#I need an entire episode of those

[roz-ani]

Okay, the last thing before I go to sleep. It’s such a small detail, but I’m obsessed with the little exhale Beelzebub does after Gabriel reveals he’s never gotten a gift from anyone before. I mean, it’s just so soft and awkward? 

Beelzebub’s face literally screams “Oh... Well, yeah... I’m just... I’m happy... to be... the first- yeah... Well, it’s a good thing” while Gabriel is clearly confused and was probably thinking everything through later on.

Moreover, if you pay closer attention to Shelley Conn’s eyes, you can see she’s not always looking directly at Jon Hamm in this scene.

LIKE AT THIS POINT I AM CONVINCED THAT BEELZEBUB EITHER FELL (hahaha) FIRST OR REALISED THEIR FEELINGS SOONER THAN GABRIEL

[egophiliac]

they're baaaaaack

[through-the-white-noise]

the reason netflix cancelled dead boy detectives is because they're working on a show called alive girl agents btw

[aenslem]

STARGATE UNIVERSE (2009–2011) ⤷ Space

[pimento-playing-hopscotch]

I love this show and it means a lot to me,

and I feel disappointed and a little bit misled tbh by the choices they have made-

These are two thoughts that can coexist btw

[musical-chick-13]

Like. The last thing I'm going to say is that I see a lot of comments about how "Well Americans probably deserve whatever is coming to them" because [some variation of how we are all equally violent and stupid and of course we elected this guy] and I will be the FIRST one to go, "Fuck America for real, I hate it here" but. There are in fact millions of people who did not want this. Who actively fought against it and will continue to do so.

BELIEVE ME, I understand the impulse to go, "Well with all the shit America has done to the rest of the world, why should I feel bad for them." I understand that compassion fatigue is real. And I DEFINITELY don't think it's the rest of the world's job to fight my battles for me or prioritize my feelings above anyone else's.

But if people are worried for their safety. If they're scared. If they're wondering how they and the people they love are going to survive the next few years. If people are feeling despair and despondence over the fact that they are stuck in an absolutely hellish landscape they did not ask for. Just...please let them have that. You don't have to tell them that you think they deserve it.

[syrenki]

Does pretending to be fine on the outside bring you at least some sort of satisfaction? That they won’t see how bad it gets

yesss and it's so selfish and embarrassing, i keep hoping someday they'll all see right through the bullshit and then they'll say "oh my, it was so very bad all along and you never said anything? you withstood it all and never brought any attention to yourself? that's so selfless, i could never, i would have broken earlier, you are so strong. we will help you now, you deserve it now because you never asked for anything!!!" but it never happens and it never will happen and the worse it gets for me the more i put on the cheerful and selfless and carefree demeanor, i get so desperate to keep it all up because if i ever drop the act and start Acting Depressed, start wearing my arms out or stop smiling at everybody all the time, i would be acting selfish, i would be attention-seeking, i would be undeserving of any help at all since i'm simply craving attention. you see what i mean? it's all twisted but i swear there is a logic there - the more desperately i need something to change, the kinder i will act, the milder, gentler, more selfless, quieter, i have to handle it with humility because not complaining and just taking it quietly is what would make me deserving of some care, and sometimes i need it so badly that i'd do anything to deserve it. i keep thinking if i deserved it i would have already received it, only that's not how people function, people go to psychologists or tell their friends 'i'm depreseed' and that's how they get help, not through martyrdom and humility. but i do it the quiet way and the worse things get the quieter and more mellow i become and it will probably go on this way until i kill myself and then people will say "holy shit, she was always so cute and kind and pastel, nobody could have expected this, who could have had any idea?"

[emotional-fandom-soup]

Still thinking about Tuvok and Vorik.

Like, I now really wish that the series had an episode where Tuvok seeks him out and tries to give him tips for how to keep your vulcan logic and emotional control in tact while being on a mostly human ship. And Vorik follows them to a T...only to completely mess up.

Like he just instantly gets into a fight with Belaana, accidentally insults Tom Paris, etc.

Eventually he concludes that nope, this is not helping, and he starts acting more himself again. (I headcanon that he's from a less traditional vulcan family and that's why both him and Taurik joined starfleet)

And he realizes how the humans actually respond better to him if he lets his emotional shields down. Which I can imagine might be exciting for younger vulcans who maybe don't really understand the importance of them yet? (Like how we see with child Tuvok in one episode, even though yk...vorik's clearly older than that.)

So throughout the series we get to watch Vorik slowly turn from your average cold vulcan into someone who's almost openly showing his feelings (as much as he's able to anyways)

I can imagine this would make things between Tuvok and him a lot more akward too since I believe Vorik would subconsciously still look up to him in a way, even if he doesn't feel the need to practice emotional suppression as much anymore.

So it'd probably come to scenes where Vorik's just chatting with a crew member and having a very slight smile on his face, only to turn 😐 again once he spots Tuvok walking past them.

[destinywillowleaf]

how to go from a one-shot/conversation spawned from thinking too much about an unseen father to more than a dozen fic ideas and an overarching narrative about family heritage (and the generational trauma that comes with it), the importance of communication, and how all lives touch other lives to create something anew and alive in one easy step

[dormiloncito]

watching clifford right now (don't ask 🤣) and this episode is abt how clifford and his friends met a dog that only has three legs. and while i understand this episode is clearly meant to teach children to treat people with disabilities like normal, it's so??? 😭😭

[sun-undone]

hi sof!! even though you aren’t continuing w diver down (understandably) i thought you might like to know that i still listen to it regularly, it’s always on repeat and i just love your voice and brain and ugh <33 love you forever

THIS IS SO SWEET THANK YOU 🥹 i never imagined that anyone would subject themselves to my ramblings willingly but to hear that people genuinely enjoyed doing it???? unreal. thank you thank you THANK YOU

i am pondering doing a bit of an overhaul and reviving the podcast in a different format somehow….idk if i’d just do another deep dive for a different show or if i’d talk about a different piece of media every episode or so or what. but something might have to happen at some point that’s all i’m saying. my insanity continues to know no bounds

if y’all wanna send me some suggestions, please feel free!

[r0semultiverse]

Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake finale spoilers without context

[fogwitchoftheevermore]

i love being autistic. tonight i wrote a 30+ page minecraft book about the parallels between scott smajor’s ”perfect” afterlife in third life and empires s1, a blaseball thing, and atwilight zone episode from the 60s for fun

[howtosingit]

S4 E1 Thoughts

Overall I definitely thought this was one of the show’s weaker episodes. It felt messy and clunky and not really what you expect a premiere episode coming back from an 8-month hiatus to feel like. I thought there was too much carnival but also not enough interesting carnival moments. I also pretty much completely checked out after the Tarlos bunk room scene as my brain struggled to wade through that mess, so I just don’t have much to say about all that Owen stuff and Tommy’s new guy 🤷🏻‍♂️ But obviously I’m gonna have some thoughts about the Carlos plot. Oh, that Carlos plot. I will say that, generally, I’m not excited about it. There are things that I get and there are things that I don’t, but honestly at this point I’m just hoping that it can be salvaged by the end of this 4-episode arc. 

There is always a certain amount of handwaving that you have to do with a show like this, when it feels like the writers are just pulling stuff from out of nowhere and throwing it at the characters. Tim has very much gloated about writing this way for the past 4 years, so it’s not a surprise. For me, I think that Carlos has very much escaped that kind of free-spirited story slinging in the past, so it’s unfortunate to see him now be the center of some of it. Anyway, now that a bit of the shock (though we really did all see it coming) has worn off, I’ve been able to sort some things.

What I Get:

I get Carlos coming out to his parents, them not reacting the way he wanted, and then his willingness to please everyone in his life leading him to try and “fix” his problem.

I get him being friends with Iris and him only getting close to Michelle when she disappeared. I’ve had that thought since season 1, so while it wasn’t explicitly planted that season, obviously there was something there to infer.

I get that Iris was the only person there for him after his coming out and that she loved him and he loved her, even if not romantically, and she was feeling just as lost as he was, so these young and confused kids (around 18-20, I’m guessing) made a decision that felt the best for them at that time (or the only option really)

I get that the marriage didn’t work out, that maybe their friendship was damaged as a result, and so they walked away from it all. They grew apart. They saw other people. Iris met Dustin and at some point, her mental health began to suffer.

Then Iris disappeared and for 3 years, Carlos came to terms with the fact that she was dead. He got close to Michelle, and tried to move on. I get that that’s where he’s at when we first meet him.

Then he meets the man that he knows almost immediately he wants to marry, but it’s rough and not straightforward and complicated. Also, Iris is alive! But Iris isn’t doing well, so she needs his healthcare to get the help she needs. Of course Carlos isn’t going to deny her that. And he’s right at the beginning of his relationship with TK, so in Carlos’s mind it doesn’t need to come up right then 🤷🏻‍♂️

So, like, I truly get how and why everything happened the way it did in the beginning.

What I Don’t Get:

I don’t get why they didn’t get a divorce when the marriage first fell apart. Carlos just says it was complicated. Maybe that means we’re getting more of it in the next few weeks, maybe “it’s complicated” is all we’ll ever get. But I still don’t get it.

I don’t get how Carlos was not a bigger deal in the investigation into Iris’s disappearance/possible murder. Like, I’m sure he had an airtight alibi and it was 3 years later when we met him, but... how did this never come up? This just makes Detective Washington look bad at her job, honestly. Not a single mention of their marriage status during all of those conversations? 

I don’t get why it took this long for Carlos to tell TK. Sure, at the beginning of their relationship, maybe it didn’t need to be said since the marriage was really just a piece of paper at that time. But did they never talk relationship history? They moved in together, they bought a loft together. How, at the very least, did it not come up during the conversations about Carlos’s will? Or even during the proposal? Why the damn delay? Especially when he presented it this episode as such a non-thing... it would’ve been even more of a non-thing if he hadn’t waited until they were LITERALLY. GETTING. MARRIED.

[This one I’m going to answer here because it has a reason but not a good one: it’s a TV thing. It didn’t come up before now because the writers weren’t interested in it coming up before now. While I do buy the relationship history between Carlos and Iris being established back in season 1, I do not buy that it was a marriage. I think that was created solely to happen during the Tarlos season 4 wedding plot to complicate the Tarlos marriage. So, Carlos Reyes as a character is suffering and being dragged through the dirt because the writers just decided to make this a thing EVEN THOUGH THE MAN HAS BEEN WITH TK FOR THREE FULL SEASONS AND TAKEN ALL OF THESE STEPS TOWARDS A LIFE TOGETHER. The writers failed Carlos here by thinking that the top of season 4 was the right time for this to come out and that it wouldn’t undermine so much of his character from the past 3 seasons.]

I don’t get TK being so damn chill about it. I hope he doesn’t remain so. That scene was incredibly painful to watch. I didn’t understand either of them. I didn’t understand what was happening. I just didn’t get it. I hope TK gets a moment to really feel about this in the coming weeks because oh my fucking god

[Though let’s be honest, Carlos hasn’t always gotten the opportunity to feel about things either so I guess TK is just getting that same treatment at the moment. The show loves to be like “nah they’re all okay with this now” and just skate on past.]

I don’t get Gabriel and Andrea. Sure, their son comes out to them and they hug him and tell him they love him. Sure, they don’t bring it up again because they think it’s best not to spotlight it or make it into a big deal (I get that impulse, even if it’s a misstep). But then their gay son brings home a girl and then marries her and they just... never talk about it?? According to Carlos they have literally never said another word about his sexuality to him. So, okay, sure, they’re probably thinking the gay thing was a phase and so they accept Iris. But then that marriage falls apart... do they ever ask why? Then Iris disappears. Do they... react at all?? Then they see Carlos at the market with TK and apparently immediately know that they’re together so... the gay thing is back on the table?? Without any conversations in the years between?? And then they’re just like “Yes, TK, we love TK!” But they never question why Carlos never tells TK about his marriage?? And then they get engaged and it’s not the first thing out of someone’s mouth?? What the fuck is going on with these two and the weird-ass whiplash that must be happening in their minds?

[I realized as I was writing that maybe since it’s established that Gabriel and Andrea never brought up the coming out again, maybe they also decided to just never bring up the marriage again to Carlos after it fell apart or after Iris disappeared? Which begs the question... DO THEY EVEN KNOW IF IRIS IS STILL ALIVE?? I tell ya, these next episodes better crack this Reyes family wide open or I swear to god...]

Other Thoughts:

That bunk room scene was really not great at all. Oof, that writing. It felt choppy, so I think they definitely cut a number of lines throughout it. Also, it was just a giant exposition info dump that ruined the flow of the scene’s emotional arc. They had to wedge in the reveal, remind everyone exactly who Michelle and Iris were, have Carlos poorly explain his reasoning, establish his shame and guilt that is clearly going to carry through the next few episodes, have TK be understanding so that the wedding isn’t just suddenly called off, and get us back to the venue update to set the timeline. There’s literally no room for any of it to breathe. Ronen and Rafa do the absolute best they can with dialogue that nearly suffocates them and becomes more confusing as the scene goes on. They struggle to find the through-line of it because it’s just... you can see the puppet strings! OOF. That needed another pass for sure. Or to just, y’know, go in the garbage bin altogether.

FINAL: I really dislike this. I’m convinced that it’s going to be a thing for 4 episodes and then, like everything else in the Reyes family, never mentioned again. It sounds like Carlos is really going to crack open as a character during this arc and while I am incredibly excited about that and I know Rafa is going to do great work, I wish it didn’t have to be riddled with plot holes and characterization inconsistencies. I wish it didn’t taint the return of these characters. I wish it didn’t (slightly) taint all of the great things that we’ve gotten before this. I don’t know what it’s going to do for the future Tarlos scenes, at this point I’m feeling hollow about them. I guess I’ll know in about 3 weeks when they wrap this all up and move on from it. Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to move on from it just as easily as Tim Minear... 🙃

But truly, would it kill a whole fucking room of professional writers to actually think through major character decisions like this?? Did anyone ask any questions at all??

Okay, I’m done for now.

[bixiaoshi]

what if i watch zankyo no terror again (the devil talking)

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

also a warning if you think abt it