#I guess I want to make sense of it all - even Ep8

[izzysillyhandsy]

How I learned to stop being angry and love the Death Scene (for now)

This may be a controversial take, but I've come to the conclusion that Izzy's death scene maybe wasn't badly written after all.

There is one big aspect of this scene that I really love: it was 100% in character for Izzy AND Ed (and everyone else too) at that point in their story.

BUT it only works if we are not expected to believe that 1. this was in any way a happy ending for any of them and 2. that this arc is finished.

If Izzy stays dead permanently, his death and the way it happened, what was said and notably what wasn't, was tragic for everyone involved - especially Ed - and we should feel bad about it. This isn't an uplifting scene of closure for either Izzy or Ed, and it is totally understandable that most Izzy fans were crushed by it (and Ed fans, even those who don't like Izzy, should be too!).

If there is no possibility that anyone, in any way, can talk to Izzy ever again and (in Ed's case) clean up the mess between them - then this is not a comedy any more. It's a tragedy. And it should be treated as such by the show and the creators (and this might be where disappointment lies waiting).

The death scene by itself though was fitting, if we look at where Ed and Izzy are on their character arcs at the end of S2. It played out exactly as I'd have expected.

Izzy - All about Eddie

The main problem I (and many others) had with Izzy's death scene is that it is all about Ed.

Izzy is apologizing for everything that happened, including Ed cutting his fuckin' leg off. He is reassuring Ed that he wants to go, it's ok, no need to be sad. He encourages Ed to be soft, emotional, himself. He tells him that his biggest fear, being unloveable to anyone except Izzy, isn't real - he has a family now.

And, now that I've had time to think about it, I realized: YES this is exactly what Izzy would do.

All of S2 was about Izzy breaking the chain, but until the end it was still all about Ed for him (because it's not as easy as cutting off a rotten leg, unfortunately). Izzy would make his last moments about Ed, trying to do as much good as possible in the short time he had left. Or, trying to undo as much of what he thought he'd done wrong.

And I really don't want to take away from Izzy's accomplishments and character growth in S2. He'd come so far already! After years and years of singleminded devotion and love he'd finally realized that their form of entanglement was destructive.

Izzy broke up with Ed in Ep2 - and it almost killed him both of them. He started to look for meaning outside of his relationship with Ed, rediscovering aspects of himself that had long been buried and forgotten. He began, tentatively, to form bonds to members of the crew and put himself out there, away from Ed's side, away from being Ed's voice and Ed's hands, ruled by Ed's emotions.

But there wasn't enough time: still, everything he did was, in one way or another, at least partly about Ed.

Whittling - a Blackbeard metaphor Training Stede - "What did he say about me specifically" La vie en rose - a love song about "the one" and promises for life Hiya boys - oh my god he's trying so hard here but this is killing him, isn't it Bonding with Stede at Jackie's - "He's a complicated man" The Ricky monologue - so much passion behind every word, not getting what you want, letting go of ego for something larger - the whole speech was (at least partly) about Ed

(I believe the first Ricky monologue about belonging is more about Ed than the crew and I know this is not a popular take. Still, for me it makes sense because this is how Izzy felt for decades. I don't think he has shaken that mindset yet - give up your ego, your own dreams and personality for something larger - Ed&Izzy or Blackbeard. When he says "he crew" it feels like a bit of an afterthought - there is a pause.)

So, at the end of S2, Izzy is not over Ed at all - he's deeply hurt, feels incredibly guilty (unreasonably so!) and is repressing a lot of what happened.

He's still so entangled with Ed - if this is his last chance to make things right, he will.

And as much as I would have loved seeing Izzy dying surrounded by his loving family, he wasn't there yet. Not as long as Ed was around. And I think the crew understood. They understood Izzy more then he understood himself at one point ("You're in a toxic relationship with Blackbeard"). They understood what he was going through, and they gave him space to say goodbye to the man he had loved for his whole life.

Izzy died how he lived - all wrapped up in Eddie. And at this point in his life, I wouldn't have expected anything else.

Ed - All about us, you and Me

I love the symbolism of these 2 frames - while Izzy's bloody hand is entangled in Ed's hair until death (and beyond), Ed's bloody hand is putting a distance between Izzy and everyone else but himself.

I wonder how Ed would have taken it if it had been the other way round - if Izzy had found himself a Stede at the start of S1.

I think not well is an understatement.

Even though Ed seems constantly annoyed by Izzy in S1 (and violently destructive towards him in S2), at no point did I get the impression that he actually wanted Izzy to leave, for Izzy to love him less intently or be less devoted.

But, it wasn't very much about Izzy as a person, or Izzy's happiness, or their shared happiness anymore. I think Ed saw himself and Izzy as "together forever, us two against the world", but without putting any work in or pausing to think how Izzy was actually feeling (and I am 100% sure that Ed knew how much Izzy loved him and how little love he got in return).

But being with Izzy was Ed's whole life, they were two halves of the same whole, and Ed even kinda expected Izzy to stay around after he fell in love with Stede ("We could have worked this out!") and didn't really think about how this never, ever could have worked out for the kind of relationship they were having (this is how Steddyhands... was so compelling actually).

So is it any wonder that, in Izzy's last moments on earth, Ed wants to have him all to himself? He sends Stede away. He signals the crew to stay (waaayy) back. He cradles Izzy in his arms, his back to the crew and everyone else who loved him.

And although, at the start, he tries to get a word in (to apologize back, to tell him he's forgiven) - Izzy dies without hearing anything that wasn't directly related to Ed and Ed's feelings.

Ed never tells him he loves him. He doesn't tell him how much Izzy will be missed for himself and not for what he could do for Ed. How important he was to Ed all those years.

The only thing Izzy gets from Ed before he dies is "You can't go. You can't leave me. Please! You're my only family."

What will happen to Ed? You can't do this to Ed! Ed has noone else! And as sad as this is, it is in character for him at this point in his life.

Ed is fundamentally a very self-centered (and self-hating) person, and his journey towards change had just begun with his death and rebirth. And just like Izzy, he would have needed much more time to grow (although Izzy'd gotten much, much further than Ed).

At Calypso's birthday, I think for the first time in forever, Ed saw Izzy as his own person, someone who he could actually love apart from this Ed-Izzy union they had going for so long. But only a few days (I guess?) later, Izzy dies.

So, at the end of S2, Ed still sees Izzy as "his" to a degree, sees him as one half of "us". He almost expects Izzy's last words to be about him (or them) and doesn't yet see Izzy as his own person, with his own feelings and ties to other people who might have wanted to say goodbye as well.

For Ed, Izzy died how he lived - wrapped up in Ed and Ed keeping everyone else away. Talking about himself only in relation to Ed. Izzy as a part of Ed that's vital and needed - but not itself in need of words of solace or other people's love (or any love, period).

Conclusion

At this point in Ed's and Izzy's life, the death scene and how it was written/acted is perfect, in my opinion. But for the characters, it's incredibly tragic.

Izzy never got what he wanted most - Ed's love. He died believing almost his whole life was a mistake, keeping Ed from his true self for far too long and destroying him in the process. In the end, the crew who had unconditionally loved and accepted him, stood at a distance, and the man he still loved over anyone and anything else never told Izzy what he meant to him - and now he never will.

Ed was absolved of his guilt and maybe, in the moment, he even believed it. But of course everything that happened in S2, and everything before that, wasn't (only) Izzy's fault and in the future, Ed has to deal with that. Only now there is no Izzy here to work it through with, and to make amends, no one who was there for it all and who knows parts of Ed best. When Ed finally realizes what Izzy meant to him, it will be too late.

So, if we get a S3 and nothing is ever made of all of this, if Izzy is really dead and the Ed/Izzy dynamic is done and dealt with, then it was bad writing (and I am so afraid that will actually happen).

But as it stands, I'm beginning to love the scene for what it is: a tragic, consistent ending for two characters that I love deeply.

But please don't tell me this was a kind ending.

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S2 Ep8 Musings - Loustat (SPOILERS) Pt2: Reunion

You don't know the HALF of what Lestat feels for Louis, to let YOUR grimy arse steal his man, just for LOUIS's happiness. ANYTHING for Louis.

Am I the only one who felt left hanging? We BEEN knew it didn't make sense, but what's your POINT, exactly? If Louis misremembered Lestat whispering, it's just par for the course about the odyssey of recollection. But if Lestat DID do telepathy, is that evidence of...what? That the vampire bond works differently than what's been explained? That he COULD read Lou's mind? AMC, this is AGGRAVATING.

Your goose is COOKED, my guy.

The copium & denial pack Louis was smoking as he laughed was 🤌

That's right, start sweating!

Master manipulation; cuz he certainly would NOT have, as we soon find out. ANYTHING for Louis. (Dang, Imma have to take back some of what I said about Lestat's character development not having started yet.)

I was shocked. I was NOT expecting this plot twist. I was ready to throw Lestat out with the rest of the TRASH, in the DUMP. Well dang. Guess I'll only leave him rotting in a TINY landfill.

I nearly SCREAMED--@nashvillethotchicken and I were talking about Loustat as Bobby and Whitney ages ago! I cannot BELIEVE AMC threw in a New Edition reference in the year of our lord 2024; y'all are diabolical AF, Rolin, STOP IT.

I wonder if AMC used Hurricane Odette cuz the OG script was set in pandemic!2020, so it would make sense that a year later Louis would head back to NOLA during 2021 when Hurricane Odette last hit.

That looks like NOLA's Pontchartrain Hotel--lemme find out he bumped into the Mayfairs when Rowan & them were in town, LOL.

Lestat got more aliases than the KGB; meanwhile Louis just sprinkles his long AF unique AF name all over the place. 🤦 But I guess it's ok, since the tour guide never mentioned him & Claudia by name. (Not Tom Anderson in another finale, LOL.) Louis so offended the tour guide said he ran a voodoo cult. XD

Fall of the House of Lioncourt-Melmouth.

You're gosh darned right! THEE Louis of Troy is in the building!

You love to see it. "A wearisome fledgling; all the millennials are--" not Lestat making PALE PROXIES of rat-catcher extraordinare LDPDL out of millennials. 😭

Lestat, if you don't get your crazy arse outta here with that bloodstained wooden keyboard Imma ROTFLMFAO.

NO JOKE, I effed up my friend's whole set when I started screaming "Siri, Pause," cuz my friend's Siri started freaking out and effed up the volume! XD

HERE WE EFFING GOOOOOOOO

(Best scene all season, fight me on this)

You know this was TEARING Lestat up, cuz of what happened in 1973--I gave Louis to you so you could do BETTER by him than EYE did, and instead it's NICKI ALL OVER AGAIN.

Imma smack him--this is NOT the time to be self-loathing, Lestat!

NOLA is my home--and the SAINT is not a city--I'm gonna cry.

He did. He just forgot, when reality settled in and the allure/nostalgia/glamour wore off. "I tried to make nights awful for you." Not the whole time, Louis. Y'all actually were happy b4--even Claudia said "the easy times" stopped after Florence died; and esp. after Charlie died. Lou can't be blamed for grieving his mom's death, and he definitely can't be blamed for Lestat & Claudia falling out after Charlie. Everything that happened after that--the 7 years of depression--was ALSO Lestat's fault. "I wanted you to suffer, cuz I was suffering;" I'm glad Les just waved that aside and said they BOTH wronged e/o.

He's not suicidal anymore then! He has nights in front of him to look forward to! So Lou can finally "learn to live honestly" with HIMSELF.

And Lestat dove RIGHT ON IN with that! He's been carrying that with him for DECADES, worried about Louis & what happened.

I LOVE that Les' language changes (the way his voice CRACKS and goes so TINY, oml)--he asked Lou in 1973 if he was "ill," and if something had happened TO him; so as to not spook/trigger or blame him--but he can ask more candidly now in a (relatively) "healthier" 2024 if Lou tried to hurt/kill himself; and get a more candid/honest answer. CLOSURE, y'all, I'm gonna cry.

GOOOOOOD. Don't EVER forget your daughter. Y'all need to have a Claudia Memorial; to KEEP remembering her, as she was in all her vampiric splendour, the good times AND the bad times.

I KNOW this hurt Louis to his effing core. The way Jacob cried FIRE!

I'm so glad Lou hugged him--YES YOU WERE, Uncle Les. And you KNOW it; you FELT that bond b/t y'all, even if she never looked at you. The distance b/t y'all was in name only, cuz a little Black girl couldn't have TWO daddies in 1917 and have one of them be white on top of it. I AM YOUR MAKER, sure, but you were her BLOOD FATHER, and she loved you, which is why she hoped you'd help her.

ANOTHER ROUND IN THE STORMY ROMANCE OF YOU TWO. 😭👏

What are these magical off-mic speeches/pep-talks Louis keeps giving people in Season 2?!? THE PEOPLE WANNA KNOW, gosh darnit!

DRATS.

I get why Jam said they thought the Loustat ending was "satisfying." It was nice, even though I'd've preferred to see Lestat in the Dubai penthouse at the end. :\

I LOVE THIS, AMC, thank you! ❤️

[thatgirl4815]

Ray's Feelings

Ray's process of falling in love with Sand has such nuance to it that I think gets horribly overshadowed by his actions alone, not their context. Yes, Ray mistreats Sand. Yes, Ray has a lot to apologize for. But I think Ray is a broken person who has a lot to apologize for because he's in a situation that he is grossly under-equipped, both mentally and emotionally, to handle.

@victorialovesstiles' post here includes a great discussion of the moment Ray becomes fully aware of Sand's feelings for him in Ep8. Up to this point, I don't think Ray tried to pin down exactly how he felt for Sand because the situation didn't necessitate it. He and Sand were "friends," and that label was always fine with Ray, until it wasn't enough anymore, until Sand couldn't put up with it. Looking back on all of this progression, I'd argue Ray has had feelings for Sand for as long as Sand has had feelings for him, but he hasn't been in a place to confront them the same way Sand has. It makes sense given that Sand is the one in the bad spot, watching Ray chase after Mew. If their situations had been reversed, I think Ray would've had to contend with his feelings much more directly much earlier.

Ray makes comments like this that point to the depth of his feelings, but he never truly vocalizes them outright until later in Ep9. Ray realizing how happy he is with Sand and admitting to that is the first step in the recognition of his true feelings, that he sees Sand as more than a good friend who takes care of him and just so happens to sleep with him.

Ray's feelings are strong, but they are also delicate, as demonstrated by the fight at Sand's apartment in Ep10. This dialogue in particular:

Ray thinks he deserves to be upset for having his emotions played with, which says more than anything how much Ep9 meant to him. It's also important in the context of money, because Ray's self-worth is so heavily influenced by what he can offer other people: if nothing else, he has always had his wealth to fall back on. And here is Sand claiming to love him, but all Ray can see is someone who accepted payment. Every conversation they’ve about the separation of feelings and money is being put into question.

At the end of Ep10, Ray echoes his dialogue in Ep8. I personally like that Ray makes a point of saying how happy he is with Sand; what stands out to me here is that Ray is confessing this to imaginary Sand, so he's technically only really admitting it to himself. He makes me happy and I keep screwing it up. He does care, and he's always cared, but I can't do anything but ruin it. I was made to ruin things. Those are all thoughts that seem to lay at the core of his dialogue at the end of Ep10.

I guess my main point here is that we witness Ray returning to this idea time and time again that when he's with Sand, he's truly happy. Sand sees beyond his problems, beyond the brokenness. Even with how complex their situation is, there's something so beautiful about that simplicity. Sand makes Ray happy. That’s what it’s always boiled down to.

"I know now that you want nothing from me" -> I have a feeling this entire speech from Ray is going to form a deeper trust between Ray and Sand. Ray knows now that Sand is true. He knows that he has overthought everything. The reason why Ray skews the situation with Sand is because Ray is so used to viewing himself in a negative light, but he was clinging to the hope that Sand didn't see him that way. Even when other characters insult Ray for his behavior (which isn't entirely undeserved), Sand was always there to explain why he was wrong, to encourage him to be better. When it's Sand, it's about growth, not just recognition.

The ending scene in Ep10 is such a catharsis because Ray is finally coming to terms with the fact that virtually all of the doubts and complexities surrounding his relationship with Sand were created by him. But Sand has always been true. Sand has always loved him. And now that he sees that, he knows just how important it is that he clings to that love and never lets it go.

[trampledore]

Agatha and Rio's deal in ep 8

And their hostile dynamic in the end

After watching the finale the first time I really wasn't sure anymore what I thought about Agathario.

If they actually mutually love each other,

if it's a toxic one-sided thing that Agatha just plays into for her benefit and to survive.

If they maybe were in love once but then being in Death's constant company grew too much for Agatha and she wanted to be left alone. And Rio just won't get the message

Or maybe the mutual relationship just ended when Agatha couldn't forgive Rio for not using her powers to save Nicky. And now they're pining.

After the finale it really looked like the whole thing was quite toxic and sort of one-sided, especially after Agatha wanted Rio to "let her go" and not "pursue her anymore" as part of the deal at the beginning of episode 8.

HOWEVER, I have become completely obsessed with the finale. Just watched it for the 5th time again and

I've also come to the conclusion that Agatha does love Rio. As the person Rio appears at. She just resents Death. When they make the deal in ep8 about Rio never showing her face to Agatha again when she dies.. Agatha looks really put out that Rio actually agreed to it. I think she was trying to manipulate Rio.

Agatha's goal was to protect Billy. That was her goal from the moment Rio showed up on the road. She said herself that she was trying to distract Rio from Billy (and his true identity). And I think she did it again with this deal.

Effectively, if Agatha ends up handing Billy over to Death, then Rio would have to stick to their deal and stay away from Agatha forever. Obviously, after all these centuries, Agatha assumed that Rio would never agree to that, or not be able to go through with it. As a result, she would maybe not take Billy at all to avoid having to fulfill her part of the agreement.

I think that was the "calculated risk" Agatha took that she mentioned to Billy in ep 9 ("Btw I didn't sacrifice myself for you, I took a calculated risk"). Of course she could have referred to returning as a ghost, idk. But I think it's a possibility. But I digress.

My point is, I do believe that Agatha does not actually want Rio to disappear from her life forever. She merely tried to use Rio's love/obsession as leverage to protect Billy.

I might be wrong. I might be delusional. But I think it makes sense.

On the topic of their strange new dynamic in episode 8, when there was so much softness before: I think that also makes sense.

In episode 4, Agatha was getting attached to Billy, all the while remembering the time she spent with her son. She was also thankful that Death spared Billy after the second trial. All in all, she was feeling sad, and maybe melancholic, and overall glad that Death gave her special treatment again (with Billy, in that moment). So of course she was having a moment where she maybe missed their relationship and love. And was also sharing some of her grief with her ex, who might have been a big part of her dead son's life.

The softness makes sense here.

And the playfulness before that also makes sense, since Agatha probably spent centuries killing witches (partly) for Rio. So it's like old times for them, being on the road and massacring people. Yey.

BUT, in episode 8, there are no positive feelings flying around. There is no reason to be sad, or grateful or turned-on etc. Rio tells Agatha directly that she wants to collect the soul of another kid that Agatha cares about. And Agatha can only think about all the terrible experiences she's had because of Death (or at least she blames Rio for them in any case).

So they revert back to their disagreements and hostility. They end up back at the beginning - in episode 1, with Agatha fighting for her life, cause Rio wants to take her more than anything (pun intended I guess). Obviously even more than she wants to claim Billy's soul.

So, again. There is love, but there is also resentment. And for me it made perfect sense that there was no softness in their fight in episode 8. They are like any ex-spouses who hurt each other in the past. In good moments of shared memory, they want their old happiness and love back and wonder if there is a chance. But when the reason for these old hurts becomes apparent again, they go back to hating each other.

For them, that means Rio trying to collect her due (as Death), and Agatha trying not to get killed by her.

(I hope this made at all sense. I might just have followed my own incomprehensible logic.)

[sunfyre-targaryen]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON S2E7

i've taken some time to rewatch the two last episodes to express my opinion.

the conversation between addam and rhaenyra. addam is one of my favourite characters and i cannot wait to see him in action. for whom that hasn't read the book, remember just one word: loyal

alicent getting the same wound as rhaenyra on her arm. i appreciated this detail, because now alicent is in the same position as rhaenyra was before deciding to move to dragonstone with laenor and the kids. alicent doesn't have power anymore, aemond doesn't need her and she is kinda lost because all her life, as she said to orwyle, she only has served her house and family and she ruled as regent for her husband.

rhaenyra and mysaria. guess that kiss was kinda useless, but i adore mysaria as master of whispers. when rhaenyra said "let us raise an army of bastards" i thought that in this way she is going to make vain every time her and her father tried to defend her children (even if in the book this is a jace's idea)

corlys and addam. it can be seen how addam would like corlys to behave like a father or at least admits that he knows that he is his son.

lord oscar tully, the man you are. he literally tamed daemon. catelyn tully and the black fish being his descendants totally makes sense.

daemon's vision of viserys asking him if he still wants the crown. i actually adored the visions he had with his brother. they revealed the loyalty and love daemon has for his family and house.

aegon trying to walk again. his pain. that broke me. (tom's interpreation is just chef's kiss).

alyn and corlys. when alyn said "i am of salt and sea". differently from addam, it can be seen that alyn is angry at corlys for leaving them behind.

rhaena and her obsession for dragons. it reminded me of little aemond, they are sooo different obviously, but they share the weight of being a dragonless targaryen while their siblings/relatives have one. i cannot wait to see her and sheepstealer at this point, since we won't get nettles.

alicent going out alone. it was kinda sad to see, especially because in the first season she was so fierce. i would have liked to see book alicent now, but i kinda understand this development of her character now.

jace being angry at rhaenyra. i kinda understand him, as a bastard the fact that he can ride a dragon is the only thing that make him worthy of his status to the eyes of the people. i understand his rage. on the other hand, he proposed to search for dragonriders among the nobles, it isn't so different. in both ways people will think that targaryens aren't so special if a mallister or a lowborn can ride a dragon.

rhaenyra's valyrian is like music for my ears. i absolutely adore when she speaks in high valyrian. (emma's voice is like honey to me fr). when rhaenyra summons vermithor, it is so targaryen, you know what i mean

hugh hammer claiming vermithor. perfection. he is saera's son for sure!

ulf claiming silverwing was kinda funny. vermithor be like "i will kill you all", silverwing on the other hand "you'll do baby boy". silverwing is so beautiful and watching her flying upon king's landing made me think that she used to fly like this with good queen alysanne, kinda emotional somehow.

THE FINAL SCENE. as a team green supporter i shouldn't have enjoyed it, BUT COME ON. AEMOND AND VHAGAR LITERALLY RUN AWAY AND RHAENYRA'S DRAGONS ALL "SINGING". THAT WAS JUST AMAZING.

i'll post ep8 after the rewatch. i have to figure out some things.

if you want to talk about it, feel free to send a raven!

[lightweaver-with-cats]

OFMD S2 EP8 SPOILERS! Do not read if you haven’t seen the episode!

RE: IZZY

I love the ending. It might seem a little rushed and I’m so sad that Izzy died, but I still think it’s super sweet. I’m a happy ending sappy person I guess❤️ I wish Izzy lived, but in some religions, a person is ready to leave this realm after they understand the meaning of life and are content with who they are. Because this realm is for suffering, once you are ready you don’t need to be here to suffer anymore. So I think Izzy is in a better place where he doesn’t have to struggle to be himself and without all the trauma of the past❤️

RE: Gentlebeard

I am so happy they opened an inn! You know it might seem unlikely but after experiencing big traumatic events, suicidal, mania, breakups, processing, PTSD, Bipolar, love, obsession, hate…sometimes you just want to sit down and chill, take a pause, and start something new. You can still process things while you do something different. Stede agreeing to the inn idea is based on love. After you almost died multiple times, it makes sense to want to be with the person you love even if it means not being a pirate. I think Izzy said it right, it’s about belonging, not about piracy. Ed’s character is my favorite, literally a hot mess, but you know, that’s just how his journey is. It will be nice for them to own an inn, and maybe in season 3 they will go back to being pirates because owning an inn is driving them crazy like Anne and Mary ahaha. Ed just wants to stay away from the sea, and Stede has the confidence to be whoever he wants to be. Both of them just want to be with each other. Ah I love it❤️

RE: THE CREW

The wedding happened! Yay! It was shorter than I’d hoped but it was still really sweet! Spanish Jackie joined the crew, makes an interesting possible development for S3. The crew also grew a lot in this season, I think they understand how being a family is more important than the act of piracy, which is the theme of the show. Zheng also joined! Love that girl❤️

RE:MYSELF

I’m happy, and you know, I understand if you don’t like this episode too, it is heartbreaking. So I totally get it❤️Sending love to all the fans! This show has been the best journey! Sorry that some hearts are wounded, I hope y’all feel better soon.

[stormyoceans]

vv brainrot continuation:

you don’t look like a person in a relationship (do you want to make me think about puentalay right at the 3 min?)

act like idiots in the car

even the roadway they are driving on is pink… no comment. pink cafe, pink sofa, pink table cloth in the hands of porjai, pink flyers on the walls…

what does my voice sound like (guess what I look like)

the way day describes mork’s voice is similar to how talay described what he likes about puen in the bed scene

the way day tries to find out what kind of relationship mork and porjai have is hopelessly referring to vv

scene you drink from a straw and try to breathe normally (gyo, where are you? you have to help porjai!)

p'day, I'm your fan (p'puen, my friend is your fan)

I didn’t think that day was so famous (in another universe I’m a famous actor)

homemade broth (carbonaraaaak)

Mr. Handsome (both of you are going for a long walk in the ass)

soft hands vs soft cheeks

goes to help porjai (goes to help peng)

talking t-shirts (can't miss this time)

drinking day (as sarcastic as talay)

sorry guys, my friend is drunk (tun has a fever). We will try to lie as convincingly as possible (no)

if I sing, you'll admit that I'm handsome (so, this is ep8: I'm directing, can you imagine what I'm telling you. do you like me that much?)

act like the rest of the world doesn't matter in group photos.

not brainrot, but why didn't jimmy lie on sea's shoulder? stolen again.

a drunken bed scene like in the zebra shirt scene (I can't comment on these gays anymore)

viewing a photo on your phone to stare at your crush (there should be KFC chicken crowing around here somewhere)

that moment when day studied the face of the sleeping mork and began to fly away into another universe, I honestly waited for him to pat himself on the cheeks to come to his senses (but then I remembered that his hands were too clean for that) next ep

once again, jimmy's character is half naked and with a towel on his shoulder, he hangs over sea's character. it's a pity that he's wearing a shirt, otherwise the scene with the zebra would have been repeated

why did you spray yourself with so much perfume (fuck you both, I'm tired of you)

tilak (I am traumatized for the rest of my life, I will not recover from this)

sometimes I think, why am I watching this? this is torture, real torture.

PINKYBRAIN WHEN I TELL YOU I SPENT THE ENTIRE EPISODE THINKING OF YOU BECAUSE HOW ARE THESE PARALLELS JUST GROWING IN NUMBER WITH EACH PASSING EPISODE??????? SEEING THEM ALL LISTED DOWN LIKE THIS TRULY MAKES YOU UNDERSTAND JUST HOW UTTERLY INSANE IT IS AND SOME OF THEM ARE SO NOTICEABLE TOO LIKE THE EMBARRASSED SIPPING FROM THE STRAW?????? THE MR. HANDSOME??????? THE ZOOMING IN ON THE FACE OF THE PERSON YOU LOVE??????

AND ON THE OTHER HAND IM FULLY AWARE THAT SOME OF THEM ARE PURELY CASUAL BUT IM SITTING HERE LOSING IT OVER A SIMPLE 'TICK TOCK' ANYWAY

I GUESS IT'S TIME TO ADMIT I MAY HAVE A PROBLEM 😭

for this episode i don't really have much to add tho, you pretty much already pointed out all the parallels that also caught my eye and some i didn't even think about like puen/mork going to help pang/phorjai. i guess the only thing i could say is that the one scene that reminded me of talay describing what he missed about puen was actually the one palm scene at the end because of how it was structured and filmed

ALSO SORRY I KNOW IM NOT ADDING ANYTHING NEW SINCE YOU'VE ALREADY TALKED ABOUT IT BUT I NEED THESE TWO PARALLELS - PUEN/MORK SINGING AND FLIRTING WITH TALAY/DAY IN GROUP PHOTOS - SIDE BY SIDE AS SCREENSHOTS BECAUSE THEY'RE GONNA GET ME INVOLUNTARILY COMMITTED SOON LIKE

MORKDAY IS NEVER GONNA BEAT THE PUENTALAY IN A DIFFERENT UNIVERSE ALLEGATIONS

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s4 ep8: Year of Hell pt 1

I really don't think I've rewatched this since it first aired- I usually ignored it when casually rewatching because I knew it was the one where Voyager nearly falls apart, and everyone's dirty and stressed, and generally having a bad time. But there's entire scenes I didn't remember at all, and they're all very good.

This was the first appearance of the astrometrics lab, which Seven and Harry had been building for the past few eps, which will be a primary set throughout the rest of the show. (Is it me, or did they change the ceiling of it later?? It feels different to me somehow in this ep, maybe just an unusual camera angle? I'll have to look more closely in future eps.) They have a little unveiling ceremony, where the Doctor tries to make a speech, and ends up being so annoying that everyone is glad to be called back to the bridge. (And he's still dunking on Tom- what did he ever do to you, dude?? Y'know, except be a supportive friend to you even though you treat him like crap??)

(RIP to Janeway's magnificent Gibson girl up-do hair once and for all- they cut it very short for this ep, and she wore some version of a bob cut for the rest of the series, which I have never stopped lamenting. She's always gorgeous, but the up-do was perfection. No, I will not be accepting criticism on my very correct opinion.)

The events of this episode were foreshadowed by Kes in 'Before and After' last season, but apparently, everything that Kes told them about it got erased from their memories when she got sent back to the current timeline, because none of them know who the Krenim are here, or that they should avoid them. So they waltz on through Zahl space as the Krenim start erasing the Zahl from the timeline with their time weapon, and they get caught in the crossfire, because of course the Krenim don't want anyone flying through what is now their space. (Literally everybody in the Delta Quadrant is so territorial! How they heck do they have interstellar trade when every alien species they meet is like 'no one is allowed to enter our space!!' Srsly dudes, why do you even have space travel when you're so damn xenophobic?? Why even would their societies actually put in the effort to develop warp capability when they don't want to go anywhere or meet anyone?? It doesn't make sense, but I guess it's necessary for The Plot, so ok, here we go with Xenophobic Delta Quadrant Aliens volume 15! lol)

The lead Krenim baddie is played by Kurtwood Smith, who gives a perfectly fine performance here, but this was right before That 70's Show started, and now, after having watched him in that show for so many years, I cannot unsee Red Foreman whenever he's onscreen. Like, I just keep expecting him to throw off the civil facade and have him angrily tell Janeway to leave Krenim space before he puts his foot in her ass. I'm usually pretty good about separating actors from roles, but Red is so iconic, I just can't, no matter how hard I try, and it's kinda distracting, tbh. But at least that isn't anyone's fault- the guy playing the second Krenim guy, however, is giving such a bad, over the top performance that I really question both the casting director and the episode director on their choices here. He straight up reminds me of the guy from those Liberty Mutual commercials, where it's supposed to be a caricature of a comically bad, good looking actor who can't even get through the simplest lines. Like, that's literally this guy. How could they have cast him, and let him act like that?? Idk, but that particular distraction is absolutely the production team's fault.

So Voyager has to go through Krenim space while under constant attack, and the ship gets beat up more and more each time, with power failing, the hull breaching, debris falling everywhere, things are on fire, everybody's getting injured and dying, nobody is doing okay. Everbody basically becomes the embodiment of the 'This is Fine' meme in this ep, especially Janeway, who's powering through it all by repressing her emotions as much as possible, knowing that she has to singlehandedly hold the crew together through it all. Chakotay has another one of his 'I'm going to disagree with you in the dumbest way possible' moments when he suggests to Janeway that they can't make it with Voyager, so maybe they should all abandon ship and try to get home in escape pods. Janeway's obviously like 'WTF NO CHAKOTAY' because she's not abandoning ship, ever, and she's not breaking up the family (she straight up just calls the crew 'the family' now, it's not even subtext anymore) and they'd be way less likely to get home scattered in tiny escape pods. To which Chakotay's like 'lol, that's fine, I didn't think it was that good of an idea, I just wanted to give you shit for no reason suggest it haha', as if that wasn't a mean and deranged thing to say to the most stressed out captain in Starfleet. (She must love that man so damn much to put up with that bs, good lord.) He decides to be nicer later, and gives her a pocket watch for her birthday, which she tells him to recycle because they need the replicator rations. He tells her he replicated it months ago before the Krenim attacked and he's been saving it for her, but she still won't take it, even though she's obviously moved by the thought he put into it. Maybe if you stop questioning her judgement she'd accept your gifts, you dumbass. It's a rather heartbreaking scene, since Janeway is clearly stifling her emotions just get by after months of attacks, when she no longer knows what the date even is to remember it was her birthday in the first place.

There's lots of heartbreaking little scenes in this one- the Doctor having to let two crewman die as he evacuates his patients from sickbay, knowing the hull is about to breach and they won't reach the hatch in time; Harry and B'Elanna playing a trivia game to pass the time and distract her from her injury while they're trapped in a turbolift waiting to be rescued; Tom triaging wounded and lingering with B'Elanna even once she's stabilized, clearly worried about her; Seven acting as a guide for Tuvok after he's blinded in an explosion while retrieving her from a jeffries tube, where she'd stayed back to find the phase variance of an unexploded chronoton torpedo. (The same one Kes did in 'Before and After', though the radiation doesn't seem to be a problem in this timeline, for some reason.) So many excellent slices of the crew soldiering on, and pulling eachother along through sheer force of will, with their dedication to each other and their mission to get home all they have to keep them going.

Seven's discovery of the phase variance on the Krenim torpedo allows them to create a defense against it. When the main Krenim baddie uses his temporal weapon to try to erase another enemy planet from the timeline, and ends up erasing half the Krenim empire instead, Voyager sustains no damage from the shockwave, which draws the main Krenim baddie's attention. He realizes Voyager's presence somehow messed up his calculations, and he kidnaps two of Voyager's crew to interrogate, and threatens to destroy the nearly crippled Voyager if they get in his way.

Captain Janeway finally, reluctantly decides to let the majority of the crew take escape pods to evade the Krenim as long as they can while she stays on Voyager with the senior officers as a skeleton crew to try to get Chakotay and Paris back from their Krenim kidnappers, and to find a way to get Voyager through Krenim space in one piece to rendevous with the rest of the crew on the other side. The last shot is the escape pods leaving Voyager, which I think was maybe the first time we'd seen escape pods launched en masse from a Starfleet ship, which was a pretty heartbreaking cliffhanger to end the episode on. I'm honestly surprised this was a mid-season two parter and not a season closer/opener, but at the time, I'm sure I was glad to only have to wait a week to find out what happened next instead of a whole summer.

Tl;dr: A sad but well done disaster-type story where the crew is pushed to the brink, with a devastating cliffhanger.

[adidegmez]

spn s12 spoilers

s12 ep1(keep calm and carry on)

33 years. Sam was 21 and Dean was 25 when all this started, time passed so quickly. toni might be right. it would be a good thing. but some monsters deserve to live like garth or benny(he is dead but he was a good vampire). so i dont know. wow cas is violent. they hit baby. dean will kill them. There's a lot going on but Dean and Cas pushing the car seemed funny to me, idk.

s12 ep2(mamma mia)

sam, he is telling everything to toni. mary is right to be afraid. yes everything happened beacause she made a deal with the yellow-eyed demon but if she wouldnt have done that then sam and dean wouldnt have been alive. so i am not mad at her not so much at least. what does lucifer want? dean and pie one of my favorite duos. crowley ran. i hope winchesters can be happy i always wish this but its usually dont happen so…

s12 ep3(the foundry)

family hunting trip. i love winchesters. Dean got his taste in music and food from Mary. agent beyonce and agent jay z:) . an angel and a demon i love them. okay i feel sorry for mary but she just left them. i hope she'd stay dead, then all of them would be happy. Dean and Sam had gotten over it. Mary was happy in heaven. Now Mary misses her family in heaven, so she leaves Dean and Sam heartbroken. Maybe they would be happier if Darkness brought Bobby back. Or Charlie (I still haven't gotten over his death, I'm still in denial).

s12 ep4(american nightmare)

the early seasons. i miss it. things were more simple. winchesters are gods(chucks) besties, they are not lying about that. seeing dean smile makes me feel good. ketch killed magda.

s12 ep5(the one you've been waiting for)

dean didnt eat the pie:(. is it really about mary? The scene with the ship was hilarious. Harry Potter! dean killed hitler. it is awesome. he is so happy he get to do that. did i mention dean killed hitler:)!

s12 ep6(celebrating the life of asa fox)

i love jody and her relationship with the boys. and yes dean killed hitler:) . winchesters are famous and i like it. billie is annoying. but she has a point. rules must be followed and winchesters always break the rules. most of the times its good but still they break rules. asa seemed like a nice guy and a good hunter. twins are cool. i hope mary will come back home fast. i dont know how much dean can wait.

s12 ep7(rock never dies)

i love cas and crowley. theyre so funny. Cas is tired of being the babysitter. the water scene might be the first spn video ive seen before watching the Show. i totally forgot about it but seein it now is different now i know dean i know sam and their relationship. and this makes perfect sense now. i love them. Maybe Cas couldn't follow, but couldn't Crowley follow his manager or the other band member and find the concert? crowley's with cas till the end i guess(for now at least). cas' famous word:) . well lucifer is kinda right, Chuck left again. he couldve taken lucifer with him or at least do something about him.

s12 ep8(lotus)

agents(in unision:)). an angel and a demon beat the two best hunters in the World. its amazing, their reactions everything. when sam asked anything missing i didnt realized the cross i said his soul because he want smiling and i knew it wouldnt make sense but i said it anyways because thet was all i could think of. well i just saw something about Charlie on my phone. I still haven't gotten over her death. I don't think I'll ever get over it. this Show is supernatural we saw characters' deaths but they returned most of the times. even bobby he is dead but we still see him some of the episodes. Why do we never see Charlie, they never even mention her. she didn't deserve such an end. I thought we might see her at least in 1 or 2 episodes. But she died, unexpectedly, and I still can't believe she is dead. I've said this many times, but when I watch new episodes, I think of her every now and then and I still can't make sense of her death. I miss seeing Mark Pellegrino. he is great as lucifer others are good too but I want to see him more. rowena is crazy at first i didnt like her much but i started to like her this season. What does the table with the color map in the Men of Letters bunker show? like how much of a monster there are? If anyone knows, I would be glad if they could tell me. I've been wondering for a while but I couldn't find it. I tried to read the writings on it, but it didn't work. i think i know WHO the nephilim is. i saw spoilers again and i was wondering about that character. i am so excited. I'm not sure if we will see that character in this season, but I think the chracter will be in the 13th season. i thought ketch was crowley:(. still he saved them so no problem for now at least. i forgot about lucifer and i thought dean asked because of cas. If it's going to bring the angel out, they would make sure cas' not near it. i love the team so much. they are amazing together. Rowena and Crowley are starting to get along well. In previous seasons, I was always afraid that the Winchesters would get into trouble with the law. This fear of mine had diminished considerably. But now I think they're in even bigger trouble. kelly is a mother but the baby is lucifers child. If they raise the child well, I think good things can happen(i hope). an angel, a witch, the king of hell, The two best hunters in the World they are amazing. the best team up

s12 ep9(first blood)

i dont know what i expected but im disappointed that crowley didnt help cas. Mary gets angry at Cas, but she wasn't there. The boys didn't even ask for help because she was gone. she left. 6 weeks! whatever they will get out idk how or when but they will. winchesters… i love them so much. How did they deceive the men? They didn't really defeat Lucifer, did they? He'll come back again, he can't be gone. I don't trust the men of letters either, but I really hope they can help. The guys don't stand a chance against Dean and Sam. cas!!!! What he did was very reckless. I'm glad the Winchesters aren't dead, but they've done things to disrupt the order of the universe too many times. What Billie said scares me. Billie is dead, the others are alive, this is a good thing, but what they will encounter next will be worse. and that is scary. The Winchesters took an angel and added him to the family and changed him, and it was great to watch this change, but it's not for the better, cas will die i know it but i dont want to see it. i knew ketch would kill them. mary! what The British Men of Letters saying is a good thing but like i said some monsters are not monsters. they deserve to live. and although their methods are effective, they are a bit extreme.

s12 ep10(lily sunder has some regrets)

Okay, Cas did something careless, but Dean needs to let it go and look at other things. Sam is right Cas saved all of them. cas is talking back to dean now, this scene is so funny. cas had a woman vessel! im glad he changed he no longer blindly sticking to rules. he is in team free will and this team always saves the World and i love them.

s12 ep11(regarding dean)

this ep is funny but is kinda sad. i have mixed feelings. i watched some clips of this ep. and ive been waiting to see it. jensen is amazing. hunting is the best job?! dean forget about his traumas. he is so happy full of life. It will be nice when Dean remembers everything, but I will be sad. Now he has forgotten the bad things and is in a happy state. But when those memories come, he will be sad again. Dean's eyes sparkle. deans love for scooby is precious. i didnt think this ep would be this sad. dean is frgetting himself and everything hes been through and the people he loved… its too much. how could dean aim that good and remember how to use a gun? i think he is born to be a hunter. when dean and rowena tricked sam sam's face told everything. he amost lost his brother again. thanks to rowena dean is back. and dean i love you.

s12 ep12(stuck in the middle (with you))

yes everything is fine. Wally is definitely not dead. Cas is not injured. right everything is allright. What kind of demon is this? He's not really azazel, is he? mary is working wth bmol its okay but she is hiding it from the boys that cant be good for any of them. well, at least its not azazel. others are bad too but still im glad its not him. so, thats how crowley became the king. crowley loves them. and i love him. he is trying to save them and they dont even know that. this ep was kinda like memento(nolan movie). and i think this is so cool. yes cas you are a family and this family wouldnt leave a member behind. dont say goodbye you aer gonna be allright. the trio, they all changed and their character development their stories are amazing and im glad i witnessed their stories, im glad i know them. theyll be a part of me forever. Mary, what was so important that you would let everyone die? crowley saved cas:) . mary stiil didnt mentioned the item to the boys. did she say cas is one of his boys? the item is the colt!! lucifer!!!!! i knew it was him from his voice but i wasnt sure.

s12 ep13(family feud)

I don't like that she works behind boys' backs. i missed seeing Mark Pellegrino. he is brilliant. i think rowena loves gavin. crowley loved his son. it was for revenge. i didnt see that coming. but crowley and rowena are even now. i hate to see the boys sad. mary shouldnt break their hearts.

s12 ep14(the raid)

-you are not a child -i never was. i knew this scene was coming and thats why i couldnt love mary. okay she needs time but the boys need their mother she was gone their whole life now she is back and she is rarely with them. things are never easy on this Show. i wish mary didnt returnn. that way she couldve been happy in heaven and the boys would be okay without her because they accepted her death they were never good there is always something but the two of them and maybe cas they would be okay, together. i hate seeing them hurt. and this time the one whose hurting them is their mother and this is worse. and now she is not even mom she is mary. I wish Bobby had come instead of Mary. If there is no bullet, why do you take out the colt? To drive a wedge between Sam and Mary even further? Sam, are you going to lie to Dean too? brits are doing some good things, i dont know what to think of them yet so I'm with dean(as always). When Sam said he was choosing a side, I thought he was choosing Dean, now does that mean he's choosing Mary?

s12 ep15(somewhere between heaven and hell)

and sam is lying to dean, great. Cas has gotten better at lying, but he still keeps his badge upside down. I wish they'd worn glasses to see the hellhound, just in case. After all, the girl also told the sheriff that the dog was coming towards her. im scared for crowley i dont think this will end good for him. i sometimes forget crowley is evil. what he did to lucifer was just, wow, i never see it coming neither did lucifer. dean hates bmol beacuse they tortured sam they hurt him not dean. he probably would be okay if they hurt him but they hurt his baby brother. and now his brother and his mom lied to him. He would find out eventually. Do they think that Dean wouldn't understand if they said it from the beginning? see, he is okay with it, im just sad thathis family lied to him, they didnt trust him to make the right choice.

s12 ep16(ladies drink free)

hogwarts! well then i want in. that wasnt wise. i hope they wont do anything to garth. i love dean. i love how he is happy for eve little things. i love seeing him happy even for a little moment. i love the referances. i kinda like claire but she lies most of the times, to jody to dean and sam. i love how dean acts like claire is his sister and protecting her. and, this reminds me Charlie. why did she die. she couldve lived, and we coldve seen her time to time like claire i miss Charlie. i dont think i could get over her death. dean is right(as always). they gave mick a second chance but i dont think it will work. They will finally learn about the things Ketch did. But this is not about Mick, he is just following orders. I think we saw today that he can actually be a good person. its not ketch'S fault either, he is just following orders too.

s12 ep17(the british invasion)

everyone says the nephilim is an abomination. but i think if they raise him well he could be a good guy, 'cause why not. Genes don't define who you are, of course they do, but I think upbringing will have a bigger impact. And I hope so because he's just a baby right now. I was starting to like mick. and the colt is back where it belongs. im not even worried. winchesters will be fine but im not sure about the others

s12 ep18(the memory remains)

come on cas. you have to come back. satyr. saving people hunting things the family business, dean's face wen he realised that was priceless. you are legends dean. normal people wont know you but the people you saved the hunters they will remember you. i would remember you. i hope boys will realise the device soon. things wont work out with the brits thats for sure.

s12 ep19(the future)

cas, finally. i love team free will. grace extractioni its brilliant. wow. yes, they always find a way. and cas is gone. cas stole the colt. cas team free will is all you need. you are saving the boys thats such a winchester thing to do. you are a winchester. but dean will be mad. and sam will be sad. kelly was right. im glad cas changed his mind. of course, im sad that he keft the boys but hell return.

s12 ep20(twigs & twine & tasha banes)

dads on a hunting trip and he hasnt been home in a few days. they did it again. they have mary and another mary! i would say a clone but is she a shapeshifter or something? mary doesnt know. She could have escaped, but she made a reckless move and was caught. i love the way dean holds the wine glass. mary fought good i loved the twins. i think we will see them again someday nad it wont be good. bevell is back, i hope sam will kill her.

s12 ep21(there's something about mary)

Eileen died?! i thought ketch would get her. crowley isnt dead. he is a rat, right? i think crowley will save dean and sam. because he needs help with lucifer.

s12 ep22(who we are)

they are geniuses(lunatic geniuses) and i love them. jody is a good mother to the girls ad the boys. i love her. hope she wont die. i hate you? dean couldnt have said that. why would he saiy that? dean is hurt. but he isnt saying waht happened to him he is just talking what happened to his brother. he did everything to keep him safe but he failed, so many times. he blames his mother yes but i think he blames himself more. he was never a child he tried to give his baby brother everything but how could he, he was just a little boy whos lost his mother and his father was just seeking revenge. he did best as he can. yes mary is back. they killed humans and i think they are ok with that. i get it its kill or be killed and they chose themselves. but idk i thought they would hesitate a little bit. so, what does lucifer wants? he was cool with his father, now he created something and he wants it then what? he wants to rule the World? the family hug, finally. this is who winchesters are. they try to make World a better place for the other in doing so they hurt the family, but in the end they always forgive each other and then turn back to the beginning because its a cycle. and im not complaining, they save the World always.

s12 ep23(all along the watchtower)

i missed carry on. They haven't put it at the beginning of the episode for a long time. i will give my life for your son, i hope you wont need to do that cas. crowley is not a cockroach, he is a rat. is rowena really dead? i dont believe it. she cant be dead. kelly wouldve been a great mom. i mostly like crowley he is strange but he mostly helps the winchesters so. i love cas i love his character development he is amazing. hi bobby! he is back once again. i missed bobby. i hope we can see our bobby again. i loved the DC referances. Did Lucifer really think the Winchesters had escaped? crowley! cas! why did crowley did that? he wouldnt kill himself? well old crowley wouldnt but like everyone winchesters changed him too. and cas he has changed by the winchesters too. but this Show is supernatural how can someone stay dead. how can we be sure they are rally dead. right now they look like they wont come back but in this Show everything is possible. and Mary was taken from her boys, again. she might still be alive. im 99% sure kelly is dead(after all this is supernatural). dean and sam lost everyone they cared about again. jack came. i hope winchesters will raise him. and thats all for this season. last 3 seasons. and im still not ready to say goodbye i dont think i ever will be.

[allyriadayne]

I loved your jacegon posts and I have a question I haven't seen discussed among the shippers yet. What do you think would be Rhaenyra's reaction if she learned there was something not quite platonic between Jace and Aegon? She probably wouldn't be happy, but would she try to stop it? And would Daemon be entertained by Rhaenyra's eldest falling for his uncle or consider Jace a traitor for sleeping with Aegon? Also, out of pure curiosity, what potential Jace ship would upset Rhae the most?

hiii thank you!

hm i think she wouldn't be angry per se because we see that unlike alicent, rhaenyra never says anything to jace and/or luke about playing around with their uncles. i think at this stage rhaenyra wants to foster a good relationship between the two groups, though she might think while not wise to let jace attach himself to aegon, her direct rival, she would relate a lot to jace's situation with her own uncle. idk i'm of two minds because she might think it'll never come to anything because her and daemon are too different from jace and aegon.

i can only see rhaenyra stopping or intervening when the tensions are too high like in episode 8 after they fight. of course, rhaenyra would be a massive hypocrite for doing that but i can see her rationalizing it as that it isn't convenient for their side (it really isn't) and that daemon and her chose each other when they were older and there was an actual reason for them to be together (ofc that if she hadn't married laenor she would've gone to daemon is not anybody's business). i see rhaenyra wanting to correct her and viserys' mistakes in the raising of her sons, so for this reason she might stop jace from following that thread. of course, it's fan fiction if you want to say they were already seeing each other before ep8 or "rekindled" after the dinner.

then again, she might respect his decision at this point if he makes an effort to liken his infatuation/bond/lust/love/etc to her and daemon.

if it is during the war and rhaenyra finds out, she's 100% having words with jace. even if she respects him like her equal, this is not the jace she raised, not the jace that puts diplomacy and politics and the war effort before everything. and of course, it's NOT jace because the dutiful perfect prince jace facade he presents to her doesn't exist either!

daemon 100% thinks it's too dangerous, i don't think he would "allow" it in his position as protector of the family/realm. he's brought into the family dynamic to protect them in the ways rhaenyra cannot. i could see daemon having harsher words with jace, to drop whatever game he is playing because he know's aegon's type. daemon is a black and white guy. he wouldn't consider jace a traitor (if we are talking during the war moment) because daemon is an intelligent guy and knows the means justify the ends and knows that jace is the only one holding on the homefront and rhaenyra while daemon is away. he will not alienate jace and risk losing him.

what potential jace ship would upset rhaenyra the most? oh, this is hard because she could respect most of jace's choices in partner. hmm if we are talking during the dance i'd say sara snow for obvious reasons, both in the sense that it would throw more doubt to his claim and that he would drop baela, the one betrothal that actually secures his claim. well, i guess going by that anything that is not baela would disappoint rhaenyra but i think sara snow is the worst of all choices considering the political climate. you know what could've made rhaenyra the happiest? jace and helaena.

[chevelleneech]

The Acolyte ep7: The Bad…

Not to act as if I know more than professional writers and show runners, but I must say… episode seven was not my favorite. For the exact reason I assumed they’d do half and half. The flashback did not hold enough shock to be dragged out for an entire ep, and should have taken up ten, maybe fifteen minutes at most.

Viewers already guessed the Jedi killed the coven, so it’s not that we needed something shockingly different, but something worth the flashback being the full runtime would have made more sense. Now, I will not pretend like I am not gagged at Sol choosing to kill Mae to save Osha just because he wanted a Padawan, and Indara killing the entire coven just to not have to kill Kelnacca. They both made extremely selfish choices, but again… it could have played out in about a dozen minutes.

They could have shown us the four Jedi on the planet scouting, shown Sol find the girls and tell Indara, then jumped to the scene when Osha reveals herself and Mae to the Jedi. Following that, their Jedi tests as quick clips so we’d see Mae tell them about the sacrifice, then skip to Osha telling Aniseya she wants. Next we’d see Torbin realize the twins were the proof of vergence and skirt off to play captain save a hoe, capped off with Korril telling Mae to stop Osha (but skip all the door smashing and Korril talking to the other witches). We’d also need to see Mae realize she started the fire and try to stop it, and after that they could have proceeded with Sol killing Aniseya which sparks the fight.

We did not need all the filler beforehand, we didn’t even need to see council saying no to the twins. A better justification for the Jedi team lying, would have actually been them acting without knowing if the council wanted the twins or not. That way once back on the ship with just Osha, Indara could tell Sol and Torbin: “The council wanted both twins, so now we must figure out what to say as to why they’re only getting one.” or “The council only wants one twin, so I guess you got what you want.”

Both to me hold more weight, because no matter what, they went in there and caused chaos and death when they didn’t have to. And the reason this episode wasn't able to carry that gravity imo, is because they took too long to tell us and didn’t end with a single drop of emotion.

The episode should have went back to present day and had Mae crying and furious. Or even better, use the fact that they just told us the twins are literally the same person in separate bodies, as a way to unblock Osha’s connection to the Force. Imagine us going into such a big reveal, knowing it was being told to Mae, only for the episode to end with Osha pulling off the helmet and being pissed, because Mae’s emotions allowed her to unknowingly tap into a shared consciousness with Osha. So now Osha knows the truth as well, since she was in a state of complete sensory deprivation when Mae found out.

Again, I’m not trying to dog on the show or act like I know better, but I don’t feel this episode hit it’s mark as well as it could have. Because at the very least, we should have seen present day Mae’s reaction so that episode eight could focus either fully on Osha finding out somehow, or on Mae getting away from Sol and hunting down Osha herself. It doesn’t make sense that we’re going to have to dedicate even a minute of ep8 to Mae’s reaction, when it is the last episode and should be reserved for chaos and calamity, the way ep5 was the fallout of ep4.

Anyway, if you read this post, please stay tuned for my positive thoughts in another. I’ll come back and link it, but yeah. I still am enjoying the show quite a lot, but this episode was not what I was hoping for. I wanted a bigger reveal or a reaction to the reveal, and we got neither. Which tells me the finale won’t be handling what it needs to handle, because we still have to wrap up Osha and Mae’s reactions, Sol and Mae likely confronting Osha and Qimir or Vernestra, Qimir’s plans for Osha, and Osha’s decision on what she’ll choose with Qimir. Too many moving parts, not enough time.

[khaleesiofalicante]

Hello I'm the annie who asked about watching hotd without having watched got. And guess what? I did! I watched s1 and ep 1 of s2 and I loved it so muchhhh. I cannot believe a show like this exists. I'm sure I'm missing some context because I haven't seen got but it's still so good. I could die for alicent and rhaenyra. Their relationship is so beautiful and complex and I'm completely in love. Here are some scenes I really enjoyed and some people i loved and hated:

1) the whole dinner scene in ep8. R and A toasting to eachother and then A being disappointed when R was leaving. That was probably one of my favorite episodes.

2) I loved kind viserys.

3) aemond chasing luke scene. I actually gasped at the end. I was heartbroken but that was some good shit

4) I hate the hand. And I hate christon cole. And I hate that foot fetish guy. I hate most of the men on the show tbh.

5) I love R's kids. Especially luke. I wanted to kill aemond so badly.

6) why is there so much childbirth in this show? Like in the first episode of the time jump when R is giving birth I could literally hear her vagina sounds. And the second was also very horrifying. And when Aemma gave birth- that shit scarred me. I'm never having kids after this.

7) I had no idea I'd love politics so much. But I really do. It's so fucking interesting. I'm obviously team black but I also feel very attached to alicient.

8) at first I was wierded out but at this point I've even stopped to think about the incest. Like they just marry their brother or sister and call them husband and wife? Okay cool.

9) what did you think about 'a son for a son'? I wish it had been aemond instead because I hate that asshole. Fuck aemond.

10) what do you think about R and daemon? I honestly don't completely understand his character. So much shit has happened.

11) it's crazy how much history A and R have and that THAT one night is still something that governs their relationship (atleast for A). I just. I love them. I love their love. I love that I get to see and feel it. When A touched R's hand in that dinner party episode- I felt SO MUCH. I love it when shows/stories make me FEEL. Does that make sense? I just love them so much.

12) A lighting a candle for Luke :'(

I cannot wait to watch the rest of it. It's so good. I don't know if I'll watch GOT or not because it's too long and I'm worried it won't match up to hotd and this style that I've gotten used to.

OMG YOU WATCHED. I AM SO HAPPY.

for those of you who don't know, before coercing people into watching f1, I was coercing people to watch GoT/HoTD. So, this makes me so happy hehe.

Watching this story and hating all the men is such an experience, trust me.

Or not you like Luke the most. My deepest sympathies 😔 the baby deserved so much better.

The show is very graphic about childbirth. I was watching all the murders unblinking and then hid under the blanket during the childbirth scenes lmao.

The whole marrying the brother thing is extremely common among the targaryens because that's how they keep their bloodline pure (which is a tradition that actually existed among many royalities before...)

A son for a son in the show was fucked up. I WANT TO HURL DAEMON FROM A MOUNTAIN. Also, it happens differently in the book. Do read up on it if you're interested!

I loooooved Matt Smith a lot so I was super into Daemon earlier on in season 1 but then he got really annoying really fast. LIKE BRO STOP MAKING THINGS WORSE.

I like Alicent a lot too. But I do not like this new arrangement with Cr*ston Cole. I HATE HIM.

I hope you watched the next episode today! The funeral procession scene was >>>> Also I don't support team green but the way their grief was portrayed, each one so different, was so well done.

BUT. BUTTTTTT. If you liked this and if you loved the politics, you will LOVE game of thrones. I promise. HoTD is good. But it doesn't even come close to GoT. GoT doesn't have as many dragons, BUT YOU WILL LOVE THE PLOT AND THE CHARACTERS I PROMISE.

[ithoughticouldwrite]

Wednesday Related Rambles at 1am/2am with spoilers!

I’m going to die on the hill that Larissa wanted Gomez, sure, but she also wanted Morticia and was just heavily in denial about it. I won’t be convinced that she wasn’t attracted to both of them and only pursued Gomez due to societal pressures and expectations of the time. To be an outcast to outcasts would suck ass.

And then also I don’t think she’s dramatic for not being over either of them as an adult. Wednesday’s being at Nevermore likely dug up feelings she never fully got to process, as she seems like the type to throw herself into her work/ professional career rather than process her emotions, so she’s forced to acknowledge them now. She doesn’t hate Morticia or Gomez, but is upset that the future she wanted with them, or either of them depending on how you view things, didn’t happen. It’s all a kind of “Well I guess I wasn’t coping with that as well as I thought I was” situation with her in my opinion.

—

And I think the love triangle is simultaneously good writing and the worst part of the entire fucking show, although I must state I have only watched the show once so far.

It forces Wednesday to acknowledge romantic feelings are a thing within her reality, her personal reality not just that of the world. She understands the sting of betrayal later before she’s totally and 100% ctrl-alt-deleted from the world.

It also allows Wednesday to get close to both Tyler and Xavier.

However where it bothers me is both boys reactions to Wednesday not actually liking them back are along the lines of them being angry. Wednesday didn’t even show any interest in them from what I can tell.

But at the same time it makes sense because of some nice guy logic. It also makes Tyler get over his feelings for Wednesday, which imo were at least partially real, so especially after the torture he feels perfectly fine with doing what he did in ep8.

For Xavier it allows Wednesday to get close enough to get him arrested….although just friendship would’ve worked here too.

I hc Wednesday as ace but demiromantic, maybe demisexual, however aroace Wednesday has a special place within my heart. I’m just, demi, so, yeah.

—

Ppl getting mad at autistic/adhd folk like myself for headcanoning Wednesday as such but like, still love her for being “quirky”. Quirky is only cool when it’s on tv ig… Maybe it’s because they can’t bully someone into being ‘normal’ /hj.

—

Not a huge fan of Wenclaire cause I like Enid and Ajax, however, cute ass ship with cute ass art. Y’all keep doing you and I hope it makes you happy.

HOWEVER Wednesday x Larissa? Deep. Sigh. Larissa is old enough to be her mom, and Wednesday is 16, a minor. Not elaborating. I shouldn’t need to.

—

Bianca deserved the humbling’s she got, hell, she needed them.

—

It’d have been interesting if Tyler wasn’t awoken by Laurel, but idk who else could’ve done it.

—

They should’ve let Wednesday shoot Laurel. I’m sorry.

—

Okay I’m probably going to hell for this one, but Noble being hit by that car was hilarious. I had to pause the episode to laugh. He just ragdolled and that shit sent me, okay? Sent me almost as high as his body went before hitting the ground.

—

Larissa’s death caught me off guard and made me SO FUCKIN SAD. She JUST got to a trusting point with Wednesday after not trusting her all season and what did it get her? DEAD. SHE DESERVED BETTER. I hope the writers find a way to bs bringing her back to life.

[effieandtim]

This is if they stay close to the book:

My theory is that we've left the 50's until ep8 because in '57 Hawk does something to Tim that is unforgivable and if they showed that before ep6 and the 60's they'd have three episodes of the audience outright hating their protagonist. This of course is if they stick to the book. People would also be annoyed with Tim because why go back to him.

Actually if in ep6 Tim does not want to be at Hawks and is only there because it's his only option and Tim is angry towards Hawk I'll assume they went with the book. If Tim is not angry I'll assume they dropped that storyline

i know hawk has done *something* but i dont know what it is. i keep seeing people post spoilers but i have actively avoiding all of it bc i dont wanna know

i think i still caught something but i cant be sure and i dont wanna be lol

yeah its v much possible that they have changed the storyline and are using something else as a plot point bc honestly it really doesnt make sense to me why they would skip 1957 esp if that has consequences on the 60s ep and then go BACK to it in the last fucking ep

i still dont know how how they will explain it even if they have changed it but i guess we will see in three weeks

[whenthechickencry]

Umineko EP4. Replay Part 2

He, uh, did of course. Of Course, part of Ange's arc is learning to not assume the worst out of everyone, but.... I suppose the truth is more complicated than a simple he sold me out, though. I think you are

You can see Ange knows that the truth isn't really something definitive, something she goes back on during EP8, but I don't think you can really blame her considering the surrounding circumstances but more on that later.

In other words, Endless magic is writing an infinite amount of truths to a space where the truth can't be determined, you then have to start considering why someone would want that, and the answer is the depressing answer that someone thought an endless amount of lies was better than the truth of their life.

Considering we know the Rudolf/Kyrie murder theory is becoming popular at this time Ange is hard coping here considering that kind of theories strange superstitions.

Again, Nanjo is an awful liar. Which is funny bc he's the one that has to lie the most out of everyone.

It's Natsuhi who falls into the trap first, which makes sense, I don't think Natsuhi is dumb or anything but she wasn't raised in an environment where she had doubt about everyone around her like the others were, I think.

It's kind of interesting how in early chapters Rudolf would shut up Kyrie before she could say much but in these later chapters Kyrie is a very active participant in the events, she was the one who tries to bait Hideyoshi last chapter too. I wonder if Yasu kind of projected the Natsuhi Krauss dynamic to them, and Tohya maybe had a different view of it? But we do get information that Kyrie isn't completely aware of Rudolf's situation, so it's not entirely made up, but it seems Rudolf is fine with letting her talk once she starts. I guess it might be a thing of "Rudolf knows Kyriie is incredibly sharp but is embarrassed by it and can only sometimes swallow his pride

I thought it was Battler who figured this out, but uh I guess Kyrie and Krauss spell it out for him and he just takes credit afterward.

Still though, you can tell Battler has gotten rid of a lot of his ep2 and 1 naivete, he would have cried and said Krauss wouldn't do that at that time, I think.

Beatrice obviously had to do this eventually, a game where you ask the person with the answer enough questions until they give your the answer isn't exactly a game that proves anything.

Ange already caught on to how te catbox works, no Virgilia or braun tubes necessary!

If you argue like this you are just throwing shit at the wall though.... you aren't trying to understand what the other person is getting at at all. The contrast between the triumphant music that plays while this is being said and the knowledge that this will lead to the ep4 tragedy is interesting....

Everyone deciding how to team up against Krauss without even needing to discuss how they were going to corner him is pretty interesting, I think it shows that they have done this before from their awful childhood.

Hideyoshi here is taking the role of making sure Krauss doesn't just say fuck all of you and hole up in his room or whatever. Krauss doesn't really have an option but to take the deal but if he gets stubborn....

Forgot how hammy and insane Kinzo gets on this chapter.

He's really misogynist though so maybe it is a more accurate Kinzo than Natsuhi!Kinzo

Yeah George you are so fine and not affected by it at all we won't get a scene 2 episodes later about how not fine you really were with it, just rub it on Jessica's face her concerns are so small for someone as great and mature as you.

Ange's really angry at this fake display of Rosa and Maria's bond... it is mostly written in a way to satisfy Maria I am sure but still, I would probably not react that differently if one of my friends abuse was written out like this....

Maria is not like, wrong, that Ange tends to think what objectively happened = is what she wants to have happened. You can see this with how she refuses to believe Eva was not the killer, but still... She's obviously right in this situation but yelling at Maria for it is definitely not the answer.

The VA did a good job with Rosa here... you can tell Rosa knows that what she is doing fucked up. The fact Maria knows all the sites to hide her neglect from memory is really, really fucked up. Rosa knows she is fucking up. But that isn't enough to stop her...

I am crying again, I think what makes these so much worse is that I am pretty sure if Maria told Rosa any of these she would get really fucking angry...

Maria pretends so hard to not know what's going on but Sakutarou breaks the illusion "If she thought you were a pain or annoying" that's not what anyone so far has said!

Even when tries to force herself to think she is happy, she can't stop hoping and begging for her mother to come back.

I used to have really tough conversations not completely unlike this when I was getting abused... in the long run, I think it was very important that I heard these tough truths even if I rejected them at the time. But I think you can tell Ange isn't coming from it from the right place, she's mainly angry Maria isn't suffering like she did....

Imagine abandoning your child for many days and your first worry is if they were happy in the wrong way....

The real issue here is that Rosa felt embarrassed, if you think about it the chances of a 9-year-old connecting all the dots would be pretty hard, and even if she did she can dismiss it as a business trip or whatever, but Rosa feels deep embarrassment at herself and what she has done, so having Maria even be kind of aware of it causes her to lash out.

To be honest, it's hard to not feel like the bad guy here with Maria insisting she was happy and me pointing out that her abrupt mood changes and seeking consolation from her child are both also abusive.... but it's important to know that in the end Maria was so pained by all of this she chose suicide.

It's kind of funny Maria can't keep up considering how much she has mastered the terms by 1986, guess this is a year or 2 beforehand.

In other words, Kumasawa can get the other servants to play along with Sakutaro, lmfao.

The description of a diplomat in Sakutarous's profile is very funny to me.... I am just imagining him as a country representative at an embassy.

[boysplanetrecaps]

on scheming, popularity, confidence, and skill -- responding to a cool ask!

I got a great ask from someone and I wanted to publish it, but it would be a spoiler to anyone who hasn't seen ep9, or is behind on who has or hasn't been eliminated, so I'm putting it here behind a read more. They're responding to my theory as to why a certain trainees was kicked out of Over Me and make some good points! It's all behind the read more.

fallindomino asked:

heyy just read your ep 9 post and i found what you said abt Keita getting kicked out of over me really interesting, both bc he’s my one pick lol but also bc i both agree and disagree. i think he’s closer with the other trainees than mnet seemingly wants viewers to think, in dance practice behind the scenes vids and other content that not everyone who watches the show probably watches you can see other contestants being more physically affectionate with him and vice versa. this confuses me solely bc he’s the japanese trainee with the best shot at making it into the final line-up, and you’d think mnet wants at least one to keep up the perception of this show producing a “global” boy group. then again, trying to understand what mnet is thinking is a fruitless endeavor in itself.

I see what you mean about Keita certainly having friends among the trainees -- I think that a lot of the trainees feel close to him, especially the Japanese trainees, I'd guess. But remember when Park Gunwook shook Keita's hand at the ep8 ranking ceremony? He shook his hand warmly, with a huge smile on his face, but he didn't HUG him. Now maybe Gunwook just isn't a hugger, but still. I just think Keita isn't quite as "in" with the cool kids clique as he could be. Everyone likes and respects him but I don't sense that bond, that "stay up all night talking, crying on each other's shoulders, telling each other stuff you've never told anyone before" kind of bond. But maybe I'm wrong! I should watch some more of the behind the scenes content -- let me know if there's a specific video that you think I should check out.

And yeah, you'd think for sure they'd want at least one Japanese trainee, but who knows what goes through MNET's single collective brain cell. It's like searching for meaning in a Pauly Shore movie.

buttt abt the threat bit i completely agree. i think the other trainees see him as a threat in a way he doesn’t view anyone else at all. i remember you said smth like “Keita sets a high standard even among the other previously debuted idols on this show” in one of ur posts, and i think this is a contributing factor. Keita simply has less to prove. he knows he’s good enough to be in the group, the judges know, the other trainees know, the viewers know, even people who don’t LIKE him know.

this is why he was so completely unafraid to make a super stacked team for Kill this Love even though he definitely wanted the killing part, and in ep 6 when they chose for the second mission, though they don’t show Keita choosing Zoom, in background shots you can see that Krystian, who he kicked out, was simply standing on the bottom row, closest to the walkway, and that is most likely the reason keita kicked him out.

Oh, I love this kind of close analysis! Nice work. I think Krystian was better suited for Limousine anyway so it worked out.

comparing this line of thinking to Ricky, who kicked Jongwoo out of Love Killa because it meant he would be more likely to get the killing part, to Jiwoong who did the exact same thing to ricky two minutes later, and the differences in their thinking become clear.

Aaaannnd we ended up with an underwhelming performance of Love Killa, so thanks, everyone!

this isn’t me hating on any of them ofc, it’s a good strategy. but it’s a strategy that Keita isn’t using, partially because he is literally just that kind, but also because he doesn’t feel that pressure to prove everything he has the way most of the other trainees do.

Totally agree. It's kind of like what I was saying about how Matthew leads from a place of anxiety, while Keita leads from a place of confidence. It doesn't enter Keita's mind to scheme because he knows he has the goods. I think that this might contribute to his comparative lack of super close, emotionally bound friends -- you bond with people who you feel a connection to, and maybe it's hard for people to feel that connection with someone who doesn't seem to experience the same frustrations and difficulties that they do. But again, maybe I'm wrong.

and yeah, considering that there were two yuehuas on over me team as well, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that they made a plan to vote out the members they felt would be the biggest threats to them, position-wise, and any friendships made on the show def pale in comparison to years spent training tgt. i just thought it was rlly interesting cause all last week i was curious to see how ppl ended on their new teams (i did get spoiled lol) and after watching and thinking it over, it makes tons of sense. your recaps are always interesting reads, and i look forward to the performance specific ones !!

Thanks so much! Back atcha, friendo!