#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.

[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." 

[bomberqueen17]

caught up

Ha so i managed to watch all the episodes of the new Witcher season this weekend, so now i can -- let's be real I wasn't avoiding spoilers before, but like, I've read the books right, it's like, there's only so much they can do to surprise me. (below discussion is not in-depth or spoilery, more general and I don't have a ton of time so not meant to be anything profound)

I see they've taken Cahir's character in a delicious other direction-- book!Cahir is a dutiful young fanatic whose youth and relative inexperience is kind of critical to his character (and kind of parallels Ciri's contemporary journey, as she goes from being an idealistic child through all the things she goes through, he also is humbled and shamed and loses his idealism and his fanaticism gets a layer of tarnished desperation and then he finds his humanity etc-- chefkiss), but the Netflix version is an older, more deeply-committed fanatic, more intimately and personally tied to the ruler he serves so faithfully. They've also done some worldbuilding for Emhyr's missing years that I think is very interesting. It's funny, Cahir's actor is too old (but a great actor), and Emhyr's is too young, they've tried to age him up but he's like. Well he's like thirty. It hits weird. But, television, that's how television is.

I was using my sister's television since i had the house to myself, and could not figure out how to get subtitles on, so any of the lines that were whisper-growled-- that is to say almost all of them-- were largely unintelligible to me. But many of the ones I could make out were also just-- word salad, pretty things strung together for the vibe, so I don't feel like I missed out. You just had to get the gist, and sometimes it was an incredibly impactful book line that they crammed in there kind of unearned, but if you recognized it you could imbue it with the correct meaning yourself. This is not really a criticism. The whole thing was so rushed because they had to cover like 20 episodes' worth of material in eight, so it was just cruising on vibes and did so I think admirably, conveying a lot of worldbuilding complexity without having really a moment to get into it, and shorthanding character development in snappy one-liners that were pretty effective if you just. Suspended disbelief about literally any kind of logistics.

I did like some of the details they did choose to give us. Cool themes with Ciri, which I think convey the entire message of the book extremely well. And like-- when she's exposed to a bunch of sunlight, they showed her suffering with sunburn. That's a great grounding little bit of detail, even if it went away by the next scene because there wasn't time-- such a good detail, really eloquently conveyed by the framing and the actress and the props.

It's like.... an incredibly abbreviated art form, where they're doing grand gestures of vibes to get the story across.

Absolutely perfect for fanfic, LOL. There's really no well thought out detail to contradict so you've got a largely blank canvas. I also have deep regret that I don't think I can retcon my fic Keira into the Keira from Netflix who was both hot and had like, the perfect earthy practical personality, fuck she's good. Relatedly I loved the detail of how in the books Margarita Laux-Antilles was described as the most beautiful women in the world, and they cast a fat Black woman to play her, an absolutely gorgeous fat Black woman, and there in every scene of the sorceresses being beautiful were several fat women being beautiful too. It's something, ok.

I kept being like "omg woman hot" as i was watching, which was funny. I was by myself though, so it was fine, no one was there to witness my incoherence except the discord channels i kept typing into the wrong ones of.

one tiny sort of spoilery bit: i loved the delicious scene with Ciri confronting Cahir, but it was so rushed it was awkward, instead of showing us much they just had to have Cahir say it, and it was-- well the vibes were fucking delicious, but the execution kind of clumsy. But as I don't plan to rewatch, have zero fear that in my head I will rebuild this myself into something absolutely fucking perfect and id-tastic. Alas that we lost the book vibe where she clearly hadn't really realized he was a person until she knocked his helmet off and saw his stupefyingly blue eyes etc., and his terror and such, but i'm just gonna go ahead and fold that back in there in my mental recreation of it, don't worry. LOL if it worked for you as shot I Do Not Blame You.

oh also i'm in love with Philippa and now i feel bad i was so careless with her in my fic. Maybe I need to give her a bit more depth. I used her game characterization, I admit it, and Netflix did so well by her I'm sort of ashamed I didn't think of her like that.

[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.

[lady-phasma]

I have many unpopular opinions but this one came up recently and I was encouraged to explain my views so here goes. Disclaimer: film studies and art history have many schools of thought and I can apply most of them; however, I was trained in contextual formalism. If you want to know more about how that impacts my film analysis don't hesitate to ask. If I were to use a different lens this opinion could change but I am a contextual formalist so there you have it.

Daemon's deleted scenes from House of the Dragon furthered the divide among fans. If you follow my blog you'll know that I am a Daemon fan but I am not, nor will I ever be, an apologist. I think that the show runners did themselves a major disservice by releasing the stills from these scenes (see below).

Firstly, his tender moment with his children after Laena's death.

My experience is that most fans wish this scene had not been cut. However, unlike most deleted scenes included in special editions/director's cuts, this scene would not have added anything to the character as he is portrayed in the final version. It seems that many viewers crave likable, gentle, touching aspects to their HotD characters. The show runners did not intend this to be a part of the final character development of Daemon or it would have remained in the series. Is he a nice person? Is he gentle and kind? Is he caring and selfless? No. I love him as he is presented in the final version, the version that was intended.

Editing film is a difficult task when only a few people are involved in the process (e.g. independent film) but in a major studio series of 8-12 episodes (e.g. Netflix or HBO) there are so many individuals working on the story and the characters that viewers will never know how much is "lost" in editing. Because the human mind prioritizes visual over text in many cases, especially when processing moving images, we often forget that parts of the script for any project were cut and never shot. Would those "deleted scenes" change our interpretation of the story? Sure. Is that precisely why they were cut? Absolutely.

Daemon hugs his daughters and comforts them, informing the audience of a depth of character they may not have previously suspected. However, we are given this image wholly out of context. There is no music, no editing, no dialogue or voiceover. The audience should never have seen this.

Which leads me to the interaction with the servant.

Viewers have been trained to suspend disbelief, to "pretend", and therefore one mustn't fill in the blanks with one's own personal story. When suspending disbelief we are able to immerse ourselves into the narrative and, with skilled creators at the helm, we don't need more information than we are given on screen. (Film studies, unfortunately, teaches you to suspend that disbelief and you never get it back, not fully, and it's something that a lot of us miss.)

I would personally love to have been given a Daemon who is sexually fluid and as uncaring of others' opinions as this Daemon appears to be in the stills. However, that is not the Daemon that was presented. Again, the show runners should not have released these if the imges did not further or expand their final character's growth.

Daemon's moral compass is flawed, skewed, misaligned with that of a citizen of Earth in 2022. Daemon isn't perfect, makes choices he thinks are acceptable but at which viewers are encouraged to cringe and feel alienated from. He is a great example (and not the only one in HotD) of a character that serves as a contrast to those characters that perform as mirrors for the viewer. He doesn't provide comfort to viewers that his story arc will end well (regardless of their knowledge of the book). He allows viewers to feel superior ("I would never do that") because they, as a rule, have a 21st century Earth-based moral compass.

Lastly, representation. Yes, it would be nice to see him flirt with a man. I know how wonderful I felt when I finally saw my sexuality represented accurately on tv about 5 years ago (I was 34). However, if the show runners intended Daemon to have sex with anyone other than women why did they leave this scene on the cutting room floor? Just like in real life it is okay to be het. I am not but perhaps Daemon is.

Think for a moment of the ramifications of either or both of these scenes staying in the final release. First, we can't know what the editing and score would be, we can't even guess. Sweeping, manipulative, emotional score with Baela and Rhaena, emphasizing Daemon's caring nature? A slight zoom toward the embrace? Or a slow pan away from the characters? Would there have been a juxtaposition of images contrasting his interaction with the servant with a close shot on the face of an observer? Which character (Rhaenyra, Otto, Viserys)? How would that inform/transform that relationship (his hair and clothing suggest it would have been his relationship with Laena)? How would that change the onlooker? Would the music have been uplifting or foreboding? Would this scene have forshadowed a future conflict that was ultimately never shot?

If you've read this far I want to congratulate you on your fortitude! I also want to point out that so much intention goes into creating film that viewers cannot know with certainty the "why" of any choice. Film studies is the bastard child of literary criticism. As such it is imperfect and I, along with many others, combine it with art history (which has been done since the 1960s). It is a visual medium but it is also a text and music and costuming and set design. If a still image is released about a real-world person one could find more context, more information, but a handful of stills about a character that were cut during the final drafting of this text are not enough to persuade me that they contribute to Daemon's character and would ultimately detract from his character as it has been developed in the series.

A final note about the book vs. film Daemon and these stills: readers often want characters to be as complex in a film/series as they are in the original text. Rarely is this possible. When character development is measured in literal minutes on camera and there are more than a dozen pivotal characters in a total of less than 600 minutes, aspects of characters will get lost in translation. Backstory for one character, for example, will get screen time that cuts into the development of another.

Note about contextual formalism: budget, filming schedules, and "real world" concerns and limitations are not part of this critical theory. As participants in media consumption we know that notes from a producer or studio executive will have power over the final creative process but that would be information used by other critical theories. Contextual formalism concerns itself with the art as object situated in historical and social context.

[ceterisparibus116]

Do we know if Matt was blipped or not? How do you think it would be in either case?

AAAAAAA

So yeah, I wrote out a whole essay about how I think Born Again could/should/shouldn't address the blip, and then realized you weren't actually specifically asking about Born Again.

Sorry!

But there are some general non-Born-Again-specific points here, so...I hope this covers what you were asking?

Ahem.

I don't think we have any confirmation one way or the other yet, and I wonder if Born Again will address it. It's been long enough since the blip that I could see them kinda just...ignoring it, unless the blip is a big plot device. But if they want to stick closer to the gritty realism of the original show, it makes sense to not make the blip a big plot device. So I would be very understanding (and even, I think, appreciative) if they chose to just kinda ignore it.

That said, if they include it, I really hope they address the legal implications. TFATWS tried to touch on it (operative word being "tried") but Matt could actually take on clients who've been displaced by the blip or otherwise been affected by the blip.

And then there's the question of how it would affect our characters personally. There, the logistical questions (e.g. "Did Matt lose his apartment?") are less interesting to me, personally, than the psychological questions. Like, how would Matt feel about being blipped? My headcanon, as addressed in my post-No-Way-Home fic, is that Matt would blame himself for not being around to help people for 5 years. Or if Matt wasn't blipped, how would he cope with the trauma of hearing so many people vanish, and then trying to deal with the aftermath as both a lawyer and Daredevil? Like, that man would probably go a week without sleeping just trying to help everyone. Either way, Born Again could address that.

However, it would take a lot of work for Born Again to address the psychological impact of the blip, one way or the other, well. Why? Because your options are either:

a) inform the audience after the fact (e.g. through exposition, dialogue, or inferences) about how, exactly, the blip was traumatic for Matt, so that we can appreciate his healing journey; or

b) show the audience (e.g. through a flashback) how the blip was traumatic for Matt, so that we can appreciate his healing journey.

And both approaches are kinda clunky. Informing the audience about something we didn't actually experience with the character will never be as impactful as watching it unfold. But flashbacks pull the narrative backwards rather than advancing it, and are notorious for bogging down a story.

Frankly, I just don't have a lot of faith that Disney can pull off a blip arc well. I'd much prefer they focus Matt's emotional journey on things that are happening to him now, in Born Again, rather than on things that happened somewhere between the Netflix show and Born Again.

Unless:

c) Born Again is literally set immediately after the blip (if Matt doesn't get blipped) or immediately after Matt blips back (if he does get blipped).

That would be fine, except I don't know how that would affect Born Again's relationship to other Marvel projects like No Way Home, She-Hulk, Echo, etc. And, I mean, personally, I don't care whether Born Again is before or after any of those other shows. I'm watching Born Again for Matt, not to see how it syncs up with Matt going to California to see Jen or anything like that. But Marvel at least claims to be serious about cohesive timelines, so I don't think they'll go the route of (c).

[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.

< Previous Chapter

Next Chapter >

[chirpsythismorning]

Thoughts on this?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but 2024 is even a little optimistic in terms of a release for Stranger Things 5.

I know right now there's been this assumed expectation that it will release in 2024, and that's definitely still possible! But from what we've seen, no one from the production, neither the Duffers, the cast, nor Netflix themselves have said 2024 will be the year s5 releases, definitively. (If I remember correctly, when asked in an interview about s5 coming out in 2024, Noah dodged the question and said that they want it to be really good and are going to try to get it out as soon as they can... if anything he was trying to hint here that fans should be prepared that it might not be 2024, but that's okay bc that means that quality is being considered over a speedy release).

Again there have been talks about it, and I'm sure that's what they're shooting for. But they don't seem to be making any official statements about 2024 being a for sure thing. Because I mean, how could it be?

Covid did a really big number on the industry, especially production for ST4. Not only that but workers are starting to unionize and fight back against long hours, shitty wages and unsafe working conditions.

And so there's this unknown looming. Could the global pandemic reach a point that causes the industry to come to a halt again? Could there be a strike that stops productions from filming, including ST5? There's just a lot of unforeseen factors to keep in mind.

Our perception of how fast shows should be cranking out between seasons, are from a rose-tinted lens and honestly a little bit naive. We're not taking into account that those same expectations we have are based on an industry that has thrived off of malpractice for decades.

So, would I be mad if ST5 came out in 2025? No.

Also important to note that this is the end. I know that a lot of fans are impatient and just want the final season ASAP, but even so, when we do get it, it's over after that. There's nothing else to look forward to for fans when it comes to these characters. Arguably, hiatus will be the time we'll look back on and miss most when this is all over. So enjoy theorizing and analyzing during the wait while you still can!

And again, let's keep in mind, a sooner release means they might have to rush and make quick decisions that impact the story negatively, with them settling for results that could have been better had they had more time. Whereas a later release, or at least later than we may have hoped, will probably mean they got the essential time they needed and therefore a lot better quality for the final cut.

David Harbour said late last year that filming will start in the summer. Noah just mentioned a few times recently that he starts filming in May. But it was also mentioned in an interview promoting WYFSTW with Finn that filming would be starting in March.

Who knows for sure right now, it'll probably require us getting closer to the start to know. But the good news is once filming starts, they'll tell us! However, this does bring up an important aspect of all of this that fans also don't seem to take into consideration, which is scheduling.

The main cast are all hot commodities now, with most of them having multiple productions to film in one single year. And so, imagine trying to get about a dozen A-B listers schedule's to overlap? It's not easy.

Though from what I've read, David is dealing with schedule issues because he's filming another movie at the same time as s5. And Noah specifically mentioned school being a factor when he brought up filming starting in May for him. And so it's possible overall production for s5 could be starting sooner than we think, with some main cast-members starting earlier/later than others.

I think the main good news (everyone cheer) is that we have no new characters for s5. And so I think that will allow filming to take a little less time. S1 was a lot smaller scale in terms of the characters focused on, with production going from September 2015 to early 2016 and with a release in July that same year. But s1 was also very very small scale in comparison to what s5 will be. While filming for s5 will definitely be shorter than s4 in terms of over overall running time, it'll still be longer and just in general bigger than s1.

I'm gonna take an educated guess and say at least 9 months for filming s5, but it's possible they could run up to a year because of scheduling issues, unexpected delays, unforseen events, with some cast-members potentially working earlier/later than the majority of the production. Best case scenario, filming could be done by December 2023, and that's taking into account filming may indeed not start fully until May 2023. This would give them roughly 8-10 months of filming.

And that's not even including post-production for VFX, which is likely going to take upwards of 6 months at least, because the upside down is expected to be a main setting for the story in s5, meaning a lot more time spent working on visual effects despite filming already being complete. Then there's editing and all that good stuff. And don't even get me started on marketing (they're watching us rn taking notes for ST5 social media promo... Smile and wave boys!)

Again, I do think 2024 is possible, though it would have to be later in 2024. Summer 2024 is still a little too optimistic, but I wont rule it out bc they love summer releases.

March 22nd on the other hand, is very much pushing it, as they'd only be like 2 months into VFX at that point.

Though, I could see the vision of this, assuming it released in 2025 (lands on a Saturday that year, but still according to new theories March 21st is potentially an important date related to Henry/Vecna and it's the day s4 started the story off, so that's possible!)

March 21st 2025 would be my ideal date if they had to push it further out to a 2025 release. And that is a big possibility, which is why I think they're not out here comfortably sticking to a year right now.

It's also likely that when we find out the official year of release, we'll get a poster potentially or some kind of short teaser hyping up the final season.

ST5 2025 is kind of iconic. But I guess we'll just have to see!

Even though I don't think March 22nd 2024 is possible, it would be cool to get some major news on that day, like an exact release date for the final season maybe? That would be birthdaygate proof in and of itself.

[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!

[sliphole]

Thinking about Flowers again (the Channel 4 TV series) and really want to talk about Shun.

Warning for spoilers, mental illness, suicide. Full text under the cut since I kind of ended up writing an essay.

Note: though I've seen the show through a few times it has been a while since I've watched it and I don't have immediate access to it anymore since Netflix apparently took it down. I can't be bothered to go through the pains I did to watch it back when it first aired so I'm working mostly on memory. It helps that Shun forever haunts my brain and I've been thinking about him on and off again since 2016, but forgive me if I get anything wrong.

I've never seen another show deal with the many ways depression can manifest and affect anyone like Flowers has. With Maurice and especially Amy you understand there is most likely a genetic component to their mental illnesses and it's devastating because they don't have any answers as to why they're like this and don't know how to make it better. But Shun. My poor misunderstood Shun. I wonder how many people who watched the show even realized that he unfortunately did die by suicide at the end of the series, and I only ask because I've hardly seen anyone mention it, or really talk about his struggle much at all.

By contrast Shun's depression seems to have less of a genetic component and the circumstances of his life instead are what led him to his fate. He's seen by the cast of characters and the audience as a care-free, quirky, lovable weirdo who always looks on the bright side and can't feel put down by anyone's words. And this is all probably a genuine aspect of his personality when he's in a good place, but for the span of the series it's all an act! While the Flowers themselves become very open about their struggles with mental illness, Shun becomes more closed off in a sense by pretending everything is okay as he continues to deteriorate. He's the kind to mask his pain with comedy, or an overly cheerful demeanor, thus he gets overlooked by the Flowers and the audience. Which was probably the intent, anyway.

So he laughs, and jokes, and says odd little things, and enthusiastically supports and believes in everyone around him. Then he has brief moments of sobering emotional vulnerability, empathy and understanding for Maurice's suicidal ideation ("I like dark," being one of the most emotionally revealing and impactful scenes in the series, serving as a prequel to the events of the show while also being the final scene to play after Shun's implied death, if I remember correctly), isolated mental breakdowns (in which he hallucinates his dead family), bouts of heavy binge drinking, and in what is probably the most shocking moment if you've yet to realize he isn't just a ball of sunshine despite everything, goes on a drunken and really hateful, racist rant about Chinese people in the most self-destructive environment he possibly could; a Chinese restaurant (because in my opinion if you want to get badly hurt without doing it yourself that's a pretty good way go about it). Shun as a character is not silly and childish (and his character is definitely infantilized) but a deeply troubled and flawed person who is trying to hold it together for the sake of everyone around him. Unfortunately, he is so often on the verge of cracking that he can't help slipping up occasionally.

Shun has suffered the greatest loss of anyone in the series. He found his entire family after they had been killed in an earthquake which also destroyed the rest of his village. He became displaced and lived in miserable poverty until he discovered and connected profoundly enough with Maurice's work that he believes it is what saved his life. He wants desperately to find family again with the Flowers, but despite everyone's best efforts he remains walled off by the seemingly insurmountable sense of isolation and otherness that comes with being a foreigner. When he hallucinates his dead family in the woods, he tells them, "They just don't like me here." At the same time you can tell he's torn between the family he misses and loves and the Flowers, as the manifestation of his father especially is very harsh towards him, and as a unit they are dismissive of his anxieties and broadly judgemental of westerners in general. Through the entire interaction he remains physically distant from all of them; it's not the warm, ideal reunion he was hoping for. To me the scene also implies Shun may carry some sense of guilt for being unhappy with his family life before it was taken from him, and all of this together just aggravates the sense that he has no one to turn to and nowhere to go.

Later on when he revisits the same spot in the woods with Donald, to show him his "special place," I believe it was in part so they would know where to find him if he ever did complete a suicide attempt. At the end of the series, we see him sneak away with the gun that was confiscated from Amy and in the last shot of him in the present he's standing forlorn and contemplative in his same special place.

If anything, the show is very good at letting us know in the end that no one is truly to blame for suicide, not the individual who dies by it and not the people around them who couldn't prevent it. But it's especially devastating when you don't see it coming, or when it happens to the ones who seem like they were doing okay, or doing better, or whose personalities were so happy and fun and...untouchable, in a sense. It also demonstrates (especially with Amy's manic highs and final, intense breakdowns) that things can go from fine to crushing and traumatic very abruptly from an outside perspective. I maintain that the show gives us the most relatable, realistic depiction of living with depression and suicidal ideation I've ever found despite its surrealism, and Shun's troubles are subtle enough to have been placed on the back burner in much the same way many people really have experienced. Flowers tells us to pay just as much attention to the Shuns in our lives, and in my mind this show will always be just as much about him as it is about Maurice.

[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?