#I know is delusional to demand more episodes for a character that appeared in a show that ended like 50 years ago or something but STILL
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It is an absolute CRIME that there are not more episodes with Lieutenant Simmons. She is the sweetest funniest little gal and I want to know more about her!!!
Like, just look at her!!
Shes like if a bunny was a person!! It should be illegal to be that adorable and silly and not get more screen time, ILLEGAL I SAY!!
#not to mention her and Radar’s little will they wont they#they were both equally as socially awkward and it was perfect#like of course they were ignoring eachother and waiting for the other to crack. they dont know how this goes!!#I want to know her perspective in springtime so bad#a crime I tell you a crime#lieutenant Simmons#mash#staples rambles#mashposting#I know is delusional to demand more episodes for a character that appeared in a show that ended like 50 years ago or something but STILL
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I originally did not intend to respond to this, because on a first reading, it appeared to be yet another hypocritical and thoughtless take from a Kataang shipper and I wasn’t in the mood to beat a dead horse.
However, a fellow one of your Kataang fans brought this post back to my attention recently, prompting me to read it more closely. You see, even fellow fans of your ship are blown away by the delusional takes in this post, including comparing Zuko to a slave owner and neo-Nazi for calling Aang a goody-two-shoes. I do stand by my initial assessment, but this is so much worse. Not only are you reiterating the most tired takes I’ve seen over the years, but you’ve added the insult of downplaying real world issues while pretending you’re doing the opposite.
In light of this, and the fact that you barfed this up all over my post and blog, I felt that it warranted a formal response.
To summarize, you’ve once again demonstrated the original point I made: that fans tend to have a hypocritical view of Aang and Zuko as a result of their respective demeanors more so than their actions. Aang appears childlike and upbeat and flighty, while Zuko is pragmatic and reserved and direct. As a result, Zuko’s actions are often held to adult standards by fans while analogous actions by Aang are brushed off as “he’s just a kid” despite the fact that the same fans seem to simultaneously believe that Aang is more mature and that his “wisdom” should be deferred to by all other characters—even adults and mentor figures.
Also: a word of advice for you, @leantailean . If you didn’t want to “start a conversation,” maybe you should have made your own post, instead of posting this mess of a take that you didn’t even bother to spell-check on mine.
This is getting pretty long since multiple issues got thrown in here, but I did my best to organize and break it down. Anyone, feel free to send an ask if there is any point you’re interested in a deeper analysis of. Happy to help.
I. Behavior in Romantic Contexts
Firstly, I think it’s important to address the theme of hypocrisy that your response is rife with. You begin by accusing me of making light of sexual harassment by correctly applying the definition to a situation in which it fits, and later proceed to liken Zuko to a neo-Nazi and slave owner for making harmless comments towards Aang—I’ll explain in detail below why his comments are quite benign and don’t warrant the extreme analogies applied.
The way you generally characterize Aang and Zuko’s actions respectively speaks to your bias in favor of Aang. As mentioned previously, Aang is simultaneously postured as an innocent child who didn’t know any better, and an arbiter of ancient wisdom who is above questioning.
And you can claim you’re not excusing his misogynistic behavior all you want, but the fact that you don’t consider a) demanding to know if your crush likes you back, b) getting angry and pushy when she doesn’t want to talk about it, and c) forcing a kiss on her after all that, to be toxic masculinity says a lot. I understand that outwardly Aang looks like a little boy and Zuko looks like an adult and this often confuses people, but let’s please look at how they actually behave. Toxic men like Aang in real life also tend to get a pass if people perceive them as less manly. And let’s be honest here; if the roles were reversed and Zuko behaved exactly like Aang in that situation, you likely wouldn’t hesitate to act like he was some kind of rapist (given that you make those insinuations over far milder actions, which I’ll get into later).
Another instance I’d like to point to occurs in B1E16: The Deserter. In this episode, Aang carelessly firebends and burns Katara in the process, after deliberately ignoring the advice a master firebender had given him (because he, of course, knows better than everyone, a trait of his that continues throughout the show. See below for more examples). Fans universally forgive Aang for this because “he didn’t know better” or “he felt bad about it” which I attribute to his demeanor more than anything else. He acts like a goofy child, so fans are inclined to forgive him like they’d forgive a child. Meanwhile, the same arguments could easily by made for any of Zuko’s actions: that he was a child brainwashed under fascism who didn’t know better, that he was traumatized, and that he clearly regretted what he did. However, Zuko doesn’t act like a silly child; he’s more stoic, more introverted, and approaches problems directly. Therefore, despite his active efforts to recognize and correct his flaws and Aang’s lack thereof, fans still portray Zuko as a morally darker character due to surface-level appearances.
In this way, I observe that Aang stans are very much like Aang: they say the most horribly insensitive things, and are willing to “forgive” the most horrible actions while nothing fundamentally changes, and they get angry at people who confront things directly and are actually willing to fight for what’s right, even if it doesn’t lead to happy circle time for everyone in the end. Because that’s how the real world works. No wonder people like you are so drawn to him.
Now, let’s take a closer look at the way you’ve excused Aang’s treatment of Katara.
You stated:
Aang’s kiss is not an example of toxic musculinity. It was a stupid, immature act of a child who did not understand at the time that he could not harm Katara with this.
Interesting. Keep in mind, this occurs during the penultimate episode of the show. So, Aang is too immature to understand that forcing intimate activity on someone could be harmful, but he’s simultaneously all-knowing and wise enough to tell Katara to forgive the man who murdered her mother? Which is it? Is he too young to know better, or is he wise enough that people who have seen much more of the world than him should defer to him for moral guidance? Don’t worry; I’ll get to the immaturity and hypocrisy in Aang’s morality later. Also, you should probably look up “masculinity” rather than “musculinity.” Spelling it correctly might lead you to a more reliable source than whatever nonsense you’ve been reading.
You then make these comments:
Katara and Aang had already kissed twice before.
Are you really saying that if Aang had deliberately assumed that it would offend Katara, he would still have kissed her because "she is his property"?
Again, this really speaks to the insulting lengths you are willing to reach in your attempts to downplay what Aang did to Katara. You really think that a pre-established relationship (which Katara and Aang did not have, by the way) is justification to violate someone like that? It is a widely established legal precedent in most jurisdictions that an existing relationship between two parties—even a marriage—does not negate the need for consent. See, for example: “A prior relationship does not indicate consent to future activity” (Title IX.A.1.3.(c)). Also, given the context of the scene: I do, in fact, believe that Aang regarded Katara as his property on some level. Let’s examine the full context, including their prior “relationship” leading up to this incident.
Firstly, we see Aang starting to experience jealousy at the mere idea of Katara having a relationship with Zuko because of two actors in a silly play. Let’s see how our wise arbiter of sacred wisdom responds to such a transgression:
(B3E17: The Ember Island Players)
Interesting. Aang does seem to think that Katara is “his girl” (e.g. a possession) despite having no prior relationship with her. He is actively offended by the idea of her being the slightest bit interested in another man, despite this fact. How does that not indicate a possessive attitude?
Now, let’s take a look at Katara’s response to the ridiculous accusations Aang makes towards her, now that we’ve established how he’s feeling at that moment.
(B3E17: The Ember Island Players)
It’s right there in the script, and if you watch the scene, the body language amplifies the message: this is a girl trying to let down a crush easily, and he refuses to let her. Aang didn’t realize he was hurting her, you say? It couldn’t be more obvious from Katara’s words and body language here that she isn’t interested. She doesn’t want a relationship with him at the moment. She tells him that nearly verbatim; read the script. She certainly doesn’t want a kiss to be forced on her. And Aang does it anyway.
Why? Well, see above. He’s angry at the idea of Katara getting with another man. Despite the fact that he isn’t dating her, he feels a sense of possessiveness over her and given the context, I think it’s pretty obvious that this kiss was his attempt to establish his control and get what he wanted. His frustration is not a display of regret for hurting Katara; it is frustration that he didn’t get his way. This is how it’s framed in the show; no emphasis is placed on Katara’s hurt, rather, the (male) showrunners expect the audience to empathize with Aang for ruining his chance (i.e. not getting what he wants). I reiterate: prime toxic masculinity. Just because he wore a flower crown once doesn’t mitigate that, and it doesn’t mitigate the fact that what he did falls under the definition of sexual harassment and aggression (note: I feel the need to clarify this because I’m clearly dealing with someone with backwards views on the subject, but just because something doesn’t rise to the level of rape or violent sexual assault, that doesn’t mean it cannot be considered sexual harassment).
Now, let’s examine your characterization of Zuko’s behavior.
First of all, I think your characterization of Zuko shoving Ruon-Jian in B3E5: The Beach as “using physical and emotional violence and insults” is dishonest. The way you phrase this, in context, implies that he directed these things at Mai, which is not the case. Zuko was still out of line, but at least his aggression is not directed towards Mai herself, but another man who he (incorrectly, for clarity) views as a threat. Meanwhile, Aang just takes out his jealousy on Katara…physically. He also threatens going into the Avatar State, which has been shown to be dangerous and destructive, and Katara is almost always tasked with talking him down from it at risk of physical harm to herself. Another key difference here is that the narrative of the show holds Zuko accountable, but doesn’t hold Aang accountable. He never even properly addresses the issue of control over the Avatar State; a lucky rock does it for him.
Additionally, I never said Zuko’s behavior in this episode was not toxic. If you bothered to read what I said previously, I pointed out that this episode is meant to represent Zuko at his lowest. This is Zuko at his most toxic, unhealthy state. The reason why I like Zuko as opposed to Aang is that Zuko’s entire story revolves around change, while Aang is never challenged in any meaningful capacity, as will be detailed later.
I also think it’s important to reiterate here that in the scene you cited in B3E5: The Beach, while Zuko’s outburst is unwarranted, he directs it at Ruon-Jian. Zuko is not physically violent towards Mai at all, which your phrasing heavily implies. The worst Zuko does is call Mai “a big blah” which yes, is mean, but violence? I’m intrigued by your definition of “violence” if this qualifies but Aang’s actions do not.
As for your assertion that Zuko “brazenly initiate[s] physical contact, ignoring her legitimate annoyance of him,” …even the gif you put there makes this characterization laughably absurd. Literally watch that gif. The supposed “brazen physical contact” is Zuko offering his arm to Mai and immediately pulling away when she declines. So, he’s quite literally paying very close attention to the situation and respecting her boundaries. Something Aang very clearly didn’t do as I explained above. Zuko asks permission and responds to Mai’s cues; Aang is presented with a boundary and forces his way past it.
It’s also worth noting that while Katara reacts with unmistakable shock and fear to Aang’s actions, Mai does not react that way with Zuko, at all. Zuko is bigger, physically stronger, and a firebender, and yet…Mai has no issue at all slapping his hand away and telling him off. She clearly has no fear at all of him, because despite your insistence on trying to imply that Zuko is some kind of evil, selfish wifebeater, the person in an intimate relationship with him very clearly understands that he would never behave violently towards her, even when he’s as hurt and angry as he is in that episode.
Even at his most toxic point, Zuko still manages to exhibit more capacity for self-reflection and respect for women’s boundaries than Aang does at the end of the series. Just look at the facts, and face it—the reason why Aang’s actions are forgiven over Zuko’s is because on the surface, he is more outgoing and carefree.
It’s also worth noting that fan hypocrisy with respect to Aang and Zuko is not unique; there are many other examples in ATLA. For example, Mai is largely considered more villainous than Ty Lee despite their actions in favor of the Fire Nation being nearly identical—but again, Ty Lee seems so sweet and friendly on the surface, so she’s forgiven more easily. Similarly, Sokka is largely given a pass for his misogyny because he’s “funny” while Katara is often demonized over the slightest misstep because she’s generally a more serious and responsible character (and, of course, female).
II. Racism
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about how wildly hypocritical your characterization of Zuko’s “racist” comments are. And yes, I know you are hung up on the fact that I put the word “racist” in quotes, but I stand by that. You have to really reach to act like those were racially motivated comments, and reach even harder to apply the preposterous and downright offensive comparison you made. Even if these comments were meant to be personal attacks against the Air Nomads (which they weren’t), they are criticizing Aang’s beliefs, not his race. A belief system is chosen (especially in this instance, because it comes off more as Aang’s personal values rather than something universally believed by the Air Nomads), while race is not chosen. Big difference, and they shouldn’t be conflated.
Now, let’s look at the two comments in question:
(B3E16: The Southern Raiders)
This is just simple logic. Zuko is pointing out that Aang is very young and has limited experience, which is objectively true. He went straight from being taken care of by the monks to being taken care of by Katara (and Sokka, but let’s be honest Katara did everything). I don’t see what’s racist about telling a child he’s acting naïve and should stop reciting proverbs he probably did learn in the in-universe equivalent of preschool. Can you imagine if a twelve-year-old from a completely different culture started lecturing morality to you based on what his teacher told him in sixth grade humanities class last week? Can you imagine, in that scenario, said child telling you that you are best off forgiving someone who murdered your family? Frankly, I would have been a lot less understanding than Zuko was in that context.
(B3E16: The Southern Raiders)
Again…okay? So? This is just calling someone “goody two-shoes.” There is no racial implication here. In-universe, a Guru is just a person who is a spiritual expert (and, while it’s real-world origin is in Hinduism, the term is typically applied more broadly than that to mean any kind of expert (x)). In fact, the only person addressed as a Guru in the show is Guru Pathik, who isn’t an Air Nomad (and whose advice Aang largely disregards when it challenges his personal wants). So if you interrogate what Zuko actually is saying here, he’s calling Aang preachy and childish. Which, again, is a completely fair assessment, and not racial in nature.
So now that those comments are out of the way, I just want to reiterate that you compared things as benign as this to slavery and the Holocaust. I can also tell from the abundance of profanity in this section that your hatred of Zuko is pretty personal regarding this point. I’m definitely going to drag you for that a bit more in a minute here but let’s make one thing clear: Calling someone a “goody two-shoes” is nowhere on the same level—the same galaxy—as justifying or mocking a genocide. You must have as little respect for these topics as you do for the topic of sexual harassment if you think even bringing them up regarding Zuko’s comments is warranted.
So, let’s look at exactly what you say:
Imagine white boy from a rich southern family, whose grand grand father was a slave master mocking black boy for his beliefs and culture. Or a grand-grandson of SS officer making fun of Jewish religion and traditions. How it looks to you now?
“How it looks to you now” yeah, this just looks like you being as exceptionally immature as your precious little baby boy. Did you really think this makes you look better? You just compared “goody-two-shoes” to slavery and the Holocaust. I think it’s time for you to do a little self reflection here, and maybe get off the Internet for a while.
Aang had every right to punch him in the face after this, and only to Aang's forgiving nature and his concern for Katara Zuko should be grateful that he was not kicked out of the group after such words.
In the same episode, Aang tells Katara she should forgive the man who murdered her mother. If anyone is in need of a face-punching, it’s Aang. Consider how this would fit in with your insensitive little Holocaust analogy. You made that point, so think about how what Aang said to Katara would fit into that analogy. Imagine a sheltered child telling you that you should forgive someone who committed genocide against your people and personally murdered your mother. Imagine that child trying to humanize that person and telling you it’s wrong to wish death on them. Apply that to the analogy you just made, go on. How would that make a person whose family suffered genocide feel to hear? Go on, tell me.
Oh and by the way, since you clearly want to see Zuko get struck in the face and banished for offending you so badly…I’ve got some good news for you. Maybe you and Ozai should discuss parenting. (Sorry, that one was a joke but the irony was too good).
Is Aang part of the family and the people who destroyed Katara's culture and killed her parents? Or was he himself part of the army not so long ago, which was actively engaged in this?
This is in response to me pointing out that Aang really doesn’t seem to have much respect for other cultures, namely Katara’s. Interesting. So instead of actually addressing any point here, you deflect by accusing Zuko of being guilty of the actions of his ancestors, despite the fact that he actively stood up to his father, risking death in the process, to fight against his own people. Very interesting. Personally, I don’t subscribe to the idea of tainted blood and don’t hold people accountable for things their family did. Especially when, you know…the person in question was actively abused and disfigured by said family. Zuko was abused by the same people and ideology you’re accusing him of promoting. I also don’t see how this alleged guilt on Zuko’s part negates Aang’s disrespect towards Katara’s culture. Zuko’s whole arc is about unlearning the harmful ideas he was raised with while Aang is never challenged. A common theme here, it seems.
You also excuse Aang’s selfishness over not being the center of attention on the basis of his age. Are Katara and Sokka not young too? Why are we supposed to give Aang a pass and not Katara (e.g. when she was annoyed that Aang refused to help with chores because he’d rather entertain fangirls in B1E4: The Warriors of Kyoshi)? By the same token, why is Zuko held to adult standards when the argument could easily be made that he too reacts to situations as a result of enduring trauma at his young age? (I know why, we covered this above).
Finally, I also want to point out…the entirety of B2E7: Zuko Alone. Watch that whole episode and tell me Zuko is this awful racist monster you’re making him out to be. This episode represents Zuko at a low point in his life, where he’s humiliated and brought low but still clinging to the idea that he’s entitled to respect from others because he’s royalty. Despite this, Zuko very clearly holds respect for the “peasants” of an enemy nation. He’s starving and refuses to take anything from a pregnant woman. He covers for some stupid kids throwing eggs at soldiers. He feels genuine compassion and sorrow for a family who lost a son and relates it to his own experience of losing Lu Ten—Zuko fundamentally views these as people just like him, even when he’s still stuck in the toxic mindset of his upbringing. It will always be more a more powerful story to be raised under wrong and abusive ideas and actively work against them than it is to have a healthy upbringing. Even though I’m comparing these characters relatively one-to-one, I want to emphasize this context. As a result, Zuko’s actions inherently speak to a much stronger moral backbone.
So again, it’s clear to me that this hatred of Zuko is coming from a place of hypocrisy. Any action of Aang’s is brushed off as a mistake, forgivable, or excused by the fact that he’s traumatized. I barely touched the issue of the Avatar State and the danger he poses to others, but I can if you’d like. Meanwhile, you cherry-pick Zuko’s actions, remove the context (such as his intervention to motivate everyone to actually begin preparing for Ozai’s genocide—you can put that quote up all you want, but you still completely ignored the context), and exaggerate them to the point of vilifying him as some kind of racist monster. A teenage boy, who went against his own father and people, who left a life of luxury behind and risked death instead because he knew it was right. Sure, maybe he didn’t put on a flower crown. Maybe he doesn’t act like a silly child. But his actions speak to a powerful character of his, and display a solid sense of informed moral backbone, which Aang is lacking.
III. Actions of Children?
Next, I want to point to how well you further illustrate the hypocrisy in your characterization of Zuko’s actions in comparison to the other characters. I stand by my point that you refer to other characters as “children” but not Zuko, despite him being in their same age range. I want to make it clear that in all of the comparisons I’m presenting here, I’m not trying to argue that Zuko was in the right. Merely, I am illustrating the point that while on the wrong side of the war, Zuko never did anything above and beyond what was necessary to win the war. He genuinely believed he was right, and carried out his supposed duties honorably, and later saw the truth behind the war and turned against his nation.
With that out of the way, here are the unforgivable crimes that Zuko commits, in your words:
Tie up a girl to a tree, leverage on her using her late mother’s neckless, hiring a killer to kill 12 yo kid, all of these too much to be called just a childish mistake, and these go beyond whatever mistakes Aang, Toph, Katara or Sokka did.
Alright. Let’s take a look at some things Aang and his allies did, for comparison. Restraining a captive is an unforgivable sin, you say?
Oops. Looks like Zuko’s tied up too (and knocked unconscious). Because, you know…it’s what you do when you want to non-violently prevent an enemy combatant from attacking you. I’m not saying Zuko didn’t deserve it in this case, but saying this to illustrate the point that trying to portray this action as unforgivable is absurd. I won’t go into detail here, but I strongly dislike the way many fans try to give some kind of sexual assault connotation to the scene with Katara, which I can sense you’re implying here. That’s just your internalized misogyny talking; that connotation is almost never given to the exact same situation involving a male character, like Zuko in the scene pictured above…or multiple other incidents involving Sokka and Aang. Don’t act like Zuko is a monster just because you’re misogynistic enough to automatically put sexual connotations on any situation in which a woman is in a powerless position. Seriously.
Onto the next thing. Engaging in trickery to serve a purpose? Disrespecting someone’s culture in the process? That’s kind of Aang’s whole approach to conflict, in case you haven’t noticed.
Firstly, on the topic of cultural significance, Zuko had no way of knowing what that necklace meant to Katara. To him, it was just a necklace with her scent on it that the shirshu could track. Even then, Zuko didn’t destroy or harm the necklace, even though he easily could have in anger like he threatened to burn the waterbending scroll. But he didn’t; in fact, in contrast to true villains like Zhao, Zuko did not threaten bodily harm against Katara in that situation. Watch the scene; she is clearly angry more than anything and certainly doesn’t seem like she’s afraid Zuko will physically hurt her. Because again…he’s never been the type to hurt someone who is helpless, not even in Book 1. Now, let’s talk about something Aang did that is frequently overlooked:
Remember this? B1E11: The Great Divide. Bad episode, I know, but it’s still canon, and did you ever consider how disrespectful it was of Aang to reduce a significant tribal conflict to two toddlers playing a ball game? What gives a twelve year old child the right to decide he knows better than these ancient tribes he’s never heard of and their histories? But, he got his way in the end, so that’s all that matters I guess. This really speaks to Aang’s approach to problems in general; he comes up with a solution that seems all happy fun and games, but eventually the truth, the reality will get in the way and make things back to how they were, or worse. Anyways.
The last one is pretty serious. Hiring an assassin. Committing actions that the character knows will bring harm to others, because they are in such an emotionally volatile state and don’t know what else to do with themselves. I agree, Zuko was very wrong to do that; in fact, I don’t think anyone is harder on Zuko than Zuko himself about it. Now, let’s consider an event (or rather, a pattern) in which Aang endangers the lives of others due to his own emotional volatility.
B2E11: The Desert. You even brought up this incident yourself, in an effort to characterize Aang as a poor little kid who did no wrong. Did you ever consider the gravity of this situation? Imagine if Katara wasn’t there. Aang could have very well killed all these sandbenders, like he did at the North Pole. Very interesting behavior from a supposed pacifist, if you ask me. See the wreckage in this screencap? Ruins of sand gliders that Aang smashed, some of which he destroyed before he even went into the Avatar State. Keep in mind, not all of these sandbenders were responsible for stealing Appa. Only one of them was, and the rest had no idea. Aang could have very well killed them in anger, guilty and innocent alike. In fact, the act of destroying their means of transportation through the harsh desert is bad enough as it is; they could have been left stranded. But, you seem dead-set on taking the absolute most favorable view of anything Aang does, while doing the opposite with Zuko.
Just look at what you said here, for instance:
Not to mention the fact that Zuko doesn't really care about Katara, he never once thought about her, about her kindness shown to him in the crystal catacombs, or about the pain he caused her - neither before nor after his redemption. He literally didn't care, he didn't feel guilty in front of her for a minute and wouldn't have brought up this issue of her forgiveness at all if Katara hadn't behaved towards him with outright hostility, which was uncomfortable for him, because it undermined his sense that he was completely part of the team.
That’s a pretty bold assertion. What makes you think he never thought about it? We don’t know every single thing happening in Zuko’s head. The TV medium makes it impossible to know what a character is thinking unless they say it outright. If this is truly the standard you’re holding Zuko to—that characters only care about things they explicitly say out loud—please do tell me, because I’ll have a field day accusing other characters of various crimes under this logic.
And if you recall, that episode isn’t the first time Katara was outwardly hostile to Zuko. She was like that pretty much all along, including threatening him pretty explicitly when he first joined. If you think Zuko didn’t feel guilty, you misread that entire campfire scene in B3E16: The Southern Raiders. From a narrative standpoint, the entire purpose of that scene was to illustrate Zuko’s guilt. He had everyone singing his praises, and even Sokka acting like Katara was crazy for storming off. If Zuko truly didn’t care, he could have easily agreed with Sokka and written off Katara’s feelings as irrational. But he didn’t. He went to see what he could do to make it up to her, in his words, because he values Katara’s opinion of him; something that would only be meaningful if he valued Katara herself, which he very clearly does. I mean, he jumped in front of a lightning bolt for her, so arguably Zuko even values Katara above his own life.
We see how Zuko reacts when he feels guilty towards a person he cares about: he remembered iroh many times, with great pain and regret in his voice, it goes through the whole second half of the third season.
Of course we see Zuko’s reactions towards Iroh in Book 3. You know, because, Zuko is able to go and visit Iroh in prison, giving the narrative plenty of opportunities to illustrate Zuko’s internal conflict in relation to Iroh. Also, consider the fact that from Book 1, Iroh is Zuko’s most significant relationship. Iroh is Zuko’s family, his mentor, the one person that stood beside him no matter what. Of course Iroh’s relationship with Zuko would be given more time. It would be pretty absurd if any other character’s relationship with Zuko was given more attention in the limited time Book 3 had to wrap everything up.
So if Zuko had even the slightest concern about Katara personally, her feelings, or how guilty he is in front of her, we would have at least one scene where he regrets what he did in the catacombs.
We did. Multiple, in fact. That was…kind of the entire point of B3E16: The Southern Raiders. And in the other episodes in the latter half of Book 3, Zuko is constantly ridden with guilt and fighting to set things right. He knowingly becomes the biggest traitor in his nation’s history and risks his life multiple times. What would appease you, exactly? If he pulled out a whip and asked everyone to take turns beating him with it to atone? Because it seems like that’s what you’re looking for, at this point. Maybe try AO3 for that one. It’s okay; seems like lots of other people are into that sort of thing too.
Also, you say you need at least one scene to show a character truly regrets something they did? Even if there wasn’t a scene like that with Zuko (which there was—a whole episode, for starters), what about Aang? By your logic, he doesn’t see anything wrong with violating Katara’s boundaries. There is no scene where he reflects on it, and not even so much as an apology to Katara. There is no effort by the narrative to frame that infraction as character growth for Aang. At best, we see that he’s upset that he might not get the girl. Which again—selfish in nature.
Personally, Zuko’s story is more powerful to me, because in contrast to Aang, Zuko grows past his behavior. He recognizes that the fault is in his own actions, and doesn’t try to blame his circumstances. Think about the fact that Zuko never even told the others about how Ozai burned and banished him. That wasn’t the point. Zuko didn’t want pity; he only had a genuine desire to take accountability and right his wrongs. Aang’s efforts to atone for the ways he hurt people and his negligence are implied at best.
I’m not excusing anything Zuko did because I don’t need to. The entire narrative underlying Zuko’s story is accountability. What makes his character so powerful and so beloved is the fact that his upbringing and trauma led him to do some pretty bad things, but Zuko still took responsibility for his actions and fought for a better world. He never tried to use his trauma to deflect what he did. He didn’t paint himself as a victim who should be forgiven on the merits of his victimhood. He had the integrity to leave behind a life of luxury purely because he wanted to do what was right. On the other hand, Aang stans fall over themselves defending every bad action of his because his narrative is a hero’s narrative. The audience is supposed to simply accept his wrongdoings because he’s the hero, so he must not have meant it. He simply isn’t held to the same standards of accountability by the narrative, and it shows.
IV. Moral Rigidity and Aang’s Selfishness
Many fans seem to be under the misguided idea that Aang’s morality is pure and good because it is pacifistic in nature. This is a massive oversight on the very legitimate issues with this philosophy. I won’t give an exhaustive overview, because this topic has been debated and discussed in academic circles for ages, but I will touch on the drawbacks in the context of how the idea of absolute pacifism is applied in ATLA. Most importantly, I want to focus on one key concept: Aang and his fans are both under the impression that forgiveness and pacifism are a display of altruism, while in reality, they tend to manifest as extreme selfishness.
As mentioned previously, you referred to Aang’s actions as those of an immature child. I agree wholeheartedly. However, as the protagonist, I would have expected Aang to develop out of these tendencies during the course of the show. In fact, I would probably like his character if he did. That was not the case at all.
A key trait observed in children is selfishness, which Aang embodies in his immaturity. This can be seen in his absolute adherence to his own moral values. Think about it. Every other character has to question their sense of morality and the culture in which they were raised. Especially Zuko.
One of the aspects of ATLA’s worldbuilding that makes it so interesting is the idea of balance. Even the “good guy” nations such as the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom are shown to have flaws. Conversely, early Book 3 also gives us a view of the positive side of the Fire Nation’s culture despite them being the “bad guy” nation. But where is this lacking? Yes…the Air Nomads.
Well, I guess it’s hard to say for certain, because we only know about them through Aang’s eyes, and I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t rely on a middle schooler to have a fully comprehensive understanding of the moral intricacies of any culture. Luckily, Aang had the opportunity to ask for guidance and learn…in theory. Because he seems to ignore any wisdom that contradicts his own agenda. Let’s look at some examples.
Guru Pathik informs Aang that his attachment (i.e. obsession, as discussed previously) with Katara is producing a spiritual blockage. Aang ignores this and runs away (common theme) without overcoming his spiritual blockage. Rather than having him revisit this issue at a later point, the writers randomly decide that getting poked with a pointy rock will fix everything, leaving Aang with everything he wants, his own ideas unchallenged.
Avatar Aang, I know that you're a gentle spirit, and the monks have taught you well, but this isn't about you. This is about the world (B3E19: The Old Masters).
You’d think this would be meaningful, right? Avatar Yangchen is not only an adult Air Nomad with a more informed perspective, but she’s also an Avatar. Let’s see what else she has to say:
Many great and wise Air Nomads have detached themselves and achieved spiritual enlightenment, but the Avatar can never do it. Because your sole duty is to the world. Here is my wisdom for you: Selfless duty calls you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs, and do whatever it takes to protect the world (B3E19: The Old Masters, emphasis added).
I think Yangchen puts it perfectly here. The true selfless choice is for Aang to recognize that the fate of the world—which it is his duty to protect—is more important than his own moral purity. This is the closest the show does to address flaws in Air Nomad philosophy; that by focusing on detaching themselves from the world, they can neglect the very real, material problems of the world. Maybe some great Air Nomad monks can accomplish this level of detachment…but absolutely not the person tasked with defending the world. The Avatar is supposed to embody balance. Aang already had to struggle with the positive and negative aspects of the other elements and nations. Wouldn’t it have been a powerful and fascinating moral dilemma for him to have to look inwards and question his own values too?
But…no. He had a plot device materialize into existence for him instead.
Now, let’s address yet another ridiculous comment you probably thought nobody would challenge:
If you are so annoyed by the main - yes, purely pacifist and peaceful - idea of the series, then maybe you just shouldn't torture yourself, but go and watch another show, with much simple morals. There are a plany of them.
No, it isn’t just the continuous use of terrible spelling and grammar I want to point out here; it’s the idea that the moral lesson of “killing is wrong no matter what, even if it’s a dictator actively trying to burn down an entire continent” is somehow morally complex. Talk about tired. That’s the kind of “morality” you see on shows for children…which ATLA ultimately is. It’s an extremely simplified, black-and-white moral system designed for children to take in. Perfect for a character like Aang, who is childish first and foremost. ATLA’s moral complexity comes from characters like Zuko, another reason for his popularity. Let’s face it, without Zuko in the picture, ATLA wouldn’t have risen to nearly the level of critical acclaim it has. There is a reason why the most popular episodes prominently feature Zuko (in fact, B2E7: Zuko Alone, exclusively features him). There is a reason why people make hour-long video essays like this and this about him, and hardly ever about Aang. You’re correct that ATLA stands apart from other children’s shows due to its moral complexity; but that complexity certainly doesn’t come from Aang’s character.
I’ll return to B3E16: The Southern Raiders as an example. This is a morally complex episode; I’m sure we can agree on that. You glossed over this entire issue by stating that in any context, Katara would have been worse off if she killed Yon Rha, an idea Aang did try to force on her. I disagree on that point. Especially the way you laughably breeze over your opinion on that issue as if it’s a fact; this is probably one of the oldest topics in philosophy. But I guess you’d probably think that debate is solved if you think cartoons for children are the embodiment of moral complexity. Clearly I understand the appeal of cartoons as well, but maybe try looking at something for grown-ups every once in a while too. Or, you know, a history book. Anyways. Yon Rha.
At the beginning of the episode, we don’t know anything about Yon Rha. Katara and Zuko assume that because he was once a Fire Nation officer, he likely still is, which is a reasonable assumption. So let’s put this in context. They’re searching for a dangerous military officer who has a history of murdering innocent civilians. Why would they have any reason to believe he’s not still out there doing the same thing? Katara’s mission, and a core part of her character, is about justice. Killing a man like this would have been justice, and would have saved so many potential innocent lives like her mother’s. I honestly do believe if Katara found him still as a fleet commander carrying out the same war crimes he did in her tribe, she would have killed him and been justified in doing so. And Zuko would have been the only character to have her back regardless of the decision she made.
However, in the show, Yon Rha is retired. Katara sees him for the pathetic worm he is, and realizes that he’s no longer a threat, and his existence is so pitiful that ending it would have probably been merciful at that point. But neither Aang nor Katara knew this in the beginning, and Katara is still very clear at the end of the episode that she didn’t and never will forgive him like Aang told her to. Aang was not correct, in any sense, and him telling Katara to forgive her mother’s murderer was probably the most insensitive possible thing he could have said in that situation. I know Zuko is hot-tempered and says mean things at times, but yikes…really don’t recall him saying anything that awful to the supposed love of his life.
Then to further illustrate the flaws in Aang’s logic, we end with this:
Zuko: What are you going to do when you face my father? (B3E16: The Southern Raiders)
Aang doesn’t answer, because it’s a good point. It’s where pacifism falls flat. In the real world, people are dangerous and cause harm, and no amount of compromise or coddling will stop such individuals. ATLA came so close to comprehensively addressing this issue, but ultimately fell flat due to the insistence on maintaining Aang’s moral purity.
This can be seen in multiple incidents, including: Yon Rha just happening to be a helpless retired old man, the lion turtle being introduced along with a completely unheard of form of magic to give Aang an easy out, and a rock randomly unlocking his chakra. All deliberate writing choices that were made to absolve Aang of any meaningful self reflection. No amount of preaching will convince anyone that killing Ozai was the “easy” choice. It was canonically too difficult for Aang to do, and he would have completely failed in his mission without the writers energy-bending the rules of the universe to let him win.
And even though Aang won against Ozai, the story in the comics demonstrates the short-sightedness of his “solution.” We see that despite having no bending and being in prison, Ozai continues to exert his influence. He sows political upheaval, emotionally manipulates Zuko, and does everything in his power to sabotage the peace effort. The fact that he still lives emboldens a insurrectionist faction that tries to assassinate Zuko and reinstate Ozai. Aang’s selfish—yes, selfish, reread Yangchen’s words carefully—decision to not kill Ozai put the world in jeopardy.
It’s really cute how people try to spin this into some kind of uplifting message about pacifism and peace, but if you actually look at the fact pattern, we just have a child who prioritizes his own moral purity above the safety of the world. I felt inspired by that when I was around the age of ten, but as an adult? Not so much.
As such, I think the best way to summarize is for me to leave you with Zuko’s advice, which you and Aang are both in desperate need of. So here you go:
That’s cute, but this isn’t Air Temple preschool. It’s the real world.
what exactly is Aang's toxic masculinity that you're talking about? there are no examples of such behavior on his part in the show. he is not an ideal person, he is a child who sometimes behaved incorrectly, just like all the other children in the show (Katara, Toph, Sokka), and this is normal.
in addition, we see how he regrets some of his wrong actions and gets better, while Zuko does not regret his toxic behavior, doesn't apologize and doesn't face the consequences of his behavior (racist jokes about Aang, demands that Katara forgive him as if he has the right to her forgiveness, an attack on Aang to "teach him a lesson" and many other things).
Hi anon, thanks for the ask! This is a very good illustration of what I was talking about in this post when I mentioned that I feel toxic men are overlooked more often for appearing “nice” than they are for being conventionally attractive.
No examples of toxic behavior in the show? What do you call this then?
I know what I (and the law) call it:
But you see, he’s “nice” right? This is just a misbehaved child, as you put it? Yah, no. He knew better and still did it because he was possessive; this whole interaction started because he was jealous that an actress playing Katara was interested in men other than him. And the show proceeded to frame the situation in a way that made Aang sympathetic, despite being the aggressor and the one behaving irrationally. How much more “toxically masculine” can you get than that? But he put on a flower crown once so we’re supposed to think he’s a soft uwu feminine boi (even though he was absolutely enraged that a female actress played him).
I also find it very interesting that you describe Katara and Sokka as “children” while Zuko is omitted from that list despite being the same age. Are you admitting you agree he’s more mature, or are you admitting that you hold him to different standards?
But, anyways. You asked about toxic behavior on Aang’s part, which I’ll get further into now that the most egregious example is out of the way.
Let’s break down what you consider unforgivably toxic behavior on Zuko’s part and compare it to Aang’s behavior in similar situations.
1. “Racist” jokes
I’m guessing this is made with reference to the “Air Temple preschool” comment. How exactly is this racist? In context, Aang is the one trying to force his beliefs on others, and Zuko makes this comment to a) tell him to back off and b) point out that Aang is, in fact, a child who doesn’t have any business telling Katara how to feel.
This point is particularly interesting to me, because it implies that the simple fact that Zuko doesn’t agree with the philosophy of Aang’s culture makes him racist. By this logic, Aang is also racist against Katara’s culture, because he clearly disagrees with her philosophy and is openly telling her that his culture is morally virtuous over hers. And well. That’s even more believable considering Aang’s previous reactions to Water Tribe culture.
Ah, yes. Playing with a cultural artifact like it’s a toy because you were upset about not being the center of attention for once, and telling everyone how disgusting you think cultural food is, what great ways to show the supposed love of your life how much you respect her culture!
I know your response to this point would be something like “uwu but he’s a kid he didn’t knowww” ok well. The same logic can be applied to any alleged “racism” on Zuko’s part.
2. “Demanding” forgiveness
Zuko: What can I do to make it up to you?
Ah, yes. How demanding of him. He’s clearly so self-centered and only thinking about his own values and agenda here.
It’s not like he…
…told his friend how she’s allowed to process her grief and try to impose his own morals…
…or demanded to know if his crush liked him back, wouldn’t accept “no” as an answer, and forced a kiss on her…
…or told an abuse victim he was wrong to want to kill his abusive father for trying to commit a genocide…
…oh, um. Yeah. Sorry, but after actually watching the show it’s very clear to me which character doesn’t seem to regret or see the flaws in any of his actions at the end of the show, which is when all of these examples took place.
3. Training in the finale
“Attacking Aang to teach him a lesson” … wow, that’s a very dishonest way of phrasing that situation. I’m impressed, I have to say. I’ve seen lots of dumb takes from Aang stans over the years but this is a new one.
Well, luckily I actually watched the scene in context, so my reaction was the same as all the other characters’ reactions in canon when they learned the context behind this “attack”:
They agree with him. Yeah. Obviously, when nobody is taking training seriously when the world is about to literally go up in flames, you might need to do something to get their attention.
“But it was dangerous!” you might argue. Well… yeah. When magic and bending is in the equation, training in the Avatar universe has been shown to be somewhat dangerous at times. As an example, from this very same episode, Toph very nearly smashed Sokka with a giant flaming rock. That was way closer to hurting someone than Zuko was in this incident. If you’re going to fault characters for making their training exercises too dangerous, I guess Toph is mega cancelled.
Now back to Aang. What was his reaction in this situation? How did he react to the end of the world being days away? He ran away with absolutely no plan. Just like he did at the very beginning of the show.
I mean, think about it. This is a critical flaw (and toxic trait) in Aang that is literally never addressed, because he starts and ends the show the exact same way: he’s faced with a problem, he runs away from it, then he’s saved by an in-universe equivalent of an Act of God. Wowie, such great character development. Not fixing your core flaw and having a mythical plot device materialize into existence to solve your problems for you. Aang’s whole arc is a big blah, because the writing fails to address any of his flaws or have him meaningfully question any of his values.
Meanwhile, Zuko has consistently been a fan favorite because he’s the opposite. His flaws are meaningfully addressed, he does admit he’s wrong and fix his flaws, and his character shows a critically acclaimed change throughout the show. His arc is written so well that despite being a cartoon character, Zuko is widely considered the poster child for a good redemption arc across all forms of media.
So anyways, miss me with the double standards… there is a reason why Zuko is the fan favorite, and it’s not just his abs 🔥
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you know i gotta say its very fun spinning all these conspiracy theories about lines that were cut, about rewrites, about last minute edits etc, but its literally just that to me. a little fun to distract me from the fact that i am allowed to be angry.
this show is incredibly good at gaslighting. it has been for years. they wrote, shot and edited all these moments and scenes KNOWING how fans would interpret them and still acted like they were crazy for connecting the dots.
and now that they gave us “what we wanted” in the worst way possible, we are made to feel like we’re entitled or greedy for expecting better. we quite literally were told “you got what you wanted”, when that is not remotely true. how the fuck is a tragic love confession in the 3rd to last episode, after which the confessor dies and the confession is never mentioned again “what we wanted”? how am i crazy for watching this incredibly emotional scene and expecting literally any sort of follow-up? how am i entitled for expecting them to have the story progress in a logical way? am i supposed to believe that this is normal? am i supposed to believe that you dont need a resolution to this big of a set-up? how the fuck am i delusional for thinking it makes no sense to not follow up on a love confession and the death of a major character?
i have no idea who makes these decisions. i have no idea who ultimately decided how this was going to play out. but someone sat down and decided they were going to give us a onesided confession that was never going to get mentioned again. and, as i said, we can put our heads together and speculate about the secret good finale that never was, but here is the thing: i firmly believe that finale never existed.
i’m convinced this was all planned out from the start and the confession was literal bait to get as many people as possible to watch the finale. they knew there was a huge amount of “former fans” still listening with one ear and they knew they’d get us with this and it worked lmao! their plan literally succeeded. we made it trend immediately and have not calmed down since! gay people are the best kind of pr machine lol!
so they kill castiel, knowing full well that nobody believes he is actually dead when supernatural has a history of bringing ppl back from the dead and just to keep everyone hooked they have fucking lucifer imitate castiel on the phone and we get dean demanding he be brought back. just to keep people thinking that something else HAS to be coming, bc why else bring it up right?? If we were supposed to just accept that casteil was nt going to appear again, why not.... end the conversation instead of LITERALLY DANGLING THE OPTION OF BRINGING HIM BACK IN FRONT OF OUR FACES.
and now that the biggest amount of viewers possible has been conned into watching the finale they can really just do whatever. i mean the show is over anyways, why the fuck should they continue pandering to the gays lol, its not like they need us to keep the show alive anymore. and maybe if the make the finale as bro-ey and devoid of romance as possible they can get the “normal” fans to follow jared into his new show, idk.
they literally went right back to gaslighting after 15x19. the stupid pre-finale thing was mainly to establish the fact that the show is and always has been about the brothers and their car. they rushed through a few of the other characters, but carefully didnt give castiel any special treatment, he was just a random minor character after all lol oh and they didnt even mention eileen hhhhh. all to have something to fall back on in case anyone really expected them to do something more with the ~thing~ they set up in 15x18. its really your own fault for expecting more, after all the show was only ever about the two brothers, look, you can see it quite clearly in the special pre-finale episode we made. we tried as hard as possible to fit the word “brother” in there as many times as possible, just to drive it home.
in short: no, i dont believe tptb EVER intended to give us a satisfying ending to the destiel set up and think the confession was the definition of queerbait. dont let them manipulate you into believing you are asking for too much when you expect the trail of crumbs lying in front of you to lead somewhere.
for the record: i dont know whom to blame for this mess, the only people i’m not side-eying are the actors and writers of 15x18. I thought the scene was beautifully written and acted and i know they edited out a lot of dean’s reactions to tone his side of the scene down. I dont blame misha, jensen and bobo and i think it was meaningful for each one of them, but i also kind of hate them for making me care about a show that has no respect for me.
(also this post is specifically about the destiel stuff, i didnt even touch on eileen, blurry wife, the fact that deanshould have retired and should not have died a hunter and the other instance of bury your gays in the last three episodes. oh and the fact that the finale was bad just from a neutral storytelling viewpoint. like wtf, we start off way too light hearted, we spend way too much time on them doing their daily routines and then the pie festival wtf?? the idiotic choice of having rando vampires as your final monsters that end up killing one of the main characters who literally defeated god last ep? john is in dean’s heaven?? cas is alive and just chose not to contact dean?? and then we have to watch a speedrun of sam’s life and death like??? this episode was just objectively bad.)
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I know i’m late on this but I wanted to talk about The Dragon Demands videos based on the Game of Thrones Season 8 blue ray commentary and the original archived scripts for Game of Thrones, Season 8.
Basically, YouTuber, The Dragon Demands went to the Writer’s Guild Library where he was able to see the archived scripts of Season 8 of Game of Thrones. Both the archive scripts and commentary on the blue ray confirms that most of the destruction in King’s Landing was originally supposed to be caused by the caches of wild fire left by Aerys being accidentally set off by Drogon and not because Daenerys herself “went mad.” The script says that civilians being used as human shields are caught in the crossfire as Daenerys is targeting Lannister soldiers in a strategical maneuver right before she heads to the Red Keep to enact revenge on Cersei. However, Daenerys is never described as specifically targeting innocent civilians needlessly.
My thoughts under the cut:
I have to say, that this makes me feel slightly better in a strange way. I mean, it doesn’t erase the bad writing, the ridiculous way the war against the white walkers ended, the misogyny, the inconsistency, etc etc ETC... but this crucial plot point was the one I just couldn’t let go of because it was just baffling to me. With other controversial plot points, I would disagree with them, but I could at least understand what they were going for and what the motivations of the characters were. But Daenerys turning on innocent civilians was truly baffling to me because it comes out of nowhere, is entirely out of character, her motivations are incredibly unclear, and was not set up at all. But with all the fandom discourse, I had really started to think that maybe I am lacking comprehension skills or something. But no, there is actually a reason it made no sense. The “madness” plot line was added later. Emilia Clarke was never given the opportunity to portray Daenerys as mentally unstable. Emilia was portraying grief and revenge on Cersei (as the original script and directors told her to do) in contrast to D&D’s final editing which was portraying the “mad queen.” No wonder it came across as completely false and bewildering- before we even get into the discussion of whether or not this is in character or not.
I think this is definitely more than just a theory that the script was changed pretty late in development because of all the evidence- it is confirmed by Emilia’s commentary, the Visual Effects team member’s commentary, and also the original concept art. But even if there wasn’t all that evidence, there is also the fact that the original ending makes so many other confusing things in Season 8 suddenly make SENSE.
For example, when Jon confronts Daenerys in the throne room and he talks about the women and children that were burned, Daenerys responds with “She used their innocence as a weapon against me.” Which makes total sense for Daenerys to say if she thinks she is talking about civilians that were used as human shields that died in the crossfire. But it doesn’t make any sense if she carpet bombed the city- although it does make her seem delusional, which is probably why Dave and Dan kept those lines in- hoping it would make her appear “mad,” since Emilia was never actually given the opportunity to portray Daenerys as mentally unstable.
There is also the scene where Jon asks Tyrion, “Was it right?” to assassinate Daenerys and Tyrion responds, “Ask me again in ten years.” There is really no reason for them to have that dialogue if Daenerys really did target and massacre innocent civilians. That is the kind of dialogue they would have if they were discussing someone who had done something more morally ambiguous.
Then there are the lines that are out of place in the final version but that would have made complete sense in the original wild fire version, such as Jon saying “now and always” as he stabs Daenerys. “Now and always” as any Theon fan will tell you, is a phrase that belongs to Theon and Robb and what they said to each other when Theon was pledging loyalty to Robb. Having Jon say this to Dany as he is killing Daenerys represents the ultimate betrayal but also calls back to Theon’s struggle and how difficult it is to chose between loyalties- between families. In this case, Jon is choosing the Starks over the Targaryens. Kit Harrington even says that this is motivation in an interview he gave with winteriscoming.net. But given the fact that in the final edit, Daenerys massacred innocent children and civilians on purpose, Kit’s motivation for Jon seems like a relic of an earlier script:
Kit Harrington: “Jon essentially sees it as Daenerys or Sansa and Arya, and that makes his mind up for him. He choose blood over, well, his other blood. But he chooses the people he has grown up with, the people his roots are with, the North. That’s where his loyalties lie in the end. That’s when he puts the knife in.”
And Yara Greyjoy’s lines. She surprisingly remains completely loyal to Daenerys, despite the fact that she massacred the entire city for no reason:
Yara Greyjoy: I swore to follow Daenerys Targaryen.
Sansa Stark: You swore to follow a tyrant.
Yara Greyjoy: She freed us from a tyrant. Cersei is gone because of her, and Jon Snow put a knife in her heart. Let the Unsullied give him what he deserves.
This kind of conversation only seems plausible if they are discussing Daenerys taking out Cersei after she had surrendered and killing human shields in the process, something I can see Yara completely defending- since she was always in favor of attacking King’s Landing as seen during her war counsel scenes in Season 7.
There is also the Emilia Clarke quote in the behind the scenes video HBO put out after the episode where she explains that Dany was targeting Cersei herself:
Emilia Clarke: “It’s just... grief. It’s hurt. And she has this ability to make that hurt a little bit less just for a minute. And here she is, sitting on this ridge and there’s the emotion and there’s the feeling and the feeling is to fucking kill her.”
Note that she does not say “the feeling is to fucking massacre the city,” or “the feeling is to target innocent civilians.” She says “the feeling is to kill her” as in Cersei Lannister- who is responsible for the death of her dragon and Missandei- and who massacred countless innocents herself when she blew up the goddamn sept lol.
Not to mention all of the set up lines between Cersei, Tyrion, and Varys about Cersei using “human shields” which never came to fruition in the final edit, now make complete sense:
Cersei: Keep the gates open. If she wants to take the castle she’ll have to murder thousands of innocents first.
Varys: Tens of thousands of innocents will die. That is why Cersei is bringing them into the Red Keep
And yet, lol, we never actually SEE Daenerys attacking the Red Keep. We never see innocent civilians inside the Red Keep. We only see civilians being massacred in the streets.
I also remember people who had seen the post Season 8 Game of Thrones Live Concert saying that Ramin switched to footage of the other wildfire scenes in past Game of Thrones seasons during his Bells sequence, instead of showing the massacre of innocent civilians by dragon fire. I use to think he did that because Daenerys was his favorite character. But given what we now know about the original ending, he probably chose to show the wildfire scenes because that was what he had specifically written music for before it was changed- the destruction of Kings Landing by wildfire.
I really wish they had kept the original script the way it was. It still would have been an incredibly controversial ending. Daenerys still goes after soldiers and a Queen who is surrendering- and that action unintentionally leads to the destruction of the entire city. Jon Snow still assassinates his lover and betrays one part of his family for the other. But, it would have at least made logical sense. People would have gone back and forth over whether it was in character or whether it was a good ending. But it would have been something people would be able to actually debate on an intellectual level- the way we debate Daenerys crucifying the slavers (who themselves crucified children) or Jon Snow executing Olly... It is a very grey and tragic ending with a lot of moral questions. It still might have gone over like a lead balloon. But... the ending we have is so much worst because it’s nonsensical.
The only reason I can think that they changed it was to make Jon and Tyrion appear less morally grey for plotting Daenerys’ assassination. They probably knew that the ending would be very problematic and were trying to smooth that over by turning Daenerys into a super villain. Yet they did this too late in the process after already showing Daenerys to be heroic in fighting with the north and then having Emilia Clarke finish her filming still believing she was playing a complex and at times ruthless character but not “mad” or “evil.” And then, there is also the intensely problematic issue with them conflating mental illness with mass murdering super villain. Even if it had been clear throughout the entire season that Daenerys was losing her grip on reality and becoming more and more mentally unstable, it still would have been incredibly controversial and I am not entirely sure it would have made the men look any better anyway.
Even though it is tragic af, at least with the original wildfire ending, all of the characters are incredibly complex and morally grey and you can understand the motivations for everything they do, even if you don’t agree with them. For example, if Daenerys attacks Cersei after she surrendered, it is wrong, but it is also completely understandable. And in my opinion, it’s even more understandable when you remember that Cersei cannot be trusted. She can’t be trusted to send her armies to the north- why should Daenerys trust her to surrender in good faith? This kind of ending would also have said something very powerful about unintended consequences. Even though Daenerys did not intend for so many people to die needlessly, they did because war is horrific. And that message becomes even more powerful if her motivations are understandable. But yeah, this kind of ending would have still been hated and debated but... at least the debates would have been more about the story itself rather than everyone trying (and failing) to make sense of what the story even is.
#anti got#anti d&d#daenerys targaryen#game of thrones original ending#game of thrones#sorry for the double post#the original one wasn't posting#but now they are both in the tags#sorry!
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Once Upon a Time 2x20 “The Evil Queen” Review
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Well, Hook is back, and he pulled one over on Regina, so that was a highlight of this episode. I liked the flashback much better than Storybrooke because Greg and Tamara suck. Like can someone tell me how Tamara managed to get Hook into a moving van? Was he still unconscious hours later and did no one notice her dragging around a guy who looked like a pirate around (because there’s no way she could have carried him)? We’ve lost the bean fields thanks to Regina, and we saw a really weird zombie Maleficent.
Summary: In the Enchanted Forest the Evil Queen wants to see what the villagers really think of her so she magically changes her appearance and ends up rescued by Snow White. In Storybrooke, Tamara and Greg recruit Hook to help them with their plan, while Regina recruits him to help her get the fail-safe. Emma doesn’t trust Tamara and drags Henry into her plan to find out what she’s really up to.
Opening: The Evil Queen’s castle
Character Observations:
Evil Queen/Regina:
If you were on the fence about whether the Evil Queen was evil before, then this pretty much solidifies it. She kills an entire village just because they won’t tell her where Snow White is. AN ENTIRE VILLAGE! Who does that and still thinks they are beloved by their people? Before she kills the village she tries to play the victim again by telling them Snow killed her father, but of course they don’t buy that and that’s how they all end up dead. The Evil Queen is very delusional. She talks to Rumplestiltskin, not understanding why the villagers won’t take a reward for information about Snow White. She feels that since she is the queen they must love her. Um, that’s not how it works. Seriously, you hated your mother and now you’re acting just like her; why would you think that would mean your kingdom would automatically love you when you treat them like shit? The Evil Queen actually tells Rumplestiltskin she’s not evil, that they only call her evil because Snow calls her that. I think the slaughtered villagers would disagree there. Once again, Regina doesn’t know how to take any responsibility for her own actions. It’s always someone else’s fault. Anyway, the Evil Queen decides that if she kills Snow that the people will then love her, since Snow won’t be around anymore (what the hell is that logic, they’ll probably love her more). The Evil Queen wants to learn Cora’s shape shifting spell to find Snow as a peasant. Rumplestiltskin tells her that it took Cora months to learn that spell, but he can transform her, but she’ll be without her magic until she transforms back. He changes her to look like a peasant with a different face. Of course, the first thing the Evil Queen sees in the village is someone using a life-sized doll of her to throw darts at her heart for a prize. The Evil Queen is appalled that no one is standing up for her. The villagers say that Snow White should be their queen, even though the Evil Queen points out that she’s a bandit and a murderer. You can see the villagers nodding their heads no in disagreement with her. They decide to burn the doll of the Evil Queen and she tries to stop them, but that’s when her guard comes and tries to arrest her for treason (for burning the likeness of the queen). She tries to tell them she’s the queen in disguise, but she has no magic to prove it (even though she knows their names and other things about them), so they arrest her and decide to cut off her head in the town square. Luckily, Snow shoots some arrows and fights the guards and saves her, but not before she gets cut by a sword and then faints after the whole thing. The Evil Queen wakes up to Snow taking care of her. She says her name is Wilma and that her family works in the mills. She’s shocked when Snow tells her she knows how to kill livestock, but she covers it by saying that she was a princess. The Evil Queen is confused as to why Snow is helping her when she’s essentially being hunted and she’s a stranger. Snow tells the story of the Evil Queen saving her when she was a child (without mentioning who it was), and how that changed her as a person because she saw the goodness in this person who saved her. The Evil Queen actually starts crying when Snow talks about how there can be a genuine, selfless connection between strangers. Snow most likely thinks she’s crying because of the pain (she’s dressing her wound), but the Evil Queen is shocked that Snow thought so highly of her as a child. Maybe she even feels a little guilty? The Evil Queen wonders what happened to the stranger, most likely expecting to hear that it was the Evil Queen, but Snow just tells her she’s gone but she hopes she comes back someday. The Evil Queen is visibly moved by this statement. After two days the Evil Queen is healed enough for them to leave. Snow gives her a sword just in case and the Evil Queen is conflicted about whether to go through with her plan to kill Snow with the sword after the kindness she’s shown her. She asks Snow if she would kill the Evil Queen if she were in front of her right now. Snow says some things that makes the Evil Queen realize that Snow knows her pretty well, even if she won’t admit those things even to herself, and eventually Snow says that she wouldn’t kill the Evil Queen. The Evil Queen doesn’t think anyone can be that good, but Snow’s opinion differs from that. The Evil Queen realizes that Snow still thinks there is good in her. Snow tells her that she’s seen it and that she could be that person again. The Evil Queen is really thinking about what Snow has said and maybe she could change. She asks if Snow would forgive the Evil Queen and be a family with her if the Evil Queen changed. You can see young Regina in her face; the hope and innocence on her face of possibly having a relationship with Snow where they don’t hate each other. Snow says she would, but puts it in the realm of having a feather bed, things that won’t be happening. The Evil Queen, sincerely, tells Snow that sometimes people can surprise you, and Snow is surprised by the village of dead people that she comes upon that the Evil Queen had killed during her earlier tantrum. The Evil Queen tries to comfort Snow, telling her it’s not her fault, and Snow realizes that. She also realizes that she wouldn’t forgive the Evil Queen. She’s gone too far. The Evil Queen’s face when she realizes that she’s lost Snow’s faith is heartbreaking. Lana Parilla does a great job in this scene. She brings up the story from before, about the Evil Queen saving her life, but Snow never mentioned who it was. The Evil Queen tries to back track by saying she read between the lines, but Snow knows something is up and points an arrow at her. The Evil Queen tells her there is good in her, but Snow doesn’t believe her, so she immediately tries to conjure a fireball, which of course doesn’t work. She calls for Rumplestiltskin, to no avail, realizes that the sword will do her no good, and runs off. The Evil Queen limps into Rumplestiltskin’s castle and he pretends not to know her. He finally tells her he did tell her to call him when her little adventure was done, but he never said he’d answer. The Evil Queen is frustrated. She demands Rumplestiltskin change her back, but he wants her to not only admit he was right, but what he was right about (the kingdom never loving her). She looks absolutely devastated about that. Rumplestiltskin wants to know what she’s going to now, and she gets her normal evil grin on her face and tells him she’s going to punish them. So glad to see she learned a lesson throughout this. Rumplestiltskin changes her back, and she finally acknowledges herself as the Evil Queen.
Meanwhile, Regina is disguising herself as a fisherman down at the docks to eavesdrop on David and Mary Margaret’s conversation about giving Regina a choice when they return to the EF. Either she comes back with them and lives the rest of her life in Rumplestiltskin’s old jail cell or stays behind in SB. Well, she can’t have that (and go check out what she says in the blooper reel, because it’s hilarious). She goes to Henry and lays out her plans to him (she tells him they’ve been hiding the beans, she has a fail-safe that will destroy SB, and they’ll escape to the EF while everyone else dies). She does the blame thing where she says Mary Margaret, David, and Emma made her the Evil Queen (no, trying to kill them all with your mother made you the Evil Queen again). She says only Henry sees the good in her, and that going to the EF is her chance for a fresh start and to be a hero. Henry is horrified that she wants to kill everyone just so they can be together. She thinks if they don’t have anyone around Henry will truly be hers and she’ll be a hero. What in the what? How in her twisted mind does this make any sense. First of all, Henry is not an object. He doesn’t belong to anyone. Secondly, how does destroying SB and killing everyone make her a hero? Henry tells her she’ll be a villain if she kills everyone. And Regina, of course, blames everyone else for keeping them apart (again, you tried to kill them). He tells her he could never love anyone that did that and why would she tell him her dastardly plan anyway? Regina shows her hand by telling him she has no one else to talk to. Henry swears he will stop her, but Regina erases his memory of the talk so he can’t; once again proving that Regina is a villain because she thinks of no one but herself. Back in her office, Regina is admiring the bean plant she now has in her office, lit very nicely in a terrarium, when Hook comes to pay her a visit. He explains about Greg and Tamara’s plans and how they want him to betray her, but he’d rather skip that and just work with her and Cora. Regina gets sad when she tells him Cora is dead. He plays on her emotions about Cora to convince her to work with him so he can help her with his revenge. She shows him the beans and he again compares her to Cora, so she wants him to help her get the fail safe, if she can trust him. She has him at total destruction of SB because that will include Gold, so he’s in. They go down the elevator in the library to underneath SB. Hook tells Regina that getting revenge will leave her empty, and that it’s an end, not a beginning. She reminds him that she will have Henry after it’s all said and done. Regina notices the magic cuff on Hook’s arm as Cora’s and wants it. Hook tries to keep it for himself, but eventually lets Regina take it. She seems very happy to have a small trinket of Cora’s, even though she has all of her stuff in her vault still. Or maybe it’s just because she’s planning on leading Hook to his doom. They are in the caverns under SB and Regina says the fail safe had to be well hidden and well guarded. Hook doesn’t understand who is guarding it, until Regina pushes him down a cliff as a distraction. While he fights zombie Maleficent, she goes to Snow’s glass coffin and gets a jewel needed for the fail safe. Regina comes back up the elevator and is surprised to see Hook up there, as a) the elevator needs someone else to bring it up if you’re not using magic, and b) zombie Maleficent was supposed to kill him. Regina looks really confused as he explains how he almost stopped his plan when she told him about killing everyone, taking Henry, and moving on. She’s even more confused about ‘his plan’, as she thought she was the one in charge. Hook brings in Greg and Tamara and now Regina’s just angry that Hook was stupid enough to fall in league with two amateurs, until she tries to produce a fireball and it doesn’t work. Greg tells her that won’t work anymore, and Regina finally has the good sense to look scared. She figures out it’s the cuff blocking her magic and blames Hook for giving it to her, and he reminds her she rather insisted that he give it to her. Regina mocks Greg for using magic against her, but he’s quick to tell her it’s science, not magic. Regina reiterates that she doesn’t know where Greg’s father is, but he doesn’t believe her. He also tells her he has another mission, and when Regina asks what it is, Greg is smart and doesn’t monologue about it. Instead, he has Tamara bag her.
Emma/Henry: Emma runs into Tamara at Granny’s, literally runs into her, with the intention of looking through all the stuff she dropped. She notices a paper with everyone’s names and alter egos on it. She asks Tamara how she’s doing with all she’s learned. Tamara says she’s okay and that Emma should understand that it’s a lot to take in. Emma insists she had Henry to help and Tamara says she has Neal to help her. Emma, as subtle as a hammer, brings up what it would mean for Henry or Neal if people were to find out about SB. Tamara assures her she’ll keep the secret, but Emma detects that she’s lying. Emma has figured out that Tamara is the ‘She’ August was warning them about, but Mary Margaret doesn’t think so. She has an excuse for everything Emma brings up, including knowing that Tamara lied to her. Mary Margaret points out that her superpower doesn’t work when she’s emotional and Emma is offended that Mary Margaret thinks she’s jealous of Tamara because she’s with Neal (well, maybe if you told her what he did to you she wouldn’t think you were jealous!). Mary Margaret pulls out the Henry card, that if Emma accuses Tamara of something, that Henry will see it as a way for his parents to get back together with Tamara out of the picture. Henry has overheard the whole conversation (that’s what happens when you live in a loft and the only doors are to the outside and the bathrooms). Emma recruits him to help, but looks pretty guilty about it. They go on a stakeout to watch for Neal and Tamara leaving Granny’s (it’s raining out, why would they leave?). They try to come up with code names but Henry doesn’t like any of the ones Emma comes up with. Henry talks about how he thought they’d be in the EF doing EF type stuff and Emma asks if he wants to go there if there was a way. Henry figures out pretty quickly that there’s a way back, despite Emma telling him there isn’t (she’s a terrible liar), he figures out Anton brought beans with him. Henry thinks he, Emma, and Neal should all get a castle together when they go to the EF. Emma starts sputtering over that scenario, but Neal and Tamara exit Granny’s so they have to duck. Emma is breaking into Neal and Tamara’s room and Henry is subtly trying to get his parents back together already. Emma straight up tells him that she is not getting back together with Neal. Henry thinks that under the right romantic conditions it could happen. Emma reminds him that she is not after Tamara because of Neal, she has suspicions outside of her dating Neal. She finally gets the door open and makes Henry the lookout and tells him to just hit the door if he sees someone. Emma starts searching and comes across a creaky floorboard just as Neal comes back up. Henry does his best, but he’s clueless when it comes to hitting the door. Neal taught Emma that move so he knows she’s broken in. Emma first tries to lie, but then tells him her theory that Tamara is who killed August. Neal isn’t buying it. Emma tells him that Tamara lied to her, but Neal says he never believed in that. She finally brings out that she saw Tamara’s list, but Neal apparently helped her make that list so she could know who the townspeople were better. Emma swears she’s not jealous. She tells Neal about the loose floorboard and promises to drop it if there’s nothing there. And nothing is there. Neal comments that he knows Tamara being there must be hard, but Emma isn’t playing into it. She takes Henry and leaves. Henry and Emma are lamenting over ice cream at the loft. Henry tells Emma he believes her about Tamara. Emma’s glad because she knows she’s right, even if she couldn’t prove it. Henry says when they do prove it, they can all go back to the EF. Emma still doesn’t seem too happy about that idea.
Snow White/Mary Margaret: Snow rescues a shape shifted Evil Queen from the royal guards when they try to execute her. She’s a pretty good swordswoman and archer. She has brought the Evil Queen to a lean-to that she is living in to help her heal after she was injured during her rescue. She basically talks to the Evil Queen about how she thinks the Evil Queen could be good again. She has seen good in her and she would forgive her if the Evil Queen asked for it. Snow would even be willing to have her as family again, but she never believes it will happen. You can see, though, that Snow would really like to have her stepmother back, as she’s the woman who raised her after her mother died. But then they come across the village the Evil Queen had slaughtered. This must be the first time people have died because they helped Snow, because she blames herself. The Evil Queen tells her it’s not her fault. Snow knows that and doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to forgive her now, because there can’t be any good left in her if she could do something like that. She now believes that there never was any good in the Evil Queen. Then the Evil Queen messes up, and Snow figures out that Wilma is the Evil Queen in disguise. She holds her captive with an arrow, but she still can’t kill her and when the Evil Queen runs off, Snow lets her go.
Mary Margaret still feels bad for Regina. When she and David are discussing going back to the EF, she feels guilty about leaving her behind, but David says they can’t bring her. Mary Margaret says that Henry won’t like it because Regina is still his mother. David begins to say that every time Mary Margaret gives her another chance, and Mary Margaret finishes it with Regina slips. No, she doesn’t slip, she doesn’t even take the chance. David wouldn’t even give her a chance when she did try to change in SB. No wonder she went to Cora’s side when no one believed in her. This is the one time I feel others are at fault for Regina’s backslide. At the loft Emma is trying to convince Mary Margaret about Tamara being bad news. Mary Margaret is in complete mother mode, trying to make sure Emma doesn’t tell Henry about her theory and also pointing out that Emma’s superpower doesn’t work when she’s emotional. Honestly, I’m a bit mad that Mary Margaret doesn’t believe her. Emma has given no indication that she has any feelings towards Neal, and she tells Mary Margaret as much. Mary Margaret just turns it into Henry thinking that if Tamara is out of the picture then his parents can get back together. Which, she’s not wrong, but at the same time, give Emma a little credit in explaining that’s not going to happen to her own son. Also, why is Mary Margaret treating Emma like she’s a teenager who is telling her about the gossip at her school. Because that is exactly what this scene reminded me of. At the end of the episode, Mary Margaret, David, and Leroy discover the bean fields have been burned down. Mary Margaret doesn’t know who would do this. Seriously? You can’t think of anyone who could discover the beans by magic and destroy them?
Rumplestiltskin: He’s not making the Evil Queen feel any better about what she’s been doing. He points out everything she’s been doing to make her kingdom not like her, but the Evil Queen is not having it. He also points out that they’ll never love her, but she doesn’t believe that either. She thinks she can make them once Snow is dead. She also decides she’s going to have to find Snow herself. Rumplestiltskin points out that it won’t be easy in her outfit (since it’s obvious she’s the queen), and that gives her the idea to shape shift. Rumplestiltskin tells her it would take too long to learn the spell, but he can change her himself. His price is for her to cut off trade from King George’s kingdom, which we all know is because he needs George bankrupt for the future to get the ball rolling on the curse and Snow and Charming to meet. The way his mind works is just so dazzling sometimes. It’s like a chess board and he has to move all the pieces and anticipate what his opponent is going to do to get everything in place. Rumplestiltskin warns The Evil Queen that she might not like what she hears while strolling about, but she doesn’t care. Rumplestiltskin does not come the three times The Evil Queen calls on him to save her. She eventually travels to his castle and he jokes about not knowing her and that he already has a promising maid. He says he told her she could call, but he never said he’d answer. The Evil Queen wants him to change her back but he wants her to not only tell her he was right, but what he was right about (the kingdom never loving her). His manipulation of The Evil Queen would be so magnificent if you didn’t know what it would bring in the future, and the fact that he’s doing it all for his own gains. When the Evil Queen tells Rumplestiltskin she will punish them all, he just giggles.
Hook: He is back and is completely sated by the fact that he finally got rid of Gold. Unfortunately, Greg and Tamara show him that his crocodile is, in fact, still alive, so they offer him a job. They offer to help him kill off Gold if he helps them. They tell him they can kill magical creatures. Hook wants to know the price for taking the job. They want him to help him find Greg’s father. He seems angry that they want him to help with something so mundane, but they tell him it’s Regina who took him, and he looks like he’s going to at least think about it. He goes to see Regina and tells her about Greg and Tamara’s plans and how they want him to betray her. He wants to just form an alliance with her and skip the betrayal part. Regina doesn’t know if she can trust him. He tells her he took up with her mother for a reason and damn if him talking about forming an alliance between the three of them doesn’t sound like he’s aiming for a threeway with all of them. Anyway, Regina informs Hook that Cora is dead, and he actually looks upset, but most likely he’s thinking he’ll have to change his plans since we know he’s going to betray her. Or maybe he just feels slightly more guilty about setting her up for betrayal. He gets all solemn and tells her that all Cora wanted was for her to win, so he’ll help her with her revenge, and Regina is still reeling over her mother’s death so she buys this. She buys it so much that she shows him the magic bean plant. He calls it an escape plan and evokes Cora again by saying how much she’d have loved that and how she wanted to take her back to the EF and start over. Regina says she’s going to do that with Henry and Hook can help her escape from the total destruction of Storybrooke. Hook is ecstatic to learn that the total destruction means Gold will also be killed, so he’s all in. They go to the elevator and he thinks Regina needs him to lower her down, but she has magic, so she’s going to need him for something else. They get to the bottom and Hook goes on about how their need for revenge has left them lonely and that it will be their end, not their beginning. Regina disagrees since she has Henry. Hook moves his arm to let her lead the way and Regina notices the beanstalk cuff on his wrist. And how she manages to notice a black leather cuff on a pirate who is wearing all black is beyond me. But she does and she wants it back. He tries to make it seem like he has some claim to it as he and Cora were friends, but Regina wants it so he gives it to her. Hook comments on the precarious place she has hidden the fail safe (underneath Storybrooke), but Regina says she needed it to be well hidden and well guarded. Hook is more concerned about who’s guarding it, and decides that he needs to look over the side of the precarious ledge they’re standing on. Regina simply answers a friend and then tells him she’s the reason why this mission is a two-man job, she needs him to be the distraction. And then she pushes him over the ledge. I’m seriously questioning how Hook managed to live for so long when he puts his back to another villain so easily. And down Hook goes, most likely breaking those ribs of his again. Definitely making his limp much more worse. Maleficent reconstitutes herself into a zombie of sorts, and Hook’s beginning to think he may not make it out. But then he gets his cocky swagger back, recognizing that it’s Maleficent. She comes after him a few times and he does manage to get her with his hook, but she just goes back together due to Regina’s enchantment. And this time she comes back even bigger. Hook looks a little scared again. Regina comes out of the elevator and is surprised to see Hook there looking all sexy (okay, maybe that was just me). He does comment on his good looks, saying he’s startling, some would say striking, and I agree. Regina’s shocked because he shouldn’t have been able to survive zombie Maleficent, but Hook says he excels at surviving. He almost believed everything she said to him about a fresh, clean start, and he keeps moving closer and closer to her and his eyes are just so blue! Regina is starting to get a little twitchy, especially when Hook says he almost put a stop to his plan, which confuses the hell out of Regina because she thought she was the one in control. He confirms it was ‘their’ plan (Greg and Tamara’s), and that they saved him from whatever Maleficent was. He introduces Greg and Tamara and tells her they have a way against magic. Regina is looking at Hook like he’s the stupidest person in the world until she tries to use magic and can’t. Regina figures out that the cuff Hook gave her is blocking her magic somehow. Hook reminds her that she rather insisted that he give it to her. He tells her that Greg and Tamara rigged it with something that blocks her magic and that it’s rather impressive. Hook just sits back and watches as Greg and Tamara take her down.
Questions:
Why are Mary Margaret and David hanging out on the dock in the rain in what I’m assuming is still winter? Are they on a date?
How can Snow see with that hood over her eyes?
How (and why) did Snow drag Wilma to her lean-to to help her heal?
Exactly how does Regina think Henry will react to her killing everyone? She’s already seen his reaction from just telling him. What does she think will change when she actually executes her plan?
Why doesn’t Regina have her bean plant somewhere a little safer than her office, like say in her mansion? She doesn’t even cover it up when someone comes in.
Why does Tamara’s list look like a cast list for a show? Why didn’t she just put the name with a dash or a backslash?
How does Neal know who everyone in town is to help Tamara make her list? He didn’t grow up with any of those people. Did he ask Emma? His father?
How does Hook know what an elevator is? I know he trapped Belle in there in The Outsider, but did he know what it was? Did he learn from Tamara bringing him down from Neal’s apartment?
Exactly how is Hook supposed to distract zombie Maleficent if he’s dead? That was a pretty far drop and if he wasn’t a magical fairy tale character, he’d be dead.
Is there humidity down in the caverns? Regina goes in with straight hair with barely a curl and comes back with a nice flip hairdo.
Observations:
The glass still hasn’t been fixed in the clock tower from when Cora threw Johanna threw it in The Queen is Dead.
When Hook is looking at Gold and Lacey, it’s still the same night as their date from Lacey, unless Lacey only owns one dress.
If you have someone else perform a shape shifting spell on you, you lose your magic ability.
The book Regina uses to erase Henry’s memory is Cora’s spell book.
The bean pod has 3 beans in it.
Hook has a limp. This is because Colin O’Donoghue had broken his leg (and why he’d been absent the past few episodes).
Tamara’s list has the following people on it: Mary Margaret/Snow White, David/Prince Charming, Regina/Queen, Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin, Archie/Jiminy Cricket, Mother Superior/Blue Fairy, Marco/Gepetto.
Snow’s hair looks fabulous for living in the woods. Even better than when she’s living in the castle again with Charming.
I find it hard to believe that Regina would recognize a leather cuff that Cora wore, or that Cora would even own a leather cuff when she was technically royalty.
Hook knows Maleficent from the EF.
Just a few days ago Emma and Henry finally made up and she’s already lying to him about not being able to go to the EF.
Greg and Whale should get together with all their science talk.
Timeline Issues:
The Enchanted Forest portion takes place about three years before the curse based on Rumplestiltskin’s comments about his new maid (when Belle started), and wanting the Evil Queen to stop giving financial aid to King George’s kingdom (so that he would have to ask Midas’s kingdom for help eventually).
Once Upon a Time First:
Hook stating that he’s a survivor.
So, Regina is still blaming everyone else for her failures. She has not learned anything! It’s so frustrating. Hook is as sexy as ever. And that’s all I have to say about that. But seriously, watch Hook’s facial expressions in every scene, they are fantastic! There is no way to get home now that the beans are gone, but I still feel like we’ll be using the beans somehow. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Only two episodes left for this season!
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Revisions Review
THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS
I’d seen the trailers a couple times before deciding to watch this one, There was something I couldn’t quiet put my finger on about it but it annoyed me, I dis’t know why, after watching it, now I know.
Our ‘protagonist’ is just so douchey I could feel it in the trailers.
I’m not even kidding here this guy is Omega level douche from the word go.
Basically a huge chunk of the Shibuya ward in Tokyo is suddenly transported to the year 2388 a world wide Pandemic has decimated humanity leaving only two surviving species, humans of the team ARHV Of whom we only ever meet Milo, but who Have specialised brains that allow them to jump through time and predict the future. And the Revisions, people who where not immune to the pandemic and became bloated monster like creatures who eventually learned to use Machines to support the weight of their bodies. these are commonly referred to as civilians and in order to maintain a level of control they break down human bodies on a cellular level and absorb those new healthy cells to replace what has decayed from the illness.
A lot of this you don’t find out till half way through the series.
STORY TIME
When they where young a group of five friends while on a trip for the summer get separated from one of their number Daisuke who is kidnapped as a result. The kidnapper uses his cell phone to call one of his friends as they wait at his home for news and he tearfully explains if they don’t come alone the kidnapper will kill him as they debate what to do they meet a pink hair woman named Milo who helps them find and save Daisuke before giving them advice which it is later discovered plays an important role in their futures.
She tells Daisuke that a prophecy has told he has a great destiny and must protect everyone. Several years later Daisuke has taken this to such an extreme that he’s constantly causing trouble for his friend by picking fights with people who he perceives as slighting them such as Punching a businessman asking his female friend Marin for directions.
He insists something bad is going to happen it will happen soon and he will be ready he will protect everyone, it’s revealed the five friends have drifted apart because of Daisukes attitude and his only remaining close friend is Keisaku. It’s also revealed that Daiske constantly carries weapons even to school such as a switch blade so he is ‘prepared’ but that he has made no plans for his future like collage or Career choices.
Everyone has resigned to the fact Daisuke is delusional and following a mass text to all five friends Gai leads a confrontation Demanding Daisuke knock it off, Gais twin sisters Lu admits Daisuke has gone to far this time but Daisuke admits he never sent the text. Suddenly there is a pulse and everyone is lifted off the ground for an instant before falling, upon investigation it is revealed a large area of Shibuya has been transported to another time.
after heading to the roof to investigate and try to get a cell phone signal the students including Daisuke and Marin are attacked by a massive robotic monster that kills some students and collects others., While attempting to flee the roof with Marin Daisukes Counsellor Miss Yumiko panics and shuts the door preventing any more students from escaping the roof. Daisuke realises he’s not actually prepared for the situation and thinks he’s about to die when Milo appears attacking the creature.
She doesn't seem to know Daisuke and Marin however after he tells her his name she grabs him and jumps from the roof rappelling to a waiting mechsuit that is apparently coded for his brain.
PROBLEMS
The dog ear girls didn’t need to be dog ear girls. it’s explained that the looks ‘communication vessels’, the only way the revisions can communicate with the people of Shibuya, were selected based on data to encourage empathy in the people they talked with. Sooo we got A tall dark skinned dog ear girl who is overtly sextualized ((The dark skin isn’t the problem By the way it’s the fact that the ONLY dark skinned character in the show is a hyper sexualized woman it’s just wrong in a mecha show full of people in skintight suits she didn’t get a better design)) a dog ear lolita girl, and a walking dog mascot character... yeah....
Daisuke, as I said in the beginning is almost irredeemably Douchy I mean for some he might not be redeemable at all, I thought ok character arch and growth is good, but by episode 9 I had a sneaking suspicion he wasn’t going to learn anything. AND HE DOESN’T the show kind of sandbags his weird hero complex and desperation to ‘protect everyone’ and instead gives it... justification? I dunno how to explain it but basically you never feel like Daisuke learns a lesson from anything he does, not the times he ignores direct orders, or even steals one of the mech suits to help his friend Keisaku find his missing mother.
Daisuke is imprisoned along with Keisaku for stealing the mechs known as string puppets, but while Keisaku comes around to understanding what they did wrong, Daisuke never does instead coming to this pseudo philosophical conclusion of, I understand that others understand me, it was stupid.
when the characters learn that the civilians they have been fighting and killing aren’t monsters but infected human Marin has a major beakdown which you think is going to be like a thing but Nope, an episode later she’s back to smiley giggling Marin, because even though there are six main characters this story isn’t about them it’s about Daisuke and the anime reminds you of that... all... the... time
which is a shame because the other characters when given screen time are really good! Milo is fascinating with her abilities, Gai and Lu as twins have a great dynamic with each other and the others around them. when they first realise a real disaster has happened Gai take Lu to the nearest convenience store to get supplies because he knows the ones in the school won’t be enough.
Marin is a sweety and seeing her bits of character growth are satisfying but rushed because it’s not her story. and Keisaku? OMG this guy gets the shaft!
Not only does he see the horrifying way his mother is dissolved and dies (which was unexpectedly graphic for the show and I was kind of pissed about that) but he’s then killed but not just killed, he’s ‘ripped out of time’ because he doesn't have a special future brain, so the last remaining piece of him is used by the big bad who constructs a body that looks just like Keisaku to taunt Daisuke during the final battle which becomes a massive timeline fight and then Because they became merged and free of the timeline Keisaku Dies while Daiskle lived, The whiney bitch lived but not the best freaking character in the show WTF?
you find out during the climax of the show that the reality was that the prophecy was that Keisaku was actually meant to lead the five friends and you see hints of that through the series where he consistently mediates between characters and works in the background to help move things along as well as offering everyone support even while he’s worried for his mother, he calls people out but is also willing to help them. THAT BEING SAID THERE ARE GOOD THINGS Other then Daisuke all the characters are really interesting, even the teacher who shut the students on the roof later admits that people act on instinct when scared, and that she regrets what she did even actively trying to help the Shibuya survivors.
The plot isn’t bad, a little convoluted at points but not terrible
The 2D animation and 3D rendering is a little different this time around so there were moments I wasn’t sure which was which, unfortunately the weaknesses in the CG rigs eventually gave away but the moments were I really had to look gave me hope for future CG projects.
It’s really easy for a show with timeline shenanigans to just revive everyone so no one dies and there’s no consequences and blah blah blah. This didn’t do that and in fact at the very end there’s a memorial for everyone who died while Shibuya was stuck in 2388 I love happy endings don’t get me wrong but I can appreciate that they didn’t do that here.
FINAL THOUGHTS?
I’m on the fence on this one, I would recommend it t was interesting to watch But you really gotta power through Daisuke and his hero complex, and some of his scenes are really hard to get through with out wanting to smack him through the screen, it’s just a shame he’s the main character. Interestingly because he has the same English VA (Bryce Papenbrook) as Kirito from SAO (which I enjoy don’t @ me) I found myself comparing the two characters and while both of them have this need to protect people and this drive to ensure the ones they care for are safe even to the point of self sacrifice in the dangerous situations they find themselves in. Kiritos comes off more genuine. so the younger guy from the pseudo fantasy harem Anime is way more mature then the Highschool kid who knows he has a responsibility and a destiny (supposedly)
If you’re a fan of Mech battles you might enjoy it, if you like lots of intersecting plot lines you might like it. It’s got it’s goods and bads and the goods are really good, the problem is the Main Bad is the Main Character which is probably the reason I won’t watch it again.
Great concept, amazing side characters, okish ending... really really really terrible protagonist.
#Revisions#Anime#Anime reveiw#netflix#netflix reveiw#spoilers#Daisuke#Keisaku#Marin#Gai#Lu#Marin is best girl
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Good to see you, friends!
“WHAT’S THIS!? This isn’t Uma Musume! Fictionerd! Explain yourself!”
Well. I watched this week’s Uma Musume and as I did I had this sinking sensation. The episode didn’t really move me to dig in depth into it the way I have my other long-form posts. So I instead went to watch this week’s episode of Caligula and scrape my scales and call me Seath if it wasn’t about a thousand times better. So let’s all take a deep dive into Episode six of Caligula.
WARNING! I ENGAGE IN A LOT OF SPECULATION THAT MAY BE OFF THE MARK. I REPEAT A COUPLE TIMES IN THE POST BELOW, BUT LET’S GO AHEAD AND GET IT RIGHT OUT FRONT! PLEASE NO SPOILERS FOR THE STORY MOVING FORWARD FROM THOSE WHO’VE PLAYED THE GAME(S). THANK YOU.
We open on Mu preparing the first song of the night aimed at activating the digi-heads and allowing the Musicians to combat the rogues. We get an inkling of how she’s being manipulated by this Thorn character. Her Utopia has been hijacked by the musicians who seem intent upon living within their own delusions for all eternity.
We then get a series of quick establishing scenes showing the various characters and the situations they open in. Ritsu, Kotaro, and Kotono are still at the weird water-world place facing down Dom lady. Mifue and Naruko are where we left them last episode: with the first fake mom Mifue had in Mobius. Suzuna has run into newcomer Izuru and together they are cornered by another of the Musicians who has watched too many action movies and dual-wields massive sub-machine guns. Shogo just barely escapes the digi-heads by ducking into an elevator. We get a brief flash of what appears to be a girl jumping off a building before the elevator stops to reveal the white-haired speaker kid from the first episode. It seems like everyone who’s noticed the world is the matrix is in deep trouble.
After the OP we jump right back into the action with Kotono using her Catharsis effect to fight Dom Lady. The results are lack-luster with Dom flat-out batting away every arrow Kotono throws at her, even when she throws up to four at a time. They take a break from fighting to compare Mobius to an aquarium. Kotono’s all like, “This whole place is fake. I want my real crappy life back!” Dom lady snorts and says, “You’re a moron. Why would you want that sucky real world where you have to work for stuff when you could just stay here and let Mu brainwash you into thinking everything is absolutely perfect?”
I don’t know about Kotono, but my immediate response would be something along the lines of: “Because living in a world where everything is just handed to you is completely asinine, and would lead to the sort of stagnation you normally only get from full-on clinical depression.”
Enough of that scene, though, let’s catch up with Mifue and Naruko. They try calling Shogo to no avail. Sorry, ladies, he’s found himself in a situation he can’t just “cut” out of. You know how it is. You run into an acquaintance from school and they just demand you “Shoot the shit” with them. (I brought up his scene early just to make those puns and I’m not sorry).
Crazy, Pixie Dude shows up and is all like, “Hey you two. Since you know my secret identity I’m going to shame you for your own petty sorrows. Glasses-chick wants to be internet-famous and blandy hates fat people, right? Ooh I do love touching nerves. What you mad? Too bad you can do jack all about it!”
I have serious concerns about the directions they might take this guy in because of the whole “overweight dude living as a cute girl thing”. That’s one fucking minefield of a subject matter that I’d prefer to avoid until and unless we learn more about why he went with that. Depending on how it shakes out there could be some serious problems there. (Oh who am I kidding? There’s going to be serious problems with that character regardless.)
Once more I feel the need to alert those who’ve played the games ahead of time: NO SPOILERS PLEASE. I don’t CARE how the game handled it, because I’m watching the anime.
Okay! Enough of that aside: Back to the fight between Kotono and Dom. They basically continue their conversation from before and Kotono’s ranged attacks continue to be largely ineffectual. I’ve gotta say she seems to have gotten the “Shaft” on this particular matchup. (Jesus why am I doing this?)
Kotaro tries to get Aria to Cathars him up some beatin sticks, but she’s all like. “Sorry, bro, you’ve not got enough edge to work with.” Ritsu, realizing that they’re basically dead weight advises him to run and he’s all like, “But why?”
“Because they keep damaging those tanks and I don’t want to drown, That’s Why!” So they do and then we cut to the source of my puns from before where Crazy-eyes White-hair is trying to make several points to Shogo all at once with what appears to less be a sword and more a collection of random serrations. Fortunately Shogo’s Dirty Harry special is a functional parrying weapon, but his stance is basically shit so he keeps getting thrown around.
I’m seriously confused as to why he’s suddenly at such a disadvantage. Isn’t he somewhat experienced at this? Shouldn’t he at least be able to keep his footing?
Whatever, We jump back to Thorn and Mu who kinda snaps out of a trance.
“Girl whose name is not at all suspicious, why does it feel like the people I brought to my stately pleasure dome are all in pain and anguish?” “We call it tough love.” “Okay then, if you say so.”
And we move on. Wannabe Action Star has cornered Suzuna and Izuru and tries to be all intimidating just to strike out horribly and make Izuru look badass for just staring the punk down as a bullet grazes his cheek. (I’m assuming he got better build up to his introduction in the game. That or I just didn’t notice him in the insanity that were the opening episodes of the series.
At this point the various scenes from around Mobius start to converge in their tone. It’s essentially -
Musicians: This world is perfect! We don’t have to worry about things being hard or frustrating ever again! Rogues: That’s just running away. Sure I may regret this decision later, but I’d rather take a chance at having something real than play pretend forever! Musicians: It’s not pretend so long as we stay here it’s all real! RAAAR
The reason we see the scenes basically bleed together is because Aria is suddenly getting a serious mainline of feels from all the protagonists. She hovers up into the air and begins to glow with an awesome power. “I can feel it! Everyone’s Existential Angst is flowing into me. OH NO!”
And she gets pwned by the shockwave off Dom-lady’s mace. Kotaro runs over to her. We see Mu realizing her friend is still around, but that’s over fast. Then Kotaro picks Aria up and gets teary-eyed, Presumably out of fear that he’ll never get to see what she looks like as a human-proportioned Vocaloid rather than a chibi. Dom calls him a weakling and he’s like, “No I’m not [emphatic pause] Yes I am.” [Sob] Then a few not-so-manly tears fall down his cheeks and splash onto Aria who’s all like, “NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL EDGE!”
She turns into an orange star of “Battle Them” and everyone follows the light while internally screaming in anguish. Aria bundles up all those Feels and everyone but Ritsu undergoes the Catharsis transformation at once. The sudden realization that so many people didn’t like playing in her doll house makes Mu’s record skip before she, too, gives in to the edge. With ten minutes left in the episode we get our title card and all the protags are like, “Sweet threads! Thanks, Aria, now we can whoop some ass.”
And that’s exactly what they do. Maybe I’m just spoiled from watching Megalo Box last night, but up until this point I didn’t think the fighting in this had been much to write home about, but the big battle at the end between the Rogues and the Musicians was pretty cool. I sort of want to skip to the end at this point, but there’s something I need to touch on first. Remember when I mentioned Shogo’s Elevator flashback? The main reason I remember it is because when he’s asked why he wants to go back to the real world so bad he says “Because I’m a Murderer.”
Again No Spoilers! but I can’t help suspecting that he’s blaming himself for something he didn’t have much power to stop. Okay, subject addressed back to the fight.
Ritsu’s the only one who hasn’t impaled himself on his feels, and he’s struggling with this whole “Determination to keep fighting” thing. Everyone around him doesn’t just want to go home, they’re fighting for it. Just as he’s wondering what exactly he is and what he could have to fight for Mu descends from the heavens. She’s basically having a mental breakdown because she doesn’t understand why everyone won’t just let her make them happy. She’s taken all their pain and suffering and made them her problem. That sort of Empathy and desire to help others is admirable, but she’s handling it in the absolute wrong way. She’s trying to help them forget about their pains rather than face them. She’s basically gotten to the point where she’s angry at them for not being grateful for what she’s done. She doesn’t realize that she’s ultimately done more harm than good.
When she just LOSES IT! Words don’t suffice. It needs to be WATCHED.
So she starts overflowing with all the negative emotions she’s been taking from everyone and bottling up inside herself. She can’t hold back and has to lash out. Ritsu sees this, but not I think as the threat everyone else might see it as. He sees the pain that Mu’s in. He sees how misguided and delusional her quest is, and this gives him his motivation. He’s going to stand against Mobius, not for himself, but for her sake. Maintaining Mobius is obviously doing just as much harm to Mu as it is to everyone she’s keeping brainwashed.
So Ritsu fires a massive FEELS BEAM at the giant ball of EDGE Mu has accumulated and seemingly dissipates it. As Thorn flies(?) off with Mu in her arms Mu calls Ritsu a Jerk.
Post-credits scene all the Rogues decide to team up and officially name themselves the “Go-Home Club”. (Which honestly is probably the best and worst pun of them all).
Question! How the heck are you supposed to use club activities to “hide” what you’re doing? The Musicians know who you all are already! What are you worried about sucking other people in? Why?
Ugh, I guess I’ll find out as things go on. Now, if you’ll excuse me, this post may be late getting to bed, but so am I. Hopefully the next two days of playing catch-up will go smoother than this.
Until next post, keep talking fiction, friends! I’ll see you soon.
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Zwei: The Arges Adventure - Localization Blog #1
AAAAAAHHHHH IT’S FINALLY HAPPENING.
I’ve been working on this game for the better part of a year now, but have been unable to say anything about it for PR reasons – namely, that it wasn’t in a showable state, and we didn’t want to confuse prospective players by having two Zwei games announced but unreleased at the same time. Which is totally reasonable, but AAAAAAAHHHH I’VE BEEN WANTING TO TALK ABOUT THIS GAME SO BADLY YOU HAVE NO IDEA.
…Ahem. First off, I guess I should bring you all up to speed, in case you missed the announcement. Falcom’s 2001 PC classic Zwei!! is coming to the Western world via Steam, GOG, and The Humble Store in early 2018, under the name Zwei: The Arges Adventure. Why the name change? Well, because we already released its 2008 sequel, Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection (which was originally called Zwei II: Sky-High Great Adventure in Japan).
That’s right. Localization work wrapped on the sequel first, and now we’re finishing things up with the original.
What are we thinking?!, you must be asking yourselves. Why would we release the sequel first, then go back and release the original? Why wouldn’t we release the original game first? And since we’ve already released the more modern second entry in the series from seven years later, can this earlier effort really hold its own by comparison?
Well, that’s why I’m so excited. Because Zwei: The Arges Adventure is good. REALLY good. In fact, I dare say it’s my favorite translation I’ve ever worked on to date – yes, even topping Return to PopoloCrois and Corpse Party. And if you’re at all familiar with me (this is Tom, BTW), that statement alone should tell you that Zwei: AA is something special, since PopoloCrois and Corpse Party are… shall we say, perennial favorites of mine. To put it very lightly.
So, yeah. Let’s address those hypothetical questions, shall we?
Why would we release the sequel before the original? Well, two reasons. One, because we can – these games each tell standalone stories, set on different floating continents with different casts of characters. Zwei: AA’s two protagonists, Pipiro and Pokkle, do make a few cameo appearances in Zwei: II, but this is done almost purely for the sake of fanservice (the literal kind, not the naughty kind). When all is said and done, these two games are completely standalone, taking place in the same world but telling very different stories with very different characters and a very different feel. Think of it kind of like the Ys series, but even more episodic (since, Ys Origin aside, Ys has the Adol-as-protagonist connection from one game to the next, whereas Zwei doesn’t even have that!).
The other reason is because of the nature of Zwei: AA’s code. The Japanese version of this game utilized DirectX 5, was formatted strictly for 4:3 resolution with no widescreen options whatsoever, offered a lovely FPS selection of 30 or 15 (seriously!), counted on players to play it with mouse and keyboard over gamepad (it supported gamepads, but… barely), and contained no fewer than six unlockable Windows desktop apps that were loosely tied to yet completely separate from the main game.
This is one of them. And that first screenshot at the beginning of this blog entry is another.
In other words… this is the kind of adaptive coding project that’s been known to give lesser programmers heart attacks. Getting a game like this to even run on a modern Windows machine at all – much less run WELL – was decidedly not a task for the meek. In fact, it’s because of the way this game is coded that we ultimately decided to translate the game in-house rather than working with any fan-translators as we did for Zwei: II, as no two programmers would handle this text the same way – and trying to convert a fan-translated script to a format that would work for us would’ve taken almost as long as translating the game from scratch.
So, yeah. Getting Zwei: II out first was pretty much just done because… erm… it was ready first. And it was always GOING to be ready first. Even with a lengthy QA process and a couple minor delays, it still inevitably got finished long before its predecessor was ready to make its debut.
Fortunately, we hired a veteran programmer to work with us on Zwei: AA… but you’ll never guess who! It wasn’t Sara, since she was busy getting Zwei: II ready at the time (and a fine job she did of it, with one of our smoothest PC launches ever!). But this wasn’t our first time working with the guy we worked with on this project, either. It was, however, our first time working with him to modernize someone else’s game – and he really did perform some miracles for us (and put up with my many, many demands for quality-of-life improvements and feature additions, to boot!).
The man in question? Matt Fielding, of Magnetic Realms. A.k.a. the guy who brought you the game Exile’s End.
Pictured: Exile’s End. Which is also an awesome game you should play!
And thanks to his technical wizardry, you guys are going to have an astoundingly up-to-date version of Zwei!! on your hands at launch. We’re talking more than just widescreen support here – there’s full in-game integration of the Pet Monitor and other desktop apps, new control functionality for more natural gamepad support across the board, inclusion of the arranged soundtrack from the Japan-only PSP version of the game, additional art and text content not present in any previous version of the game, and much, much more (to be detailed in future blog entries!).
Moving on to the second question I asked, with Zwei: II already out, can Zwei: AA hold its own by comparison?
I think you know what my answer’s going to be, on that one. Zwei: The Arges Adventure is a freaking awesome game with a lot to offer, and differs from its own successor in enough key areas that it can very easily hold its own any day of the week. Hell, you might even like it better than Zwei: II – it’s certainly a very close call for me, but I’d say Zwei: AA gets the slight edge!
Sure, they’re both dungeon-crawling action RPGs at their core, and they both use food to level-up, even sharing the same food exchange system to discourage grinding. And the two-character party (plus one pet), with one character taking the role of physical attacker while the other slings spells, takes center stage in both titles as well. Plus, both games are set on floating continents in the same world.
That’s a lot of similarities, but they’re all relatively superficial. You could say Zwei: AA is like the 2D answer to Zwei: II’s 3D world, but that would be discounting its snarkier and more tongue-in-cheek storyline (yes, even more than Zwei: II’s!), or the gorgeous and ludicrously colorful hand-drawn backgrounds, or the two games’ very different approaches to pets (you only get one pet in Zwei: AA as opposed to the veritable army of pets featured in Zwei: II, but that one dog or cat [or other?] has significantly more personality and gameplay involvement than its many Zwei: II counterparts), or the huge variety of minigames on offer (all of which have been adapted to play from within the game itself, despite formerly existing only as desktop apps)… and that’s just scratching the surface. In short, although the two games use the same basic template, they represent two very different approaches to game design within the confines of that template.
For me as Zwei: AA’s translator, though, I can’t help but laser-focus right on the game’s dialogue. Protagonist duo Pipiro and Pokkle are without a doubt the best pair to write that somebody like me could ever ask for. Pokkle constantly cracks bad puns (and I do mean constantly!), wears a tail for funsies, and is always hitting on women twice his age.
And Pipiro just has absolutely no filter whatsoever, and is full of so much snark that she’s fit to burst.
Practically every line out of these two is an absolute gem – and that’s to say nothing of the many quirky NPCs surrounding them over the course of their rather lengthy quest (such as the endlessly self-delusional “libertine fatass” that’s funding your adventure, and his extremely no-nonsense maid who gave him that nickname).
I… really can’t stress enough how much fun it was to write for these characters, and how inspired I was to come up with the perfect phrasing for every line. I’m extremely appreciative that we chose to translate the game in-house, as it gave me an opportunity to work much more deeply with this script than I ever could’ve if we’d only been tasked with editing it. As time went on, I found myself revising my work on a daily basis, making small tweaks here and there as new bits of wordplay or better puns popped into my head (much to Matt’s chagrin, I’m sure!). The end result is something that I can stand behind as a faithful interpretation of the game’s mood and intent – an attempt to convey the same degree of lighthearted fun and irreverence present in every line of the Japanese script, but formatted to sound more natural in English, accounting for context, tone, atmosphere, and individual character quirks rather than just hammering out a word-for-word translation.
I’ve never laughed so hard while playing a JRPG before, and I truly hope that when you guys play this one in English, you’ll find its English interpretation just as hilarious as I found its original Japanese to be. That would mean I succeeded at what I set out to do, and would bring me great joy and pride as a localizer!
And please do keep an eye on this Tumblr, as I fully intend to give lots more info about Zwei: The Arges Adventure (and more screenshots showing off lines I’m particularly proud of) in the weeks to come!
Until then, I hope you’re all continuing to enjoy Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection, and… well, I’mma go back to testin’ Zwei: The Arges Adventure now, ‘cause I want this game to be downright perfect when it’s released! And with translation and editing 100% complete, and coding probably somewhere in the 70-80% done range, that release date will be here before you know it…
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True Crime and Serial Killer Art
Speaking on social taboos, the subject of death and surrounding issues regarding it remain one of the most prominent today. In multiple different societies there have been traditions to avoid omens relating to death or the deceased. The indigenous Shuswap people of Canada treat widows and widowers as unlucky to hunters and seclude them from the tribe. Among the Agutainos of the Philippines, widows may not leave their huts for seven days after a death, and it is said whoever looks upon her perishes suddenly. Although we have eased on the idea through the centuries and built a much more sound understanding of it, it still remains a subject that we don’t talk about on a regular basis, despite its presence and inevitability within our own lives. More than half of Britons are unaware of their partner’s end-of-life wishes and I’m assuming some don’t even know their own.
The reason is we don’t want to die. It’s simply in our nature to survive for as long as possible. But there remains an interesting case about dying that both intrigues and disgusts us. Murder.
In 2015, Making a Murderer was uploaded to Netflix, an episodic documentary detailing the story of Steven Avery, a man convicted for the murder of Teresa Halbach and the case surrounding it with the overarching question on whether Avery’s conviction and imprisonment was wrongful. The series received around 19.3 million viewers in the US alone, all watching the evidence unfold on whether Avery was wrongfully convicted or not, a real person in real life. The series was basically reality television at its logical peak, directly dealing with life and death. It’s interesting, we understand these subjects as demanding respect and reverence, but can’t help but gawk. Despite being a taboo, death fascinates us to no end, especially the subjects of these crimes or murder cases which breed intrigue into the reasoning on why we would kill our fellow humans.
This fascination is manifested within the True Crime genre, a non-fiction literary and film category in which actual criminal activities and details are analysed and recorded for entertainment. The genre appears in many forms, literary work such as the Vincent Bugliosi’s Helter Skelter detailing the Manson murders, television such as the previously mentioned Making a Murderer, films like the dramatized Zodiac by David Fincher retelling the Zodiac Killer’s crimes, or podcasts like the popular Serial which narrated the real life murder of Hae Min Lee. In other words the genre has spread itself over all media and has become virtually inescapable to most media-watching people and we can’t help but continue to watch due to a shared sense of morbid curiosity or perhaps an infatuation with these characters.
Nowadays the documentary works account more sensationalist crimes and focus more on the profile of the committer rather than the crimes and victims themselves. The serial killers or mass shooters are displayed as psychologically layered and charismatic characters rather than morally reprehensible killers. People like Ted Bundy, Jeffry Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy are seen as pop culture figures subject to their own biopics and documentaries exploring their every move as if they were celebrities. Some murders even went on to inspire popular movie franchises such as Ed Gein, whose grisly habit or creating trophies from his victim’s skin and slight oedipal relationship with his deceased mother inspired famous movie villains Leatherface, Buffalo Bill, and Norman Bates. We’re infatuated with these people and their crimes, the idea of them taking the life of someone else and defacing their corpses is so alien to us as regular minded individuals that we can’t help but stop, stare, and shake our heads. But some people take it further than simply looking at a distance.
Hybristophilia (also known as Bonnie and Clyde Syndrome) is which one feels arousal and facilitation for someone who has committed a serious crime such as armed robbery, rape, and murder. The paraphilia can be experienced in either passive or aggressive ways, with passive hybristophiliacs often writing romantic or sexual fan mail to notorious criminals, sometimes even developing a romantic relationship with them resulting in marriages behind bars. Most hybristophiliacs have delusions about their idols, rationalising their crimes, believing they would never harm them, thinking they can change their lovers for the better, or actively putting themselves into positions in which they can be seduced or manipulated. Aggressive hybristophiliacs are different as they are willing to help their lovers with their criminal agenda via luring victims, hiding evidence, or even helping commit the crimes. They are attracted to their partners due to their psychotic actions and are unable to understand that they are often being manipulated or abused as well. Psychologist know little about this paraphilia but hypothesise that the hybristophiliacs are submissive victims, narcissistic enablers, or vicarious thrill-seekers. Some believe it’s the natural pinnacle of the ‘caveman’ mentality, where traditionally masculine and aggressive figures are seen as more attractive than others.
In this age it’s much easier to see examples of this paraphilia. On blogging site Tumblr there is a fandom of often teenage girls who obsess over Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the perpetrators of the Columbine high school massacre, and create video and photographic montages and tributes to the deranged teenagers they saw as outcasts and underdogs, even affectionately referring to themselves as ‘Columbiners’. Other internet communities such as ‘Incels’, a group of sexually frustrated men, herald Elliot Rodgers, a misogynistic mass shooter responsible for the 2014 Isla Vista killings as a saint figure due to him sharing some of their views. This is the case for many murderers online. You can type in the name of a famous serial killer into Tumblr and find blogs and posts dedicated to him, even sexual fanfictions between them and a non-descript self-insert character designed to represent the reader. Some of this worship is either ironic, for humours effect, or simply just to be edgy, (which is why I found interest within this) but many of them do see a small piece of themselves within these people, a cut of self-loathing outcast and edgy passion they can identify with. Because often the idols they herald are youthful and full of hate, and this overly emotional position can lead them to creative outlets.
For example, the previously mentioned Columbine shooters often expressed themselves through their uncommon fashion choices, enjoyment of alternate music, radical political opinions, and a series of videos for a school project entitled Hitmen for Hire in which the two swore and yelled violent statements at the camera in between acting out shootings on students in the school’s hallways. The video is embarrassing to watch and is reminiscent of many people’s cringeworthy teenage years when they thought rebelling against the norm was the coolest and a completely new idea, when in reality it always comes off as lame and a massive blunder in the future. The same goes for Isla Vista killer who wrote a 107,000-word manifesto entitled My Twisted World: The Story of Elliot Rodger, in which Rodger’s discusses key events in his life that led him to his delusional and psychopathic state. I haven’t read the entire document as I don’t have the ten hours it takes to read, but from the experts and snippets I have seen the document reads horribly and in explaining himself and trying to spur sympathy or profess his superiority, Rodgers comes across as a whiny, unaccepted 14-year-old too big for his britches rather than a twenty-two-year-old adult.
The reason I draw attention to these people is that I’m interested in the theme of creativity within murders and mass shooters. Many serial killers either produce drawings and paintings before or after they are incarcerated, drawings and paintings that are documented online. They range in quality and merit, with some being near photorealistic recreations, highly stylised sketches, and colourful and detailed paintings while others are the most basic of sketchbook doodles. But there always remains something interesting to each one, whether it be the execution (of the art, not the killers) or the subject matter. For example, John Wayne Gacy’s works were deeply rooted within pop culture with him painting figures such as Charles Manson, Pennywise the Clown from Stephen King’s It, the titular Seven Dwarfs from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and punk singer GG Allin. He even showed a small knowledge of the artworld with a grotesque painted recreation of Salvador Dali’s In Voluptas Mors. Another murderer who had a passion for the pencil was Danny Rolling who’s highly detailed and meticulously sketched pencil drawings show elements of surrealism, gothic and heavy metal imagery, and some running themes of popular figures such as Hitler. The drawings are disturbing yet technically impressive and stylistically interesting (some are even for sale online) and perhaps if he wasn’t a psychopath he could have found success.
There’s a particular work by a particular murderer I would like to look at. Richard Ramirez AKA the Night Stalker was an American serial killer, rapist, and burglar who operated in the Southern California area between June 1984 and August 1985 before being convicted of thirteen counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder, eleven counts of sexual assault, and fourteen accounts of burglary. Ramirez’s art was poor, mainly done on notebook paper with biro pen or coloured crayon and featured themes similar to the previously discussed killers, pop culture icons and gothic/heavy metal imagery to create unthreatening and frankly lame pieces. But one stands out from the rest by evoking an unsettling feeling within the viewer, an untitled drawing depicting Ramirez’s favourite actress Abigail Breslin. The drawing appears to be almost entirely made with black biro sans the lips which are a shade of deep crimson and scrawled with an unidentifiable material (possibly felt tip), all drawn on a piece of thin, folded, off-white paper. While the technical style of the portrait is poor and hasty, I find an infatuating quality surrounding it, one element is drawn from the style itself. It is a simple line study and form register, featuring no shading what so ever and sparse detail, for example, the ears are left blank, the natural flow of the hair is only alluded to with some scattered lines, the nose is only represented by a single line, and the eyes are totally undetailed except for a pair of pinprick pupils. Another factor is how some of the lines in the image falter before they can connect, examples found in the left shoulder line falling just short of the neck, ponytail trailing off into noting and right corner of the dress missing a connection. The most prominent feature of the drawing is the lips, almost grotesquely oversized and curled upwards in a sickeningly dead smile at the viewer, the deep red almost seeming like a bloody gash in the otherwise plain white image. The blood red slit for the mouth, the dead and unblinking eyes and the not-all-there composition make the image deeply unsettling even without the context of Ramirez’s heinous crimes and the knowledge that the subject was less the sixteen-years-old when Ramirez drew her. Paired with that knowledge it is a horrifying piece that can make the skin crawl.
While some might think that writing about and shinning a light on these deranged killers to advance my own visual art may be amoral or at least cause for concern, the idea is one I wanted to explore at the start of this project. I want to learn how one can be different, break taboos, transgress standards yet still be accepted, this is a good way to explore that. In dealing with this unspeakable yet fascinating taboo of murder and sexual assault I’m gaining key information and a creative stake in my project that will hopefully help advance it in a visual and conceptual way. Also, creating work based on serial killers is very edgy.
I would also like to stress that I do not support any act of murder, rape, or other crime done by anyone mentioned in this document.
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I don't know, Steven Universe is a show that likes to take things slowly, and it isn't over yet, we could still see something
Both the video that I linked to and I myself a pointed out it’s not just their pacing. While it’s true that there are some aspects the show has taken slow and done a remarkable job with,.I actually want to compliment Greg’s characterization her,. but at the same time this is something that I feel they didn’t have to take too slow.
Greg’s characterization and greater participation didn’t have to be a mystery. But at the same time I can admire the greater narrative that they leave by doing what they did. Greg is basically meant to be read early on as lovable but there’s something off about him. We later start to realize he’s actually really depressed. It’s only later that he starts to take actions in order to get out of his malaise and start to be a more vibrant and active role in his son’s life. But I think that they overplayed some of the depression angle by shortchanging some of the human inheritance that Steven had. Now some of this is probably a matter of production. Chances are Greg’s voice actor may need time in order to sync up with Steve’ns voice actor. The writers need to have an idea of how to use the character better.House Guest was arguably Greg’s- what- third, maybe fifth, appearance in the entire show. And it showed him being the most negative long-term consequence on Steven’s development as opposed to anything that happened with pearl or lapis. And the thing is it’s hard to ignore that. Especially how oblique they were with presenting Greg’s issues. and strengths And how minor Greg’s contributions were both early on in the present and hidden they were in terms of the entire franchise. There was an in character interview in a nonofficial magazine indicating that Greg was the original caretaker of Steven. But it took a long time before we realize he had an active parental role in Stevens life.And just to be clear when I bring stuff like this up I don’t mean him going on missions or becoming Bard dad like in the video game.I mean stuff like . . . there’s this one comic of when Steven wants to participate in a bike race. And we suddenly see how Greg advises Steven through the minor crisis of how to handle getting permission for a bike race from the Gems. Stuff like that is absolutely missing in the first two seasons. It’s hinted at ,and Steven shows starry-eyed devotion akin to Greg being that kind of decent influence,but add in the fact that he’s almost completely absent from the other acute areas in Stevens life and there seems to be a complete lack of communication or interest in one of Steven’s major goals -mainly interacting with magic stuff.
And while it’s wrong to basically make it a pearl competing against Greg thing I can’t help but contrast and compare. Pearl was always portrayed as somewhat neurotic. But the reason why she became dubbed “Bird Mom “was because we regularly saw her being a mother and an influence in Steven’s life even if not always a perfect one. By contrast Greg was rarely around and when he did show up as contributions were a lot more questionable and then literally negative when he was. His second big Focus episode actually has him asserting that he needs to cut himself out of Steven’s life if he want sto stop being a negative influence on it
This was with a major character who basically is supposed to represent Stevens origin for his Humanity. And for arguably the first two seasons you had a wonder what did Rose see you this person and if he was dangerous.
I do appreciate again the arc that they ended up illustrating over an extended period of time. But in terms of execution there were smarter ways to handle this. And I have to wonder, given everyone else that’s been neglected or mishandled in the interim, if Greg’s success was more accident.This gets worse when you consider how often severe the behavior of the gems gets and yet remains relatively less condemned. Such as the entire sardonyx issue or when amethyst becomes Rose in order to mess with Greg.
And of course there’s this one point when I realize that lion 3 absolutely doesn’t hold up when you realize Greg should have that tape and have showed it to Steven some time ago. There’s nothing about it that should in any way shape or form be a secret. Greg is not someone who doesn’t like discussing his past. He doesn’t have any reason not to show Steven his mother and they explicitly made it so that that way they could leave some sort of communication for Steven and let him know that he was a product of love This gets more so with Lion 4.I adore what they’ve done with the character of Greg. But I think a lot of it was a very odd Road in order to get to and some of it struck me as needless deviations or making things harder than they had to. I think a lot of the overall Impressions and higher negative situations weren’t needed in the character dynamic. Much like Steven’s Father being the worst parental influence for him has some negative connotations for me. Even if he did the exact same things but just add and or make more explicit positive contributions or apparent communication/awareness without it seeming as if he’s being over self-important or delusional.
The same can be applied to Ronaldo. I think that they made Ronaldo needlessly more negative than they had to or at least requires more follow through and arguably got too much Focus. What they wanted to convey with characters like Lars? There’s just too much hinting with some human characters. And some of the hints we get of others are so severe you have to wonder how we’re ever supposed to sympathize with them. This sounds way more harshly criticaI. ‘guess it’s more a matter of why this issue persists. I’m not going to blame fans for having a negative impression of Ronaldo. I think they take it too far, but I can’t blame them for it because we basically erase the potential virtue of the character and constantly make him a bother or remind of realworld severe issues. And yet at the same time he’s underdeveloped to the point where they’ll throw pretty intense ideas such as him having a girlfriend or possibly having highly violent tendencies along with a dangerous mentalit,y if not actual mental illness, which for a fourth tier comedy relief character strikes me as dubious and takes or demands too much attention that they obviously don’t have time for. It really bugs me because of how anemic Steven Universe’s ties are to humanity. Early on he’s introduced as having a pretty strong tie with almost everyone in the boardwalk. This is good but he’s also missing a lot of proper peers and we later find out he’s not socialized at school.
Now there’s spin-off media indicating how he’s perfectly home educated. But we haven’t had say in episode where Steven joins a local Academic Decathlon. Or something like the aforementioned bike race. I think that peedee Fryman is in fact the worst missed opportunity in terms of the Early Show. What’s worse I can arguably say a lot of the things that Ronaldo said in rocknaldo. But now they’ve been framed as coming from a place of bigotry oppression and cultural appropriation Not valid criticisms of how either Steven or the eyms or the show conducts or takes advantage of things it does.I’m sorry I’m not very concise and I’m just trying to convey the rather minor but still complex issue that I have with the show’s flaws and how they seem to grow in persist when it feels like they don’t even have to be there. It’s like you’re watching a perfectly fine dance get every so often the dancer does this weird dip with their foot even in certain instances that might be a stylistic choice but you can tell at least you’ve receive it is making her footwork more wobbling. At some point she’s going to break her ankle or absolutely face plant in the middle of a routine. And at least for me or the Keen Observer it’s just not going to work and it bothers constantly to see this one thing constantly done and what is overall a very unique and elaborate experience. This is why the flaws keep bothering me especially given how pointed that they can be in terms of the goals of the execution
EDITTED FOR MUCH NEEDED CLARITY @lowliz
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The Time I Bombed Trying to Open for Peter Frampton
“What happens if nobody laughs?” people ask.
“Nothing,” I tell them. “Literally, nothing happens.” No one is laughing or doing much of anything. Maybe self-loathing personified decides to occasionally kick the weak when he’s down in the form of a heckle or boo, but other than that nothing happens.
Internally, everything is happening. Thoughts race, feelings emerge, issues of anger and/or insecurity come to the forefront or recede deeper into our subconscious, per our choice of response to each varying degree of disappointment. Our feelings likely run the same gamut as those of all human beings off stage in any realization of failure on display. It’s the worst.
Call it what you will: Sucking, tanking, going down in flames, it all means the same thing. Eating my dick, seems to be the latest contemporary slang for a failed set, which I can only speculate refers to its being an awfully pathetic act of self-abuse that each of us least wants to do. Most universally it is known as bombing, another etymology I can only speculate as suggestive of the unanimous death in the room resembling that of a small village after being hit with a bomb. The crowd is “dead” - not in the good way; but devoid of energy, and their lack of joy has returned the favor to the comedian, his ego and confidence. Everyone is checked out and gone, said void filled either with judgment, sympathy or disgust.
Everyone bombs. Every comic you’ve ever seen, as well as just about every bit you’ve ever busted a gut laughing at, has bombed at some point en route to the marriage of its perfection meeting the crowd primed to appreciate it. The construction of a bit, whether long and ranty or a short one liner, is like the evolution of a barber’s haircut drawn out over weeks, months or years in a barber’s chair set on a city sidewalk for people from all walks of life and mentalities to walk by at all different times throughout its development to voice their opinion, as if it were finished. Of course, we’ve all had our hair cut hundreds of times, and thus all are aware that if we see the man with the clippers still looming over a funny looking “do,” there is still work to be done; whereas comics don’t get such a pass. Every audience assumes and expects, understandably, that they are receiving a finished product. I paid to see a show.Give me “your show.” Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that. Wedo not work like that. It’d be nice if we could – trust that we wish as much as you do for our bits to be completed fresh off the notebook. But a bit is not a bit until it’s been worked out many times in experimentation of how it impacts others. Like skateboarders have to try new and increasingly difficult tricks to become great, we must constantly work out new material, often crashing and burning, breaking our pride, dislocating our energies, getting bruised in the process. So while all art forms are attempting to connect and create a dynamic with its recipients, ours is one where immediate connection wholly defines it. We have to see and feel how it is received, and then based on the quantity and quality of the people in that room we can begin to determine how we can improve. It is a long term, polygamous relationship in which you probably only get to fuck us once. Sorry. We’re whores; whores who are required to be always adding to our repertoire if we wish to grow.
For all intents and purposes, each crowd as they exist takes on the mindset of one individual. A blind date, if you will. Some start awkwardly, but turn great once the ice is broken. Others start wonderfully but hit a mutual wall of disappointment that leaves both parties considering removing their online dating profiles as soon as they get home. Some dates are downright awful the whole time, some are so good they lead to the bedroom that night, and/or to the altar eventually.
For a new/young comic, bombs feel pretty similar to what laypeople might imagine them to (this is logical, as the brand new comic is still very much a layperson). It’s humiliating, with every joke being thrown out more desperately from their heels like Apollo Creed going inevitably down in flames against the Russian. Like a rookie baseball player in the first week of the season who is so far 1/10, his sample size is still minute. He boasts an embarrassing .100 average, which over a full year would get anyone sent down to the minors. What’s important to keep in mind is there are still 25 weeks left in the season.
The veteran comic, by contrast, has had between 5-10,000 at bats. Sure, he’s struck out, popped out, and hit into double plays nearly 2,000 times, but he’s batting .800 career, for Christ’s sake. He’s good. He knows he’s good, and everyone in “the league” who’s been around for any respectable amount of time knows he is never in danger of being sent down to the minors. He is mostly unfazed by your silence, comfortable in taking his time to think how best to respond to your heckles. Laughter need not come tonight, as it has already come countless times before, and is sure to come again tomorrow or the next night. So, although bad sets still exist as disappointing missed opportunities to connect and enjoy, they eventually taste, digest, and come out the other side much differently through a vessel of greater information, confidence and awareness. Blame, if it exists at all, turns more outward than inward, and the significance of each set diminishes as it becomes a smaller mathematical part of his lifetime batting average.
We never saw Jerry have a great set on Seinfeld. We heard about great sets and could assume they made up the majority of his track record, as his character was a professional comedian who’d appeared on The Tonight Show. Surely this was no amateur; but he and Larry David both knew that if a live set was to appear in an episode it had to go poorly, because failure is funny.
Watch any sitcom, movie, or any comic on stage. Misfortune and disappointment are the integral themes of every joke, as everyone knows there is no humor in great wealth, good looks, a level-headed peace of mind, or getting the girl, performing immaculately in bed and manifesting the perfect marriage. The only thing funny about that is how apparently unrealistic it is for most. This calls back to the reality that there is nothing at all ironic about comedians’ ultimate embrace of misery or symptoms of depression. Spare us the praise for “finding the humor in bad situations,” as bad situations are the actually the only places to find humor, and there is also a part of us that loves to laugh at the suffering of others.
Unfortunately, my mother and cousin were present for one of the most explosive bombs of my career. I’d gotten booked for a $500 feature spot at a theater in Englewood, Jersey, an unheard of gig for such a young comic. What was the catch?
“The catch,” which was not intentional, was that I was opening for a nationally famous musician who I was apparently a jerk for having never heard of: Peter Frampton, a legend in many circles, one of which would surely fill the theater, a demographic of mostly blue-collared, middle-aged, white biker types from middle and southern New Jersey. Guys whose middle school manifestations hated mine for being an honors class pussy with parents who loved him. Guys whose adult manifestations hated mine for being a hip hop, wanna-be, dumb “wigger.” It was quite possible I was not the right man for this job.
I researched Frampton before the show and became acutely aware that I couldn’t do the same jokes I’d been doing in the Bronx. Still in only my embryonic stage of development, I felt a bit dishonest telling the booker that 20 minutes would be “no problem.” I figured it might be a stretch and/or problem, but my 26-year old brain existed mostly between an admirable confidence and delusional arrogance that I could do anything, at least on one given night. Any given Sunday, as they say,not to mention that no comedian is ever going to turn down a challenge or money, let alone a coincidence of the two. And it wasa Sunday! As Mom and cousin were coming from opposite directions than I from the city, the plan was to meet after my set and go out for dinner to celebrate (mourn).
I waited alone backstage, Frampton nowhere in sight. I wore the only outfit I owned that didn’t obviously scream Hip Hop. A removal of my crooked baseball cap, slightly less baggy jeans, and a sweater instead of a hoody, although it was still Polo, with sleeves longer than my arms, much baggier than anything anyone in the building had ever owned in their life, truly a pathetic attempt. I looked like a white guy trying to look black trying to look white.
A disturbing calm came over me just before preparing to go on stage. While excessive nerves should be tamed with positive thought, breathing or whatever works for you, a complete absence of nerves is never a good sign either. A healthy amount of adrenaline beforehand is more than just normal, but almost necessary to do well. Personally, I’ve never had a good set drunk, as alcohol induces a very organic physiological apathy, which in spite of wanting to care very much, makes it impossible to connect with one’s listeners. On the other hand, the experience of nerves mean you care enough to calculate, think on your toes, and ironically, that you believe you can do it. In hindsight of my Frampton experience, I may have been intuitively precognitive that this was all wrong, and beyond some unforeseeable miracle there was no way it could go well.
The external situation was poorly set to boot. The crowd filling the venue was not made aware of any opening comedian. Stand-up is a relationship, and like any good relationship requires active listening, a different frequency and demand than music, which can be more passive and discontinuous. Inexperienced show producers classically make this mistake. They want to mesh two of their favorite things, comedy and music, in hopes of the result being greater than the sum of its parts. Sadly, this usually works about as well as George Costanza’s attempt to combine sex with watching sports and eating his favorite sandwich. Add to that the fact that the crowd was geared up for one of their very faves of all time, and Unknown Joke-teller is given a steep hill to climb.
As I stood behind the curtains with the stage director dividing his time and manic energy between whoever was giving direction into his headphones and tending to me, coordination seemed disheveled. I knew I’d be going on soon, but figured it would be after some kind of introduction to a dark room of seated people.
The house lights were still on. People were filing into their seats and there was no host or announcement over any speaker, when suddenly the stage director nudged my shoulder: “Go, go, you gotta go!”
“Right now? Just go and… What?”
“Yes!” he panicked. “We gotta get you off by 8:20, go!”
Little did he know this set wouldn’t make it anywhere close to 8:20.
I felt as naked and alone on the stage as laypeople imagine we feel.
“Hey, hey,” I weakly greeted them with the assertiveness of the guy who knows he has no chance with the girl.
“Take your seats, everyone.” I felt compelled to instruct them to where I desperately wished they already were.
God, the room was bright, and I could see them all. As nobody knew as much, and I didn’t know any better creatively, I dutifully informed them: “I am… a comedian – just here to tell you some… jokes, before the great, Peter Frampton comes out.”
A lone cheer in the distance for Frampton… people were still filing in. It’s never a good sign when you feel the need to practically apologize for your presence on stage or explain what you’ll be doing.“
“Take your seats, take your seats,”I continued.
I had nothing. No segue, no idea of where to begin, not an ounce of confidence in my pubescent well of material or the experience to improvise through such unexplored terrain. It was unlike any setting I’d yet been thrust into, and as feared, I was unqualified for the job.
I tried a since retired mediocre joke and got nothing. I tried two or three more of the same and got even less. Most of my stronger bits were geared more to the Bronx and urban crowds, and I hadn’t yet really learned how to write more universal material. As the lights finally went out in the house, the proverbial lights were going out on my set. Three strikes on stage are usually enough to acknowledge that you’re out.
“Alright,” I acknowledged the elephant in the room: “you guys obviously weren’t feeling those jokes…”
It was awful. I was rapidly dying, and like that quick realization of being physically overmatched in a fight, I had no idea how to get out of the stranglehold. I’ve got nothing for these people.
Disdain is as contagious as laughter, and the sentiment in the room became quickly unanimous. I can’t recall whether the first boo or heckle came first, but one surely immediately followed the other. It is rare for most humans to mature much past mob mentality, so once the green light is given for any animalistic behavior, it tends to snowball. It couldn’t have been much past 8:10 when the theater-filled boo’s looked and sounded no different than the notoriously disapproving Apollo Theater. They grew louder and more expansive. Finally someone started the perfectly two-syllabled “Frampton” chant, and although I had not yet been given the official signal to exit, this Monty Python-esq tirade was clearly demanding my time was up.
I thought of the show bookers sitting in the crowd. I thought again of my mom and cousin, and wondered where in the crowd they were sitting. Might they have been seated next to one of the loudest, most vicious hecklers in the room? Might they have beenthe loudest, most vicious hecklers in the room?
“Frampton” chants poured down like rotten tomatoes, and finally I couldn’t help but laugh at the scenario (at least one of us could amuse the other). Although I don’t remember myself ever booing someone off stage, I surely have silently done so in my mind, and been “that guy” in the stadium at sports events and had a blast every time. I knew the show was a bad situation to begin with, and the blame wasn’t entirely mine. I felt okay. However, as soon as I decided to hopelessly join in the “Frampton” chant into the mic, I knew my time was up.
I exited just before 8:15. The stage manager offered me a pat on the shoulder and an apology, handing me the least deserved $500 I’ve ever been given in my life. In fairness, there would be literally thousands more instances I’d earn $20 or even $0 in exchange for performances worth at least $500. Like accidental squibbed base hits in baseball, the good luck balances out with how often we get shafted.
I went backstage and quickly grabbed my things. Frampton wasn’t there, thank God. I’ve never so badly wanted to avoid meeting a celebrity. Is he even here yet? Who cares…
I snuck out the backdoor, praying not to see anyone who’d been in the theater. I wished I could change back into Clark Kent (or backinto Superman). Suddenly, I was 17-years old again, attempting to dart stealthily away from a wall I’d just covered in graffiti. My walk transformed into a scamper to go meet my mommy.
I heard a voice in the quiet suburban distance, a man outside the theater on his cell phone: “No, yeah, he still hasn’t gone on yet. Some comedian...” A pause, then a chuckle: “Poor. Very, very poor.” Of course I believed him, and felt bad about myself.
I called Mom and told her to leave – that I would not meet them in the lobby per the original plan. She understood. We sat down in the restaurant and Mom looked at me: “Those people were horrible! So rude! I’ve never seen anything like that!”Moms are the best.
I never heard from the booking company again. I think they shortly thereafter folded tent on the showbiz pursuit, returning back to the more stable world of high finance, their original trade. Is it possible my brightly lit expiration drained all of their hopes for success or belief in ability to spot talent, and I’d single-handedly shut down an entire company in just 15 minutes of bad jokes?
Although I’d been “wrongly cast” and the situation was poor, it left an awfully sour taste in my mouth. In typical human fashion, I chose to transform my inner sadness around it into outward anger and labeled the experience as (all) white people prejudging me, which caused me to hate them in return. I made the decision that my humor was not for white crowds, as they could not appreciate or understand me, in spite of the fact that this was a very specific kind of white crowd and I’d still only boasted a microscopic sample size. Apparently I learned how easily one can become racist: No more than a pinch of experience and a dash of maturity with a huge helping of rejection, and the broad strokes flow in excess. The fact is I’d just been a newbie in way over my head, still without the tools or experience to handle the curve balls, obstacles, and bullshit that come to comedians on a regular basis. As we finished our Chinese food and drove from the suburbs of Englewood, New Jersey over the bridge into Washington Heights where I lived, I thought it to be symbolic. I was back home, back amongst “my people,” ironically I suppose. I was done with suburban, white shows. I just didn’t want to feel that way anymore.
Sorry, Pete.
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Fandom rambles: Why I'll never watch Tony DiNozzo leave
I have been a NCIS fan from the very first minute. It wasn't even its own show yet, when I started to root for Team Gibbs (minus Blackadder of course). So when the show came to be, it had always been a show about Gibbs and Tony and their cases for me. Everyone else was just an addition. Some more so than other.
The core team (bullpen) was Gibbs with Tony, the expanded team entailed Ducky and Abby. Everyone was just there to add momentum, to have someone to play of on, to add a little different spice week to week.
That means as much as I loved Kate, I never rallied too much for her. I was sad to see Sasha Alexander go, but not because now “Tate” would never happen, but simply because I had gotten used to her special kind of spice. Although the recipe started to grow stale a bit.
Sean Murray's addition to the cast was a quirk I liked to see for a while. But at the end of season 2 I wouldn't have shed a tear, if his Timothy McGee would have been reassigned.
That changed a bit when they just had to add a new female main character with Cote de Pablo's Ziva David. Whom I hugely disliked from day one. Not because of the actress – I never have heard anything from her before and never watched anything else she had been part of.
It's Ziva's backstory that made it impossible to like her. She was a spy, an assassin, officer of a foreign agency and on top of that the handler (and half-sister) of Kate's assassin.
So, yeah, no. Biggest nope that ever noped.
No way in freaking hell was I ever going to be able to suspend disbelieve that much. And I didn't. For 8 seasons I saw my favorite show getting transformed week after week into “The Ziva David Show”. If it wasn't about her evergrowing daddy issues (including international espionage), it had to be about her toying with Tony.
Who for the sake of Ziva David's ever growing unbelievable talents and trust with Gibbs was dumbed down until the abused kid of an alcoholic father was actually made to forgive said deadbeat on urging of his mentor Gibbs! Well, don't get me started on the many issues I have with having Senior on the show.
Finally Cote jumped ship - I heard my inner William Wallace scream “Freedom” - rejoiced and really looked forward for Tony's evolution. Which actually happened. He was intelligent once more. A seasoned investigator. Gibbs' trusted Second in Command. Okay, McGee, not hanging on Ziva's coattails any longer was shaping up too, but still no competition. Tony DiNozzo was back and just happened to save Gibbs' ass again.
Sadly Gibbs, ever since being blown up at the end of season 3 had this recurring problem with the memory of his “girls”. On any other show I would have loved the otherworldly stuff, but on a mostly procedural the thing shouldn't have to be brought up practically every year.
Yes, he lost wife and daughter. Yes, he had to relive the trauma due to having lost his memories. But – he had his Mexican Siesta and years and years to somewhat get over it. Yes, you'll never truly get over stuff like that, but you move on. Gibbs was married three more times and had countless affairs for Chuck's sake! Don't tell me, he exclusively loves Shannon to this day!
Yeah, well, so Gibbs is starting to be odd. Even by Gibbs' standards. And Tony suffers for it. Of course he does. Again the character gets sidelined for some rehashed drama. Biggest difference this time?
Michael Weatherly told the world, that he was leaving the show. “Because there are no new stories to tell for Tony” or something like that.
Instead of giving their second highest billed actor and his much beloved character of 12 years a huge send-off, they opt for a fan-pleaser. Well, actually only part of the fandom.
You see, the “Tivas” are very vocal and have never accepted anyone in Cote's place. Instead of simply stopping to watch the show, if they hated it so much, they yelled and screamed and even threatened. (Michael Weatherly's family got death threats, because those so called fans thought that fiction and reality were somehow the same and Bojana somehow had any sway in the contract negotiations between CBS and Cote – beats me, how someone can be so delusional.)
Basically a temper tantrum on a huge scale. And as the good “parents” the showrunners are, they gave into their demands and delivered Tiva. *end saracasm here*
Instead of a huge send-off Tony DiNozzo didn't even appear for one of the last three episodes and only marginally in one other. Since I refuse to watch his actual last episode, I have to rely on recaps for it, but his last episode the fans are suddenly presented with a “Tiva” love-child out of left field, which was such a love-child that Ziva never even hinted at it during their correspondence and Skype chats after she remained in Israel for good. But since the actress was not available, Ziva could not answer the questions due to the fact that she conveniently got herself killed, which Tony somehow not believes and decides to take the child and goes to Paris (of all places) to look for her.
Huge send-off, huh?! *my sarcasm is showing again*
Yeah, no, nope and noper. I refuse to watch that wreck. Ziva might be dead, but I refuse to believe that Tony – previous playboy extraordinaire (after Wendy left him practically at the altar) - would have engage in sexual relations with any woman, he was not married to, without being sure about protection. Especially not Ziva, who was anything else but celibate and even engaged in sexual acts with her marks, when needed. That's one.
Two is that Tony has been a seasoned special agent and investigator with ties to the highest places for close to 15 years at the time of him leaving. He has managed to hunt Ziva down across the Middle East when she played dead there, even when the freaking Mossad could not, he would have heard about a pregnancy and subsequent child in the event of an accident of the procreational nature instead off being surprised by it. (Not to mention that some of his contacts actually came to genuinely like and respect him.)
Three – honestly, Tony lived for his job for far too long, I get it, but he had a good thing going with Zoe there for a while. But the character (and their relationship) simply got dropped off-screen. Never understood why. I mean, there was not even some bullshitting about: “Yeah, we are alright in the sack, but otherwise we're better off as friends.” It simply was over, Tony was left in a limbo for a while and then Ziva allegedly dropped dead and left him to raise their daughter. That’s simply lazy story writing.
No. Nope. Noper.
Even if I could believe that whole love-child BS, Ziva David – as much as I hate her character – never struck me as a woman, who - outside of her duties as a spy/assassin - would bereave a parent of his child. Even if only for the sake of the child.
After all she suffered from abandonment issues all her life, because of her Daddy living for his job and only accepting his kids when they were good little soldiers. So her doing something like that to her own child is too taxing for my imagination.
No, Tony's send-off was badly planned and written by lazy writers who simply had no understanding of this character's past and intentions, as well as obviously not knowing the show from the beginning.
Tony was proud to be Gibbs' Second, loyal to a fault and a great agent. It would have been time for the big reward, not a short “bye, bye”.
A new love, maybe a new position closer to his new love, his own team at least. Or if he would have been willing to leave the field, a promotion to assistant to or even Deputy Director would have been something I could see Tony willing to so. It has lots of travels and lots of people and new experiences (which he loves), but it's not too much of the elbow-rubbing society like some kind of assistant director stationed out of DC.
Heck, even him taking a bullet for Gibbs, McGee or Ellie would have been a better send-off!
So, no, not watching that or anything that followed after. In my mind, Gibbs got his shit together, and him and Tony are still merrily solving major cases for the NCIS. And sometimes Tony comes by after hours and sits on his step of stairs down the basement, and they talk like the friends they actually always have been.
#NCIS#fandom rambles#Tony Dinozzo deserved better#not for Tiva fans#or Ziva for that matter#but then I don't care for them
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The dream from the 19th of October
Chapter One: The Dream
There he was... her son, Daniel, and his constant joyful disposition. And there she was... The two of them curiously searching the rusty garage of the old yet beautiful house. Tinkering through the dirty objects which clearly didn’t belong to them. Touching and trying to feel what the walls are made of, only there’s nothing to feel... nothing to sense... It was a dream. And like many of her dreams, the image of the house was very clear to her. Clearer than the actual memory she has of it when she’s wide awake. An image that wasn’t available to her anymore when she woke up. She asked herself the same question that dawns upon her every morning when she opens her eyes. What is it this time? What message is her dream trying to send her?
Chapter Two: The House
In that house, she lived with her angel. The woman who took care of her like her own child. The woman whose love, patience and compassion lived through her for many years. The house witnessed so many things she can barely remember herself. Good memories that seem inexistent albeit digging through the blurry bits and pieces of her fragmented memory. And bad memories that seem to be part of recent history. How is it possible that she can clearly picture the events that have hurt her so deeply better than the good ones? Or the experiences that scarred her for life? “It’s funny how the brain works”, she said. One slight flashback can trigger the emotions she’s worked so had to bury in the past. The inevitable power that one tiny recollection has and its capacity to destroy the strong foundation she constructed to help rebuild herself. But perhaps, it wasn’t strong after all, it’s only as fragile as that little girl who once lived in that house... her.
In that house, she also lived with another creature, the devil. Her own flesh and blood. The brother of her father. She lived with the devil one out of the six years that they occupied the house. And one year was all it took to ruin everything.
The devil was like Lucifer. As the story was famously told, Lucifer was originally an angel. A fallen angel who later became the ruler of hell. It was the same metaphor in her story. During the earlier years, the devil lived hundreds of miles away from her and her angel. They would constantly exchange letters and pictures, he would send them a box full of goodies; clothes and jewelries for her angel, chocolates and toys for her. He would record his voice with messages then, sometimes it would be recordings of his favorite songs he dedicated to them. It was his way of being present, of compensating for the many years he was away from his family. And she believed that he loved her too like his own child. This went on for many more years to come and she wished it didn’t have to change. She was happy knowing him only through his voice, his handwriting and his pictures. She didn’t have to see him in the flesh. But then she realized that she can’t control the events of her life.
She was 10 or 11 when the devil first entered the doorsteps of their house. His wife merrily welcomed him, hugged and kissed him as if the distance and separation didn’t put them apart. Her angel... her innocence and compassion was that of a saint and she didn’t deserve this devil. In his return, he brought with him a bag of lies, deceit and turpitude. Later on, they learned that he was back in the country way before they knew about it and that he drowned himself in the dark world of gambling, drug addiction and alcoholism.
Her angel didn’t deserve this devil...but neither did she.
She was a child who loved going to school, playing outside, attending catechisms and other church activities of a religion she doesn’t practice anymore. She has always been taller and mature-looking for her age. People would mistake her for a teenager when she could barely fix her hair and dress up like the cool kids of her age. She was clumsy and always falling, she had bruises more often than a 5-year old would have. Despite her physical maturity, height and long legs, she was a child... but not in the eyes of the devil.
Chapter Three: The devil and his sins.
First sin. He took her out on a trip to the museum. He was slowly making efforts in demonstrating the image of a father. She was confused with this sudden act of kindness, as he showed nothing but coldness and disinterest since his return to that house. It was late in the afternoon, and the sky was soon turning grey. “What museum is open at this hour?”, she asked. They arrived at the park next to the museum but to her dismay, they never set foot inside. He apologized for this with such tenderness and suggested they walk around the park instead. It was calm and breezy and they weren’t the only people walking side by side. She was not in the and was completely lost in her trailing thoughts. She was sad to have missed her daily 6PM habit; her favorite Anime. She was imagining how the episode was going to be? Would her favorite character finally win the battle against the villain? Or would he end up in a tragic death? She repeatedly rewinded images from the last episode, flicking through the scenes both fun and thrilling, and this comforted her. Then she was abruptly taken back to the her reality. The devil demanded her attention. Before she realized it, he had already slipped his fingers through the spaces between hers. He squeezed her hand tightly, turned her face to his and kissed her on the lips, then he said, “I want everyone to think that we’re lovers. From now, when we’re out in public, I want us to show people how we’re crazy in-love”.
Second sin. The unexpected kisses and the many instances of him caressing her hand, was just the beginning of his delusional fantasy. She was confused and uncomfortable but couldn’t put to words what she was feeling. She didn’t understand what was going on. She could intuitively feel that something’s not right but couldn’t seem to wrap her head around it. One afternoon, while she was writing down the lyrics of her favorite songs, the devil called her. “Come little girl, I have something to show you.” His actions toward her made her feel like a wounded kitten. Every time she walked towards his direction, she felt like walking through shattered pieces of broken glass. Her hands turned cold, she felt scared, she wanted to scream but no sound would come out of her, she was numb. She walked slowly towards him and felt being pricked by thousands of rose thorns. Her eyes were watery, there were bids of sweat on her forehead and she wanted to vomit. This was the frightful agony she had to painfully go through, in the presence of the devil. It was dark in his room, and she didn’t know if she was imaging things but glares of red seemed to appear everywhere. It looked like the thing on TV when they try to show you how hell looks like. He grabbed her hand, kissed her fingers then slowly dragged it down. She could barely see anything so she closed her eyes. He slid her hands inside his pants. She forced herself to think of a happy thought. What was she doing again before she ended up in this hell? Oh right, she was writing the words of her favorite song. She pictured the words once again, and started humming the melody in her head. She tried so hard not to focus on what was going on her reality. She felt his other hand on her head, somehow forcing it in the same direction as where her hand is now. She was scared, her heart palpitated as if it was going to explode off her chest. She wanted to run and scream and cry but she was paralyzed, overpowered by the monstrous being of the devil. She didn’t want to know what was gonna happen next so she stopped and went back to that melody running in her head. Then she told herself, “LOUDER. I NEED TO HUM LOUDER. I NEED TO DROWN MYSELF TO THE SOUND OF THE MUSIC.” And she did... and when the music ended, it was over.
Third sin.
.
.
.
.
Twentieth sin.
It was a Sunday morning, and she was heading to the church catechism, weirdly her favorite activity of the week. She was gonna meet her angel, they would attend mass together then would have lunch in their favorite place. She noticed that the devil was still asleep. She took a bath and finished faster than she normally would. She prepared herself quickly, didn’t bother brushing her hair, prepared her notebook and pen for the catechism. If she would move faster, she wouldn’t have to encounter the devil. She was headed to the door but she was a few minutes too slow. He was awake.
“I’m going to church. Mama will meet me there after her work. See you later.”
“Wait a second, come here, little girl. Let me kiss you goodbye” And he did.
All throughout the catechism, she wasn’t herself. She felt like an air balloon out of air, she was on the verge of crying so she left earlier than usual. She ran down and went straight to church. She checked the clock, it was 20 minutes before the mass started, her angel should arrive soon. Her head was spinning. She had to hold on to something or she would pass out and hit her head hard on the floor. She waited and waited. “Where is she?”, she anxiously started asking herself. She looked around. She couldn’t take it any longer. If she doesn’t get a glimpse of her angel soon, she would run to where the cars are and get herself hit. Or maybe, she would go up the building again and jump from the rooftop, Or, she could just hit her head again and again and bleed herself dry. She was running our of breath and there she was. She saw her angel... she ran to her, hugged her tighly and she didn’t want to let go.
“What is it sweetheart, are you okay?” “I have something to tell you...”
The End.
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I know i’m late on this but I wanted to talk about The Dragon Demands videos based on the Game of Thrones Season 8 blue ray commentary and the original archived scripts for Game of Thrones, Season 8.
Basically, YouTuber, The Dragon Demands went to the Writer’s Guild Library where he was able to see the archived scripts of Season 8 of Game of Thrones. Both the archive scripts and commentary on the blue ray confirms that most of the destruction in King’s Landing was originally supposed to be caused by the caches of wild fire left by Aerys being accidentally set off by Drogon and not because Daenerys herself “went mad.” The script says that civilians being used as human shields are caught in the crossfire as Daenerys is targeting Lannister soldiers in a strategical maneuver right before she heads to the Red Keep to enact revenge on Cersei. However, Daenerys is never described as specifically targeting innocent civilians needlessly.
My thoughts under the cut:
I have to say, that this makes me feel slightly better in a strange way. I mean, it doesn’t erase the bad writing, the ridiculous way the war against the white walkers ended, the misogyny, the inconsistency, etc etc ETC... but this crucial plot point was the one I just couldn’t let go of because it was just baffling to me. With other controversial plot points, I would disagree with them, but I could at least understand what they were going for and what the motivations of the characters were. But Daenerys turning on innocent civilians was truly baffling to me because it comes out of nowhere, is entirely out of character, her motivations are incredibly unclear, and was not set up at all. But with all the fandom discourse, I had really started to think that maybe I am lacking comprehension skills or something. But no, there is actually a reason it made no sense. The “madness” plot line was added later. Emilia Clarke was never given the opportunity to portray Daenerys as mentally unstable. Emilia was portraying grief and revenge on Cersei (as the original script and directors told her to do) in contrast to D&D’s final editing which was portraying the “mad queen.” No wonder it came across as completely false and bewildering- before we even get into the discussion of whether or not this is in character or not.
I think this is definitely more than just a theory that the script was changed pretty late in development because of all the evidence- it is confirmed by Emilia’s commentary, the Visual Effects team member’s commentary, and also the original concept art. But even if there wasn’t all that evidence, there is also the fact that the original ending makes so many other confusing things in Season 8 suddenly make SENSE.
For example, when Jon confronts Daenerys in the throne room and he talks about the women and children that were burned, Daenerys responds with “She used their innocence as a weapon against me.” Which makes total sense for Daenerys to say if she thinks she is talking about civilians that were used as human shields that died in the crossfire. But it doesn’t make any sense if she carpet bombed the city- although it does make her seem delusional, which is probably why Dave and Dan kept those lines in- hoping it would make her appear “mad,” since Emilia was never actually given the opportunity to portray Daenerys as mentally unstable.
There is also the scene where Jon asks Tyrion, “Was it right?” to assassinate Daenerys and Tyrion responds, “Ask me again in ten years.” There is really no reason for them to have that dialogue if Daenerys really did target and massacre innocent civilians. That is the kind of dialogue they would have if they were discussing someone who had done something more morally ambiguous.
Then there are the lines that are out of place in the final version but that would have made complete sense in the original wild fire version, such as Jon saying “now and always” as he stabs Daenerys. “Now and always” as any Theon fan will tell you, is a phrase that belongs to Theon and Robb and what they said to each other when Theon was pledging loyalty to Robb. Having Jon say this to Dany as he is killing Daenerys represents the ultimate betrayal but also calls back to Theon’s struggle and how difficult it is to chose between loyalties- between families. In this case, Jon is choosing the Starks over the Targaryens. Kit Harrington even says that this is motivation in an interview he gave with winteriscoming.net. But given the fact that in the final edit, Daenerys massacred innocent children and civilians on purpose, Kit’s motivation for Jon seems like a relic of an earlier script:
Kit Harrington: “Jon essentially sees it as Daenerys or Sansa and Arya, and that makes his mind up for him. He choose blood over, well, his other blood. But he chooses the people he has grown up with, the people his roots are with, the North. That’s where his loyalties lie in the end. That’s when he puts the knife in.”
And Yara Greyjoy’s lines. She surprisingly remains completely loyal to Daenerys, despite the fact that she massacred the entire city for no reason:
Yara Greyjoy: I swore to follow Daenerys Targaryen.
Sansa Stark: You swore to follow a tyrant.
Yara Greyjoy: She freed us from a tyrant. Cersei is gone because of her, and Jon Snow put a knife in her heart. Let the Unsullied give him what he deserves.
This kind of conversation only seems plausible if they are discussing Daenerys taking out Cersei after she had surrendered and killing human shields in the process, something I can see Yara completely defending- since she was always in favor of attacking King’s Landing as seen during her war counsel scenes in Season 7.
There is also the Emilia Clarke quote in the behind the scenes video HBO put out after the episode where she explains that Dany was targeting Cersei herself:
Emilia Clarke: “It’s just... grief. It’s hurt. And she has this ability to make that hurt a little bit less just for a minute. And here she is, sitting on this ridge and there’s the emotion and there’s the feeling and the feeling is to fucking kill her.”
Note that she does not say “the feeling is to fucking massacre the city,” or “the feeling is to target innocent civilians.” She says “the feeling is to kill her” as in Cersei Lannister- who is responsible for the death of her dragon and Missandei- and who massacred countless innocents herself when she blew up the goddamn sept lol.
Not to mention all of the set up lines between Cersei, Tyrion, and Varys about Cersei using “human shields” which never came to fruition in the final edit, now make complete sense:
Cersei: Keep the gates open. If she wants to take the castle she’ll have to murder thousands of innocents first.
Varys: Tens of thousands of innocents will die. That is why Cersei is bringing them into the Red Keep
And yet, lol, we never actually SEE Daenerys attacking the Red Keep. We never see innocent civilians inside the Red Keep. We only see civilians being massacred in the streets.
I also remember people who had seen the post Season 8 Game of Thrones Live Concert saying that Ramin switched to footage of the other wildfire scenes in past Game of Thrones seasons during his Bells sequence, instead of showing the massacre of innocent civilians by dragon fire. I use to think he did that because Daenerys was his favorite character. But given what we now know about the original ending, he probably chose to show the wildfire scenes because that was what he had specifically written music for before it was changed- the destruction of Kings Landing by wildfire.
I really wish they had kept the original script the way it was. It still would have been an incredibly controversial ending. Daenerys still goes after soldiers and a Queen who is surrendering- and that action unintentionally leads to the destruction of the entire city. Jon Snow still assassinates his lover and betrays one part of his family for the other. But, it would have at least made logical sense. People would have gone back and forth over whether it was in character or whether it was a good ending. But it would have been something people would be able to actually debate on an intellectual level- the way we debate Daenerys crucifying the slavers (who themselves crucified children) or Jon Snow executing Olly... It is a very grey and tragic ending with a lot of moral questions. It still might have gone over like a lead balloon. But... the ending we have is so much worst because it’s nonsensical.
The only reason I can think that they changed it was to make Jon and Tyrion appear less morally grey for plotting Daenerys’ assassination. They probably knew that the ending would be very problematic and were trying to smooth that over by turning Daenerys into a super villain. Yet they did this too late in the process after already showing Daenerys to be heroic in fighting with the north and then having Emilia Clarke finish her filming still believing she was playing a complex and at times ruthless character but not “mad” or “evil.” And then, there is also the intensely problematic issue with them conflating mental illness with mass murdering super villain. Even if it had been clear throughout the entire season that Daenerys was losing her grip on reality and becoming more and more mentally unstable, it still would have been incredibly controversial and I am not entirely sure it would have made the men look any better anyway.
Even though it is tragic as fuck, at least with the original wildfire ending, all of the characters are incredibly complex and morally grey and you can understand the motivations for everything they do, even if you don’t agree with them. For example, if Daenerys attacks Cersei after she surrendered, it is wrong, but it is also completely understandable. And in my opinion, it’s even more understandable when you remember that Cersei cannot be trusted. She can’t be trusted to send her armies to the north- why should Daenerys trust her to surrender in good faith? This kind of ending would also have said something very powerful about unintended consequences. Even though Daenerys did not intend for so many people to die needlessly, they did because war is horrific. And that message becomes even more powerful if her motivations are understandable. But yeah, this kind of ending would have still been hated and debated but... at least the debates would have been more about the story itself rather than everyone trying (and failing) to make sense of what the fuck the story even is.
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