis, with God resting on the seventh day. The structure of the Creation parallels the sum 1 + 2 + 3: on day 1 light is created; on days 2 and 3 heaven and earth appear; finally, on days 4, 5, and 6 all living creatures are created. 2. The number 6 and its meaning are related to man and human weakness, the evils of the devil and the manifestation of sin. Man was created on day six of creation week. Men are appointed 6 days to labor and then they are commanded to rest on the seventh day (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset). 3. A Hebrew slave had to serve 6 years before he could be released in the 7th year. Six years were appointed for the land to be sown and harvested. The number is also associated with Satan in his temptation of Jesus 4. The bringing together of triple six is the mark of the end time Beast power of Revelation. As such, it represents the very best system of governance that mankind can produce without God and under the constant influence of his chief adversary.

In Greek Mythology, number 6 represents

The goddess Venus (Goddess of love)

Hermes (God of Commerce)

Athena (Goddess of wisdom)

In Roman Mythology it represents Bacchus (God of Winemaking and Fertility

Some common supersitions about the number 6 are:

Its unlucky to purposely turn the number 6 upside down in jest as it means your projects will not be completed

If you find a rose with six petals it means you will be lucky in love

If you find a pansy petal with six colors on it, it means you will be protected against hurricanes and tornados

It is unlucky to get married on October 6th or November 6th

7.

In numerology, this number is associated with war, protection, eternal life and pefection

The number 7 is equally sacred amongst Islamic, Christian and Jewish religions. According to Jewish and Christian mythologies it took six days to create the world with the seventh day being the holiest day - a day of rest. The Bible, Zohar and other religious texts also recommend that fields were to be left fallow every seventh year as means of allowing the earth to regenerate itself. Some Christians believe the number 7 represents the seven levels of hell.

It is Hebrew tradition to mourn, or sit Shivah, for a period of 7 days.

Deities associated with the number 7 include Frigga (Norse goddess of marriage, life, motherhood and heaven) Minerva (the Roman Goddess of Intelligence and Wisdom) and Mithras (Sun God in Zoroastrian lore)

The number 7 is associated with the colors violet, purple and plum. 7's gemstone is amethyst.

Flowers associated with 7 are irises and deep purple roses.

Some common superstitions about the number 7 are:

 If your date of birth can be reduced to a single number that can be divided by seven then you will have a particularly lucky life.

 Shattering a mirror brings 7 years of bad luck.

If you sing before 7 am then you will cry before 11 am.

Wrapping her husband's belt 7 times around a tree causes a woman to become fertile.  The seventh child of a seventh child is said to have psychic powers.

If you wash your hair on the 7th day of the month you will have trouble with the law.

 It is unlucky to get married April 7th or December 7th.

If you dream about the number 7, you will soon meet a soul mate.

Interesting thing about number 321

It represents creativity, joy, harmony, balance and moving forward

Korean supersititions on number 3:

This number also occurs several times in Korean mythology.

One of the key figures in Korean mythology is Hwanung. When Hwanung descended from heaven to earth, he had three seals and was accompanied by 3,000 followers. Also, Hwanung owned three powers: wind, rain, and clouds. Furthermore, according to the myth explaining how the first human appeared on Korean land, a bear stayed in the cave for three weeks. After that time, Hwanung transformed the bear into a beautiful woman.

Korean superstitions on number 9:

Apart from “4”, people in Korea are wary of “9”. When people reach an age ending in 9, for example, 29, 39, and so on, some of them begin to worry. They believe that this particular year will be difficult and misfortunes or failures may occur.

This attitude towards the number is due to the fact that after 9 comes 0. As a result, it is interpreted as the end of the old, and new beginnings from scratch which many people have anxiety about. There is a risk of choosing the wrong path at such an important time, some may even postpone significant events, such as weddings, to a later date.

Interesting fact about KSJs house number (177)

Seeing angel number 77 indicates divine support, and spiritual growth, and calls for a time of self-discovery and freedom.

Aligned with the soul’s purpose

Indicates psychic experiences and heightened spiritual awareness

Represents healing, spiritualism, and psychic abilities

Ruled by the planet Saturn, indicating challenges ahead

In a twin flame context, 77 signals a transition from rocky times to positive changes

Numerologically, 77 signifies freedom, introspection, adventure, and heightened spiritual awareness

Angel number 77 love reading is all about strong, healthy relationships. It advises caution in giving your heart too quickly

Seeing 77 meany to take risks, listen to the inner self and to follow dreams

While the number 77 rarely occurs in the Bible, far more common is the appearance of double 7's, some of which have a special meaning.

Noah wanted to determine the status of the water after the great flood. He sent out a raven and later a dove from the ark (Genesis 8:7 - 8). The dove returned without any symbol of life. Seven days later, he resent the dove. This time it returned with an olive leaf, proving that the waters had almost completely subsided although the ground was likely still water logged. He waited yet another seven days (double 7 or 77) and sent the dove yet again. This time, it did not return, which meant that the ground was dry enough for many kinds of animals.«

In mythology, number 77 is oftentimes symbolic of destruction (gilgamesh epos, which is similar to the noahs ark story)

Moreover, it indicates a time of inner reflection and self-discovery

177

An angle number and a powerful reminder that when we stay true to ourselves, use our creativity, and trust our intuition, anything is possible. It's a sign that we are on the right path and have the courage to pursue our passions and make positive changes in our lives.

It serves as reminder that it is up to us to go after what we want in life. We may be feeling scared, or like we are not good enough.

It will often show up when the reason we arent acting is fear and doubt. Perhaps we fear failure, or doubt that we truly have the ability to achieve something. It could even be that we don’t really think we deserve the things that we want- tells us that these are just symptoms of low self-esteem, and that we need to work on loving ourselves.

It also points to our intuition, and its power to help guide us through life. It is also our intuition that will let us know whether seeing the number 177 is a sign from the Angels.

The number is also always a call to action. It will often show up when we are in a state of indecision or fear which is stopping us from doing the things that we need to do. The number often shows up to help us overcome our fear of moving forward.

The same nudge that causes us to notice the number will prick our intuition and let us know that there is something special about this number.

It serves as a reminder that even when we are doing nothing, we are not standing still, as everything around us is moving, changing our relative position. This means that the main difference between action and inaction, is that when we act, we choose our destination, while when we stay in one place, our destination is chosen for us by other forces.

EDIT

The numbr we get to see on the plate of the parcel driver are 2583

As we already covered 2 and 3, lets focus on 5, 8, 25 and 83

5

This number is associated with the ruling planet mercury. It is considered to be a numbr to represent freedom and adventure. It represents "a need of variety of exciting experiences to feel fulfilled"- therefore it masters in changes, adapting to situations and experimentations as well.

Deities associated with the number 5

Dionysus, the Greek God of Wine and Ecstatic Revelation

Ishtar, the Babylonian Goddess of Love, Sex and War

Mars the Roman God of War

Thor the Norse God of Thunder.

In the bible, number symbolizes God's grace, goodness and favor toward humans. 

8

In numerology, number 8 is to represent victory, prosperity and overcoming. It heps to lift up personal power and to energize it. As a powerful presence, it also means hidden power, shared resources and deterination.

Deities associated with the number 8 are

Mercury, the Roman God of financial gain, commerce, eloquence, messages, communication (including divination), travelers, boundaries, luck, trickery, and thieves

Gaia, the Greek Goddess of earth (mother earth)

Hera, the Greek goddes of marriage, family, childbirth and women

In the bible the number 8 represents a new beginning, meaning a new order or creation, and man's true "born again" event when he is resurrected from the dead into eternal life.

83

Number 83 is a number to represent greath strength combined with love, gentleness and sensitivity. Its there to give great love for the world and a desire to heal and restore peace and order

25

This number is yet again an angel number. It is to represent exchnge of ideas and new beginnings.

In the contrary, some people believe that its an unlucky number because it can represent chaos and destruction.

Number 25 is all about change, progress, challenges and two sides

Represent the Universal Word of God, according to Abellio.

According to saint Augustin, the number 25 represents the Law.

Represent the multiplication of creatures which overlap on the double world of the spirit and the matter, according to R. Allendy: "it is the life graduating on all plans and evolving by the opposite polarity game"

In the Bible the number 25 represents "grace upon grace." It is composed of 20 (meaning redemption) and five (grace) or grace multiplied (5 x 5).

And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us (and we ourselves beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten with the Father), full of grace and truth . . . And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:14, 16 - 17, HBFV).

In mesopotamian mythology Ningal, the goddess of dream divination, vision, and interpretatio is associated with the number 25

[maystea]

The house of cards: the beginning.

Is it new for The Devil Judge to put the whole plotline into small details? No, it’s not. And while we’re always paying attention to such things as emotions or misleads in dialogues, today I want to talk about... cards. And to be exact, about their meaning and how they’re used in the show.

There will be three posts, and the main one is the third one. But before we get to it, we need to understand the meaning and the impact that cards have on the plot. Take a cup of tea because it’s going to be a veeeery long story.

　

— The first building.

The first time we see a house of cards is in ep.10, Yo-Han putting two last cards on the top of the house of cards right after Doh Young-Chung was caught. After a few more shots, we're introduced to more angles of the building, every of which has a special meaning.

1: The whole thing consists of four floors: Spades — Clubs and one Diamond — two Diamonds and one Heart — one Diamond and one Heart — the top.

The first floor, according to this site, "... it symbolizes a shovel used to dig a grave, and when it is matched with the minor arcana cards of the tarot card , it corresponds to 'swords' because it looks like a sword . ... a pattern with a strong feeling of symbolizing death and destruction , such as symbolizing the shape of the devil 's spear ."

Diamonds "... is also known to symbolize merchants or capitalists" which is obviously about money and wealth; Clubs "...symbolizes farmers and means wisdom" while also having a theory that "if it corresponds to the Minor Arcana cards of the Tarot Corresponds to 'wands'" and "that it originated from the whip of a slave". Hearts mean... hearts? "It is a pattern that is always used in events related to love" but it also "corresponds to 'cups' when it corresponds to the Minor Arcana cards of the Tarot " because of the theory that "the origin is a cup (or Holy Grail), it originated from Jipae, a Chinese game".

So in conclusion: fighting —> being wise (with a little bit of money) money —> having money (and a bit of love) —> money and love.

2: The left part of the top. Now we’re entering my favorite topic here. I hope you all know the card named Joker? It’s a card that can be every suit and every number, and sometimes there may be two Jokers of the same color, but in the deck which Yo-Han uses there is "Black Joker" and "Red Joker". Here, it's the strongest card since it can create a pair with any card.

And because we have the deck right here, we can see that the only two cards that have no mirror images on two sides of them are both Jokers, we can assume that the card we see on the top is "Red Joker".

3: The second card on the top is the Ace of Spades, and now we will move on to one of the most intriguing part of this post.

　

— The two cards that play the main roles.

Do you remember the symbolism of the suit of Spades? “Devil’s spear” is not mentioned here just because, but because of the scene right after Yo-Han destroys the building. He takes into his hand one (truly random?) card, and turns out it’s Ace of Spades — the most powerful (in decks without Joker) card of the trump card (you can read the story behind it, it’s pretty interesting).

The most valuable scene here is not Yo-Han looking at it and having it in his hands, but rather the next shot we see of Ga-On’s face. Ga-On’s the Ace of Spades in Yo-Han’s hands, and he's the devil’s spear Yo-Han uses it the best way he can...

by throwing it right into the faces of his enemies. Now, I suggest talking about something more subtle and something hidden pretty well, but still present.

　

— Ga-On’s card.

We just got to know that Ga-On’s the Ace of Spades, so what now? Oh... it’s nothing but a game of numbers. If we look into Ga-On’s birthdate and what card he is based on it (you can check it here), we’ll discover him being a 6 of Hearts.

If you want to read more, it’d be amazing! There’s a lot to write, but let's try to summarize.

Six of Hearts represents the Law of The Love, they are emotionally intense yet affectionate, and having home for them is essential.

Well, describes him pretty well, but unfortunately, it’s not something I wanted to note. In my mother language, there’s a saying: "бути шестіркою,” and in translation, it means “being someone’s pawn/running dog.” But if we translate it word by word, we’ll get “being someone’s sixth.” A puppet, whose only work is to do whatever is told and not ask any questions.

And... that’s the purpose of Ga-On at the beginning of the whole show: being a marionette that will find information about Yo-Han and nothing, nothing more. But as it usually ends, Ga-On’s much more than just someone’s plan in destroying Yo-Han.

He may not know yet—what kind of suit and card in total he is, and we see it on his sweatshirt in the same episode: on his back, he has a card back. He’s a hidden card, and everybody can read him however they want, but what matters here is that he’s in hands of someone for whom he’s the Ace of Spades,

and for someone who respects him and his abilities. He's in the hands of someone who doesn't think of him as just a “pawn.”

Part two.

[transmutationisms]

I’ve spent the evening going through your tags and vigorously nodding along with all of your analyses of Succession, specifically WRT addiction, drug use and the way drugs are framed throughout the show as performance-enhancing agents for life under capitalism (to sum it up basically, though certainly more nuance could amend that characterization which I think you have covered). Specifically with season 4 and eps 405-408, I’m thinking about the narrative reemergence of cocaine as the waystar universe’s primary “business drug” of choice- though where we would typically see this play out with Kendall’s arc, there’s been fascinating parallels with the Tom/Greg and Shiv/Mattson of it all in terms of their characters conceding to the drug/feigning the appearance of drug use to stay close to the seat of power. IMO next to Kendall, Tom may be the character shown to be most entangled in this inescapable dynamic between drug use and self-image/actualization/esteem; he seems preoccupied and obsessive about the effect of drugs on his personal and financial prospects (“I took the wrong drugs in the wrong order and can’t get happy”) and even moreso in the most recent episode with the whiteboard coke scene (played as a hard comedy scene which I find so interesting!!!)

Meanwhile, we have not seen Kendall explicitly use drugs anytime throughout the season, yet he admits (with a rather surprising candor and self awareness) in 401 that he knows what it’s like to “smoke horse” and therefore needs a business venture as readily able to consume his priorities, and through the season we see him shirking obligations to his family and other loyalties in a seemingly self-destructive spiral that might mirror a normative discourse of “the addict.” So that is just some braindump lol, this is hardly a pointed question but you’re such a thoughtful critic on these themes and I find myself similarly engaged by them as well. am wondering if you have made any similar/different connections or new themes WRT drugs and addiction you’ve seen this season!

yeah, so, tom's drug use is something i haven't really written about and should, because it's a really fascinating angle to his character as well as the portrayal of drugs on the show in general. for purposes of this post i'm just going to assume anyone reading is familiar with the reading of drug use on succession as an expression of neoliberal capitalist subjectivity, and with coke in particular as being a way for the characters to access and perform bourgeois masculinity. also, when i talk about masculinity and femininity in this post, i'm going by logan's definitions of those terms, where the masculine is rational, violent, dominant, and so forth, and the feminine is embodied, passive, submissive, &c. these are the rules by which these characters still live.

what's interesting with tom is that he speaks the language of masculinity and drugs, and therefore also masculinity-qua-drugs, differently than the roys. in 'prague', for example, he sees greg doing coke and tells him to "suck on those big white dicks"—the opposite of what coke means in the text when kendall uses it. for kendall it's a way of enhancing his masculinity, kill drive, &c, which is why his use tends to be SO tracked to his relationship with logan and the demands logan is making of him (for example, seeking it in 'no one is ever missing, using it in 'vaulter' after logan orders him to gut vaulter, or in season 3 when he's at peak patricidality). the fact that tom sees greg using coke as discursively equivalent to sucking cock tells us that tom simply doesn't understand how the roys perform masculinity, or what that means to them. in 'too much birthday' he makes a different mistake, trying to use coke to make himself happy. again, what we can see as viewers is that this is simply not how coke functions for the roys. it's not a party drug or a chemical joyride; it's almost utilitarian in how it's meant to make up for a lack of masculinity or business instinct. it makes kendall capable of functioning in logan's world, where the language spoken is one of violence. tom taking it for fun is kind of doomed from the get-go.

so, there are a few elements of the coke scene in 'america decides' that i find interesting. one is that, although tom actually is now trying to use coke as a performance-enhancing drug à la kendall, the person he's trying to live up to is cyd, who's been ousted. this implicitly feminises tom by suggesting his spectral role model in business is not even his father-in-law, but a woman. second, as plenty of people have noted, greg doing the coke off tom's hand is quite intimate, even tender, and suggests that for tom, coke is homosocial in a distinct way (gayer, to be blunt) than kendall allows it to be. third, tom pressures greg into doing it—again, suggesting he doesn't see it as some kind of competitive advantage but as a male bonding activity, where he wants greg's company (or at least wants someone's company, and uses greg instrumentally). fourth, as you pointed out, it's played for laughs. generally kendall's coke use is portrayed with more nuance: it's not flattering, and there are certainly moments of levity, but it's contextualised as both the ultimate embrace of the logics of capital, and as part of kendall's futile efforts to please his father. both of these elements mean kendall's coke scenes are usually played more seriously. for tom and greg to be hunched behind a whiteboard comedically doing bumps together again stands out, making both of them look a bit foolish and emphasising how tom's relationship to masculinity, coke, and coke masculinity is different to kendall's. both kendall and tom fail at masculinity, but in distinct ways; kendall tries repeatedly to use coke in order to make up the difference, whereas tom doesn't even understand consciously that that's an option.

shiv's refusal of matsson's coke to me parallels roman turning down coke with asgarov. roman and shiv do business and gender differently than kendall. although shiv instinctually identifies with a more masculine role (ie, she sees herself as dominant, in control, the smartest one in the room, &c), she doesn't have the wild insecurity that drives kendall to compensate using coke. shiv prefers to try a more deliberate strategy than the way kendall just goes in swinging his cock around, hoping he'll intimidate someone. meanwhile, roman identifies with a more feminine, coquettish role, which is precisely what logan always perceived as being so disgusting in him. roman's business strategy often reads as flirting, but without following through (inviting matsson to come piss with him, but then refusing to actually take his own cock out; following asgarov to the bathroom but turning down the coke; the lotion situation with mencken). so, shiv and roman have now both had scenes where they're directly offered the chance to try on kendall's overcompensatory masculinity for themselves, and they've both turned it down, telegraphing the way their strategies for surviving in the world of waystar diverge from kendall's.

kendall, of course, has been interesting this season drug-wise by negation. the heroin line is interesting, although unclear to me to what extent he was serious (and, even if he was serious, we have no idea whether he's talking about anything recent), so it mostly just suggests that this is something he and his siblings are comfortable acknowledging / joking about. whether it's a joke or not, the invocation of heroin specifically to convey basically immediate, overwhelming enjoyment / pleasure fits in with how the show distinguishes between uppers and downers, with downers being the drugs more likely to be taken in pursuit of pleasure rather than as tools for neoliberal self-improvement like coke / uppers. besides that, the past 10 in-universe days have essentially been a process of kendall deciding more and more baldly to pursue his father's ceo position once and for all. kendall's drug use is in response to both logan and the broader demands of capitalist masculinity, so i don't want to read too much into his non-use this season (& it honestly wouldn't shock me if we saw him do a bump or two in the last episode or something), but i do think that at the beginning of the season, we catch him at a relatively relaxed point, as he's been removed from his father and had his siblings nearby. so, the show is capable of portraying him spiralling out (as you point out) without using a drug narrative or conventional addiction arc to telegraph that, because his coke use means very specific things in relation to masculinity and capitalism.

[lurkingteapot]

Only Friends เพื่อนต้องห้าม Ep 4

Nearly two weeks late and I'm finally, finally getting around to catching up with my favourite mess.

Live watch notes!

Oh wow, we're starting out right away on the heavy stuff, huh

oh god Khaotung's acting, He's so good.

there's that word again, "burden"

thank fuck Mew cottoned on to this being a goodbye

I somehow fully expected Ray to just drop the phone into the tub

he's sitting in the EMPTY tub??? was this just for mess prevention? oh Ray, oh baby.

No, love, no, your mum did not die because of you.

HELL YEAH CHEUAM'S A LESBIAN (sorry, I'm just so excited to hear a girl actually SAY it) (but also Ray being a hit with the wlw tracks)

ooh wait wait, these shirts-- is this the make-out night?

also Ray I get you probably don't mean it like that, but you're sorta … guilt-tripping Mew here.

love the way this kinda tells us audience members a) the backstory of Ray taking that call b) that Mew's rejected Ray before c) that Ray was so desperately seeking connection that he came off weirdly manipulative about it

GOD Khaotungggg

this is shot very prettily but also what the fuck, Boston, is EVERYTHING blackmail material to you

adfsadfa LOVE Mew calling Ray out on the shirt

sleepover!!

"not your type" huh. HUH.

Ray really is hung up on him, huh.

Proud of Mew for setting that boundary.

Sand is not buying it.

Oh Sand, oh Sand.

Ooop put your foot in it

Nick, what are you lying to Sand about that?

oof "he's not normal, his reputation is bad"

oh man the employees all wai'ing the boss's son … urgh god I hate rich people, sorry Top I'm sure you're not actually that bad but URGH (also yes I'm aware of the double standard I've got going here, the way just-as-rich-kid Ray is my little meow meow)

wait, is this the photo booth where Top and Boston made out?

is this just a common architecture feature in spensive hotels, or is this the same hotel they shot Chaan's apartment in LoA with?

ooooh that plane is Boston's, isn't it

Ray and Sand may be doomed by the narrative but I love every second I get out of them anyway.

I love Sand so muchhhh

First is really good at that searching eye contact thing

ถ้ามึงอยากเป็นเพื่อนกับกูอยู่นะ คิดถึงความรู้สึกกูบ้าง BOUNDARIES we love to see them

the way they put the asshole angle on Boston here, I love it

oooh you made Boston mad just now

hookups so you can sleep, hookups to let off steam

oh man, Nick, oh man, this is not okay behaviour and you KNOW it

"I can't" -> the way it's put in Thai is กูไม่สดวก which is basically 都合が悪い but feels like 困る. Gotta ask teacher about that one.

is this why physical pictures are all you deal with, or are you just … talking out your ass because you know Nick is dtf either way for a bit yet

Mark Pakin, the actor you are

this is not news but I'd like to reiterate that I love how we have Rich Boys and Poor Boys are a theme here

asdfadfasdf "stay away from Boston" Nick, Top's been TRYING

but oh man Top is an arrogant ass. like. scary slick.

Ohhhh wow Nick, wow, wow wow. at least you're self-aware? ish?

Oh fuck of course he ran over Sand

Go go go Sand

oooof there's history here, I see. I still think it's about someone Sand liked before.

I really hope Sand's bike is fine

Nickkkkk how about you don't lie to Sand? but urgh you're also getting him in trouble which. ooof I can see this making things really complicated for him and Ray going forward.

Sand is like "oh bruv NO"

CALLED IT

Mew is so unimpressed. I'm impressed with Ray for owning up to it though, and for apologising – it's so easy to fall into the "I'm an awful person and they'll hate me anyway" spiral.

okay so at least Sand and Ray can bond over hating Top

Mew, please get mad about Top being a controlling ass like that

You've got nothing to hide, right, Top? Right?

sooo was that Not Mew in the car with Ray, then? Photoshop?

oh we're going here, huh

oh wait, was that him again just now?

that's a really good line to draw, Mew, and also you've got an excellent point about addiction here

oh man oh man oh man I'm really liking Mew more and more this ep and Top is doing nothing to endear himself to me.

oh man, someone's gonna drink that water and it's going to be a Situation™

Top, you asshole, if you could not question every single one boundary Mew sets, that'd be ace

so the thing is. Top. Why would you think Mew would believe that? you talk big.

!! this is a song from the playlist!!

fuck, Sand is so gone on him alreadyyyy, I really thought he had more distance than that, but nope nope nope

I continue to be so impressed with this show. The preview is nerve wracking, but I'm going to be strong and only watch that when I've got another 5k or so of work words done. One more ep, and then I'll have a day to wade into the tag! EXCITED.

[itsdappleagain]

being late for cs weekly is just gonna be my thing now, yeah? im just fashionably late always <3

anyways, its time for: the duke of vermeer caper!

aka the zack messes up and has to cover his ass caper lol. just kidding- he does a pretty damn good job. i also love seeing chase and julia acclimate to acme in this ep! ONTO THE NOTES!

going to talk about the intro being soo hot forever

pls they try so hard to pretend for a minute that the duchess isn't carmen. her first moment onscreen plays carmen's theme song

i like how it goes from our usual personal camera angles to the security cam footage!

it is carmen sandiego, actually

"we had no record of her existence until she showed up here. but we do know what she's called somehow"

fuck you devineaux i love learning about vermeer. good on chief for throwing chase under the bus

i always think of julia as veyr bookish, but she's extremely tech savvy. she's on a tablet or a phone pretty much the entire first episode, she nails acme tech immediately...

blue is totally ur color girl you can rock anything girl

love how they just have that painting out. no protection, bare fingies all over it. carmen "all history is a treasure" sandiego, yet again

it totally is ivy you could rock blonde i think

carmen "here's what we know but i'll explain it to everyone again for the audience's benefit" sandiego

love mime bomb breaking the 4th wall jhgdsajgsh he would

you can compare girl with a pearl earring here to the real one i used for my header. considering they had to animate the paintings, i'd say its a job well done translating them to cs style! maybe somewhat less vibrant, but again- style.

Fun fact: the Dogs Playing Poker wikipedia page mentioned CS

and also calls cleo a princess

player's so proud of his terrible light pun i love him

what a fucking crime that zack deprived us of a high-stakes undercover episode with one of the faculty and a hoarde of dangerous operatives all while carmen was dressed like THIS

quality is terrible sorry but you know. actually what a crime

i love the terror on everyone's faces when everything immediately goes to shit

the thought process zack went through to think that he called, they made and delivered the food within five fucking minutes,,

EVERYONE HIDING IS SO FUNNY TO ME poor ivy has to go back in the closet </3

dash haber is fucking stupid (affectionate)

CARMEN POPPING UP FROM BEHIND THE BAR AND JUST STARING AT HIM IS SO FUNNY SHE'S LIKE Z A C K i also like how zack immediately goes "UH GOTTA THINK OF A COVER UH WE'RE MARRIED" the thought process was just. good job

zack's facial expressions in this episode are so good honestly

i also love how zack went "yeah im from boston" and immediately covered up his boston accent he's so silly

poor carmen wheeze

she went "NO DONT LET HIM DO THAT" and zack threatened murder

imagine only have 33 of vermeer's paintings and not 34 what a loser

the tiny eye flutter dash does when he hangs up is so funny pls

HIS GRIN BEFORE IVY WHACKS HIM WITH THE WIG IS SO

carmen is so chill about what just happened khzghsdgh

idk thought it was interesting i never knew what that was

player what do you think the not so good news is. really and honestly what do you think

the grimace on carmen's face progressively getting deeper as zack fails to not be bostonian is so funny shes just like. eugh

also what did moving his chin possibly help to accomplish

they did zack so dirty with that monkey suit joke shdfjsagsh

carmen is REALLY calling on her cleo childhood for this one. also. poor zack actually

the obsession with making him eat fish please just let him tell them he's allergic

CARMEN IS SO FUCKING HARSH WITH HIM IM SORRY she's like "cleo's going to fucking feed you to her dogs" and then zack works overnight to make this happen and when he comes out all ready she's just like 👁️👄👁️ showtime

its literally 7am i feel so bad for him

"park the fork in my mouth" plays in my head constantly i dont even know why

LOOK AT HIM HE DID SUCH A GOOD JOB THE GRIN WITH THE EYEBROWS AND EVERYTHING. NICE JOB ZACK

they didnt go over zack not wearing a tracker before or

pls neither of the girls can drive

girl i know it is impossible to look behind you with the side mirrors in the passenger seat nuh uh no way in hell did she even see devineaux well enough to turn it. also you just took away one of ivy's mirrors nice job carmen

shes so

DIDNT I DO IT FOR YOU...

i wonder, considering carmen's other aliases, what carmen and the crew registered as. did julia see "rogue scarletina" and go hmm might be the duchess

poor julia this season wheeze

"old admirer" youve known about him for one singular week

a "klick" is apparently a kilometer. who knew. its also apparently a military term.

LITERALLY POOR IVY carmen is not treating her crew well this time around

"ahh a drawbridge" WHAT. OTHER KIND OF BRIDGE CAN YOU HACK INTO you wouldn't download a bridge

ivy has some good expressions too actually

i laugh every time at how outraged chase gets between the second and third slo-mo shot of him turning around in the car

THEY LOOK SO SHOCKED HHAHAHA

ARE YOU?? UNDERWATER??

the direction you wish to eject is so funny to me. ejecting out the bottom <3

i love how theyre just standing there like "hmmmmm is devineaux drowning??"

oh my god ivy's driving stick i would be terrified too

i would kill someone to have heard haber say "the hostess with the mostest" pls also he looks so sad about being cut off

okay so.. zack actually can speak italian and i totally forgot about that. he says "good evening, my beautiful countess" which. everyone probably knew already

he's just vomiting back up what carmen said in the hotel jhdgsgsh

the dogs ARE so cute

DASH IN THE BG OFFENDEDLY LOOKING OVER ZACKS SHOULDER AS THEY WALK AWAY

i love dash he's such a rightfully petty bitch about everything

HI LADY DOKUSO AND COUNTERFEITER FROM S3

the cleaners do everything

PLS IVY KNEELING IN THE HALLWAY TO GET THAT VERY CARTOONY SHOT OF THEM POKING OUT FROM BEHIND THE WALL

not the three digit code for the room containing 34 vermeers

have i mentioned that they FLY through this dinner party because holy shit

OKAY NOW IVY WEARS GLOVES WHERE THE HELL WERE THOSE WHEN THEY WERE HANDLING THEM BEFORE

or i wonder if its because zack and ivy are registered citizens and if their fingerprints were found on the vermeers they would be put on wanted lists??

why ivy isn't three centimeters away from the stand with the replacement i will never understand

zack you're literally on the edge of the table you have the easiest water glass to remember

that naughty comment 😭

pls that very polite chuckling around the table

love that they switch from ivy putting the fakes down to carmen doing it. makes. more sense

YEAH OKAY IF THEYRE DOING ONE SWAP A MINUTE THE DINNER PARTY BLOWS THROUGH EVERY COURSE IN LIKE 20 MINUTES OR LESS

also the shape of the vermeer room changes??

cleo glares at her champagne thats so funny

JUST. I KNOW EVERYONE IN THE FANDOM HAS SAID IT BUT JUST SAY YOURE ALLERGIC

they were so wrong for that closeup of dash's lips

ooomg so suspiscious...someone has a different taste than urs??? what the fuck augh

dash is saying the word puke but im staring at his eye makeup its so good. look at that eyeliner and mascara

cleo the worst hostess ever doesn't tell her guest to stop when he looks like he's about to vomit

THE CRIMINAL IN YOUR MIDST LINE IS SO FUCKING FUNNY IM CRYING THE DEADPAN STARES

the meat cleaver contrasted with the rolling pin

ZACK AIMED RIGHT AT DASH'S FACE SJKFDSSGH

something about how silent that button was is so satisfying

acme has blue gas, vile has green gas, damn carmen needs something

also love how they had the masks at the ready. nice. i wonder what it would have done. knock out or more sinister?

WAIT I NEVER NOTICED DEVINEAUX SKIDDING ON THE ICE AS HE RUNS OUT HAHAHA

yes i believe the phrase is actually implying that two MUST dance that tango

duke of vermeer bad ending: chase gets mauled by dogs <3

love how chase went: hm yes. the woman who just stole 34 paintings is probably on that snowmobile, which has no cargo

lmaoo the calling card

scarlet ski demon

IVY IS SO FUCKING FUNNY IN THIS BIT IM SO IN LOVE WITH HER SHGJHSGHSGDK

RED BRINGS OUT MY EYES AND COATS ARE WARM

at least she sort of offhandedly told him he nailed the role but thats literally the only praise he gets this episode

THE SHOT JUMPING TO THE CHATEAU BEING BURNT TO THE GROUND IS SOOO FUCKING COOL

chief is so disappointed wheeze

i wonder if this case is especially aggravating to chief, considering the last time she watched a vile member's property go up in flames was dexter's house

carmen's already gotten around the world with those puppies

i thought the public wasn't supposed to know that vermeers were even gone hgdashgdsgh

i would have killed for a s4 moment where julia was like "ah your allies! a pleasure to meet you! is the duchess still among you" and everyone just kind of is like. whos gonna tell her

transition sentence <3

this is set up so much like a weekly release show its hard to believe its a netflix exclusive. that cliffhanger with grey is such a week-to-theorize thing

SHADES OF GREY. LIKE. GRAY. GRAY HAM CRACKER?

GET IT

anyways aur naur its crackle

okay yeah. solid episode, not my favorite, some shining moments just like i started with. sweet! sorry its so late anddddd see you next week for the opera in the crikeycore caper

[kitkatopinions]

Watched the second ep. I don't have pics this time but I'm gonna do my best to make a good post anyway. RWBY volume 9 spoilers and criticism below the keep reading. Also this is a long one!

Praise

The use of 'business person.' About ten years of gender-specific stuff like 'Huntsman Academies' instead of 'Hunter Academies' aside, it's nice to hear some gender neutral terms.

On its own, removed from the comedy and bad tone of the volume and the moment two seconds before it, I really enjoyed Weiss reflecting on the weight of what happened, the loss of her home, the fact that their plan could've been (and kind of was) a disaster that put people at risk, the possibility of losing the Relics, acting like they made mistakes... I also really like Ruby's response to it, her "you did the best you could to save Atlas" was said in this weak kind of stiff way like Ruby knows that's a meaningless comfort that doesn't help. And then when Weiss talks about Penny, Ruby just turns away and keeps walking? That's good. This on its own felt like a really good moment.

Also, I like the choice of framing in the conversation, specifically Weiss gripping her sword. Yesss those trauma responses motherfucker, yeeeeah! That's what we wanna see!

I really love the concept of the weather in wonderland clearly connecting to emotions (and so far, more Ruby's emotions than anything else.) I kind of even like how it changes on a dime.

The soldier waving to the little kid? Kind of cute!

Ruby's "Look, we may not know exactly what's going on. But for whatever reason, this place is putting us on a similar path as a book we all read as kids. I say we follow it... And stop pretending we know what we're doing." First off, this is what I mean when I say the voice acting for Ruby has much improved. The delivery is great, the emotions are great, the twinge of bitterness despite her seeming to be trying at the start to give one of her usual speechesTM leading to her ending with her dark statement of them not knowing what they're doing, it's great. Second off, she's her uncle's niece, that's for sure, I love this new angle for her actually. Third off, please please please don't have this written off by the end of the season with an "actually there's nothing we could've done differently, nothing that needs to change, Ruby is back to normal." I have a lot of complaints about this episode already typed up (because I'm writing both criticism and praise as I watch) but this is a good direction for Ruby and I'm liking this growth for her actually surprisingly a lot. Everything else, I do not like, but Ruby is so far my absolute favorite part of this season, which is as it should be. And I want these changes to mean something in the long run even if she - as she should - regains some confidence and optimism near the end. I want her to come out of this more cautious, more mature, a bit more cynical, a bit open to council and other solutions and working on her own shortcomings and accepting some nuance. This is good groundwork, I'm really hoping the writers can take this thing the whole way through.

Guys, I feel kind of bad, I really expected to have more praise... But by and large... I didn't like this episode. Let's talk about why.

Criticism

First off, gonna say right away. Yang being like "are we just gonna sit here thinking about that in silence, or...?" What a weird way to start an episode. That's a 'back from a commercial break' line you'd find in Phineas and Ferb.

The way that the 'anime-animation' has gone up by a hundred in this volume is bad, the show has been written so that it's mostly normal with maybe two or three anime-animation gags a season for ages, and they always feel out of place because of how little they're used, and now they kicked it up to eleven jam-packing as many into their show as possible, and it's annoying! The "reason" may be because the writers wanted this volume to feel different than RWBY. If that's the case then congrats the show RWBY doesn't feel like RWBY at all even in vibes right now.

Weiss: "And Yang got her arm stolen by a- by a- what was it, that you said?" Boy howdy. Let's just gloss over Yang actually telling them what happened, so we can by pass their reactions and act like it's all just old hat and stupid and tiring. It's not like the audience needs to be engaged. It's not like this is meant to be the first time the audience is hearing about this.

Weiss (paraphrased): "Just because this place is weird doesn't mean we're actually inside a fairy tale." Me: "Good, someone is going to point out that the sentencing is really weird considering that it doesn't make sense for them to think they just blue-skadoo'd into the pages of a fairy tale and they're going to take this moment - the most logical moment - to talk about how it's more likely that this world must've been traversed by someone who returned to Remnant and based a fairy tale they've read off of it (which is VERY Journey to the Center of the Earth starring Josh Hutcherson and Brendan Fraser by the way) and therefore whether this is an after-life or another dimension or something else that they logically ought to consider, they can get back." Yang: "Also this thing that may be reflective of something that might have happened in a fairy tale happened to me." Weiss: "Actually yes we're probably 'in a fairy tale.'"

Ruby, the girl who explicitly loved FAIRY TALES SPECIFICALLY: "Some of this is sort of familiar." Blake, the girl who may like fairy tales alongside the other books she reads (once joked at majority being trashy romance novels in the show, and repeatedly in Chibi): "I recognize this at once!" Weiss, the girl who grew up in a strict home where she's never once mentioned ever liking even any form of entertainment as far as I can remember: "That's just something we all read as kids." Gee whiz, I wish this was actually... Something better. XD

"Alyx" fought a "Jabberwalker" and beat the "Red King" and met the "Curious Cat." Listen, this is all... Very boring. I know I haven't actually encountered some of these things yet, but despite feeling like them doing things like making Pinnochio become a real person was lazy, RWBY has never been this lazy before. At least when they literally uncreatively named a character Sun Wukong, he wasn't just an immortal godlike character you meet in a rushed journey to the west pocket of an adventure where everything is Journey to the West themed and the characters in RWBY were like "this is the world of Travel to the Western Location, it's a book that exists that we're going to have to go through." Not only am I bored, I'm very annoyed.

Little: "I'll lead the way! Right to-" *Cuts to Little sleeping* Immediately, I'm done as hecking heck with the pointlessness of this mouse so far. "They might have a point later" Well until then, they're annoying, and they could have a point right the frick now by acting as a guide, but instead all they're doing and seemingly their only purpose as of yet is as bad comedy in a season so far filled with more than enough bad comedy.

Blake: "Alyx didn't know the customs and ended up starting a war." Yang: "Well, she was kind of a bad person, right? She lied and cheated her way through most of the book." Weiss: "She was trying to survive. The morals of those old stories are so simplistic." Weiss...... Do you remember how you all fucking hated Ozpin for three seasons because he lied and were fine with him getting punched over it? Do you remember how you guys decided that 'saving what we can in a trolley problem' made someone evil? Do you remember when you pointed what was essentially a loaded gun at your underage civilian brother because he was in the way? Do you remember how you acted like Yang had slapped Ruby because she suggested that Ruby might have been wrong about something? Do you remember when Blake accused May of acting like Ironwood when she told you guys that you had to choose to do something to help people instead of sitting around and doing nothing and you were just like "yuh-huh." And that's not even getting into how this show has treated so much as cut-and-dry either you're good or you're evil for the past three seasons in the narrative, leaving no room for nuance in the conversation. Hopefully this season will address some of that, but it still leaves Weiss looking like a massive hypocrite for this line.

When Yang says what happened with the racoon, the animation used to tell that story is not it for me champs. Idk who decided that. Why couldn't they just mimic the art style of Yang's story about looking for Raven when she was a kid and Qrow helping her? What, is the 'tone' of that style of art too serious for their comedic stuff they've got going on?

Yang and Blake: *Almost touch hands.* Weiss: "About time." ABOUT TIME FOR WHAT, WEISS? THEY HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING! They've literally held hands at least twice now

And that Blake has also done with Ruby and Weiss

Yes, this time Yang and Blake are doing it with Energy that was non-existent for Blake and Ruby and Blake and Weiss, but they've been doing everything with ENERGY since volume six. This is nothing new, this is just another way of the show writers and Rooster Teeth going "see? See? They're actually something (probably) so just wait teehee" but first off, I don't like it and I wish they'd just progress Blake and Yang's relationship because they haven't done anything now that's different from the cake picture or the practicing their dancing. But second off, boy does Weiss look an oblivious chump. "About time." Where have you been???

And also, at the writers, just because you act like it's new and significant doesn't mean it is. What is this hesitation for?

Also! Weiss and Ruby: *Stop walking, start having a serious conversation.* Yang and Blake:

Bro, when I'm walking with my sister and she stops, I??? Stop walking??? So we can walk together??? When my sister stops walking to have a sad serious conversation about being sad and serious, I just??? Stop to talk to her?? It kind of makes Blake and Yang feel like they're so caught up in each other that they're just ignoring not only the dire situation they're in and the dire situation Remnant is in, but also the feelings and suffering of Ruby and Weiss. And it's just... Not what I want to see tbh? Like I want to see them acting like they care enough to at least notice what the other two are going through.

The amount of screentime that's already been spent on Little being just so silly and quirky is really wrecking my enjoyment. I wish they had left Little behind when they left the mice army. Actually, I wish Little (and also the mice army) had never existed at all.

"So which one is Yang's arm?" I feel like this is from a little kids show for five year olds. "Okay kids, the mean racoon has disguised what he stole as something else. Is it the green doll, the pink rabbit, or the yellow-and-black staff that looks kind of like Yang's arm that's made of metal? Do you guys remember what color Yang's arm is?" *Kids voice* "Yellow!" Hand of the Creator making Team RWBY look like idiots here tbh. Cringe. At least Yang went on to assume it's her arm - because that's what her heart told her - but yikes was that dumb.

Also though the racoon is massively bad and bigoted. Everything about this racoon is a negative stereotype associated with the Romani people and it's coming out in 2023, this is a really bad look especially from Bigoted "NO WE SWEAR WE'VE CHANGED" Bad Business Practices Inc.

The sword thing doesn't make sense to me tbh. Other people who say things better than me have talked about the lack of logic regarding the sword being here in the first place, but what I'm gonna talk about is the lack of emotions tied up in this item. By talking about Doctor Who. So, the writers of Doctor Who wanted the Eleventh Doctor to have something to remember his companion Amy Pond by after she left after a whopping two and a half seasons (more than achieved by even Rose Tyler in modern Who) for his remaining half a season left on the show, as an emotional gut-punch for the many fans who loved Amy and the other companion Rory who left at the same time. So they had the Eleventh Doctor wear Amy's glasses.

The problem with this is... Amy only ever wore glasses in her very last episode, so... There was no real emotional significance in them. They weren't iconic to Amy, they weren't something the viewer knew well, they were something transparently invented for an emotional moment that was completely unearned. This is a bit more than what happened with Penny's sword which I think probably were just invented to give Penny something to fight with now that she was no longer a robot. But it's still the case that I feel zero emotional connection to this thing I've seen in the last like two episodes of volume eight that only appeared right before Penny's death. It isn't like this moment

Especially now that Penny's been in five seasons with her regular weapons tied to her robotic body. That's what we're used to. This is one (of many) reasons why they should have left Penny as a robot. This is already a do-over - Penny died in a terrible fall of a kingdom more or less at the hands of Cinder and Ruby is left with her sword. It's almost like they realized that Penny's death mattered to the viewers and yet nothing significant was ever really done with Penny's death, Penny's sword, or Ruby's reactions and so they copy-pasted the events, tweaked 'em for the story they were in the middle of already, and then were like "OKAY TAKE TWO." But because of them changing Penny's robotic body out for a flesh one and therefore tossing aside the iconic design of her weapon we all know and love, I'm sitting here going "Oh look, green glass that the writers want me to associate with Penny."

Although I do think that the voice actress for Ruby has improved this season, someone please tell them that their whimpering doesn't sound good or convincing.

Also that whole 'get our stuff' section lasted about five minutes. "We're gonna have to get our stuff back." "Oh no we don't know what our stuff is?" "Let's use our feelings to figure out what our stuff is." "Omg, we can't pay the cost of that." "The stuff is revealed as our stuff." "We're gonna have to fight for it!" "I'm so sad about Penny!" "Okay we got our stuff, let's get out of here!" I've said before that RWBY struggles to let people sit with the weight of any emotions which makes things seem really shallow, but this is ridiculous. I feel nothing about Yang not being willing to give up what it feels like to be loved as the price of her arm, because... If I had been grabbing my Red Bull for the two seconds that had happened, I would've missed that, nobody reacted to it, and it was just gone. All of that legit could've been a whole upset with emotional beats where the girls grapple with concepts of having to give up things or not having enough hope to fill up a jar, but instead it's five minutes of rushed comedy-centric nothing that started and then just kind of stopped while I'm just like feeling nothing.

Blake's "I've read so many stories, I... Never thought I'd be the moral of one" Is clearly played straight? As in, it's clearly played as serious and not just for laughs, as 'emotional' music starts playing. But what part of the last scene outside of Ruby's whimper and holding the sword was I meant to take seriously? The whole thing was played up for comedy and Blake didn't seem to be taking it that seriously either - and five minutes prior had been joking and teasing and laughing with Yang in the most carefree manner. I'm sorry if I can't take her crisis seriously now, but I really can't. I actually got confused because I was like 'ah somebody messed up and started playing serious music? Oh wait no, it's gonna cut out for a joke. No? They're being serious?" Bleh

Weiss: "We are not IN A BOOK." Me: "Good, someone is going to point out that it doesn't make sense for them to think they just blue-skadoo'd into the pages of a fairy tale and they're going to take this moment - the most logical moment - to talk about how the author or Alyx or whoever probably just wrote about someone having an adventure in this place that could be an afterlife or another dimension or something else that they logically ought to consider, and their own adventure shouldn't be the same as there's because this is a different time and it's not the foregone conclusion to think the exact same things that happened to her would happen to them (some of this is reminiscent of Tim Buton's Alice in Wonderland btw) but that they can try to get out the same way she did." Weiss: "And even if we were, we know how it ends!" I guess at least they're doing the last part??

Weiss: *Hits herself with a rock so hard that she falls to the ground and doesn't get up for at least two seconds.* The other members of Team RWBY:

Can this show try to convince me these characters care about each other outside of Big MomentsTM, at least a little? Nobody tries to help calm Weiss down? Nobody asks her if she's okay? Nobody tries to help her up? Nobody even reacts? Ruby doesn't even look up? "It's a comedic moment!" Well, first off, not three seconds before it happened or two seconds after it happened, it isn't. And second off, so? Even in a comedic moment, it'd make sense to have someone say "are you okay?"

Also the toy looking guards remind me of Orbot and Cubot from Sonic the Hedgehog... That's not a compliment, they're super annoying.

Okay... Ruby's speech about Penny is not nearly as emotional as everyone made it out to be. I've seen so many people be like "This episode had me crying so hard over Ruby's eulogy to Penny" And then I get to the ep, and she says kind of really impersonal stuff? I mean, maybe it would've seemed shallow if after Ruby's lack of happiness at Penny's actual resurrection she acted like she and Penny had been best friends, but still. "The most powerful warrior to ever live." Okay, I'll believe that Ruby believes that. "She was touched by magic." And so are at least five other characters Ruby knows including herself. "She gave her life for thousands." Sure, okay, but that's still not personal. "She took a message of hope to the stars." Well, that message may have caused mass hysteria that could theoretically bring down every civilization in Remnant, but yep, Ruby sure thought that was an important act that should be done. "And she saw the world through better eyes." See, this is the only one that seems kind of emotional or something specifically connected to Penny, but it still sounds like something people would say about a long dead astronaut they never knew at some kind of gala. Look, I'm ribbing on this, but I actually think this makes sense - Ruby is pushing down her emotions, and she didn't have the connection with Penny she used to after her first death based on her reactions to Penny being alive (it's more like she really wanted to have the connection she used to,) and she's suffering with the concept that all she (and tbh Penny) had done in the most recent fall could've meant a lot of bad despite her (and Penny's) best intentions. It makes sense that her speech given while in the middle of squashing down her feelings is stiff and not very personal, but it's just really not what I imagined. And with RWBY's history, I'm not sure this is meant to be played as Ruby being stiff and impersonal, it might very well be meant to be a deeply emotional tribute to a beloved character that's meant to trigger waterworks in fans everywhere. And if so, it's just wildly disappointing tbh.

Also, the tone between comedy and serious was horribly done yet again, and also still not combat.

All in all, this episode...

[girljpg]

i warched good omens season 2

i have a lot to say that doesn't really amount to anything so i'm gonna start typing at random

i liked the romantic vibe of the season and all the cute flashbacks. the dialogue between the leads was appropriately trusting and sweet. they really leaned into showing how they rely on each other. i also like that the conflict was pretty small in scale compared to season 1. it's not armageddon, but there were still some stakes if you include all the humans that almost died. although.... heaven and hell seem to know exactly where crowley and aziraphale are... yes, they fooled them at the end of s1, but wouldn't they idk. try other means? why didn't they get their names erased from the book of life earlier if that was something higher up angels could do? whatever

i like that there were real actual gay characters (lesbians even! who looked like real people!) even though I was worried they were getting together too fast, the reveal towards the end that they were going to move slow felt realistic. but them having to talk crowley into confessing his feelings felt ripped straight from a fanfiction. the lesbians comparing themselves to aziraphale and crowley was a bit on the nose. many moments did in fact feel like fanfiction. the dancing together, the "I need you!", the "We can just be us." all of that was cute and probably something i would've written idk could you do any better??? i am not immune to fluff. but also, that's a grown man. does it not take agency away from the character to have his relationship explained to him? and then they had the gall to not even show us this conversation. ideally he would've come to a conclusion about his feelings on his own-- perhaps after seeing gabe and beez fuck off to alpha centauri and going huh. i guess you can just do that. or even just through way of flashback-- oh no wait. all of the flashbacks were from aziraphale's point of view for some reason. why didn't azi get any realizations? you know michael sheen would've ate

the "i was wrong dance" well here's the thing i did clap

I thought the set of the street in london with all the little shops looked nice although there were always so so many extras walking around. is london really that crowded?

i thought they kind of wasted muriel's character. she seems to disappear for a long time before the plot calls for her to conveniently be there. i know she's meant to be a bit dim but surely she noticed 70 demons walking down the street.... ALSO i thought the book crowley handed her was going to be good omens but it. was not

looooved shax loved new beelzebub. who else. idk everyone was really giving it their all. megatron showed up for all of two episodes i think but was pivotal for the ending. what are you doing neil. gabriel is also doing. things. they wasted jon hamm as well by making him a frustrating himbo. one of the only scenes i liked with him was crowley yelling at him for trying to kill aziraphale in s1 and then trying to jump out a window and then calling crowley nice. but that whole bit felt more like a crowley scene than a gabe scene. he does get a mug with his name on it tho and hypocritically falls in love with the fly lady so all is forgiven.

i'm gonna be real with you all.. the way they filmed the kiss felt awkward. the way the camera swings around and crowley grabs him felt very....... rehearsed? a little unnatural, i think. the way crowley LUNGES. idk i need to rewatch the last ten minutes again. and it went on so long. we got like three of four angles on it like whoah. but the reaction face we got out of michael sheen. mamma mia

"I forgive you." asdejgkasdgahdgdfs when i say i paused the ep for extended laughter lmfaoooooo. clutching a wine bottle to my chest and cheering. this fucken guy. babygirl is distraught for all of about ten seconds before it's time to start the new job. i did start yelling at my screen after that point. he had no right to look crowley dead in the eye across the street and not run back to him. COWARRD. i understand why he did it but COWARD. why, after sooo long, would you think crowley would jump for joy to be an angel again... i watched all eight minutes of the credits certain that there was going to be more but nope. catch ya next time for the second coming (of jesus?? <- does not know things about the bible)

so i was pretty satisfied with that watch. i wish the season was longer than 6 episodes but tbh they had to make this story from nothing and it shows in the romcom hijinks and threadbare mystery. but it was fun and went by quickly. then i check on the fandom and they're, get this, upset for some reason about this ending. there's no pleasing some fans i guess. good job neil you've pissed off the people who wanted them to kiss AND the people who didn't want them to kiss, bravo! hopefully in a month or so everyone will cool down about it. and if not well. plenty of fanfic fodder until season 3. not that i read good omens fanfic, but it'll be there. just be happy there was a kiss alright!!!!!!?!!!1

(i just know we're going to get a flood of people calling aziraphale a big meanie and crowley a poor little scrimbly blimbo meow meow who got rejected. booooo stop that right now)

[toxictoxicities]

thank you for answering me. It was really cool seeing your response. Also I love the comment about Suns not crying to Pebbs. It's funny. Though I know I'm more of a sunstone shipper-- but again, I got to be the weirdest little fandom person ever and think about how tiny Pebbs is portrayed in the fandom, looming over, or straddling Suns and how they're portrayed in the fandom. I can't just be normal. Also I am still new to fandom, and haven't played the game, so I am still learning lore and stuff. I remember it saying that Pebbles in the beginning was difficult to respect authority, so I liked that angle; because he didn't bow to authority, because he questioned, and challenged Suns, suns felt like he wasn't just some means of worship. but ANYWAY, I KNOW YOU LOVE SIGNAL LIGHTS, AND I DO LOVE How Sig and Suns can be with each other! They are very much on Stable Even Ground. And hearing Suns say they learned from the best (aka Sig). That's so cute! Little gay robots making little cats together. Especially disabled cats (looks at spearmaster and hunter). Anyway, it's so amazing that you replied to my little comment. And again I just--- Suns. Suns is good, and they deserve to be given love and taken care of sometimes. And especially the baking bread. Even if they can't eat it. The idea of Suns baking bread is the cutest thing ever and Suns-- if they had more human hobbies, would absolutely bake.

I'm too lazy to draw a reply so- I might as well also warn with spoilers bc I've played all campaigns, read broadcasts and pearls- the lot- I'm a fucken nerd XDD you can ask @revolvius and he'll tell you I'm god with the Rainworld geoguesser (too bad it's down rn tho :(

Yeah throughout Spearmasters campaign we get a shit ton of broadcasts between Sigs and Suns, Suns coming over to Sigs searching for support and all that jazz. Being defiant and such is mentioned to be a common trait for new iterators, it being referred to as a phase. Pebbles just happens to be quite more driven to be independent not wanting to be told what to do.

This trait is why Pebbles works with Suns in the first place because Suns - in sliverist groups- is the one asking the big questions no one wants to talk about such as "is it truly wrong to break the self destruction taboo" which probably was appealing to Pebbles to follow behind the footsteps of an older iterator who had similar ideals and researching into something Pebbles would want to sink his teeth into to be independent from what every other sliverist was thinking. Hell even his local group dissed on him because once again- sliverist despite wanting to follow SOS still held the taboo higher than actually trying to figure out SOS solution

(EP being Pebbles, Erratic Pulse)

Anyways yeah with this in mind I reckon Pebbles would heavily look up to Suns, worship not being the word I'd use but certainly I don't think Pebbles would go against Suns- he only does when confronted about his mistakes which he admits later on he only did it out of shame.

Sooo I won't lie there is some sort of tone with Suns being held so highly- despite there not being much evidence I would love to see Suns city and see if it is bigger than other iterators ect

can only infer Suns status with what's around him.

I mean there's also this- Pebbles always coming to Suns for guidance but never vise versa. It shows that Suns had a higher status or rep to Pebbles- portrayed as wise when they are only intelligent.

Also in Emergence, they can in fact eat bread ^^ , upgrades people upgrades

[koryvndr]

Titans 4 x 1 & 2 Reaction

Ep.1

- I mean how can I not smile and the first thing is see is Kory!! 😍🥰

- Family Bonding 🥺🥺

- And also the purple and blue lighting!?!?😩😩😩

- The first scene Yall!! Dickkory already!?! I can’t. I can’t

- Gar’s powers! They’re evolving!

- Dick: “ I just got off the phone with Bruce.” Kory & kids: “No!!!”

- Of course Lex is up to some shit

- Mother Mayhem: “FA & FO”

- Not this man talking to dead stuffed animals

- Lol “I don’t care about all these new characters, just give me the main cast.” “And make them kiss already.” Titans writers said “ok bitches we hear you.”

- it’s getting trippy

- is that where youre supposed to park the RV

- Wait wait wait, so the Titans identities are public? Or it just one of those things since they ‘run in the same circle’ you just know 👀

- Tim with the heart eyes 😍

- New suit! Gars new suit!!!

- Give him a little bit a happiness just to RIP it away huh

- not Conner looking like a wittle Clark Kent

- QUEEN QUEEN QUEEN QUEEN

- only 8.1 percent? damn bitch.

- ”are we allowed to sit it in?”

“You are. Everyone else can start a sign up sheet”

- I just knew from the angle of the camera that someone (Kory) was gonna bust in. The fact that Kory is just kicking ass in the background 😭

- Conner wants to stay with his no good ass daddy 🙄

- Now it ain’t even been a week since Gotham and you saw what happens when you let your daddy issues direct you towards a male narcissistic psychopath we doing this shit again? 😑����

- some shit is going down

- Oh shit well he fucked around and he found out 🤷🏽‍♀️

Ep. 2

- so much blood?

- Tsk, tsk. Conner...You should’ve stayed yo ass on the RV

- Look at mom and dad ☺️

- Look Dick ready to whoop ass over Conner

- “You sneaking pics of me Grayson?” “I wish” I just want to take a moment of silence for the DK fandom cus we I’m pretty sure we all died at the moment.

- Gar scaring Tim 😂

- Oh no my baby. What’s wrong with Gar?

- I am loving this coat on Kory!!

- Rachel using her powers 😊

- House they’ve never seen before. Ok also this is indeed breaking and entering even if the door was unlocked

- Y’all need to get tf out of that house before another one of y’all gets arrested

- I just really love how they’re out and about solving mysteries in their civies like the mf Mystery Gang

- Again I have to mention, Kory is looking fabulous in this coat. One of my favorite looks

- Sebastian don’t nobody wanna play your wack ass game

- So I had to pause because, DICK CALLED HER STARFIRE! I FUCKING REPEAT HE CALLED HER STARFIRE!! WE’RE AM 🤏🏽 CLOSE TO DICK CALLING HER STAR! I’m foaming at the mouth give me a min.

- Leave them. Leave them mfs up there. Something ain’t right

- “Get fucked!” 🤣 she really is her parents daughter

- White hair Rachel!?!

[dangerliesbeforeyou]

ok some more thoughts on the eps (under read more cos of potential spoilers lol)

starting with the slightly more negative stuff so i can end with the things i like lol

there was a lot of over explaining of some basic who things, which i didnt mind that much considering they were being told to ruby, but but it did definitely feel like 'rtd is trying to introduce this to a new audience so he's kinda spoon feeding them everything' which is a lil frustrating as a long time fan lol...

on a similar note some of the flashback things in space babies were completely unnecessary given they were from the literal same episode pfft... like at least in the 2nd one they used flashbacks as voice overs which worked a lil better, but i'd still rather they just relied on the audience to understand the call backs without having to SHOW them u know?

the cgi babies mouths were weird, i didnt like them... i also wasnt the biggest fan of the music notes as tentacle like things coming from maestro... surprised i havent seen anyone complain about this given how vocal some of y'all were about the use of cgi in chibnall's era....... hmm

speaking of, i think some of the pacing issues in chibnall's era have stuck around a bit because that 2nd episode esp started off really well but then fizzled out in the middle, and the resolution went on for waaaay too long lol (also after maestro said that in ordered to defeat them they needed a musical genius, i kinda assumed the doctor and ruby would turn to eachother like 'hmm who could we go to who's a musical genius in 1963...' and then it cuts to john and paul wondering around the studio or smth... like idk there wasnt much connecting tissue between the sections, it just hung around on the kinda boring 'music battle' between the doctor and maestro... and like i get theyre trying to make ncuti's doctor more of an action-y style hero, but that felt too much like the battle with the toymaker.... also yes maybe i'm also mad there werent more scenes with the beatles in them SUE me lol! like literally most other episode (think of the van gogh one) the feature figures from history, theyre the main focus of the episode so it kinda sucked they were barely there :///////)

the musical number at the end of that ep wasnt my fav i'll be honest.... like it was fine, but in the xmas ep it made sense to have a fun musical number and it worked with the rest of the ep, but this one just felt like 'well the story's over ... but we still have 5 minutes left to fill so random song and dance number!'

final thing that i didnt love was (and bear in mind i know nothing about filmmaking lol) that some of the shots and edits felt a bit off? or didnt feel like they worked in a scene or just could have done with a retake from a different angle ... like especially some of the maestro scenes, like the performance was so good but the camera didnt seem to really be working with them very well? and in general some of the conversation scenes had the vibe of what you see in theatre lol? like where characters talk to each other via looking out at the audience lol... and like i dont mind that kinda theatrical way of producing scenes usually, but in moments when it's an intimate conversation between two characters, it did feel a tad weird lol...

edit: another thing i didnt mention but i did recently see a post talking about this, but i did think it was odd that most of the beatles ep is set in the 60s but it doesnt actually discuss the doctor being a black man in what was a very tough time to be non-white lol... like not only does the beatles music directly come FROM being influenced by black artists in america (smth they even discussed lol), but a part of the episode is about how important music is to humanity, and nothing shows that more than the way music the african slaves' sang whilst on plantations was adapted into blues/jazz and then later into rock n roll/pop... like music was an act of keeping a part of their humanity alive when they were being brutally dehumanised... (and like in part i get why rtd didn't go into this, as he hasn't the best history of dealing with black characters... but it WAS a notable absence and does kinda tell me the doctor being black isnt going to play into anything, which sucks, since chibnall did at least make it so the doctor being a woman DID massively alter the way she was seen... i might make another post about this lol)

ok things i liked!

nan-e was seriously great (cant remember what the actress is called but she does such a great job!!!! in a way i'd love for her to show up again she's such a fab character lol)

the whole resolution of the space babies ep was really great tbh! also the reveal the bogeyman is actually made of bogeys was legit really funny lol! even the fart at the end like yeh it's childish but who doesnt love a fart joke lol?

ncuti is great at acting all suave and confident one minute only to be on the verge of breaking down the next, aka the literal epitome of the doctor lol! also love his relationship w/ ruby ofc

ruby was great too! tho atm idk if we've really gotten a true grasp of who she is as a character u know? atm it does feel a lil like the whole clara mystery thing where her character comes 2nd, but i'm sure as the series goes along we're gonna get more lol

loved that cilla black was in the devil's chord ep!! that's it tbh just loved that

also loved that the doctor mentioned his family this early on, specifically susan! i do kinda wish they had used a flashback sequence when he was talking about the genocide cos i kept thinking 'wait... is this the time war or is this what happened w/ the master at the end of the (???cant remember the number.... 12th?) series??' which was several years ago and would have been great to refresh our memories on.. also meant we could potentially have seen jodie again lol!

i saw someone on .... somewhere complain about the 4th wall breaking but i actually really liked it lol! especially the non-diegetic comment! idk if i want every episode to have that, but i enjoyed it in that one! one thing about rtd's first era that i appreciate is that he experimented a lot with the format of each episode... which meant we got things like love & monsters, which like,yeh, it's..... An Episode for sure, but i appreciate that it's told from a different perspective! so in a way it feels like he's doing that kinda thing again, where each episode feels connected but still distinct from one another, if that makes any sense??

i liked the fake beatles song about the dog lol... partly because it didnt even sound that far off of something they wouldve written on a later album (by paul) pfft... kinda sucks they didnt buy the rights to at least one actual beatles song, even just to play a few secs of it lol...

overall, neither episode blew me away, but they weren't terrible either lol... i'm also shocked how similar this series is to chibnall's era, which is why it's so bizarre to me that people continue to be like 'oh doctor who is finally back!' like bitch for one it never went away lol!??! and for two, a lot of issues people had with chibnall's (and to some extent moffat's) era are still there, but now cos it's headed by rtd again people arent complaining about them the same way they did before... idkkkkk

i've also already talked about this, but i do still think the releasing at midnight thing is fucking dumb, especially for us british fans! i get that maybe that's a stipulation from disney but it doesnt mean i have to like it... also didnt like that 2 episodes were released at once like ???? why lol idkk

i'm still looking forward to the rest of the series ofc!