#Almost all characters had past flashbacks except Jason

[somewhereincairparavel]

i feel like Jason's slight feelings for Reyna was brushed off a little too quickly imo. It could've made a good subplot to his character development/progression.

I never shipped Jeyna romantically and never will.

But it simply doesn't make sense to me how the moment Jason even faintly remembered reyna, he immediately starts to question his feelings for Piper. So he was aware that the connection they shared was extra special. And with the way Reyna talked about Jason and her's dynamic to Percy, she was so confident that they would've made a couple?? So I have a feeling that atleast some pining was involved. Atleast to some degree, it's very possible since as reyna said herself, "praetors work closely together, so relationships amongst them is very normal". They both talked about Roman history together, etc? They both must've seen eachother at their worst.

I just feel like Rick not even giving us a single conversation between reyna and Jason was criminal tbh. So many unresolved feelings and misunderstandings? Them talking it out and remaining best friends? That would've been so much better.

Rick also seems to have a little trouble remembering past events in his books, so sometimes, the scenes are a little disoriented and are seen as slight plot holes. So I'm seeing this jeyna confusion as one of Rick's forgettable moments. Like how he mostly established luke and annabeth as brother and sister but randomly adds in the romantic bit in TLO. He seemed to have forgotten how old he made luke for that attraction to be seen as creepy. I feel like rick wrote that in a way to make it seem heartbreaking/tragic but the age just made it creepy and weird.

[stxleslyds]

MY TOUGHTS ON PART TWO OF RED HOOD BY CHIP ZDARSKY :)

A DC BOOK THAT TASTES LIKE MARVEL.

You know when you are reading a book and you feel like the story you are reading seems familiar but not really within the context you are reading it at the moment? If you can’t shake the wrong sense of familiarity you search for what it probably the biggest give away, the author.

Here it’s something like that; I have read other pieces of Chip Zdarsky’s work, namely Daredevil. While I could tell you the familiarity is there, in the subject of guilt after taking the life of another person, the reality is that this book doesn’t taste like Daredevil, it tastes like Marvel.

That can be either an excellent thing (because Marvel has amazing books) or something terrible (because DC isn’t Marvel and they don’t work the same way).

As of now I can’t really tell if this Red Hood story is going to be one or the other, but I can tell you that it feels out of place in the DC universe, or at least that’s how I see it. I will explore this particular thought later, I just thought this was a nice way to open this post.

If you would like to read the first post I made about this book I will leave the link here!

Now…let’s begin.

Part two picks up exactly where part one left off, we see Jason calling Oracle so she can bring the police to the place where Jason killed Andy a.ka. that gigantic piece of shit.

Jason is having some thoughts, ones that I think are important.

“I have taken lives before, a lot of them. I have killed guys knowing nothing about them except that they had guns and murder in their hearts. Those ones are easy; I don’t have to think of their mothers getting the news or of kids being...”

Jason is troubled. He is now in front of a reality that he never truly thought about but to be honest with you I strongly believe that nobody in the DC universe thinks beyond what happens in front of them, that’s just how fictional comic worlds are designed.

Anyway, there is a little something that bothers me in this inner monologue of his, like since when have “murderers” been Jason’s actual target? Like Joker was his target but he didn’t kill him, the base of Jason’s morals when it comes to killing has always been drugs, most importantly if you sell drugs to kids. So unless he is saying “murderers” because they were selling drugs that caused people (especially kids) to overdose then I don’t really get what is going on.

Another thing that I also talked about in the first post is that Jason hasn’t killed in a very long time, this man has been sticking to the Bats rule for so long that it’s actually unreal. Even when he shot the penguin and Batman proceeded to almost beat Jason to death the penguin hadn’t died. So once again I am thinking that Zdarsky has some info that he is not sharing right now or maybe he just didn’t read Lobdell's run (in which case, can you really blame him?)

Now let me talk about the other part of his monologue “…I don’t have to think of their mothers getting the news or of kids being...” This is something that I haven’t seen in DC, direct consequences after a hero/vigilante does something, and let me tell you it feels out of place. Is it a good or bad thing? I don’t really know but I have some thoughts on the subject.

I think it's unfair to put a comic character in that situation or dilemma. Jason has basically three reactions to the same situation and they are all valid, but can this situation be handled by a fictional person in a fictional world? Because to be fair I could also ask about the criminals that are put in hospitals after they are beat up by heroes, what if they die in the hospital? Is the hero a killer or does it fall on the hospital? If a criminal cannot pay for the attention given to them in hospitals and they immediately go back to criminal activity to pay for those things, are heroes a good thing? If the Joker bombs a hospital for the third time in four months and Batman does the same thing (take joker to Arkham) only for Joker to escape and do it again, is Batman as guilty as the Joker for the deaths of innocent people or not?

As I wrote it and as I read it again I see that it is a crazy thought because you can simply add more depth to the characters decisions and the consequences that would ensue because of them, but Gotham is a fictional city created to establish that crime is off the charts and that they need Batman because no amount of resources will be able to fix this city’s problems. So putting Jason in this position is new to me…but only in DC (more of this particular thought below).

Going back to the comic in question, I feel like Jason had the answers and the ideas all in his head. In this issue alone he basically says that if the mother does not pull through the boy will be alone, but alone means going into the system (a horrible system that Jason does not trust and needs improvement), but also, Jason recognizes that if the mother died and the father was left alive then that man would have done horrendous stuff. I just simply wouldn't believe that a man that gave drugs to both his wife and son so they wouldn't bother him is just going to change after realizing that his wife died because of him. Even less believable is him becoming an amazing father.

In the big scheme of things, Jason has killed people who fitted very certain characteristics, never innocents (bye, Morrison). What happens after the killing is done? We don’t know because past stories have never focused on that (criminals in comics are by default one dimensional, villains are not)

But here is the thing, Zdarsky is a Marvel writer and Marvel has gone in depth within those situations (like what happens after heroes commit mistakes or kill someone) mostly with Civil War by Mark Millar and more recently in Daredevil written by Chip Zdarsky, but DC hasn't and DC has been plain for a long time, DC doesn't really explain how batman hurts people severely and nothing happens beyond that.

What I am trying to say is that Zdarsky is going for a different and unique route for Jason here but I think the story is out of place in the DC universe.

I promise I am done with those thoughts, they were really difficult to put on paper and to make them make sense, so I apologize if I only confused you, sorry!

Anyway! After the monologue is done we have a flashback where little Jason is being told by his mother to go buy bread (the only thing they can afford) but she is also making him leave so he doesn’t have to be present when Robby (a friend if you ask Jason’s mom, a drug dealer if you ask Jason) comes to the apartment to help her.

Sadly as Jason is leaving Robby is walking up the stairs, now not to copy little Jason but fuck Robby. Jason’s issues with drugs, drug dealing and overdosing is once again shown here but what is also shown is the violence that comes with it. Jason being terrified for himself (and his mother) as Robby pulls a knife on him broke my heart and as he is left there in the corridor to his apartment all we can see is a defeated little boy and that shit hurts a lot.

After that we jump back to the future with none other than Batgod…I mean Batman. Batman is following a man called Sydney and apparently he disappointed Batman because B told him to stop being a criminal, like come on man if I ask nicely or if I break both of your arms you will surely stop, right? Yeah, no.

I feel like I mentioned something about this while my brain decided that DC never usually explains what happens with criminals after they get caught or killed and now here we are. Consequences. Batman scares a man off of working for Scarecrow but the man still needs to work (does he have a family to provide for? We don’t know. Does he do it because it’s the only job he can get? We don’t know.)

This Batman intermission ends up with Oracle telling him that Jason might be in trouble.

So we find ourselves back with Jason and Tyler in his safe house, Zdarsky does not hesitate and first thing he does is give us a couple of very angsty panels.

I love the way it hurts.

Jason honey, my sweet chonky boy…what are you doing?

Well at least I am not the only one asking that because Jason is having a moment to reflect about what has happened, what is happening and what could happen in the future. In this monologue he says the following:

“Dammit, Jason, what the hell are you doing? You can’t take care of this kid! But you can’t put him in the system either! Just waiting for some obsessed militaristic billionaire to adopt him? Dammit. His dad was scum, he hurt Tyler, he hurt his mom. But if Tyler’s mom doesn’t pull through…I just made this kid an orphan. He is my responsibility, he is too young to really see what he’s gone through, he can still be saved…unlike…”

Yeah that’s some really angsty thoughts, he is really going through it and I understand it. He lost his cool after what that horrible human being said he did and killed him and now he has to face the consequences of his actions, he recognizes that if the boy is left truly alone he will have to step up…but here is the thing, does Jason really want that? It seems to me like Jason is deeply against the idea of children working as heroes, and here he is as an adult that is a vigilante with an impressionable child that sees the Red Hood as his hero, I don’t know, it looks like the perfect recipe for a disaster.

But we don’t get to see what Jason does right away because its flashback time.

Jason only moved from his spot in the corridor of his apartment door to get the bread but as Robby comes out of said door Jason is there waiting. Robby teases that he and Jason’s mom ended up sharing the “medicine” and that she will be sleeping for a long time, and that seems to be it for Jason because next thing you know Robby is falling down the stairs.

Aw, shit.

Jason from the future continues his monologue while he remembers what happened on those stairs.

“I never had a chance, not for one second. But he does, Tyler has a chance. I can help him, help him be okay. This doesn’t…what I did…what his parents did, it doesn’t have to define him.”

So Jason wants to make things right for Tyler so he doesn’t become like Jason. Now I don’t truly know what Zdarsky is going for but I will go for the unconscious route, little Jason pushed Robby (that fucker) down the stairs and he was left unconscious there.

In Jason’s eyes Tyler is still a good kid that deserves only the best (like you Jason, please don’t think so low about yourself) and that can be saved from a life of vengeance, justice and trauma. But whatever Jason was going to actually say to Tyler we don’t know because Tyler informs Jason that through the Red Hood mask there is someone telling him that Batman is coming.

Batman appears out of nowhere as he does and starts talking shit.

Honestly Batman what is with that “not my town” bullshit? Baby this isn’t the medieval times, you are not a king and as far as I know not only is Lucius Fox richer than you but so is Dick so sit your ass down and shut the fuck up.

Luckily Jason is giving the outstanding amount of zero fucks and tells Batman exactly what he needs to be told, sadly Jason’s big brain time doesn’t last long because he absolutely loses his cool and starts a fight. So you know what that means, monologue time!

“This was a mistake, but I can’t help myself, he gets under my skin. His sanctimony, he acts like he’s God, all knowing, all seeing when really…he’s just another failed parent.”

Amen. Jason knows many languages but he chose to speak facts.

As the monologue ends Batman is standing over Jason like he is about to murder him but no such thing happens because Tyler, who was quietly watching them fight, jumps in to protect Jason. Yep, there goes my heart, goodbye.

And this is it. The issue ends with Tyler putting an end to the fight and telling batman that he has to leave the Red Hood alone because he is a good guy. Jason of course is thankful and promises that everything is fine.

 I don’t know about you guys but so far I can’t say if I like the book or not. Both parts left me with mixed feelings. I obviously want to see how it ends but I honestly think that there is only one way this story can end with a happy ending, which I think it would be Tyler going back to his mom and Jason somehow working to help her with her drug addiction, maybe even have Dick involved so he can help them economically.

Things that I surely do not want to see are Jason backing down again and limiting himself to the Bats rules. I also absolutely don’t want Zdarsky to go all Geoff Johns on us and make Jason think that he should give up the Red Hood mantle.

Jason really needs to gain his confidence back, he was smart, calculated and strategic and now they have taken those things away to accentuate his “daddy issues” and “inferiority complex”. Why the quotation marks you ask? Oh, because those things are bullshit and there is no room for those things in Jason’s characterization other than to add more angst to the plot.

Let me know how you felt about the issue and my review! Are you excited about what the four next issues are going to bring to the story?

Also if you read Marvel, did this issue taste like Marvel to you too or am I going crazy?

[thattimdrakeguy]

Pennyworth R.I.P. REVIEW!

The biggest flaw of Pennyworth R.I.P. is that it’s trying to be a character study without understanding the characters.

Character studies that suck at being character studies massively annoy me, because they can ruin the perception of the characters for lots of people that don’t know better, and that’s pretty much what this is.

Tim wouldn’t be happy to get a call to a funeral.

They ignore the disconnect between Jason and the Bat-Family when he still uses guns.

Alfred didn’t baby Damian.

And they might as well not have included Ric if he wasn’t gonna be Dick.

But I’d expect no less from James Tynion and Peter Tomasi. It went pretty much how I figured, because they always ignore Jason’s actual relationship with the Bat-Family, Tynion never understood Tim, and loves melodrama to seem like his work has substance, while Tomasi just babies Damian to pander to people, and forcing sympathy, just to force some likability out of cheap places for him.

This is shown best in this moment:

I just don’t feel like Jason Todd would do this. He’s not a jerk like this. He murders, he’d probably torture, he wanted revenge, but inside his heart is still that of a heroes (ignoring those ooc comics where Jason’s just a generic villain anyway), he cares about people as people, he should understand rushing in of all people. He isn’t a petty pisspants. Jason’s actually quite calm most of the time. He’s angry in very specific situations. Yelling at people like this, doesn’t feel like Jason’s style.

This reeks of Tomasi’s typical style of “Aww feel bad for Damian” in general as well as just making character’s be jerk to Damian randomly to make them look bad for Damian’s sake, and Tynion’s useless melodrama to at least seem like he can write drama, when it’s just cheap and over the top instead.

Damian being the only one there when Alfred died is already a traumatic experience. They didn’t have to make Jason out to be this unrepentant ass to show that. It reminds me all to well when Tomasi did the same thing to Tim to make Damian seem more in the right to beat him up. Except this just makes Jason all the more crueler given the context.

--

For some reason as well, Tim’s Red Robin when he should be Robin in a flashback.

So did they retcon that away AGAIN?

This is like-- the, hmm, 1, 2, 3, 4,-- 5th time they took Robin away from Tim in some manner.

This is ridiculous at this point.

--

It’s trying so desperately to be deep, but since no one really acts like themselves, it’s just forced. It can’t be actually deep in regards to the characters when the characters don’t act like the characters.

This comic follows the trope of remembering the best memory of the one that passed, and it just feels like a parody at some points, because of how ridiculous or forced it gets. That trope is a trope because it’s a natural thing people do, but they just tell these mostly random stories that don’t feel right because half of them are out of character anyways.

It is also completely ridiculous how it follows the trope of everyone acting out, because they get so pissed so fast it’s just idiotic. It’s so rushed, like the writers felt they had to get to these moments and raced to it.

--

I think Damian’s flashback is the worst when it comes to really forcing sentimentality, almost purely because it’s set in the beginning of Damian’s time as Robin with Bruce, and they just have Damian and Alfred act out of character to give them these cutesy moments that would be out of character no matter where in Damian’s character history.

But especially back when Damian was still barely not murdering people all the time.

Like can Tomasi stop ruining Damian’s character? He’s the most overrated writer Damian ever had, because he’s constantly just using pandering to hide that he isn’t that great. Damian is still learning to not be crazy here given the time in the flashback. Why is Tomasi acting otherwise?

Damian isn’t a normal kid and that’s the point.

What’s the point of his character growth when they act more and more like he didn’t need it? They always do that or have everyone ignore Damian’s actions half the time which makes him avoid proper growth. It’s tiring.

--

Tim’s is idiotic because it focuses on something so random when Tim and Alfred actually had sweet moments quite often. They played video games together, 

Alfred helped convince Bruce to buy (Tim’s then girlfriend) Ariana’s Family business so she could stay in town,

he even looked after Tim when Tim was forced to go to a boarding school by his dad Jack Drake,

Alfred freaking drove Tim around in a van to fight crime when Bruce was away even.

They had lots of sweet moments already seen, but they focus on something so less personal, and more just random.

Continuing some idea Tim isn’t that involved with the Bat-Family that much ever, an outcast he was even called once. When he used to be the Bat-Family’s heart.

--

Jason’s is the same way with it’s choice of story sort-of. His story is so random, short, and unemotional that I feel like it was just an excuse to have Alfred crash into a building with the Batmobile rather than tell a story with a lot of meaning besides a quick “aw” and “ha��.

--

Barbara’s is the best. It doesn’t feel too forced, mostly just figuring out where Alfred got the time is the only reason id feel that way, but it actually focuses on a sentiment that feel legitimate, like these characters would actually do this.

It actually feels like a story that she would bring up. Something the previous stories were lacking. This feels like a natural story to tell, and it makes it the best part of the whole comic. It’s emotional, sweet, and sentimental, in all the right ways.

--

Dick’s doesn’t really have a lot to do with Dick, but it’s nice. Not too much to say about it unless I missed something.

--

Most importantly of all Alfred’s death feels meaningless because DC’s habit of shock value takes away any emotion, and it shouldn’t have ever happened.

Alfred been a character that everyone recognizes as part of Batman for decades and decades. So loyal and iconic. A character everyone can write, and killed for a story that no one likes, and all he gets is a crappy one-shot that seems like it didn’t have the right thoughts put into it.

I would’ve rather have read an extended version of Barbara’s flashback, because it had class.

This is contrived mediocrity that tries so hard to convince you it understands the characters and that it’s deep, emotional, with all this substance, but without the tools it needed to make it work.

With such an unneeded death, this was never going to feel emotional or deep, but a lack of understanding of the characters only makes it worse.

Closest they get is Tim trying to step up and help Bruce, but it’s done in that typical Tynion style of “Look at how great Tim is”, and it just gets soiled cuz it feels pretentious. Tim’s a boy doing his best, but he doesn’t come off that way the way he gets written here. It’s a veil of past Tim, but it doesn’t have the right heart.

Alfred deserved better.

[iwanttobeyourwonderwoman]

I can barely breathe when you are near.

I’m just gonna say I totally loved the show. Mad love. 

And in case you haven’t figure it out yet, or watched the show to get it, I’m talking about Ginny and Georgia. 

So many important topics touched on so many feelings and oh so many love triangles.

So join me as i dissect the whole show hehe .

Alright basic plot-

Young single mom Georgia and her teenage daughter Ginny, and younger son Austin, are always on the road and have now moved across the country to the small town of Wellsbury, Massachusetts from Texas, where they encounter a whole load of quirky characters. Ginny, who never had friends, slowly starts fitting in with the popular sophomores, mainly her neighbour Maxine, who also has a twin brother Marcus while Georgia befriends their mother Ellen. The series follows their attempts and struggles of fitting in with the town, all while developing their own love triangles (square in Georgia’s case). And the best part is, the unfolding of Georgia’s dark past filled with teen mom struggles and a little bit of murder mystery as to how she has gotten to where she is now. 

Teen mom and daughter combo again? Been there done that!

Well yes, as everyone compares it to Gilmore Girls (my personal favourite show ever) here are some similarities and differences as well as other show references.

*SPOILERS!!

It does explore that close relationship that Ginny and Georgia have, but obviously the kind of bond that Rory and Lorelai had were a lot stronger and had their own personal quirks and wit. There were often rifts in G&G’s relationship caused by the secrets of Georgia’s past as well as Ginny feeling inferior to her own mother in terms of looks and her ability to be a chameleon to fit in anywhere. Rory was more focused on her grades and was comfortable just having her few friends. Ginny on the other hand wanted to be liked and wanted to fit in with her school friends and eventually becomes part of MANG and the boys. And in the case of the mothers, Lorelai focused on raising Rory and worked her way up to eventually owning her own Inn while Georgia snuck and tiptoed her way around swindling money wherever she could but all in the best intentions of her kids more than herself, desperate to give her kids the life she never had. 

Also in a way I feel like this is also similar to Jane the Virgin except of course Jane’s character is older, but if you take the standpoint of the mother-daughter relationship and love triangle(Jane/Rafael/Michael) as well as a little psychotic Murder mystery Petra vibes.

, I feel like G&G is a good mix of Gilmore and JTV.

When it comes to love interests, Ginny was stuck between boyfriend Hunter and neighbour Marcus. Sweet, innocent Hunter (my favourite character in the whole series because if you know me you’d know I’m a hopeless romantic) was pretty much Dean to Rory, while cool skater and stoner guy Marcus was Jess. And honestly I see a similar trend here where most people are Team Jess/Marcus whereas I’m team Dean/Hunter for the main fact that Dean and Hunter both treated the girls really good and I like that. 

Georgia, as I mentioned was more of in a love square than a triangle, because why the hell not right? There’s Joe, the owner of the cafe where everyone spends most of their time, then there’s Mayor Paul, who Georgia pushes her way to work for to get on his good side. And then of course, Zion, Ginny’s father. Sounds a lot like Luke, Jason and Christopher doesn’t it. I love that Joe had a more interesting and different story, where it was depicted in the flashback scene where homeless young Georgia, just found out she was pregnant at a gas station and comes out to a crowd of high schoolers, which is when she meets Joe. She says to him  “I’ll look you up if I’m ever in Wellsbury” Joe was already attracted to her as a teenager and doesn’t realise it’s the same Georgia he met years ago till the last episode whereas Georgia has known all this while. I don’t know about you but I feel like now Georgia has the funds to move to somewhere she aspired to be, where she knows her kids will get the best and where she received “a sandwich and a pair of raybans that changed my life” Also let me just add that Raymond Ablack (Joe) is INCREDIBLY HOT.

Moving on to Paul, Georgia is attracted to him but there is that underlying greed because Paul can provide her stability and security and power. And that is when she will finally feel like she has achieved wheat she needs to. Towards the end, she almost chooses Zion because of her deep affection for him as ‘her penguin’ as she refers to him as. Being with Zion also means she can let her guard down and relax a little, and obviously is a great father to Ginny and even Austin who isn’t even his biologically. Which also makes both guys equally good contenders for Georgia. 

Another thing I love about the show is MANG. Their friendship is real, it’s not just Abby and Norah accepting Ginny because of Max. Yes Abby did throw her under the bus in the beginning but they soon became really close and never singled her out after the shoplifting incident. It wasn’t a whole case of Regina George and the plastics all over again. They didn’t care that she was different. 

So I feel like Abby is a very interesting character also. I read that her character was created based on a friend of the writer. So abby puts up a very strong front when actually she is feeling quite distraught from her parents ongoing divorce as well as her own issues with body image. Abby is very petite but still is not satisfied with her body so she tapes her thighs to make them look smaller and wear tight jeans so that she can look slimmer. I the Halloween episode, Press even calls her “whale legs” and she obviously gets upset and you can see it affects her because she’s striving for such a perfect image all the time but also I feel like she has a thing for Press so that really messes her up. You can also see she does get a little jealous of Ginny and Max’s friendship but that’s mainly because she feels lonely and unheard and she ends off being estranged from Norah and Max feeling like her whole world crumbled. I really hope MANG gets to patch up. They were the ideal friend group along with the guys.

“Oppression Olympics, let’s go.”

I don’t know guys, this line really stood out to me.

Basically this is the scene in episode 8 where Ginny and Hunter argue about racism and why Ginny deserved to win that writing contest with her unique style (girl used slam poetry for goodness sake that essay was amazing!!??) But Hunter won and he is clearly the favourite of their teacher. He talks about how he is half Taiwanese and the Asian stereotypes he faces here as well as the White remarks he gets from the Asian side of his family. Ginny too says she can’t fit in because she is half Black and how this town had a very small black population and people are not sure how to look at her. I feel like touching on these topics of race was really vital to not only the show but to the actors as well. From the bts, I read that Antonia (Ginny) and Mason (Hunter) were in a room with the writer and jus spoke about the kind of remarks they have personally faced which helped develop the argument scene because it was so real and raw and quite upsetting to watch. It’s something very relatable to the audience which also just amplified that whole episode overall. 

I mentioned earlier my favourite character is Hunter. I admit I have a major crush on both the actor and the fictional character. Ok so I think Hunter was a great character, a very good boyfriend too, I mean look at the way he cared for Ginny, supported her, just that unfortunately she was more attracted to Marcus in the end but also that ugly oppression olympics fight just gave his character more depth to show that Hunter wasn’t as perfect as he seemed. I think girls watching the show deserved to see what a good guy looked like. He was smart, in a band, a very caring boyfriend, popular but not cocky. If you compare to let’s say the character if Peter Kavinsky, I think Hunter made a better boyfriend. DO i also think Kavinsky is a damn dream boat? Of course I do. but then again, I thought John Ambrose was a much better guy in the TATB series. Kavinsky was originally dating another girl before the whole fake couple thing started. Whereas going back to Hunter, he already admired Ginny from the first episode and stayed truly respectful until the end of the show. And that’s something girls should see and aspire to have.

Yes I loved the song I loved the fact that he sang it for her, I am such a hopeless romantic and I absolutely hate that poor Hunter/Mason has been getting a lot of backlash for the song/character. I’ve rewatched a lot of the Hunter/Ginny scenes multiple times just because. Hunter was a good guy. Period. 

So looking forward, I think a lot of important topics were touched in this show, slightly different from let’s say 13 Reasons Why, and I hope that they can continue to delve into those stories such as racism,self harm, body image and so on which really hit home for me. Important discussion topics, important for kids to see like oh hey this character is kinda like me, and if they are facing these issues, how can they get through it?

Also I need answers to all my questions - Where did Ginny go? How does Georgia get away with everything? Will MANG get back together? Does Abby have a deeper story to tell? Do Marcus and Ginny end up together? AND WHAT ABOUT MY POOR BBY HUNTER??? Lots of unanswered questions, lots of stories to dig deeper into, and so many secrets. I loved the mother l-daughter relationship, the same way I loved Lorelai and Rory’s relationship too.

I obviously totally enjoyed the show, I’ve recommended it to many friends and I hope they enjoy it as much as I do, and get more people on my Hunter Chen bandwagon hahahaha! Let’s hope for a season 2!!

Another super long post, finally done. I can move on to watching other shows now (and still constantly wish I too had cool stuff like Sophomore sleepover)

Hate you, kidding! Love you, mean it!

(just gonna leave these here because why not????)

[ablogthatishenceforthmine]

Echo’s Unfulfilled Potential

I know a lot of people hate Echo, and are baffled by Jason’s apparent love for her character. I think some of the hate she gets is unfair, but there are a lot of problems with her character. However, I can see why Jason might love her character. And throughout the past through seasons, I have seen so much potential for her to be an interesting character... and there are hints of it here and there. But her character has yet to live up to that potential.

I thought Echo worked great in Season 4. She was the perfect minor villian for the season. That season was all about overcoming only caring about one’s own people. It was about all the different groups learning to reunite, about learning to care about all people, not just one’s own. Echo’s character is all about doing what’s best for her people whatever it takes, and whatever it costs, no matter the detriment to others. Thus, she is a great embodiment of what many of the characters on the show are trying to overcome. And, the show leaves her in such an interesting place at the end of the season, as the fish out of water. She has never been to space, and she is stuck with people she doesn’t really know for 6 years. Emori is in a similar boat, as she is also a grounder in space. But she has her relationship with Murphy and her friendship with Raven, so she is not as out of place as Echo was. This left the audience with intriguing questions. How would Echo fit into this group? What relationships would she develop with the other characters? How would this time affect her loyalties? How would this time change her?

Season 5 does not do a great job of answering these questions. Her dynamic and place in the group is too generic: a problem with the Space Crew’s dynamic and a lot of its relationships in general. It’s just shown that they are family and that there care about each other, but many of the characters don’t have a specific dynamic: the exceptions are Bellamy-Monty, Murphy-Emori, Murphy-Raven, Bellamy-Murphy, Bellamy-Raven, and Monty-Harper. Most of these dynamics and relationships were established before Season 5, so the show does not do a good job of showing a difference these five years have made. 

Echo does not have a distinct dynamic or relationship with anybody apart from Bellamy, and even then, their romantic dynamic is pretty generic. Their relationship doesn’t really add anything to either of their characters, and doesn’t say anything about who either of them are. While I know a lot of people hate this hearing from the Bellamy and Bellarke side of things (and i do too), I think this relationship is much worse for Echo’s character than it is for Bellamy’s character. Throughout Seasons 5 and 6, Echo is often stuck in the girlfriend role. Her character is often about Bellamy, loving Bellamy, worrying about Bellamy, trying to help/protect Bellamy. Other than this, Echo often serves some plot functions, that could be filled by other characters and don’t often say much about her character. But In Season 5 and 6, it largely didn’t feel like she was much of a character on her own.

Season 6 also has a major issue with her character; it doesn’t explore what Monty’s final plea to be “the good guys” means to her, if it means something at all. We get an exploration of what Monty’s message means to almost every other character but Echo. We see Clarke and Bellamy trying, and eventually succeeding, to do better. We see Raven react to it with self-righteousness (not my favorite plot, but at least its a reaction). We see Murphy ignore it and then find his way back to trying to be a good guy; Emori has a similar journey of this, but it is far less explored. But watching Season 6, I had no idea what Echo felt about this “do better” quest. She never talks about it, or even mentions this idea.

She also behaves in ideas contrary to this mandate, but it is never commented on. Echo violently kills Jade, immediately plans to go to war after finding out about Clarke, and kills Ryder. But watching the season, I had no idea how the show wanted me to think or feel about these actions. Am I supposed to be critical of them? Am I supposed to see them as acceptable? Am I supposed to see Echo as ignoring or failing the quest to do better? Unlike with every other character, the show doesn’t seem to frame her actions in the context of the aim to do better. She seems weirdly exempt from this theme, which left be confused about her character the whole season. I didn’t know how I was supposed to see her.

But throughout these two seasons, Echo’s character is full of potential. Think about her character. Think about her backstory. From when she was a young child, she was trained as a spy. Trained to obey and to follow. It’s hard to shake that off. She does what she’s told, unquestioningly. Who is someone is that much of a follow? What is their sense of self? Do they have one? This is so interesting to me! Someone trying to find out who they are when they’ve always had to be whoever they needed to be, whoever their leader wanted them to be. That is an interesting character! And I can see why Jason would be so interested in a character of this backstory, and of this mentality. But this potential in Echo’s character has yet to be fulfilled, and all that interesting stuff has yet to be fully realized. There are hints of it in a few scenes of Season 6: her flashback backstory, and her confiding in Bellamy about her family and her difficulty with emotions. The latter of which I think was poorly executed, and felt forced, even though I like the idea of it. But I thought the flashback was interesting and did provide insight into her character. Although I do think both these character details would have better revealed in Season 5 rather than Season 6. But overall these are just little swipes at Echo’s potential.

So Season 7. I really like Echo’s character so far in Season 7. Her character has greatly benefited from separating from Bellamy. While she is still driven by her love for Bellamy, she interacts and forms bonds with other characters: Echo, Gabriel, and Dev. And it feels like the show might be planning to fulfill her potential, to explore the ideas that I mentioned above. In the season premiere, hallucination/Anamoly Roan straight up asks Echo who she is when she doesn’t have someone to follow. So, it seems like Echo’s journey this season might be exploring this idea! Hallucination Roan also refers to Bellamy as someone Echo claims to love. Maybe this season will also explore the Becho relationship in a meaningful way (and hopefully result in their breakup). For the first time, Becho makes sense, at least for Echo’s side. Echo is forever a loyal follower, and Bellamy is an extremely charismatic leader. Is it any wonder she fell for him? Is the reason she is so desperate to get back to him more complicated than just love? Maybe she needs him because she needs a leader, someone to be devoted to, someone to follow? Now that she thinks Bellamy is dead, who is she? Does she even know who she is? Do we? Who is Echo when she has no one to follow? I hope this season explores these ideas, and finally lives up to the potential that Echo’s character has always had. I’ve been disappointed by the show before. And maybe I am getting hyped about this for nothing.  I don’t know for sure that Echo’s potential will be fulfilled this season... But I still have hope.

[austencello]

Fadeout - Arrow Music Notes 8x10

The final episode brings the series to a close as the characters deal with a changed world and reality without Oliver Queen.  The show brings closure to the characters and the audience as everyone says a final goodbye.  Due to this being the last one, almost everything was a musical callback to a previous moment on Arrow which means this analysis is going to be on the long side.

A New World

The music usually chosen for Oliver’s intro speeches includes previous music from the series and often heroic sounding but not with specific meaning. This last one was a little different as it used the heroic justice/league heroes music from Crisis as Oliver explains that he became something else and birthed a new universe.  He became the leader of all the heroes and set the stage for a changed world.

The episode begins with one of the most heart-breaking scenes from the series: Moira’s death.  The same music “Promise Kept” (2x20) accompanies the scene until things change.  As soon as Oliver cuts himself free and stops Slade, his hero theme 2 (“Time to Go Home” 2x01) plays in the horn while he saves his mom, changing her fate.  In a similar way, the same music for the flashback of Robert Queen telling Oliver to survive contains the same music as the pilot and the hammered dulcimer plays the hero theme as Mia wakes up in the future.

The Documentary from 7x12 returns as a Memorial beginning with Moira as she tries to wrap her head around the fact that she died in a different reality and that the whole world was a gift from her son. As she speaks, high electronics play “Honor Memory” (1x02) which originally played for Oliver when he tried to honor the memory of his father, torn between how he would honor his father’s sacrifice and mission to right his wrongs as a Vigilante and how he may appear less honoring as Oliver Queen, especially in the beginning.  It returned several times as Oliver dealt with the fact that his father was less honorable than he believed.  He grew over the seasons recognizing with the help of Felicity and others that he did not need to carry the burden of his father’s past but continue his own legacy of heroism and love, sacrificing himself to save not only the world but those he loved, including his mother who now has chance to honor him.  

Dinah, Rene, and Diggle speak to the Documentary team about Oliver and the changes he made both for them and the city.  The music hearkens to the synths and lower bass sounds that the original documentary had.  Rene drops by after Diggle talks to the camera discussing the fact that crime has disappeared overnight thanks to Oliver, but Diggle is not ready to believe that the mission is over yet. As they talk about Oliver saving the city, hammered dulcimer (one of Oliver’s instruments since the pilot) accompanies the scene.  His instruments and presence is felt throughout the episode even though he himself is not visible in the present time.

Diggle and Rene meet up with Roy, Dinah and Laurel to toast to Oliver with Vodka and discuss what they are planning on doing next.  Piano and higher electronics play a theme from 7x10 that had been used for Emiko and Rene’s conversations when Rene shared that he wanted to help the city.  Now, he shares a new stage of that dream by running for Mayor after Lance steps down with his endorsement and Dinah shares her upcoming promotion.  The piano (Oliver’s instrument) plays the theme as another sign of Oliver’s gift to his team and city for a better future.

Rene asks Diggle when Felicity will be coming in for the funeral and Diggle replies that she might not make it as she hasn’t gotten out of bed since they received the news of Oliver’s death.  As he shares this, a piano version of “Being Happy” (1x07) plays.  This theme is usually over electronics (“Own Worst enemy”) in the strings.  It originally was with Oliver and Tommy’s tough relationship as Tommy believed Oliver was a murderer but at the same time recognized that Oliver’s choices especially in lying to everyone closest to him took a toll: “If you are alone, you’ll never be happy.”  Oliver responded that his happiness wasn’t what was important.  However, one of the beautiful growing parts for Oliver was that over time, he did accept happiness and others into his life, especially the love of his life and his daughter Mia.  The theme comes back in 7x22 as Oliver and Felicity happily share a life together with baby Mia, a life of happiness and everything Oliver deserved.  But now he is gone and Felicity is left alone, grieving.  This music is in the piano (Oliver’s instrument) but stripped down to simple piano chords, getting rid of all the other instruments and even changing to minor/sadder chords.  It’s an echo of the happiness that they had.

While many people were brought back to life in this new reality such as Moira, Quentin, Tommy and Emiko, there were two notable exceptions: Robert and Laurel.  Laurel from Earth 2 struggled with this knowledge, feeling guilty that it was because of her that Quentin did not have his daughter back.  She goes to talk to him about it as “She was my rock/Canary Flies Away” (4x20) plays.  This theme was first heard as Quentin struggled with Laurel’s death throughout season 4 and 5.  Later on, it was used to forge connections between himself and Laurel 2 as Quentin recognized her as family while still knowing she wasn’t his original daughter.  Here, Quentin tells Laurel in a fatherly tone that nothing needed to be fixed about her which is why Oliver didn’t change anything in regards to her.

Flashbacks

Diggle remembers when he joined the team and Oliver wasn’t letting him go at on the field yet.  As Oliver appears and crosses another name off the list, high electronics play reminiscent of “On the List.” Although the melody is a little different, the atmospheric electronics are the same and then the hammered dulcimer plays a new melody as Diggle asks Oliver when the list/mission will end and Oliver responds that it will never end.  The high electronics return as Diggle tries to help Oliver and bring down the body count, to convince him that there are other ways of justice beside killing them. 

Oliver still goes after the bad guy on his own and kills everyone in his way in a classic Season 1 vibe.  In the same fashion, the music reflects Season 1 fight music: string patterns, electronics, and brass but without most of the classic Arrow themes until the end.  The brass glissando is heard as he zips up out at the end and then the Arrow string pattern and the hero theme (brass) plays as he lands and decides not to kill but just apprehend the bad guy.  The brass hero theme was actually used quite sparingly in Season 1.  Outside of the pilot “Setting up the Lair” in guitar harmonics, it was often heard in snippets - 2 or 3 notes instead of all four such as in “Damaged.”  While that does occur throughout the all Seasons also for musical effect, in the first Season it is because he is not fully a hero yet.  The entire motif is heard in the brass (a heroic sound) in 1x14 when he reveals himself to Felicity and then she and Diggle saves his life.  She is the light that can see the hero he becomes and it is through her faith, the loyalty and morality of Diggle, and the decision no longer to kill after Tommy’s death, that set him in motion to move from a killing Vigilante to a hero.  In fact, it isn’t used in the Title theme until Season 2 as Oliver begins this shift and the theme is heard much more frequently in fighting scenes such as “A Different Way” (2x01). 

Theroy

Thea and Roy reunite again after Roy freaked out and left her over the past year or two.  After trying to apologize (with bad timing), the two of them search for William together as “Team Continues Without Oliver” (3x11) plays in electronics and percussion in their running and jumping off roofs, which includes Roy’s Arsenal Theme.  Roy proceeds to apologize for leaving her and proposes.  While he does so, “I can’t lose you twice” (1x20) accompanies the scene.  This theme accompanied several couples such as Laurel and Tommy’s relationship, Laurel and Oliver (1x23), Felicity and Oliver, and Roy and Thea.  It first played for Thea and Roy in 1x20 as Roy is determined to find the vigilante, telling Thea that his life is connected to his own and she agrees to help find him.  At that point, they would have no idea how true that would become even to the point of Roy saying he was the Arrow and taking the fall so that Oliver could stay and not go to jail in Season 3.  This theme returned when Thea found Roy/Jason in 3x22 giving him back the Arsenal jacket and they end up kissing.  They both have had different journeys to find themselves and the heroes they became.  Having died and come back to life has given Roy a new perspective that he wants Thea in his life for always which leads to this moment.

Thea doesn’t give him an answer right away until after William is found and they meet up in the Queen mansion.  She first asks him to promise that he will never freak out and leave without talking to her.  The music is accompanied by clarinet (one of Thea’s instruments) first heard in 5x15.  It originally played when Thea tells Oliver she is leaving and not to ask her to stay as she needed to figure out who she was. This theme then returns in 6x16 (“Take Good Care of Her”) as she and Roy plan to leave together to destroy the Lazarus pits. Roy told her that he was going with her because all that mattered was that they were together. She found both her calling and was able to leave with Roy.  Despite the bumps that happened since then, she realizes she doesn’t want to waste anymore time without Roy by her side and says yes to his proposal.

Mia and Felicity Return

Sara brought back Mia to attend Oliver’s funeral and she tries to “channel her mom” at the computers as Dinah finds her.  While not being to tell much about the future, she does share that something happened and making her feel like she has already failed at being the Green Arrow and living in her father’s legacy.  Different instruments enter in with strings, brass, a low electronic bass (used more for Mia) and then hammered dulcimer as Dinah tells her that Oliver would be proud of her.  Hammered Dulcimer is one of Oliver’s instruments since the pilot and it represents how he would be proud of her as well as continuing on the legacy through his instruments as well as a bow and arrow.  Electronics enter which were used both for Archer and the future as William is revealed to have been kidnapped, making Mia live through her brother being kidnapped in both the past and future.

Wlliam’s kidapping brings back everyone who had been on the team including Felicity.  As she appears in the bunker, oboe plays the first two notes of the Olicity theme “The One I Love/Convince Him” (2x23, 3x20). Having even part of that theme in their instrument as she appears to come out of her grief for losing the love of her life for the sake of their son is poignant but it is also presented in a happier (major) mood as she brings joy, light, and hope to the team as well to viewers who have missed her presence.  As she hugs Diggle and Dinah and greets the team, guitar harmonics (Oliver’s instruments) and harp (Felicity’s instrument) double a pattern from “New Suit” (4x01).  At that point, Oliver was discouraged after Lance told him he was responsible for bringing all the darkness into everyone’s life which was one of the reasons he didn’t want to return from his life in Ivy Town.  He felt like the only way to fight darkness was to be darkness and he didn’t want to be that type of person anymore.  Felicity reminded him that he didn’t have to be that person anymore and that he wasn’t alone.  Now years later, Oliver has become a better person and furthermore, inspired a room of heroes to fight for the city, the world, and to bring Oliver’s family back.  The oboe plays one more note as Felicity passes Mia signifying their relationship even though Felicity is not aware of it yet.  Classic sounding Arrow music starts as Diggle calls them to suit up.

Mia is the one who finds her brother, landing on the roof as her hero theme (7x08) plays in the electric guitar. After the scene transitions back to her from the Flashback fight, string patterns and a low continuing electric bass note crescendos in the music that is very reminiscent of Oliver’s fight music as she chooses to not kill him and make the same decision that Oliver did, following in his footsteps.

Felicity finds out from Sara and Diggle that the young woman she is seeing with William is her daughter.  They ask if she wants to meet her but she is a little reluctant since baby Mia is at home.  She doesn’t want to rush the fact that she gets to watch Mia grow up.  As she processes this, guitar harmonics play a theme from 7x16 when Felicity and Mia reconnect after Mia, Connor and William rescued Felicity.  At that point, Mia was angry and confused with her mom who had told her heroic stories of her Dad that conflicted with the villain story the world was telling her.  But regardless of hating vigilantes and hating her mom, she started to understand it was for her protection. Felicity told her that she was so much like her father and was proud of her. The theme returned in 8x03 as Mia was confronted with the possibility of losing William, terrified to lose the only family she had left.  Now Felicity sees her daughter, a hero who saved younger William. It is a theme of love, connection and a family that had been broken by the loss of Oliver and fear to lose each other, but  restored through Oliver’s sacrifice so that William, Mia, and Felicity will have each other in this reality.

Dinah brings Mia’s attention to the news reporting a new Green Arrow, most likely part of a new generations inspired by Oliver.  As she hears this, it starts with electronics reminiscent of the future and then adding strings with the first part of Oliver’s Arrow theme moving into something new including high female voices as Dinah reminds Mia that Oliver would be proud of her.  It provides an epic quality in the music, a reassurance that Oliver is looking over Mia with an almost otherworldly sound and that she is in fact part of the new generation of heroes, following in her father’s footsteps.

Saying Goodbye

Diggle comes to terms with the fact the mission is in fact over for himself and family in Star City.  He meets Dinah and Rene as they share plans for their future as well as saying goodbye to the bunker.  He tells them that according to Sara, Oliver became something else as Spectre and so he liked to think Oliver was still with them, watching over them.  As he says this, the piano plays Oliver’s slow Arrow theme “I forgot who I was” (1x05) in the manner used for intimate moments for Oliver when he shared his heart for those closest to him, including 6x03 when he thanked Diggle for helping him become the Green Arrrow.  Musically, it seemed to confirm that Oliver was watching over them. As these three share about their future, having become better people due to Oliver and each other, and then turning off the lights, a music theme from the flash forwards play (7x10) in high electronics (almost bell like).  Originally it was for the Mark of 4, having promised to be there for each other and yet these promises were broken as the team had splintered.  It also played when the kids showed up in the bunker in 8x04 as Oliver was trying to process that his grown-up kids were there.  Using this theme again as the world has changed and the 8x09 episode showed a brighter future for all of them, returns to that original intent of being there for each other even as they go their separate ways.  A version of the Arrow theme plays as the lights go out for the last time.

Quentin gives a speech to honor Oliver and reveal a statue looking over the city.  Harp and piano play as it begins with a beautiful and quiet version of Oliver’s hero theme as Quentin thanks everyone for coming and begins by admitting that for a long time he hated Oliver and blamed him for Sara’s death and the violence in the city.  The theme changes as strings are added as he talks about how became an honorable man and proof that anyone can change.  Oliver wasn’t just a hero but a good man.  The theme that plays as the statue is revealed is “United Campaign Speech” (4x04) first heard when Oliver started his campaign as mayor, focusing on the theme of being united and working together.  Oliver’s dream in becoming mayor was to save the city in the light and not just in the shadows.  Right before he gave his speech (written by Thea), Thea told him the reason they had so many supporters and interns to help was because they believed like she did, that he was going to save the city.  He said the same thing in his speech: he returned with one goal to save his city which is possible with the help of friends, family, loved ones, those they trust, and those they need to trust again.  This dream may not have come true in way Oliver foresaw, whether it was with the List in the beginning or being mayor in the middle, but ultimately he did save the city which was revealed to be written on the statue as the Arrow theme plays.  It became possible because of the people he loved and who loved him back who all stand there to honor this hero, the man who changed their lives. 

Everyone gathers at the funeral as different characters interact or meet for the first time.  Thea asks Moira why Oliver didn’t bring back Robert as “Sad Moira” (1x10).  “Sad Moira” was first heard as its own melody when Oliver checks on Moira after Walter was kidnapped and in similar situations in seasons 1 and 2 when she was missing her children or Walter.  Now, Moira is  missing both Oliver and Robert as she acknowledges that Oliver would never have become the man he was if it hasn’t been for the loss of Oliver.  The theme is also heard as the counter-melody/harmony in “I forgot who I was/Own Worst Enemy” (2x18) which is all about love and loss for the Queen family.  It was used in moments for Oliver with Moira, Thea, William, and Emiko.  This counter-melody plays one last time as Emiko comes to meet Thea, another proof of Oliver healing his family in a place that had been broken.  

Tommy and Laurel meet as Tommy is trying to wrap around his mind of previous realities where he died and the fact that he is meeting his wife’s doppleganger.  Tommy and Laurel’s theme “Surprise me” (1x03) plays as he shares that he married Laurel 1 in this life.

Mia meets Felicity for the first time as an adult as high synths and violins play which is used in emotional moments especially with Felicity.  There are echoes of a melody like “Honor Memory” (1x02), giving space for the emotions as Mia tells Felicity that she got to meet her dad who taught her how to be a hero as echoes of Oliver’s hero theme are heard.  

Felicity asks Diggle to share a few words as they stand around Oliver’s tombstone.  Diggle shares that Oliver changed a lot since they met 8 years ago, becoming a better man who inspired all of them, bringing heroes into the world, but most importantly a brother to him.  He still recognizes that the mission of hope and justice will continue beyond Star City with Oliver living on in the people he inspired, even though the world is less bright without him in it.  He says he doesn’t see what the future holds as glimpses of the future are shown to the audience with Mia returning to the future, Rene running for mayor, and Diggle receiving the Green Lantern ring. The music for this whole speech is “Forgive Us/Goodbye to Roy” (3x19).  In the beginning of the theme, Oliver believed Roy was dead and blamed himself, while Diggle and Felicity revealed that it was a ruse to protect Oliver even though Roy would have to be in exile.  This was hard for Oliver to accept but Roy was willing to take the fall for the man who saved his life and gave him purpose.  It was a theme of saying goodbye and self-sacrifice.  Now, it is Oliver who has made the ultimate sacrifice to save all of them.  But there is also hope of a future, first for Roy and now for all of the heroes head out on their new journey.  Oliver’s hero theme plays in the piano at the end as it focuses on his tombstone: husband, father, brother, son, hero.

The Reunion

As Felicity prepares to leave in the future, the music is sad and full of loss playing “Everyone Left” (5x02).  This was used in 7x22 when Felicity, Mia and William were at Oliver’s grave before she left so it makes sense for that to continue as she has been waiting a long time to see Oliver. A high electronic changes locations (almost heavenly) as she walks through. The music is in major (different for a show set in minor) bringing light and happiness with piano and strings as Felicity arrives in a version of the QC office. Harp (Felicity’s instrument) and piano (Oliver’s) play Oliver’s hero theme as she looks at his picture with the red pen in her mouth.  It is a quiet intimate, peaceful moment as she turns and sees Oliver smiling at her and the harp quietly plays a repeating note as she greets him and they kiss. Then the Olicity theme “The one I love” (2x23) plays in the cellos as she tells him that this is so nice despite being a little confused that they were in a version of his old office. One of the ways it is made so quietly peaceful is the lack of any movement under the main theme, usually piano or harp moving underneath.  Everything is stripped away except their love theme as they see each other for the first time in 20 years. Oliver tells Felicity that he wanted to meet where he first saw her and the flashback from Season 3 is shown.  Violins, female voice, and guitar harmonics are added as he continues that they have all the time in the world to tell her about it.  Musically having the voice brings memories from 3x20 and 3x23 when they drive away reminding us of Oliver declaring: “I’m happy.”  Oliver and Felicity have found peace and happiness as they are reunited with their theme soaring before the Arrow theme plays one last time as the show comes to a close.

Extra Notes and Thank-you:

I decided not to do a deep dive into the Olicity theme since I have done that a lot in the past and this was already crazy long.  But for those of you who are interested, I have list of every time the Olicity theme has been used (minus this episode).

https://austencello.tumblr.com/post/182940428674/list-of-olicity-themes

I decided not to review 8x09 at this point.  As a back-door pilot, it picks up some older themes like Mia’s theme which occurred a lot but most of it was new which makes it harder to analyze.  We shall when/if the show gets picked up whether I will write about the show.

Thanks to all you for your kind words regarding my “Goodbye to Oliver” cello arrangement I made last week.  I really appreciate it!  

Finishing this is a bit bittersweet.  I would never have imagined Oliver’s journey to end up this way (I would never have guessed Olicity would be one of my favorite ships of all times at Season 1) but neither would I have imagined when I started watching this 8 years ago, that I would be analyzing the score for 4 and a half years (103 Arrow Music Notes!), make and meet friends from around the world, interact with Blake Neely on Twitter, arrange the score for cello, work on music collaborations with @jorahandal​, and meet a lot of the cast at conventions.  It’s been a lot of fun and quite a ride.  Thank you to all who have been on part of this journey with me as well as to Blake Neely, Nathaniel Blume and his whole team for creating such great music throughout the seasons.

For of those of you asking what is next...I’m going to take a break from music analysis as my life gets a little busy over the next few months. I’m hoping to shift to a few more arrangements and analysis of some of my favorite Jane Austen and period dramas over the next year or so.

@academyofshipping​ @ah-maa-zing​ @smoakmonster​ @herskirtsarentthatshort​ @mel-loves-all​ @dust2dust34​ @dmichellewrites​ @pulpklatura​ @cogentranting​ @withgraceandlight99​ @scu11y22​ @almondblossomme​ @green-arrows-of-karamel​ @hotcookinmama​ @latinasmoak​ @callistawolf​ @jbuffyangel​ 

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

what more can you do?

WOO! this week’s episode was sad and weird and badly paced and startlingly, unevenly mature in true titans fashion. i loved it (with reservations)! let’s talk about it in excruciating detail:

SPOILERS ahead.

1. i can’t say that i’m awfully thrilled about the show following up on a character’s literal suicide attempt by... not addressing said suicide attempt at all. maybe it’s the awkward way an entire episode’s worth of flashback was shoehorned in between the end of 2.07--where dick literally talked jason off the ledge while in the throes of a psychotic break of his own--and the beginning of this one, but it’s honestly not just bad storytelling, but irresponsible storytelling. 

1.5. in a general sense, tho, the tableau at the beginning of the episode is so egregiously unfair--so shockingly, plainly one-sided, with a slump shouldered dick facing the world, only kory on his side, that it’s quite apparent that it’s the lowest these heroes can go. and i do think their individual reactions to dick’s confession provide an interesting insight into their characters. hank and dawn have been operating alone for so long, each a reminder of their traumas and losses and very human frailty to the other, without even the resources that dick and the batman enjoy. it’s been them v the world for so goddamn long; is it any wonder that they were looking for the first excuse to bail out of there, to not Deal with the idea that what they were doing to deal with their traumas and guilt was clearly not working, and dick was--and has been always--so willing to be the scapegoat? hank punching dick was utterly unwarranted--but i can accept that as part of the unaddressed emotional outbursts arising out of years of accumulated head injuries from both college football and vigilantism. (this isn’t to excuse what he did but to contextualise it within hank’s history and personality.) their instinct when facing ugly truths is to retreat to what they think is familiar and what they need--except, as hank realises later in the episode, that’s exactly what’s fucking them up further.

rose is understandably upset at being lied to about her brother’s death and the titans being complicit in the same--but i’m curious that her reaction was to merely leave and not try and fight them. maybe after being defeated by dick while sparring and nearly being killed by rachel she was sensible enough to realise that she couldn’t take them on all at once? i don’t know--she’s curiously been a bit of a cipher this season. jason leaving with her made sense tho--unburdened of the weight of being the team’s scapegoat, understandably miffed at dick for keeping a secret that nearly cost him his life and left him with a great deal of trauma, just Angry at the world in general, he gravitates towards rose, the only other outsider/rebel who tried to reach out to him when everybody else shunned him or looked at him like an impostor. i think the decision was more impulsive than anything--they still look confused and uncertain in the taxi as they leave the tower behind. but--i don’t know. theirs is the storyline that i’m the most perplexed about. we just don’t have a lot of information about either of them, rose especially. 

(a part of me still thinks she’s slade’s mole in the tower. but why would she leave if she is? to keep up appearances bc to react in any other way to the news of her brother’s death would be suspicious? maybe she left because her job is done and the titans were splitting up? maybe she was part of the long game to seduce jason over to slade’s side--seeking revenge for dick swaying jericho over to the titans’? am i going to stop asking myself questions in this post? am i ever going to write a review that’s not just stream-of-consciousness nonsense? only time will tell.)

DONNA. oh, donna. her decision to leave seems to me a logical continuation of her s2 arc that i’d talked about in a previous review--paranoid, insecure, retraumatised, and taking out her frustrations on jason and dick. it’s also very interesting to me that she complained to rachel about dick treating them like “soldiers” and only told them things that he deemed that they “need[ed] to know.”  it was because of jillian and whatever mysterious business that themyscira was conducting in sf that she and garth and slade ever landed up in that airport at all; even worse, jillian deemed it was something that donna didn’t need to know until it was too late. donna lost so much in that fiasco--the man she loved, her friends, several members of her amazon family, and her sense of purpose, her belief in her strength and her destiny and her faith that other people trusted her as a warrior and as a leader. she’s projecting all that pain onto dick--who again, doesn’t deserve all this shit but takes it anyway because of his own issues.

1.8. and, like. as much as jericho’s death became the Traumatic Event that overshadowed almost everything else in dick’s life for the last five years and helps explain a lot of his hang-ups right from s1, it just doesn’t have the same significance for the others. don’t get me wrong--i’m sure hank, donna and dawn are devastated and guilty about the part that they had to play in manipulating jericho and his eventual death. but their issues with each other, with the titans tower and with their past run deeper and in different directions, and i think all of that came into play when they each decided to go their separate ways.

1.95. idek what the fuck is going on with rachel. i felt every ounce of dick’s heartbreak and devastation when she got up to leave with donna. for all that she saved dick in the first episode of this season, she still hasn’t reached the point where she’s willing to unburden her emotions and issues on him. it must be frustrating and sad for her to realise just how much dick didn’t trust her either. but there’s something else going on as well: maybe she’s realised she has no real control over her re-emerging powers, and, carrying on with the fatalistic attitude she had at the end of 2.05, she wants to spare the titans the chaos and darkness that she carries around with her. (she’s used to running away at this point, after all.) she goes with donna bc donna knows her the least: it would therefore be easy to fool her and escape. 

2. more faddei! and kory backstory! \o/ 

it’s curious that they never once bring up trigon, because s1 gave the impression that she’d come to earth with a specific mission to seek his portal out and destroy it before he could, y’know, Fuck The Universe Up. faddei makes it sound like kory just went on this fun little sabbatical before taking up royal duties, which kiiinda undercuts a lot of what was cool about her s1 arc. i realise you aren’t entirely happy with your freshman season, titans, and s2 looks like it might be a soft reboot, but you don’t have to mutilate it like this!

but seriously. the stakes just got upped exponentially for kory, and it would be really interesting to see where she goes from here. apart from a promise to rachel, she doesn’t really owe the rest of the titans anything--not that i think she views relationships in such transactional terms, of course. on the other hand, abandoning her responsibilities on tamaran has led to its takeover by an unfit leader and the deaths of several of her family and friends. the choice shouldn’t be a choice at all. she should go back home. and yet--she waited too long, and the choice has been taken away from her. faddei is dead, both of their ships are destroyed, and she is stuck on earth, grieving and frustrated and furious. kory is usually very clear headed about exactly where she stands emotionally, but after such a big event, she must be feeling so much pain, guilt, sorrow, anger, even resentment. it’s so easy to look at kory’s level-headedness and open, empathetic personality and use her to prop up other characters, but i hope that this isn’t always the case, and that she’ll be allowed to really work through these emotions while somebody else looks out for her. 

2.35. (the little snippets of faddei and kory just enjoying the shit out of the Little Things that humanity has to offer is just... it filled me with so much warmth. i wouldn’t mind an entire episode of them just chilling and exploring and annoying each other with badly-applied out-of-context pop culture references)

2.5. blackfire! i don’t know much about comics!blackfire beyond “she was starfire’s sister, Evil, and possibly sold her sister into slavery??? yikes” so i’m just going purely off what the show has revealed about her so far. it was honestly disconcerting to see so many references to her possible disability (?) and to see both that and the efforts to accommodate her spoken about in... i want to say mocking way? i don’t know. i just saw a murder mystery/thriller movie today where the serial killer was revealed to have been both disabled from birth and mentally ill, and maybe i’m just feeling extra sensitive to the truly disturbing and pervasive trope of having disabled characters be Evil--and tying their Evil to their disability. 

2.8. anyhow, blackfire appears to have accumulated a fair bit of power in the time that kory’s been gone: not only can she remotely possess other tamaraneans but she can blow up their ships too. (and didn’t faddei say that she had goons on the ground, looking for starfire?)

2.9. it’s a Lot to deal with this late in the season. maybe kory will leave for tamaran to deal with blackfire once and for all at the end of the season. and if titans ends up cancelled, wouldn’t that be a bittersweet ending.

(wherein ‘bittersweet’ translates to ‘devastating’ ofc)

3. oh where do i even start with dick

his worst fears came true. after his confession, not only did his old friends up and leave, but so did rachel and jason, which he found more heartbreaking than anything else. utterly consumed by guilt and convinced more than ever before of his culpability, he actively seeks out ways to self-flagellate, first by going to adeline to apologise, then by banishing himself, then by making sure he is punished (tho i have my doubts on that last one; will elaborate a little later). after watching him have an extended psychotic break and dash into not one but two suicide missions, watching dick grayson do this to himself feels like watching an extended feature on human suffering. it’s not fun, or pretty, and i can feel it reaching its nadir so that dick can bounce back up again, but i hope it happens soon.

(dick’s natural tendency to internalise guilt and responsibility into a hard little diamond core at his centre and his long training with batman with all the emphasis on secrets and subterfuge with a healthy underpinning of paranoia ironically means that he does so much goddamn emotional labour for this team. he’s the glue that keeps them together, that gives them purpose. he’s trying so hard to do good by everybody that he isn’t really able to achieve it with any of them, which leads to another self-flagellating spiral and him determining to try harder and the cycle just keeps going on. only kory seems to have ever broken this cycle, because she’s never demanded anything of him, nor he of her. it’s really sad to think how bereft dick feels right now, and more than that, how it’s stopping him from being there for the people who really do need him and trust him, like gar and rachel.)

3.25. adeline makes a very good point about how merely apologising doesn’t mean you’re owed forgiveness, and that seeking it out after all these years is a self-serving exercise in itself. but i can see dick taking it hard, especially after discovering that she’s letting slade--the man who actually killed her son--recuperate at her home. (and let’s be clear: however good her intentions, she participated in lying to her child about the truth of what his father actually does. wow, jericho was really just fucked over by pretty much every one he loved, wasn’t he?)

but i am glad to see dick isn’t so far gone that he takes the blame for jericho’s death in front of slade. he’s very aware that slade has permanently broken the team and very aware of the threat slade poses if they ever try to get back together again, but he’s not going to completely surrender every last shred of his self-worth and dignity to this man, and that was refreshing to see.

3.5. so he banishes himself to the farthest place he can think of with nothing more than the shirt on his back and a single duffel bag. it’s so over-the-top yet so... dick grayson.

3.8. BUT WAIT! ~PLOT TWIST~

ok so here’s what’s happening, all right? strap in:

a) jericho is one hundred percent inside slade. i have no doubts about this. adeline knows this too. it’s why she was so even-keeled while talking to dick, why she confidently said that jericho loved dick, and why she said “they” might be willing to forgive him. i’m thinking when slade crawled back home, jericho took advantage of his father’s momentary weakness to tell what was happening to his mother. 

b) jericho tried to communicate to dick. i saw something somewhere which said that slade had gestured something very specific in asl while conversing with dick? i’m willing to believe that was intentional.

c) when dick was turning to leave and slade called him one last time and gave his “banishment sentence” jericho likely jumped bodies from slade to dick

d) so why did dick get himself arrested at the airport?

- dick was going through, as others have speculated, a dissociative episode. given how he’s exhibited signs of mental illness throughout this season this isn’t that far out of the realm of possibility, but it’s a weak and redundant narrative bridge and wasn’t shot in a way that suggested that it was a mental break. so i’m ruling this out.

- jericho took over. maybe he felt that this was the only way he could force dick to stay in sf. maybe some of his father’s anger/resentment leeched into him and he wanted to dick to experience some actual punishment instead of scarpering again. maybe he was overwhelmed by dick’s own self-flagellating tendencies and chose the shortest route to maximum pain. maybe it’s a combination of all three.

- dick finally got his brain into gear and realised at the last minute that jericho had possessed slade and was trying to tell him something. why he then proceeded to get himself arrested instead of running out of the airport is a mystery.

personally, i’m leaning towards the ‘jericho possessed dick’ possibility.

4. gar is such a sweetheart and i am so glad that he took centrestage this episode, even though, like always, it was to support another character and ended up with him crying and begging for help from an unresponsive dick. *sighs*

4.5. much like dick himself, he’s trying to do good by everybody, only to end up badly misjudging a situation, and all alone. 

5. oof. this has gone on for far too long and i am Tired. more thoughts to come later, because right now my brain is as disorganised as... as disorganised as a titans episode. hah! self-burn!!!

[lovelykristenbell]

ET Interview with Jason Dohring after the revival

"It is sad to have to have a sacrificial lamb in order to keep the show pumping, but Jason's so gracious about taking one for the team," star and executive producer Kristen Bell told ET on Friday when she and her Veronica Mars co-stars stopped by the Comic-Con video suite. "But we love each other so much. We were mourning him on set." Dohring, who has played Logan off and on over the course of 15 years, admitted during a lengthy sit-down interview with ET that he didn't initially understand why his character had to die for Veronica Mars to continue on. It wasn't until he had a conversation over the phone with creator Rob Thomas that the puzzle pieces started to fit together, and he came to accept and understand his character's fate after some time. "When Rob said that, my f**king heart just fell out of my body. And I was like, 'Oh my god,'" the 37-year-old actor recalled. Here, in an in-depth chat, Dohring opens up to ET about the pain of saying goodbye to Logan Echolls, why he hasn't told close family members about the stunning ending and why he understands that fans will have opinions "one way or another" about how his story wraps up -- "even though it's not necessarily what people [may] want." 

ET: What did Rob tell you about this season of Veronica Mars, since it ends quite tragically for your character in the end? 

Jason Dohring: Rob called me. He was like, "We're going to do this. I feel like we're far enough along now," and he started to lay out the story of where Logan was. His idea was Veronica's in a bad place, we're going to see her move from there and into a different state. That's the the arc. And then he said, "They're getting married. Then, Logan goes out to check the car and Logan is killed in the blast." When Rob said that, my f**king heart just fell out of my body. And I was like, "Oh my god." He spent the next five minutes explaining the reasoning for it. And I cannot say that I understood or agreed with what he did. Rob wanted to shed the teenage drama aspect of the show with this on-again/off-again [relationship between Veronica and Logan] and as long as either one of them is still around, I feel like we've told those stories. They're kind of meant for each other. So I think, in that way, it's cool that Logan's exiting this way, and also that he served a role to get Veronica to reevaluate her life. I think that's really cool. Rob also talked about her being an underdog and that people really respond well when she is in that sort of determined state. I think that this really throws her in that and yet opens the door to a brand new life, a brand new setting, a brand new possible list of characters that she could be involved in. It really gives freedom and determination from her point of view for a new start anywhere. 

You mentioned that Rob called you ahead of time. How long were you sitting on this secret that Logan dies?

JD: Before we even started shooting, by a few weeks at least, or a month or so. You're thinking with that secret the whole time, and then just getting to the end of that four or five months of production.

What was your initial reaction when you learned Logan wasn't going to survive the season? 

JD: Devastated. And then for about three days, I was sort of sitting with it, digesting it. 

Were you mourning a little bit? 

JD: I had a hard time telling my wife because she has certain family members -- there are family members I haven't even told yet -- who are going to see it. They're so excited, and they're having these huge parties. I'm like, "F**k. I'm really sorry." That party's going to have a sour ending, at least on my family's point of view. I eventually came to terms with it, in no small part, thanks to Rob's explanation of it, and understanding it for the greater good of the show. I told a couple of the cast members who didn't even know. I told Percy [Daggs III] and I told Ryan [Hansen], and they were devastated. They'd come up to me hours later and be like, "J, I just can't believe it. Like, I just can't believe it." And I'm like, "Man, I know buddy. I know." At first, they were like, "That's bullsh*t, man. That's bullsh*t. I don't believe you." And I was like, "No man, it's true." And they just kept saying, "That's bullsh*t, man. You serious man, you f**king serious? Oh f**k." And then it hit them. It was crazy. 

You've been in and out of this world over the past 15 years, playing this character for four seasons and a movie. Did you have any worries or concerns about Logan's fate?

JD: I have complete faith in Rob's ability to write the story and when you have somebody like Kristen Bell leading the show the way she does, that's the driving force. I think they're going to be super fine with whatever direction they choose to go, especially now that they have a new possible lease on where they can go with the story. 

Had you thought about where you wanted Logan's journey to end at any point? 

JD: Adding the military aspect to the role was very cool, and gave a new dimension and helped ultimately serve the story with Veronica's character. I think I did everything that I wanted to do with the role. I got to fully explore this guy in various ways. 

It's disheartening to know that the Echolls family has basically been wiped out. Well, with the exception of Logan sister, Trina (played by Alyson Hannigan in the original series). It's almost like there's an Echolls curse. 

JD: I know. And when you're on a drama for a few years, that's just what happens. Your character's f**king life just goes downhill. 

Because Logan's death was such a violent one and we didn't see a body, fans may speculate or theorize plausible theories about why he's not really dead. Are you anticipating those types of conversations? 

JD:I don't know. I mean those are all beyond me. I just hope ultimately the fans are pleased with the whole project. You can look at it that way, and understand that this will launch the series in a new way that's not tired or redundant. 

It's hard to swallow knowing that Logan's death is the catalyst for Veronica to finally make that leap and work through her inner turmoil through therapy, even though he had been pushing her all season to look inward. In that sense, Logan is a martyr. He ended up serving that purpose. 

JD: There was another scene where we're on a couch. I don't what was understood from that scene, but I feel like Logan was, at that point, willing to sacrifice their relationship if it meant that she'd be happy with her life, and that she would move on. Maybe move out of Neptune, do something that she wants to do and fulfill her potential. I think that's pretty sweet that he would be willing to sacrifice their relationship for that. It's a heroic death that sparks new life. 

You're so positive about it all! I'm like, I just need to curl up in a ball on the corner and cry. 

 JD: Yes, I know. When you're in a corner and you're crying, it's like, what do you do then?

If this is the end of your time with this character and the show, are you ready to say goodbye? If there is another season, do you hope there's room for you to come back in some way? 

JD: I think that would be a question for the team, you know what I mean? If that could fulfill any purpose in a story... I have to see what they want to do, but I assume that it would be happier times. Flashbacks to a good life? I can't really speculate, but I would hope it would be something joyous if it were to be anything. 

I do want to ask you about Veronica and Logan's wedding at the courthouse. How did you feel knowing that they at least had a moment of bliss, however temporary it was? 

JD: It's so funny that you ask these questions and I never really think about it as an audience member. (Laughs.) 'Cause I'm never thinking, when I see it, "Veronica and Logan really had their time..."

It was a long time coming for a lot of Veronica Mars fans... 

 JD: I think so too. I always felt that they were so awesomely compatibly incompatible, you know what I mean? In the best way. Both had strong wills, which is just fireworks ready to happen. She has care for the world and he has care for her. She has ways that she wants things done and it's not necessarily the way he'd do them, but yet there's this love [between them]. And Logan's relationship with her, everything rolled into it and made it something special. I think that's what you see in the audience appreciation for it. 

Was any part of that wedding scene ad-libbed?

JD: No, it was all scripted. Rico was doing his thing. He was crying. Kristen was telling stories about her real wedding in a similar setting in a courthouse. She showed us a picture of her literally crying and [her husband] Dax [Shepard] is laughing at her. I thought that that was pretty funny. 

Did you ever think that Veronica and Logan would ever reach a point in their lives where they would both actually agree to say "I do"?

JD: Hopefully, they were on that track. And I think giving Veronica that scare toward the end got her to have this mini wake-up call. But I go back to that conversation on the couch right before. I thought that was noble: I'm willing to sacrifice us, but I want you to be happy. And if you're not going to be happy, then goodbye. When I was rehearsing that scene, I was f**king crying. As much as I love you, I care more about you than that. Brutal. 

 What was the toughest or most challenging scene from this season?

JD: I think that. Working on that. Sometimes it would really hit me as we're rehearsing, like, what he's really saying is he wants her to leave him right now if it's not going to make her happy, because that means more to him than us.

Logan's journey has been the most dramatic out of all the characters on Veronica Mars. Has that been gratifying for you as an actor seeing how far he's come? 

JD:Yes. I appreciate variation. To start out being the antagonist and then getting this romance that was never intended to be. Then feeling that so strongly. Then that's all on the rocks and shredded... And then the military, and then on top of that having a ridiculously sharp sense of humor and looseness of morals. All that is such a joy to play as an actor. I was always trained to look for those choices, so that's where I would try to branch out and make some of those decisions where I could. 

I was rewatching the pilot recently and Logan is a completely different person from then until now. 

JD: He'd be like, "Where are the hookers? Where are the boobs?" 

What do you want to say to fans after they've finished watching the season and may need a second?

JD: I don't know. I mean, they'll have thoughts one way or another. I think if you really step back and you look at what was told and where the show may be going, and how this opens up the door for Veronica... this relationship between Logan and Veronica is just one aspect of Veronica, right? But her helping the world and solving cases and her personal happiness, I think you may see more storylines there. I think that was what really helped me understand the whole thing with Logan -- putting it in context for the future. 

You're so glass-half-full about it all, when you could be like, "Ugh."

JD: I know. I was like that. But if you really think about it, you can't just play that over and over. (Pauses for a moment.) I mean, you can... Part of the cool thing is Veronica Mars is a smart show. Rob is very creative and he has his ideas, and I think that people like that. At the end of the third season, the CW came up to him and said, "We're probably going to end the show at the end of this third season, so if you want to wrap it up, you can do that." And he did the exact opposite. He f**king left it open. And that's probably the reason that the movie was made, which is the reason that season four comes. Really it ties back to the creative aspect of an artist who has integrity to his vision. So I respect that and people respect the result of that, even though it's not necessarily what people want all the time.

[violetsmoak]

Pieces of April [1/?]

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21099044/chapters/50202530

 Summary: On the anniversary of his death, Jason’s second life takes an abrupt new turn and he’s faced with a challenge that neither Batman nor the All-Caste prepared him for.

Rating: PG-13 (rating may change later)

Warning(s): Past Jason/Isabel, kidfic, minor canon character death (pretty sure you can guess who), I’ll add more warnings/tags as I think of them.

Canon-Compliance: Takes place in between the two RHATO series, so after Roy and Kori and before Artemis and Bizarro. Jason and Isabel Ardila 

Author’s Note: Exactly what it says on the can. I’ve had this idea kicking around my head for a while, getting in the way of finishing the next chapter of Philtatos and I figured if I started jotting down the basics of it, I could stop thinking about it. 

________________________________________________________________

Despite the carefully cultivated exterior of a hardened criminal, Jason Todd is remarkably straight edge.

After what happened to his mother, drugs were never going to be a thing; he stopped smoking long before a lunatic clown beat him to death; and though his preferred hangouts tend to be bars, that’s more to keep an eye out for trouble than for slinging back shots.

There are exceptions, of course.

Coping with any kind of murder that involves kids. The days immediately following another one of Joker’s breakouts and inevitable mind games. Some of the worse fights with Bruce. And certain anniversaries.

Days like today, when all he is boils down to traumatic flashbacks of metal caving in his lungs and high-pitched laughter, and mounting fear turned to begging for the end. Circular thoughts and ‘what-ifs’ that he ignores or pushes to the back of his mind every other day of the year are stronger now, now occupy his mind with the stubbornness of a cancer.

Today’s a day for hard whiskey and keep it coming until he can’t see straight, for everything to melt away behind a fog of false levity until he wakes up again and he can forget for another year.

He’s nearing that point when his phone rings.

It’s not the harsh tune of I Hate Everything About You that he’s programmed for any of the Bats civilian phone lines, but a generic ringtone. Not a call to offer sympathy, but not an emergency.

(If they couldn’t reach the comm in his helmet, they’d just show up.)

He ignores it, goes back to his drink.

There’s a brief silence once it goes to voicemail, and then ten seconds later it rings again. The bartender is giving him a look with raised eyebrows, but Jason just gestures for another finger of whiskey.

Around the fifth time, Jason picks up the phone if only to turn the damn thing off or chuck it at a wall, but pauses at the Caller ID—Gotham General.

What the hell…?

No one he knows would contact him on a public hospital line.

His thumbs fumble as he accepts the call, but even as he barks out, “What?”, he hears a static click and the electronic monotone of his voicemail bidding the incoming caller leave a message.

There’s a pause, and then a stranger’s tired voice comes on the line.

“This message is for Jason Ardila. I’m Dr. Kerry at Gotham General Hospital. We have you listed as the primary contact for Isabel Ardila.” Jason straightens up as best he can at this. “I have news regarding your wife’s condition. It would be best if you came to the hospital as soon as possible. You can reach me at—”

He rattles off a number but Jason doesn’t catch it, mind whirling.

Isabel? Emergency contact? What the hell? Wife? Even more what the hell. At least she knew not to give his real name, but...again, why call him? They aren’t exactly close, and he hasn’t seen or spoke to Isabel since that thing at Elysium.

That was…what…last July?

He counts back again, needing to check his math against his alcohol muzzled brain. In any case, it’s a few months shy of a year, which makes it more than random she’s calling him now.

Wait…

“—can’t make it here within the next two hours, please contact a hospital representative to assist you.”

The message ends. 

Jason stares blearily at the phone for several minutes, trying to put his thoughts in order.

Something needles at the back of his mind, and his thumb smudges across the screen to open his browser, pulling up Gotham General’s staff directory. It takes longer than he’d like to navigate, squinting at text that’s far too small before he remembers he can resize that shit, and finally he locates—

Dr. David Kerry, M.D., F.A.C. S., Obstetrician.

Jason’s stomach lurches.

He counts back again.

April back to July.

Almost nine months.

Nine months since the last time he and Isabel—

No. No way, it must be a coincidence. Probably she just got into some trouble. Trouble that needs the Red Hood to solve, and that’s why she named me as contact.

He scrubs a hand down his face, trying for sobriety.

But then why didn’t she call me and tell me? Why wait until she’s at the goddamn hospital?

And under the care of an obstetrician. That’s…the thing he’s most concerned about.

There’s no way. She said she was seeing someone, if there were anything, it would have to do with him. But then…why contact me and not him?

He’s dimly aware of shrugging his jacket back on, of throwing a bunch of bills on the bar-top and wandering out despite the barkeeper saying something to him. Of getting out into the chill and damp spring air, trying to hail a cab, because yeah, the bike he left in the alley has an autopilot feature, but Jason doesn’t feel like risking road rash if he slips off it on a sharp turn. Which he might do, considering he drops his wallet twice trying to put it back in his jacket.

Also, if he and Isabel need to make a quick exit if she’s hurt, it will be easier for him to steal a car later than try to put her on a bike. And if she’s not alone—

Don’t think about it.

As he gets his wallet back in his pocket, he remembers he basically gave the barkeep all his cash, and shit, does he even have anything left? This means he’s going to waste time going back in and taking it back since the guy hasn’t exactly followed him out to return it. Probably thinks it’s a tip or—

Jason stiffens, that sixth sense honed from a childhood on the street and training under the most paranoid man in the world bypassing his otherwise alcohol clouded senses to warn him. Someone’s behind him.

“Whoever you are, you really don’t want to test me right now,” he growls, speech only a little slurred. Shit-faced or not, he’s still a better fighter than any low-tier thug in Gotham.

“I’m not testing anything, except how much your situational awareness sucks when you’re drunk.”

The voice is dry and familiar, and Jason turns around, half-expecting to come face to face with Red Robin crouched in the shadows. Instead, Tim Drake is several feet away, dressed casually and leaning against a sports car that has no business idling on the streets of Burnley.

Jason didn’t hear him pull up, which means he’s been here a while—and he didn’t notice him.

Need to sober up now.

“The hell are you doing here, Drake?” he snarls to cover up his obvious impaired reactions.  

“It’s the 27th,” the younger man says, slow and careful. “I’m keeping an eye on you.”

Of course, he knows what day it is…

Jason bares his teeth. “In case I do something crazy? Decide to go on a rampage?”

“In case you needed a ride home or someone to talk to or just make sure you don’t choke on your own vomit,” Drake retorts.

“Aren’t you the little do-gooder. How’d you even find me?”

“Roy Harper called me out of the blue. He told me someone should check in on you, and he figured for some reason I’m the best candidate to look in on you.” He shrugs and there’s a frown of confusion on his face. “Don’t know why he thinks so, considering our history.”

Jason suspects it has to do with Drake being the one who got him the information needed to find and save Roy’s ass in Qurac, but he’s not about to say so.  

“Doesn’t answer how you knew I was here.”

Drake raises an eyebrow at that because, yeah, they both know how he found him.

Damn stalker.

Jason rolls his eyes. “Whatever. You found me. You saw me. Now step off, I’m trying to get a cab.”

He turns away and starts heading up the street to the busier intersection.

“Headed to another bar?” Drake wants to know, uncertain, like he’s trying not to sound judgemental.  

“No, screw you very much, I need to get to Gotham General.”

And it’s further proof of how much his mind and his reflexes are on a roller coaster tonight, because he’s actually started the hand that falls upon his shoulder. As it turns him around, he instinctively lashes out with a right hook, but Drake dodges it with embarrassing ease.

His eyes are raking over Jason, up-and-down, re-assessing. “You hurt?”

He’s fishing, Jason thinks; none of them have gone to the hospital for an injury that wasn’t faked in years, least of all Bruce Wayne’s legally dead ex-son. Perhaps that’s why he’s able to detect the genuine concern in the bland question. It’s not laid on as thickly as Dick might do, or tinged with the hint of judgement and self-recrimination from Bruce.

Maybe that’s why he finds himself admitting, “Someone I know might be.”

The younger man nods, understanding; some of the intentness leaves his face.

“I could give you a ride,” he offers, nodding his head at the car. “I could get you there faster than a cab could.”

It’s on the tip of Jason’s tongue to refuse, before he remembers he has no cash.

He glances back at the bar once more, wondering if it’s the better option to “haggle” with the barkeep to get his money back. Suspects that will lead to a fight, which if Drake insists on hanging around (which he suspects he will, even if it’s just watching him from a distance, the creep) he’ll probably intervene in and—

This is getting too complicated.

“Fine,” he sighs at last, earning a blink of surprise from Drake.

No kidding. I’m surprised, too.

Still, if there’s anything going down at the hospital, if this is a trap or something, and Jason needs to ensure Isabel gets out alright, however much he is off his game right now, having Red Robin backing him up wouldn’t be the worst thing ever.

It’s not like they’ve never worked together before, or kicked ass doing it.

Jason course corrects once more, heading for the car. Still, he can’t help making a comment, just to show how much he’d rather not be doing this. “But if we’re doing this chauffeuring thing, you’re gonna keep your mouth shut about it. And fork over whatever coffee I know you have in that shitbox of yours.”

Tim is the one who bares his teeth this time, a sharp, cold smile that Jason suspects is the last thing his enemies ever see. “Call my car a shitbox again, and you can walk.”

________________________________________________________________

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Next Chapter

[laufire]

For the tv show ask 1-7, 9 & 10

(Glad to see you considered question 8 as boring as I do xD)

if you could reboot one TV show, which one would it be?

This is a hard questions because honestly, I don’t think in reboots xD. If I loved a show, a ~reimagining of it doesn’t come to my mind? Even if I won’t mind it if it happened (this is my reminder for checking out the Charmed reboot once and for all, it’s one of the very few I’ve been enthusiastic about).

Hmm. Maybe some type of Lois & Clark reboot? In the sense that I’ve wanted a clois show that reimagined the source material for a while. I would want it with Lois’ POV as the lead tho; Lois would still be older and more established than Clark, and I’ve always liked the idea of her as a war correspondent (or at least former war correspondent). It could be interesting to use a visual medium instead of newspapers, too. Lucy Liu has been one of my fancasts for a while, NGL, reinforced by that Set It Up movie. She looks a lot like the STAS version. I’ve also seen Morley and Lindsay fancasted as Clois over twitter and it’s GOOD, but tbh I want Lois to be older than him.

if you could have saved one TV show from cancellation, which one would it be?

A few months ago, I would’ve said El Ministerio del Tiempo (The ministry of time, aka the show timeless ripped-off lol), but it’s just been renewed for a fourth season after over a year without a word and I’m over the moon (they announced it the day of Los Santos Inocentes, aka Spain’s equivalent to April’s Fools, and I was suspicious about it for over a week lmao).

So with that out of the way, the question would be between Sarah Connor Chronicles and Galavant, tbh. Probably SCC, because that cliff-hanger still haunts me to this day.

have you ever quit a show before it finished? why?

I quit shows ALL THE FREAKING TIME. Usually, it’s simply because they don’t grab my hyper-fixation, and if I’m not 200% into it, what’s the point, really (sometimes, if I *do* really like some parts of the story, I go back when the season is finished and binge-watch, but mostly I just quit). Other times it’s because I can tell that my priorities are too different from the writers and I pre-emptively pull away. But mostly is due to lack of enthusiasm for the story. I don’t think I’ve ever rage-quitted anything.

are there any shows you wish could just be cancelled already?

Not really. I mean, most of my current shows are brand new xD (Legacies, Roswell, The Umbrella Academy, Elite, Sex Education, Black Monday -where I’m not caught up because I Fear the ending and I want to see how it all pans down-; I just started Deadly Class and I’m loving it), and the others are The 100, Star vs the Forces of Evil, Veep, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (tho if last season had been its end I’d be fine with it, it was gr10 for me and my priorities lol) and Suits, where, tbh, if the writers maintained the level of engagement I’ve felt in the last season, I would be fine with them running more years. And the rest of the shows I’m entertaining to watch are already finished or cancelled, so.

(I heard about SPN’s cancellation and I’m actually a little sad about it lol. Not for the show itself -I’ve only watched Bela’s, Ruby’s and Anna’s episodes and that’s how it’s forever gonna stay; I knew I would never be able to get into the show because Dean is pretty much my anti-type of lead character lol. But I found its endurability hilarious and it’s cancellation sounds fake xDD).

what’s your comfort show?

RN, Star vs the Forces of Evil. I wish more people in my dash watched it because it’s the cutest thing ever, and it has legitimately gr10 storylines. I need to watch the latests eps.

Other comfort shows: Galavant, Gravity Falls, Lois & Clark… almost any of my favourite animated shows, tbh.

which shows do you think are underrated and need more love?

Of my current shows, Black Monday. I haven’t seen anyone on my dash mention it, and it had me hooked from the first episode and the next just reinforced it (I haven’t watched past that because, as I said, there’s some foreshadowing that makes me fear the ending, as I am already way too invested… there’s only two episodes left, so I’ll be binge-watching it soon tho).

have you ever been inspired to start a new show based on gifs or memes it has produced?

That’s exactly why I started Deadly Class yesterday and I’m already half-way through lol (it’s only ten eps long). I saw it around tumblr and I took notice, thinking I might try it out at some point, though I didn’t know what it was about. Then I saw this gifset (it’s from the pilot, so not too spoilery), and I needed to know what the fuck was going on LMAO. Fair warning, though not too graphic (except kind of in the flashbacks, which are drawn in comic style and have the worst content), it has frankly upsetting/potentially triggering content. But I’m really enjoying the ~vibe and its characters. The protagonist (my fave) kind of reminds me of Scott McCall? Not so much in personality (… there he kind of reminds me of Jason Todd lol, with caveats), but in the “his milkshake brings all the boys (and girls, and nb folk) to the yard” factor xDD

what’s one show you thought you’d hate but turned out to really enjoy?

I tend to be right about my predictions in this regard lol. Usually, at most I’ll start watching something ~casually/with other people, and later it grabs me when I start shipping/stanning some characters HARD (see: MCU, Shadowhunters).

Oh, I recently started watching Legends of Tomorrow with a friend (except we’re going backwards because she’s in s4 and I didn’t feel the need to catch up first lol); giving my meh reaction to the rest of the CW DC verse (The Flash is the only one I tolerate & can casually watch some arcs once in a while, and it’s because Westallen it’s what it is, basically. I’m kind of curious about the daughter-from-the-future plotline and I might watch last season when it’s over. In general, there’s something about the ~pathos of the ‘verse that rubs me the wrong way), and I’m liking it A LOT more than I expected? Most of the characters really ~*spark* and I’m loving it (notable exceptions: Ava, Mick, and Grant? Gary? IDK, that dude).

what’s one show you thought you’d love but turned out to really hate?

Hmm… kind of same-as-above. This is probably partially because of my tendency to drop shows at the first sign of anything unappealing, because it doesn’t let my feelings grow into hate lol.

[truthbeetoldmedia]

Jane the Virgin 5x04 “Chapter Eighty-Five” & 5x05 “Chapter Eighty-Six” Review

One thing Jane the Virgin has done very well this season is show the central conflict — Michael’s return from the dead — through multiple points of view that are all equally valid, as much as they contradict each other. It’s almost enough to make me not hate the return of a love triangle I thought had been dealt with long ago. (Yeah I know, if I hate love triangles so much I probably shouldn’t be watching a telenovela.)

In “Chapter Eighty-Five,” the concept running through the background of the episode is that of worst nightmares. With Michael regaining his memories now a reality, everyone is forced to face their worst nightmares, and it’s impossible to choose someone whom I feel worst for.

When Michael was still Jason, there was a degree of separation: he wasn’t Michael anymore, he wasn’t the person Jane had fallen in love with and married, so it was easy for her to make the decision to send him away and continue to pursue her life with Rafael. Now there’s no running away from it, and all three players are forced to face their feelings and fears head-on, and hopefully resolve this love triangle in a way that’s healthier than one of the participants dying.

Let’s start with Michael. With the return of his memories, he’s still in love with Jane — of course; he never had the opportunity to fall out of love with her. Now Michael has to deal with the fact that he’s essentially two different people, with two different life experiences and different likes and dislikes, inhabiting the same body. Perhaps the only thing Michael and Jason have in common is their feelings for Jane.

I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge Brett Dier’s acting in these two episodes; while Michael maintains the mannerisms of Jason, bits and pieces of the man he used to be begin to shine through. As Jane observes in one of the dispassionate narrator notes she’s writing for herself, “His laugh is slow to come, but it’s just as contagious.” There’s something disconcerting about watching Jane and Michael talk and laugh the way they used to, except now Michael’s talking about roping calves.

It almost seems more a curse than a blessing that Michael got his memories back. Aside from feeling like he’s two different people, now he has to figure out how he fits into the lives of people who have believed him dead for the past four years, and have moved on without him. So where does that leave him with Jane? My heart tells me he should stop pursuing her and let her be happy in this life she’s built, but that’s hard when his feelings are as fresh as they were four years ago. Especially when it’s obvious Jane still feels something for him, too.

I feel for Jane, I really do. Moving on from someone after believing they’ve died is in an entirely different ballpark from moving on from someone after a breakup. She still loves Michael, and she’s forced to realize she still loves him once he gets his memories back — despite the fact that she loves Rafael, too. (Although it’s Rafael, not Jane, who has the flashback to the moment in Season 2 when Jane professes that she’s in love with both of them, it’s impossible not to draw parallels.)

Petra breaks the whole conflict down into perhaps too simple a form: “Michael is your past, Rafael is your future.” And while I hope that this is where the season is ultimately going, right now it’s impossible for Jane to see it that way. Michael was her past, but now that he’s back she can’t just leave him there. She’s being pulled in two different directions simultaneously — the life she’s built with Rafael now vs the life she built with Michael 5 years ago; the love they both have for her and the love she returns; the special place each holds in the broader fabric of her family — and she hasn’t been given a single second to breathe. And now even her son is being pulled into the drama, and is turning against her.

And then Rafael. Look, I know I said it was impossible to choose sides, but I am Team Raf until the day I die and my heart is absolutely breaking for him. While it takes Jane until the end of the episode to realize what her worst nightmare is — losing Rafael and her son — Rafael has already lived through his worst nightmare. And now he’s being forced to do it again. Rafael already had lingering fears that he was only a consolation prize to Jane; she never actively chose him and now that she’s faced with that choice, she’s hesitating.

Can you imagine someone saying they love you so much that they want to spend the rest of their life with you, but then being unwilling to file for divorce with the person they used to be married to? Or being so unwilling to file for divorce that they go to extraordinary lengths to retrieve the papers after having already sent them off? When Rafael asks Jane if she still loves him and she doesn’t reply — love for the person you want to marry shouldn’t be conditional. Rafael loves Jane with everything he has, as he has proven over and over again, and too often Jane’s love for him comes across as performative rather than genuine.

Rafael knows Jane better than perhaps anybody else, and he knows that she won’t be happy unless she gets the chance to explore what she may or may not feel for Michael. Just as he knows that watching her do that will absolutely destroy him. Given the circumstances, I think removing himself from the situation is the healthiest thing he can do for himself and perhaps the best thing for his and Jane’s relationship in the long run, as much as him asking her to move out hurts her now.

One thing I was impressed with was how mature both Rafael and Jane were through this entire impossible situation, especially compared to how they acted in previous seasons. Remember when Rafael broke up with Jane in Season 1 because he didn’t think he was good enough for her, but he never bothered to tell her that? Although this breakup hurts both of them, they both understand why it’s happening, which leaves room for them to patch up their relationship when the time is right.

And despite their current differences, they’re both determined to still be good parents and present a united front to Mateo. Mateo is, understandably, on his dad’s side in all of this — he doesn’t remember Michael as a stepfather to him, he only knows Michael now as the person who is driving a wedge between his parents.

At least, with all this unfolding, both Rafael and Jane have people that will go to bat for them. (Michael is a little on the outside right now, although he did get to spend some offscreen time with his mom.) Rogelio, despite being firmly Team Michael in the past, reassures Rafael that he loves him; Jane finds perhaps an unexpected confidante in Petra.

In fact, Jane and Petra’s relationship is without a doubt my favourite thing about this season so far. Petra’s character development has been deftly handled since the beginning of the show, and the fact that they got her to a place where the sisters/best friends relationship she has now with Jane feels both natural and earned is incredible. It’s so nice that any tension between them regarding Rafael has dissipated for good (at least that’s one love triangle that won’t be coming back!) and that Jane has found someone she can talk to honestly about her situation that isn’t tangled up in it — she hasn’t really had that since Lina left. (Remember Lina?)

Somewhat surprisingly, there was still no sign of Rose or her lackeys in these two episodes. But with the return of Petra’s mom, Milos making threats from prison, and Xo winding up in the hospital, I think everyone has quite enough secondary drama to be getting on with. Even if it is a telenovela.

Jane the Virgin airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on the CW.

[berry-films]

Why the word Annihilation

     Annihilation (2018), scripted and directed by Alex Garland, approached its audience the same way it approached Annihilation’s human race: harmless and discreet. The movie starts off ominously with the main character Lena (Natalie Portman) being questioned in quarantine about her time in the “Shimmer.” A byword created by the scientists observing the giant shimmering layer of light and rainbow growing rapidly every day.

The Shimmer’s obscure lands are uncharted and unknown to scientists beyond it. Annihilation portrays the Shimmer as a destructive force interrupting the natural structure of everything that lives and dies. Though we see vastly irregular and polymorphed organisms inside the Shimmer, it doesn’t attempt to harness complete destruction and obliteration rather cultivates and grants each sentient its subconscious desires through unpredictable twists. The Shimmer’s purpose continues to be unknown after the movie’s finale but what caused Lena’s team to eliminate themselves is self-destruction.

“The Shimmer’s purpose continues to be unknown after the movie’s finale but what caused Lena’s team to eliminate themselves is self-destruction.”

The team’s subconscious wishes, mundane and “small-scale,” are transmitted to the Shimmer and filled in through its own specifications considering the missing qualities. The sentient beings engrossed by the Shimmer didn’t specify self-destruction in their subconscious wishes. It’s the fact that they didn’t specify self-preservation that caused the Shimmer to read in between the spaces. There’s a reason Annihilation wasn’t named “Cultivation” or “Consumption”. It represents the foreign horrors found deep within ourselves. The team entered the Shimmer believing that it was unknown but found out that they were unknown themselves.

Annihilation may not strike the audience like a movie about our own personal monsters and demons, but even Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) tells Lena on a dark and reflective night that "Almost none of us commit suicide. Almost all of us self-destruct.” Predictably, every other person who entered the Shimmer with Lena were also carrying indelible burdens. Shepperd (Tuva Novotny) reveals to  Lena that no one who volunteered for this mission had their lives in perfect harmony. That they are all “damaged goods.” Anya (Gina Rodriguez) is sober, a previous addict. Josie (Tessa Thompson) wears long sleeves to conceal the scars on her arms. Lena apprehensively asks Shepperd if Josie tried to kill herself. Shepperd replies that it was the opposite; Josie was trying to feel alive. Shepperd lost a daughter to Leukemia and lost the person she once was. It was later revealed that Dr. Ventress had both cancer and nothing else to lose. And Lena herself was clinging onto the past relationship she had with her husband. These characters venture into the Shimmer hoping to gain redemption from their pasts, instead, they subconsciously finalized their self-destruction.

“These characters venture into the Shimmer hoping to gain redemption from their pasts, instead, they subconsciously finalized their self-destruction.“

Each team member’s death can be linked to their battle scars. Sheppard dies to the jaws of an abnormal bear-like creature. Ripping her throat out it somehow absorbed her last shrieking calls for help. No matter how disturbing it was to hear her frightened cries of help howling out of that bear, it proves that Shepperd’s subconscious desires were to survive. And so, she did. It may not be how she envisioned it but her legacy survives within that bear. The more the team is faced with unnatural beings the more Anya begins losing control. The more explanations being presented to her the less she understands. Anya, anxious, distressed, and in denial about her state of mind, had nothing to lose herself to (such as drugs or alcohol), so instead begins to lose herself to the Shimmer. Literally speaking, Anya also died to the bear. The difference between her death and Shepperd's death is that her denial and disbelief led herself to the bear. Before Josie’s peaceful death, Josie points out to Lena that “Ventress wants to face it. You want to fight it. But I don’t want either of those things.” Josie has been searching for something to help her feel alive. Josie, instead of building her defenses against the Shimmer, lets her defenses falter. She accepts the Shimmers presence and it accepts her adding her to its gallery of beautiful sceneries and vibrant colors.

As we know, Dr. Ventress had cancer. Her ticking clock of life was almost out of batteries. Realizing that her body was disintegrating as fast as her mind, she decides to spend her last moments by finding the Shimmer’s truth over her own. She reaches the Shimmer’s source before Lena and what she finds is over her comprehension. She is, quite literally, disintegrated by the knowledge given to her. Lena’s flashbacks with her husband throughout Annihilation were painful motivation boosters to help her return. When asked why she was the only team member who came back from the Shimmer she said, “I had to come back. I’m not sure any of them did.” Lena’s subconscious desire was to return to her husband to continue their lives together. Seeing as to what happened to her husband she had already paid the cost the Shimmer bestowed upon her.

Annihilation is a sci-fi movie that causes its audience to sit at the edge of their seats either from uncomfort or ambiguity. It feels as if the movie is built on easter eggs over and over again every new scene. Just like Anya, the more you find out about the Shimmer the less you know. One answer opens ten more questions until we are left with questions that we can’t even wrap our heads around. Nothing makes sense in Annihilation except that something so strange and foreign can be so beautiful and corruptive. We shouldn’t define our past, present or upcoming problems as ourselves. If we do, our bodies and our minds will be fragmented into our troubles until not one part remains. Annihilation.

Merve Akbay

Senior Film Reviewer

[subtext-rapidly-becoming-text]

The Ethical Quandary of Choosing a Hat; or How Westworld Was the Real “Bad Place” All Along

On the surface, the dystopian drama of HBO’s Westworld couldn’t be further from the heartwarming comedy of NBC’s The Good Place. However, the two concurrently airing series both deal with the same epistemological imperative: “Know thyself.” Consequently, they grapple with the same philosophical question: “Who am I?” The issue of the “self” has been at the root of most, if not all, philosophical thought, and it is an issue that is inextricably bound up in the very fabric of ethics.

As conceived in modern Western thought, the self is a contained entity that interacts with the world around it and may leave an impact or be impacted, but is ultimately a coherent whole that exists independent of all that is Other. It wields free will as its only weapon - a weapon in which it has had no training. The connection between this self and ethics has been widely explored. From Socrates to Descartes, Kierkegaard to Nietzsche, examination of the self seems always to lead to questions of morality. Is a person inherently good or evil, or is it a choice? Do we really have free will if we’re the product of our environment, including our physiological makeup? Can we trust our senses, our view of the world, our “selves” to give us access to that which is Real? What does it mean to be one’s authentic self and why should one bother? Is the self a justification to be selfish? Or can the responsibility of self-determination create its own moral framework?

Let’s pause there. In fact, all of these questions have already been raised in both series - both of which are only on their 2nd season. And while both series are exploring the issues in complex and interesting ways, my project is not to decipher their messages. Rather, I am fascinated by the overlapping of the approaches both fictional worlds have taken. Both narratives are located inside a non-linear, and often recursive, time. While initially, Westworld’s hosts are the only ones experiencing this queer temporality, by the end of the first season, there is no mistaking that the audience, too, has been dragged into a time outside of time. Like the hosts, we are unclear on what is happening when - and this is the series’ primary method of mystery-building. On a more narrative level, the hosts’ eventual attainment of consciousness, of personhood, of the self, rests almost entirely on their ability to retrieve lost memories. Unable to control or parse through the temporalities of their memories, the hosts are jolted out of their programmed non-selves.

The Good Place takes up this same queer temporality angle by “rebooting” its characters, starting with Janet. By the third episode of season 2, our four protagonists have had their memories erased over eight hundred times. Much of the character development in this season depends on the recovery of those lost memories. Though the audience has seen a season’s worth of interactions between the protagonists, the characters themselves are only aware of having interacted for a few weeks. Chidi and Eleanor’s relationship is jump-started by the discovery of a videotape and the brilliant Mindy St Claire’s bored retellings of their prior encounters. Tahani and Jason’s relationship is disrupted by Janet’s unprocessed and unremembered love for Jason. And Michael’s cold, evil heart (probably not a heart, maybe a marble) is softened by what at this point may be years of watching the humans grow and care about each other. One might say that he knows them better than they know themselves.

Part of what makes queer temporality queer is that it depends on one’s relationality to others. Queer is in so many ways opposed to the “normal” or more accurately, the accepted default. But if there is no queer, no other, no different, then there can be no normal. Normality desperately needs the queer. Likewise, if there is no Other to compare one’s experience of time against, there can be no “normal” or “straight” time either. The disrupted and disruptive time warps that pull the narrative strings of both series depend entirely on the characters interactions with one another - and so do the characters’ moral choices.

Perhaps the most interesting theme the shows share, however, is that of trauma. The Good Place somehow manages to approach the idea of eternal torture and damnation in a lighthearted way. Shitty Eleanor Shelstrop is motivated by fear of torture to enlist Chidi for help, and Good Eleanor is born. Over and over again. The premise of Michael’s architectural plan is simply that Hell is Other People. His diabolical scheme is simply to put four very different people together and wait for them to torture each other. And they do - but only because they care. Only because they are trying to be good. In Westworld, on the other hand, the apparent lead characters - both white, powerful, and male - and literal showrunners of the park, are the Man in Black and Ford, and though they are often pitted against each other, they seem to have the same deeply disturbing goal. They want to torture the hosts to self-awareness. The basic, underlying premise of the show is that conscience, and hence personhood, is attained through suffering. By that logic, both William and Ford could be seen as the good guys. They’re just trying to grant the hosts free will! Self-determination! Autonomy. Except that they’re clearly not.

The implications of torture and suffering on identity formation are certainly complex, and I’m not sure yet where the stories are going or how they will end. But both narratives seem to grapple with trauma on a deeper level, as a catalyst or the spark of life. There is plenty of evidence, both scientific and anecdotal, of the disruptive effect severe trauma can have on memories, and by extension one’s sense of time. The only PTSD symptom more common than flashbacks is missing or fragmented memories of the traumatic event. The traumatic past is either painfully absent or eternally present. The temporal acrobatics performed by Westworld and the Good Place are as tied into trauma as they are into ethics.

I’m not really going anywhere with this, but I’m pretty sure I know what I need to add to my dissertation to make it into a book. Primary case studies: Maeve Millay and Chidi Anagonye. Almost makes me want to be an academic again.

[lisbonsteresa]

Chidi needs to step it the fuck up. The last few episodes Eleanor has been carrying that nerd and he's contributing nothing. I want him to comfort and console her for a change. And he needs to take charge and make a decision. About anything! I just feel like everyone is making progress and Chidi is as anxious and wishy washy as ever. I love him, but he needs to step up.

Ok, well, I’m not really sure how to respond to this nonnie. Other than to say I don’t at all agree?

I’m very confused on your viewpoint of the past few episodes - if we’re going to say that Eleanor’s been carrying Chidi, then her back must be real tired because she’s been carrying everyone else too. The three episodes we’ve had since coming back from hiatus have had the entire team working together to pull off a plan, but Eleanor and/or Michael explaining the actual step-by-step. Does their explaining it invalidate the work anyone else put in? No. (and if we’re being very nit-picky, Chidi was the only one who helped Eleanor work through one of Michael’s clues - they realized that they needed Derek by talking it through together while Jason and Tahani just rehashed the clues through flashbacks to the roast, but I digress).

When it comes to making a decision, I would argue that the last three episodes haven’t had any member of Team Cockroach really taking charge - with the exception of Michael (especially at the end of this week’s episode *sob*). Their actions since Shawn showed up have been almost entirely them reacting to whatever batshirt nonsense has been thrown at them. The only real decision I would say any of the humans made was the one to try and get to the Judge, and that was framed much more like one of those crazy ideas you say to your friends 3 bottles of wine in that they all drunkenly agree to. (and, again, it’s nitpicky, but Chidi was the one who decided they should go to Shawn and try to bargain their way out of punishment. i’m not saying it was a good decision, but Tahani and Jason were more than happy to go along with it).

And yes, Chidi has been anxious and spends a great deal of time arguing with himself over almost everything, that’s true. But that’s not a character flaw that he’s going to get over and progress away from - it’s a fundamental part of his personality. No matter what he goes through, Chidi is likely always going to be anxious and second guess himself, just like Eleanor’s always going to be snarky and rude; Tahani’s always going to be vain and more than a little pretentious; and Jason’s always going to be a bit doofy and oblivious - that’s just who they are. They can grow and mature as people - and indeed, they all have taken steps towards doing so - but those traits are always going to be part of them. 

Chidi did make a huge bit of progress in Best Self when he realized that his best self didn’t have to be the most moral version but could be a reflection of the impact he had on those around him. Of course then he was thrown into a situation that threw a huge fork into the garbage disposal in his brain - he was going to have to lie, about every aspect of himself, possibly to a huge group of people (and as it turned out, face-to-face with a smaller group of people) who would be very good at sniffing out any hesitation or morality and could then punish him - and his friends! - for eternity because of it. The team’s plan in the last episode not only went against one of the core values he holds (he hates lying; it causes him physical pain most of the time. We’ve seen it many times, and a core value you’ve spent roughly 30-something years adhering to is not something easily turned away from, even in such an extreme situation like this) but was literally the riskiest thing they’ve ever done, which adds on a thousand times more stress and anxiety. And Chidi knows he’s the weak link here. The other humans are much more comfortable with lying and pretending to be horrible (Tahani to a lesser extent than Eleanor/Jason, but give her an opportunity to brag about her Bad! self and she’ll be ok) and he knows this. He knows that any mistake he makes because of his worrying or moral opposition could get them all sentenced to eternal torture, and that adds even more anxiety onto his shoulders and makes the whole thing a thousand times worse. And he’s the only one of the four who is directly confronted and has to prove that he “belongs” in the Bad Place. So if, while dealing with all this panic and stress and self doubt, he needs some advice and support from Eleanor, whom he is arguably closest to out of anyone, I’m certainly not going to fault him for that. (and then he goes out and totally sells it; convinces three literal demons that he’s one of them, so….can’t complain there).

And as for who’s consoling/comforting who in his relationship with Eleanor, the man has spent 802 reboots keeping her secret and trying to help her become her best self, doing so without expecting anything in return and often doing so to his great personal risk and - especially any time they were “soulmates” - detriment. I really don’t think Eleanor comforting him in return is that far out of the question.

[culturejunkies]

Titans: So much wasted potential

By Kenshiro

Naturally, i expect this opinion of mine to be met with some angry reacts because we live in a world where opposing opinions are not welcome, but I can’t contain my utter frustration over what could’ve been an incredible experience from beginning to end.  Of course, everyone’s mileage will very, and not everyone will have the same level of expectations, but DC’s Titans: Season Two ultimately fell short for me in all the predictable ways possible.

The season started off strong…and by start I do not mean the season opening episode.  That episode actually belongs in Season One, so i’ll leave it there.  I was very enthralled by the setup episode of Titans Season Two.  I felt like the story beats they were setting up were finally pushing us in a direction that would get us to the Titans we all know from the comic book runs of legendary writer/artist George Perez and superstar writer Geoff Johns.  Johns, who serves as Executive Producer on Titans, is one of my favorite comic writers of the last 20 years so I just knew his influence would lead us to some cool superhero action along with a tight narrative plot that would delve deeper into what makes the Titans a family.

Color me disappointed!  This is not at all what I was expecting.

When the 4th episode came around, an episode delving into the team’s past, I was starting to notice a slight pattern that irked me a little.  This season had a definite pacing problem that either arose from too many plot points to write for, too many characters needing attention or some combination in-between.  Episodes would end on these GREAT cliffhangers (many of which oddly, had to do with Robin/Jason Todd needing to be rescued) and then the momentum would suddenly be stunted by them shifting focus to a flashback episode or focusing on a new/different character.  It was jarring!  Granted, binging the episodes back-to-back may help stifle some of that feeling, but Titans is a weekly streamed show, so it really hit every time it happened.

One of the only times we saw this in season and it was a damn flashback!

Can you call yourselves crime-fighters…if you never fight any crime?

This is probably the most irksome detail I noticed about this season.  I was willing to give them a pass last season due to it being a rookie show trying to find its legs, but midway through this season I’d reached my breaking point!  Titans exist in a world where it is fully established that the Titans are publicly recognized crime fighting vigilante teams. People know who they are, and supposedly what they are known for, which is fighting bad guys and saving the day.  THIS SHOW HAS NONE OF THAT.

I can count 6 instances where the team gets together and fights crime or the bad guy. Starfire and Wonder Girl vs. Shimmer, Dove fighting the dudes in a garage meth lab, the old heads facing Dr. Light for the first time, another time against Dr. Light to take him down, the old Titans team defeating carjackers, and then one more time when Dick and Starfire teamed up to rescue Jason from Deathstroke.  All of those instances happen within the first 4 proper episodes of the season.  Perhaps I am expecting too much, but the season set up the young Titans in Titans Tower with Dick training them for “The Life”, but they never see any action in the field at all.  Much of the crime-fighting takes place out of costume and/or in a flashback scene.  This show is about a superhero crime-fighting team…why not show it?  Probably because they’re too busy with my next gripe.

These People Are NOT Likeable. Like Not At ALL.

Run down the list of every character on the show, with the exception of probably Jericho, Starfire and Superboy since he’s mostly a blank slate, and you can find an almost irritating quality amongst all of them.  Hank is an irredeemable asshole. Dick is a utterly complete idiot who seemingly learned ZERO from being with Batman for years, Donna is kind of a icy bitch, before and AFTER she slept with Aqualad, Dawn is a nice girl who puts up with the biggest asshole for some unknown reason and definitely deserves better.  Tiger Boy…well he’s given nothing to do except maul people and be mostly annoying otherwise.  Raven, who admittedly grew on me a little bit early on, has gone full-on brat mode as the season went on.  It all starts up top though, and that’s Dick Grayson.

The prison subplot was a very out-of-character way to spark a Nightwing origin, and made even less sense on its surface.

  He does some incredibly head-scratching, mind-numbingly dumb things over the course of this season and in the revelations of his past that make him pretty hard to cheer for.  His characterization wavers from mopey erstwhile leader of a part-time special individuals babysitters club to a dude who makes some questionable decisions in the idiotic attempt to serve penance for past transgressions.  They spend so much time bitching about things that never should’ve come about had they practiced even a smidgen of common sense that it takes you out of the enjoyment of the show.  Its Season Two and it still feels like they are trying to find their legs in exactly what this show wants to be.  That’s not a great sign in my book. Similar shows like Daredevil, Watchmen, The Punisher or even sister-show Doom Patrol don’t require this long to get to the heart of what it wants to be!  Either get a new show runner or hire some much better writers!

It’s Not All Bad.  I expected so much better though!

Esai Morales has been so unbelievably excellent as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke this season.  I wasn’t too sure what to expect when he was cast, but dude has knocked it way out of the park in this season.  All the story parts involving him, were great and I had hoped the show would focus on him as the focal point, but they couldn’t help but squeeze in the god-awful Cadmus Labs story line, something that honestly could’ve waited until next season.  The subplot of Starfire’s destiny as crown Princess of Tameran was also intriguing. She was one of the best parts of Season One and Anna Diop, with better costuming in tow, killed it this season too.  I’m very much looking forward to her plot line developing with Blackfire next season.  Jason Todd really grew on me this season.  The subplot of the budding romance of he and Rose Wilson was definitely a high-point…much more believable than any of the forced attempts for Raven and Gar.  Don’t know what’ll shake out for next season, but watch it for that if you haven’t yet.

So while Titans started off pretty promising for me, ahead of the season finale tomorrow on DC Universe, ultimately I’m left feeling disappointed by the heights that were teased in earlier episodes.  I’m hoping that Season Three proves to be the one we’ve always hoped the show would be, but right now, its not hitting the mark in fulfilling its lofty potential.

[briangroth27]

Aquaman Review

I went into Aquaman with no expectations—I've never been a fan of the character and don't know much more about him or his world beyond the basics—but I had an enjoyable time watching it! I wouldn't say I've been converted to an Aqua-fan, but this is a fun adventure film with excellent world-building.

That world-building is the best part of Aquaman and they do it much better than any other DCEU film has so far. Wonder Woman is definitely my favorite of this run of films, but I still think it was a mistake to kill off her entire pantheon; keeping them alive would've given Diana's world so much more personality, flavor, and story potential. However, Aquaman explores several different realms and offshoots of the people who came from Atlantis, giving us a wide variety of settings to visit. The scope of this movie is vast, to put it lightly. I also loved how far they pushed the boundaries of realism here: instead of trying to ground Aquaman like Justice League did—where Atlantis was one muddy, submerged ruin—this movie had everything from glistening neon underwater cities to secret hollow Earths to giant undersea monsters (voiced by Julie Andrews!) and more! I hope this proves to Hollywood that you don't have to maintain even a Marvel Studios-level of realism to be successful and that diving into the deep end is perfectly acceptable to general audiences. I also absolutely loved the colors on display here instead of the washed-out look of the Batman and Superman efforts.

My favorite character was Mera (Amber Heard). She was a great blend of cool warrior, experienced stateswoman (though we didn’t see her in the political arena, she clearly had a good grasp of what was going on politically), and Wonder Woman-esque naïveté when she got to the land. Her hydrokinesis was great and a much cooler power than anything Arthur (Jason Momoa) was doing. I feel like she would be the better ruler for Atlantis too, as her hatred of the land isn't any different from Arthur's of Atlantis, so that can’t be used as a point against her. She also knows the ins and outs of the seas and the people therein and truly cares about their well-being; concerns Arthur absolutely does not share. Any concern about her not knowing the land world is essentially moot, since bridging the two worlds isn’t really crucial at all except as the correct alternate course of action to Orm's specific battle plan. The outside world still largely considers Atlantis a myth by the end of the film, and even if they didn't a ruler's first priority should be understanding their kingdom. The assumption that it was always going to be Arthur who was worthy to lead also creates a comparable humility in Mera which should’ve allowed her to be worthy in the Karathen’s judgment too, given how she decided Arthur was.

This was the best appearance of Arthur in the movies so far, but I still don't like him much. I’m glad he's not another Special Chosen White Guy, but I’m not a fan of his bro-ish personality (Batman The Brave and the Bold’s “Outrageous!” Arthur is still my favorite version); more often than not I was agreeing with Mera’s annoyed reactions to him (eating the roses after she mistakenly did was sweet though, I’ll give him that). There’s a disconnect between this movie’s flashback scenes of Arthur being trained since he was a kid and his appearance in Justice League, where he was afraid to use that (apparently extensive) training to do anything, lest it get him killed. At the very least, I would’ve liked his fear of dying in JL to connect to what he knew about his mom’s fate. Arthur's need to reconcile his aquatic side and find a place where he truly belonged was fine, but would've been stronger if he either were more of an outcast on land (instead, he's beloved by those who believe he exists) or if he actually had any interest in taking part in the Atlantean world (since he doesn’t, he isn't losing anything by being an exile...he's still mostly free to roam the seas and do his thing). Because he hates the Atlanteans and doesn't want to be king, his arc feels underdeveloped; there's no sense of accomplishment, release, or elation when Arthur "earns" his destiny IMO, because he doesn’t want it. I understand the argument that he would be the best-suited to be a bridge between worlds intellectually but I don't feel it for a second. He ends up still being essentially who he always was after getting the trident (like I’ve seen pointed out on Twitter), except he hates Atlantis less (and, minus his flirtation with Mera, even that only came with the reveal that his mom was alive). Learning to love/appreciate Atlantis wasn't even part of his journey. I wish the quest for the trident brought Arthur through the kingdoms of the sea to accomplish just that. In the same way Mera learns to appreciate the land, Arthur learning about the people he was supposed to be ruling should’ve been important. He's deemed worthy because he doesn't want to rule, but he also has no idea how life undersea works in the kingdoms, who his people would be, or any idea how to be a leader. Also, King shouldn't be a "learn on the job" kind of gig. Humility isn’t enough, especially since fulfilling this prophecy also means that seven vastly different kingdoms will now be united and will definitely need finessing to help them get along. In short, he’ll probably be a terrible king. This could be an interesting sequel arc if it turns out he's legitimately a poor king (or that he still doesn't want this burden), but here it felt like a foregone conclusion that he's the best choice without showing us much of why he should be king (like I saw others pointing out online). I also wish it felt like Arthur was more connected to the surface world to truly be the bridge he's supposed to be. He can argue the land's pros, but I feel like it's a huge stretch to say he's some big shot that anyone in the land governments would listen to (they don’t even trust Superman; why should Aquaman be different?).

I also wish we could've gotten something more out of Arthur's relationship with his parents. Yeah they're proud of him, but they don't seem to have passed much on to him (aside from helping those in need). I definitely don't need more heroes who treat their superheroism like a mission handed to them by their parents (I was happy that Arthur seemed to be doing good just because it was the right thing to do), but I would've liked to see his parents' personalities in Arthur more. That said, I liked both Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) and Tom Curry (Temuera Morrison). Atlanna was very cool and Tom’s dedication to her and concern for his son were sweet. I absolutely wish there’d been a way to avoid the almost-certain rape of Atlanna after she was taken back to Atlantis though: her king could've just been increasingly anti-land, so she leaves after giving birth to Orm (Patrick Wilson). It would’ve been a harder road for Arthur to travel if he weren’t born to be the next in the line of succession too. Sure you’d lose some of Orm’s paranoia about Arthur, but that’s not something I’d miss if it meant excising that wholly unnecessary offscreen assault.

Orm's "they're killing us with their pollution!" argument was valid and I liked that they literally threw a lot of trash back onto shores all over the world. However, he's so power-hungry that he immediately runs right past "understandable yet misguided" into "only uses his gripe as an excuse" territory. I don’t believe for a second that he actually cares about protecting the planet, only about using land-dwellers’ accidental and careless ‘aggression’ as an excuse to take power for himself. It would’ve been a lot more complex if Orm really were trying to save everyone but were simply unable to do it. I’d rather he have been drawn as a radical who isn’t listened to than a clearly power-mad wannabe king. If he has a more complicated and altruistic goal, it’s that much more difficult for Arthur to argue or fight him.

Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) was a solid secondary villain who fit right into the story, but I don't know that I need to see more of him. I liked that Manta had a legitimate gripe against Arthur and thought his quest for vengeance worked (though the gun he turns into his helmet seemed more powerful the original way, yeah? Cool display of his tech prowess though!). I’m just not sure where he goes from here, because he certainly doesn’t seem changed by being beaten by Arthur and I don’t see how further conflicts are going to be different than the (very cool) one we saw here. As I’ve seen pointed out on Twitter, Manta provokes a nice bit of change in Arthur when Curry accepts his responsibility in creating this enemy and later turns away from killing (or even just letting people die) altogether, which plays nicely against the violent Atlanteans (the biggest personal development Arthur reaches here). In that way, Manta is even more influential than the movie’s main villain. The parallel between Manta and his father (Michael Beach) and Arthur and Atlanna was a solid look at vengeance, but again the ability to move on and forgive is handed to Arthur without any effort on his part because Atlanna is still alive. It would’ve been a stronger contrast with Manta if Arthur were able to forgive Atlantis before he knew she hadn’t been killed. The lesson there also seems to be that vengeance and hate is inescapable unless the source of your pain turns out to not truly be lost to you, and that’s...quite the downer.

The direction and pacing were really well done! The effects were also excellent, with fully believable undersea sets and creatures. The underwater conversations could’ve looked really silly with everyone awkwardly floating around, but they didn’t. There were a few cheesy moments and some cliche dialogue, but nothing that broke the tone. It was great that they weren’t afraid to embrace classic Aquaman elements like the visual of his ‘sonar’-like telepathic power and Arthur riding a giant sea horse! I also loved the adventure vibe of the film, particularly the Indiana Jones-esque quest Arthur and Mera undertook.

All in all, Aquaman is definitely entertaining and fun, but it needed something more to be great. I think there’s an interesting setup for the next film here, but I wonder if they’ll take that avenue.

Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!