#COUPLE OF GREAT ACTORS IMO
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MY STRAWBERRY FILM (2024, JAPAN)
THE (NOT SO) GRAND FINALE
Episode 8
The question. Was this a JBL (JAPANESE BL)?
Though I can compare it to some BL'S like THE BEST STORY where the BL portion of the program did not meet a satisfactory conclusion. Or I CANNOT REACH YOU that involves 2 Best Friends one harboring a crush and the other oblivious but I CANNOT REACH YOU did reach a satisfactory conclusion.
Back To My STRAWBERRY FILM this was a coming of age or maybe a story of self discovery more than it was a BL.
Good one though with Minami mother being in love with a female classmate. A classmate that is a teacher now but does that make this GL..decidedly no.
This story was missing something...oh I know it was the story. This was barely cohesive storytelling leaving viewers (or just me) confused. Did Ryo (FUKADA RYUSEI) confess to Hikaru (YABANA REI) on the stairs or get rejected? I mean that's what I thought I saw but this series left me drained. The slow burn, the lack of storytelling and the less than satisfying end.
I can say 2 good things came from this for me.
YOSHIDA MIZUKI as Chika. She was beautiful and amazing and delivered the best performance out of all.
And 2 was FUKADA RYUSEI because he has an amazing amount of potential. Given a good script and director he could be a huge star in any genre but I'd definitely like to see him in a JAPANESE BL.
@pose4photoml @kingofthereblog-boysloveed @lutawolf
#MY STRAWBERRY FILM#THE FINALE#JAPANESE MINISERIES#NOT A BL...OR A GL#COUPLE OF GREAT ACTORS IMO#AT LEAST I FINISHED IT#CHIKA ROCKED THO#My GIFS#MYGIFSET#MY-GIF-EDIT#BL-BAM-BEYOND FAMILY OF BLOGS
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Shadows of Fear: Sugar and Spice (1.2, Thames, 1971)
"You might have known that children can't keep promises."
"Promises, what promises?"
"You shouldn't have told her if you didn't want me to know."
"Know what?"
"She said that you'd taken him to -"
"Where?"
#shadows of fear#sugar and spice#1971#horror tv#classic tv#thames#single play#patrick dromgoole#john kershaw#sheila hancock#ronald hines#suzanne togni#ivor salter#janet hannington#i think I'll add the horror tv tag onto these from now on; whilst that first ep (really more of a pilot‚ as mentioned in the tags on that#post) acted more as a kind of mildly creepy suspense piece‚ i feel like we're more comfortably in horror territory here. not supernatural#horror to be clear (i don't remember the series ever going there) but certainly within that realm of 'intended to be unsettling' that most#tv attempts at horror from the era fall into. this is certainly a much darker piece‚ imo‚ than the first one: Sheila Hancock's young son is#missing and her daughter acting very strangely‚ claiming their father took him... something he denies. it's (like all of these episodes) a#cheap production: a couple of sets‚ a very small cast. but the cast here is a winner‚ with the late great Hines wringing real complex#responses from him variously pitiable and loathsome drunken father‚ and Hancock switching between bristling indignation and barely#controlled hysteria. the standout tho is young Togni‚ who gives a quite frankly brilliant performance as the troubled daughter who may or#may not be playing games. she was actually nearly 20 despite playing what is clearly intended to be a 13 or 14 yr old#and appears to have given up acting very soon after this play aired; a great pity because her disturbing‚ mercurial presence here hints at#an actor of real depth and skill. it all ends quite nastily so be warned‚ this isn't a light bit of afternoon telly‚ it's truly dark
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The other day in a conversation about I'll Turn Back This Time, @troubled-mind asked me about my favorite dramas that show the same couple falling in love multiple times, in different iterations.
So of course, I am now here with a list! Takes on the fantasy trope that ITBTT uses--an alternate universe and/or time travel mechanism that sets up the protagonist to fall in love with the same person, or different versions of the same person, more than once--is actually not super common in dramas, but there are a handful of shows that do something like this:
Triage
If you ask me what is the best QL with this trope, I don't even need to think about it: Triage is the answer. I love this show, and alongside its masterful suspense plot you get to watch these two try (and fail) to get the other to fall for them over and over again. It's a great time.
Someday or One Day
If you ask me what is the best drama with this trope, period, I have to hand it to Someday or One Day, a Taiwanese drama that is probably my favorite time travel alternate universe romance of all time. In this one you get multiple versions of the same characters falling in love with each other and traversing time and space to find each other. It's so good that a Korean production attempted to replicate its magic. An absolute must watch for people who love this trope!
Every You Every Me
Now we're getting into some with asterisks. In this show you get to watch the same two actors play multiple different pairs who fall in love with each other in different universes--kind of. I can't say more or I will spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet! It's not a perfect show by any means, but it's a lot of fun.
4 Minutes
This show is not a great example of this trope IMO, but it sort of gets at the experience, as you see a few different versions of the lead characters and their relationship through various narrative turns. I'm keeping it vague because saying much more would be spoilerific!
The Legend of the Blue Sea
A mermaid meets a conman, has a whirlwind romance, and then deletes his memory. But oops! They were already lovers in a previous life, her mermaid powers are not working quite as planned, and she can't stop herself from finding him again anyway. It's all a bit more complicated than that, but the point is you get to watch these two find each other and fall in love several times in multiple lifetimes. And damn did I love it every time.
Until We Meet Again
In this drama, the story is about two souls who meet again in another life after a tragic end in their first. So it kinda fits here, but their reincarnated souls go into new characters played by different actors, so the experience of watching it is a bit different. This one is less about time travel and choice as it is heavy on the red string of fate.
Extraordinary You
In this fantasy drama, our mains are side characters in a manwha who gain sentience and start trying to change their story together while an omnipotent writer keeps shuffling them back to where they think they belong and deleting their memories of each other. It's definitely a unique twist on this trope, and you get to watch them fight to remember and fall for each other and find a way to take control of their destiny over and over again.
In addition to narratives with a fantasy construct that resets or produces multiple iterations of the core relationship, I also thought about second chance romances where you get to see both the original and the second chance love story in full, giving you the experience of watching the same two people fall in love twice. Some noteworthy dramas in this category:
Lighter and Princess
This drama centers on two tech genius types who originally fell in love in college and started a company together before something went very wrong, resulting in his incarceration. The story picks up when he gets out of prison and sets out to reclaim his legacy, and you get to live both their first and second love stories in detail. One of my absolute favorites and permanently in the rewatch rotation.
We Best Love
This story is told in two parts, with the first focused on their original enemies to lovers romance in college, and the second their reunion after a confusing and closure-less break up. It's honestly kind of a mess but I love it so much anyway, in no small part due to the actors.
The End of the World With You
And now for something a little darker! This one is heavy on the toxic psychosexual vibe, and all the more fascinating for it. Two former lovers meet again at the end of the world, and we see what went wrong for them in college and watch them sort through the wreckage as adults and try to make something of the time they have left.
First Love: Hatsukoi
Two high school sweethearts get separated by life circumstances, and meet again twenty years later to realize they are still not over it. I was charmed by the teen love story in this one especially.
Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo
Let me end on a note of excellence and take this opportunity to again implore everyone to watch this beautiful show. Both iterations of this relationship are compelling and complicated and full of deep feeling; it's one of the most satisfying second chance romances I have seen, and after everything they've been through, it's so rewarding to see these two get the chance to fall in love again.
#i will turn back this time#triage#someday or one day#let free the curse of taekwondo#every you every me#4 minutes#the legend of the blue sea#until we meet again#extraordinary you#lighter and princess#we best love#the end of the world with you#first love: hatsukoi#shan recommends#drama recs
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a few more tidbits this morning!
first, new synopsis:
nothing surprising here, but that it again confirms moiraine-egwene interactions which imo reaffirms egwene actually physically reaching the waste at some point
next, prime's official list of major s3 cast:
shohreh confirmed! but we already knew that. and her being listed here among the Major Secondary Characters makes me think elaida will have a good-sized role in s3, not that that's a surprise.
could sophie being listed right after liandrin and lanfear on the list of secondaries be an indication of the size of siuan's role in the season? of course, it could also simply be that she's a big star and thus gets higher billing, so might not be worth reading into.
finally, alanna and maksim are listed among the major cast, but ihvon is not. could this mean ihvon is the warder who dies in the opening sequence? not a great look colorism-wise, especially since it is ihvon who survives and the other warder who dies in the books, but on the other hand, they had to recast ihvon for s3 (wotseries had been speculating that for a while and in the brief glimpse we saw of him in the trailer i think it does look like a different actor), so it could be that they were planning to kill maksim (i feel like his convo with alanna in s2 where he admits he's afraid of what's to come could have been setup for his death), but then ihvon's actor couldn't return for s3 so they had to recast him and thus changed plans to kill ihvon instead in order to keep the guy the audience is more familiar with.
finally, screenrant description of the portion of the opening scene that was shown at the con:
my big question here is, what the hell are rand and moiraine doing in tar valon??? after what went down in 2x07? they are the tower's most wanted criminals at this point! i have a couple vague theories off the top of my head.
i will also add in this trailer screenshot:
this appears to be tar valon (architectural style match, and greenery growing on the buildings). there IS an off-chance that this is actually a different city, perhaps caemlyn which is also ogier-built and might look similar, and that the cut described above is misleading and it's actually heading over to catch up with moiraine and rand in a different city. but it feels more likely that this shot of moiraine is her in tar valon (i also remember a report of a rain machine being used on the tar valon set), although whether it's the same as the shot described above or is from a totally different scene, who knows.
also interesting to note that i THINK she's wearing her falme outfit here - that white shirt underneath looks the same:
so that supports the idea that this shot of her in the rain is from the opening sequence. my theory would thus be that she took the gang through the falme waygate to the tar valon hilltop waygate pretty promptly after the battle, without even time to change clothes.
but why would she do that? a couple theories:
after getting the wondergirls' intel, she says "fuck it if it's a huge risk, i HAVE to go back to tar valon asap to warn siuan about liandrin, this info can't wait and is too sensitive to risk giving to someone else to deliver" (this feels absolutely logical, but idk why she would risk bringing rand into the city with her, unless he stubbornly insisted on coming for whatever reason)
moiraine and rand are planning to sneakily break into the city unnoticed by the tower in order to get their hands on some prophecy books. hmmm, maybe rand remembers finding the karaetheon cycle at that inn and wants to go back for it? (window architectural analysis weigh-in: the windows in the s1 inn do not match the window where rand's having his possible bubble of evil moment in the trailer)
now that rand is officially declared dragon, moiraine's plan for the next move is to make another attempt to get siuan on their side, so she takes him to tar valon in hopes of brokering a more positive meeting. feels insanely risky, but hey, moiraine might be enough at her wits' end to give it a go since idk if she's ever had any plan besides "find the dragon and make sure the tower supports him"
moiraine and siuan's big fight was indeed all for show and they're still in cahoots (i never really bought this theory because i don't see why siuan would've continued putting on a front even at the waygate when the only witnesses are moiraine, lan, and rand, but i suppose you never know)
now, if *tar valon* is the Full Gang Starting Location, then that at least means the girls and mat are where they need to be straightaway. but it doesn't explain WHY they go to the white tower instead of accompanying their crew to the waste/two rivers; mat's traumatized by the white tower, and nynaeve and egwene both seem very set up to feel that the tower has failed at teaching them and offers them nothing of value anymore. why go back? maybe moiraine wants them to keep an eye on things in the tower? maybe moiraine and siuan manage to meet and reconcile in ep1 and siuan takes the girls back with her? maybe siuan or some other aes sedai or elayne's brothers happen to run into the girls (with mat) on the street and forcibly escort them back to the tower? much to wonder about!
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Hello lovely fandom and happy Wednesday. We are cruising along with 6x09. Can't believe we're already on the second to last ep. Not a ton of Chenford or Tim in this one but what we do get is GOOOD. It's an all around good episode though. Let us begin.
6x09 The Squeeze
Recap of 6x06-6x08 got me all in my feels before this one even starts. Poor Tim killing me right off that bat. Always be floored by Eric and his ability to convey so much with a look. How it just makes me wanna hug his hurt away. No wonder Lucy always pulls him in for hugs. How could she not? I’m sure he hasn’t even begun to process how he feels. It’s a lot what just happened to him. It all unfolded in the blink of an eye.
Someone who he used to work closely with killing himself in front of him. Doing so because he’s a dirty cop. Not only that but taking all his secrets with him. Only thing Tim got out of it was Dr. London being dirty too. Grey shows up to the scene and startles Tim out of his thoughts. He debriefs Wade letting him know Mad Dog confessed to being dirty. That he believes Blair to be apart of it as well. Now we all know he didn’t mention her by name.
BUT it was pretty damn implied. With the awkward interactions in the hospital and the rooftop scene. Wade asks if he used her name specifically? Tim tells him no….But it was clear she was who M.D. was speaking of. Grey reminding him to be careful of accusing without any evidence. As amazing as his cop gut is that’s not evidence unfortunately. Loving the hat on Wade btw. Very fitting.
It’s not too long before the accusatory Detective Pearson shows up. Not loving him from the jump. Couldn't stand him for couple reasons. One because douche bag just comes off him in waves. Two the way he comes at Tim makes me wanna knock him on his ass. This guy coming in way too hot for my liking. Far too eager to pin this on Tim.
Makes my protective Sicilian side emerge and she’s not happy. I do love Grey being quick to Tim’s defense. No one better to have his back in this moment. Lucy would be great of course. But Wade is the superior in this moment so his 'back off ' holds more water. Gotta love this man. Always protects his people.
Wade can tell Pearson wants to have a slam dunk case against Tim. It’ll further his career to get such a high-ranking officer tangled in a dirty mess. It's why Grey tells him as such. Ugh. What a schmuck. Kudos to the actor though. I instantly dislike him so well done sir LOL The way Tim watches the body get wheeled away breaks my heart. Damnit Eric you’re too good at your job. Expressing so much in that look I just want to hug him. But that’s Lucy’s job later…
We join Celina officially moving in. This will be an interesting dynamic for s7. Especially after they get back together. I’ll be intrigued how that is all handled... But I’m getting way too ahead of myself. It's hard not to when we don’t know anything. It’s easy to daydream and speculate about the unknown. Anyways John is there and sadly not as a friend but to check in on Celina. She says he’s just making sure she’s not late for her shift.
Nolan commenting would reflect poorly on him and his performance review is coming up. Not selfish at all John….His review should be ‘Needs work.’ But we all know how I feel about him as a teacher. He asks Lucy how she is? I don’t think he expects the epic rant he receives. I mean she has healed some but not nearly enough. Her words sounding like she’s trying to convince herself. Makes me sad. Doing her best to flip all this upheaval into a good thing.
Our girl feels really lost in her life right now. All the turmoil that I don’t know she’s really dealt with. I think part of her having Celina move in is she doesn’t have to deal with it as much. To not have to be alone and sit in her feelings. Because I am the the same way. If left alone too long with my thoughts they eat at me. This scene just being more proof she hasn’t dealt with much of it at all IMO. I know the prevailing theory of the season for Lucy was she was alone. Isolated. I mentioned this in my mini too.
I think a lot of the isolating is self inflicted. Her and Tim are very alike in how they handle emotional distress. At an arms length and solo. Other than Jackson, Tim is the only one she’s really allowed close to her. Tamara yes but that's always been more maternal and not like what she has with Tim. And even him she doesn’t tell everything to and vice versa. It’s very in character for her to do this. I know people thinks because she’s bubbly, optimistic and outgoing this isn’t the case. But it is. Just like how people who are depressed don’t come off that way. When there a signs of it despite their ‘happy or sunny’ demeanor.
She was isolating herself before the breakup even occurred. Rewatching this season she was doing so from the very jump of s6. Their fight in 6x01 being proof of that isolation. She felt herself overloading and shoved him away with her accusation. That was just the start. 6x04 and her rash decisions with Jeff Budny is a huge one as well. She didn’t include the one person she should’ve in that ep. It's how we ended up in that hospital room with her. I’ve said this many times before. But her and Tim are quite alike in how they handle their emotions.
Tim’s is showcased more especially this season. It's easier to detect. If you're really looking you can see her's. Lucy’s were screaming through out this entire season as well. She is a control freak just like Tim in the way she shuts people out. Even her person couldn’t get in and vice versa. They have the same fatal flaw. It’s why their lack of communication became their downfall. Our girl has as much growing to do as Tim does. I’m hoping all this is a setup for s7 for her. To me her explosion here is an example of her not dealing fully with what happened still. Shall see how s7 is handled for her. I'm hopeful.
Their convo is interrupted by Angela calling Lucy. First off I love her looking out for Lucy. Just like she does with Tim. There was a great parallel set for this and 2x12. Angela providing comfort to them both when the other is in distress. Our on-screen cheerleader for them both and I love it sfm. Even knowing what a weird place they’re in, she knew Lucy would wanna know from her than anyone else. We love you Angela Lopez. You’re a real one.
She also knows Lucy well to tell her right off the bat he’s ok. You know her heart stopped when she began that sentence. We watch Lucy instantly go into wifey mode. Both in her body language and tone of voice as Angela explains. How she turns her back to the others when it’s about her person. Needing a moment to herself as she absorbs this information.
Melissa crushing it in this scene with everything she does. From closing her eyes taking in the severity of this situation. To the concerned wifey tone she switched to quickly. We all know she has a million and one thoughts rushing through her brain right now. Mainly was he ok? Does he need her? The worry for him settling into her soul and growing rapidly by time the call ends. Once Angela hangs up she finally turns around and updates them. Concern flooding her tone.
The wifey vibes continue when John gets a call shortly after. Tim has called him to be his union rep. (Only reason he would ever call Nolan in a personal matter...) We watch as anxiety all but pours out of Lucy. Worried wifey mode has activated and it’s not going away. Despite everything they’ve been through. Everything he’s done. Her number one instinct is worry and concern for him. It's deeply rooted. It's who she is.
She loves him so much still. That is written all over this scene and her reaction. That instinct to be there for him coursing through her like a powerful current. I love her stopping Nolan before he goes. The worry seeping out of her tone. Asking how he sounded? Nolan just replying ‘Tight.’ Which is apropos for Tim in situations such as this tbh. The reason she asked this was that she could gather everything she needed to know about his state of mind from that information alone.
When she hears Nolan’s reply her worry increases tenfold. Melissa is killing me in the best way in this scene. Props to her and Eric once again for this season. I can't praise them enough honestly. It hurt so much but hot damn if they weren’t giving their A game and more every single episode. Holy hell. Not that they don’t always. Just with such limited episodes they did really good with the material. Writing was superb for them. They rose to the occasion and then some.
Tim is so anxious waiting for Nolan it’s making me anxious. He is wound so damn tight right now. Not that I blame him but we can feel the anxiety just seeping out of him. The tapping of his feet, hands, and whole body is tense before Nolan arrives. He pops right up the minute John enters the room. He doesn’t look at all prepared for what Tim is about to thrown down at him.
Nolan tries to ask him questions but Tim doesn’t have time for it. Immediately let's him know what’s going on. That they’re going to want to hang this on someone. Now that Mad Dog is dead their scape goat is gone. All that is left is Tim. He’s STRESSED they’re going to hang this around his neck. That he needs Nolan to take over the investigation. I said this in my mini and I'll say it now.
My first thought was I don’t trust Nolan with this….That I wouldn’t have chosen him to spearhead this whole thing. But Tim doesn’t have a ton of options atm. So he’s gotta go with what he’s got. And that happens to be John Nolan right now. He asks Tim who to investigate? Tim tells him to look into Blair London the rookie police department shrink.
That he’s been seeing her and so has Aaron. That he thinks she had leverage on M.D. and that’s why he jumped. I wanna pause here and say how proud I am of Tim in this moment. Look at him reaching out for help this time. Not trying to quarterback this alone. Handling this completely differently than how he handled Ray. Not isolating himself and trying to figure this out solo. He’s going through the proper channels this time. Not wanting to do a OP and segregate himself from everyone.
To say it sucks Dr. London is dirty is an understatement. Because my greatest fear would be what she does in this episode. BUT I am forever grateful to her in the same vein. Because despite her being dirty she truly helped Tim in short time he had her. Look at the growth in this moment right now. I’ve said this many times already but I truly hope we continue his therapy journey. The results are astounding and I need more of this growth. It’s just like Chenford ship crack to me. Tim growth is my other drug of choice haha Give it to me writers LOL
We see Pearson is under Dr. London thumb. (Monica’s really) It leads up to this next scene that makes my blood boil. I hated watching this scene the first time and I didn’t love it any better second time around. It makes me sick to my stomach to watch unfold. How Pearson comes after Tim like a dog with a bone. The way he uses Dr. London to solidly his reasoning makes me all kinds of angry. I'm seeing red.
I HATE them using his sessions and twisting them for their own gain. It was like I said earlier this was my biggest fear of her being dirty. This right here. Gotta commend Danielle Campbell though. She does a really good job in this scene. Even though this was her idea you can see the conflict raging in her. Because she is the one who convinced Tim to go to therapy. For pure reasons actually. To help him out. Which she did. We know that’s why she’s under Monica thumb.
She used her need to help people against her. That she is only doing this because she is being coerced. Doesn’t excuse a damn thing, but explains her hesitation and almost tortured look in this scene. Especially when Pearson comes at Grey. Accusing him of favoritism. Saying he cares more about that than this city. You can see the restraint on Wade's face not to knock this punk out. How very dare you come at him and Tim like this. Makes me wanna rage so much.
This scene right here is why love Angela Lopez so much. That fiery passion she has for those she loves. How she is unwaveringly loyal to those she holds dear. Tim being that person in this moment. Not gonna lie that’s why I love this moment so much. Calling her husband. Love her of her life to chew him out to defend her brother. Her first instinct just like Lucy is to protect him.
To make sure if he’s charging Tim that she better know first. Hot damn Angela. Tell us how you really feel. haha This man is so lucky to have this fire ball in his corner phew lord. Telling Wes she stands by Tim a thousand percent. That he’s family. Ugh my heart. Gonna make me cry. I love their friendship so much. Give me more of them in s7. Their dynamic is fantastic and I need far more of it in my life.
We arrive at the best part of the episode. After nearly fifteen minutes filled with tension…We need this hug as much as these two do. My god. I adore her being so attuned to him. Lucy sees him and knows she needs to go to him. She can see how tense he looks. The clench in his jaw very evident. Her look damn near mirroring the worried look she had in 5x19. That same longing look to reach out to him surging through her. Worried Lucy is a fav of mine and we got to have that a lot in this episode.
This time she doesn't stop herself and we all love her for it. She worries about him, regardless of the state of their relationship. It’s what drives her to go after him before his elevator closes. That magnetic pull she can’t explain nor describe. All Lucy knows is she needs to be near him and comfort him. That even from afar she can tell he needs her. As I said earlier Lucy is so attuned to Tim and what he needs. It’s a beautiful thing to witness.
To say Tim is shocked when she keeps the elevator from closing is an understatement. Not only that but stopping it so they aren’t interrupted. Wanting to ensure they have a moment alone. Even when she says to be clear she’s still mad. That this doesn’t change anything. He’s still clueless as to what is going on here. You can see it all over his face above. He has zero idea why she is in here right now.
Because in his mind there is no way she’s thinking about him. Let alone wanting to be there for him in this moment. Which breaks my heart. The last thing he ever expected was for her to care for him. Or about him in any way shape or form. Also the 4x09 vibes coming off this hug had me losing my friggin mind. This hug is everything. It showcases their bond, the intimacy that still exists between them, the vulnerability has me reeling and how they are each other’s safe place still. *happy sigh*
The way she pulls him in reminiscent of the 4x09 hug. Tim standing there not expecting this moment of comfort and getting it. It’s the way she draws him into to hide in her arms. Just like she did in ‘Breakdown.’ I’m fine….Only difference in this hug from that one is the way he just melts into her arms. The face smoosh into her shoulder. Once again mirroring that infamous hug. We watch all that anxiety and stress just drain out of him. The tension he was carrying into the elevator leaving his body once he's in his happy place. Closing his eyes and surrendering to the comfort she brings him.
He immediately wraps his entire body around her. Melding into her. Easily falling into this hug and her arms. Like two puzzle pieces that are meant to be together. Fitting back together so effortlessly after time apart. Encasing her back in his hands and snuggling in for good measure. Clinging to her like she is his emotional life raft. Because. Well she is. Holding her as close as he physically can. Cherishing this moment. Because I’m sure he never thought he would experience this again. Holding her in his arms like this. Feel her comfort and love.
These two make me insane in the best way. Also let me once again point out Tim's growth. He didn’t even try to fight her like he’s done in the past. He sees this for the gift that it is and absorbs this moment. Savoring it really. The peace you can see on his face floors me. Eric at it again. You can tell this is first time in long time he’s felt whole. This hug is beautiful on some many levels. You can feel the raw emotion coming out of them both.
The concern that’s been building up in Lucy since this morning coming out in waves. She is tucked in TIGHT to him. Clinging to him as much as he is clinging to her. I'm not ok. You can hear the immense worry in her voice as she asks him if he’s ok? Despite everything she felt the draw to be there for him. The way she looks like she can finally breathe as she asks him that question is EVERYTHING.
We get some good hands hands hands in this hug. I can’t stop staring at her thumbs in that gif either. The soothing way she is running her thumbs up and down on his back and arm. Methodical in her soothing of him. Gah I cannot you guys. Her remarkable empathy shines through in this moment. This was a balm my soul needed so much. That all of us needed. We all know how much our boy longed for this.
Can't get over her face pressed so tightly into his neck. Doing this, as she asks him what she’s been dying to since she received that phone call. Like she couldn’t breathe until she knew the answer to this question. Look at the concern on her face when she does. I’m reeling and sobbing. Lucy looks on the verge of tears herself. Their hearts are just starting to mend in this glorious hug. You can feel it. Ours too.
No one does hugs like our ship does. They’re always top tier goodness. Holy hell. They’re just breathing each other in. Calming one another down. The anxiety that was raging in both of them cooling down to a simmer in this embrace. He has melted into her like butter at this point. Reveling in the comfort and empathy she's providing him. The way he says ‘I am now.’ Reminiscent of 5x21 and their phone call in the alley. How he wasn’t ok till he heard her voice.
Song remains the same in this moment. He wasn’t ok until now. Until she had her arms wrapped around him for this hug. Didn’t know he was holding his breath till she released it for him. It’s how he sways with her and sinks even further into her arms. Smooshing his face even farther into her shoulder. It’s so sincere his reply back that I am just a puddle of emotion. He’s so vulnerable in this moment with her.
Letting her know he wasn't ok until she was there. Imma scream at how much I love this growth in him. If there was any more doubt in Lucy’s mind of his feelings for her, this hug and his reaction to it should clear that right up. That is a man who is still so in love with her. Letting her know he wasn’t alright until she came and found him. I’m not crying you are…. Find you a person who knows what you need when you need it. Even when you’re not in the best place. That’s Lucy Chen for this man. Reigniting him falling in love with her all over again in this moment.
Lucy picking up on this growth reflects in her reaction back. Gah it’s the way she tightens her arms around him after she hears this. Closes her eyes and tries to bring him even closer. Trying to wrap him up in her arms even tighter. Absorb any stress he is carrying right now. The sheer relief written all her face. The way she shuts her eyes knowing he’s ok because she is there. *sobs*
Just melting into this man as she holds him as close as she can. Clinging to him as much as he is to her. I’m not ok in the best way. I remember thinking this hug would feed my soul into the hiatus. Just gonna scream into a pillow how much I love this moment. Their chemistry is insane and with a hug? Even more so my god. We are blessed to have a ship where our hugs are this amazing.
I love this faraway shot of their hug. They are in-sync as they part. How do they do that? We can see how deeply entangled they are. Nary an inch between them. You can see how they were just clinging onto each other for dear life. Look at Tim’s arms/hands. How gentle and intimate his are placed.
Having her as close as he can. It’s the hand gently wrapped around her lower back that has me losing it. It’s just so intimate I can’t get over it. Lucy is retuning the favor in kind. She too is just as intertwined as he is in this moment. Arms clinging to him and her face buried in his neck. Their chemistry on massive display here.
You’d think the hug alone would be enough to make me squee to death. Lucy follows it up with fixing his collar. I’m dead. The most wifey move of all moves. Reminded me of the lint picking from 5x12. Such an intimate coupley thing to do. I’m losing my damn mind over it. Wife energy coming off her in waves. Just seemed so automatic and natural when they part.
Also she touches her arm before reopening the door. She can’t keep her hands off him and I’m here for it. Tim looks like he’s going to cry in that elevator. I also love Tim putting his hands in his pockets right after. Because if he doesn’t he’ll never let her go. They’ll never get off this elevator. He could've stayed in that hug all day.
Basked in the comfort she had to give him. So he puts his hands immediately in his pockets after they part. Ugh my heart. They miss each other so much and this hug is screaming that. Also screaming how they didn’t miss a beat. How natural and wonderful it was. *happy sigh* This hug giving me true hope for the first time.
They re-open elevator to find Angela and Harper waiting for them. They look like they’ve been caught. Like they didn’t just have this deeply emotional embrace. The looks they share before Lucy leaves are LOADED. The expression on Angela’s face... She knows they interrupted something. I adore her saying she can get him extradited if he needs it. Love this woman so much. We know just like Lucy she is willing to do anything for this man.
Makes my heart so happy. All these women in his life want is to support and protect him. You can tell Angela wants to be tagged in so badly. Tim telling her won’t be necessary. He didn’t do anything wrong. That she had his back last time. He has different forces at play this time. Adore her saying 'Different isn’t me.’ Not it’s not ha Sadly last of Tim for this ep. *pouts*
Another telling scene for Lucy. Really really need s7 to clear these things up for her. Because despite being wonderfully empathetic human to Tim. She is still lost in life and not sure who she is. I NEED UC and some other things clarified for her next season. I really do. Just because she’s amazing at UC (and she is) doesn’t mean it’s her path. I do love this scene because it’s just Lucy being Lucy.
Having EIGHT covers ready to go. Our little nerd in action here. I adore it so much. It’s the most Lucy Chen thing she could do. Telling them it takes twelve off duty hours to grow. I love her so much. It’s not a mystery why Tim is so damn gone for her. Their faces as she explains cracks me up. Tim wouldn’t be shocked in the least. Hell I’m sure he was there while she was growing some of them.
The detective line is just another stab at our hearts though. Hoping for clarification and goodness for her career in s7. Manifesting it. As much as I need their reconciliation.(and I need it bad) I need her path resolved just as much tbh. For her to find her purpose and grow. Because once her and Tim do this. That reconciliation is gonna be even sweeter because of it.
I will say I was impressed with Nolan. Enjoy this it won’t last ha He handled investigating Blair really well. Rattling the cages of the potential dirty cops she was seeing just by showing up to her office. I forgot seasons 1-2 Nolan was a good cop. He just got really annoying after s3. LOL Also roping Smitty in was hilarious. He was already there for the food so might as well use him.
It’s the first time in what feels like a long time I enjoyed John. He enlists Nell too to help him with data from dispatch. Maybe it’s Bailey that makes him extra irritating to me. Lmao Sorry Jenna....lol Anyways quite the miracle Nolan pulled off in this ep getting me to like him. Not only that but commend him on the job he’s doing. Helping out Tim in a major way and I can’t deny that.
Nolan’s plan works out like gang busters. He went to her office to rattle a dirty cop into revealing himself. Pearson does it perfectly. Losing his mind about finding out they were in Mad Dog's apt. Like I said earlier I commend John on his work in this. Had Tim’s back and then some with his investigation. If they wrote him like this more wouldn’t dog on him so much lol
The other part that is so great is Grey. He is a papa bear ready to devour anyone messing with his work kids. This part was so cathartic to watch after earlier. Watching him dismantle Pearson like the schmuck he is. Was sick of him stomping around the station. Acting like he can just be top dog when he's really on a leash.
Rubbed me the wrong way being disrespectful to Tim and threatening Wade. Watching him attack Nolan/Celina is Grey's final straw. Puts that turd in his place. We watch him visibly shrink as Grey tears him a new asshole LOL All but telling him to stay in his own lane. Get em’ Wade! Nolan putting together the connection of Pearson and Blair due to this. Was fun to watch them piece this together.
Scenes like this give me agita like no other. My heart was beating in my chest for her. Lucy did a really good job despite the toy. Unfortunately it’s one of those loud musical ones. That not only gives away her position. But possibly her cover in the process. He find it’s on the floor. Looking menacing af. This man gives me the creeps on so many levels. I hated this mission for her on so many levels.
Unfortunately they’ll need her going back into the house. Now that Monica is in play it’s crucial she is there. Especially with Batista investigating who tried to kill her. Lucy is worried they’re going to blow her cover faster with her involved…But it’s a risk they have to take. If Tim knew about this he would be feral. Oh Feral Tim how I miss you. I need more 2x11 feral Tim in my life. That's a wishlist for s7 I suppose.
The ep ends with Nolan making a deal I’m not sure he can make lol But he was good in this episode so I’ll give him a pass. You can see how panicked she is. I am impressed John got her on this bench I will say. Getting her to almost spill her guts to him. Saying she didn’t think anyone would get hurt. That's what they all say....
I will say I missed Tim a lot in this ep after he was gone. That's my man. But it was a good episode. Reminded me of what a good ensemble cast we have as a whole. That's all she wrote for this one.
As always thank you to everyone for reading, liking, commenting and reblogging these means more than you’ll ever know. Shall see you all in the finale with 6x10 :)
~~~
Side notes-non Chenford
We get more insight in how Dr. London is being leveraged. Of course it’s a Monica connection because she is the absolute worst….
It’s great to see Pearson get nailed to the wall at the end of the ep. Prick.
#Caitlin Rewatches The Rookie#chenford#chenford hiatus#waiting on s7#is it January yet?#fall rewatch#s6#6x09 The Squeeze#the rookie 6x09#otp: doing my job#otp: you know me so well. too well.#otp: some things matter more#otp: you did good#otp: you're nothing like him#otp: just doesn't feel like pretend#otp: unless it is#otp: you could never disappoint me#the rookie#tim x lucy#tim bradford#lucy chen#lucy x tim#eric winter#melissa o'neil#tim bradford x lucy chen
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My 2024 Anime Watchlist
Anime (and related media) I watched last year
Sailor Moon Cosmos (2023)
After 10 years Crystal finally comes to an end! The 2-part movie is cool, it gives us an epic streak of final battles in the second part, things feel very grand and it brings emotion. The ending is oh so lovely. Also I was happy to see some things animated for the first time! That said…Most of it goes by too fast, specially in the first movie. Too many beloved characters have limited screentime, which really brings the arc down. I know these are problems from the manga too, but damn…This solidified to me that in the manga/crystal version of events, Dream Arc is more enjoyable. That’s not the case in the 90s anime, which butchered a good chunk of the Dream Arc but has the characters around much longer in Stars (yes I know screentime in a movie is obviously shorter, but still). I think in the end the musicals brings us a good balance of Stars. If only they had included the Sailor Quartet in those myus, they would feel complete. But anyway… this was it. Could Crystal have been better? Yes. Should it have been longer? Yep. But overall? I really enjoyed the whole thing through and I’m happy it was made! Just really wish the last two arcs were seasons instead of movies, but oh well...What a decade!
I watched subbed and dubbed. Brazilian dubs are usually great but a couple choices sadly kinda killed this one, just like in Eternal (somehow I thought this time it was worse but I think it's just that in Eternal I was happy to see it dubbed, since Crystal wasn't). Unless they redub it, I'll stick to the subs.
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Kaleido Star (2003-04)
Sora is a Japanese girls who finally gets to live her dream of working as a trapeze artist on Kaleido Stage, a famous american circus. Every spectacle means new challenges and lots of hard work. But some people want to see her (and even the whole circus) failing...
I used to watch this as a kid! Finally sat down to watch the whole thing, and it’s a great show. It has cool characters and it’s very entertaining to see them training and performing new shows at the circus. True, season 2 has some annoying characters, so season 1 is better...Except for the final arc, cause personally I found the end of season 2 much stronger than season 1 - it was a great way to end the show (I could see people prefering the s1 ending, it just didn't hit me as hard). There are also a couple of OVAs that take place after the ending. The first one is so-so, but the second is pretty cool and it works nice as a second ending/epilogue.
Watched it dubbed (except for the 2nd OVA since there is no dub)
Yu Yu Hakusho Stage Plays (2019, 2020)
Picking up from last year's Yu Yu maraton, I've watched the stage plays! First one is really just the beginning: Yusuke dies, comes back as a spiritual detective, and we get the Three Youkai mini arc. We also see Kurama and Hiei's first meeting, like in Two Shots. The second play covers both the 4 Beasts castle and Yukina's rescue (they basically skip the training). Since Kurama and Hiei are not much in the second half, their actors get to play a side character each.
Sadly I don’t think these were very good. Sure, visuals are cool, the characters are well done, and they have their moments, but overall these plays were not it, imo. The bit where they play the opening song with a fighting montage is great though, very entertaining.
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Rurouni Kenshin (1996-98)
Another from my childhood I hadn't seen in full! First two arcs are good, specially the second one (plus you can notice there’s some filler in the first, but it’s ok). Third part diverges from the manga and is mostly anime original stuff - and noticeably much weaker. If I ever rewatch it I'll stick to the first 2.
Watched it dubbed.
The Apothecary Diaries (2023-)
I had been hearing about it and decided to catch up in January. What a Good series! I was impressed. Maomao is a great character, the court intrigue is a thrill and I’m looking forward for a better understanding between her and Jinshi, and yes, rooting for actual romance. The series got drama, mystery and comedy, it’s great. Happy for the upcoming second season!
Subs cause the dub only came later.
7th Time Loop Season 1 (2024)
Rishe is stuck in a 5 year time loop that starts at the annulment of her engagement with the prince. No matter what profession and life she lives, it always ends during a war. 5 years into her 6th life she swordfights Emperor Arnold, from the neighbouring country, who is responsible for the war - and is killed by him. In her 7th loop, she soon meets Prince Arnold (not yet emperor) and he unexpectedely is smitten with her and proposes. After working hard in her previous lives, she is determined to finally relax and hopefully find out more about how the war starts, so she accepts. As his fiancée she soon notices Arnold is not completly cold as she expected, wondering what makes him go down that path.
I believe I saw some posts here and then I saw a clip of Rishe dealing with poison and so I decided to watch. I loved it! It was not quite what I was expecting, but rather better. Rishe is a delight and the whole mystery surrounding Arnold’s past and future, which lead them to the war seen in the previous loops, is very intriguing. I’m also captured by Rishe’s past jobs (merchant, harbalist, knight, etc), they’ve made her very resourceful. I really like the court day to day stuff and the drama, and the way she navigates all that. The dynamic of her knowing certain people from past loops but them not knowing her is always intriguing – and we get to know a little more about her this way too. And of course, I love her growing romance with Arnold!
I watched a bunch of dubbed episodes but then I caught up and the subs come faster, so.
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Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (2023-)
This one seemed to be a fan favorite of the season and well, I can see why…While 7TL and tAD are more my vibe, I can’t overlook Frieren. The way it presents grief, time, connection, and the mortality of people through the eyes of this seemly apathic elf is very touching. It made me cry a few times! It also has cool action. And of course, I can’t resist a good medieval fantasy setting. I’m not versed in rpg but even I can recognize some basic elements, it’s pretty cool.
Watched it dubbed!
From Studio Ghibli
Only Yesterday (1991) - This one is pretty slow, contemplative. It’s also a little boring imo... I can see its value, but it’s not really for me. Subs cause there is no dub.
The Cat Returns (2002) - I didn’t intend to watch this one but changed my mind at some point. It’s pretty fun! Not sure what I expected but it wasn’t this haha I quite liked it!! Subs cause there is no dub.
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013) - This is a pretty long one, and the different artstyle threw me off at first, I thought I might not like it... I finally got to watch it though, and not only it is not boring, but it is visually very pretty. It could have ranked high but I didn’t vibe with the ending, so. I could see it being other people’s favorite though. Watched it dubbed.
Earwig and the Witch (2020) - This one’s got a bad reputation but I thought it was fine. Like sure, this 3D animation did not capture that Ghibli charm, but the character design does seem on point and I thought it had an interesting setting. Overall I liked it, even though the ending is rather anticlimactic. Things shift abruptly and are over soon after, leaving some stuff unresolved too (I imagine there would be a sequel). It was still entertaining though. Watched it dubbed.
The Boy and the Heron (2023)
I think this was the first time I watched a Ghibli movie in cinemas! It’s a good film. Not among my Ghibli favorites, but it would rank in the upper half. I'm sure it's other people’s favorite. I think the relationship with the stepmom could have been better developed, but it's still cool. The crazy, whimsical world kinda reminded me of Spirited Away at times. It's got that Miyazaki balance of weird and wonder, with a rather unique mythology and intriguing characters.
I wanted to watch it dub but there were limited screenings and the day I went had only subs.
Buddy Daddies (2023)
A duo of assassins with very different backgrounds and personalities are sent to kill a criminal. The mission is accomplished, they just didn't expect him to have a little daughter. Now they have to figure out how to take care of a child.
I heard good things about this one - and I loved it! I wish it had been longer, I believe it could easily fill 20 something episodes, but oh well… The trio is very endearing, their dynamics are great.
Subs cause no dub.
Yona of the Dawn Season 1 (2014-15)
Princess Yona has to flee her castle with her chidlhood friend/bodyguard Hak after her beloved cousin, Soo-Won murders her father, the king. While searching for the four legendary dragon warriors to help them reclaim the kingdom, Yona finds out her people have been suffering for years, and feels it is her duty to help them.
I was honestly surprised to see this series is already TEN years old. I remember people talking about it but I didn't remember it had been this long? Maybe I heard of it afterwards? Maybe not…Anyway. This series is great. I didn’t expect it to be so good. It’s an epic (east asian) medieval fantasy! It’s got drama, adventure, action, and I’m looking forward to the romantic plot development with Hak. It’s cool to see Yona growing from sheltered princess to a warrior. I’m honestly shocked they never made a second season, like, wtf. Fortunately they’ve started selling the manga in here, and I’ve been following it! Good stuff. I wish I could watch the plays, but specially the musical. Oh, I'm saving the OVAs for when I reach the respective manga chapters.
Subs cause no dub
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Snow White with the Red Hair Seasons 1-2 (2015-16)
This one is also medieval fantasy, has plenty of drama, and while it does have action and adventure, it’s not so much in the epic side - it’s more…mundane? I mean sure, it’s got court intrigues, swordfights, and there’s a kidnapping at one point and whatnot… But the vibes are more on the quieter, lovelier side? I mean, there isn't an epic quest. But it’s cool to see Shirayuki’s journey in becoming a great herbalist while Zen trains in his princely duties and how they both fight to be together despite the obstacle of their different status (something which worries Zen's older brother and other influential people). Their friends also form a cool cast. Wish there were more seasons, but the ones we got are good. I’m not even mad at the misleading title cause the only reason I remembered its existence and watched it was because years ago I saw there was a Snow White anime. Alas, this has basically nothing to do with Snow White, but it’s so good I don’t even care.
Subs cause no dub
Spy x Family - Code: White (2023)
Yes it’s filler but it’s fun! Plus it's not like Spy x Family plot moves fast anyway... So here we got a little winter family trip in search of a recipe (for the Mission!!!) turned into a crazy kidnapping and rescue as Loid and Yor separately go after Anya…it’s action-packed, whacky and fun! It’s Spy x Family!!! There are also a couple of cute Twiyor/family moments, which I love, of course. It’s a good pastime. Bring me season 3!
Watched it dubbed at the cinema!
A Sign of Affection Season 1 (2024)
A lovely show! It’s about the daily life of a deaf college-age girl, and her new romance with a guy who loves to travel, and how her world expands when meeting him and other people in college. I think most school settings stories I see are in high school or middle school so this is a nice change.
Watched it dubbed
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (2022-23)
People talked so much about this one I had to give it a go. The only Gundam series I had contact with before was Gundam Wing (watched some assorted episodes as a kid), so I thought that would be the first one I watched in full, but I still haven't done it, oops. And now I’ve seen Gundam Witch! Intriguing developments and characters! Deals with some serious issues, which apparently is an usual Gundam thing. It has some cool dynamics and the queer romance is cute, it has a good arc. The show is not quite my jam, so not a favorite, but it’s a good show, felt solid.
Watched it dubbed
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My Happy Marriage (2023-)
Miyo lives in a Cinderella situation until she is engaged to Kyoka, a rich guy with a bad reputation… In a society where powerful families have superpowers, she’s got none, so her family wants to get rid of her…The poor thing lives with no affection and the guy is desensitized to previous fiancées chasing his status, but then he sees that’s not the case and is decided to treat her well AND to stand up to her family. Oh, and it’s got an historical setting. Also Kyoka is part of the special forces which fight evil spirits or something. He controls elements. I gotta say I was not expecting that kind of action in a Cinderella-esque story, ha! It was a good addition.
It's kinda tough to see Miyo so meek, but it's key to see she is not magically cured after the engagement, she still struggles from the abuse of her family, but with help, little by little she gains more confidence, which is lovely to see. She also finds her own way of helping Kyoka herself, the end of the season really makes it stronger. I don't think it's gonna be a favorite of mine, but it IS good. Season 2 incoming!
Watched it dubbed
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My Happy Marriage Movie aka As Long as We Both Shall Live (2023)
The movie is basically a compressed version of what we see in season 1. As such, it is definitely inferior to the animated version, but it’s okay... Like, it has its moments but overall it really doesn't hit the same, specially the ending. I would say it has all the important bits of the first half of the season, but a lot of the second half is lost (Hazuki, you were missed, girl!).
Shaman King: Flowers Season 1 (2024)
I was entertained, I wanted to see more of the kids and their dynamics (and more of their parents), and I wish they would continue it…But I don't know, it's got some odd choices. Granted, it's a short season, if it had been longer it might have been more charming/intriguing. For example, Ren's son is the last to join so we don't see a lot of him, which is a shame. I also thought it was going to be a complete story but turns out the Flowers manga was continued in Super Star, and the season we got was really just Flowers…Also I still think it would have been a better investment to use the money to improve on the Shaman King remake, but anyway. I wonder if they will ever continue it.
Watched it dubbed
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Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac Season 3 (2024)
This was about the same level as season 2 I guess. Though back then they let the fights begin in one episode and end on the next, while here they kinda kept it in the same episode, which made them feel shorter :/ Like, it was cool but still not even close to the original series. It has its moments, but parts of it are too quick, there’s a lack of stronger soundtracks to enhance the scenes, etc. The original content was interesting enough, but we had so little time it would have been better to use it on canon events... or at least parts of it.
I would watch more if they made it but it seems they’re going to stop this version in this arc – and I get it, like I said, its really not as good as it should/could be. I’m glad they finished it though, it would have been a bummer to see the arc only halfway done. I hope we don’t have to wait too many years until a new saint seiya anime…also I wonder what it will be.
Watched it dubbed
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Delicious in Dungeon (2024-)
Everybody couldn’t shut up about it so I had to watch it XD yes, yes, it’s good! Well made rpg-esque medieval fantasy setting. It’s got plenty of comedy, and the story is pretty different from the usual stuff… It wasn’t until things started to get serious that it really got me though, like halfway through the season. From what I’ve heard, it should be done by season 2. I'll be there to watch it!
Watched it dubbed
Sailor Moon: Musical Festival Chronicle (2022)
Finally could watch this one, yay!!! Story-wise it's not really impressive, but then again this one is more of a celebration of myu history than anything else. Cool to see the old numbers back, lovely to see Satomi’s guest appearance and, of course, the BANDAI MYU team, hooray!!!! Oh and we could see more of Riona’s Mamoru too! Since The Super Live full recording was never released, we don’t have much of that, so this is nice.
I honestly thought this would be the end of the myu/moon renaissance, but after the announcement of the long run of the new Super Live in London, I'm not so sure! But alright, let's not get ahead of ourselves...
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Ranma ½ (2024-)
Ranma’s return!!!! Its been rather fun to follow Ranma and Akane’s shenanigans again. I’m glad I watched the full og anime a few years ago!!! I hope they get to adapt the manga until the end this time (I’ve never read it myself). Waiting for season 2!!!
Watched it dub (I’m so happy Netflix got the cast back!!!)
#2024#blog#sailor moon cosmos#kaleido star#yona of the dawn#the apothecary diaries#7th time loop#samurai x#frieren: beyond journey's end#snow white with the red hair#my happy marriage#the witch from mercury#buddy daddies#a sign of affection#spy x family#knights of the zodiac#dungeon meshi#studio ghibli#the boy and the heron#yu yu hakusho#ranma 1/2#shaman king#sera myu#that was...a lot#and most of it was in the first semester
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youtube
Not gonna lie, I have a lot to say on this as an Asterix fan, mostly positive though.
First off, I was legit surprised that on the original French dub Alain Chabat is playing Asterix here, I was honestly kinda expecting either Jean-Claude Donda (His current French VA, who also took over a lot of other roles the late great Rodger Carel played before his death in 2020.) or Christian Clavier (The actor who did play Asterix in the Asterix Film Alain Directed, that being Mission Cleopatra, to even voicing the character in the French version of Secret of the Magic Potion mind you.), though to be honest…I kinda like his portrayal of the character actually, and from what I read up he has done a couple of dubbing roles before (In particular as the French voice of Shrek oddly enough) so Alain Chabat isn’t completely alien to voice acting.
Also in the French version, Gilles Lelouche (Obelix In Asterix and the Middle Kingdom, which is probably one of the few good things in the movie IMO) is voicing Obelix here, dude was a solid Live Action Obelix, so I don’t mind him voicing the character in this.
I would also like to say it’s cool to see Netflix keep up tradition of the English Dub for Asterix movies having English Voice Actors, really curious about the voice actors themselves, hope we get to find out the VA’s when it gets closer to the release of this mini series.
Second, HOLY CRAP this already looks really solid animation wise, especially in the colours and art direction. There definitely seems to be some vibes of the Alexander Astier Asterix films he wrote (Mansion of the Gods and Secret of the Magic Potion), as well as some Spider-Verse influence here as well with the addition of the comic onomatopoeia in certain shots, and while I am not that familiar with TAT Productions (Need to watch Pil and a few other of their animated films sometime).
While yes, it would have been cool to see an Asterix comic story that has never been adapted, at least in animation (Really want to see Asterix the Legionary someday be adapted personally), but in Big Fight’s defence, the 1989 animated adaptation wasn’t the most accurate and was essentially a fusion between Asterix and the Big Fight and Asterix and the Soothsayer, and while I will admit the 1989 movie was fun, getting to see a more accurate adaptation to the story would be a fun watch and they could even pull a Mansion of the Gods and expand on the story and speaking of…
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Is that Caesar’s mother Aurelia I see?
For context, Aurelia has never been featured within an Asterix story, let alone in animation for that matter, so its really interesting to see her, though she is not called Aurelia in this, but instead is called Mother Caesar here.
But she isn’t the only new character in this adaptation. There is also a female character named Metadata, and I think she might be this girl, not gonna lie she has a cute design. I wasn’t kidding with those Alexander Astier Asterix Movie comparisons with them expanding on the original story a big
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Even if this is basically a teaser, this has left me really curious for more, already miles better than Middle Kingdom and I cannot wait for this mini series to release. Especially with Alain Chabat at the helm.
#tiffy talks#Asterix#Asterix and obelix#asterix et obelix#Asterix and the big fight#Asterix le combat des chefs#netflix animation#Youtube#Asterix analysis
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My Movie Review: "Wicked"
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Overall:
What can I say? "Wicked" was AMAAAAZING!!! 😁👏🏾
Seriously, for me, this was one of the best films of 2024, hands down! It was fun, it was entertaining, it was funny, the music and dancing was on point, the acting was great, there weren't any weak links in the cast at all. It really was a well-done film. 😁 I had a smile on my face the entire time!! ☺️
*Disclaimer... I'm a HUGE fan of musicals just in general, and I've been a fan of the music from "Wicked" for at least 10 years lol, so if you aren't a fan of the musical, OR, you just don't like singing and dancing in movies to move along the plot, then you might not like this film that much. 😄 There is a LOT of singing lol.
First off, the cast:
Ariana Grande... oh my gosh.... I know she's been getting a lot of flack in the media for her "method acting" and "Glinda Voice" 🙄, but honestly, she came to do what she had to do! She played Glinda/Galinda perfectly. 👌🏾 She was funny, eye-roll worthy (in a GOOD way! Lol. 😅), so extra lol, and her voice... lawwwd her VOICE!!! Amazing!! 👏🏾 I knew with just the opening number that this movie was going to gag me lol. I knew she was going to eat with this role just with that opening number alone.
Cynthia Erivo.... Cynthia Cynthia Cynthia!!!! 👏🏾 My goodness, Cynthia knocked this role out of the park!! You hear me? First of all, I didn't even know she had pipes like that until I saw this movie! 😄😅 I knew she did theater plays, but didn't know she could sing! Wow! She was simply amazing in this role. I was blown away. You feel for her as Elphaba. She's incredibly likable, and you can understand where she's coming from. 🥹 There were a couple of very moving parts that had me getting a little teary-eyed throughout the film.
All I'll say is that "Wicked" is what you get when you choose actors for roles who can actually SING, and not just popular actors who may have a large following, but don't actually have any real vocal talent or singing/musical background... 👀
Jonathan Bailey.... My man Jonathan Bailey was a really nice addition to this cast. 😊 He was funny, charming, and witty. I also had no idea he knew how to move like that! 😅🤣 I was throughly impressed! 👏🏾 He was also very nice eye-candy throughout. Lawwwd that man is so beautiful it's a sin lol. 🔥🥵
Michelle Yeoh... Always a favorite of mine, Michelle stands out in her role. She is an awesome actress, and she doesn't disappoint. She knows how to throw shade in only the way Michelle Yeoh can, while still maintaining the very classy grace and elegance of her character lol. 🤭🤭
Cons
Honestly? I can't really think of any cons....except for some false advertising, but that's a topic for another day.... 👀
Overall.... The entire cast and crew did an awesome job on this film. I've already seen it TWICE, that's how much I enjoyed it! 😁👏🏾 I still have the songs stuck in my head. You can tell just how HARD the whole cast, crew, singers, dancers, etc all worked on this film. It was very VERY well done imo.
Definitely HIGHLY recommend! (Especially if you're a fan of musicals! 😁)
My Score: 10/10 😊👍🏾
#My Movie Review#Wicked#Destiny Goes to the Movies#Film Review#ariana grande#cynthia erivo#jonathan bailey#michelle yeoh
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Just curious, opinions on the different nutcrackers that you know of from all kinds of media and stuff?
Sorry if anyone asked this before I wouldn't know
Love your art and characters by the way keep it up!
Hohohohohohohoho, we be opening the Pandora Box here. Not that I'm complaining~
So, this is going to be a very long post as I've seen a lot of the movies. I also have a couple books which I can give my opinion, and I'm familiar with various apparitions in videogames and such. So yeah this is going to be a loooooooong post.
So buckle up, grab a drink and enjoy the ride into my personal madness o7
[ CAREFUL, VERY LONG POST UNDER THE CUT ]
So, let's start with movies as those are easier to grab and talk about for me. I'm gonna go with their year of release ot keep things organized.
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Shchelkunchik (1973)
Small silly dramatic guy, I like him! The animators did a great job animating his design and make him incredibly appealing. As for his human appearance, eeeeeh I don't really care for him. Definitely a shock the first time you see it lol But yes, adorable silly guy
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Nutcracker Fantasy (1979)
Li'l guy. It is Sanrio so it's bound to be on the cute side. The Nutcracker itself doesn't do much in the movie, but as for Fritz himself, I... honestly don't care about him. He looks pretty, but personality wise he needs to work on it pff Idk he just comes out as plain and a little arrogant... Still a fine fellow, though.
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Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (1986)
One of the two ballet-based movies I've seen, and definitely the better one of the two imo. And good lord I love this guy. He may look terrifying but good lord if he's silly. And I actually don't mind his human appearance as simple as it is. Silly man, this one.
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The Nutcracker Prince (1990)
HIM. MY BELOVED. THE GOOD LAD. Definitely my favorite, and not because this was my most beloved childhood movie. He is such a sweetheart with a hint of awkwardness but who can still kick your ass. And the final scene in the castle in the Italian dub is just *chef kiss* 10/10 lad.
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The Nutcracker (1993)
The other ballet-based movie... it's just Macaulay Culkin. And his nutcracker costume looks hideous lol. Nothign to say. Surprisingly, he's not the worst one.
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The Nuttiest Nutcracker (1999)
Ripoff Ken. He is incredibly dumb, and a tiny bit of a freak, but could be worse honestly kdjng They did Barbie before Barbie did it lol that's p much it.
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Barbie in the Nutcracker (2001)
THE OTHER GOOD LAD. I love Eric so much he's such a sweetheart wanting to fix his mistakes. It's so easy to root for him. As for his human appearance... he's just Ken skjngf 10/10 lad #2
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The Nutcracker and the MouseKing (2004)
Oh boy what to say about this one. Very hateful in the first half. At least he learns and becomes bearable at the last third of the movie. But I do like the nutcracker form, they made the blocky design work as well, like later on it's actually very nice to see him move. Still, horrible personality. Needs a slap in the face.
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Nutcracker in 3D / Nutcracker: The Untold Story (2010)
Hellspawn. Nightmare fuel. Abomination. Who the hell approved to that design?? And why did they pitch up his voice like that?? At least the kid playing human NC is not as bad, but good lord. 0/10 Just burn that puppet with fire, please.
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The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)
This one just pisses me off. This one had so much potential, and the actor is actually good. It's just the way his character was written that is dog awful. They made him basically a dumb side character who barely does anything despite everyone in the movie treating him like he's a big shot. And the the fact that this was made by Disney just makes this worse. Just so much lost potential.
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The Nutcracker (???)
I actually don't know who made this movie or in which year, but I do like this one. The movie is comedic so he's a bit silly, but he's still quite enjoyable. And for some reason he reminds me of Waluigi.... Still, silly guy.
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That's all for the movies. There are a bunch more that I've missed or that I can't find anymore so my list of opinions on them is not complete. But one day...
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As for other medias, hm... I have a couple books that are just the original story by Hoffman and the retell by Duman (of which I don't have much to say) and the graphic novel by Natalie Andrewson.
He's just a li'l guy, silly kid but enjoyable.
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Lastly, while there are no actual nutcracker based games, I do want to mention a few skins and characters I am aware of for the hell of it. I'm pretty sure I will be forgetting some but eh.
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Terraria
Silly guy that speeeens. I wish I didn't have to kill them skgjfn.
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Overwatch
As much as I now despise Overwatch for many reasons, I still love Zenyatta's nutcracker skin to death. Look at this silly guy. Definitely my favorite skin in the game.
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Saints Row IV
SR4 had a Christmas themed DLC, and among all the xmas reskins of the enemies, one was the terminator-like enemies being turned into Nutcrackers. And their design look so sick.
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Fortnite
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I don't play Fortnite, but I do have to admit that the nutcracker guy looks neat. The crazy look fits the look quite well. If I would ever get in there (I doubt it but still), that would definitely be the skin I would use.
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Lethal Company
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I don't play LC neither but I've seen videos of the nutcracker enemy in action, and yeah he looks silly. I love how he moves around.
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That's all of the apparitions that I can think of. I'm also aware of the point-and-click game made by Big Fish Games, but I have not played it myself. I really should do that one day...
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Aaaaaand that's a wrap. I'm definitely forgetting a nutboi or two somewhere but these are all the ones I can think of at the top of my head that are officially published and all.
If we start talking about folks in social medias I've come to know over the years... I'm gonna be here for 3 months trying to talk about them dkjfgn
Well, hope you enjoyed this personal spiraling into nut madness :V
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“Aaron Tveit is a tenor he shouldn’t have been cast in a baritone role”/“Sondheim is rolling in his grave rn”/“He sounds too cute and unthreatening.” Genuinely shut the fuck up oml how does it feel to be boring asf 😭 He played the role extremely well, the songs sounded great in his vocal range, he WAS extremely threatening, and y’all are just being petty and puritanical about this shit. I’m a hardcore fan of Josh Groban and Len Cariou’s interpretations of the character, but Aaron Tveit did just as good of a job playing Sweeney Todd as anyone who came before him.
Sweeney Todd is a show that is and always has been continuously reinterpreted and played around with, while still keeping its core characterisation, plot and themes, which, just saying, were way clearer under Tveit’s portrayal of the character than for example, some of the “classic” baritone portrayals like George Hearn (iconic as his performance was, totally rewatching my 1982 proshot DVD on loop over here). He captured the sympathy and tragedy of the character whilst still being feral, aggressive, passionate and threatening, he’s a great actor and apart from the very mild set-back of his vocal range just being higher, he’s probably the best portrayal of Sweeney Todd I’ve ever seen. And even then, his vocal performance was far from bad — I’d totally stick it on in the background if he had any songs professionally recorded. He just doesn’t have the deep oomf that Josh Groban had, but if we’re going to talk about Tveit’s Todd being too “cute”, I’d totally say the opposite — as much as I absolutely love Groban’s interpretation of the character to bits, he arguably kind of lacks the feral aggression other actors who’ve played Todd have.
And, as for “Sondheim is rolling in his grave”, excuse me?? Sondheim has always been explicit about wanting an actor that can sing over a singer that can act. He reworked the structure of “Send In the Clowns” specifically for Glynis Johns because “she couldn't sustain notes,” his words. Not that either Johns or Tveit can’t sing, but you get the picture — yeah, no, Sondheim would absolutely not be rolling in his grave because a tenor played a baritone role he wrote extremely well and opted a couple notes higher than they were originally written.
Also, while I’m on the subject, listen, ok, I love the original 1979 cast recording so much that Angela Lansbury was my top artist (😭), and Annaleigh Ashford is actually my icon oml I absolutely adore her, but bsfr the hate on Sutton Foster was wayyy out of order. I’m not really a fan of a lot of the stuff she does (no harm to her or anything, just a personal preference 🤷♀️), and I think her portrayal of Mrs Lovett was a LITTLE bit surface level at times, (imo she didn’t REALLY have the same super strong characterisation that Ashford brought to the table tbf?), but for the most part she was actually really really funny and her chemistry with Tveit was on point, and she was still really good during those serious scenes too.
And don’t get me started on that one time I read a comment that said “Sweeney Todd is not a comedy”….bro… some of these people don’t even know what the fuck they’re talking about 😭
#IK this is kinda old discourse ok#BUT OML i saw some comments while scrolling TikTok and they genuinely pissed me off and like#reignited war flashbacks#and I had to write this shit down#anyway#Sweeney Todd#sweeney todd the demon barber of fleet street#Aaron Tveit#sutton foster#sweeney todd revival#josh groban#annaleigh ashford#musicals#musical theatre#theatre kid
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"Enemies to lovers" has important distinction categories, and depending on how you want your audience to feel about the end result of the couple, there has to be some kind of internal logic to support it.
If you want the end goal to be "they live happily and love each other and support each other," then the audience needs to be given reasons to believe that the couple would be ultimately compatible, even if they started out grating on each other. Maybe it's because I've hit my thirties, but every time I read or watch a story that has a couple who continues to fight and lie to each other, while in the same breath we're told they want to commit to each other forever, I start rooting for a breakup.
To clarify, I'm totally on board with characters who despise each other and still want to fuck nasty -- I just also want the writing to reflect that the relationship dynamic isn't trying to pretend to be something else; I never want the characters' actions to be excused because "love conquers all."
I love when writers/directors/actors pull off chemistry in antagonism, not just the horny kind but also a hint of believability that these characters won't just get along despite their personalities initially conflicting, but because they'll eventually see the ways they're similar and compliment each other.
This brought to you by having the Red, White, & Royal Blue movie on in the background -- and look I knoooow there's a lot of conflicting feelings about this story from very many angles, but bear with me because it has one very short interaction that I feel like packs the punch of what I'm talking about:
When Alex and Henry are being interviewed and pretending to be friends, they start purposefully trying to annoy each other. Alex lies about Henry loving to rap, and in a great narrative choice Henry doesn't contradict him. It would have been so easy to write Henry a line where he fake laughs and says "oooh, this guy, always teasing me." But instead he continues the bit with a perfect "yes, and" and builds onto the mythos of their fake friendship that Alex does a perfect Barbra Streisand impression. We're shown quickly and clearly that they have the same sense of humor, and the same way of expressing it. In this case they're trying to be antagonistic, but the way they bounce off each other sets the groundwork for being able to see how, in the future, they could be having the exact same interaction with the result being shared laughter instead of annoyance.
The strongest happy-ending-oriented "enemies to lovers" stories imo don't require characters to change core parts of themselves or force themselves into a relationship. They require the characters to change their perspectives on each other so that every retrospective antagonistic scene holds the capacity for love that was veiled in misunderstanding.
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I watched Alien: Romulus tonight, after having wanted to see it since it came out. Spoiler-free review: It's a B that could've been an A. Probably the best Alien movie since Aliens, definitely the best since Alien 3. It's at its best when it's doing it's own thing, and at its weakest when too directly trying to be "just like Alien/Aliens!". If I have one chief complaint, it's that it would benefit from a stronger 'less is more' approach than it takes. Spoilers below the cut.
So one problem I have is the timing. The alien's lifecycle, as established in other films, takes time. It's fast as hell compared to normal things, but on the order of hours and days rather than months and years, rather than minutes. They could've tossed in a single comment to the effect of "the scientists extracted the black goo compound and refined it, testing it on the facehuggers and whoops their lifecycle got sped WAY the fuck up" but they didn't so that's the realm of headcanon rather than text.
EDIT: rewatched it today and there is some commentary over how the xenomorph has a measure of control over its metabolism; the reason it's able to mature so rapidly and yet also shut down for long-term vacuum survival. It's not quite as apparent as I'd like but it definitely qualifies as offering at least some textual explanation so my above complaint is less 'this makes no internal sense' and more 'this strains my suspension of disbelief even more than the things' ability to grow to prodigious size without seemingly feeding on anything already did.'
Speaking of the black goo, yeah, it ties back into Prometheus (which I saw, and personally didn't much like) and Covenant (which I didn't see owing to not having much liked Prometheus). On the whole I don't know that this was the right move for the franchise, but the film mostly makes it work. The final monster being essentially a xenomorph/engineer hybrid was not a premise I was excited about and the stills I'd seen made it look kinda stupid, but in the actual execution, it is suitably unsettling/uncanny and imo it actually works.
There were a couple of nostalgia lines that made me roll my eyes pretty hard- when Andy rescues Rain toward the end by zero-g divebombing an oncoming xenomorph, shooting it and saying "get away from her" i was like "yeah great, good callback, good moment". When he then adds "...you bitch" I rolled my eyes. Didn't fit the moment or the character, was strictly there to reference a better moment in a better movie.
Which isn't to fault David Jonsson, who plays Andy extremely well. Due to synthetic fuckery he has basically 2, 2 and a half personalities throughout the film, and he does them all very very well. Stand-out performance IMO, would love to see him in more stuff.
Cailee Spaeny does a good job as Rain, there were a couple moments early on where I wasn't 100% convinced of her authenticity, but as the film wore on, I saw that it was an acting choice to make Rain a bit socially stunted, coming across as awkward.
None of the actors were bad at all, and while I have some ethical concerns with digitally resurrecting a cgi Ian Holm circa 1979, the effects were cromulent and whoever they got to do most of his voice work was quite good, and Rook made for a decent antagonist.
On the topic of 'less is more' I mentioned above, I really wish they'd used fewer aliens in a couple of the big set pieces. You don't need a dozen scrambling facehuggers to be terrifying, you honestly don't need more than one, but the pair of them from the scene with Ripley and Newt proves that 'one per endangered character' is a fine guideline. Likewise when they get to the hive section of the station, they could've kept it every bit as terrifying (and indeed probably more so) with fewer, stealthier aliens than they used.
EDIT: the things a lot of horror fans care most about that I didn't mention on my first pass. The SFX are great, very effective. I'm not sure to what degree they relied on practical effects but there's a much more tangible feel to a lot of things that are very hard to get with cgi. There are a couple of cgi moments that are less effective imo- the zero-g acid blood wasn't 100% convincing though it was by no means bad -but for the most part, it was all very convincing and suitably visceral for a franchise so thoroughly rooted in body horror. The deaths were gruesome in a franchise-appropriate way, for the most part, and people who watch horror movies with that as their priority should be reasonably satisfied. The lighting was dark in a good way- not so dark you couldn't see what the fuck was happening, but dark enough that the shadows were ominous and potentially hiding threats. Set design was flawless, no notes.
From a scientific standpoint, i didn't like how solid the rings were. Planetary rings are absolutely a feasible astronomical hazard one would want to avoid crashing into, but that's less to do with their status as what looked like a frozen sea of bumper-to-bumper icebergs, and more to do with their being composed of eighty fucktillion objects moving at orbital velocities which will absolutely shred any object moving perpindicularly (more or less) through them. This is admittedly a pretty nerdy quibble that most viewers won't give a shit about and I'm willing to mostly overlook it for the sake of the film but it did make me pull a scrunchy Kermit face.
My most minor complaint was the (in my opinion) overuse of the Weyland-Yutani name and logo. A single use of the logo would've been sufficient. Since the film's mission statement was basically a return to the whole cassette-futurism of the first two films, calling it simply 'the Company' would've gone a long way toward that.
Probably my most significant complaint pertains to misogyny. Like, okay, this is an Alien film, it's going to be chock-full of reproductive body horror, big creepy bio-mechanical genital-lookin stuff, etc. But of the four characters who die, both men die of 'being attacked by a full-grown alien'. One dies by being impaled by a phallic tail, so that's something, I guess. The other dies by getting whomped upside the head and falling into the stream of some acid pouring from a distinctly vaginal alien coccoon. He'd just rammed a phallic tazer thing into it though, so maybe it's some weird sort of payback if you want to psychoanalyze it. Both women, however, die due to alien pregnancy- one from a normal chestburster, the other killed by the weird uncanny human-alien-engineer monster her fetus turned into after she tried to save her own life by injecting the black goo. Not by its birth, despite the size of the coccoon thing she passes and the accompanying blood loss, but when it comes back and chomps on her a bit with its more eel-like pharyngial jaw. Which is also rather phallic now that i write it out like that. Meh.
EDIT: there's also a bit of unfortunate implications wrt race. Two points, outlined below.
The most obvious is that the artificial person owned by the company is a black man, but given that previous synths in the franchise have all been white actors (Ian Holm, Lance Henriksen, Winona Ryder, Michael Fassbender) it probably gets a bit of a pass. Only a bit of one, in that Andy is outright stated to be a more menial model than, say, Ash or Bishop given the designed role of 'mining colony asset' rather than 'science officer' or 'colonial marines assset' which has some unfortunate implications. I might have more to say on the matter if I myself was black, but I'll leave that to other reviewers.
The other thing is that the survivors are the white woman and her synthetic brother (played by a black man, as mentioned above). Which could be worse, for sure, but it doesn't sit entirely right with me that the brown guys (I couldn't speak to their specific ethnicity though I'd take a stab at 'mixed' with some white ancestry in there too) and the brown woman (definitely a latina) get killed off. As a mixed white/latino guy, I just wanna see a brown person survive the whole horror movie sometimes. I'm often disappointed. At least the director is a latino guy? It's something.
On the whole though, it's a pretty effective, decent Alien film that could've been a very effective, great Alien film if it had a bit more restraint. Your mileage may vary, of course, but in my opinion, the weaker elements don't wholly overwhelm the stronger ones, only dragging it down a peg or so.
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hi there i hope you don't mind me asking for recs! this might be a bit too specific but do you know any (good) bls with age gap? i've only watched old fashion cupcake and minato's laundromat and i'd love to see more of that dynamic. have a good day!
Hi anon! I am delighted to talk about age gap bls with you. A few notes about how I define this:
I think of a true age gap romance as one where the narrative is at least in part driven by the age difference, not one where the characters are just incidentally different ages but it doesn't really matter to the story
The age gap needs to be significant enough that it puts the characters in different phases of life, so something like a college freshman dating a senior doesn't count
I also don't count supernatural stories where there's a massive age gap as a function of one of the characters being immortal, that's a totally different genre and narrative intent IMO
I will only include a show in this list if the age gap is between the main pair or a very significant side pair who has a lot of story time
So this means I would not be including shows like My Tooth Your Love or The New Employee where there is technically an age gap but everyone is adults and it doesn't really matter to the story. Or shows like Cutie Pie and Love in the Air, which do play with power dynamics somewhat based in age but where the actual gap is negligible and the story isn't about their age difference. Or something like Ossan's Love where there is an age gap pairing in contention but it's not actually the core romance of the story. Then there are shows where on paper there is an age gap between the main characters but the production cast actors the same age, so it never actually feels like an age gap story no matter how many times they write in dialogue trying to convince me that 28 year old is 40 (I love you dearly, Moonlight Chicken but please be serious).
So all that said, there are not as many proper age gap bls as you'd think! You'll note that this rec list is dominated by Japan and Taiwan, the absolute rulers of this trope. Productions in these countries love to dig into an uncomfortable taboo, and a true age gap romance fits nicely in that niche. Thailand doesn't play much in this space thanks to their branded pairs system that puts close-in-age actors together (and the couple times they tried large age gap romances were so terrible that I shan't speak of it). Korea has surprisingly done very little on this despite noona romance being one of the most popular kdrama subgenres. Where are all the hyung romances, I ask you??
With all that rambling out of the way, onto the list of age gap bls I recommend checking out.
History 2: Right or Wrong
An under appreciated entry in the HIStory franchise that pairs an overworked single father who is neglecting his parenting duties and the student he hires to help look after his kid.
History 3: Make Our Days Count
These two are technically a side couple, but they get near equal story time to the mains and they are an exemplar of a great age gap romance that gets the character dynamics exactly right to mitigate the uncomfortable power differential when one is an adult and the other is still growing up. My personal favorite age gap bl pair.
History 4: Close To You
This one's for the girls who like to tackle multiple taboos at once. Not only age gap, but also stepbrothers, with a bit of personality disorder thrown in for flare! And somehow with all that mess, they tell the story so well and make you believe. Do not @ me, I said what I said!
Kiseki: Dear to Me
I know many folks remember this show primarily for the side couple, but the mains actually have a very well done age gap romance between a gangster and a high school student he accidentally drags into hell with him. The plot of this show is absolutely not to be taken too seriously, just have fun and go with it!
Lovely Writer
The only Thai bl I think qualifies under the definition above and actually tells its story very well. This one is interesting because you get to see them both as kids and as adults and see how their age difference and its effect on their relationship shifts over time.
Minato's Laundromat
You already mentioned this one, anon, but I'm putting it on this list for posterity. A classic age gap bl with a romance between a repressed older man and the persistent teenager who worships him.
Mr. Mitsuya's Planned Feeding
Winner for most significant age gap in terms of years, this show is about a mid-20s editor who falls for a writer twice his age after meeting him on the job. So much glorious food and sexual tension.
Old Fashion Cupcake
Another one you've already seen going on the list for posterity. A workplace age gap romance with a younger man pursuing his mentor via foodie dates. One of the best Japanese BLs ever made, period.
The Pornographer
A maladjusted (to put it mildly!) man gets hit by a young student on a bicycle, and uses the situation to bring him into his home as a writing assistant. Things get pretty fucked up from there. This is one of my favorites and very under appreciated in part because you have to chase the story across two series, two shorts, and a movie to get the full narrative. Trust me, it's worth it!
#history 2: right or wrong#history 3: make our days count#history 4: close to you#kiseki: dear to me#lovely writer#minato's laundromat#mr mitsuyas planned feeding#old fashion cupcake#the pornographer#shan recommends#age gap bls#shan answers
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FOUR: it's just so funny, guys
When last year I was doing my listenthrough, at a certain point I stopped including mentions of how funny a particular episode was because... of course they all were. In fact, there are only a couple of episodes that I could name as having plotlines that, IMO, aren't funny and yet even those episodes have some of the most classic joke sequences in the series.* If I sat here and listed every good joke, I'd basically just be reproducing 3/4 of the scripts.
*Qik has a not very funny plot anchored by a not-funny-at-all character, Nancy Whatsherface, but Le Bear Polar is legitimately iconic. Kuala Lumpur even JF doesn't like very much, but Arthur's steward training sequence is basically perfect.
He's just so so good at including the humor in the narrative, is the thing. I did a post last year about Ipswich that was about how good JF is, or rather grew to be, at plot, in particular seamlessly integrating plot and theme and humor. The thing is, even in episodes that aren't as brilliant as Ipswich, the humor is always amazing, and as is obvious given his simultaneous and ensuing comedy career in other formats, he just really gets comedy. But I'd argue that while lots of writers are good at writing jokes, he's really good at writing the RIGHT jokes and putting them in the RIGHT storylines in the mouths of the RIGHT actors.
I think it comes down to a few things-
He's SO good at mining existing situations and limitations for comedy. (Also for plot, which is separate but certainly related.) Obviously this would be a skill that would serve him in good stead in his sketch comedy career, but it's especially good here because instead of circling a sketch around a particular joke, the jokes have to be part of the broader plot, and so he has a more constrained field of search and takes the maximum advantage of it. According to an interview of him on a podcast, the entire conversation with Qik where Douglas convinces Martin that their plane can, in fact, do a polar expedition is essentially JF's replay of a conversation with his dad about whether the kind of plane he chose for GERTI to be back in Ipswich could do a polar expedition- he wanted to do the plot but was worried he'd hamstrung himself by defining the plane he was using, but instead he was able to take that exact limitation and make the actual situation far funnier (though again, I think Qik as an episode has limitations). (Incidentally, while on that subject I want to take the opportunity to appreciate his attention to detail overall. Recently I've been reading Admiral Cloudberg's series on air disasters and I recognized a shocking number of terms from lines that were essentially just him setting the scene for unrelated plots. No idea how overall accurate all of his plane-flying asides are, but the parts that matched up are super cool especially now that I know what a lot of it means.)
At the same time, he has such a great imagination and knew how to cleanly insert the products of it into an episode- obviously he repeats some standard sitcom beats (I think that Rotterdam, one of the funniest episodes, escapes classic status just because "characters get confronted with the cooler versions of themselves" is such a well-worn sitcom-episode plot) but even when he does he can be really original. Not sure where he got the idea of strafing a children's party with a hard-candy bomb and killing a koi from, but it was a stroke of brilliance. He's also surprisingly good at taking previously-written imaginative/comic sequences and putting them very deftly into his scripts- basically the whole "can you imagine 100 otters" scene is from a blog post and you can see exactly how he adapted the exact phrasing but it doesn't matter because he made it fit seamlessly into the new scene and into the overall plot. On a similar note, he's great at using his imagination to come up with different kinds of joke styles- for example, the running joke of them playing games in the flight deck, but then going wild with a) what kinds of games and b) how to mine maximum humor from them. There are just so many classic, brilliant games and he's so good at it that he'll even construct whole episodes around series of games (like Limerick).
He's so good at writing for particular people's voices! He's mentioned that for JFSP he will sometimes call the actors in to do a "silly voices day" and then write sketches based on it, and it's such a cool concept and also so clear how good he is at it. For some TV sketch shows, it can feel like someone wrote a sketch without knowing who in the cast would be available for filming and then they cast whoever would fit the parts- JFSP basically never feels that way, and on the sitcom side, neither does Cabin Pressure. He doesn't nail the voices immediately on day one but it's pretty dang close. And when he goes on to write jokes, not only do they work perfectly for the actors' ways of speaking, but they're nearly always funnier for having been said by that particular actor. The words "you mulled it?!" in context are already funny, but it wouldn't have been as hilarious if not for Roger Allam's impeccable delivery. JF knew he had a five star cast and knew exactly how to take advantage of their gifts- and, of course, he'd had plenty of experience writing for himself and so knew how to give himself jokes and dialogue that would sound perfect coming from his mouth.
The storyline thing... I mean, functionally, it comes down to what I was saying above about how good he is at combining plot arc, themes, and comedy. It's so good that it can be both hard and satisfying to dissect exactly how it was done, but suffice it to say, I think that's the thing that's his real talent. This week I had a few exchanges with a fellow fan on here about some limitations I have noticed in his sketch comedy- nothing major, but I think the thing that elevates him from being a good-to-great sketch comedian to being a sublime comedic-plot writer is his deftness with construction. Lots of people are funny, lots of other people are good at creating well done plots that incorporate theme, he's fantastic at both and at their integration and it's a really special gift.
#cabin pressure#john finnemore#cabin pressure advent 2024#cabin pressure advent#cabin pressure advent 2024 tenth anniversary edition
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I know shippers probably think we're being hard on Austin and Kaia wrt their relationship, but a lot of it stems from the fact that not only does their relationship seem a bit weird/disingenuous, but a lot of it reminds us of other relationships in Hollywood that just didn't last.
That's why fans should never put put their whole entire stock into a celebrity couple. Most of these celebrity couplings are short-lived at best, and kind of phony at worst.
Austin and Kaia actually remind me of another Hollywood couple: Brad and Gwyneth Paltrow. I did a little digging in their old relationship together, and there are a lot of csimilarities actually.
Brad was the "Golden Boy" of Hollywood at the time, and Gwyneth is a Nepobaby actress. They ended up dating for about 3 years (the typical Hollywood romance time period) and then broke up. 👀
She was stated as talking about Brad on the Letterman show back in '96.
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2 years later, in '98, they had already split up, and Gwyneth states in this interview below that she wasn't even sure why the public made such a big huge deal about their romance or even their breakup. It was not anything to her. She was 22 for goodness sakes --- dating a guy 10 years her senior. Sound familiar lol? 😅
FF to Min 2:16
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At the time of this interview above, it seems as though Gwyneth had already moved on to actor Ben Affleck lol, and even think she had learned to not talk publicly about her relationships anymore, it seems that her relationship with Ben still didn't work out, and Gwyneth didn't end up marrying any of those men lol. She ended up marrying and procreating with Coldplay singer Chris Martin lol 😆
See? This is what I mean.
Look, Kaia herself will go on to date PLENTY of other men (and maybe even women?) in Hollywood after she and Austin break up. This is why it's not great to idolize these relationships.
Lots of these Hollywood romances don't last. Kaia is only 22. More than likely, Austin isn't going to be the last man she dates, or her future husband. And Kaia is more than likely not the last woman Austin will date either.
I know shippers are salivating for Kaustin to get married or have kids, just like I'm sure the media and the public were wishing for Gwyneth and Brad to get married rofl 🤣
Fast forward, Gwyneth and Chris divorced and he has moved on. Brad has gone on to marry AND divorce two other actresses after Gwyneth lol. 😅
I hate to break it to Kaustin shippers, but this is just the way of the world -- especially the Hollywood world. So all these Kaustin shippers who are living vicariously through Kaia (for whatever reason), and obsessed with them as a couple and salivating at the mouth at any new "content", they are in for a rude awakening when they eventually break up lol. 🤭
That's why I don't ship or put too much stock in Hollywood dating romances. Even when couples get married, they can eventually break up. Lol look at Ben Affleck and JLo. 👀 Brad and Jennifer Aniston. Brad and Angie. Leo and whoever lol 😆 Will and Jada. Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale. Taylor Swift and just about every guy in Hollywood lol 😆
Stop putting your hope in these romances. It's okay to think a couple is cute or whatever, but being obsessed or actively shipping even a real-life couple is just a little weird imo. 🥴
You can feel free to disagree, but this is just my own personal feeling on the issue.
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My Love Mix-Up - Episode 1
Before anything else. To say I was skeptical would be an understatement. I am a massive fan of the japanese version. I have also read the manga. Both Aoki and Ida are on my top favourite ql characters list. And I have a weird a relationship with remakes of all kinds. I question the need for them a lot. I get too attached to the original work and have trouble separating that. This is not a ql exclusive thing btw and I know it's a me problem.
Just a couple of things that I've been thinking about.
Both @lurkingshan here and @bengiyo here have written already that the main roles seem to be playing against the actors strengths and I completely agree. I don't think Fourth excels at the physical comedy bits that are a big part of the character imo. I think Gemini might've done better here. Perhaps even better - @happypotato48 made a great observation here about how Aungpao would be such a good choice for this. I agree.
Gemini's not doing necessarily a bad job at playing Ida Kongthap although he's leaning too much into the confused look and I'm not a fan. That first reaction to the eraser read more aggressive than confused which I thought was weird but I guess he made up for that by looking confused the rest of the episode.
Also about the cat. I love cats. So I'm not at all bothered that Kongthap has a cat instead of a dog Mametaru, like it's about the sponsors I get it. But I wonder if they chose a white cat to match the one that can be seen lounging outside of school in Kieta Hatsukoi.
Cause if that is the case, it's great.
Moving on. The rhythm of this episode felt off to me though. Considering that they covered as much ground as the first episode of the JP version and still they added the sports, cat bits and the dinner date, it all felt a bit really rushed to me. Like they added stuff but at the same time it's like they skipped steps. atm can't really find a better way to explain it.
I like Matmi a lot. And I like her and Fourth together. I think that friendship could be well done here.
I'm not really sure about the dynamic between Atom and the bff, like I'm not hating it but also it seems forced somehow. I'm not sold on their particular chemistry yet.
There are a couple more things but it's the first episode and let's see if they improve on some of the editing choices.
Overall, this is better than the trailer advertised (which is not saying much because that trailer was a mess) and I'm gonna stick with it for now. I'm curious how much of the manga they will cover and after CM did some wonderful choices with adapting a japanese story with thai elements, I wonder how they will do this one. I wonder if the trip to the mountains will be the beach episode in this version.
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