#I AM SO ILL FOR 5x09

[n1conicokneecaps]

LMK Season 5 Spoilers

Ok so all of us know that the scene where Wukong is about to fly into the pillar in MK's place is brutal and SAD and gut wrenching, but I haven't seen anyone really consider how absolutely TERRIFYING it probably was for MK to see his mentor do basically the same damn thing he did in season three.

Because despite all his character growth, Wukong is still throwing himself to the main conflict and insisting that he alone can tank it, can handle it for MK because surely this is HIS fault, so HE should be the one to bear the consequences. And thinking about that makes the part where MK uses the circlet so, SO MUCH MORE HEARTBREAKING. Because normally MK would never resort to hurting his friends, would never use one of his mentor's greatest traumas against him, but he's flying off just like he did the first time, insisting that he take the fall for the latest world ending calamity and MK can't, he WON'T, allow his mentor to throw himself away when he can DO SOMETHING this time.

Basically,

Wukong s3: "this isn't your fight"

Wukong s5: "this shouldn't have to be your fight"

[princeescaluswords]

Pants on Fire

Another day, another complaint that I'm harsh because someone goes into my favorite character's tag to repeat a popular but easily disprovable slander, and, in response, I take the time to disprove that particular slander.

Maybe I am harsh, or maybe I'm simply tired of people taking scenes out of context in order to undermine the basic principles of a show that's been successfully concluded for five years; so long that the truth of it should not be in doubt.

So let me be even more harsh. Let's talk about Lies of Omission (5x09).

Stiles is a liar. It is a running gag through every single season that Stiles lies when it suits him. He lies to Scott, he lies to his father, he lies to everyone.

Stiles threatens or actually indulges in violence against people who might endanger his father, repeatedly, including his best friend.

Stiles was emotionally unstable at the beginning of Season 5 to the point that he was engaging in illegal activities that could get him in serious trouble, hurting himself, and endangering other people.

It wasn't just Scott who didn't believe him about Theo: Malia, Liam, Kira, Lydia and the Sheriff didn't believe him about Theo in the first place.

Theo wasn't a stranger; by the time he deceived Scott about Donovan, Theo had helped save the life of every member of the pack. (I thought that fandom believes that saving lives was supposed to endanger trust; that's what fandom says about Derek).

Stiles had literally volunteered to work with Theo in front of Scott.

Stiles had plenty of time to present his side of the story, both in Lies of Omission and the four episodes leading up to it.

Given that all these things are true -- and they are -- Scott shouldn't have believed Stiles.

So, playing by fandom's own rules, the character who bears the responsibility for Scott not believing Stiles is Stiles, who fandom says is so incredibly smart and always right and is the best friend in the whole world, but either a) literally didn't see Theo's plan coming, b) saw it coming but for some reason did nothing to stop it, or c) felt the best course of action, instead of trusting his best friend, was deceiving Scott.

Let me be clear: I don't believe the above paragraph. I don't hold it against Stiles that he didn't react perfectly in a high-pressure situation. Stiles was manipulated by the villains, suffering from the aftereffects of repeated trauma, and burdened with an unfair self-image (in his case put there by his ill mother and a Japanese fox demon). BUT SO WAS SCOTT. Scott was manipulated by the villains, suffering from the aftereffects of trauma, and burdened with an unfair self-image (in his case, being saddled with the responsibility of being the Protector of Beacon Hills by almost every single person he cared about, which includes saving lives.)

So, in conclusion, let me be most harsh. Nattering on about the idea, five years after the show was over, that "Stiles is always right" and "Scott is a bad friend because he didn't believe Stiles" is racist bullshit, because it has nothing to do with what happened on the screen in a scene which was the result of Stiles's long-time behavior AND villain manipulation, but instead it has everything to do with the idea that Stiles as a white male character should be the primary frame of reference for a show that wasn't about him.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Revolution Theme, Part 2: War of 1812

READ PART 1 HERE

Wow! Thanks @wdway! Love all this!

You’re right that that the Crossing of the Delaware painting makes a lot more sense, now. It also made me think of the more recent pilgrim paintings we’ve seen the past few years. I think we can work those in as well. The pilgrims were somewhat revolutionary in their actions. Not so much in a massive war or battle sort of way, but they left England (yes, Britain) to find freedoms their mother country wasn’t willing to give them. Which is revolutionary in its way.

But more to the point, that was the first step that would eventually lead to a war for freedom between Britain and the American colonies. So, you could see them as the precursor to the revolution. So, it makes sense to use that painting for TF and TWD right now, because what’s been happening the last season or 2 is the precursor to the final, big revolution.

When you got into talking about 2 revolutions, that makes tons of sense as well, and I totally agree.

When you talked about the white house and library of congress being burnt in 1812, about six things came to mind, lol.

When Eugene was at the Sanctuary (which I 100% believe foreshadows the final revolution, Beth, and what Eugene’s role will be in it) he played the 1812 Overture when he did the science experiment for Negan’s wives. (Including Amber, who looked like Beth and Tanya, who had a lot of Beth’s dialogue with Eugene). I’ve kind of low-key obsessed over that song and why they used it, but other than foreshadowing a final battle with Eugene as I’ve already said, it was hard to connect anything more specific.

The 1812 Overture was not actually written about the War of 1812. It was written in celebration of Napoleon’s retreat from Russia. Basically, he tried to invade Moscow early in 1812 but failed miserably and eventually had to retreat. Not so much because of being out-fought, but more because of weather, illness, lack of supplies for the army, etc.

Now, that’s not the same thing you mentioned in the British fighting Napoleon before turning their attention to the American colonists, but the link is still there. Napoleon/Russia>1812 Overture>Napolean/Britain>Britain/American Colonies. See what I mean? So, the idea of two wars or a war on two fronts really makes sense.

I’ve been trying to find out if the 1812 Overture has a d.c. al coda in it. I don’t think it does, but I’m having a hard time finding the sheet music online. You can find it, of course, but often it’s blurry or watermarked in such a way that it’s hard to read, and that’s because they want you to buy it to remove the watermark. I’ll keep looking.

But I do know it has a coda. Maybe not a d.c. al coda, but a coda of some kind. In fact, while I’m still not sure until I can clearly see the sheet music, from what I’ve read others saying, the final, super-loud, exuberant part of the song that’s often used in U.S. Independence Day celebrations IS the coda. And it represents Russia winning the war over Napoleon. Coincidence?

So, Napoleon fought many wars on many fronts. There’s that. But as you said, the British first fought Napoleon (perhaps that will be the Commonwealth) and then turned to the American colonists. And given what was said in 5x09 about a rebel group fighting against the “republic” using what amounts to guerilla tactics, that does line up with how the American colonists fought the British during the revolution. So clearly that’s the one that will involve Beth and TF (though of course they will probably be involved, at least to some extent, in the Commonwealth bit as well).

Also, also. You talked about the LIBRARY of congress being burned. I’m not sure how, but suddenly I feel sure all the books and librarian stuff must be connected to this. To the revolution theme. I still remember watching the beginning of 6x16 and thinking it was SO significant, but I had no idea why. It’s where we see Carl lock Enid in the closet to keep her safe, and she’s yelling at him things like, “what if you don’t come back?” And he tells her, “just survive somehow.”

Meanwhile, that scene is intercut with Negan’s guys chasing the librarian they end up hanging over the bridge with an X spray painted on his chest. And then he gets…burned?

I remember thinking that just FELT like a big war that was coming, but back then, I really didn’t know how to interpret it. Of course, AOW started soon after, but the librarian group wasn’t a big part of that. If we’re honest, they really were just random side characters, which was odd because that sequence FELT so important. So, I’m betting we ought to be connecting them to this as well.

The Native American Symbols

For the record, a couple of things I’ve been trying to look into and haven’t found much (mostly because I haven’t had much time to do so yet) include what role Native American tribes played in the American revolution. Some were loyal to the British, others to colonists. As I said, I need to do more research, but little tidbits like this one are interesting:

“Their biggest contribution was as spies going to Canada and returning with news of the English plans, and attacking English coastal shipping. The Indians played a leading role in preventing an English attack on Machias by sea from being successful. “

(AL’s voice coming out of the radio in 5x09: “At least 68 citizens of the Republic have been killed in four deadly attacks along the main coastal district. The group has continued their campaign of random violence, moving across the countryside unfettered, with the Republic’s military forces in disarray.” Just saying.)

The other thing I’ve looked into is Francis Marion’s (Swamp Fox’s) connection to Native Americans of the time. During the revolution itself, I’m not finding much. But we do know that he learned a lot of his battle prowess from fighting the Cherokee Indians as a young man.

What he learned there is what made him so effective against the British. So, I’m wondering if that will translate with Beth in that she’ll fight the CRM or perhaps even in battles with the Commonwealth early on and that will give her what she needs to triumph much later in bigger battles. Or maybe they’ll connect it even earlier back to early battles with TF and what Daryl taught her. The possibilities are endless. ;D

@wdway:

If you do a search, it's quite fascinating and well worth the time to do two searches. One on the burning of the White House and then the other one on Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans.

There are things that I just did not go into like the connection with Napoleon that we've seen hints of in the past couple of seasons and didn't know why. The Cherokee Rose, which has been a symbol for so long and I do not think it was their intention in the beginning but what most people do not understand is that the Cherokee Rose has a strong connection to Andrew Jackson.

Andrew Jackson had a singular focus on driving the Native Americans (mostly the Cherokee Nation) to the West. Lightbulb moment here, but maybe that might be same of the meaning of Indian symbolism.

Jackson had a major part in the Trail of Tears, which is basically the story that Daryl tells Carol after walker Sophia was discovered. Jackson was a brilliant military soldier, but he was not known as a compassionate person. His nickname was Old Hickory (a tree reference) because the hickory tree's wood is known for its hardness.

A few years back, tptb did a promotion showing nuts that had a hard outer shell. People didn't understand what that was, but I knew because it was a hickory nut. A very hard outer shell and then inside is the actual nut. Hickory wood was the favored source for making baseball bats back in the day because they would not easily break.

The other interesting fact about Andrew Jackson was his love for his wife, Rachel. It was a legendary love. He might have been an asshole to the entire world, but Rachel was the love of his life. When she died, he did not simply bury her. He entombed her in her own little Mausoleum at his home, The Hermitage, just outside of Nashville.

Jackson fought both in the Revolutionary War and the 1812 war, in the Battle of New Orleans. He apparently had been imprisoned by the British for a time during the Revolutionary War, which fired his hatred for them.

Am I the only one thinking about the connections between him and Negan? I'm thinking of the two wars, the Commonwealth and the war against the CRM. I want to think that the Commonwealth conflict is represented by the War of 1812. The larger, more overall important conflict with a CRM will be the American Revolutionary War, with Rick replacing Washington as the leader.

I was freaking out when you mentioned the Overture of 1812. I don't care if it was written for the war led by Napoleon with Russia. If anything, that makes it even as stronger clue that we're on the right track because of the Russian satellite and Russian dictionary that little Judith got from (wait for it) the library, for Eugene.

One other thing, @twdmusicboxmystery. I thought about this earlier today when I was reading about the 1812 Overture, but I wanted to do a check before I mentioned it to you. 

Two very famous pieces of music came out of the 1812 wars. The 1812 Overture about Napoleon and Russia, and The Star-Spangled Banner, our U.S. national anthem written by Francis Scott Key about The Battle of Fort Henry. Both Fort Henry and The Battle of New Orleans were fought in 1814 but were known as being part of the War of 1812.

Can’t wait to see how it all plays out.

Definitely very interesting! Thanks for all this research @wdway! 

[itsclownhours]

okay so i don’t know if i ever mentioned it but while watching merlin i’ve used a google doc of weird title ideas to rename all of the episodes and now that i’ve finished the series i would like to share with the four people who always like my posts the absolute nightmare that is the contents of this google doc (spoilers ahead, technically, i think)

merlin Things Historians Pretend Aren’t Gay: The Unlikely Adventures of Bitchface and Go Fuck Yourself

1x01 the dragon’s call Neither Boss Nor Employee Paid Enough to Deal With Each Other

1x02 valiant Everyone Should Learn First Aid (This Has Been a PSA)

1x03 the mark of nimueh Let’s NOT Wipe Out Humankind

1x04 the poisoned chalice I Fell Into a Deep Hole

1x05 lancelot You’re Valid, I Support You

1x06 a remedy to cure all ills This Is Absolutely the Right Decision

1x07 the gates of avalon I Go For an Unwanted and Unexpected Swim

1x08 the beginning of the end The Small Child Is Annoying

1x09 excalibur Ya Dun Goofed

1x10 the moment of truth The Regular Fuckface Returns to the Town of Fuckface

1x11 the labyrinth of gedref Guys, It’s Been Three Weeks Since I’ve Eaten a Vegetable: My Destiny as a Bad Cook

1x12 to kill the king Ultimate Showdown: Murder Father versus Murder Daughter

1x13 le morte d’arthur Dreams Do Come True (And That’s Not a Good Thing)

2x01 the curse of cornelius sigan The Good, the Bad, and the Okay I Guess

2x02 the once and future queen The Broken Ribs Poked Our Lungs

2x03 the nightmare begins I Need an Explanation, What Is Going On

2x04 lancelot and guinevere I Approve (This Time)

2x05 beauty and the beast part 1 This Wasn’t the Family Meeting That I Was Expecting Tonight

2x06 beauty and the beast part 2 I Am Saved From Certain Death By Being Killed

2x07 the witchfinder Those Stories Aren’t Real

2x08 the sins of the father How to Traumatize Your Children: 7 Proven Methods to Help You Screw Up Your Kids Deliberately and With Skill

2x09 the lady of the lake Can’t Wait to Tell This Story to My Grandchildren

2x10 sweet dreams Getting Distracted by a Hot Girl Only Leads to Bad Things

2x11 the witch’s quickening The King Can Go Fuck Himself

2x12 the fires of idirsholas Everything is a Goddamn Ordeal in This Family: Top 10 Anime Betrayals

2x13 the last dragonlord I Turned Out Liking You a Lot More Than I Originally Planned

3x01 the tears of uther pendragon part 1 Ask and You Shall Receive...Sometime Next Year

3x02 the tears of uther pendragon part 2 In Which Everything Goes Wonderfully Wrong

3x03 goblin’s gold Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly-True Memoir)

3x04 gwaine This Is Why I Don’t Socialize

3x05 the crystal cave Man Miscast in Role of Father

3x06 the changeling Successfully Evading Responsibility

3x07 the castle of fyrien The Dumbasses Take a Road Trip

3x08 the eye of the phoenix Tone It Down a Bit, Geez

3x09 love in the time of dragons Hey, Look, Old People

3x10 queen of hearts Running From Your Dad: I Know Exactly What I’m Doing (No, I Don’t)

3x11 the sorcerer’s shadow You’re a Special Kind of Stupid, Aren’t You?: Merlin Makes a Rash Decision

3x12 the coming of arthur part 1 Orphan Does Her Best to Fit in After Horrible Childhood

3x13 the coming of arthur part 2 There Is Absolutely No Way It Can Get Worse (It Got Worse)

4x01 the darkest hour part 1 Oh, Look, a Ghost

4x02 the darkest hour part 2 Unfortunately, I Am Alive

4x03 the wicked day Didn’t See That One Coming

4x04 aithusa I Wasn’t Prepared For Parenthood

4x05 his father’s son I Stab a Bitch: Aggressive Negotiations Make Everyone Hate You

4x06 a servant of two masters And God Said, “Let’s Not Give This Bitch a Break”

4x07 the secret sharer Apparently, Agravaine Does Have Some ’Splainin’ to Do

4x08 lamia The Boys Are Here

4x09 lancelot du lac I Call Shotgun (Said the Dead Man)

4x10 a herald of the new age Possession or Obsession?

4x11 the hunter’s heart I’m Bitter and I Won’t Stop Whining (Solitude Was the Only Logical Ending)

4x12 the sword in the stone part 1 I’m Packing Up My Crayons and Leaving

4x13 the sword in the stone part 2 A Guide to Giving Up

5x01 arthur’s bane part 1 My Boy!

5x02 arthur’s bane part 2 My Boy! Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

5x03 the death song of uther pendragon Way to Go, Dumbass

5x04 another’s sorrow Live Every Crisis Like It’s Your Midlife Crisis

5x05 the disir Why Am I Like This?: Merlin Is a Fucking Bitch

5x06 the dark tower What the Hell? I'm in Hell (I Have a Heated Make-Out Session With My Lifelong Enemy. Who Would’ve Thought?)

5x07 a lesson in vengeance You Know That There Is Nothing That I Love More Than Just Chilling and Drinking Poison. Seriously. I’s Great

5x08 the hollow queen An Unexpected Visit Leads to a Change in Career Paths

5x09 with all my heart A Trip to Memoryville (I Hate It)

5x10 the kindness of strangers Don’t Accept Rides From Strange Relatives

5x11 the drawing of the dark Why Didn’t I Just Walk Away? Oh, Right. Because I’m an Idiot: In Which Merlin Fucks Up

5x12 the diamond of the day part 1 We’ve Been Tricked, We’ve Been Backstabbed, and We’ve Been, Quite Possibly, Bamboozled

5x13 the diamond of the day part 2 How to Mistakenly Assume You Have Everything Under Control

[buffysummers]

seeing your bangel gifset from 5x17 prompted a thought I’ve never had before, how would Riley have handled Buffy losing her mom? Like given how awful he was while Joyce was sick and Buffy wasn’t “paying enough attention” to him I’m guessing not great but like surely he would have been a bit less of a douche once Buffy lost her mom... what are your thoughts?

I don’t really know how Riley would have been because there’s such a dramatic shift in his characterization between seasons 4 and 5. I think he would have tried his best to be there for Buffy. But, like we saw in season 5, Buffy was not comfortable being completely vulnerable and open with Riley. Buffy is able to be vulnerable with Angel in a way that she’s never been able to be with anyone else. We see her crying and struggling during her mom’s illness, but it’s always alone, despite the fact that she not only has someone who would be there for her, but someone who is so desperate to be needed by her. She breaks down and cries in 5x09 but only when she’s alone in the kitchen and with the music turned up loudly. She cries alone on the porch in 5x07 until she is interrupted by Spike. Angel is the only person she entrusts with the information that she “probably” wouldn’t have made a difference if she had found her mom sooner. He’s the only one who is able to help her make it through the night, and the only person she feels at ease discussing how freaked out she is now that she has to play mom for Dawn and take care of them both. It’s one of the reasons why 5x17 is one of my favorite Bangel scenes. It really shows you that no matter how much time has passed, no matter how crazy both of their lives get (and if you watch AtS, you will see JUST how chaotic Angel’s life is when he drops everything to be there for Buffy) they will always be there for each other. I am so thankful for Marti Noxon, I don’t think she could’ve written a more representative and beautiful scene to show how powerful their love still is. The script says “They are both pained and comforted by the powerful bond between them” and I think that’s a beautifully concise way to represent their dynamic. I think Riley would have tried his best to be there for Buffy, but I think he would’ve ended up feeling frustrated and making things worse because he can tell that she has never let him all the way in, not in the way she has let Angel in and continues to let Angel in. He really is just the understudy and I do feel badly for him because I’m sure it’s not a fun feeling.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

8s = 8 Year Time Jump?

Okay Peeps! I’ve been wanting to get a theory posted about this for a while, and it’s something that I’ve mentioned briefly here and there this season, having to do with the time jump. I thought it would be a super-epic sprawling post, but it’s really not. I’ll be linking to several posts I’ve written before so you can get more details, and that will keep this post relatively short.

It has to do with all the 8s we’ve seen in the show since S4 and especially around Beth. Let’s do a little recap of some of the major instances of 8.

We saw a TON of 8 clocks around Beth. Most of the clocks we saw in the background of Grady read 8:00. Details HERE.

Then there’s all the 8:20 clocks, which represent something specific about death and resurrection. Details here: (X, X, X,)

When Daryl leads the walkers into the basement in Alone, there’s a tray down there with 8 pairs of scissors. (X). I’m mentioning this one for a specific reason. I’ll tell you why in a minute.

There’s Eugene’s 8-ball reference in S6. (X)

There’s the fact that in Still, Beth and Daryl pass the grandfather clock, and it reads 8 minutes before the hour. When they pass it again, it chimes. Which means 8 minutes have passed. Again, very significant. (X)

Then there’s a prominent number 8 behind Beth in 5x09, during Ty’s death hallucination.

We have some 8s in Roman Numerals (X).

Quite frankly, there are also a lot more random 8s that I haven’t mentioned here. These are just the most significant. Click the links above for more details, understanding that I doubt I even have all the instances recorded. There have been TONS of them.

Okay, so what’s up? What’s my argument about 8s? If you read through these old theories, you’ll see that most of them argue that the 8s must point to S8. Because that’s what we thought. They must show that she’ll return in S8. How could they not, right? But she didn’t. We were disappointed not to see her in S8.

Was that a little discouraging? Sure. Uh, you know, for most people. ;D

I’ve even justified it with the fact—yes fact!—that Andrew Lincoln was originally supposed to leave in S8, but ended up staying until S9. But the more I look at all the 8s around her, the more convinced I am that we were simply wrong and they NEVER pointed to her return in S8.

I just don’t think it can be a coincidence that we saw all those 8s, and then, after 2 time jumps, we’re now exactly 8 years post-Coda.

Thesis: I think the 8s pointed to her returning after 8 years (for the characters in the show; not us). Take a second look at the instances I’ve pointed out in the past. Look past the actual number and to the way the symbol actually functions.

Clocks at Grady: The 8:00 clocks are often in the rooms of patients who have just died. We’ve always assumed that pointed to Beth’s own “death” in 5x08. And it probably did, but as @wdway pointed out HERE, the symbol for the number 8 in the Hebrew alphabet is X (X Theory) and it means “new beginnings.” (Which we can also tie into baptism/rebirth/beth = water, but that’s a whole other post.) So I think these clocks were meant to symbolize Beth’s own death (which is why we so often see her and the 8 clock with dead patients at Grady) but that she’ll return after 8 years for a new beginning.

Daryl and the 8 pairs of scissors: Remember the last thing he said was, “Go up the road, I’ll meet you there.” Beth: “I’m not gonna leave you.” Then he sees 8 pairs of SCISSORS (another Beth symbol from Grady). See what I mean? I’m thinking this showed that the meeting up the road wouldn’t happen until 8 years later and that they wouldn’t truly be together again like they were in S4 until 8 years had passed.

Grandfather clock in Still: This one is probably the most significant. I mean, we literally had them pass the clock—you know, the one with roman numerals and the latin inscription that means “time escapes”—and when they pass it again, 8 minutes have gone by. I mean, we all know there was a billion pounds of symbolism going on in that golf club, and we have a literal representation of 8…units of time passing. Again, now we are exactly 8 years post Coda. Think that’s a coincidence? Yeah, me neither.

Eugene’s 8 Ball reference is honestly a little less clear, and I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts on it. On one hand, the wolves showed up right after he made this reference, so it could show that the wolves wouldn’t return/truly be beaten until 8 years later. But he also associated the 8-ball reference with “end game,” so maybe it shows that the end game (a.k.a. Beth) wouldn’t be seen for 8 years. Again, not sure on this one. Just spit-balling.

And of course the 8 behind her in 5x09 is probably pretty obvious at this point: that she wouldn’t be seen after that until 8 years had passed.

I also want to throw in that TD has read a LOT into all the time references around Beth. Yeah, there’s the clocks, but we’ve gone much deeper than that. References to resets, messing with time, time travel, time slippage. You get the idea. I’m wondering now if we were really over-thinking it. Maybe all those time references, starting from Gimple saying they were messing with time in S5, especially right after Coda, simply were a way of referring to (without actually saying) that a great deal of time would pass before they went back to Beth’s arc and told us what the hell went down during those missing 17 days.

So this is where I’m currently at in my thinking. Does it mean she’ll show up in S9 for sure? Not necessarily. Unfortunately.

I still think there’s a good chance we’ll see her this season, but I can also see the back half being very taken up by the Whisperers and them not quite getting to Beth. (I’ve said before that her return in S10 would have a certain symmetry because of all the Xs; X = Roman Numeral 10). So I think it could go either way.

If we don’t see her, I’ll be disappointed but I believe more than ever that we’ll see her somewhere, and soon. I think the only thing we can say for sure right now is that we’ll see her somewhere in this new arc that began with Rick leaving. That’s why we’re seeing so many Beth symbols, Beth parallels, images of her, her voice, etc. She’s coming in this arc.

But if the show starts moving really slowly again (we haven’t heard any peeps about another time jump anytime soon) then we might still be 8 years post-Coda in S10.

See what I mean? So yeah. Those are my thoughts about where we’re at heading into 9b.