#I like this idea better. Mainly because I can sympathize with a manipulated child of the killer than I can someone who’d willingly pick cop

[lionblaze03-2]

you know. I kind of wonder if Vanessa is even an actual cop. Who’s to say she didn’t purchase a mock up uniform, or William... ‘perfectly legally’ acquired one, and she literally just harasses people at freddys. She has a police radio but that is also a thing someone can buy and listen to. We never see her at the station or with any other cops. She never used that as an opportunity to reach out for help. Because she couldn’t. William never let her out from under his thumb. She’s still working for him.

[cogentranting]

Some Jupiter’s Legacy George/Skyfox theories. Spoilers for the entire first season. 

I’m thinking/hoping that George genuinely is not the villain he’s made out to be. 

I think that Walter orchestrated the events that split the Union in order to get the rest of the Union to turn on George. 

We’re not given hardly any details about George’s defection. Some broad generalities about no longer believing in the Code. A few sweeping statements about him being the greatest Supervillain of all time, and the Union’s greatest enemy. But it’s unclear how much time they actually spent facing him. And there are a lot of details missing. 

But we do have Hutch saying that, according to his mom, it was the Union that betrayed George. So there’s definitely something more to unpack there. 

And then the flashbacks heavily emphasize the conflict between George and Walter. And mostly that plays as two fundamentally good, decent men who just do not get along. With Walter, you sympathize; he’s trying to protect his family and no one listens to him even when he’s making the smart play. Everyone listens to Sheldon over him even when Sheldon is sorta crazy. And you can see how he sorta got over all that, but now its those same issues coming back to make him turn now, that same jealousy that George called him out on back in the 30s. Walter knows what has to happen, Walter knows the smart play, but everyone follows Sheldon, not him so he’s finally gonna do something to dethrone Sheldon. But one of the main things that made Walter more sympathetic than not was the idea that eventually he figured it out. Eventually he’d be loving Uncle Walter, who is by the far the most sensible, patient, empathetic member of the Union. Except that we learn he’s not. 

George on the other hand presents this very entitled, shallow playboy facade and seems to be the one picking fights with Walter more than the other way around. But. The flashbacks repeatedly hit on this other side to George, to show that right underneath that facade is someone very caring, sensitive and empathetic. People just have a hard time seeing it. He makes sure his staff is well taken care of when he loses his money and has to fire them. He opens up to Sheldon about losing his parents and is the one to get through to Sheldon in his grief. He’s the first one to have faith in Sheldon’s visions and goes along with it even when he doesn’t fully believe because he thinks that’s what Sheldon needs. He’s the one who’s mostly responsible for convincing the others to come on the trip to the Island (which makes me wonder if Sheldon’s eroding leadership isn’t mainly because George isn’t there to get other’s to belive in him anymore). He talks about reaching out and trying to connect with Walter multiple times in their past and getting shut down. When they have to each put their hand on the wall to open the portal, its primarily Walter who is the issue, George is one of the first to activate the wall, and while Walter’s addition briefly throws him off, he pretty much instantly is able to push past that, while Walter struggles. When they’re talking about what person they’ve lost they would most want to see, George talks pretty openly about what he would do to see his mother again and it’s Walter who won’t open up at all, who never offers an answer. In fact George’s relationship with his mother is made a point of several times. It’s key to his characterization and its framed around a simple desire to say goodbye to her. Just craving connection and closure. In contrast Walter’s key relationship is to is father and that is framed around wanting to be the favorite child, wanting to be listened to and taken seriously. Walter’s is somewhat bitter and resentful. At its core George’s is childlike. But for most of the season, George’s characterization is colored by what we know (or think we know) from the present-- that eventually George is corrupted and turns on them all. So, it seems, his entitled, vain, reckless side won out in the end. 

Two men with shared relationships, each with two sides to them. George is either conniving and entitled, or loyal and empathetic. Walter is either jealous and controlling, or thoughtful and protective. And all along through the season their present characterization seems to tell us which of the sides won out eventually. George became a villain. Walter became the wisest most trusted member of the Union. But in the end the latter is revealed to be a lie. Walter’s jealousy and desire to control everyone else is stronger than ever to the point that is killing people and has turned on his own brother. And he’s framing George for it. 

It’s possible that the same happened with George. That the two being in conflict with each other for years drove them both to become their worst selves. But it seems more like we’re going to see a total reversal of what was initially established. That George is the one who’s better half won out. But that Walter framed him and convinced the rest of the Union members to turn on him (he’s a mind reader and can manipulate them to an extent as well, it wouldn’t be hard for him). 

Which could mean that the reason George can’t be found is not because he’s hidden himself so well, but because he’s been trapped somewhere by Walter. 

Three additional notes:  1. it may be that Walter turned everyone against George unfairly initially and THEN he kinda turned evil because of it, but his lack of presence in the modern story and the lack of details surrounding his villainy makes me lean away from it 2. The idea that he abandoned Hutch is, I think, important. Because so much of his 30s characterization revolves around being orphaned and never getting that closure with his parents, it seems out of character that he would then abandon his son. (or it’s evidence of how far he’s fallen that he’s become the thing that hurt him most).  3. It doesn’t seem like Walter has been evil for a long time, I think his full turn is very recent. Meaning anything he did to frame or trap George is about the grudge between those two personally, more than being part of a some grand scheme. However, he could have done other smaller scale things in the past that he’s hidden. 

[mc-critical]

So something that I’ve noticed is a rather popular opinion (at least as far as what I’ve seen) is that Turhan is the most unlikeable or one of the most immoral characters in the series. Would you agree or disagree with this sentiment and why?

I wholeheartedly agree with this statement and it's one of the popular opinions of the fandom that I can get behind without any reservation whatsoever. Turhan is my least favourite sultana of the whole franchise and at no point did I find her likeable or could I ever sympathize with her.

She's vile, nasty and exceptionally ruthless throughout her entire screentime. What turns me off the most about her is her backstabbing nature and hypocrisy - her dynamic with Kösem never had the chance to feel organic because of it, it all seemed like a false charade right from the beginning. She staged a whole massive coup on the castle and influenced Kösem's decision to kill Ibrahim, then she highly and mightily claims, right when she's planning out the coup, that she's not like Kösem and won't kill innocent children when she already, consciously played a part in such a thing. She has a tendency of consistently manipulating the narrative to her favor and advantage.

There are lots of Sultanas that had the possibility to get quite close to the same ruthlessness, most of them are very questionable people and MCK only tripled down on that trend, which fits so much in the own ruthlessness of the time period itself. Look at Gülbahar, in example, she's far from a good person, she's an incredibly toxic and manipulative mother, but I stan her as a character. I stan her, because she's so nuanced and well-written and has a simplistic, down to earth backstory that complements her motivation. Gülbahar could also be very cruel and her dynamic with Kösem also veered in hypocrisy for quite some time, but there were many moments in her writing that outweighed that and at least gave us perspective as to why she's like that. Turhan's on the precise opposite side of the spectrum, because her unsympathetic traits only make themselves stick because of the writing: they're the only thing she has.

One-dimensional characters are far from rare in Magnificent Century and Kösem, but no display was as insulting as what the show did with Turhan. Turhan's offputting traits are the only traits she possesses, they're all she is from her first appearance. Her introduction becomes confusing from the start, because she's simply playing this game without any backstory or explanation. It's obvious she has to survive in this environment and it is an absolute given that she has to get rid of Kösem, her being a clear threat for herself and her son. But the immediacy of it turned out to be flat out hilarious, because of the relationship she managed to effectively build with Kösem. Turhan's hypocrisy and false play is found out by the audience light speedily quickly and it could cease making sense, because of both Turhan's ambiguous, unestablished motivations and Kösem's earlier attitude towards her. I admit that's more of a writing issue than a personal irritant for the character - it would all be a little better if they tried a E80-84 Şah Sultan-esque hypocrisy. That was more subtle, more interesting and we were waiting for it to fully unfold. Şah's motivation was revealed to us slowly, but surely, Turhan's only seemed to exist in a vacuum. Ibrahim's distaste for her also did very little motivation-wise. It was there and it put certain things into context, but it wasn't enough to justify most of her extremely irraneous actions and these still remained unexplained in their overexagerration. Her betrayal was convoluted and I not only knew it would happen, I waited in boredom for it to inevitably happen.

《Thing is, however, this character could've worked so much better, with such foundation alone. Her traits are heinous, but could be interesting if dealt with better. Turhan's character, in theory, works incredibly thematically: the last Sultana of the Sultanate of Women that turns out to merely contrast Hürrem - her being introduced as a ready product of her environment wasn't a bad idea, it makes her stand out and creates a stark contrast with Hürrem's thorough exploration and character development, the in-depth explanation on why she became the way she was, her character going through many stages of evolution. The way this fleshing out of motivations lowered in every Sultana of the SOW until we get to Turhan, when she's ready to act in an instant is a nice touch, in a way. And it's not only this- Turhan's whole character does to an extent present the evolution of the SOW in the franchise with her structure alone - the development of the concept of power: Hürrem gets her power from Süleiman/ Turhan gets it FULLY from herself, without a sultan who loves her, Hürrem had a long way to go to get her power/ Turhan was immediately in power; the way Turhan is the best example of the MC/MCK contrast that is wanting power because of personal motivation/wanting power for the sake of power - Out of all Sultanas from the SOW, Hürrem has the most personal motives involved with her craving power, because of the many attacks against her and her own situation/with Turhan it seemed as if she was powerful without a single detailed reason whatsoever, the first actual display of that extreme; the narrative roles of each member of the SOW: Hürrem is a main protagonist/ Turhan is a final boss; the shift of personalities: Hürrem is overally cheerful and fierce/ Turhan is overally stoic and cold and what best highlights it all, the contrast between the character establishing scenes of Hürrem and Turhan after the culmination of their respective character arcs. Hürrem's monologue in MC's season 2 finale and Turhan's stampede in MCK's show in such a chilling way the thematic difference between both characters and the respective shows: Hürrem has an active monologue throughout the scene, her purpose being in accordance with everyone around (except Mahidevran ofc), it is set in the center stage/ Turhan's look in the balcony is merely a mirror of the situation in the harem, it all happening over the monologue of another character that is Kösem. {I especially love the additional details of the scenes like the color contrast, the soundtracks that seemigly contradict each other and the massive thing that sells it all with people bowing down to Hürrem/lying dead on the floor with Turhan etc., but I'm really starting to detract from the point here.} Turhan's stampede is the only time that excessive ruthlessness so prominent in her character made some sense and wasn't there only for the sake of it and that was hardly sufficient.》

All these thematic details of Turhan's were amazing in intent, but very messy and almost absent in execution, for they barely show their purpose. Instead of these traits being only additional endorsement of the alleged purpose of her character, she's reduced into a one-dimensional caricature with all these traits only, turning her impossible to stand altogether. She is vile, ruthless and cruel, but her hypocrisy makes sure she's devoid of any actual character and personality. By that I mean that there is no moment where she isn't any of these traits, the balance of them is highly lacking in narrative and there is never a moment where she stops and thinks - we never get to see the character to breathe and to flow, not even a single scene. There is always this prominent facade she likes to keep and all her hypocritical, manipulative games, binding it all together. She never gets to have a moment for herself, where we could know her a little better. She always stays in her own unbreakable mask and that only has an antagonistic role or plays as a plot device. These potentially interesting traits, writing-wise, are devoid of substance and mainly that makes her impossible to root for. There have always been asspulls in character writing, there have always been antagonists later reduced to one dimensionality, but nobody, not even Safiye, is as grossly oversimplified like that as Turhan. Her scenes with Mehmed, her supposed most sincere bond, did nothing as well, with her not showing much affection even towards her own child. We only had a slight sign of that when they tried to poison him and even that seemed to focus on the fact that Kösem dared to go that far, not that Turhan was about to lose the one dearest to her. I'll never forget her smug grin when she was looking at the results of her coup (which was in the scene I was referring to when contrasting her to Hürrem). Looking like that at so many people who died because of you, no less, and only focusing on your newly put on thematic ring, not even thinking to check on your child, is something indescribable. This woman lacks conscience and that is very offputtingly utilized by the writers, leaving us with no reason to sympathize with her or think she has any moral scruples whatsoever. Even Dilruba, Halime and Safiye have softer sides that give us a chance to delve deep into their psyche. Turhan was a wasted potential through and through, with even lesser screentime and less chance to even show she's more than a cruel, ruthless sultana.

[And I find that really unfortunate, because historical Turhan seems so fascinating... If the writers gave MCK Turhan more material to work with, and they had a lot of that, in my opinion, she wouldn't be the worst sultana of the whole franchise, both sympathy-wise and writing-wise.]

[darkedgey]

Toy Story 4 - Thoughts and Opinions

So, majority of people seemed to really enjoy the most recent installment to the Toy Story franchise, going as far as to say it is one of the best movies within the series by far. But I am here to say that my unpopular opinion differs from that, and I think it is by far the weakest movie out of the four movies.

Of course, I'm going to talk about spoilers, so, if you would prefer not to be spoiled, it's best you skip this post. You have been warned.

Now, let's start off with one of my biggest pet peeves. The characters of Woody and Buzz Lightyear within this movie.

Within the movie we see Buzz and Woody talking, and Woody is basically trying to explain to Buzz what it means to have a conscience. That little voice inside of you, that tells you to do stuff, that is your conscience.

While this starts off as a pretty amusing bit for the first few times the joke is made, it starts to become a little frustrating, because it gives off the vibe that Buzz's intelligence has been dumbed down EXTREMELY within this movie, just for the sake of comic relief.

No, Buzz has not always been the most intelligent toy, but neither has he been this unintelligent either. He knows how to think on his feet, on his own volition, and this is demonstrated throughout the 2nd and 3rd movie, (like in the 3rd movie when he comes up with a smart plan of how to get out of the playroom to go find Lotso). So, for him to start pressing buttons on his suit, to listen to his recorded voice lines, and treat that as his conscience, it's like it's going back to the whole trope of Toy Story 1, where Buzz doesn't know how to be a toy.

Buzz really isn't THAT dumb you guys...

Now, Woody.

The way Woody acts out in this movie extremely bothers me, and it was something that brought me to not like the ending very much, as his final decision felt extremely out of character for him.

Woody has always stated that his job as a toy "isn't about getting played with, it's about being there for Andy/Bonnie."

Yet in this movie we see a point of Woody getting a tiny bit salty when Bonnie hasn't played with him for about, I think it is said to be three weeks. Three weeks isn't that long of a time span, and even then, I don't think Bonnie would stop playing with Woody forever. Kids go through phases, but she probably would have eventually gone back to Woody.

Throughout the past three movies, Woody always stresses how important it is to be there for your kid. To make them happy. And in the third movie isn't the ending of that kind of supposed to be the fact that they're all supposed to stick together?

For Woody to have this moral and this message for three movies that there is "nothing more important than being loved by a kid", and then to leave Bonnie and all his friends behind to go with his love interest who he literally has not seen for years, it feels a little... Iffy and out of place to me.

How did Woody not lose his purpose when Andy literally stopped playing with him for years, but when Bonnie stops playing with him for like three weeks he decides he has nothing left? Bit odd to me.

"The thing that makes Woody special, is that he'll never give up on you. He'll be there for you, no matter what." This is how Andy describes Woody to be in the end of the third movie. But, heh, guess Woody kinda forgot about that in this final scene. Have fun later Bonnie when you realise your cowboy is missing because Woody decided to run off with his love interest.

Now that those two are out of the way, time to move onto Bo.

Is it me, or in this movie, was she a bit of a jerk to Woody? The past two movies, she's all: oh Woody my cowboy, but in this movie, it's like she completely disregards him?

There is a moment where they come up with a plan as an attempt to save Forky, but Woody derails from the plan and this causes her sheep to get caught by one of the puppets that is helping the main villain. While yes, I can understand her being annoyed, the way she acts towards Woody is so insanely shitty, that it just feels off. She doesn't let him talk or explain himself, and when she is asked whether Woody is a friend, she regards him as an "accessory". That's a bit 0 to 100 from you Bo, isn't it?

It feels like her old personality has just been stripped away to create a very generic, tough girl bitch persona, who can't show empathy, because that's a sign of weakness. Rather than her being her own unique character, she's been turned into a typical, tough girl cliché.

She treats Woody like the villain, when he just wants to save another toy to make his kid happy. Why this makes him a bad guy, I am certainly not sure.

Why does the villain get away with the terrible, awful things that she has done?

While I understand her story is quite sad, in no way do I think her sob story should clear her for what she has done to Woody and his friends.

She went as far as to forcefully try and steal his voice box, hurt his friends, take Forky hostage, and try to use Woody's past to manipulate him into listening to her, and we are supposed to feel sorry for her, why? Because the child who she wants to be liked by, casts her aside.

While it would be nice to have a villain we can sympathize with once in awhile, (as all previous Toy Story movies have had a villain that has nothing but a hateful side to them), it is terrible that she does not get held responsible for any of the terrible things she has done. She is never told she is wrong. She never apologises. So, in the end, she is given what she wanted, without any sort of karma in return.

What?

Majority of the main cast are just cast aside.

Why this happens, I am not quite sure. In Toy Story 3, it was so interesting to see all the toys in the gang actually work together and have quite a good involvement in the movie. In this one however, they're hardly anywhere to be seen.

Because they have gone on a road trip with Bonnie, a lot of the characters like Rex, Ham, Mr and Mrs Potato Head... Etc, they are just left in the RV, for majority of the movie. They don't even have many lines like they do in previous movies, and their screen time is pretty nonexistent. I was surprised to find that even a character like Jessie had hardly any involvement in this movie.

This is pretty disappointing, as I would have expected these characters to have more involvement within the story. But no. They don't.

Forky is a plot device just to make sure Woody runs into Bo.

The way the first few trailers showed this movie, they made it seem like it was mainly going to be about Forky, and how he struggles with the concept of being a toy, who is made out of trash. Similar to how Buzz struggled with thinking he was a space ranger in Toy Story 1. While doing this kind of plot with Forky may have been a bit of a repeat of the first movie, it probably would have been better than what we were given.

Forky is able to be convinced by Woody that he is a toy after a few explanations, and maybe roughly 30 minutes into the movie. That's it. The movie is hardly about Forky at all, and is more about the fact that Woody misses Bo, (which I find so odd, when she was only mentioned once in the third movie. So for him to be THAT desperate to see her, it feels out of place).

They could have explored the idea more of how toys come to life, how they have a conscience. They create this new character who was never originally a toy, but still comes to life. So do they explore this idea, of figuring out how he comes to life? You bet they don't.

I just don't see the point in introducing this new character if he's going to be used for such a reason.

Now, I'm not saying the movie was ALL bad. There were some things I liked about it, (like how good it looked visually, how it was just awesome to see characters like Woody and Buzz on the screen again after all these years...), but there is no way I could say this movie is a masterpiece, or even the best out of the series. Really, they probably should have just left Toy Story alone. Because now to me, it feels a bit weird to watch the end of Toy Story 3, having Andy talk about how important Woody and the gang are to him, only to know Woody will just leave. It leaves it feeling a little sour I think...

But that's just my opinion. If you got this far in listening to me ramble about my thoughts then thank you. And if you were able to enjoy the movie more than me then I am glad for you. :)

[buffster]

The Harsh Light of Day (BTVS 4.03)

This is part of my ongoing Buffyverse Project, where I write notes/meta for every episode in an attempt to better understand the characters and themes of the shows. You can find the BTVS list here and the ATS list here. Gifs are not mine.

The Harsh Light of Day is titled both for the Gem of Amarra Spike seeks (that allows him to walk in sunlight) and a nod to Buffy waking up from her night with Parker and seeing who he really is.

Willow: You know what else I love about college? How when the professor comes in, the class gets all quiet.

Buffy: Oh I hate that. I'm always like, what? Did something scary come in? Do I have to kill it?

For some reason I really loved the above exchange. It show’s Willow’s mindset of loving the seriousness of college and Buffy’s constantly wondering when she’s going to have to jump into slayer mode. There’s a little moment of continuity when Willow runs into Harmony and they chat as they said they should in Graduation Day. The twist is that Harmony is a vampire now. She actually manages to nick Willow before Oz comes to the rescue. 

I’m happy to finally talk about Parker and Buffy. Buffy’s first post-Angel experience had to be difficult for the writers. Buffy was still too in love with Angel to have a serious relationship but too traumatized from her first sexual experience to be casual about the second. I think where they went wrong was making Parker a manipulative asshole. It’s clear while watching their interactions that Buffy is throwing herself into this with a little too much enthusiasm. She’s making Parker her rebound (she admits this at the end of the episode...that all she was thinking was, “Look how over Angel I am!”). It would have been better if Parker was genuinely nice but just not looking for anything serious and Buffy willfully ignored those signs in her eagerness to move on. That puts the focus on Buffy’s difficultly moving on from Angel rather than punishing her for having sex. And I don’t think we needed another example of a guy changing. Angelus had us set for life.

Anya returns to Sunnydale because she can’t seem to get over Xander and keeps fantasizing about him. She logically explains that she wants to have sexual intercourse so she can move on. They sleep together (Xander mentions she’s more romantic than Faith) but Anya still isn’t over him. She’s not at all turned off by the man-child aspects of Xander’s life (living in his parent’s basement, doing his mom’s laundry, etc). 

Buffy: I thought Spike and Dru were a forever kind of deal, didn't you? Where’s the commitment?

Giles: I'm disillusioned. I shall never love again.

I plan to expand on this more in my meta about human-turned-vampire personalities (focused mainly on Angelus vs. Spike) but I love how Spike’s evil in the show is almost always characterized by his treatment of women. He’s committing evil because he’s obsessed with a woman, he’s committing evil by treating women like crap, etc. William and Spike are all about their relationship to women. Harmony gets under Spike’s skin because she makes him look weak in front of the other vampires with her pet nicknames (in fairness, she also never shuts up). There’s definitely some domestic abuse parallels here where she wonders why she lets him treat her this way. I understand criticisms I’ve seen where the abuse is treated as a joke and we’re made to sympathize with Spike.

This is one of the first episodes in which we see the chemistry between Buffy and Spike (more pronounced here than in Becoming). Parker even thinks they dated once and I can see why as they trade insults about the other’s partner. Spike also chooses to come after Buffy after gaining the Gem of Amarra, which was an odd choice. You’re the most powerful vampire in the world and can finally walk in the day and you want...to chase the one person who can stop you? He’s already obsessed with Buffy. 

Buffy: To me, a lot of the time, it feels like stuff's just coming at me, you know, and I'm reacting as fast as I can, just trying to keep going. Just-- just trying to be on my feet before the next thing hits.

I thought this was an important line for Buffy in setting up for her eventual weariness at life and depression. By the end of season five she is just so tired. Death seemed like a relief for her. 

After waiting days for Parker to call, Buffy finally runs into him using familiar lines on another girl. The first time she had sex she was mocked for being too inexperienced, this time she’s mocked for being too experienced. Women can’t win. She’s just been hit with the emotional trauma of this when Spike attacks.

Spike: So, you let Parker take a poke, eh? Didn't seem like you knew each other that well. What exactly did it take to pry apart the Slayer's dimpled knees? Did he play the sensitive lad and get you to seduce him? Good trick if the girl's thick enough to buy it. Wonder what you did wrong. Too strong? Did you bruise the boy? Whatever, guess you're not worth a second go. Come to think of it, seems like someone told me as much. Who was that? Oh, yeah. Angel.

Spike’s speech to Buffy seems to be wearing her down until he mentions Angel. I think the mention of him reminded her of all she’s overcome before and Parker is kind of small potatoes in comparison. She takes the Gem and decides to send it to Angel via Oz. 

Willow and Buffy get a nice friendship moment when Buffy tries to cling to the idea of Parker and Willow reminds her he’s a poophead. What are friends for? Still, Buffy has only been burned by sex thus far and she will be again before the show ends. Ugh.

I always laugh at the ending of the episode. We get dramatic shots of Anya, Harmony, and Buffy all walking sadly before realizing they’re feet from each other and not noticing. 

Character Notes:

Parker Abrams: Is your dad even really dead, Parker? I trust nothing about you anymore. He says he declared pre-med but changed to history.

Xander Harris: He’s working for Giles for extra money.

Harmony Kendall: She briefly dated Devon, lead singer of Dingoes Ate My Baby. But she was too flaky for him. She refers to Drusilla as Dorcas (and here we Tumblr uses thought we invented the practice of incorrectly naming someone we don’t like). 

Rupert Giles: The gang is disappointed in him for having a TV. 

Daniel Osbourne: He envies Giles’ record collection. Especially Loaded by The Velvet Underground.