#I don't think Netflix have any impact of anything

[edwin--charles]

[curvykittyyssmutfics]

pervyroomate!Satoru who can't believe his luck when you answer his online ad for a roomate: "What made you seek out a male roommate, honey? Ain't cha scared the big bad wolf is gonna get ya in your sleep?" You scoff with a heavy eye roll. "Fuck no." He can't stop the smile slowly forming on his pretty face. 'Ya should be.' He thinks, already imagining how'd look naked and squirming beneath him as he made you cry on his cock.

pervyroomate!Satoru that despite his amazing mouth-watering muscles, he mostly watched as you move your belongings into his spacious 2 bd apt: "What the fuck, Gojo? You specifically demanded I not hire movers as you're 'stronger than any of those limp dick fuckers.'" You can't see how he leans against the wall amused, arms crossed and intently staring at the way your small cotton shorts gets lost between your plump brown ass cheeks as you struggle takin boxes to your new bedroom. "Sorry, the views just so damn spectacular. Lookin so fuckin good, baby." Your cheeks warm in embarrasment as you abandon the heavy box, rush into the room and slam the door. Satoru only chuckles, fixin his raging boner as he heads downstairs to get the rest of your stuff.

pervyroomate!Satoru does anything he can in the upcoming weeks to rile you up by any means: "Gojo, put on some goddamn clothes for christ sake. My girls are gone be here soon and none of em wanna see that fuckin shit." You grumble as you sit on the couch and turn on the Netflix app. He laughs heartily, dramatically ploppin down next to you. Its impossible not to notice how his naked chest ripples, how low his black briefs sit on his hips. His hypnotic ocean blue eyes linger on your thick cocoa thighs before meeting your gaze. "Fabrications. Your BFF cornered me in our kitchen just the other day.. Damn near begged me to dick her down. Wanted so bad to tell her I'm savin that for you." He leans in close to your stunned face to whisper his last sentence and gets up, heading to his bedroom. Your left starin at his spot on the couch with wide eyes and wet panties.

pervyroomate!Satoru purposely switched out the dark shower curtain a few months into you moving in with a clear one, finding any reason to disturb your alone time: "Hey y/n, need to brush my teeth real fast." Doesn't bother knocking, quickly stepping in before you have time to cover your wet body. His eyes seem a shade darker as he scans up and down your soapy, naked frame. A small 'fuck' escaping his pretty lips as he stares unashamed. "Gojo, what the hell?!" You screech, arms quickly covering your glistening breasts as you cup your other hand over your pussy. You could literally melt on the spot at the way she clenches at his intense gaze. "Get the fuck out!" The damn pervert looks on for a moment longer, actually having the audacity to palm his cock a few times. "Okay okay, baby, damn. Why you gotta be like that? You showed me yours, don't you want me to show you mine?" He asks with pouty lips as he finally backs out the bathroom, arms raised in surrender. You stop shielding your tits to throw a bar of dove soap at his stark white locks. He only chuckles, quickly shutting the door to avoid impact. "Fuckin creep, Gojo!!"

pervyroomate!Satoru flirts with you relentlessly, crossing every boundary and every line over the next few months: "You gettin the snacks, babe?" Satoru calls from the front room. You roll your eyes at the pet name before you feel a stinging SMACK! to your plump behind. "Ow, Gojo! You fuckin asshole. Quit it!" You swat at the childish nuisance but he dodges your attack easily, leaning against the kitchen counter a few feet away. Fuckin guy has spent the better part of the day smackin your ass while yelling 'Smack Ass Friday!' like a damn teenager. "Awe, come on pretty! Love watchin how your ass bounces when I do it." He coos at you before swerving a bag of doritos you quickly chuck his way. "Boy, I don't give a fuck. You touch it again and you're goin down." It's insulting how lightly he takes your threat; walking right up, grabbin a handful of each ass cheek and smashing your hips together. His half hard dick feels chubby as fuck against you, girth of him makin you gasp and clutch as his shoulders. Your insides clench at the feelin of him pressed against you. "Fuck, I been waitin to go down on you. Name the time and place sweetheart." He tells you sweetly, swiping his thumb across your bottom lip, kissing you on the cheek and retreating to the living room. Damn this man must love leaving you speechless, heart and pussy fluttering to his dirty words.

pervyroomate!Satoru notices how much you love how he smells: whether it's his natural scent or cologne. You take his shirts without his permission too often, only wantin the ones he'd previously worn. Loves how he comes home late one night and catches you in one of his stolen white t-shirts. Neckline pulled up to your nose, tittes jiggling wildly underneath as you play with yourself. He stares between the crack of your bedroom door, hand swiftly squeezin at his dick as he watches you mindlessly rub yourself over your underwear. y/e/c eyes shut tight, quietly moaning his name like a fuckin prayer. "Toruuuuu! Fuh-uuuck Satoru, love how you smell. Mmmm, soooo good. Want you so m-much, need you to fuck me Toru!" His mouth hangs wide open as he humps his hand faster atop his light blue jeans, absolutely entranced how you frantically rub at your throbbing lil pearl. "Ahhhh! Oh my god, Toru please!" He's so greatful for a front row seat to witness you cum like a fuckin virgin. Fuck are you one?Can't help his deranged whisper as he commits the scene to memory. "That's it, baby. Cum for me. Fuck.. I know that lil pussy's so gushy for me right now. Can't wait to see it up close, gonna make her cream all over me pretty girl." Head pushed back into your fluffy pink pillow, pretty y/h/c hair splayed out makin you look like a goddess in the throes of passion to him. "Wanna cum on your cock, Satoruuuu!" His shirt rides up on you, showing him how your tummy pudge jiggles as your body convulses into an arch. You bite your lip to muffle the rest of your pleasure. It's okay. The sight is enough for Satoru. He paints the inside of his new jeans immediately, free hand cupped over his mouth as his eyes roll back, his hips repeatedly jerking his clothed spasming cock into the palm of his hand.

pervyroomate!Satoru who asks you the nastiest shit just to see you sexually flustered: You're in bed reading, back against the headboard with Satoru's head in your lap. Your hand carelessly cards through his soft hair, nails lightly scratchin at his scalp. So cute the way he whines at you to continue everytime you accidentally pause as you get to a good part in your book. "Hey baby?" His voice so innocent that you know for a fact the next words outta his mouth are gonna be filthy as fuck. "Yeah?" "How come you only call me Satoru when you're on your back, fingers in that pretty lil pussy?" His tone is laced with the genuine wonder of a child asking a simple question. Your jaw might as well be on the floor. "G-Gojo!" Shocked exclamation half accusatory, half scolding. "What? I really wanna know, y/n. Sound as pretty as you looked in my shirt when you moan it like you did the other night; made me cum so hard listenin." He's lookin up at you upside down but you're absolutely mortified, using your book to hide your face. What do you even say to him right now? "Aww, baby don't be shy. I do it when I think about you too. Cept I usually have a pair of your panties up to my nose." He shares with you happily and unapologetic, pulling the book from your fingers to toss it to the floor. "I wanna hear you say it like that again." Turning on his belly to leer at your clothed pussy through your tiny bottoms. Your breath picks up in anticipation, starin as his fine ass leans foward and gives a slow lick from slit to clit. The urgent, intense sensations has you squealing out his name as you slide both hands into his hair. "Satoruuu!" Slidin your shorts to the side, admiring your moist plump pussy lips. "Fuck baby, say it again. Just like that." He commands you, latching onto your sensitive lil button. All you can do is comply, buckin into his mouth as you wail 'Satoru' over and over to the damn heavens.

[liquidorcard]

We're back to this.

Okay, so, Lily's not actually EXACTLY right about this, but unfortunately, I'm worried anything she says will immediately be doubted because she's Lily. I care about people's perception of this, so I'm not going to kinda half-heartedly back her up by filling in the gaps of some of what she's said here. But, this isn't an unreasonable explanation of the issue, let me be clear. Just somewhat incomplete and not articulated the best.

The US is at a trade deficit with Canada. They buy more from us than we do from them.

Most of that is vital resources the US doesn't have enough of. Like water, power and gas.

But the deficit isn't actually as big as Trump has made it sound. Though the US imports a lot of material goods from Canada, they export a lot of services aswell. Most of what Canada gets from the US is stuff like network companies, telecommunications, shit like Uber and Netflix, etc. As someone who works in entertainment, I can tell you, a lot of shit is filmed here. Hollywood productions. The world got to see the campus of the college I went to featured on The Last of Us. Almost every time you see NYC on screen, what you're actually seeing is Vancouver. That's just what the American market has prioritized services. Canada has nothing to do with that (other than do things like provide tax cuts for studios to film here, etc.)

That's not an endorsement of how our respective economies operate and interact, I have my own criticisms of it. That's just a description.

Trump, in this one instance, I wouldn't characterize as an idiot. He knows exactly what he's doing. . . What that is though, benefits no one* (I'll get to it). Not even the American people.

It would benefit the American industry if they had more direct control over the resources Canada has. "But Liquid don't you go on and on with your pro labor stance? Wouldn't that be a good thing? More jobs?"

Benefit American industry by benefitting cooperations, increasing America's economic dominance, which we should all understand by now the laborers would not see a fucking dime of.

It wouldn't create more jobs. Especially as automation continues to march forwards. The American government (both the Republicans and the Democrats, even though one is way more guilty of this than the other) would take the opportunity to squeeze the citizens under its control. For its many faults, the Canadian government has done a lot more in terms of protecting its laborers and the environmental impact of its industry. Not ENOUGH in my opinion, but MORE. Way more. Part of why America needs to buy so many resources from Canada is because of how badly it's absolutely decimated it's own. These aren't resources the US is capable of handling responsibly. That's part of the reason why we don't have any of the megacorps the US does. The job market in Canada isn't what it should be, but it IS more stable because of that. Believe it or not, there are way more economic and social advantages to not endlessly expanding until the world is (literally) on fire than not.

The US doesn't subsidize Canada. If anything, it's the other way around.

That's why he's talking about Annexing us. He wants to rape the world even more than the US already does.

And, fair is fair, Canada is somewhat responsible for this. The country has become complicit in allowing the US to become the global monster it is by not diversifying in our economic partnerships sooner. The US was seen for so many years abd a reliable and safe partner for trade-- so we sent our troops to aid in their wars, we covered their asses regardless of the skullduggery they partook in. I think the only thing Canada ever really did to defy the American government truly in a way that mattered was accepting draft dodgers during the Vietnam War. And even then, part of me is half remembering we did deport some of them. I can't quite remember why, but Canada has no official laws in terms of accepting political refugees-- something apparently some Jan 6th insurrectionist are finding out in real time right now.

Because Lily doesn't give a shit, probably doesn't know, let it not go unsaid that here in Alberta the government has fucked over our own people in order to support American industry in the past. Especially First Nations people. That's a whole other can of worms I can't get into in detail, but trust me, it's fucking happened.

That willingness to suck American dick is EXACTLY why Danelle Smith is currently lying on Fox News that Canadian citizens, even Albertans (Canada's most Ameriboo province) want to be a part of America.

If any of you want a deeper dive into what's actually going on with Canada's response to America's threats, how Trudeau, Poilievre, and Alberta's oil industry factors into that-- let me know. I feel like I'm ready to rip my hair out right now with how little Americans (and frankly a lot of Canadians-- like Lily) give a shit about our politics, so just give me the excuse. I'm begging you.

[hamliet]

Hi Hamliet, I am a very amateur writer trying to get back into writing. Do you have any advice on how to avoid "forced romance" if you will? I see it in many medias and I feel like it takes away from the plot rather than enrich, especially in story platforms where romance is not the center piece in genres. How could I make romantic elements feel natural? Or would it better to tease subtle intimacy? Your analysis on a variety of media is helpful so I was curious for your input. Have a great day!

Hello! Best of luck with your writing!!

I would honestly look at your characters and story and think about their arcs and the themes.

For the characters, what is their main struggle? What is preventing them from getting it? How would a romance help or distract them from pursuing their main goal? How would the other character challenge them?

I also think it helps in particular to examine the internal drive for the goal--for example, someone may have a goal of, oh, winning a competition, but why is that their goal? For the joy of winning, or because winning is an integral part of their identity? See, you can't "win" in a relationship. It's either both of you compromise and learn how to win life together, as a team that sacrifices for each other because you enjoy each other, or you lose your relationship by focusing on winning against the other person. You need to know how to lose willingly to be in a relationship.

If the romance is meant to be a major plot point, then you have to develop all characters involved in a romance beyond just "love interest." But they don't have to be a super complex character to work for the story, depending on the specifics of plot and genre and themes.

Two examples of well-done romances that are only subplots are the main romances of the 2023 Netflix film Do Revenge. Drea's romance with Russ, as a character, shows us that as much as she's cold and driven by her ambitions, she also really craves personal connection in multiple areas of her life. It also shows us that she can heal, considering her whole revenge arc is set off by her ex, Max, betraying her. Through Russ, we see the possibility of Drea becoming a better person--and there's added conflict because Russ is friends with Eleanor's enemy whom Drea gets revenge on, Carissa.

For Eleanor, her romance with Gabby works because Gabby is Max's sister. The main villain of the movie is siblings with her love interest. Yet Eleanor maintaining a flirty facade with Max is integral to the revenge, so her ability to work both siblings clues the viewer into the fact that Eleanor is smarter and savvier than we initially think (leading up to a big twist). It also comments on her backstory about being outed and trying to hide parts of who she is. There's also another, smaller twist, where we're meant to see potential conflict in Eleanor getting revenge on Max and thereby hurting Gabby... but as it turns out, Gabby is the one who has more morals than Eleanor and sees her brother for whom he truly is--so instead of hindering Eleanor, Gabby actually challenges Eleanor to get on her level.

These romances are minor subplots in a fairly trivial movie, but they work because they tie into the character's arcs in intriguing ways, and also comment on the story's themes. Can you go too far in revenge? What is possible to forgive? How do we determine who we are and who we want to be?

So, for themes, what is the main message of your story, and how does love impact that? For example, if the story is one of self-discovery, of self-acceptance even, learning how you are in a romance is actually an important part of that for many people. A romance can even fail and still matter.

Romances that don't work, for me, are ones that are tacked on and not really relevant to anything other than "hero/heroine needs romantic interest, insert here."

[peoplesrazor]

Okay, I have to ask why here, twice.

Let's do the last part first. Why is it a tragedy if we don't keep getting the same kind of episodes with the same hook/gimmick/twist/set-up? We had that episode. That episode is great. A marvel. Star Trek had a lot of great episodes over all the series, they did lots of cool and innovative things. Know what they didn't do, despite being episodic?

Make another episode like Frame of Mind, because they already did that.

This is the same mindset of people who "want another avatar," or want to make a live action version of a popular cartoon show, or remake an old IP.

We already have those things. That episode still exists. You can watch it any time. I have a feeling you just did.

Secondly, and more importantly, why would serialization make episodes like this not possible?

Without spoiling too much of the plot, the episode has to do with Riker struggling to sort out what's real and what's not. He's in a play, he's in an insane asylum, he's on the enterprise and he becomes increasingly unnerved as he tries to sort things out. In the end, it was...

I guess a small spoiler is unavoidable, but the episode is from like 1993, so look below for the twist...

***

It was a trick. He was captured during a covert mission and his captors are trying to get information about the federation from him.

How could that not be part of a larger serialized story?

Like say the season was about an alien race covertly infiltrating the federation and the enterprise is on the alert looking for them. Sometimes the plot would revolve around this, sometimes it wouldn't. Sometimes things would be blamed on this infiltrating force that really didn't have anything to do with it, but then slowly more and more of the alien plot would become clear over the season.

How, how, would this episode not fit into something like that? It's just another instance of those aliens giving it a go. If you are worried it wouldn't be as impactful, simply set it early on in the season.

Every time you complain about things like serialization Lily, what I hear in my head is...movies are inferior to theatre, TV is going to hurt the ticket sales of movies, blockbusters killed small low budget films.

While, certainly, changes in how we consume media effect the media landscape, it's rarely the media apocalypse such warnings portend. And the good ideas always, always, come back around.

Radio was direly effected by the, to use your term, omnipresence of TVs, but you know what's similar to both talk shows and pulp classics from that medium?

Podcasts.

Serialization is not going to kill episodes like Frame of Mind. People are simply more creative then that. That's why there is a oner (a single long continuous shot) in Netflix serialized version of Haunting of Hill House that last almost the whole episode. There was no other reason to do that, besides thinking it would be a neat thing to do.

Think that has nothing to do with Frame of Mind? That episode was inspired partially by the Tom Stoppard play Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. Why that play?

Members of the cast had just been in a performance of that play and they thought pairing that with the concept: Riker wakes up in an insane asylum was just a neat idea.

And it was.

Addendum: If Lily is going to start spewing her crap all over Star Trek now, I guess I need to find my companion books and dust off the tech manuals.

Think she knows about the whales aboard the ships?

[astramachina]

For those of you who've been following me for a while now, there's a good chance you got to experience my journey reading the Remembrance of Earth's Past series last year. I loved Three-Body Problem, but The Dark Forest and Death's End were like pulling teeth. Both books had their very very good moments, but getting through them was a tedious experience I considered giving up on on multiple occasions. I will give it to Cixin Liu tho, I needed to know how the series ended and that alone was the sole reason I pushed towards the finish line. Any author that can make me tough out bad writing for the sake of seeing the end deserves some kind of award (and he won a ton anyway, so).

I approached the Netflix series with zero expectations given their propensity for shitty adaptations (One Piece notwithstanding), but after watching the first episode I was left cautiously optimistic.

Having watched all 8 episode I'm still unsure how to feel about it. I spent most of the series hitting pause to rant at my roommate about it, both positively and negatively.

I had many issues with the books, but some of the more obvious ones came from a writing standpoint. I love hard sci-fi. I could not excuse the sheer length of those final two books. The atrocious treatment of women as objects to romance and use as bartering for the main character. The abysmal MCs (specifically Luo Ji) that made me want to yell to the high heavens due to annoying they were. The lack of human connection between characters.

For books so steeped in sociopolitical and ethical commentaries, the flagrant misogyny and homophobia was eye-rolling. And not even in a "This is Bad" sort of way, just in a "This is So Fucking Boring" kind of way. I cannot speak for the author's biases, because the contents of a book in no way reflects the views of an author or their character.

Where the books shone the brightest were during the battle scenes, the looming dread, genuinely horrific thought experiments.

And, surprisingly? It feels like the people at Netflix thought the same.

I've never watched Game of Thrones but I understood why people were against it from the get-go. That, along with the whole "whitewashing" thing which I consider to be interesting. For starters, you're using whitewashed wrong. Yes, they moved the central story from China to England which was... a fascinating choice, but of the core five (that quickly became the core four), only two of them are white. I'm not saying it was okay for a western adaptation to take a cast and further diversify it, I'm just saying that that's not whitewashing.

That aside, I did like some of the choices that were made from a narrative standpoint. Reshuffling and streamlining events, for one. Removing the whole plot line about Luo Ji hunting down a woman who he invented in his head in order to marry her? I'm not entirely sold on the idea of taking core events and divvying them up between four different people, but I do understand what they're trying to do.

The book series failed at crafting believable and impactful relationships between its human characters, which made the narrative feel hollow and one-dimensional. This adaptation aimed to change this by slapping a band-aid over the issue. Like I said, I'm still unsure of how I feel about this.

A lot of unnecessary stuffing was removed to make a suitable run time, and I say unnecessary because there's really no scenes that are making me go "oh, I wish this had been included". Was some stuff rushed? Yes. The passage of time could have been outlined a little better, but that's a small nitpick on my end.

The scale of things was toned down, and I don't think Netflix has the capability (or budget) to tackle space battles.

Honestly? I don't really see this getting a second season for a variety of reasons, and I'd be okay with that.

It was an "okay" watch, in the end.

Tho, I'm still flabbergasted by the random "gory scary jumpscare" scenes????? Where did those come from??? I don't remember anything like that being in the books but, you know. I've read a lot more books since finishing these, so.

[aquitainequeen]

Aside from news on how things possibly stand for a Shadow and Bone/Six Of Crows renewal (basically no news is good news, keep going with the campaign!) there's also a short interview with Eric Heisserer, which sheds some interesting light indeed on the writing and making of Season Two, and it explains a lot of things:

Here are the questions posed for Eric's interview: 

"I'd like to know if there's a way to liberate the pre-written scripts if Netflix doesn't plan on using them" - Christian Thalmann (creator of the Fjerdan language)

"In my view, 'The Crows' have the potential to revitalize the Grishaverse. Unlike "Shadow and Bone", this new show could rely less on elaborate visual effects and offer a fresh narrative angle. Heist-themed shows are currently in high demand, adding to its appeal. Am I mistaken in thinking that our focus should primarily be on 'The Crows'? The likelihood of 'Shadow and Bone' returning seems slim, but I've always believed that 'The Crows' had a greater change of success." - Joleen

"If/when the spinoff is back (finger crossed) was there anything he had planned that would completely surprised, for good reasons obviously, the audience? And we should hold our breath for that twist/turn??" - Rti

"What are the difficulties you mentioned about filming S2 in that Reddit comment? Don't want to sound negative, but what went wrong?!" - Mitra

"How long was the sizzle reel ready to go but he had to keep it secret?" - Discord Team

"I would love to know his perspective on the impact of streaming on storytelling. Would we have had to launch a campaign like this 10-15 years ago for a show like this? What are the main points when it comes to streaming models and telling unique, diverse stories?" - Acorn_Bri

Eric's Responses: 

1) "There is a way to liberate the Crows scripts from Netflix, yes, and in fact that would be part of the buyout for another streamer when acquiring the rights to Leigh's novels. It would be a package deal." 

2) "The focus on the Crows is helpful in two ways -- first, those scripts were written, which lets us get a running start at production, and second, just from casual analysis of book sales, it's far more popular worldwide than other Grishaverse titles. So it will be a bigger draw for viewers. The trap though is the cost. It's more grounded than S&B, sure, but the Ice Court is a unique location that either requires a really costly set build, or set extensions and VFX work to make it look authentic, which means nearly every shot of the heist once our crew gets there could be a VFX shot. My guess is the budget would be on par with S2 of S&B.

3) "Yes, there is a surprise or two in the Crows spinoff season, but overall it's as close to the novel as we could make it. And Leigh's novel is such an amazing story with natural cliffhangers that work as episode "out" moments, etc. I think the biggest move we made was to feature every single Crow's backstory to go with their episode. So that was fun/sad/exciting." 

4) S2 kept throwing challenges at us, and it started long before we got to production. Like months earlier, when we learned the location we needed for the Little Palace in S1 was closed to us due to the pandemic. So right there we lost out on a ton of S&S scenes, because it wouldn't be a match. But we also had written a compelling side arc for Ivan and Fedyor in S2, these two Grisha trapped on either side of the civil war. Each of them played a big role in the story, but Simon (Ivan) had a feature film that overlapped with our schedule and couldn't move, which meant we lost him. So Daegan worked to revise the season keeping Fedyor and leaving Ivan like dead from the end of S1. He was Kirigan's right-hand man for the season. But poor Julian caught COVID just when we were to shoot out most of his scenes, and after tyring to ake the schedule work, we had to come to the brutal truth that there wasn't a way to keep Fedyor in the story. Our only option was to bring him in at like episode 8, which would've been too little, too late. 

COVID continued to be a monster all through production, requiring us to juggle schedules and miss out on days, and it was madness for the cast, who had to pivot with almost no notice whenever someone was ill and quarantined. This isn't unique to our show of course---it happened with everyone. It's just the challenge. 

Beyond that, we had been given the go to write a special standalone story: The Demon in the Wood. This would have been released on its own around Christmas, like a BBC special but for Netflix, and would help bridge seasons 1 and 2 by showing a little of what Kirigan was doing before we seem him in S2, and also provide more character context, etc. Christina Strain wrote that and did great work adapting Leigh's short story. But it never went the distance. 

There was a lot more to S2 as well, scenes and side stories and little interactions that were lost due to budget or time restrictions. Again, not unique to our show, but agonizing all the same, since what you get is not what we had written, or in some cases even shot. I'm incredibly proud of the cast and the team, and Daegan did the heaviest lifting while I was off finishing the Crows writing room. But we had a lot more thrown at us." 

5) That sizzle reel was put together four months before the second season dropped. 

6) Streaming is a challenge to serialized storytelling in that it looks at 'content' often with a different agenda and uses metrics that can take a creative issue and exacerbate it. Like in broadcast, if viewership and thus ad revenue has slightly declined, the show will ned to find a way to make their 22 or 13 episodes on a proportionally smaller budget. What is not done is reduce episode order. But if a streaming series underperforms or doesn't meet expectations, an the streamer doesn't cancel it outright, the go-to budget reduction idea is to reduce episode order for the next season. When you just have 8 episodes and continue to deal with notes to compress, pace up, or omit for what you'd scripted for a longer season, reducing further to six or four episodes is exhausting. 

This happens due to a slide in autonomy from what the showrunner position has been. What the chatter on the picket lines revealed to us is that most showrunners today don't get to see their own show's budget, and thus don't get the freedom to make budgetary decisions that could better protect the story they're telling. More and more, showrunners not at a legacy network aren't the final say or at times even involved in hiring key roles. I don't have any ideas that aren't already in contract language, I just see how the job on this side has gotten harder and there isn't much of a way for us to make it easier for each other like we could with having writers on set or in post production, because the streaming model has made that impossible." 

[urdeadbestfriend]

kind of a ball of hate at the moment because most of the time i go to bed at 12 and my roommate will be up until 3-5am with all the lights on and giggling and being loud as fuck on discord AND I DON'T SAY ANYTHING because i can still fall asleep it just takes longer and i don't want to be a wet blanket etc. but he's started going to bed at 8:30pm and expects me to keep every light off. so i'm stuck either curling up in bed which i don't want to do or sitting on the couch alone in the dark for like 4 hours. what if i want to invite friends over. and then he gets up at 5am and accidentally wakes me up every time because he puts on netflix and always slams doors! like you can't have it both ways dude. i know i can't ask him to stay up later than he wants but he also shouldn't be asking me to sit in the dark by myself. i feel like he sees me as a child that never does or wants anything. ALSO WHY DOES HE ALWAYS GET PRIORITY OVER THE TV! but he already sees me as stubborn and overbearing so i can't say any of this even though i'm pretty sure it's reasonable. like dude can't you just think of the impacts of your actions.

[bereft-of-frogs]

disorganized best (and worst) books/films/shows of 2024

I finished 68 books, watched 105 films and 35 TV shows, and finished 3 games.

Honestly, the math might be off because it turns out this was a terrible idea. At the start of the year I was like 'oh it will be fun to do one big list!' It was not fun to do one big list. It was really hard to keep count. I already have a plan for next year, it's going to be much more organized. If you can decipher these lists feel free to ask me for a review about any entry on the list.

This isn't really going to be a top 5 or 10 or anything because I felt like it would be more fun just to kind of highlight my favorites (and least favorites) rather than forcing myself to pick a specific number. Fits the theme of disorganization like the lists above.

Onwards!

I had a really good TV year, book and film were a little more meh, not a lot is sticking out in the same way the best TV shows are:

SILO!!! (AppleTV). I'll be real honest, I started watching this because post-Dune Part II, I had a crush on Rebecca Ferguson. It had NO BUSINESS being this good for a show I was exclusively watching disrespectfully for Rebecca Ferguson wearing tank tops. That doesn't usually work out this well for me. But it is so good. There are flaws but also no there aren't, because it's made so earnestly that some of the shakier acting performances and awkward dialogue moments just don't matter to me. It's almost like the shows I used to watch on SyFy Fridays except with AppleTV money and production values. Which makes it so fun.

Severance (AppleTV). This is where I really knew I was in trouble with AppleTV. I was not going to be cancelling that free trial. This show is SO good and I cannot wait for the new season in a couple weeks.

AppleTV honestly kind of killed it this year, I also really enjoyed Dark Matter and Constellation, which both meet my criteria for multiverse shows, aka 'could these be branches of The OA's multiverse tree'. I've also been really enjoying Shrinking, even though it's not my usual genre. I'm so mad I signed up for a free trial and then got so completely hooked on the quality of their shows that I've continued to subscribe long after the trial ended. Outrageous. How dare they be making such excellent, high quality television. I'm appalled.

Giri/Haji (Netflix). It turns out that the show that keeps appearing on 'hidden gems of streaming' is good actually. WHO KNEW? The excellent characters and performances really elevated this gang war crime drama.

Scavenger's Reign (Originally HBO, but I watched it on Netflix). This show was gorgeous and so creative. I'm so sad they're not getting a second season. I cried twice. It was short but it made an impact.

Special Film Category: Films that Actually Scared Me.

Since I mainly watch horror, I significant marker of quality for me is if I actually get scared watching a movie and two movies genuinely freaked me out this year: Oddity (2024) and Pyewacket (2017). For both, there were moments where I was like 'oh no I don't want to go to bed alone tonight'. Normally I love living alone. Regretted it only after these movies. The concept of the murder in Oddity was enough to freak me out but even outside of the inciting incident, it kept delivering with the deeply unsettling scenes. Pyewacket wasn't perfect, I think Adam MacDonald is the kind of filmmaker who builds a whole film based off one scene he has in his mind and the rest of film isn't quite as strong as that one scene. But that scene is so disturbing and I haven't stopped thinking about it. (Same with his Backcountry (2017), it was fairly weak except for this ONE scene that I'll never get out of my head.)

Also Dune Part II was pretty great, super glad I saw it on IMAX and I'm pretty sure it's like half the reason Hans Zimmer ended up on my Spotify top 5 this year. (Interstellar was the other half, SO glad I finally after a decade got to see it on IMAX!)

For books, I really enjoyed The Fishermen by John Langan. It's a great meditation on death, AND had a dark ocean, which you know I love.

Silver In the Wood by Emily Tesh's only crime was how short it was! I do still have to pick up the sequel, but I was definitely down for a full length novel of this.

This was the year I also discovered I CAN listen to audiobooks, which is part of why my count is higher than ever. I'm not done with this but I've been listening to Leviathan Wakes by James SA Corey and really liking it. I'm hoping to read the whole of that series in 2025.

Also, of course, while the quality of the individual books varied, my marathon of the Star Wars High Republic series was probably the most fun I've had with a series in years. Looking forward to the last couple books in 2025, though I'm sad to see it end.

worst of the year + notable DNFs under the cut so you don't have to scroll past my griping if you want to stay positive on this New Year's Dat. I'll reveal the list here in case I am saying mean things about your fave and you don't want to click the readmore: The Acolyte, Ronin by Emma Mieko Canton, City of Brass by SA Chakraborty, Aurora by David Koepp, Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie

The Acolyte (Disney+). Ok first off, I don't want to downplay that the experience of watching The Acolyte was one of my top of the year. Watching and theorizing week-to-week, live reaction posting, my High Republic book marathon leading up to it, those parts were SO fun. However. The longer I think about this show, the more I just cannot ignore how bad the structural issues are. This is even setting aside my personal issues with the show -- mainly the second-half pivot toward the enemies-to-lovers romance that really didn't land for me, and the treatment of Vernestra's character, and some of the things Headland said in interviews. The two full flashback episodes with no framing devices or any content in the present is just...bad television structure. I mean the first one just dumped on us was bad enough, but the second one where the episode before looked like it was setting up a framing for the flashback, only for the finale to be like 'never mind, that's not what was happening at all', was absurd. I dream of living in the branch of the multiverse where this is properly edited. Imagine how good it could have been, if the flashbacks were properly cut into the primary story, and we had more development of all the characters? Every time I watched something this year with extensive flashbacks (The Head, Dune: Prophecy, Black Doves, Giri/Haji) I thought 'alas, what if??' I think what happened though is Headland came up with the Rashomon comparison early and didn't change when the story would have been better served by not doing the conflicting perspective Rashomon thing, and using a more normal flashback structure.

There were good things! The fight choreography was truly excellent, episode 5 was a standout, and it didn't deserve the hate it got from toxic fans, but ultimately it had more downsides for me than up and I can't say I was particularly disappointed when it wasn't renewed. Though even that wasn't really deserved because it's FAR from the only Disney+ show to have really deep structural issues. Most of their series actually just aren't very good television. This isn't even the first time I had a great experience watching something and was engaged enough to write fic for it, only to in hindsight realize how flawed it was. (Loki came first, then Obi-Wan Kenobi, though the fic inspired by The Acolyte is shaping up to be the longest -- the others really only got short oneshots, I'm looking at a beast with this fic, 40k and counting!) And unless Disney+ makes some major changes in the TV production wing...I doubt it will be the last.

Ronin by Emma Mieko Canton (DNF). Technically, I would say this book isn't bad and why I labeled this section 'notable DNFs' as well. I think it's a good example of the way that concepts work really well in some formats, and don't translate well to others. I LOVE Visions, and I love "The Duel", specifically because the studios aren't bound by Star Wars canon. The open creativity of that series is a feature, not a bug. But I didn't find it translated well to the longer format of the book. I would follow the plot for a while and then get absolutely thrown by worldbuilding or backstory I couldn't follow. I think it needed more exposition. It was kind of odd that it was written like any other licensed book that didn't need exposition, but it was so different from standard canon it was hard to follow and I ended up giving up.

City of Brass by SA Chakraborty. I tried, babes, I tried. Everything said to make it to 50% and it would get better but I just could not do it. Nahri was so deeply annoying and I wasn't engaged enough in the rest of the plot to keep going. If she 'realized' one more thing I was going to lose my entire mind. I'm sorry.

Aurora by David Koepp. This is another where, like Ronin, it's not technically bad. I just ended up getting kind of pissed off by the end. It felt like it was trying to be Station Eleven but was too cynical. And maybe just now because my parents live in an area that gets a lot of power outages, I was kind of pissed that he reduced the accomplishment of getting the power grid working again to one line towards the end. I would have been way more interested to hear about that collective effort over the 'the suburbs make a utopian commune while all those scary urban people immediately descended into chaos' thing.

Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie. I feel so bad for saying this, but Craig DiLouie just wasn't intellectual enough to achieve what he was aiming for in this. Or at least he didn't put enough time or effort in to developing th? It couldn't counteract the truly stupid moments like the time when a character says he's going to shoot a ghost. But hey, it did lead to a reread of House of Leaves and further appreciation for one of my favorite underrated found footage films, As Above So Below. Because that was the crux of my problem with this book, that it wasn't well thought out enough to be House of Leaves and it didn't have enough heart to be As Above So Below.

I don't know why almost all of my least favorites this year were books, I guess I just have a lot of opinions on books. I also tend to DNF books less, so I end up having more negative thoughts about books, whereas with TV or film if I don't like it I just don't finish it or don't pay attention.

Congratulations for getting to the end. Again, feel free to ask thoughts about anything else on the list if you want (and can read it). I promise it will be more organized next year. Happy New Year! What were your favorite/least favorite things this year?

[javaelemental]

(Netflix) Avatar: The Last Airbender, Ep. 1

I just watched the first episode of Netflix's live action Avatar. Spoilers, folks.

Well, it was certainly pretty, I'll give it that. The FX/CGI are great. The bending looks good.

The cast looks good, too. I mean, one episode, mostly young actors, so I don't have much to say one way or the other about them yet.

I do have one thing to say and that is that I was not super impressed with any of the adult actors. It was kind of like they all got together and decided "Look, this is for kids, we're gonna need to dumb this down a lot. We better act out loud and in primary colors or the kiddies ain't gonna get it."

But also, didn't love Iroh. He was just kind of flat. I'm not very familiar with the actor, but I know he's been in a bunch of things and I know he's supposed to be good. For now I'm gonna go ahead and side eye the writing and the directing here on his behalf, because I think they're not giving him much to work with or very good direction.

I get why they decided to start with showing the Air Temple being attacked. I can totally see the writer's room being like, "Oh, neat, we can show all that, it'll be dramatic and scary and show the stakes and show off the firebenders and blahblahblah." I get it. I just don't think it works. We were a handful of episodes in before we saw that in the cartoon, and by then, we knew the characters, liked them, and were invested in them. We knew what had happened because Katara and Sokka had talked about it, but Aang didn't know yet, not really, so we knew he was gonna be upset. Like, there was a little dread and anticipation built up there. And when we finally got to it, man, it hit like a freight train, because we cared about everyone. Putting all that right up front before we give a crap about anybody involved really robbed it of it's impact.

Frankly, so did actually showing it. In the cartoon we only saw the aftermath and had to fill in the horror for ourselves. Protip for baby writers: Sometimes rubbing the audience's face in the tragedy is not the best way to tell them what happened. Sometimes you can just show them the emptiness that's left behind, and if you've done your character work right, that's going to hit harder than damn about anything else you can do.

I dunno, guys. I don't have a good feeling about the rest of this season. I'm hoping this thing just has a real bad case of pilot-itis, if that's still a thing in the streaming age.

I didn't go into this expecting a shot-for-shot remake of the cartoon. I expected them to change a lot of things, and put their own spin on everything, and that's fine. It's a remake, you're allowed to make it your own thing. But... when you're remaking a beloved story, you can change a lot, but you have to at least bring the original's heart and soul along for the ride. And uh, I didn't see a lot of that happening in this first episode. Fingers crossed that it gets better, folks.

[wawamouse]

Fanfic ask game but I answer all the questions on my own because I can and I want to lol (and you can too 😌)

What was your first fic and could you stand to reread it today? My first fanfic was a Harry Potter fanfic I wrote in 3rd grade from the POV of James Potter going to Hogwarts (I had read books 1-6 in 2nd grade). I thought I was a genius for this because I had no idea fanfic was already a real thing.

What’s your most recent fic and how far do you think you’ve come? My most recent fic was "Riptide", answered for a kiss prompt. I've come very far! I wrote a bit of fanfic throughout high school years ago but didn't get heavy back into it until 4 years ago, during the height of the pandemic.

In your opinion, what’s your best fic? Honestly can't judge this. I have my most kudosed fic, but it definitely isn't my best. I think I would have pick one of my shorter Miguel/Chico fics, or else one of my longer rongzhi fics.

In your opinion and without looking at any numbers, what’s your most popular fic? It would have to be one of my HxH fics. I wrote a series for it in high school or college (idr). The show had seen a resurgence in popularity at the time, I think, because it was around when the remake anime was released on Netflix. I think it must be "We Who Have the Souls" that is my most kudosed fic.

Is there any fic that makes you super happy to reread and remember you wrote that? Off the top of my head: "For Nothing Tender About it" (MiguelChico), "At Rise" (M/C), "Exit Wound" (Sui Zhou/Wan Tong), and "A Dying Eye" (Ding Rong/Wang Zhi)... I've been re-reading a lot of my shorter fics lately. I really like "Alibi" lately...

Is there any fic that makes you super embarrassed to reread and remember you wrote that? Probably if I reread one of the ones I orphaned or one of the ones I wrote in my early days which only exists on a thumb drive now lol.

What’s the fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)? "The Nineteenth Year of Chenghua". Zombie apocalypse fic. Someday….

What’s the oldest (longest since last update) fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)? Out of Nowhere, I guess. But I don't remember anything to finish it. Next oldest is The Nineteenth Year of Chenghua.

Have you ever written for a fandom without watching/reading/playing the source material? No.

Have you ever written for a fandom without reading other fanfic for it? Yeah, The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty (I started the tag), Hamlet (wrote fanfic for a class), Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. I also think I wrote Need For Speed (movie) fanfic before there were any other fics to read, but I might be wrong about that.

Have you ever written a fic for a concept you know someone else has done before? How did it impact your writing process or feelings after posting? I don't think so? Not if 'concept' means 'same plot premise'. Yeah, no, I don't think so. There are some stories where something necessarily has to be written to cross canon point A to B to get to where you want to be in the fanfic, but… no? Maybe "Collision Course"? I wrote the in the car talking concept originally as what was going to be a remix of @/merelyafigment's tumblr snippet.

Have you ever written a fic and decided never to publish it? Why? I write really trashy smut and wattpad level indulgence in my notes app as a fun activity before bed sometimes. But those are never really meant to be published, though they're there for me to steal bits and pieces from for actual fics. Actually, a good chunk of "For Nothing Tender About It" and "Countdown" and probably smaller portions of some other fics I'm forgetting came from that notes app. Sometimes I'll read back stuff and be like "hey, that's actually not that bad" and polish it up, chop off the trashier bits, and then turn it into a oneshot.

What’s the biggest change between your style when you started in fandom and today? I'm a better writer? Lol. Idk, punctuation, probably. I used to write X-men fic exclusively (the comics) so I had a horrible habit of writing out accents (think Gambit, Rogue, Wolverine, etc). I've shaken off a lot of that style, though I still like capturing some of a character's voice.

What’s the biggest change in your taste between when you started in fandom and today? I don't think I had much taste in the past… There was a point where I was very undiscerning about what I read.

Have you ever purposefully written one fandom/fic idea over another because you knew it’d be more popular? No, I don't think like that. For the longest time, I didn't engage in fandom or actually make friends in the fandom. I just posted stuff and if someone read it, nice. I was more free 😂

Have you ever stopped writing a fic/for a fandom because it wasn’t receiving enough attention? I have a fanfic for a ship I am the sole writer of that has exactly 2 kudos.

In your opinion, what’s your most overrated fic? One of my most kudosed fic (496 wtf, just checked) is a Glenn/Daryl fic for the Walking Dead. It's not particularly good. But the fandom is big, I guess, so even rarepairs thrive there.

What’s your most underrated fic? I would point to any number of my Miguel/Chico fics, except that all eyes looking for that pair at a given time have likely already read the fic, so it wouldn't really be correct to call any of them underrated. Underrated, maybe, in the sense of wOULD You LiKE tO TaLk AboUt IT PerHAPS?! MaY I wOrd VoMIT AbouT It?? HeLLo?

If you had to pick one fic/scene/chapter of your work to describe your entire portfolio to a stranger, which would you pick? What a funny question…

Well. He could feel quite senseless sometimes. Idle-minded, it had been said of him; and if not idle-minded, then fixating on idle pleasures. That was all it was.

—Surpassing Corridors

Have/Would you ever rewrite a fic? If yes, would you take the original down? No way. That's too much work. I just make changes directly into the fic lol.

If someone starts kudosing and commenting your fics in a spree and has a few works of their own, would you go look through theirs? I'll often go to their profile and see what other fics they're into or what fandoms they've written for, if they have. If they write a fic later for the pairing, I'll make sure to read their fic and comment.

Has there ever been anyone who’s made you freak out because they read your work and followed/favorited/reviewed? I have a mutual who me and a friend always refer to as "AO3 User [Full URL]" because her fanfic was amazing. Even to this day, I don't like to bother her too much 😂

What’s the nicest review you’ve ever gotten? There's a couple of people who've read my fics or have gotten friends to read my fics despite not being in the fandom, and I really treasure that. Of course the long comments are always the best :D <3 But I also really like short comments, and this one was really touching (commented on a (sort of) vampire AU I wrote): "What a great premise - totally unexpected (which after 25 years of fic, hard to find) and beautifully written."

What’s the meanest review you’ve ever gotten? Do you think the reviewer intended it? Someone flamed me on an Xmen fic I wrote years ago on ff.net, criticising the plot and my grammar. I didn't really care, though; my response upon reading it was like "Dude I am literally 12 years old" LOL.

What constructive criticism, however well-meaning, always makes you feel bad when you see it in a review? Never gotten any reviews like this, except maybe the one I mentioned above. I don't think I get enough comments to have seen the breadth of the type of negative reviews people leave.

What aspect of your writing do you most enjoy to see praised? Uhhh… When there was a nice thing in the plot or the dialogue and people say Wow or when they say they could imagine the character saying it or something… (< imagine I said that in a weird low voice like Eeyore)

If you could only ever write crossovers or single-fandom fics ever again, which would you pick? Single fandom fics. I'm really picky about crossovers and don't read them often.

if you could only ever write for a single crossover or a single fandom again, which would you pick? I'm gonna say Oz because that's my current interest right now LOL.

Does the division of your writing across fandoms line up with your reading? What’s the biggest discrepancy? I don't know what this means. No? I've written nearly 60 fics for both TSOMD and Oz for pairings that don't have that many fics to read if you subtract my contribution lol. There's some fandoms I've read an enormous amount of fic for (especially in the past) that I've never written for, too.

Do you continue to write for a fandom after you’ve moved on or do you focus solely on the new one? I'll still write for the past fandom when inspiration strikes, but I have a small brain so I forget plot stuff and can't capture the tone as well, I feel like.

Who’s the one character you’ve just never managed to get perfectly right? Can't say. A character I've never written, probably. I'm delusional in a way so I feel like all my characterisations are valid, even if on the surface, I wring my hands and go "sorry for the OOCness!" Also, once I get into the groove of writing a certain character, it comes easier. But I guess there are still moments where I freak out and think I've not been writing them properly. I still think I write Miguel as too nice or something.

Who’s the one character who shines without you even trying? Omar White…?

Is there any particular character whose scenes always wind up being longer/more frequent than you expected? Does the quality hold up? Hmm. Hm… Sister Peter Marie, maybe? Got her in some unpublished wips as well as "In the Blink of an Eye". She's useful as a therapist character lol.

Was there any fic that you wrote that really surprised you in the fandom reaction? Was it just by the numbers or did they take it an entirely different way? Nope. I don't have stats like that.

Have you ever written a ship into a fic without meaning to? No? I've added ships into wips as they've gone along and things developed. Is that the question? Then yes, I guess.

Have you ever sincerely written a ship you do not support into a fic? I wrote a fanfic for a ship that I don't really like for a fic donation drive event, if that counts. Oh wait, yeah, I've written two other ships I don't like into fics before. For the angst.

Have you ever purposefully bashed a character/ship in a fic? Only if it's in character for a character to shit on another one. I don't insert my meta author opinion like that, though. Kind of tasteless as well as pointless.

Have you ever purposefully written something you know your readers would find uncomfortable/would not enjoy? If yes, why? I don't think so? I don't assume anything about potential readers like that.

Do you consider yourself to have a readership? Yeah, in a sense. It's easier to identify the repeat readers when there's only like 5 of them, plus guests. I don't really consider all of you guys readership tho because I feel like that implies some kind of interaction between author and audience.

Do you feel like you put out enough content? 🤣🤣🤣 I probably put out TOO much content. "Readership", as they say, has dwindled. But by god, I'm still going.

If you cross-post your fics on multiple sites, do you have a favorite? Are there certain fics you would only post on certain site? I sometimes post to Tumblr (ask memes) or Dreamwidth (community prompts) but I prefer AO3, especially because for the rare comment that I do get, I can find it again easily. I don't really like posting fic directly to Tumblr because if someone comments on it the fic or post or whatever, I can't find it easily. And I have a really really bad memory 😭 I like things in one place.

How many views has your most popular fic gotten? Highest hit count is 12,026 hits on "We Who Have the Souls," which is my top kudosed fic (751).

Your least popular? My fic with the least kudos, "Prey Animal" (2), has 47 hits, but my fic with the lowest hits is tied between "Movie Time" and "Sore Spot" with 10 hits.

Do you follow/favorite/kudos/comment/review more stories than you have received? Yeah, I've been trying to leave kudos/comments on every story I've read since like two years ago? Sometimes if I really have no energy, I don't comment, but then I feel guilty. I'm only subscribed to one fic, though, and I'm not super into bookmarking.

If you had to call yourself an author of a single genre (besides fanfic) what label would you give yourself? I wanna say Action/Adventure, but the more accurate would be that broader genre, Drama.

Do you consider yourself a diverse author? Idk what this means. I'm a gay chinese dude, is that what this is asking? lol

If someone you know in real life who isn’t involved in fandoms asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first? I would give them my Hamlet or RAGAD fics bc they are the most respectable ones by virtue of proximity to Shakespeare lol.

Does anyone you know from outside of fandom know you write fanfic? Are they involved in the same fandom too? My IRL friends from high school (now internet friends :') ) and my sister. No to HS friends (not anymore, anyway). And my sister isn't in fandom.

Has anyone in your life ever read your fanfic just because you wrote it? :D Yes <3

Has writing fanfic had a significant impact on your life? Would you say it’s entirely positive? Yes and yes. I think fanfic has made me a better writer. I've made friends through fanfiction, and it's pretty much the only think in my life, besides other fandom creating, that keeps me creative and not wanting to slam my head into a wall <3

[thebreakfastgenie]

https://www.tumblr.com/gaphic/760528757258862592

Think it also doesn't help that a lot of these chucklefucks are just lazy assholes who keep on expecting things to instantly change or not interfere with their normal lives while they protest.

A lot of the truly meaningful protests I've read about were frequently made by people who were willing to make difficult decisions and make the necessary sacrifices for the sake of what they believed in, even if it meant the risk of them dying, being imprisoned, or heavily inconvenienced on a personal level, because the thing they fought for was THAT important to them. And they made sure that what they did counted and was aimed specifically at what was actually the source of their problems and used their tools as effectively as they could.

By contrast, the people I've seen doing these "protests" now are just not serious people. Way too many of them are honestly just egotistical privileged dipshits who think they can just be loud and annoying or only copied the movements without understanding the nuances of WHY they were originally done. They often also refuse to ever go after meaningful targets and instead punch down on random people or locations that have NOTHING to do with their cause, and then expect to just head back home for supper and Netflix afterwards and whine and cry either when it turns out they fucked up badly.

I think you make solid points, if a tad undiplomatically, so I'm going to post this.

There's definitely a failure to understand that a core part of civil disobedience is accepting the consequences. And it's scary! Taking that kind of risk is really scary and hard, which is why the people who do it are so impressive, but a lot of people probably aren't willing to admit they're personally afraid to take that risk or make that sacrifice. I think there's also a bit of being raised on powerful images, photographs of historic marches and so forth, and being inspired by the imagery without really understanding the work behind it. You're absolutely right that there is a contingent that thinks they can clock into a protest and then go home and watch Netflix and I think "these are not serious people" is the most apt description.

The issue of targeting is very real, too. You need a protest to be impactful, but you need it to be impactful in a way that matters. Blocking a random highway isn't necessarily effective and can easily backfire. A missing part of the calculus is that a lot of Americans (I'm speaking from an American perspective because I'm American but this applies in other countries too) are going to respond by protestors for X cause interfering with their lives not by saying "someone should do something about X cause" but by saying "someone should do something about these protestors." You don't want to accidentally build public support for the government rounding up demonstrators. Filling up all the seats at a lunch counter when you're specifically protesting the lunch counter policy disrupts normal function in a way that is very clearly connected to your cause.

I think there's an idea that we have a moral duty to protest, but this idea is popular with a lot of people who aren't prepared to make the significant sacrifices involved in protesting seriously, and that's where you get the people who go through the motions but want to go home afterwards. This is a whole other thorny question, but all I'll say for the moment is I'm not convinced framing protest as a moral duty is productive, and I find that a more relevant question than whether it's correct.

There is such a thing as civil disobedience training. There are people that teach you how to protest effectively. I'm not in the loop enough to know of any particular resources, but if anyone knows anything please feel free to share!

[darkdevasofdestruction]

Chapter 2 - Unwritten Laws

The next morning, Katrina woke up better than ever before - It was a beautiful morning with an even more refreshing feeling - Something she hasn't experienced in a very long time. She had a soft smile on her face so she dressed in the kimono of that annoying colour and braided her hair, doing a cute bow to tie it, only for someone to randomly pop up - Or, pop down, rather, from a tile from the ceiling. 

The man was dressed like one of those Ninjas in Naruto, only to have modern-day glasses that gave him away, somewhat. "Hello. I know we haven't properly met each other, but I was there when you went through the wormhole." he explained, making the girl snap her fingers in realisation.

"That means you have an idea of what and/or why it happened, right? Are you a scientist?" the woman asked, gesturing for the man to get out of the ceiling and sit down with her and chat properly.

"Yes. I am a post-graduate in Physics. We entered the wormhole at the same time, however, I arrived four years prior to you. And in this time spent here, I came to the conclusion that we are in an alternate timeline. I arrived at the place where Uesugi Kenshin collapsed. I saved his life with my knowledge of modern medicine. If this were our timeline, Uesugi Kenshin should be dead by now. Also, the Warlord Takeda Shingen, who is supposed to be dead by now, is also alive. Well... I predicted that you would do a time travel as well, and I searched for you, but I never imagined you would arrive four years after me." the man chuckled cheekily, making the woman look down with an amused smirk.

"Well, well, finally, someone who has brains around this place. Trust me, it's a real wonder. I'm a doctor now, but in the only day spent here, I didn't get to use my skills." she hummed in mock-superiority. "Anyway, I see these 4 years have been kind to you. To become such an excellent ninja requires true hard work and dedication... Not like you had anything else better to do, anyway. To think both Kenshin and Shingen are alive right now... As well as Nobunaga... Mitsuhide wasn't the traitor, he hasn't died in less than a week, and Hideyoshi isn't Japan's unifier yet... There truly are a ton of discrepancies compared to our own time's history. Well... Not like I know a ton about universal history and all. As you can see, I'm not exactly 100% Japanese, and most of my time I spent in Europe. I know the basics of history, with some details from some Wikipedia searches and... 'The Age of Samurai' documentary from Netflix. But I guess it matters for nothing now that we're pretty much re-writing history by just existing." Kat smiled wryly, admitting to her own ups and downs in common knowledge, but then she grinned charmingly, tapping the side of her face, pondering.

"I don't think we will need too much history knowledge with how much things have changed, but I suppose you could say that seeing the famous warlords of the Sengoku with my own eyes is a dream come true for me. My parents were big history buffs so I got my name from the Legendary Ninja that served Yukimura Sanada. Sarutobi Sasuke, the leader of the Sanada 10 Braves, the fictional group of 10 ninjas that supposedly assisted the warlord Yukimura Sanada during the Warring States, and since that's pretty much my name, I've basically taken his place, so my impact on history is pretty low. Unlike yours, Physician Princess." he sniggered friendly, making the girl shrug playfully.

"Rumours fly around faster with a ninja around. Anyway, I know we have no actual technology around... Except for what we were caught with in the wormhole, and that only works on the left-over batteries... But do you have any idea if there's any way to go back home? There must be a wormhole some time soon, right?" she theorized, and thankfully, the ninja scientist nodded in relief.

"According to my data, the next appearance will be in three months... But I'm still unsure of its location, so I believe it will be best if you spend these next three months here, since we're in the midst of a chaotic civil war... Ah, someone's coming. I'll be staying with my employed in the city below. Send a smoke signal and I'll come to your aid quickly. Bye, Kat, it was lovely meeting you." and with that, the scientist completely disappeared.

"Goodbye to you too..." the girl muttered, getting up and opening the door to her room, only to see Mitsuhide, wearing his usual fox-like smile, and two very soft and sweet looking women behind him, both holding some big boxes of unknown content.

"Hello. Please, do come inside... Although, I don't have any tea or snacks to serve you." she stepped to the side, welcoming the trio inside her room.

"What a lovely welcome, from one fire fox, to another silver fox. Well, I will be direct with you. Lord Nobunaga is calling for you. He wants to see you." crossing his arms and nodding to the girls to open the boxes, revealing several hair pins and hair decorations, along with a beautifully embroidered and painted flower-patterned black, golden and red kimono and matching haori and zori sandals.

"U-Uhm... I would like to thank you for your consideration... Truly, I appreciate the thought... But I simply cannot accept such a gift. I have done nothing to deserve or earn such expensive outfits and jewellery, therefore I must decline." the red haired woman looked away, embarrassed, fidgeting awkwardly with her fingers.

"My, my, how modest of you, little Princess. Well, then take it as an early payment for all the hard work you're going to put throughout your stay here, at Azuchi. Besides, if you don't accept them, it will be me Hideyoshi kills. He pushed these onto me and said, and I quote, 'She can't go dressed like that, take this to Lady Katrina'. Don't worry so much and let these maids take care of you today, then, you can do whatever you want." Mitsuhide bargained with the girl who remained quiet for a while, and then simply nodded. Whispering a soft "Okay." and "Thank you.", the two maids had Mitsuhide leave the room and called Katrina to take a bathroom.

The Faux Princess had to insist a few times to be allowed to wash herself... Alone... By herself. She enjoyed the soothing hot water that calmed down her overworked and stressed muscles, and soaked much longer than she realised, but damn, the relaxation was so worth it. She didn't even care for the wrinkly skin, she was just so happy.

Her apartment back home was pretty small, so she didn't have enough space for a bath tub, only for a shower, so there wasn't any chance for her to relax like this. Not bad at all... Maybe this will be a pretty fun trip... A vacation, maybe? Definitely worth it. With just this bath alone, Kat was content.

After what may have felt like ages for anyone waiting on her, the physician woman got out of the bath and dried herself off, allowing the maids - Aiko and Maki - To take of her however they felt fit, trying to erase the embarrassment she felt in allowing others to pamper her like that. But this kindness and politeness... Yes, these women were nice and all, but it was all fake. After all... She was a Princess, and everyone wanted to gain favour with the Princess, and by default, gain favour with the Lord who assigned them to do this. She's seen enough Imperial Chinese dramas to know the drill.

The girls carefully combed her long, crimson hair, and they made two decorative braids in the back, loosely tying them together with a beautiful, golden ribbon. They helped her with dressing, and then gave her some food - And an excellent dessert - And shockingly, Masamune was the one who cooked for her! Kat knew, cooking wasn't rocket science, but cooking in the 16th century, and especially something so spectacular... She was intrigued, to say the least, and it's the first time she was actually interested in learning something that wasn't revolving around her work-space.

When she was finally able to leave the room, she saw that Mitsuhide was still there, and he smirked at her, satisfied. "You look lovely, Lady Katrina. Shall I take you to Nobunaga's room? I don't believe you know your way around the castle yet well enough." he spoke, gesturing with his eyes to be followed.

"Thank you for your thoughts, Mitsuhide. Although... Please, do not use such honorifics when addressing me. You and I both know I'm not... Well... I did nothing to earn such a high social status, nor the respect of anyone, therefore, such words are nothing more than empty pleasantries that are used as an attempt at gratifying and elevating one as someone greater, yet it has no meaning, nor worth." she finally spoke after a while, making the silver-haired warlord stop in his tracks and look at her with slightly widened eyes, surprised by her words.

Instead of addressing her statement, he merely hummed in amusement and understanding, and took her hand, kissing the back of her hand. "I thought I'd ease your nervousness, yet somehow, I may have missed the mark. You seem even more tense. What dark thoughts are plaguing your mind, little fox?"

She didn't dare look at him - She could feel her cheeks reddening slightly, as she could only look to the side, fidgeting with her fingers and biting her lip. "I... I shouldn't... It's not..." she muttered softly, almost as if afraid to say anything, her eyes darting around carefully.

"There's no one here who could hear you, there is nothing to be afraid of, little one. Your voice is soft enough that not even I may hear it." the warlord mused, encouraging her with the teasing.

"In my time, what you did is a romantic gesture. All that considered... It never happened to me before. That's... That's all that I was thinking. Nothing of importance. Forget you heard it." and with that, the red haired girl stepped ahead, getting in front of Nobunaga's door, only to peer behind her shyly. "Although... It wasn't too bad saying it to someone. Thank you, Mitsuhide."

And thus, hearing a soft snigger from behind, the leaving footsteps left her all alone, in front of the beautifully painted landscape from Nobunaga's paper door. Announcing her presence to the Warlord, she was invited inside, only to see Drew already sitting there, playing Go with Nobunaga. And he was losing very shamefully.

Looking down and fidgeting with her fingers, Kat felt awkward and didn't know what to do, so she just stood there, by the door, awaiting further instruction. It didn't come until Nobunaga completely decimated Drew's forces and he won. Drew threw a tantrum and flipped the table, having all pieces fall around the room, but Nobunaga sketched no reaction - His face was hard and cold as an ice statue's.

The poor girl could only look away, very embarrassed at being associated with him, but also, feeling incredibly uncomfortable with having to witness such a... A fight. A one-sided fight. The man didn't even bother speaking to her - Instead, he stormed out of the room, cursing the warlord left and right. As well as him, the girl said nothing either, but unlike him, she moved for the first time since getting there. She got one of the vases that held the red pieces and began picking up each piece. However, as she was doing that, Nobunaga suddenly moved, grasping her wrist, stopping her at once.

"Why are you doing this? It was not you who made a mess of my room." he spoke, his eyes cold and almost ruthless.

"Yes, but what he did wasn't okay. A man shouldn't behave like a spoiled brat. He's always been a sore loser and would make a huge show whenever he lost at something. Mind you, he was never a great player at... Any game. As well as that, we are both from the future, and having him show such disrespect makes it look as if we are some ill-mannered savages or something." she explained, placing down the vase and putting her other hand gingerly over his.

"You feel responsible for his actions, is that it?" he scoffed, seeing the girl offer a small smile.

"Unfortunately, I do tend to do that a lot." she mused, freeing her hand and continuing picking up the pieces. "But I think it's more shame and second-hand embarrassment."

"A leader always takes the responsibility for his subordinates' mistakes, likewise, they are responsible for teaching them accordingly. Katrina, I do not understand you. It came to my understanding that you and that man were married, or in courtship, therefore you are not a leader, just a maiden trying to pick up the discarded sword of a broken peasant pretending to be a warrior. You could become an Empress, but you sell yourself short. It's pitiful, if not, pathetic." he grimaced, making the girl hang her head, but nod, nonetheless.

"Yes, you are right. I am aware of that - But it's not like I have much choice in the matter, do I?" she let out a dry, sardonic chuckle. "We are not married, and, truth be told... I don't have any positive feelings towards him either. I could end it any time, should I find something better -- I just hadn't found anything better than this wretch yet.." she shrugged simply, though the bitterness was evident on her face.

"Enough self-pity and servant-work. I did not call you here to clean my room." he swiftly ended the conversation. "A scout reported from the East. One of the daimyos there wants to revolt against me. We are facing a force of more than 2.000 men, so it is very small. I am going to lead the attack with my own army of only 500. You will be coming with me. Here's your chance to bring me luck again." he finally spoke with more vigor in his voice, a smirk appearing on his face.

"Oda Nobunaga, the Demon King of the 6th Heaven almost died... He must be weak, we can finally take our chance and win against him. We can defeat his army and take over Kyoto." Kat smirked softly, humming in amusement. "You're going to make quite the statement, Nobunaga - A 1 to 4 army... Very bold." she tapped the table, a habit she took whenever she was being playful or amused. "Is it true what they say? The safest place for anyone is near the general, for it is the most guarded one? Is there anything I should be afraid of?" she teased playfully.

The brunet warlord let out a boastful laugh. "You are brave, woman! Brave and witty, yet foolish to believe there is any place safe under the Sun. Get up, we are leaving now!" and saying that, he lunged to the girl, getting her up and leading her out of the room and into the stables, leaving her mute from shock as she, once again, was dragged up onto Nobunaga's horse with crazy ease.

Nothing more was said until they arrived at the camp - They sat on small wooden chairs, awaiting... Something. Tension was high in the air, and screams of rage, agony, war cries were splitting the air. It wasn't like in the movies, Kat knew that, but even so, curiosity, intrigue and slight fear mixed together in her heart. She wanted to watch, to observe, to analyse, but at the same time, she wanted to stay away and be safe. It wasn't that she valued her life much, but she didn't want to give it away too freely either.

Then, one of the warriors came by to his warlord, alerting that the enemy commander sailed out, risking his life in battle - Nobunaga was almost impressed, he could even say he was half-intrigued... Or maybe a quarter at most. And yet, the Lord got up from his chair and put his hand on the katana hanging from his waist.  He was going to go there and put an end to the enemy's life by himself.

"You must be bored of sitting there, silent. You'll come with me, I want you to see this." the man commanded, already striding to his horse, leaping up and going ahead.

"... You should have waited for me, at least." the girl muttered, and seeing that no one else was around, she held her clothes up, allowing more freedom of movement, and ran after him awkwardly, muttering curses under her breath.

Suddenly, she heard a loud, authoritarian shout - "Aim for Nobunaga's head!" - they said, making the girl's head snap up to the Lord's silhouette, barely a few meters in front of her, and then she saw an archer to her right, drawing his bow towards her. 

"Do I look like a man to you?!" she shouted at him, and seeing a dead soldier on the ground, she leaped down, grabbing up the corpse and using it as a way to cover her body as much as possible.

The familiar sound of an arrow being released, and Kat closed her eyes, not having a clue what else she could do to shield herself - But than the splitting of air by a sword was heard, and a familiar voice boomed through the place. "I am your enemy! Don't mistake me for someone else!" and with that, Kat peeked from behind the dead warrior as Nobunaga decapitated the archer, his blood splashing around like an artesian fountain. So that really was as flashy as in movies. "Katrina! Observe diligently what is happening around you!" he commanded, and with that, he turned around and went ahead to create more carnage.

Thankfully, the war didn't last much longer, for the warlord got to the enemy, and the red head ran up by his side as soon as he leaped down from the horse. "A demon!" some of the enemy soldiers shrieked in fear, seeing the merciless eyes of the sadistic warlord, along with "This man is a monster!" Nobunaga's cold, lifeless, killer eyes seemed to terrify the soul out of everyone... He was enjoying the way he scared and intimidated his enemies.

But Kat wasn't scared. Instead, she kinda felt sad hearing such words. In a period of only war, to call someone so gifted in the art of war, a monster, just because you're lesser than him - No, never mind, humanity hasn't changed.

The woman walked by his side, in front of the cowering enemy leader who was kneeling and praying, begging for his life to be spared. But Nobunaga was having none of it. None who rebel against him may live. And he struck him down on the spot.

"You lost to number less than half of yours. You should be cursing yourself for thinking you stood a chance. Understand it already! This is the end for you. And it goes without saying, your foolish vassals will accompany you on your fate." and thus, he ordered everyone from the castle to be pulled out - They were all bound and taken away - It seemed to Kat like they were inmates on death row, or maybe lambs to the slaughter, awaiting the guillotine blade to fall down on their neck.

Was he going to kill all of them? Even those who weren't involved in any way in the war, and just had the misfortune of being born in the wrong castle area? It seemed unfair, and yet, she wouldn't be surprised in the least. It's the Sengoku era, and she remembered how completely heartless Nobunaga was said to have been, killing and lighting up buddhist temples, women, children and anyone that was unfortunate enough to cross his path.

She could only look at them go by her with lingering sorrow, feeling her heart sinking, but she was saying nothing. She understood, and it wasn't like a warlord would take back an order and choose the mercy route, just because of a woman's plea. He was Oda Nobunaga, and he was a Warlord. The most feared one in the whole country.

As a physician, she looked at the irony presented in front of her - A woman who vowed to save as many lives as possible, next to a man who vowed to bring his success by killing. Did he even care about others' lives, or did he just see humans as pawns in a chess game, playing only to win? Was he truly not afraid, even by a little bit, of being in the middle of the war, among so much death and danger?

She went back to Azuchi almost robotically, not being aware of anything around her, as she was too deep in her own thoughts. Maybe someone tried to talk to her, but she behaved rudely by unintentionally ignoring them. But she wasn't sorry, she didn't want to do it, those thoughts were too intense and interesting to speculate.

And so, she got back to her own room and slumped on the ground, resting her elbow on her knee and propping her jaw on her palm, looking unfocused and just...Pondering. That is, until the room to her door was opened and, unexpectedly, Hideyoshi greeted her. She saw the man and gestured for him to sit down next to her and have the conversation he wanted - Why else would he be there, anyway?

"You seem unexpectedly well after what happened. Are you sure you come from an era of peace?" he asked with light amusement, no doubt trying to lighten up the atmosphere.

"Yes, I am sure." she smiled softly. "I've always been great at hiding what I'm feeling, and I naturally am level-headed and don't fall under the pressure, so I guess my rational thinking and composure saved me from panicking too bad. Thank you for your concerns, Hideyoshi, I truly appreciate your thoughts." she nodded as a thanks.

"I did come here to bring you some basic necessities and see how you were doing, but I suppose you are pretty fearless." he stated. "Did anything happen to put you in such deep pondering?" he asked, almost as if he were a big brother concerned about his little sister after her first day at school.

"Well... An archer tried to shoot me. The arrow was aimed at my face. That was scary. I leapt to shield myself with a body from the ground, but thankfully, Nobunaga was there in time and sliced the arrow... And then the archer. It was scary back then, but the adrenaline surging through your veins makes it bearable. When you relax, it's when the fear actually catches up to you - Rationally, at least." she recalled the story with a sigh. 

"Yes, I suppose for a woman who never even saw weapons her whole life and lived such a sheltered existence, having an arrow pointed at you and almost dying must be traumatic." he nodded, a serious expression on his face - But then he patted her head with a nice smile. "But that's not what's on your mind, is it?"

"No... You are right." she admitted. "After he killed the enemy lord, Nobunaga tied up all the vassals, including the women and children. In our history, he is known as a merciless man who kills anything in his path - However, there are enough discrepancies in this timeline from my own... So, I was wondering... Are these war prisoners going to be killed? Or will they be used as slaves or something?" Kat asked, looking pensive at the vassal in front of her.

"Kill? Lord Nobunaga would never do something so wasteful. The traitor will be stripped of his land, which will be put under the control of a new daimyo. The wounded will be treated and sent home to work the land as farmers and peasants once more. They won't be allowed to become samurai or warriors again, though." the man explained to her the process of taking war prisoners.

"I see. I suppose that makes sense. That means I will finally have some proper work to do of my own these days, that's great. I figured he wanted to get rid of this revolt quickly, with as few people as possible, to show that he's stronger now than ever, even in spite of the fast-flying rumours about the Honno-Ji incident... So he's thoughtful first, then merciless and valiant. I think I understand him and his reasonings better now." Kat nodded in understanding, letting a pondering silence veil the both of them for a while.

"I still don't yet approve of you, but now that you are a member of the Oda forces, and you have already been through one war, you have to try and understand what is going on around here. Things won't be easy for you, but I am sure Lord Nobunaga wouldn't put you in direct danger, considering he needs you alive. But that's all I can tell you now. Once you've calmed down and had enough time to sort out your thoughts and feelings, go to Lord Nobunaga and thank him." and thus, he extended his hand towards her, to help her up.

She graciously gave him a smile and got up with his aid, and they nodded at each other. "Thank you for coming here and explaining these things to me. I needed that. You're a very nice man, Hideyoshi, whether or not you approve of me. I appreciate it." but then, the man smiled and hummed cheerfully.

"Don't thank me. Also, before I forget - Have this. Put this on your wounds. While I won't trust anyone who seems suspicious until they prove me wrong, I wouldn't leave an injured woman untreated. It's not my style." and thus, he stepped out of the room, waving at her goodbye.

"Thank you, Hideyoshi!" the girl went out as well, waving at him as well.

"Thank Ieyasu, not me. I'm just giving you leftover medicine he made." he chuckled lightly.

"Ieyasu is interested in medicine as well?!" the girl's first real reaction - True interest and excitement - Painted on her face, her eyes gleaming eagerly.

"Yes, he is very gifted in this domain. He may be skeptical and apprehensive at first, but pay him no mind, he's just introverted. You can learn many things from him. I'm sure you will be his favourite student... And only one." with an amused look, he left the place, leaving the girl to her own thoughts.

"Fascinating... Very fascinating..." she muttered to herself as she found her feet taking her towards the Lord. "Well then, here we go again..." 

And thus, Katrina sighed, gathering herself and her thoughts, and calling out to the Lord, awaited for approval to walk inside - And she did hastely.

She walked in the demon's den as fearlessly as he expected.

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[clementinecoastline]

tag someone you want to get to know better

tagged by @lgbtlunaverse

i used italics for the actual titles to help see them better!!

favorite color: orange!

last song: la rebelión by joe arroyo

last movie: wolfwalkers i think. i also watched the new netflix monkey king animated movie and i'll actually go to bat for that.

currently watching: the new sousou no frieren anime!!! i'm watching each episode as it comes out... it's so wonderful. also rewatching inuyasha.

currently reading: cuba: an american history by ada ferrer. the sousou no frieren manga. say nothing: a true story of murder and memory in northern ireland by patrick radden keefe.

currently working on: two history research papers (women in revolutionary cuba + irish revolutionary period) and an excess of fanfiction ideas LMAOOOOOO. the fic that's closest to being finished right now is my sousou no frieren haikaveh au which i am obsessed with. other ideas i'm working on are my haikaveh reincarnation au, genshin daemon au, and my mdzs pacific rim au which PLEASE ask me about that.

current obsession: genshin impact (especially haikaveh), sousou no frieren, and mdzs. haikyuu is not at the forefront but it is always present. mostly the first two. also very excited to discuss cuban history if anyone wants to. i am still learning so much about it.

tagging: anyone who wants to join in!!! i don't really have any specific mutuals in mind right now.

if you're not a fic writer or artist just write about anything you'd like in the currently working on section!!

[destinyc1020]

M&M was a movie with terrible writing and two people arguing for like two hours, with no space for anything else but conflict

Why revolutionary road and marriage story work is not only did we see a space for love but because of that space, we as te audience felt the impact when those marriages/relationships began crumble before our very eyes. Those arguments had meaning and context and tension something sam levinson failed to do with M&M. That film never felt like it had any stakes or tension it was just two people arguing or sam using these characters to argue with himself.

Plus no one is critiquing zendaya she was the best part of a film that was POORLY WRITTEN and too dialogue heavy for anyone to really care about. I cared more about them not knowing how to cook mac and cheese than whatever they were fighting about.

Why revolutionary road and marriage story work is not only did we see a space for love but because of that space, we as te audience felt the impact when those marriages/relationships began crumble before our very eyes. Those arguments had meaning and context and tension something sam levinson failed to do with M&M. That film never felt like it had any stakes or tension it was just two people arguing or sam using these characters to argue with himself.

👏🏾👏🏾

ALL OF THIS!! 💯

And yea, I don't fault Z or JDW at all. They just worked with what they were given.

Plus, let's be honest y'all, if Sam has MONTHS to write Euphoria, and some ppl have issues with his writing on THAT show, how well do you think his writing would be when he was barely given time to write this movie M&M during the height of the pandemic lol? 😂

They're fortunate it even got any buzz at all tbh lol 😆

They made out like bandits with that great Netflix deal lol.... 👀 The film cost pennies to make lol. So yea, Z got her coins, so I'm not mad at it at all!

[badedramay]

i haven’t read the novel but some friends have and i’m a bit wary about the false harassment accusation ngl. it feels like that’s being used as a plot point all too frequently in recent years (so recent in fact as to be used in mujhe pyaar hua tha) and at a time when that kind of reception isn’t going to be really helpful in the public sphere i fear what the success of a plot like this may convey. but since you read the novel what do you think about it?

i don't know how this current cast will be able to fit in the story of the novel. like..i just cannot.

anyway SPOILERS AHEAD SO WHATEVER.

anyway...the major themes of the story were more about sibling rivalry and strained relationship between parents and children. both Sikandar and Liza, the protagonists, ended up having a tensed relationship with their fathers not due to fault of their own. Liza was essentially brainwashed by her sister to hate her father because she wanted to remain the only favorite child of her father. Sikandar ended up becoming the target of his father's anger and disgust that ultimately led to the tragedy that befell him. the story then becomes a story of healing from the traumas family can inflict on you. the false harassment accusation angle is a significant part of it but it's not the big bad evil here. like the accusation wouldn't have stood a chance had Zain not already nurse a one-sided hatred for his brother that had him trusting his girlfriend of few months over his own one true brother of 20 years. if not the accusation then something else would've been the reason Zain would've used to torment his brother.

also honestly, considering Maryam's character, the false harassment accusation is the least of her evils. she's shown to be a highly manipulative sociopath with daddy issues so potent that she didn't even spare her own mother phir Sikandar kya cheez hai? iirc when she's just a teenager she seduces her step father and ends up getting pregnant. while she's in school she gets involved in a sexual relationship with her teacher who she then ends up getting fired once she gets annoyed of his chipkuness. Sikandar is just one of her many targets. even until the present we see her as being involved in illicit affairs with men with no regard to anything else. she becomes so used to getting away with her actions that she doesn't even realize that her father, the one man she truly loved, was already aware of her actions and was only being silent because he was hoping and praying for her to repent. it is only when Maryam threatens Liza's relationship with Sikandar that their father steps in and forbids her from even daring to try that.

personally I think Maryam's character is the meatiest role of the story following Sikandar considering how twisted she is and by Pakistani drama standards, how utterly scandalous. JBHSSL would never work for TV cuz our sensitive audience wouldn't have been able to digest that. whoever ends up getting that role has the opportunity to give a truly strong performance provided the script and direction support the original story.

so yeah..i don't think the existence of JBHSSL will have any drastic impact on the landscape of PakDramas that will end up promoting the false accusation storyline more so than it already is. that damage was done by whatever that Sana Javed drama was that came at the worst time possible during peak MeToo era. at least with JBHSSL there's no doubt left by the end that Maryam was a vile and evil woman with a history of ruining lives and relationships without any remorse. also it's on Netflix so like konnn hi itna dekhega Pakistan mein where the majority of the audience watches stuff free on Youtube?