#HOW MANY CONVENIENT PLOT REVEALS CAN HAPPEN IN ONE EPISODE

[jademight]

C3 Ep 32 is my villain origin story jesus fucking CHRIST

[misslaevna]

A little rant about episode 11

Just finished watching episode 11, and to be honest I am so, so disappointed. I'm not one to complain openly about something, but right now I feel like it's time to.

Spoilers below, also tw: personal opinion, if you can't take that, please do not read this.

Also I'd like to state that I like bsd. I love bsd, I wouldn't have a blog and a tiktok account dedicated to the series if I didn't - this isn't to hate on the series nor on Asagiri, just my two cents regarding the plot.

I have voiced my concerns to friends and mainly on discord how the current direction of the manga and the plot worries me, and I am beyond stunned that my biggest fear actually came true.

All the 'Fyodor is my comfort character' personal stuff aside, I feel like since the prison break arc started, the quality of the writing and the plot hit an all time low.

From my perspective, we got this huge buildup about Fyodor being this absolutely genius of a character. He is smart, he accounts for every possibility and there is no detail that he could possibly miss.

On the other hand, we have Dazai, who is, well, just as smart and perceptive as Fyodor.

So, we have two very smart characters up against each other, which I get why is challenging from a writing perspective, however (especially) since the intrudction of Time Cat Lady, I feel like the writing went from a carefully and logically built up plot to throwing in deus ex machinas and a looot of explanations afterwards to conveniently give the upper hand to Dazai.

I have no problem with Fyodor dying and Dazai emerging as winner (actually I kind of do because I would've loved to see the Agency or Atsushi or Ranpo take him down, but what else could have possibly happened anyways? Dazai is a fan favourite, we don't kill the money machine), however I have a bone to pick with the execution.

I think I would've loved to see a more carefully constructed plot where I can actually root for characters and actually worry for them. Asagiri pulled way too many 'oh they look dead but oh wait actually this and that happened which the reader wasn't aware of so they're not dead' shenanigas to the point where, in my opinion, as readers we simply just couldn't take any major character 'death' seriously - they'll somehow be resurrected anyways or it's gonna eventually be revealed that they weren't even dead to begin with.

And this was the case with Dazai and Chuuya here as well. To me this feels more like trying to put out a fire because of being cornered and having created characters so smart that they prove to be too difficult to write (at least in a pace fast enough for monthly chapter releases?) than actually putting effort into the plot.

All the 'well actually Chuuya wasn't even a vampire' bullshit to me was just way too fucking convenient. I'm happy that Chuuya is alive and well, but this too just served as a convenient plot point to give Dazai the upper hand while dumbing Fyodor significantly down.

I'm sorry but I didn't interpret Fyodor's character so careless (especially for someone who's very sensitive about his physical health) as to not take the antidote as soon as he got out. I didn't get to know Fyodor who would just fall for that trick Dazai pulled.

I really feel like we missed out a LOT on Fyodor with no backstory or whatsoever provided. His character stayed shallow and empty, and I'm actually really mad at Asagiri about this because he was supposed to be this very dangerous and complex villain but I feel like what we were teased with was just not delivered.

I really hope we get a more refined manga ending or that this will be better executed in the upcoming chapters.

Once again, I'm not mad about Fyodor dying, I'm rather disappointed by the way it was delivered. It feels rushed, it feels empty and it didn't live up to my expectations at all.

[pokelolmc]

Fixing TUE Part 2.5--How I'd change Dan's story.

This is my take on Dan's narrative as "Danny's evil future self" in my analysis of The Ultimate Enemy. You can find part two here:

(Part 2), Part 2.5, (Part 3)

The episode tried to play the "alternate timeline evil self" straight, but turning Dan into a Danny and Vlad fusion causes it to veer off the "Dan is Danny turned evil" mark and contradict the episode's previous setup.

I'll admit, I got a bit negative in the last post, so it's a good thing this is more about ideas for improvements.

The obvious choice is either: make Dan literally just Danny/Phantom as an adult, turned evil (to play into the original narrative) or keep the fusion aspect and subvert the narrative.

So, while it'd make for a much more straightfoward/correct "villain self" story if Dan really was just if "Danny woke up and chose violence", I think I'd stick with the fusion aspect. Because that leaves so many interesting questions to explore about identity and moral responsibility--and it'd create an interesting twist on the typical "alternative villain self" trope.

Let's say that the new version of the episode follows a similar portrayal of Dan to canon initially--"Dan is Danny's evil future self", "Danny is going to become Dan" (without Clockwork's commentary, since he knows better)--and Danny agonises over it (after he actually makes legitimate moral mistakes in the episode and feels guilty about it, like actively abusing his ghost powers to cheat the CAT).

Then he finds out how Dan was actually created, and it's treated like a plot twist. The final act reveals that Dan is a fusion of two ghost halves, and Danny's not responsible for Dan in the same way he thought he was. Alternate!Phantom is still a part of Dan, but Dan and Danny's dynamic is different now.

In-universe, maybe the reason Dan only identifies as Danny is he didn’t want to remember the truth of his creation, and went into complete denial. The fact that he was born from Danny and Vlad's deep grief/loss/loneliness/emotional pain was too much for him to confront. It was one massive, overwhelming, toxic concoction. So, he decided he’d rather forget it. Since Vlad’s human half was still alive somewhere and could meet him again (reminding him of his fusion nature), his mind could’ve chosen to disconnect from the Plasmius component of his identity.

Instead, he deluded himself into believing that he was just a Danny who turned evil after he lost his loved ones and “purified” himself of his painful human half, since Danny’s identity was the most convenient to appropriate (with his human half being dead,  and all) and the fusion woke up with Danny's logo.

Ironically, he didn’t actually lose his painful emotions. The halfa-splitting sorted deep emotional pain into the two ghost halves—based on the mental states/desires of the halfas when the separations occurred (eg., Danny’s desire to remove his pain). Rather than “ridding himself of emotions”, he became that negativity/pain incarnate, and it came out in the most destructive and monstrous way possible. After all, anger and wrath can come from a defence/vent for unacknowledged pain.

When Danny learns of Dan's backstory, he has to take a step back to process it all. He knows that Alternate!Vlad's too weak to kill him, even with the Ghost Gauntlets, so he reluctantly trusts his nemesis(...?) and makes a deal--if Vlad knows anything that could be used to stop Dan, give it over to Danny and he can go after Dan himself to undo everything in the past. No fight for the sake of a cutaway gag, here--we get some relationship development (on Danny's end, at least).

Vlad reluctantly agrees (he believes there's no way Danny can win, but he doesn't have much else of a choice--he's backed into a corner, and just thinks "What the hell? I've got nothing...")...and that triggers him to admit what happened ten years ago. Then he gives Danny the Ghost Gauntlets willingly and gets all serious:

"...Daniel?"

"...Yeah?"

"You have to promise me one thing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Just swear it!"

"O-okay, okay! Jeez! I swear. Happy?"

Vlad looks down pensively before his sunken, hollow eyes bury into Danny's with alarming clarity.

"If you fail...NEVER go to me. Leave Amity Park, move to another country, hide in the Ghost Zone...I don't care. Just...stay away from me, at all costs. If I chase you, run. Run like the world depends on it."

For someone who's never seen Vlad want nothing to do with him before...acting more like Danny's response to Vlad's advances in the past...it's bizarre. It prompts him to question what's really going on in Vlad's head in his own timeline, and what if there's something still in him like this?

So Dan's backstory actually affects the plot, and plays a role in the climax of the episode. And even though he doesn't show up in person, we address Vlad's responsibility in Dan's creation and he gets to contibute, willingly and meaningfully--by providing Danny with Dan's backstory (not just the Ghost Gauntlets Danny stole from him in combat).

It could come into play as a psychological weapon, to shatter Dan's denial— “I’m not you, Dan…I CREATED you!”, “You’re not me, you were MY MISTAKE!”, causing Dan to have a third-act breakdown (technically not main!Danny's mistake, since he's not Alternate!Danny, but he's putting it in the words Dan used in order to correct him). Then the Ghostly Wail can finish him off...or maybe he's strong enough that the Ghostly Wail doesn't end him, and it's the shock of the revelation that immobilises him enough for Danny to get him into the thermos.

[yurisorcerer]

What an incredibly frustrating piece of fiction this is shaping up to be.

Where do I even start.

OK, on the one hand, the needlessly esoteric and vibey storytelling is kind of a plus. That's not a thing many anime do anymore and I kind of miss it as someone who was first exposed to the medium in part by very high-concept sci-fi anime. Also the action is great; any time a fight happened I was at least consistently having a good time, the choreography and animation are really good and I absolutely love the combat theme and find it weird how rarely they use it. In general I love how the show looks and it will remain watching for its visuals alone even if nothing else comes together.

Which is good, because everything else is a huge mess at this point. Add it to the list of anime I regret giving the benefit of a doubt.

Everything Metallic Rouge does or tries to do is held back by the fact that Rouge Redstar herself has the morality of a gradeschooler. In the early episodes, this was kind of cute and it seemed like the show would be in large part about her shedding that idealism to become....I don't know, pick one; a hero to the Neans? Some kind of cosmic avenger bound to neither side in this conflict? At least someone who has SOME kind of convictions beyond "I hate fighting!" ?

Code Eve is here revealed to be the work of Rouge's mom(?), a biophysicist, and assistant to her surrogate father, named Dr. Eva Kristella. She is the one who installed the Asimov Code in Neans in the first place, which means that in this universe, all of the oppression that the already-wonky analogue for minorities face was the work of a single person. If you disregard any stab at symbolism here, this is a fine plot twist *in a vacuum*, but when put back in the context of the show it completely defangs anything Metallic Rouge has done or seemed like it wanted to do with this material. Systemic oppression happened because Dr. Kristella did an oopsie and ended up regretting it. That regret was what caused her to make Code Eve, which can somehow disable the Asimov Code, but she didn't activate it herself (maybe she couldn't? This isn't elaborated upon) and instead planted it within the "soul" of Rouge and the other Immortals.

It's kind of impressive how thoroughly that strips out any applicability. There is no way to read anything as subtext anymore, because this is purely a genre thing and has no connection to anything real. Any bite this series might've had is gone.

But OK, fine, let's ignore that and just take it as a weird sci fi thing. Surely at least Rouge recognizes that the Neans are being oppressed to shit is a bad thing and joins the resistance, right? Especially now that Naomi has betrayed her (a plot twist that comes out of fucking nowhere btw) and revealed her true colors? Nope! A decent chunk of episode 8 is taken up by mealy-mouthed moralizing more or less dismissing the Neans' situation because, well, The Immortals Are Violent, so it's impossible to say if they're justified or not. Gene, Rouge's brother, says something to the effect of this not being "the right time" to liberate the Neans and that the inevitable violence of a revolution would only make things worse for them. I'm not crazy for reading this as complete fucking lib shit (a term I don't use lightly), am I? The show seems dead-set on playing Rouge's naivete as something admirable instead of something deeply offputting and inappropriate to the situations she finds herself in.

Like, I'm being A LITTLE uncharitable but honestly not particularly so? I'm mostly just confused, like, what even is the point of any of this? A thing I suppose I had conveniently forgotten about some of those sci-fi shows I mentioned in the opening paragraph is that they're occasionally not actually about much. Sure, the GOOD ones are, but there are plenty that have been mostly forgotten because they don't use the genre to do anything or say anything of note. Metallic Rouge's mix of aesthetics is still interesting---all of the Immortals look really cool, for example---but I would be VERY surprised at this point if the series pulled anything coherent together in its last four episodes.

Then again, who knows, I thought I had this show figured out once before and then episode 5 happened, so honestly who can say. Maybe it WILL find some way to justify its milquetoast politics and Toynbee Tiles-ass worldbuilding in a way that's actually coherent and interesting. I really doubt it, though.

The worst part is that through all of this I STILL don't actually think the show is outright bad. It has enough going for it that I'm going to watch the remaining third of the series and I will probably not completely hate those 2ish hours of remaining story, but it has JUST enough going on that the ways in which its deficient are hugely frustrating instead of being the kind of minor flaw that it's easy to brush off.

At this point my favorite character is probably Cyan, who shows up barely-foreshadowed in these episodes to try to kill Rouge for no obvious reason, but she has a fun design and a clear motive, so that makes her easy to root for, in my book.

[demonslayedher]

Things that FIRST FORM: THUNDERCLAP AND FLASHed their way through my mind while watching this episode:

--First things first: I'm so glad I like Inosuke now because I am enjoying this so, so, so, so, so much more than the first time I watched this. That first time, Inosuke was a tolerable presence by this point, but now I'm smiling and giggling at every little thing. I love how he pants and insists he's fine, reminding Tanjiro that anything Tanjiro can do he can do better, even though his eyes are probably rolling back in his head with how much blood he's lost. I love how his "hhhr?" "HHHR!" verbalizations and I wish I could capture them better in fanfic. Also, there was more of this in previous episodes, but the mask covers every range of emotion and it is amazing how expressive dead boar eyes can be.

--And now that I love Inosuke and what he brings out in Tanjiro, it's so much fun to appreciate that all over again. But something I've always loved because it feels hilarious to me (perhaps more so in Japanese)?

Tanjiro: You should descend the mountain.

Inosuke: Hhhr?

Tanjiro: You. Mountain. Go down it.

Like, he understood the wording ("gezan"), you didn't need to translate into simpler words as if he's not a native speaker("yama orite")! But Tanjiro grades his language like that with Inosuke just in case. It gives Inosuke double the reason to be offended. Inosuke knows some big words, after all! He learned Japanese by listening to Hyakuninisshu poems read to him!!

--Alright, now on to Zenitsu.

--My goodness, this episode.

--This was the episode that locked me in as a Zenitsu fan.

--On the first watch, I had already warmed up to him a lot by this point and enjoyed most of his screen time, though I was still annoyed by his constantly doing things as though to make me dislike him again. But then we get slammed with character depth like this, and I had to send live reactions to a friend for I just couldn't contain my feelings. There was a lot of typing things like, "BAAAABBBBBYYY!!!! NOOO!!!!!" once he was lying up on the roof and bleeding with no idea how amazing he'd just been. I was very tempted to watch the next episode to see how he'd be alright (and I suspected it would be because Shinobu was a healer) but my friend knows how weak I am to cliff hangers so she dissuaded me since I still had to go to work. If memory serves me correct, I watched this episode twice before moving on.

--Granted, it's not a perfect watch... ha. Watch. That's my problem with this episode, I've always been rubbed the wrong way by gratuitous explanations of stuff like poison taking effect for the sake of dramatic build-up, it comes off as a very childish form of storytelling. I find myself forgiving of that now, like how I forgive so many other overly convenient plot devices too. If anything, it reveals more about Brother Spider's sadistic character. Maybe the watch was leftover from his human days, which is interesting given how much humanity he's happily given up; he's one of the less humanoid demons in this whole series. And, with how much he enjoys chatting his victims up, I assume this is how he curiously learned about the effects of the poison, a gift he got from Rui as opposed to something he could had created himself. Rather than a gift, it's like a toy to him. He probably started keeping time of when certain effects kicked in because it was a fun hobby, and added to how he could torment each new spider. Seeing as they lose their minds once they become spider slaves, that's probably leaves him no one to talk to, which is why he takes so much pleasure in every new victim for as long as they'll last him.

--I'll bet Brother Spider and Akaza would get along

--Oh, no, wait, poison.

--That being said, for as cocky as he is, it's very fun to see him thrown off by Zenitsu's unexpected behavior. It's intriguing when things don't go his way, as he's seen it happens so predictably so many times.

--And dang it, it does help us appreciate how blithe Zenitsu is to avoid an attack in the air and stuff like that, and it drives home the shamefulness of a Corp swordsman having only a single technique. Even demons know that makes Zenitsu kind of pathetic, of course Zenitsu would be rightfully ashamed to call himself a Thunder Breath user if he can only use one sixth of the style.

--Ok but like, THE BANTER IS FUN, OKAY, in this perilous situation in which Zenitsu is rightfully freaked out, the fact that he yells things like "I'm not talking to you" is hilarious.

--But, with Zenitsu being such a good gap moe character, I love how he brings us right back to the seriousness of his situation.

--We all know how cool Zenitsu is when he fights in this and how epic the music was, and how iconic THUNDERCLAP AND FLASH became, and that bounce off the spider threads? CHEF'S KISS, MY GOSH, YES, and totally unnecessary moonlight shot because if the moon were that big and close we'd all be dead, yes, yes, right, so I'm going to skip all that since we all know it and focus on a few character details.

--None of this was about wanting girls specifically to like him, he wants anyone, all kinds of people to like him, find him useful, find him capable, just not to give up on him. If he had found security in parents or siblings or friends, he probably wouldn't had been so desperate for connection and so easily duped by all those girls whom he wanted so badly to put some faith in when it seemed someone finally liked him.

--He thinks so highly of Jiichan because despite how rough of a teacher he was, he was the first person to not only think highly of Zenitsu, but to think anything of him.

--Meanwhile, the exchange with Kaigaku comes to mind because Kaigaku said things that Zenitsu, at some level, already believes about himself. He knows he's dirt, but even as dirt, he deserves some credit for doing his best to be more than that! I think Zenitsu's thinking so lowly of himself is part of why we see in Mugen Ressha that's got a pitch black inner consciousness, and in the flashbacks in this episode, there is a lot of use of pitch black backgrounds and negative space.

--All this, while Zenitsu is wowing us in his sleep.

--He's got no idea, look at him so down on himself while he's being amazing.

--And, despite the shame in only being able to do one thing, "You Must Master A Single Thing" is such a good spin on that (and it was on a Zenitsu sweatshirt and I kind really wanted that sweatshirt). It's such a fun contrast with Tanjiro after all the displays of the merits of Water Breath adapting to any situation.

--I love the trembling fingertips, I guess Brother Spider's gratuitous explanation really does help add to the "wow, look at Zenitsu's, he's amazing" effect.

--THIS WHOLE EPISODE IS GRATUITOUS

--GRATUITOUS THUNDER BREATH, GRATUITOUS INNER MONOLOGUE, GRATUITOUS BACKGROUND STORY, GRATUITOUS SPIDERS, GRATUITOUS BACKGROUND MUSIC, GRATUITOUS FLASHING LIGHTS, GRATUITOUS DRAMA EVERYWHERE

--And I am grateful for it

--One thing I find kinda funny is that while we see the dramatic effects of Zenitsu's attacks and how the air changes around him, in-universe, none of those Breath effects are actually happening. When we see Zenitsu's eyes go bright as though he is possessed by gods by way of lightning, demons just see the whites of his eyes because they're rolled back in his head while he's asleep.

[festeringfae]

The dual settings of Yellowjackets really highlight for me how even well-written media centered on depicting women as complex, multifaceted people struggle with imagining or depicting scenarios where women's emotional struggles are not based on their relationship to men.

In the comic that inspired the Bechdel-Wallace test, Wallace's expy specifies that the last movie she was able to see was Aliens. That means, the last circumstance she knows of where a movie believed it was plausible that two named women would talk about something other than a man is a situation as dire-- and unrelatable-- as being attacked by an intergalactic space monster. In Yellowjackets, it takes an all-girls team, a plane crash, AND a supernatural threat to provide enough justification to imagine interpersonal dynamics between girls that don't solely revolve around boys.

And even then, when the girls become women in the "normal" world of 2021, the show seems unable to think of ways to move the narrative forward or progress the women's characterization without disproportionate focus on their relationships with men.

Obviously, many women have multiple, very important relationships with men in their lives. I have no issue with depicting that, and Yellowjackets depicts it in more honest and dynamic ways than most other media. That's why I'm using it to make my point: even with the best, this still happens. And even as someone annoyed by it, it still takes me one episode into season 2 to even notice it.

At the beginning of season 1, the first time we meet Natalie, she reveals that she thinks the motivation behind her self-destructive tendencies is that when she left the wilderness, she "lost her purpose," and implies that she thinks she's found it again. Based on the context we're given, we can perhaps assume this purpose is to hunt down whoever sent her the threatening postcard. Which, yes, she does focus on doing for the rest of the season-- but that purpose becomes convoluted very quickly with her mourning & needing to know what happened to Travis. That's a real, frequently occurring dynamic outside of fiction, and it really is related to the overall plot, so I don't mind it much. I mind goth freak Kevin Tan is conveniently a cop, but not much more, and like some parts of it for similar reasons related to exploring the complex messiness of grief. I mention these instances primarily because of their small piece of an overall pattern.

A pattern maybe best exemplified with Shauna. Now, Shauna's narrative subverts and inverts a lot of sexist tropes, and I give credit to it for that. A teen boy is given next to no personality because he exists only as a catalyst to analyze the relationship between a friendship between two girls. A manic pixie boy is fridged by Shauna for her womanpain and to progress her narrative. Her husband actually loves her despite her moral depravity. I love all that!

But when I look at the Adam arc from the perspective of someone who doesn't know what greater purpose it might serve in the narrative beyond S2E1, it's inclusion and construction really makes me marvel at how easily we, as audience members, are limited in imaging women having relationships outside of men. Because while yes, Jeff dealing with loan sharks is played for laughs, and realism is not an innate virtue in entertainment (especially in fantasy/horror)...if it turns out the only function of Adam's existence was to have Shauna accidentally murder someone/create further distance between her and Callie, would it not make more sense for that character to be...literally anyone besides a guy weirdly unfazed by being rear-ended, who inexplicably has no interest in promoting the art he rents an entire studio to regularly create, and who also doesn't come up on Google as a staff member at an autoshop for some reason?

I'm not trying to rewrite the show, but go with me for a minute here: why was I, as an audience member, willing to suspend my disbelief for all of that at the end of last season, even as I raised an eyebrow at it seeming a bit unnecessarily convoluted? Why did the writers imagination go to money troubles= mob= misunderstanding= deus ex machina boyfriend = callie strain + stabbing the wrong person, before it went to money troubles= moving back in with in-laws= callie strain + stabbing the wrong person?

Again, I'm not trying to rewrite the show, and I think the psychosexual element of young Shauna/Jeff/Jackie completely justifies the narrative wanting to give her an affair outside of that dynamic to explore. My point of contention is mostly with myself, and a larger pattern in media. How many shows and movies would sooner introduce loan sharks & manic pixie deus ex machinas before it considered a subplot entirely focused on the dynamic between a mother or mother-and-law and a 40-something daughter or daughter in-law, and how it impacts their respective relationships with a teenage [grand]daughter? Why did "thinking the judgmental, overbearing old lady whose house you live in might have stolen your journals & snitched to the cops, but turns out she didn't so you killed her for nothing & yr husband and daughter are gonna find out" not occur to me as an alternative possibility for the length of the entire season break?

Moreover, why is every conflict within Taissa and Simone's marriage centered around Sammy, with little to no commentary about their relationship outside of motherhood and the campaign? I don't think Sammy's gender is relevant here-- but Simone's is. While I don't believe it makes sense the show to give Simone POV scenes (although, credit where due, it does in the S1 finale), none of her scenes with Taissa characterize her outside of her roles as The Good Wife or The Good Mother. The most Taissa has to say about Simone in a confessional manner to Shauna is that she lacks the It Factor of Van-- characterization as vague as it is disposable. There's no divorcing this dynamic with Simone from the show's anti-Black colorism (the only other deep-skinned Black woman or girl we've seen is a JV whose name I can't recall and who I didn't see in the cabin during S2E1). It must be acknowledge that when media asks, "who can be the Black Best Friend to a Black Girl?", the answer a lot of media comes up with is "an even darker girl" (see also: JV and young Taissa). That being said, I think this dynamic exists in tandem with Simone and Taissa being More Than Friends. Since Simone can't know about the details of the plane crash or the supernatural elements going on, the writers would have to actually consider what two adult Black women who don't appear to have any men in their professional or personal lives talk about. The only answers we are given is: child, and a campaign that, by definition, has only been going on for much less time than their relationship. What else exists between them? We don't know, and my point is, it's horrifying how infrequently it seems to occur to people to ask. We know Jeff sells sofas and likes Sports Center. We don't even know what kind of apology present Simone would like, because it doesn't even occur to either Taissa or the writers to bring her one along with Sammy's.

Finally, Misty. If you've read this far, 1) thank you, holy crap, and 2) you might be thinking "what about Misty! Adult Misty's narrative isn't tied to any man!" And you're right, no matter what ends up happening with Elijah Wood's character down the line (although I will admit to a bit of anticipatory side-eyeing.) I have no issue so far with the Young Misty and Coach Ben stuff in terms of her focusing on him, and I'm not sure if Adult Misty ever says more than 2 lines to a man in season 1. But frankly, while I don't think this specific show should play this specific character any differently, there IS a broad pattern, I think, of shows looking at an adult, single woman with no kids, and deciding that her plotline therefore must be that she's ✨Crazy✨ in a quirky, endearing way that is as intentionally ironic as it is legitimately frightening. There is a vague backstory to provide even vaguer explanation for Why She's Like This, but never anything concrete or broad enough where you could picture years of therapy having any kind of effect. She's the Manic Pixie Dream Girl (Dark Reprise).

Again, I'm saying none of this to shit on Yellowjackets, or even ask them to change anything (except the colorist misogynoir: That's Gotta Go.) What I'm wondering is, if it takes a show as good at portraying women and girls as Yellowjackets is to get me to even CONSIDER such basic possibilities-- what would TV and film look like if less fantasy-based projects also considered exploring the POV of women over age 30, who talk to other women over age 30, about their relationship with each other?

[hughungrybear]

Me watching Laws of Attraction Ep. 7:

1. The show is trying to fool the audience into thinking that Charn will somehow betray Tin. Well, as an expert watcher of Asian dramas, they certainly can't fool me 😂😂😂 I have seen this type of plot in too many lakorns lol

2. Oh, so that's what happened. Baby girl, you should have kept quiet or played along with Thattep until you have reached safety 😭😭😭

3. Okay, now it makes sense why he needed Tanthai to take the fall. But, why didn't he thought of making up a story that it was carjacked? After all, that's the story they ended up with the dead gardener. There was no need to involve Tanthai at all 🤬🤬🤬🤬

4. I guess this episode aims to answer all the questions 😂 I was actually wondering how they knew about the doll.

5. WAAAAAAAIIIIIT UUUUUPPPPP!!!!! I did not missed a single episode. How come Thee and Tan ended up shirtless and snuggling together in bed??? How the eff did that happened and how did I missed it? 😭😭😭😭

6. Oh, look. It's Wit. Why are you angry at Charn? He wasn't the one who fired you. The fvck.

7. At this point, I'm beginning to believe that Charn is bulletproof 😂😂😂😂

8. I thought it was Charn's old lover stalking him. Also, pretty convenient that the boy has a police siren for a ring tone 😅😅😅

9. I do hope that when Charn started his revenge on the village, only the rotten ones were left since the boy revealed that the good ones were also killed.

10. All of that (future) heartache for a can of coffee 😭😭😭😭

11. Oooh, are we meeting the "haunted and horny night" Navin, at last? <after fifteen seconds and the misspelt name tattoo 😂😂😂> Oooof. I smell jealousy 🎶🎶🎶

12. TWENTY???? TWENTY EXES??? Charn, you slut 😂😂😂😂

13. Well, at least Tin is much smarter than the haunted and horny night Navin lol. Oooof and better in bed too (according to Charn lol)

14. Why are you talking like you are about to die, Charn? Why do I feel like Charn's deal with Navin is to leave Tin with the latter to protect while Charn sacrifices himself to Thattep???

15. <after 5 seconds> Handcuffs. I don't think Charn is in the mood for some BDSM. 😑😑😑

16. Oh. My. God. Tan, you dumbass. Why did you post your sweet moments with Thee in IG???? At the very least, you should have set your profile in private 😭😭😭

17. Wait, Tan is really his son? I thought Tanthai was adopted. But then again, Thattep is also stupid. Your beloved wife died for that son, you think your wife is going to forgive you for abusing Tan? The fvck. Well, at least Thattep didn't killed Thee yet.

18. Oooh. Navin is pretty efficient. He managed to catch Wit lol. However, the new Charn forgives him. Lucky Wit. Otherwise, I don't think Navin will show mercy - the man is kinda mental 😅😅

19. Navin just plunges the dagger right into Tin's heart. 😔😔😔

20. This series is really shaped like the most traditional Thai lakorn 😐😐😐😐 Only difference is that the leads are gay 😅

Can't believe I'm almost at the finish line. Still, I don't know how Navin can keep Tin for two days. Also, why two days???

[currently-0bsessed]

Sooooo… miraculous tales of ladybug and cat noir got its season 5 finale 👏…. I have so SO SO many problems with it. Honestly it was one of the worst things I have ever watched.

//////THIS PROBLEM LIST WILL CONTAIN MEGAkuma SPOILERS//////

1. Starting from the beginning of conformation. Adrien and Kagami are still stuck. Dearest GABY decides to initiate his spooky secret plan that he has been apparently cooking up. This plan is a big problem because the only thing that the viewers knew about this plan was about making Adrien and Kagami a couple. So, this is OUT OF NOWHERE.

2. Ok, dreams. Cool, nice, awesome. THAT COME OUT OF NOWHERE!!!!!!!!! Another problem with the dreams is that Adrien dreams of Chat Blanc which he should NOT KNOW OF. Those timelines were destroyed by ladybug??? Without Adrien knowing either!

3. Adrien did not even try to escape…. Plagg suggested ways and nothing… He just gave the ring back. Which was just an excuse for him not to be in the big fight.

Time for Marinette’s POV. She wakes up and runs to go “save” Adrien. Great. Weird but great. Things happen and she becomes Ladybug to find Natalie because “Adrien said she was always nice to him” Natalie is about to freaking die and attempts to kill gabby to free Adrien. Thank you queen. But it fails like always because gabby is scum. Marinette is conveniently in Natalie’s room and watches as gabby de-transforms.

4. HOW CONVENIENT! Anyway it doesn’t matter because this show is built on conveniences. She now knows HM is gabby. SHE SHOULD TELL SOMEBODY!?!?!? RUN MAYBE AND TELL THE WORLD?!?!?!? THEY STILL BELIEVE YOU AT THIS POINT.

She is trapped in the Agreste mansion. Gabby’s plan is in full swing. She de-transforms and Plagg finds her and gives her the ring but then OH NO HM finds her and now knows Marinette is Ladybug.

5. GABBY YOU HAVE THE POWERS OF ALMOST EVERY SINGLE MIRACULOUS! STING HER YOU CAN GRAB HER ARM DO IT NOWWWW

Marinette transforms into bug noire god.

6. I’m going to be real I seriously thought before the finale that Tikki and Plagg couldn’t be unified because that was how the wish was granted… and I thought that because… THAT IS WHAT THEY SHOW IN THE EPISODE DEFLAGRATION WHY WOULDN’T GABBY SUMMON GIMMI INSTEAD OF TRYING TO UNIFY TIKKI AND PLAGG!?!?!???!?! I know why… BECAUSE THAT IS HOW IT WAS BEFORE!!!!!! WHY THE HELL WOULD MASTER FU NOT JUST GIVE MARINETTE BOTH TIKKI AND PLAGG IF SHE CAN JUST USE BOTH HERSELF!?!?

Next episode: Re-creation this one is a doozy

We start where we left off, God and HM are fighting now.

7. Ahm Mistake me if I’m wrong but ISNT THE FUSION OF TIKKI AND PLAGG SUPPOSED TO BE ALL POWERFUL??? SHE CAN ERASE HIM FROM EXISTENCE. But no. God is nerfed.

Gabby and Marinette know each others identity’s. Marinette breaks the floor revealing Emilie. She’s shocked and weirded out. Continuing to fight Marinette is able to corner Gabby and tosses the butterfly miraculous down the stinky poop water.

8. GABBY DOESNT USE ANY OF THE OTHER MIRACULOUSES WHEN HE IS CAUGHT. HE COULD HAVE EASILY THOUGHT TO USE SECOND CHANCE IN A TIME LIKE THIS AND NO DONT TELL ME THAT “second chance doesn’t work on ladybug” HE HAS THE KNOWLEDGE THAT SHE IS MARINETTE NOW HE SHOULD’VE SECOND CHANCED BACK TO WHEN HE STARTED HIS PLAN. BIG CONVENIENCE HUH MARINETTE!?!?

Gabby starts to break down and Marinette starts to pity him.

9. WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT MARINETTE THIS GUYS HAS KILLED PEOPLE AND IS ABUSIVE IT DOESNT MATTER IF HE IS GOING TO DIE KILL HIM!!!!!! AT LEAST TAKE THE MIRACULOUS!

She de-transforms in hopes that she will be able to fix things with his help… IT DOESN’T WORK GABBY STINGS HER AND TAKES HER MIRACULOUS. He then asks Tikki and Plagg to reveal themselves and they become ethereal beings.

10. As sick as hell the character designs for the ethereals but IT MAKES NO SENSE. THIS PLOT-LINE HAS NEVER BEEN BROUGHT UP THIS WAS MADE UP ON THE SPOT BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO MAKE MARINETTE BECOME GOD.

Tikki and Plagg kiss?? become Gimmi…

11. … bro… Gimmi. Really. You named the all powerful god of reality of what there once was, is and will be, the wish granting deity, the name Gimmi. Like “Gimmi dat” holy….

Gimmi is cute. Marinette is unfrozen to bear witness to Gabby being stupid. Also Lila is there so…. Gimmi sees into Gabby’s soul or smg and he and Emilie are hugging in the afterlife, I think.

12. What even is happening bro my brain is dead. Wtf

We come back to a beautiful world where people are more happy than the real world and the child abuser Gabby has a statue.

13. OH GOD A CHILD ABUSER HAS A STATUE AND PEOPLE THINK HE WAS A GOOD GUY!?!?! ALSO NATALIE IS HEALTHY AND EMILIE IS ALIVE WHO COULD ACTUALLY BE AMILIE AND ADRIEN DOESNT HATE HIS DAD ANYMORE.

Finally, we see Adrien and Marinette Kiss. And Lila has the butterfly miraculous and is scared of a big portal thing with electricity.

Couple simple questions…

Is this a new reality where Emilie never died and Adrien had both parents? Seems unlikely because the news anchor is telling us the statue for Gabby is being made because he stopped HM which wouldn’t be HM if Gabby had Emilie.

This is most likely a reality where Gabby wished for Natalie to be better and the Emilie we see it actually Amilie. Good, cool, awesome, I’m ok with that, sort of.

So, what was the deal with Adrien, Kagami, and Felix being Senti-monsters thing. That went absolutely nowhere in the season finale. Argos is simply allowed to be a part of the team now… okay… Everything that they have been building up really crashed into the ground. I mean that season’s Ladybug and Chat Noire we’re becoming more like team mates than Ladybug being the leader. But now Adrien doesn’t even get to know anything? Even though this is his whole life we’re talking about? Adrien gets to know nothing and Marinette is god. I was so excited for Adrien to finally see what his father is but no…

In conclusion, this finale was 3/10 would watch again. I might add more later but I doubt my brain can handle any more of this crap. 🦂

[curiosity-killed]

Would love to hear your thoughts on atfots… the plot really surprised me given how the last book ended but overall it felt like a mixed bag to me

*cradles ur face tenderly in my hands* babycakes u have opened a can of worms

I'm not even going to pretend that this will be short or coherent so tl;dr: if I'm looking for a fun AU, I turn to ATFOTS; if I'm looking for canon compliant, meaningful sequels to HOTE, I turn to fanfiction.

General disclaimer that here be spoilers for ATFOTS and that while I don't intend this to be lambasting ATFOTS by any means, it's not the most positive review. So like, don't read below if you a) want to avoid spoilers or b) enjoyed the book, probably?

I think there are roughly 2 main categories of critique I have for ATFOTS, with a third just being the catchall for anything I miss and/or me yelling about the things that matter most to me lol so:

I. Sequel Sins

I am generally not a fan of sequels primarily because I think they tend to fall into a lot of similar traps such as overexplaining, inconsistent characterization, and undermining their own themes. This may be a product of growing up in love with sprawling series that all wound up basically having the same formula. ANYWAY.

Overexplaining: ATFOTS starts off by reintroducing Cliopher Mdang. My good sir. The POV character for the other doorstopper novel that came before (& which I love). I get the desire to make a sequel accessible to people who haven't read the first book but ATFOTS feels consistently like it's holding your hand very gently and bending down to make sure you're getting its full sincere eye contact and talking very slowly. I don't have a copy of the book on me to pull quotes, but it's especially flagrant in the first couple chapters.

Inconsistent characterization: WHOO BOY. Cliopher is so old! No he's young again! Now he's middle-aged! I have mixed feelings on the characterization overall—Rodin, for instance, came a bit out of left field—and most of it comes down to the way I loved the characters in HOTE and then in ATFOTS they all felt...a bit flatter and a bit caricaturized and a bit less true.

Undermining themes: The character thing comes in hard here IMO. One of the major threads of HOTE is Kip shaping his own path of success and receiving acknowledgment from his loved ones for his unique, uncommon route. And then ATFOTS comes in and is like ACTUALLY we're going to overwrite that with this GRAND and MYTHOLOGICAL story that also conveniently follows closely the story that will be familiar to your family. This isn't to say there isn't value in that type of story, but it definitely cheapens (imo) the thematic value of HOTE. And this is true for...kind of a lot of the stories' themes. ATFOTS seems to want to be "HOTE themes but bigger and better" and in doing so, kind of falls flat in delivery imo.

II. ATFOTS-Specific Pro/Con

Alright now onto a little more specific issues. This will be brief bc I think they're pretty self-explanatory lol

Con: Overall, I think ATFOTS tries to do too many things. I love a good book with many plotlines (see: erha my beloved) but ATFOTS' structure felt borderline episodic rather than building together into a satisfying reveal/culmination.

Pro: I'll get into Kip's sexuality below but do love the concept of fanoa

Con: It felt like a lot of tidbits of "oh ACTUALLY this was happening all along in HOTE I just didn't mention it"—see the comment that started this all around humming Aurora—in a way that felt less like a delightful little revelation and more like VG retroactively trying to incorporate things she hadn't decided on till that moment. Also feel this way about Ludvic's fam reveal but I'll get into that below.

Pro/Con: While I think the writing structure was a little tighter than HOTE (I'm sorry, I love Kip and I love HOTE but there were like 200 pages of having the same conversation over again) (maybe not actually 200. possibly 20. still.), girlie REALLY needed a copy edit. Like. I will copy edit ur book Ms. Goddard for u (I am cheap) but please let me fix the errors.

III. Getting My Grubby Little Gay Hands All Over this Book

aka personal preference shit that is entirely my opinion without critique for the writing quality but nonetheless are part of my critique

I love HOTE and I love HOTE principally for three four main categories: The Household (and Them), civil service, being The One Who Left, and ASEXUALITY BABEY. There are other aspects I love, of course, but these are kind of the big non-negotiables for me and four that ATFOTS kinda...did dirty imo.

In terms of the Household, HOTE gave us these middle-aged dudes who are pretty much defined and fulfilled by their dedication to their job to the exclusion of most other things. Kip has family but it's not family that really understands him most of the time and it's family that is very far away (*this will come up again). The rest of them don't have family outside of the household. They are very sincerely found/forced thru work family in a way that feels both very natural and blessedly free of nuclearization. They love each other and understand each other** in a way that none of them really have access to outside of this group.

And then ATFOTS (and admittedly RPA) comes along and is like "Ludvic has a dad! Conju's sister and boytoy are alive! Rodin has a devoted penpal!" in a way that feels a BIT like pairing off everyone so that the main couple can be together. Which like. I love Kip/Fitzroy, don't get me wrong, but I love the household and their weirdly intimate and formal and seemingly smooth as clockwork but internally messy vibe. I was so looking forward to reading about the retirement house and how that unspools (or at least thinking a lot about it in the way of the blorbo in the microwave) before ATFOTS.

So much of the heart of HOTE is the idea of community and connection (or isolation) and ATFOTS mostly veers away from that both thru the pairing off and through the things like Kip's solo adventures. It also, in some ways, sort of undermines some of the characters' core traits, such as Ludvic's devotion. Ludvic being a stout, unflinching companion for HR because he believes in him and sees the true man behind the Serenity is imo very different from Ludvic being an unflagging companion because he views HR as his uncle. Idk about y'all but family duty and personal devotion from choice are two different things in my experience.

On their own, they aren't bad but they are disappointing when compared to the aspects of HOTE I loved and would have hoped to see expanded upon in the sequel.

Kip's experience in civil service is also really important to me (literally made me more patient and cheerful at work when I was actively envisioning setting a plague of frogs loose upon my supervisor's house so like. Significant Importance to Me.)! This will not be articulate (I've legit been starting and deleting this sentence for like 5 min) bc it's very near and dear to my heart but the ideas of a) choosing to take a harder path, that is outside your community/family's conception of "normal" because you believe it is good and worthy, b) trying to improve a shitty system because you believe it can be made to better serve the people, and c) learning from both systems—are! just! very important to me okay. And not something I see a lot in fiction, but especially not in my most beloved of monstrously large fantasy novels.

And then ATFOTS is just JK time for an epic fantasy romp! and that's cool but that's not why I loved the first book! that's not the right tone at all!!! if i wanted an epic fantasy romp I would pick up Iron Widow but I wanted the bureaucracy D: (shoutout to ao3 user alfgifu for giving me the bureaucracy and also sorry for all the nonsense comments)

This is also super closely tied to Being the One Who Left tbh because well. Me. But one of the core elements of HOTE—the part that actually first snagged me and pulled my attention in—is that Kip is the one who left his community behind for no good reason to chase a weird dream instead of settling down and following the normal path to success.

*eyeing my high school classmates who are all settled down with 2.5 kids and starting photography businesses on the side while living within 20 minutes of where they grew up* Huh I Wonder Why This is Relatable

At the heart of being the one who left is this tug between guilt and desire/love/duty/curiosity/whatever pull factor. In HOTE, Kip is pushed to stay home by his duty to his community, his love of his family, and his family's own pressure. He's pulled to stay in the service by his duty to the world/government, his love of his found family, and by the urge to do more, to make things better as much as he can. In both places, he's not fully understood and when he's in either location, he misses the other. The importance is the tug, the dual identity, the sense of always being partially understood and partially misunderstood in different ways depending on the ground you're standing on. I could...very literally, write essays on each of these last items but I am trying to wrap it up bc I should actually be coding rn whoops

ATFOTS blots this out by transforming his Solaara experience into, basically, Just A Job. A job he cares about and can be proud of, sure, but just the job. It really...kind of aggressively, ignores the relationships and life Kip has made there in favor of focusing solely on this glorious return to home while conveniently giving everyone else people to be with instead of the household. which I'm sure my mom would like but ANYWAY

and now, last but decidedly not least OR clearest *drum roll pls* ASEXUALITY BABEY

okay so I will caveat this by saying different rep serves different people, there are infinitely many ways to be asexual, etc etc that all being said ATFOTS' handling of Kip's sexuality just left me a little...dissatisfied? And tbh I struggle to articulate it because I feel like it probably comes down to "this isn't the rep I would like but I can see where it's meaningful to others."

Like I can justify it—a lifelong commitment as fanoa is described is different than a romantic or sexual relationship, it's entirely fair to have a character want that commitment without risking it by mixing in romance/etc., it's good to have a devoted and platonic relationship at the core where normally a (straight) romantic/sexual relationship would be

and yet. I caught myself making faces at the book half the time when dealing with their relationship. Some of it feels a little like trying to Do All The Rep in one go—Kip's tingly fuzzy feelings and (mostly) lack of romantic attraction, neutrality around sex and aversion to sex in this relationship—in a way that almost definitely describes actual humans out in the world but feels a little...off in a fictional character? My general wish for asexual characters is getting to be in devoted relationships where the allosexual partner(s) is willing to not have sex and still be committed but I caught myself being like "y'all just fuck already" in ATFOTS which is uhhhh not the norm

tbf my ideal Kip/Fitzroy retirement relationship is basically just them (and the household) all living together and everyone on the outside kind of being ???? is it a sex thing???? while they contentedly carve out their own life yet again but this time with more touch and laughter and song.

Actually having gotten to this point, I feel like my main sticking point with ATFOTS sexuality is that Sex Is A Big Thing in the book while never being super effectively resolved imo and also not actually being a big thing to the characters in HOTE. Like one of these dudes has been celibate for 1000 years or so and another one has had like 3 brief lovers across the same amount of time. I think there are some other things we could focus on here

[ecargmura]

Astro Note Episode 2 Review - Somewhere In The Astro Lodge

More of Mira’s backstory is revealed. Not only is she from the Planet Wid, but she is also the princess of the planet. The only way to succeed the throne and to become Queen is to find a key that’s been hidden in a faraway planet, which is Earth. Mira hiding her spaceship in a field of Maneki Neko and disguising it as a huge one is actually brilliant in detail. I also love how the Maison Ikkoku similarities are actually mentioned in-story as Mira models her Earth disguise as the main character of the in-universe version “Melon Igyoku”. Naosuke’s disguise is to be an actual dog, but he’s actually a walking, talking alien that just happens to look like a poodle. He even has his own spacesuit!

While Mira’s main goal is to find a key, she seems to enjoy her life on Earth and doesn’t seem too keen on returning and is sending video diaries to her mother just to let her know she’s doing fine. I do feel like coming to Earth to find the key and it happens to be somewhere in Astro Lodge feels a bit too convenient, but hey, the plot has to move somehow. There’s also a possible plot point with the previous proprietor being a Wid, but that’s an assumption for now.

There are enemy aliens targeting Mira and Naosuke called Hubs. They can transform into mechanical objects like roombas and mechanical pelicans. I thought Teruko was scheming something since the roomba bot had pink hair and pigtails, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.

Takumi, on the other hand, feels devastated that Mira could be a widow, but he doesn’t seem to keen on giving up just yet. While he looks for a job, he meets a rather gossipy lady who’s practically the star of the episode. I forgot her name, but she’s voiced by Kujira. She saw Takumi and Mira walking and shopping together before, so she sort of ships them? Takumi’s main goal in this story is to find a job and to be Mira’s boyfriend, so I do wonder how long it’ll take for both to happen. He’s 25 but he sort of behaves a bit immaturely. Despite that, the comedy was pretty hilarious as he has so many vivid expressions.

The scene where they get trapped in the basement with no light was rather abruptly scary, but it was a nice moment for the two. Mira, in a drunken state due to umeshu, tells Takumi she’s been anticipating breakfast ever since he came to the lodge and then she lies on his lap. It’s interesting to see a reverse trope situation as it’s the girl lying on the guy’s lap and not the other way around. It was a nice scene overall.

However, it is only a small step in progression as Takumi’s path to winning Mira’s heart already has a roadblock in the form of Shoin Ginger, Mira’s supposed fiancé. Since Widow means something completely different in Mira’s alien world, I suppose fiancé means something else too. I do wonder if next episode will be the big alien reveal to Takumi or if it’ll keep dragging on. In fact, how long will this take until they start dating? Half-way point? End? Regardless, I do think the ending song sung by Soma Saito and Maaya Uchida is adorable as heck. What are your thoughts on the episode?

[enneamage]

Wouldn't mind a comparison between the Sorry Boys and Generation Loss projects if you think it would be worth the effort and reveal anything about the players. What struck me the most watching Generation Loss (and this might have just been because of Charlie's inclusion) is that this was Ranboo's take on a partially improv-based group project like the Sorry Boys. It just took on an entirely different flavor due to Ranboo's own sensibilities.

I also think the actors involved here at a LOT more structure to work off of compared to the average Sorry Boys production, and I quite liked that (I also wonder how much influence Jerma had because the point-and-click adventure game elements you mentioned also remind me a lot of his interests.), but I'm curious what sort of audience this project will have in the end.I feel like it's too mature for much mcyt crossover, but too silly for Jerma's crowd or mainstream Twitch. Not enough of the characters/actors being in actual distress... at least for now. Although kudos to Ranboo for hiding that he was being burned by a wire for a portion of that performance. I had no idea.

I got this ask on day one when it looked like things were going to be more improv based (and episode two very much was) but I kept it in my hat to see how the project and the cast played out. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that Genloss was improvised for convenience, in the sense that it would have been more work to memorise a full script than knowing the plot beats and filling the rest in with open-ended dialogue. The choice feature also made things work better with a lock of script because memorising the variables would be hell on earth, so improv and ‘natural dialogue’ seemed like the best option. It was more scripted overall, but sometimes the structure of what was meant to happen seemed to prevent the players from going far enough off the rails to find things to do in the stalled-out parts (mousetrap room was tough.)

As an aside, I think genloss would have benefited from Ranboo doing some ‘yes, and’. They were in disbelief and shutting everything down as protag, which was fair for the serious bits but it happened with the jokes too; it would have been easy enough to fix by anyone saying something in rehearsal so it’s kind of a shared flaw now. They’ve got a quick brain and can be funny in Sorry, but they needed to give themselves the permission to move past denial/astonishment as protag in GL. 

The eternal shapeshifter-ly goop of Charlie managed to make it into all three episodes, to a level I was surprised by. I guess people knew that they had a good thing going with him but I did not expect from his role in part one that he would become like… the main secondary character, even over Sneeg, who looked like he would have the most rollover in the beginning. I wonder if his part grew over time as the script was written.

I can actually see people getting endeared to a project that starts off like this and slowly gets better at being genuinely creepy with different installments, a little “look at them go ⭐" narrative. Ranboo is an identifiable type of person for a reason, there are many others who share their tastes and preferences when it comes to the things they think are cool, so I could see a future where this appeals to more than just boobers/boober adjacent people, but it doesn’t look like things have broken out of the circle yet.  Youtube has a bigger reach than Twitch when it comes to circulating content so we’ll see how Genloss does once it’s cut and archived publicly.

[ivi-prism]

Recurring Hermitcraft lore. A convinient post for you that might be wondering what the heck is going on

What is a recurring Hermitcraft lore?

(This post has been updated after season 8! To find more about the whole moon big plot as well as derp coin plot click here)

As explained in this lore post for season 6 and 7, the Hermits way of doing lore is to start a storyline and then complete it and return to the status quo. The plotlines could be mentioned in later seasons but they usually aren’t used as a cause for a new plotline to start E.I. The Turf war in season 7 happened before HCBBS but those two events are unrelated to one and other

But sometimes things happen that the Hermits or the Fandom will keep bringing up and if you are a new viewer confused about what is going on, this is a summary of some recurring Hermitcraft lore (canon and fanon) for your convenience

Who is Evil Xisuma?

As his name might suggest Evil Xisuma, commonly reffered to as Evil X and EX, is an evil version of our dear admin Xisuma. He was introduced back on Xisuma’s 350th episode where it is revealed he plans to destroy the Hermitcraft server. He was planned as a joke villain and it is reflected in how his many attempts to destroy Hermitcraft have failed. Still he can be very intimidating and mean so his characterization goes from chaotic evil to kinda true neutral, specially when his friendship with Worman is taken into accoun (Worman is a superhero that for some reason resembles Zedaph but it is CLEARLY not Zedaph except he is Zedaph).

You will often see Evil X in red armour and drawn with white hair and he was one of the first reasons that other Hermits would be imagined with evil counterparts.

Evil X has been a recurring antagonist making appearance in season 3, 4, 5 and 6. He didn’t appear in season 7 but he did return in season 8! Taking center stage by (Reads notes that may be innaurate) returning, brainwashing Xisuma and convincing him and other Hermits of creating a crypto currency to rule over the other Hermits and then dissapearing by the end of the season. IS more complicated than that and would highly suggest you check this far better and more complete explanation

Who is Helsknight?

In season 7 Welsknight started his season later than other Hermits, explained in universe as him falling asleep in season 6 and only being waken by Cub later who took him back to season 7. (irl Wels was dealing with burnout)

Due to this delay, in-universe Wels feels like he needs help to catch up with the other Hermits so he goes to VintageBeef’s house and asks to use his cloning machine (a cloning machine that was faulty and had created a skinless clone of Beef previously).

Beef allowed him to use it, warning that it was probably faulty and will not work. Wels clones himself anyway and it appears at first it really didn’t work, is later revealed in the episode (Wels episode 7 of season 7) that the cloning machine did work and it has created an evil version of Welsknight known as Helsknight.

Hels trapped Wels in a hole and explained he came from the dimension of Hels where all the Hermits negative emotions materialize in a counterpart and he has now made appeared because he manage to possess Wels’ clone.

Hels plans to replace Wels but Wels escapes and then the two of them rap battle before Wels defeats Hels, who swore vengeance before running to the nether.

You will often see Hels drawn in black and red medieval armor and with red eyes and black hair.

With Helsknight introduction we where introduced to the concept of Hels and that leads me to the next point

What are Helsmites?

Since EX’s conception the fandom assumed that other Hermits would probably have an evil counterpart, and this idea was only reinforced with the introduction of Helsknight.

With his explanation of the dimension of Hels it is usual to assume every hermit has a Hels version and those versions are often referred to by fandom as Helsmites.

This evil versions are all fanon creations and common fanon lore. Some of the most usual Helsmites are

BadtimeswithScar: Scar’s Hels version, named after his cam account. Design wise is agreed that Badtimes dresses like a goth cowboy and he is very cold and cruel in contrast to the very cheerful and wholesome Scar

Truesymmetry: False’s Hels version, named after her cam account. True has not an agreed upon design or personality but overall she is accepted as a Helsmite as well

NPG: an evil or at least sinister puppet or robot (depends on design) designed by Grian. It isn’t agreed upon if NPG counts as a Hels version or if he is just an evil Grian puppets but I thought I mention it (we will delve more on NPG Grian in his lore section)

Funnily enough, Evil X is sometimes not regarded as a Helsmite by fanon, this detail varies from interpretation to interpretation but I thought I would mention.

Also of course Helsknight is inclueded in the Helsmites

(You can also check out many Helsmites designs! Some of my favs are Hels!Mumbo aka Hex from @sweetest-honeybee and Hels! Impulse from @aestheticallynotdeerlightful )

Also! Recurring fanon lore has rethink Tango as a Helsmite simply due to his red eyes

So overall Helsmites are just evil Hermits as a concept and you will see the fandom have a ton of fun with it

What is the Convex?

Back in season 5, Scar and Cub started pranking Hermits together and they claimed they where doing it to gain power in the name of the Vex (the minecraft mob Vex that is grey and his lil wings and is super annoying). Scar and Cub even dawned Vex mask when they pranked other Hermits.

Later in season 6 the ConVex basically created a Corporation that owned many shops in the shopping district and had monopolies over many items. This rebranding made the Convex be renamed into Concorp but still Scar and Cub played the part of evil CEO’s. So evil they promoted The Civil War and sold tnt to both sides and even commentated the last capture the flag game like a Sport commentator duo. They where so evil in fact that the moment the war was over and both team Star and Team G turned against them they blew up their podium and escaped in a redstone flying machine (this is one of my all time favorite Concorp moments lol)

But anyway! The important thing to take from the Vex association in Season 5 and the Evil corporation association in Season 6 is that it is basically canon that both Scar and Cub are either vexes themselves, possessed by Vexes or related to Vexes and they can get up to some evil or questionable stuff from time to time.

This was even more confirmed with Both Cub’s and Scar’s demise skins having hints of Vex on them, Scar’s comment in season 7 that he is “friends with the vexes”

This is more of a recurring thing for Cub and Scar that will pop out here and there but in fandom? You will see the concept be accentuated for both Scar’s and Cub character in various interpretations

What is 3rd Life?

3rd Life was an experimental series started by Grian towards the end of season 7. The series happened in a harcore smp where each member would have three life’s. First life was green, second life was yellow and third life was red.

Once the players reached their red life their mission would change to killing their fellow servermates. At the end the last person standing would be the winner.

This series was mostly composed of Hermits but you could also find other CC’s like Scott Smajor, Jimmy Solidaritygaiming, Joel Smalishbeans, Martyn Inthelittlewood and BigBst4tz2

The series was an adventure for the many hermits that joined since it delved into a tad more rolpelay of what they where used to and boy did they like the series!

Thats why you will find references to it in Hermitcraft like Ren’s Redking easter egg in his season 7 base, a clock being included in Bdubs most recent skin, Bdubs apologizing for his bettayal and Impulse forgiving him. And so on.

This of course has lead to fanon to interpret 3rd life as canon in Hermitcraft and you’ll see a lot of content related to this!

I would highly suggest checking out 3rd life if you haven’t! Not only to get the references but also to just experience it because is super duper fun.

What is Last life?

The sequel series to 3rd life! Just like its predecesor is a hardcore smp with a lives system where if you reach your last life you are red and forced to kill your fello servermates. What changed from season to season was that this time around players received a different amount of lives by the start of the season, players could give one of their lives to another player and red players where forbidden from playing with yellow and green names. New duos came about, new betrayals, new dramatic storylines as well! Would defitnely recommend checking that out.

Important! One of the members, Martyn Inthelittlewood, used his last life finale to revive the lore of evo smp (seen bellow) so a lot of info about evo, and watchers steams from here as well (don't worry an explanation as to what those are, are bellow in the grian section)

Rendog Personas?

Ren loves his lore, and so he has created many personas over the years that might be mentioned or appear later so have some of his most notable personas

Renbob: a hippie that helped Ren, Grian and Impulse in their quest to steal a time machine from area 77 back in season 6. Renbob is a hippie dude with a van that can fly somehow. He was a notable character on Ren’s stargazer saga of season 7

Grimdog: a grim reaper determined to kill all the warmbloods back in the game of Demise in season 6

The Red King: Ren’s bloodlust and desire for revenge in 3rd life turned him into the Red King once he reached his red life.

Doctore Renstein: a mad scientist employed by the Mycelium Resistance in the Turf War in season 7

Renporer: a knock off version of Emperor Palpatine, Ren’s main antagonist on season 7 and the reason he got injured enough to now require cybernetics (those cybernetics where built by Renbob btw)

What is Hermatrix?

In short?

Docm77 and Rendog's arg game that also bleed onto a plotline of season 8. The short of it was. Season 8 was a simulation and due to an error Doc and Ren find themselves receiving instructions of said simulation to wake up the Hermits so their minds wouldn't get infected by a virus.

In depth? Click here for an actual good explanation

Grian lore?

This is the very long one oh boy.

If you wonder why Grian is drawn with wings, what is a Watcher, what the heck is an NPG Grian and a Robot Grian, what is Evo or Yandere Highschool. This is the section for you, and also the longest one so I will be putting it under a read more.

(YHS will be discussed so I will put a tw abuse within roleplay context here just in case anyone needs it)

So. Grian’s history of content is extensive, he did and participated in various series of varying lenghts and it is usual for fanon to yoink them and include them in Grian’s lore.

Some of the most recurring pieces of lore inspired by Grian’s past series are

NPC GRIAN: Grian was known for making building tutorials and it was a joke that he would often only build in a rustic style. It got to the point Grian created a character named NPC Grian (known as NPG for short). NPG was originally an NPC designed to teach players how to build rustic houses, but its very bizzare and erratic behavior in Grian’s video and the fact Grian eventually locked him in a closet have made NPG more of a sinister character in fanon.

Believed to be either a puppet or robot built by Grian and possessed by… something… many interpretations of NPG paint him as an antagonist that might be malicious from the start or might have turned malicious after Grian locked him up. Either way NPG will often appear in fanon content as one of the troubling things in Grian’s past or as a Helsmite depending on each interpretation

Robot Grian: NPG’s leaser known younger brother kind off. In a video where Grian was apparently sick and he didn’t trust NPG to effectively do his work for him because NPG is only programmed for building rustic houses, Grian locked NPG back into the closet where he kept him and then decided to build a new assistant. He built Robot Grian who was CLEARLY possessed by something and actively trying to get rid of Grian. Robo Grian only appeared for one video as far as I’m aware but still you might find him appear from time to time in fandom content.

Watchers: the watchers are mysterious creatures that originated on Grian’s EVO series, an SMP he did right before Hermitcraft.

I’ve alredy delved into EVO, the watchers and their fanon interpretations and how that has contributed to the headcanon that Grian has wings and might be a demigod/minor deity.

You can find that info here

Tw abuse, mentions of abuse all within roleplay context

YHS: Yandere Highschool was a very edgy and dark roleplay series in which Grian would participate as him and Taurtis where friends with the original creator of the series.

(I’m not gonna go into the problems of the series or its creator, I’m just going to delve into how this series has shaped Grian’s fanon characterization)

To put it bluntly, Grian endured a lot, and I mean A LOT of trauma in that roleplay. Neglect, bullying, forced impersonation, was forced to eat plastic, got shot in a shot out, got stabbed, was possessed at some point and contributed unwillingly to the complete deletion of that universe.

So yeah… it was… something… many fanon interpretations of Grian often follow the YHS—> EVO —> Hermitcraft timeline assuming all series are canon and if Grian has a ton of angst in his backstory it is often attributed to what happened in YHS.

It has become less usual to include YHS in Grian’s lore but hey you might encounter some of that and you will have an explanation as to why.

It is also part of the reason as to why Griangst is so common and also why his character even if that interpretation will have nothing to do with YHS might be more edgy than other characterizations for other Hermits

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

five+-season quenta silmarillion tv show outline:

or, what i would have done if jeff gave me all that cash

season 1: how we all got into this mess. the first few episodes cover All That Noldorin Nonsense as an elaborate political costume drama, and then right in the middle of everybody’s arcs the trees get eaten. things in valinor take a turn for the apocalyptic, we get new points of view in beleriand and angband as everyone reacts to the return of the dark lord, the full scope of our story is revealed and events keep getting faster. we follow the chaos train up to... say the mereth aderthad? about the point when the status quo of the long siege sets in, in any case. might be a bit of a squeeze fitting everything in, might have to leak into season 2

season 2: tales of beleriand. we need a season or two set during the long siege, to establish what it is that gets lost when it’s broken. i kinda wanna do a long story arc about the arrival of men, but at the same time there’s other stuff we gotta set up that wouldn’t timeline easily with that. maybe one season-length arc surrounded by a bunch of one-off specials? one about finrod, one about maeglin, one about haleth, this’d probably the best place to insert original characters and storylines to flesh out the world. we get nice and used to how beleriand works, and then dragons

season 3: the quest for the silmaril, extended remix. we start from beren coming across lúthien in that grove, and from there we build up a portrait of beleriand after the bragollach. the old man and his wife’s self inserts are definitely our focus characters, but there’s a ton of b-plots weaving through the background, lots of flashbacks, lots of cameos from characters we’ve already met. we see the sincere hope that runs around the continent after the power couple do the impossible, and once they retire from the stage we follow that hope riiiight up to the nirnaeth. season ends with a panning shot of the hill of tears

season 4: everything goes to shit. our starting point is, of course, túrin too-many-names, but from his misadventures we chain into the ruin of doriath and the fall of gondolin, a three-part story in which basically the entire continent gets trashed. we’d probably need to fudge the timelines a little to make things flow dramatically, have stuff that’s actually a year or two apart happen simultaneously, but i feel like we could make it work, and it’d really emphasise how interconnected these three tragedies are. we end at sirion, first with the survivors building a new home together, and then, just when everyone’s had a chance to breathe, we smash cut to the third kinslaying

season 5: the war of wrath. we’ll start from the arrival of the hosts of valinor, with some conveniently placed flashbacks to fill in on how everything’s somehow gotten even worse since we last saw everyone. i kind of want to have post-war elrond doing a frame narrative kind of thing? certainly him and elros coming of age in a dying world would be a good throughline. we’re going to drown this thing in everything that’s left of the effects budget, and we’re going to make it very clear that despite all the heroics there’s almost no one and nothing left in beleriand to benefit. how i want to play the series finale, i’m not exactly sure, but we’re definitely going a little past the theft of the silmarils, enough to see the utter devastation

the seasons (and the s2 specials) are meant to function as full stories individually, forming a grand epic narrative as a whole but also providing a satisfying tale within themselves. at the start of each season we’ll have an abstract animated short film going over whatever background lore you need to know to understand what’s coming and also looking very pretty. once we start having human characters we’re gonna have to change them all every season, but it’s apparently been done before, i think we could make it work. the dwarves we can slowly put in old-age makeup, the elf actors are going to age but we can blame that on the war. outside of our heroes of legend and myth, i feel like we should have a few ‘touchstone characters’ (or families, for humans) that recur across seasons that we can check up on and see how they’re doing in each new period, relatively unimportant in the grand scheme of things but providing a barometer for How Things Are Going. there’s enough space in the margins of the quenta silmarillion that would allow you to tell some really good stories around the ones we already have, yanno? that’s the kind of silm adaptation i’d love to see

[cricktoon]

I didn’t like cgi season 3.

My long list of grievances:

What the fuck.

-They spend the entire first episode complaining about the snakes.

-They give the enemy snakes names without actually establishing them, just expecting us to catch on.

-The release of the snake men was the biggest concern at the end of the last season, other than Rampage’s first appearance. It ends up being as easy as. He-Man beating them up.

-The snake men aren’t even related to what Skeletor intends to do in the end- why did we spend an entire season building them up, again?

-Several characters who reacted to the snake men are not shown for several episodes. Continuity error #1.

-The weird ‘sibling’ thing they had going with Krass and Skeletor. It was… uncomfortable?

-None of the characters seem to know what their motivations are. You can establish this without making it confusing. They did not. The evil warriors in particular just disappearing and reappearing for no reason, which is just lazy writing. You can acknowledge that these characters no longer know what they’re going for in a way that isn’t just having them verbally say “what’s going on here?” Also lazy writing.

-It is completely unclear what is going on until like… episode 4. How are kids supposed to follow along with any of this?? I was confused, and I’m an adult!

-Almost all the stakes in this season are completely different from stakes established in the past seasons. Characters are just completely written out to make room for what feels like hours of He-Man and Randor aimlessly wandering and complaining, and all of the brand new stakes that weren’t There previously. Like Havoc He-Man (don’t worry I’ll get to him.)

-Webstor’s weird deification of Stratos. Don’t like that.

-COLONIZER KING GRAYSKULL???? “He brought us culture.” FUCK YOU????????

-ELDRESS COMMITTED GENOCIDE????????? OK??????????????? I’M GLAD SHE’S DEAD NOW!!!!!!!! DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!

-Eldress’s death felt like it didn’t even matter. No one mourns her and all we get is a half-baked explanation from the Sorceress on how they were apparently the same person the entire time. All of that buildup of her coming back and Teela looking up to her and trying to keep her alive all while not knowing who she was…. For what? There was nothing? Teela just says “it’s fine I’m not sad about it!” Then WHAT was all that buildup for???

-This kind of thing happens several times. Reveals and plot points are built up then completely squandered or rushed in this season. There are so many examples I can’t even think of them all.

-And now Mer-Man is also dead. No one mourns him- the last of his species who were exploited and murdered by the people who were supposed to be the good guys. What kind of message is that going to send to little kids.

-Havoc He-Man. Yeah we knew it was coming, but I feel like the buildup only came from the beginning of season 3. All of his dialogue is really grating. I guess it’s supposed to be- but it still is. It just feels like such a left turn. Like “oh we gotta deal with this now” and again, it’s a new problem this season presents that does not last long at all but still pushes away other problems that the characters have been dealing with since season 1. I could be wrong but that’s how my memory serves me.

-They only bring the heroic warriors (Stratos, Webstor, Mosquitara, and sigh. Gary.) back when He-Man needed their encouragement. I know motu has a lot of characters to work with, and it must have been difficult to fit everything and everyone in with the episodes they were allotted. But it was just sort of a bummer for me personally. Especially because Stratos was exiled from the main group for how he behaved though no one spoke to him about it, then cites this as a learning experience as a part of the reason he appreciates He-Man so much. It felt… not good.

-ORK-0 getting completely written out of the story and only brought back for plot convenience. He was an active agent in season 2, and there was really no reason why he shouldn’t have been there with the other characters for this part of the story. He reacted to the snake men being released at the end of season 2, then did not appear for a full five episodes. GARY, the most irritating character in the entire show, was brought back before him. GARY. It’s part of a reoccurring problem I’ve noticed with Orko’s character in general. If you notice, he gets written out very often, not just here. It’s happened in 200x and Revelation too. Because he’s different, and cannot fight the same ways as the other characters, if the writers can’t think of a way for him to be there along with the other heroes, then he just isn’t. And that’s exactly what happens here. I should probably make a separate post about this- but for now it’s too many words and thoughts to get together all at once. I am probably biased, but in this case, objectively, I think it’s not good to have one of your main characters just… disappear to live with the other versions of himself.

-While I’m at it, Man-E-Faces was all but completely written out, as well. The most interesting and compelling character in season 2- just. Completely written out except for 2 half scenes and a flashback. I know it’s a matter of my own opinion but that made me so sad.

-The legs thing. I will not explain further because it was a horrible vision from my nightmares that I do not wish to recount. You probably know what I mean.

-The body swapping thing seemed like an actual thing that would happen that Orko had to fix, but it still feels like a thing that happens a lot in western cartoons. So it wasn’t my favorite.

-Duncan has no purpose in this season other than to make clichéd quips and one-liners. Then near the end they’re like ‘oh what’s his thing? Oh I got it, he’s a builder.’ What does that even mean? Why can’t found family just be his thing? Isn’t that what they were going for? The kid didn’t even know what a birthday was!!!! But no he’s a builder, and that’s the big endgame reveal for his character. I just found it lame and pointless.

-The scene with Evil-Lyn and Krass kinda bothered me. Like, Lyn is crying because she doesn’t know what kind of villain she was anymore, but then she goes on to give Krass advice? It didn’t really seem as if she was in any place to do that. It just felt kinda weird.

-The 2 second goop threat that is brought about and solved with a Wall. Yet another problem built up really high then solved almost immediately.

-The zombification of Beast Man was just kind of uncomfortable.

-The sword of power did not reject Skeletor like it had He-Man when he had the havoc. Another plot inconsistency.

-All Skeletor does once he’s Bigger is put his face on some rocks. C’mon guy, you can do better than that.

-I don’t even remember most of the final battle. Does that mean anything.

-I was fine with the way they solved the issue, with the “power of grayskull being inside them all along” but I didn’t understand Cringer’s “I’m a protector, not a predator.” Felt like something they just made up for him, it would have been fine if he had just said he was a protector. After all, Duncan’s a builder.

-Skeletor’s arm was chopped off, then is completely restored as white bread Keldor. How do they hope to write another season now, without Skeletor? Is it just gonna be about Hordak now? I mean call me a hater but I just think that’s kinda lame.

And that isn’t even all of it. I’m not really willing to rewatch it because it was so soul-achingly disappointing to me, but if I did I’m sure I would find more. It just had that many problems. Don’t get me wrong, there were things I liked. But as a whole I did not enjoy this season. It was unpleasant, it was crammed, it was for the most part not funny, and it made otherwise noble and compelling characters either unlikeable, uninteresting, or unimportant.

[battlekidx2]

Hollow Mind Thoughts

This has been my favorite episode of season 2B so far, hands down. It was so masterfully done from Hunter and Luz’s journey through Belos’ mind to Hunter’s breakdown at all that happened to Luz’s reaction to discovering Belos is Philip to the background details that tell a sweeping story of two brothers that ended in tragedy to the confirmation of more than one theory. This episode was amazing.

First off everything about Belos’ backstory was amazing. Seeing how he manipulated the witches in the boiling isles and planted a deep rooted fear of wild magic within them was chilling. He started out with physical threats with dangerous “wild mage attacks” and eventually grew more and more personal until he was spreading fear about how wild magic destroys the soul of the user. The escalation and manipulation was done much better than I could have hoped. 

It has very obvious parallels to organized religion and it’s interesting how many cartoons have decided to deconstruct it so thoroughly in recent years. It takes the tactics such as playing to people’s fears and other things that occur in organized religion that have negatively impacted people and shines a light on them, showing how these are actively harmful and can prevent people from accepting who they are. It also shows the isolation that rejecting these types of things can bring with characters like Eda. It shows how indoctrination and forcing a life path on someone like this can effect them with Amity and Hunter. It does a good job of exploring these themes and using the characters and arcs to enhance them. 

This episode does the best job of any in the entire series at selling Belos’ hold over the Boiling Isles. I could feel and fully believe that he had so much control over them whereas at many points earlier in the series I was bothered at how inconsistent his control seemed. It varied based solely on what was most convenient for the story in season 1 which was one of my biggest complaints of the first season but season 2 has really doubled down on showing Belos’ influence and I couldn’t be happier. It really feels like there are stakes. You really feel like Belos is a threat and you can see just how dangerous he is. 

Another one of my complaints with the first season was how easily Luz seemed to chip Belos’ mask in the finale, which shattered his illusion of strength, but this season has once again fixed that problem because it has shown how dangerous Belos is with his words and how callus he is. Not just with the people of the boiling isles who he holds contempt for because they are witches but also towards Hunter. It’s chilling how easily Belos dismisses Hunter. He claims to care about him and states that he was the clone that looked the most like the original but the second he saw cracks he made to get rid of him like all the rest. I’m impressed with how much this season has done to improve on the first and capitalize on the potential I felt it missed.

The atmosphere of Belos’ mind was fantastic. The layers of it where there’s the surface level which is shiny and polished, too squeaky clean, and what’s underneath, the real Belos, is creepy and distorted with crossed out faces, gnarled trees, and devoid of living plants. It’s a perfect visualization of the duality of Belos. 

The owl house is a study in how twists being expected isn’t a bad thing. A twist that is built into the story in the background and little dropped hints is a well thought out twist. Too often shows get wrapped up in subverting expectations and throwing their audience for a loop and manage to disappoint because they aren’t built towards. The owl house is the perfect example of a show where the twists are expected because they are built into the plot but they are still incredibly impactful when they are revealed. I wasn’t shocked when Hunter was revealed to be a grimwalker in this episode and I wasn’t shocked when Belos was revealed to be Philip in “Elsewhere and Elsewhen” but I still loved when and how they were confirmed in the show.

The Hunter grimwalker theory confirmation wasn’t surprising but the way it was used in this episode was one of the best parts. The reality that Hunter is just the latest in a long line of clones that are regularly disposed of by Belos because they all betray him at some point says so much about all the characters involved. It explains why Darius has such a soft spot for Hunter, he can see the very blatant similarities between the two and doesn’t want Hunter to fall down the same tragic path of his predecessor. It sheds light on Hunter because it shows that all the golden guards were manipulated but ultimately goodhearted kids that were all victims of Belos. It makes him even more tragic than he was before this point and adds another layer to the manipulation that Belos spins for his followers. 

It also shows how certain Belos is of his mission that he was willing to kill his brother initially (shown through the background memories) and that he continually makes more and more clones of him hoping that this will be the time that his brother follows the same path as him and doesn’t fall in love with magic and the boiling isles but each and every time it fails. There are so many layers that this creates and I can’t wait to see what happens moving forward.

I like that instead of instantly turning to Luz and Eda’s side at the end of the episode Hunter has a breakdown over all that he’s discovered and runs away. Finally fully understanding the abuse and manipulation that he’s endured. The breathing, the panic, his desperate action of tearing his cloak off. All of it was so well done and captured the suffocating feeling of that kind of breakdown so well. Owl House excels at portraying these types of difficult emotions. This isn’t the type of thing you just move forward from and I like that it is taking the time to address that. Hunter has been one of the most consistently fantastic parts of the season and he’s given an interesting dynamic with everyone he’s paired with. 

The true introduction of the collector was very interesting and leaves more questions than it does answers but that was clearly the point. There's an air of mystery surrounding this being and what their goals are. There’s so much that this being has a hand in and there’s a lot of implications about how intertwined Eda and the Clawthorne family is in this whole thing. We know that the collector was the one who captured the owl beast and turned it into a curse in the first place and there are a lot of hints that the Clawthorne family has more connections to Belos and his family than we currently know of. This episode knows what questions to answer and what to leave hanging. 

My only real question was why Belos lead Hunter and Luz through his memories in the first place. How much of that was he aware of? How much of his reveals were on purpose? We know that he wanted Luz to know he is really Philip Wittebane but what about the rest? These feel a bit nitpicky and could be answered in the future so I’m not hung up on any of it.

This episode left me with so many thoughts and questions but also left me very satisfied. With just 5 episodes left I’m going to release my thoughts on the first half of season 2A but I decided to put my thoughts on Hollow mind out first because there were just so many that it needed its own separate post. I hope others are getting just as much enjoyment out of this season as I am.

[holden-norgorov]

I was wrong: an apology for Show!Kaz.

Listen, at first I didn't even want to write this post down, but as I noticed that a considerable amount of people have been showing disappointment toward Kaz not being "smart enough" in comparison to the book, I feel the need to point some things out with the hope of making you re-evaluate your line of thinking.

The thing is, Kaz Brekker in the show is a character that very much grows to book-readers with a needed careful and attentive rewatch.

I binged the whole season in a consecutive-7h-long binge-watching session during April 23rd, and came out of it feeling mildly disappointed with the way Kaz had been written (but not portrayed; Freddy was truly amazing). The one aspect that really bugged me at first was that his typical modus operandi when it came to plotting and scheming (by which I mean, keeping the big picture of his plans to himself and revealing just tiny pieces to everyone else according to each one's strengths and weaknesses, so as to make sure to reach the maximum potential of success while risking failure as little as possible) seemed to be kinda absent. I could easily make peace with Kaz not being as ruthless as he is in SoC, because the writers couldn't possibly make only-viewers willing to root for someone like Kaz without presenting at least some way in which he was vulnerable compared to other villainous characters. And to be honest, the fact that Kaz was ambushed by Pekka and forced to his knees not only nicely ties up with him wishing for Pekka to kneel in front of him at the beginning of SoC, but it also provides a reason as to why he would become closed-off and hesitant to apologize to Inej in the future. He was so concerned and willing to openly apologize to Inej in this scene that he lowered his guard enough without thinking and ended up giving Pekka access to Inej's name and revealing to him his own soft spot for her, before being beaten up.

That said, this was not my issue with the character. My issue was with the absence of his modus operandi as a masterful planner. I just didn't feel it during the binge-watch. But then I carefully rewatched the show, paying close attention to the actual succession of events more than to how accurate the characterization of the Crows was compared to the books. And I completely changed my mind.

If you pay attention, you can see that Kaz has been manipulating Arken from the very beginning, and everything Arken has accomplished was made possible because Kaz wanted it to happen, so that Arken would believe to be one step ahead of him and not see his betrayal coming. He quickly realizes that he and Arken think alike, and that he has to find a way to outsmart him.

As soon as the Conductor appears in the show, Kaz points out that he reached out to him not only because he can make them cross the Fold, but also because he smuggles Grisha who are unwilling to fight out of the Little Palace. He immediately grasps that the Conductor actively profits from the existence of the Fold and therefore that his own transport has to be constantly operative and effective. Which makes him realize that there has to be a political interest in his smuggling business for it to be allowed to flourish and survive undisturbed, and that someone has to financially back him up and subsidize the mantainance of the train and the feasibility of the crossing.

Soon after the Crows discovered that Nina had been captured and could no longer guide them to the Little Palace, Arken tries to sabotage their mission by convincing them to abandon it. This is where Kaz understands that he is actively interested in their kidnapping of the Sun Summoner to not happen, and begins suspecting he might have a separate agenda.

He purposefully risks the whole mission on Jesper not gambling everything away while looking for alabaster coal by deciding to grab the goat by himself, which is a less time-consuming task. This grants him the opportunity to attend to a quick rally for West Ravka's independence led by General Zlatan, where he sees Arken retiring with him in a private tent. His suspects about Arken are validated, and he understands that Arken has been smuggling Grisha out of East Ravka to the West with the support of Zlatan, who is also making some kind of alliance with Fjerdians and keeping a blind-eye to druskelle hunting and capturing Grisha (as we find out later on).

While they are crossing the Fold, Kaz is visibly skeptical of Arken's story about the transport being conveniently effective because of his knowledge of engineering and physics, and a chunk of luck. Arken seems to know too well how to safely cross the Fold, and the trasport seems to have worked far too many times for it to be the product of the underground, illegal practice of just one man.

In East Ravka, Kaz comes up with the Royal Archive Heist with the hope of stealing the Little Palace blueprints from the Palace of Kribirsk. But there's a very short scene here, which apparently seems unimportant but is actually pivotal: Kaz gives Arken money to make friends with East Ravkans so as to grant them a safe passage to Os Alta. Keep in mind: at this point Kaz is sure that Arken has been given by Zlatan a personal agenda to carry out regarding the Sun Summoner (I genuinely believe he also grasps that the secret plan is to kill her, so as to prevent the Fold from being destroyed and their smuggling business from being no longer profitable), so he knows Arken has total interest in making sure that they actually have a ride to the Little Palace. Which means, by urging him to "make some friends", Kaz already knows Arken will come up with a plan to be able to arrive to Os Alta and carry out his own mission at any costs, if the blueprints of the Little Palace that they are planning to steal end up being useless. And not only that: he wants Arken to believe he is being one-step ahead of them by "saving their asses" with this back-up plan, so as to easily come to the conclusion that the Crows have no reason to distrust him (how could they, when he finds them a second way-in?) and completely disregard the idea that Kaz might stab him in the back before he does the same thing to them. This is some mastermind thinking and completely IC for Kaz, because all the inner workings of his schemes go completely unnoticed on the outside.

Now that Arken proudly looks like the one who managed to grant them passage to Os Alta, he has no reason to believe Kaz might have ulterior motives when he decides to be the one carrying out a preliminary exploration of the Little Palance's hallways, despite his wounded leg making it difficult for him. But here's when Kaz sees Marie and immediately understands that she's supposed to be a decoy for Alina. So he coldly plans the whole kidnapping operation so as to make sure Arken ends up trying to kill (or directly killing) Marie. Which is why he shows no surprise when Arken reveals he can actually open the Fabrikator-made door with a device he carries with himself (probably provided by Zlatan to be able to get access to Alina's private rooms, or maybe already in his possession from when he had smuggled other Grisha out previously), and shows no hesitation when saying outwardly to everyone that Arken will be the one actually carrying out the kindnapping just because "he knows his way around Grisha locks". I actually believe Inej senses that there's something going on that she doesn't fully know when Kaz so light-heartedly allows Arken to lay his hands on their 1 Mln Kruge prize, but her suspicions (likely born out because she knows Kaz too well) are quickly put to rest and given an explaination only after Arken effectively falls into his trap.

After Alina escapes from the Crows in the following episode, we are led to believe that Kaz abandons the idea of kidnapping her again because of Inej, and this turns out to be actually true (despite Inej herself being incredibly suspicious of this, because of how unseemly it would be). Inej also believes Kaz to be so calculating that she points out that he might have planned to let Alina go in the first place and to detonate Arken's transport so as to travel with the same sandskiff Alina is embarking on and kindap her there. Inej would not have such a suspicion if Kaz's reputation didn't live up to that modus operandi.

While we actually learn that Kaz was being genuine with Inej about having abandoned the idea of kidnapping Alina, we also quickly learn that Kaz has spent the last two episodes silently coming up with a whole new other plan to make sure they can go back to Ketterdam without being killed by Dreesen and Pekka Rollins.

Now, as you can see, this is actually a lot. And this whole progression of events is handled so smoothly by the writing that it's fully admirable only by rewatching the show and paying close attention to Kaz's actions, while also knowing how his mind works. All of this is internal workings, which is typical Kaz.

So, I was wrong. His modus operandi is very much present. It's just barely detectable, as it should be for it to be believable. I hope this might reassure some deluded fans who came out of their watching session feeling let down by Kaz not looking "smart enough". It's all there! And the fact that so many of us couldn't see it at first hand, if you think about it, is just further proof that Kaz's intelligence and ability to scheme were handled extremely well. They couldn't make his mental workings too obvious to the casual viewers, or the character would have lost what actually makes him brilliant, which is the ability to outsmart others without being detected, exposed or anticipated.