#I really enjoyed his character and storyline but my experiences with police make my voice Not Matter in any kind of discussion on either si

[braindancer]

.

[pebblysand]

Hello hello! So i finished reading ch 22, and i have a lot of thoughts, but one that I kept thinking about, and i don´t know if this was intentional or not, is Robard's character, and how it reminded me of jkr, and her public opinions and persona these last years. How she gradually (and not so gradually, lately) became a transphobic bigot, basically. And i always thought "how did you get there, jk? where you always like this? or you became like this because of the way people harrased you over some tweets?" (i actually don't know, i hadn't read her twitter for years up until today out of curiosity, and... 😬) I kind of felt that with robard's character, i loved that, really. Felt, like most of your story, very realistic. Anyway, i wish you a great weekend full of delicious food, drinks, and whetever you consider fun 🤠

hello! thank you, i'm glad you enjoyed!

this is such an interesting question and one that i've meaning to post about for a long time but have been - i must admit - a bit of a coward about, lately. addressing JKR on tumblr one way or another is always a sure way to get anon death threats in your inbox, an experience that i've had in the past and wasn't keen on repeating. but i think this needs to be said, and it needs to be said publicly.

so, to answer your question, no, this wasn't per se intentional. i didn't set out to have a parallel between robards and JKR, although now that you mention it, i think my thoughts about JKR may have permeated his storyline subconsciously because yes, you're totally correct, there is definitely a parallel there. and, i think your question of: "jo, how did you get there?" is probably one of the most important unaddressed questions of our time.

i've been reading a lot of takes on tumblr lately. metas and purported text analyses that say stuff like: "umbridge is represented as being feminine and having a high-pitched voice, therefore JKR hates women because she thinks femininity is evil" or, "hermione is ugly and therefore JKR hates women because she thinks women have to be ugly to be clever/successful," or "JKR didn't say dumbledore was gay until after the books came out, therefore she is homophobic," etc. and, while i think people are free to disagree with me and i don't want to single anyone out, i think these takes are at best misguided. at worst, a bit dangerous.

misguided because frankly, reading the text and JKR's actions in that way is, imo, demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of history, the publishing industry, artistic creation and symbolism, and overarching themes of the work. it's taking elements of a narrative completely out of context and making them fit into a specific agenda. this idea that: HP is a terrible story, the author is evil, has always been evil, and anyone who still enjoys this work is a bigot. it's an insane take to have when talking about one of the most popular and critically acclaimed coming-of-age saga of the twenty-first century. hermione is a very feminist character. umbridge is also a very feminist character. they are both, of course, subject to the implicit biases of their times and have to be read and studied critically within that framework, but failing to understand the intentions behind their creation shows - again, in my opinion - a very dire lack of media literacy.

having said that, if those takes were just plain wrong, i wouldn't mind them as much - after all, i'm a massive believer in people's right to be wrong. but where i think these takes really pause a problem is that as i've said before, the underlying goal is to prove, by taking things completely out of context, that JKR was "always like this." i personally think that's a terribly dangerous argument to make.

because, the truth is: she wasn't always like this. JKR was a feminist. she was a leftist, a militant. someone who wrote one of the largest odes to love and tolerance and respect that our generation has known. she called to vote labour, advocated for social policies, gave huge amounts of money to incredibly good causes, and was an inspiration and model for thousands of young girls and women worldwide (myself included), both through her own success, and through the strength of the female characters she created. she had her flaws, of course. her belief that motherhood is the ultimate goal is problematic. her urge to take down pornographic fanfiction that involved her works in the early 2000s was unfortunate. but generally speaking, she was not always a bigot. she became one. and that is essential.

i think we too often see JKR as the cause of the problem. and, these days, it's true, to some extent, she is the cause of the problem. she funds abhorrent organisations which tragically seek to undermine trans rights, she uses her twitter platform to spread awfully bigoted ideas and is now slowly falling into antisemitism. but i think what we miss with the above is that she isn't just the cause of the problem, she is also a symptom. just like women who fall into MLMs are both perpetrators of financial abuse to the women in their downline, but also being abused by the system themselves.

JKR is the most famous and tragic example of a trend i've personally seen happen around me time and time again, of formerly left-wing people in her generation and older, slowly falling into conspiracy theories, bigotry and racism. of people who used to be sane moderates (either on the right or the left) now sliding further and further to the right.

i think it is very easy to dismiss these people by saying "they were always racists" or "they were always homophobic/hateful of women" when, in fact, that is not true. were they flawed and were some of their opinions imperfect? sure. but at the core, these people were progressives in their time. but they totally missed the train of modern progressivism. worse, they’re now actively going against it. and by saying they were always like this, we are steering away from studying the real cause of the problem, asking why these people became like this (as you put it: "how did you get there?") and looking for a solution, instead of writing them off as crazies.

i think regarding JKR, we can have conversations about how/why she became like this, although i think a lot of people online are not yet ready to have this conversation. i personally doubt there is a single cause. having read the ink black heart recently, i think two things appear clear to me. 1) she is chronically online to a truly terrifying degree, and this is coming from me, another truly chronically online person. 2) she has reached a level of fame and fortune and isolation that means she is now surrounded by yes-sayers, and is not exposed to much contradiction. i also think it is undeniable that there is a world of difference between the beliefs she expressed in the 2020 essay, which were misguided and potentially harmful, but not hateful, and the current state of her twitter account. as someone who has experienced death threats from trans activists before, i do sympathise with the fact that it’s hard to build empathy with people who yell in your mentions that you should die (in my case, simply for writing HP fanfic). whilst i obviously have managed to maintain empathy and understand that in some ways, this extreme reaction is the unfortunate pendent of the hate trans people and activists themselves receive and the work of a very loud minority, my experience is nothing like the scale of what she experienced. whilst i still think she was slipping into transphobia way before the onslaught of hate she received, i can’t imagine this helped.

but again, i think what is important to understand and realise is that this phenomenon goes beyond internet hate, and goes beyond JKR herself. i always think of my mum's best friend when i think of this. she's eighty-three now but in her day, was a hardcore, bra-burning feminist. she was childfree by choice in a time where that was not an accepted choice, and is one of the strongest, most open-minded people i used to know. yet, a couple years ago, i went to her house on holiday and she explained to me straight up that she'd fired her cleaner for wearing the hijab, saying "i don't want people like that in my house." and, of course, this is abhorrent (and also illegal) but like JKR, like millions of people, she didn't use to be like that. she became like that. and it is fucking dangerous, in my opinion, to pretend like these périple were always these worthless bigots, instead of asking the right questions. "why?" and, also "how can we get them back?"

and, you're right: robards's trajectory in castles is a bit like that. because i think i’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and again, because i’ve not expressed these thoughts out loud, they might have influenced my writing. and whilst robards in castles was always a bit more on the conservative side, he was someone who fought in the war. he was someone who fought with harry to open the muggle unit, etc. but somewhere along the way, he took a right turn that, again, millions of people in the real world have taken. and there is such a strong drive, right now, to write these people off. to think they are not worth the light of day, and are completely unsalvageable. and, there is such a strong pressure from a very vocal minority of millennial and gen z liberals to just cut ties with everyone and everything problematic. these injunctions to hate JKR and everything she's ever produced, to get rid of your HP tattoos, to stop writing fanfic, is the same as the injunction people make to stop talking to and cut off your racist relatives. and, if you don't do these things, you're a Bad Person™, a Bad Liberal.

first of all, this is frustrating because this sounds a lot to me like a "holier than thou" mentality that has plagued my catholic upbringing. this air of superiority about who is or isn't more of a sinner drives me nuts, and frankly, i've no interest in living in a "perfect" world of only interacting with the most "pure" individuals and materials amongst us. i find that these people are transposing values of fundamentalist religion into the left-leaning sphere in a way that is deeply grossing me out. i do not need a morality lesson, i certainly do not need to be told how to be a Good Liberal or a Good Feminist.

but i also think that this idea of just dismissing the way older generations are slowly falling into the traps of the far right and of bigotry as "they're just old" and "they should just die out" is also deeply misguided. because, again, this is preventing us from looking at the root cause of the problem. and, who's to guarantee that the disease won't spread further? i find it deeply optimistic and borderline deluded to think that we can just let boomers die out and that Everything Will Be Fine. bigotry and racism are a gangrene that spreads and slowly permeates every layer of society. i would know - i grew up in a region of france that was always far-right leaning, and i've watched that disease spread and spread to other regions, other branches of society, in the past twenty years. and believing that this won't touch younger generations, or permanently change the way we think, is a fallacy. we're seeing it happen in france right now. bardella, the new far right leader, is 28 and is now reaching french gen z on tiktok, and it's fucking working! more and more young people are voting for these candidates. and what's the plan here? are we just going to let them die out or further ostracise them too? write them off as permanently morally corrupt? send them death threats to change their mind like so many people did for JKR and her people?

it would be awfully presumptuous of me to pretend like i have the solution here. i don't. and whilst robards isn’t a character that is important enough for me to give him a redemption storyline, it doesn’t mean we should stop trying in the real world. and, trust me, i know it's hard to continue interacting with these people. as i said, i grew up around them and have struggled with holding back screams all my life. when my mum's best friend said what she said, it took everything i had in me not to just walk out. but we've got to keep trying. we've got to keep loving. i still love her. she's still one of the most important, foundational people in my life. and i still love JKR, in a way. i hate what she's saying, but i still believe a change is possible. or else, we're just giving up on humanity.

[kindredhearts13]

i found your criticisms of chicago pd very on point, fair, and accurate and appreciated that you voiced them!! i think there are a lot of problems with the show, even though i have enjoyed it for some time, i haven't kept up with it recently for a lot of the reasons you've described.

firstly, after all of the black lives matter things that happened over the past two or so years, chicago pd made a few eps that centered around the issue and... dropped it? i loved that they chose to take those steps at that time but have been really disappointed with the lack of follow-up lately.

i think kevin is severely underdeveloped and quite frankly cpd has failed at using his character's perspective to really change the show's perspectives (even though it is NOT the responsibility of the minority/minority characters to carry the burden of creating change on the show/irl)

also, this goes back quite some time, but the way they wrote rojas off was also quite cheap and took the easy way out, like it was easy to forget her character and the diversity she also brought to the show- and they failed to reflect how her friendship could have changed characters (like hailey's) perspectives on race/socioeconomic status, etc.

and, this is speaking as someone who used to intensely ship upstead, i think the way fans have started talking about hailey and upstead is also getting a little too intense. i have never liked how everyone's natural expectations are for marriage, for starters, let alone how when a woman gets married on a show (like station 19, for carina and maya) she immediately starts talking about having kids or gets pregnant.

i may be in the minority, but i do NOT want hailey/jay to have a pregnancy arc at all. i think there are a hundred more interesting storylines than having kids, and i think it's cheap for every female character's storylines to immediately be reduced to being a mother (and this includes kim).

i was also rewatching the fbi episode hailey was on and thought it was interesting how hostile was when oa pointed out the issues the chicago police department was- and although hailey is arguably my favorite character, i think people have started to gloss over some of her ignorance (as well as the ignorance of a LOT of cpd characters).

anyway that was longer than i intended it to be, but thank you again for sharing your thoughts!

Thank you for sharing YOUR thoughts! I completely agree with what you said- especially on Kevin. So many opportunities have been wasted to give him more story and development, and I just wish that the writers, show runner, SOMEONE would realize what talent and opportunity they have on their hands!

And THANK YOU! That is my main issue with people trying to excuse story-lines or characters actions based on 5 minutes of watered-down recompense. The show takes place in Chicago, CHICAGO, so why in the world do they act like tensions between its black and minority residents and the police are only heightened 3 times out of the year? Why do they act like this is a fad and not an actual call for change, and then use that to help tell their stories and better challenge these characters? It is sad because it should not be on Atwater or LaRoyce to guide this show into self-awareness; but the extreme lack of any remote diversity/inclusion in the cast makes it all fall on him, regardless. (I actually think that a sound argument can be made that bringing back the patrol officer aspect of the show could help to solve this problem a bit- but that's a conversation for another post.)

I also agree on Hailey. I find it extremely frustrating when people believe that a woman can only develop through assault, birth, or miscarriage. And while ALL of these things are real experiences that so many women have faced, not exploring nuanced ways to explore the depths of a character is beyond frustrating. That was one of my biggest issues with the way Gabby's character was treated over the seasons on Fire. While it made sense for her character to want to be a mom, it never made sense that they tried to push that as if it was suddenly her main personality trait. Or that she, after working so hard to become a firefighter, would just permanently give it up. Instead of allowing her to do what Gabby would actually do: live in that fear for a minute (most likely act out because of it), then eventually decide that she wasn't going to allow anything to be stronger than her. And use that as an important conversation with Louie about overcoming your fears and how she would fight twice as hard to come home to him every night. Or after losing Louie, going back into firefighting and really allowing her character to be challenged again.

I hope that they allow Hailey's character to develop outside of a pregnancy. And if they end up keeping Upstead together and decide to explore that world and what a baby looks like in it- they do it with two equally defined and developed characters. Both Tracy and Hailey deserve that.

[jade-marie]

Ok so on the prospect of “anti” tagging I have some thoughts.

This got long, not gonna lie.

Which content is considered anti?

This whole anti thing is a very subjective concept. I’ve seen a lot of talk over the last few days about “negativity” when, to me, negativity is when you’re just talking shit for the sake of talking shit, not when you’re making valid criticisms. Pointing out flaws in the writing or plot holes or racism isn’t being negative and this mindset that everyone has to be positive all the time is fucking toxic. It makes other people feel like shit when they aren’t enjoying an episode or storyline and simply want to share their experience.

And what content are people supposed to tag? Because I don’t see anybody requesting an anti-Dean tag or anti-Manny Montana when we’re all collectively roasting him for getting a stupid tattoo on his neck. But god forbid anyone critiques Beth’s character flaws. Heavens no - the misogyny!! So where exactly is the line being drawn? Does everyone have to tag content that isn’t singing Beth‘s/the show’s praises or are we allowed to make valid criticisms?  Are we allowed to say that we didn’t enjoy an episode?  Is this simply being reserved for people who mindlessly bash the show with no valid reason for what they’re saying? And while we’re on the topic - you might find criticisms of particular characters/storylines offensive, somehow. You might find that it impacts your viewing experience. Other people might find praise of particular characters/storylines equally as frustrating. When I see people praising Beth, sometimes it makes me want to stab my fucking eyes out, quite frankly. Soooo are we going to start tagging “positive” content as well?🙃

Silencing POC within fandom

It’s not lost on me, the timing of all this discussion. The fact of the matter is, the content people have an issue with right now is predominantly criticism of Beth, a lot of which is rooted in criticism of the racist writing on the show and the white feminism that she represents. A lot of this criticism is coming from POC viewers. So the second they have to start tagging their posts as “anti-Beth” so everyone can blacklist them, they no longer have a voice.

At the end of the day, this is a predominantly white female fandom and it’s very easy for the show to be viewed through that particular lens. So when you have POC fans finally speaking up and criticising the way Beth‘s handled by the writing, the way Rio is fetishised, the way racist tropes and stereotypes are utilised and they’re immediately branded “negative” - that really doesn’t set a good precedent. Because now you’re telling people that by making valid criticisms and speaking about the way their viewing experience is being impacted, they’re somehow ruining other peoples’ experience. It’s bordering on micro-aggressions, at this point.

Fandom is a communal space

Is it? Is it really? Because from where I sit half of this apparent community have fucking blocked each other anyway. Tumblr, in particular, is not a communal space. People have their own blogs and they post what they want to post. If you don’t like what they post, you don’t have to follow them, it’s really simple. In comparison, a platform like reddit is actually communal. People have to go into a shared space in order to voice their opinion, they have live episode discussions, they have post-episode discussions, yet nobody tries to police each other’s opinion there. People tag their spoilers but that’s it. If someone posts an opinion you don’t agree with, you simply move past it like a fucking adult. 

If you go on Twitter and you look through the good girls tag, you’re going to see a shit ton of stuff you don’t agree with and guess what? You just scroll past it. Because despite what people try to convince themselves, there is nothing communal about fandom unless you create your own community. If you join one of the good girls Facebook groups (again, communal in a way that tumblr isn’t) you’re going to see opinions you don’t like and once again, you just scroll the fuck past. And please don’t start talking about community when people are still too scared to actually voice their opinions because they think no one will like them or they’ll get hate. When people are literally leaving because they’re afraid that their “negativity” is going to bring everyone else down. When people are still punitively unfollowing/blocking/blacklisting and making shady fucking tags about each other for having a differing opinion about a work of fiction, how exactly can you even begin to talk about communal space?

If you want to start talking about community and manners, maybe take on board the criticisms people are making, recognise the issues being raised, stop punishing people for having different opinions and stop being so fucking selfish. On the other hand, you could decide to stop preaching community and everyone can post whatever the fuck they want, if you don’t like what you see, don’t follow them.

P.S if someone critiquing a show or talking about the issues they have with it makes you enjoy it less, maybe that’s because you didn’t like it that much to begin with. 

[peterstanslizzie]

Re-watching Lizzie Mcguire: Episode 1.8 (Misadventures in Babysitting)

- In the kitchen, we see Lizzie making scented candles, I believe? While her mom, Jo is prepping for dinner. Jo gets a call from their regular babysitter, Debbie and informs her that she won’t be able to babysit the kids tomorrow night. Frustrated with the news, she takes it out on a slab of meat.

- They try to come up with an alternative babysitter but their remaining choices don’t seem very appropriate. Lizzie tries suggesting herself but her idea was immediately shot down by her parents because they feel as though she’s far too young and this doesn’t seem like the first time this has been brought up.

- Also, poor Sam thought that the mixture Lizzie was preparing was cheese but as I had guessed, it was candle wax.

If Kate Babysits, So Can Lizzie

- During lunch hour at the cafeteria, Lizzie and Miranda are complaining about having to do a boring assignment where they have to design a model community that includes housing, hospitals, schools, police and a fire department. It actually sounds like something I would enjoy doing if I am allowed to inject some of my imagination and a little creativity into it.

- Lizzie asks Gordo what he would include in his own community design and he gets real specific about what he wants from having a bookstore containing the works of Navajo and Greek philosophers to the mayor being Tyra Banks. If Tyra was mayor of my town, she would pretty much re-name it as Modelville or Tyraville lol.

- Kate pops up and asks Gordo where the nearest software store is and if they sell a software that can design cities and towns, to which he suggests ‘Cybertown Maker’. Lizzie reprimands Kate for being lazy and trying to find an easy way of completing the assignment but in fact, she was mad at Gordo for not telling her about the software in the first place.

I will be surprised if she’s still allowed to babysit after this

- Gordo says that the software costs $60, which is expensive but this doesn’t rattle Kate as she has saved enough money from her babysitting job to purchase the product.

- Because of that, Lizzie is taken aback because she couldn’t believe that Kate is allowed to babysit while Lizzie isn’t. Plus, Lizzie is the person who gets ‘babysat’. They, mainly Gordo then discuss about Kate’s developed figure and how she gives off a more mature vibe than most girls her age, which probably signals to adults she’s capable of handling the responsibility of babysitting. Miranda calls her ‘stacked’. I don’t this term is even allowed in children’s television today due to how PC our culture is nowadays.

- Lizzie brings Kate up with her parents and Jo seems pleasantly surprised to find out Kate babysits. She does all that she can to convince her parents to allow her to stay at home and take care of herself and Matt for the night. Luckily for her, she manages to do so!

The Adventure Begins

- Sam and Jo are about to leave the house to go on their dinner date and they go over some basic rules and safety precautions with Lizzie. Sam tells Lizzie he trusts her, which is essentially music to her ears. Oh and Gordo and Miranda are there to help Lizzie. Well, as the saying goes, there’s safety in numbers.

- Matt wants to play Pledge of Allegiance but Lizzie tells him they have their assignment to do and will consider it after they have finished their work. However, moments later, Matt gets a little too hyper-active and starts jumping on the couch and running around the living room like the Energizer Bunny.

Sam needs to relax a bit but I get where he’s coming from. Maybe if he had installed security cameras around the house, that might help a little?

- Sam and Jo arrive at the Chinese restaurant they made reservations at and just right at the moment they sat down at their table, Sam starts acting a little nervous and fidgety because he’s worried about the kids. Jo tries to calm his nerves down but nothing she says is working.

- They come to a compromise where Sam can go back to check in on the kids through the window and once everything looks okay, he will come straight back to the restaurant and will eat his meal in peace.

- Meanwhile, back at the Mcguire home, Lizzie is frantically trying to wipe grape juice stain off their carpet because Matt had accidentally spilled the drink that Miranda had given to him. Matt is also not listening to any of Lizzie’s orders but will actually listen to Gordo because he’s an “older male’.

Home Alone Vibes

- Matt accidentally triggers a fuse to blow when he was playing with a mini vacuum cleaner (I think). This causes the whole house to end up not having any electricity and it is pitch dark. The kids starts lighting up some of Lizzie’s home-made scented candles and turns out, the candles smell really bad.

- Sam arrives at the back porch and he tries standing on a chair to get a small peep through the top window because it’s the only section of the window not covered by curtains. He makes the dumb decision to step onto the top rail of the chair and he loses his balance and falls and hits his throat on the tip of his lawn gnome statue’s hat. Ouch! That has gotta hurt.

- The kids heard the fall and are immediately startled. They wonder if that sound came from a burglar or a wild animal. The intelligent, Gordo fixes the circuit and the power is back on. All of a sudden, Sam tries to force himself through the latched front door by slipping his right hand through the door. Also, when he tries to call for the kids, he sounds very different because his voice box was affected by the fall.

I feel so bad for Sam Mcguire. He should have just stayed at the restaurant.

- They obviously do not recognize that it was Sam and Lizzie runs towards the door and slams it on Sam’s hand, hurting him in the process. Lizzie then calls the police for help.

- Back at the restaurant, the waitress is suggesting Jo should date her cousin because she thinks that Sam has actually left her. Like left her, left her. Lol, that woman needs to mind her own business because I would have told her to buzz off.

- The house phone starts ringing and Lizzie answers it. She hears and recognizes the same voice of the man who was just outside their house trying to break in and immediately hangs up. Sam gets very frustrated and he grabs a saw and tries to cut through the chain of the latch.

- With some quick thinking, the kids set up a trap for the intruder and just when they discover it was actually Sam, it was already too late and the trap is already triggered; A tin can filled with flour swings its way towards him and hits him in his ‘crown jewel’.

He has gone through so much pain in one night. Like I said before, he shouldn’t have left the restaurant PERIOD!

Aftermath

Despite being a so-called ‘helicopter parent’, he is really a sweet dad and really cares about his kids.

- The police arrives and they catch Sam and threaten to arrest him. But after questioning Lizzie’s if Sam is her father, the police lets him go.

- Lizzie is pretty mad at her dad for not trusting her to babysit for the night, which she should be but a father cannot help but be worried about his children. So, I don’t blame either of them. Sam recognizes that her daughter is not a little girl anymore and is willing to let her take on more responsibilities, which is babysitting Matt on more nights. Lizzie isn’t too thrilled.

Overall Thoughts

- I felt that this was a very well-balanced episode because there’s no separate A plot and B plot; Every character’s storyline intersects one another, which gives us time to breathe and really experience the episode.

- I like how Lizzie is willing to show to her parents that she can be a responsible person and she certainly stepped up to the plate. Sam Mcguire also shone in this episode in terms of his involvement in the main storyline. I also appreciate how protective he is over his kids.

- Gordo and especially, Miranda didn’t have much to do here. If their characters were absent, this episode would have been just as strong. But they are part of the main cast, so they have to be in the episode one way or the other.

[kimabutch]

hey, saw you just finished s1 of juno steel! what'd you think?

Initial thoughts: AHHHHHHH

Secondary thoughts: So. Good. I didn’t expect to get through so fast (partly because I’m still not used to podcasts that are only 30-45 minutes long) but it sucked me right in. It reminded me of why I love detective stories, especially ones that play with standard tropes. I love the thrill of mysteries, of dramatic chase scenes, big reveals, and twists that you sort of saw coming but couldn’t predict how they’d happen.

(I could write a full essay about my experiences with detective stories, cyberpunk, and self-aware fiction, and why this show specifically hits my Genre Buttons in a way that most fiction doesn’t, but that would be very self-indulgent.) 

The writing is really sharp and dances over the line of over-the-top in a way that I love. I enjoy the hilarious quips that couldn’t possibly fit within tight action sequences, followed by genuine and heartbreaking moments. The dramatic cyberpunk setting combined with almost painfully realistic depictions of mental illness and messed-up relationships is just beautiful.

(I will say: I think both the writing and the voice acting got a lot better after the first two arcs. Even in the remastered Case of the Murderous Mask, I thought Juno’s actor stumbled through a few lines and the writing wasn’t as tight in general. The Day That Wouldn’t Die felt like a big step up.)

I really, really love Juno as a character. The season finale was incredibly sad, but felt very right for a self-destructive guy who’s haunted by the past and terrified to change. I’m so curious to know more of his backstory — why did his mother kill his brother? Why did he leave the police force? — because I feel like he’s a very complex, fleshed out character that I still only understand in bits and pieces. I also really want him to get therapy. Please. There must be therapists somewhere on Mars.

Juno and Peter’s chemistry is also pretty impressive — I was already rooting for them by the end of the first episode. I love Peter and I can’t even tell you why, which is probably the point, because I think that’s how Juno feels. 

It’s also just fucking amazing to see LGBTQ representation in fiction — it makes my heart swell every single time. It’s amazing how much more invested I get in a world that has people like me in it (is that how straight, cis people feel all the time???) I can actively feel my standards for LGBTQ rep in media get higher with each episode.

I don’t want to write too much, but I really loved it. I don’t think I’m going to be able to stop myself from watching the second season (and then will probably watch all the other storylines. Crossing my fingers that they’re just as good.)

[lightsandlostbells]

Skam Italia season 2, episode 1 reaction

Hello, how’s everybody doing? We survived the first week of a S3 remake. I wrote a little (a lot) about it.

Just to be clear: I completely understand if people just want to hang on and enjoy the ride because it’s S3 again, we love it, it’s an important story for many people! But so far there are aspects of Skam Italia S2 that I am positive about, and there are areas where I have criticisms. Don’t read if you don’t want to hear some comments that are not 100% enthusiasm. For real, I’m not trying to be a buzz kill, like I’m fine with posting these to crickets, lmao, because it’s a fun exercise for me to analyze the remakes even if I’m essentially talking to myself. 

Thank you so much to everyone translating this show! Imagine if no one was translating this season. The fandom would lose its goddamn mind. You are literally saving the planet from destruction, thank you for your service.

At the risk of sounding pretentious, I’m going to put additional disclaimers here, because people have strong feelings about Skam S3, and people also have strong feelings about Skam Italia, and there is already drama when those feelings bump up against each other:

The reason why I started doing reactions to the remakes was to compare the versions of Skam and analyze what worked and what didn’t in the adaptation process. This was a clever change to fit this culture, this was awkward and didn’t work, etc. While I do want to judge S2 of Skam Italia on its own merits, I’m not going to leave the original series out of it and look at this season as something that exists in a Skamless void, because that’s not my aim with these recaps. So if you are really not interested in comparisons to the original show (positive, negative, or neutral) then perhaps don’t read further.

I’m also taking into account this is a different culture than the original show and noting how that might affect this story, and that it’s a big deal to have an LGBT Italian lead in a series and Italian fans are very excited. So I’m keeping that in mind! But I also think that, should Skam Italia bungle something, it’s okay to call it out, it doesn’t get a free pass. We criticized parts of the original series while praising it where it succeeded. Sana’s season, for example, is extremely progressive as a concept (a Muslim girl lead is extremely rare) but had numerous aspects where it stumbled, and as a fandom there was no shortage of criticism. This goes for both the social justice and educational aspects of Skam as well as writing, directing, acting, and other basic storytelling stuff.

Okay? Okay.

Episode 1

Clip 1 - GET OUT OF THE FUCKING TUB, LOSERS

Right away, I loved the voicemails. They sound like real accounts of homophobia, and I don’t know if these are actors recreating them or real people sharing their own experiences, but it was a powerful intro to the season.

I also like zooming in over the city while these voicemails played, over all these dark apartment buildings, because it felt like those voices could be coming from anywhere. They were anonymous. Your neighbor could be gay, the woman who lives downstairs could be a lesbian, and you might never know because they’re in the closet. You might never know how much they’d suffered due to homophobia. But they’re also everywhere. Despite their treatment in society, LGBT people aren’t “the other” but can be anyone you know. That’s why it zooms into the party, to link these anonymous voices to a face that we we do know.

I saw some people suggesting that maybe these have to do with Martino’s involvement in the radio station, and that this will be some part of a project that he does, and while I think it’d be awesome if the radio station came into play with his personal development, I’m ehhhhh about these turning out to be part of Martino’s project all along because it doesn’t seem like it goes with the real time format, and IDK, it seems too literal. But I’d be OK with it these were more of a thematic device and Martino has a literal confession along these lines later on. 

Rainbow logo 🌈🌈🌈

...who’s that blue-haired girl?

I feel like Edoardo being immediately on screen was to reassure any OG Skam viewers and Incantava fans who hadn’t yet gotten the message that EDOARDO IS DEFINITELY NOT GOING ANYWHERE THIS SEASON DO NOT PANIC.

Silvia is watching some girls dance and for a hot second I hoped they were finally hinting at the lesbian Vilde story we deserve, but it seems like she is watching them because of their slim figures, because she reconsiders the piece of cake she was going to eat. Silvia, no.

Silvia is very upset about the hotties at the party and Sana says there only would have been four people there and reassures her that she’s beautiful, awwww. But Silvia is upset about some Argentinean girl, who I assume is an apex hottie that she fears will outshine her, perhaps?

Silvia waves at Edoardo, who ignores her. You know, Edoardo’s apology to Silvia would feel more genuine if he acted like a baseline decent human being toward her instead of refraining from basic politeness because OH NO he has to shake her off his back (except when he can exploit her interest for his own gain).

It’s Italian Eskild! He says that Edoardo’s hair is indeed shit, suggesting Eleonora has told him all about it (something for the Incantava shippers) and I mean, I support him giving Silvia a boost, and I support any dragging of Edoardo, except Edoardo’s hair is like the one thing about him that is not shit.

He takes Silvia to dance and comments about checking her boobs to see if she is a virgin, so this is filling in for S2’s “It’s Britney bitch” moment. I guess they’re going to incorporate some Skam S2 material into this season in order to accommodate for the switch in storylines.

Hey, you know what I could have strongly done without? Filippo grabbing Silvia’s tit out of nowhere. There’s sometimes a tendency for gay men to grope women and get away with it because it’s obviously not sexual, so what’s the problem? Except the problem is that men, no matter what their sexuality, feel like they have unfettered access to women’s bodies. I’m not saying HE’S CANCELED or anything, but it irritated me that they threw in such a small moment that wasn’t needed, especially because this is our introduction to this character. Thanks, I want casual groping to be my initial impression of this guy. (Just to be clear, this dialogue happens in the original, but there is no unauthorized tit-grabbing from Eskild.)

And the fact that this moment went so unremarked upon is a sign of how normalized this behavior is, frankly. But they played it off as a funny moment so it’s okay!! Lol Filippo, you’re supposed to be gay!!!

Incantava shippers get a morsel before Eleonora leaves for London as she and Edoardo share a ~glance.

So Filo is Eleonora’s brother, which is a good way to incorporate his character considering it’s unlikely for Martino or Eleonora to live with a random roommate instead of their families, and they hadn’t set up the Filo character in S2 so his appearance in Martino’s life is going to need to be established quickly. So that makes both the Eleonora-Filo and Martino-Filo relationships more plausible in this culture.

Although lmao, imagine some of Eskild’s S2 scenes now that he and the Noora character are related. I’m sure Eleonora will need to bleach her eyeballs if she walks in on her brother getting his dick sucked to Circle of Life.

Eva catches up to Martino in the kitchen, and the flirtatious vibes are there right away, you know this isn’t going anywhere good. She tries to kiss him, so this is basically that scene from S2 where Eva tries to make out with Isak at a party, except way more awkward because this Eva actually manages to get a few kisses on Martino. Yikes.

Of course he’s not into it, and she’s just like yeah, go to your friends. Go find Gio. She knows where his real interests like. 

Martino answering some random landline is pretty endearing, especially when he has cans of beer he needs to balance to do so.

Him being like “I am not the owner.” Lmao, he’s a sweetie. I suppose this was maybe a neighbor or someone wondering about the noise level and activity at the party, and that was why the police show up later? But I like to imagine that they were filming in this building, the phone rang randomly, and they were like, eh, throw it in.

So now we’re moving into the OG S3 content, with Martino entering the bathroom and sitting in the tub with his friends drinking and getting high.

Elia is the second person to mention the Argentinean girl, so I guess she must be a stone cold babe. Are we ever going to see her? Or will her hotness exist only in legends?

They do the whole song and dance where Martino pretends like these girls aren’t hot enough for him, while the other dudes are not having it. Well, to be fair, he really isn’t into them. I’m not sure what to make of his reactions, because Isak was very performative, and Martino just seems indifferent.

The boys claim to have gotten Fede a present, I wonder what it was? Probably just booze or something?

Lmao I was wondering why this girl would use this random out-of-the-way bathroom, but apparently two dudes are fucking in the other one (what are the odds it’s Filo).

What assholes, get out of the fucking tub for two minutes and let the girl pee in peace! I guess they’re just lazy and stoned, but JFC.

Instead of saying the girl looks like Eleven from Stranger Things, Martino tells her she looks like a frog… I kind of see it? But she’s also a babe, soooo. 

Not gonna lie, I really did not like how they adapted this scene. “We’ll leave you alone to pee but you have to hook up with one of us” is not … cute … like it takes it out of negging teenage asshole territory and gets creepy. Maybe because of the hellscape that has been RL politics for the past few weeks, but I’m not in the mood for any of this boys-will-be-boys shit.

We know that one new dude must be Magnus because he is instantly rejected.

Martino gives the boys the thumbs up once Italian Emma starts making out with him and they’re leaving.

Martino didn’t actually do anything to win over this girl, really? With Isak it was a performance: Emma came in and he made a determined effort to flirt with her, he negged her, he complimented her, he got out of the tub and was more active in his pursuit. All of that was because he was trying to seem straight in front of his friends. Martino, on the other hand, was far more passive. He made the frog comment but that seems less like negging when all four of them are sitting there being dicks to this girl, rather than him alone, and she just happened to choose him out of the four. Isak was putting some effort into it and pretending to be interested until the boys left and things got steamier, but Martino just plain is not trying. He ain’t feeling it.

This is one of the disadvantages of writing recaps episode by episode as they air and not when you can look at the full season, though. Because on the one hand, making Martino more of a passive participant in his fake heterosexuality is fine, but on the other hand, if that’s not their intent - if they’re more or less going to follow Isak’s character arc for him - then I think they missed a big point of this scene in not making Martino pursue this girl more actively. But we don’t know exactly if this is a thoughtful, deliberate choice or an oversight. (For example, in S1 of Skam Italia, several of Eva’s key moments of “who are you?” were eliminated, Gio’s skate park speech was rewritten with a different focus, etc. which made me wonder about her character arc. It could have worked if they had intentionally made these changes to arrive at a different conclusion, but in the end Eva’s final speech to Gio is the same, the arc is supposed to be the same even though crucial points have been left out, and it didn’t feel as strong. So it’s hard to say whether Martino’s character is supposed to be written with subtle differences that change his characterization, or if they don’t realize how small edits can affect the perception of this character.)

I am a little alarmed that the girl goes for the blowjob like immediately after choosing Martino? Isak was hardcore flirting with Emma so it made more sense she was trying to do that with him. With this girl, she’s just trying to pee and some random guy’s like “Hook up with one of us and we’ll leave you be” and she’s like, “Sounds like a plan!” Damn girl, didn’t you need to really use the toilet? But you’re going to stop to blow him? Okay.

Eva is stumped by seeing that Martino was in the bathroom with a girl,  probably moreso because he just rejected her upstairs. Well, this girl isn’t his best friend’s ex, sooooo it makes a smidge more sense, Martino’s sexuality aside.

Incantava moment: Edoardo brings up the deal with the apology to Silvia, so that made it into this remake. Part of the deal was to erase the wall of conquests - smart of Eleonora - and I guess Edo did that, hopefully, but he also reminds her that she agreed to a date.

What a power move of Eleonora to go to England to avoid this date.

At least Edo was not pursuing her prior to this, apparently. It would be a shame if they suddenly had him pressure her into a date in Eleonora’s season.

Okay, I realize that Martino didn’t appear to have the best options to hide his weed,  but he’s really just gonna put it in a box on the railing where it could easily get knocked over the balcony or blown away or something? Lmao.

The scene of the boys running away from the cops was cute and had that “reckless youth enjoying the night” vibe.

So Martino clearly still has Giovanni feelings, and Giovanni is going to be crashing at his place tonight. Look at that hand on Martino’s shoulder, probably burning through his shirt. I like perhaps acknowledging the idea that all this casual affection between guys in this culture can take on a hidden toll for a closeted gay kid.

Martino mentions that his mom is freaking out, so they’re openly acknowledging Martino’s mom situation in front of the other guys (when Isak was less open about it) and Giovanni gives him a hug that fucks Martino up. It seemed like Martino didn’t want Giovanni to come over, probably both because of his crush and because of his mom situation.

Clip 2 - Sad boy slumber party

Martino wakes up and stares at Giovanni, who’s still sleeping. Martino is not on the bed, but on the floor, ostensibly because Giovanni threw him off the bed but really because he doesn’t want to be so close to Giovanni. He pointedly turns down Giovanni’s invitation to get back in the bed. This is a really delicate situation; this is such a casual thing for Giovanni that he doesn’t even think about it, but for Martino it’s this extremely loaded scenario that comes with dangers, so better not risk it.

Eva calls and wants to talk to Martino, but he can’t since he’s with Giovanni. Giovanni says that he’s been trying to get back together with Eva, and making a fool out of himself, so Martino is certainly not enjoying about this reminder that Giovanni likes girls, Giovanni loved (loves?) Eva, it will never be Giovanni and Martino in the way he wants. Also, awkward of course because Eva tried to kiss Martino, which says a lot about how she thinks of Giovanni - probably not keen to get back with him if she can make a move on his best friend, even when drunk.

Okay, I have a deeply unpopular opinion and that is: while Skam Italia’s cinematography is often visually impressive, at times it does not work with the material it’s supposed to be conveying. It’s not style over substance, but style against substance. There are several examples, but to go into one now: why the fuck is the lighting so dark in certain moments. Whyyyyyy.

And before you tell me, I do know why the director is perhaps doing this. It’s supposed to reflect Martino’s state of mind, it’s supposed to make things seem bleak, it’s supposed to contrast with the sunnier scenes such as later in the episode with Niccolò, etc. etc. The problem is that I do not think it is effective for the format of this show. Here’s the thing: we are supposed to be in Martino’s POV for a reason. His reactions should not be hidden from us, this audience, and to me the lighting is a barrier from getting closer to him and getting fully into his mindset. Like, the camera should be eating this shit up! Give me all the microexpressions! Federico Cesari is doing a nice job of acting so far and it bugs me that the lighting is obscuring some of his facial expressions. Now it makes sense for ambiguity on the part of say, Niccolò, who will be keeping secrets for most of the season (based on Even’s role) but this is Martino’s season, and we as the audience should be deep into his head every step of the way. This is supposed to be an immersive experience. There is zero reason to obscure Martino’s reactions from the audience. Martino may have a barrier between him and his friends, his family, his schoolmates, society at large - but not us, the viewers. (And not just the lighting, but for example, that his face is shot in profile for part of this scene, which again doesn’t give us a full range of Martino’s reactions, or the amount of distance between the camera and Martino at times. Even if you can assume what Martino is thinking and feeling enough that you don’t need really clear reaction shots, it’s like there’s a gap and we’re not supposed to get too close.) 

Like obviously this cinematography is working for people, and if it is for you, great! If this were a different show, I could be fine with it. But not with a series that is supposed to put me fully into this character’s head, not keep me at a distance.

Covitti is the girl from the bathroom? She’s followed Martino on IG. I feel like, if they’re doing a repeat of Emma’s involvement, then it doesn’t work as well as to why she’d suddenly be interested in Martino. With Isak, there was something karmic about it, because he blatantly pursued when he met her, and it’s like he reaped what he sowed, you know? Don’t get me wrong, he absolutely did not deserve the much later repercussions with Emma outing him, but the immediate aftermath of him flirting with Emma showed that his actions had consequences. He couldn’t just make out with this girl for the benefit of an audience and then drop her. With Martino, he was so much more passive with Covitti, that it feels less earned. I mean he’s very cute, but him being doggedly pursued by her doesn’t have as much to do with his characterization, unless the point is that he refuses to put his foot down and reject her. (A valid characterization choice! But hopefully an intentional one.)

We get to see Martino’s mom and on the one hand, it’s pretty cool that she’s around in this version, but on the other hand, goddamn am I apprehensive about how they will depict her.

Martino really does not want to eat lunch with her. Apparently they have chicken and potatoes four times a week. Credit to Giovanni, he acts normal and is polite to Martino’s mom and is eager to eat with her.

Eva apologizes for trying to kiss Martino. So Giovanni is trying to get back with Eva and Eva made a move on Martino. Awkward! Eva is also probably dying to bring up the topic of that girl in the bathroom with Martino, let’s be real.

Giovanni chides Martino for being an asshole and says if he didn’t treat his mom like shit, maybe he would help her! Hey, no offense, Giovanni, but fuck off. I agree that Martino was not nice to his mom, I agree that he should treat her better. But Giovanni is a visitor. He is a guest in this household. He doesn’t know shit about what it’s like to live there or what’s the best course of action. No, actually it’s not as easy being kind to someone and it’ll fix their mental illness.

If I sound weirdly pissed about this, it’s because I am speaking as someone who has been a caretaker to a mentally ill parent. One of the most frustrating things was when people who were completely outside of my situation told me how to deal with it. It’s fucking easy to think you have the answers when you don’t live in this situation, when you have the freedom to go back to your own home when shit gets really rough. When you likely haven’t seen a loved one at their worst. 

To clarify, this isn’t necessarily a flaw of the show, just an area where I think a character is flawed. But I would hate for Giovanni’s POV to be validated. Of course Martino should not treat his mother poorly, but he needs to do that on his own, not because some outsider who has no idea what is going on in this house thinks so.

Anyway. Shut the fuck up, Gio. 

Eva also doesn’t want Martino to tell Gio, so you know Gio is going to find out at some point. Here’s the thing: if this drama is more along the lines of ~ooo Eva kissed Martino and he didn’t tell Gio and Gio feels BETRAYED when he finds out~ then it sounds tedious and exactly the kind of drama I don’t want. It’s not necessary, it’s honestly a very low-stakes situation. However, if it’s more of a lead-in to S1’s drama being revealed, and Gio learns about what happened with Martino ratting out Eva, that would be interesting. I’d be very interested in seeing where it goes. I think the writers have to know that this would be the most compelling aspect, so here’s hoping.

Not gonna lie, one thing I liked about S3 was the lack of heterosexual relationship drama (other than what directly serviced Isak and Even’s relationship), and I don’t want this season to stray too far into Eva/Gio stuff. Though I realize that by switching S2 and S3, they probably feel like they have to account for their relationship.

In S2 of the original, we saw the remnants of Eva/Jonas more on Eva’s side, through Noora’s eyes. Eva told herself she was over Jonas and they were just friends, but we could see that wasn’t totally true. With this season, though, we’ll probably see Eva/Giovanni more through Giovanni’s eyes, because even if Martino is Eva’s friend, he’s Giovanni’s best friend.

Clip 3 - The Phantom Clitoris

Lmao, Luca being like “Guess what happened to me” and Gio being like “Did you put an egg in the microwave again?” (I mean, you can cook eggs in a microwave even if it’s not the best way!)

Luca hooked up with a girl! If we believe him. She didn’t have a clitoris! Except he didn’t know what it was called. I don’t know whether to think that if it he didn’t know what it was called, he probably didn’t know how to look for one, or that he’s straight up lying. But this is interesting because Jonas was the one who went down on girls in the original and had this dialogue, and then Magnus was the virgin seeking wisdom from Isak, and here apparently Luca is already banging girls? Or he’s pretending to.

Martino sees Niccolò for the first time! Niccolò is adorable. He’s got the Even denim jacket and a nice smile. Sana and Silvia are shown going up to him while he’s talking to another dude.

Luca is like, I watched a 20-minute porn tutorial of how to eat a girl out. No offense bro, but I doubt you were in a very studious mindset during that. Or maybe he was! Maybe he made flashcards.

Martino gets a text from his dad about having dinner “with us” and I’m guessing that his dad has a new girlfriend or something, because it’s kinda weird to text your kid “have dinner with us?” about both his parents when his dad left his mom.

Silvia and Sana come up, Elia brings up the girl with no clitoris to them (why was that the first thing out of your mouth, dude), and Silvia mentions that she and Sana are now in charge of the radio. So this is our kosegruppa! I wonder if the radio itself will have more plot relevance for the season.

The guys are conveniently too busy to help on Thursday! But Sana thinks they’ll be helping soon enough.

For a moment I thought Luca was frightened by Silvia and saw that as a point toward Luca/Silvia happening, since it would be in line with Magnus’ sado-Vilde dreams, but then I was like, oh right, he probably means Sana, lol. (Silvia is way less intimidating than Vilde. Silvia is cheerful, Vilde was sugar layered over a core of menace when she pitched kosegruppa to the guys.)

Martino checks out Niccolò again, because who wouldn’t, and Niccolò is talking to the other guy … maybe Niccolò is flirting with that guy?

The boys suggest smoking a joint but Martino didn’t get the weed back yet, so the boys are bummed, but Gio keeps his disappointment restrained to a few jovial  throttles of Martino’s neck. Martino dies inside and tries not to develop a choking kink.

Niccolò did not look at Martino in this clip, there’s no evidence he saw him in this scene, and he was in fact preoccupied with conversation with another dude. So ... has Niccolo seen Martino yet? In an “I saw you the first day of school” way? Because with that knowledge in mind, in the original we could look back at Even’s first appearance in the cafeteria and see that he had obviously grabbed a seat with a good view of Isak and was sitting there alone, possibly sketching him. I guess you could say that Niccolò was standing there to get Martino’s attention, maybe even trying to make him jealous by talking to another guy, but that seems .... really convoluted. If they do include the “I saw you the first day of school” line, they should have had Niccolò look at Martino for even a brief moment. It didn’t even need to be eye contact! Like you could show Niccolò looking toward Martino when he’s out of focus, as a background event, a little Easter egg for the eagle-eyed viewer.

This is one of those original clip comparisons, so hold on to your butts. In the original clip, the way the scene is shot and acted combines multiple details to demonstrate Isak’s alienation from the other boys. Tarjei’s acting shows that he is disconnected from this conversation - he’s picking at his sandwich, checking his phone, he’s not really engaged with the cat tongue/clitoris talk. He has a few mild smiles but his facial expressions and body language show he’s checked out. He doesn't participate in that conversation at all, actually, other than a look or two. There’s no dialogue from him. And the camera contributes to this impression that he’s withdrawn: it’s often just on Isak with the conversation coming from off screen, rather than showing him in the shots with the guys. It shows him alone instead of showing him connected to the group. When it does show him with the group, he’s not reacting to them much. So when he hears a boy's laugh, it seems plausible that it would get attention as the boys’ conversation is not holding his interest.

With this clip, Martino might make a comment like "Oh no, don't tell us your dirty story" but he is otherwise very engaged in this conversation. He leans into it, he's listening, his face makes him seem eager. He's frequently shown in the shot with the other guys, part of the group rather than isolated. Gio repeatedly looks back at him and shares looks with him so there’s something reciprocal happening. Martino speaks to Luca and he high fives him. He's just a definite participant in this conversation, so there isn't much of a feel of alienation here. I mean, we know he's gay, and maybe we can assume that his participation in this conversation is forced or half-hearted, but that's not coming through in how it's portrayed. And I like Federico, I think he's one of the better actors on the show, but I also think he's playing it too comfortably, though I blame Bessegatto more for that since his direction is what guides the performance. It seems like Martino's a nice guy with some friends, who doesn't seem too detached this conversation and who seems totally fine with looking at a cute guy over there. Not much of an internal struggle. Not much of an external struggle either, really. 

It felt like there were missed opportunities. For example, when Martino says he doesn’t want Luca’s TMI, and Gio is like, “Yes we do, don’t listen to him,” we don’t even get a reaction shot from Martino to see how that affects him? We could have seen him annoyed, or exasperated, or uninterested in this conversation. We could have seen him drifting and doing something with his body language to indicate he’s not comfortable, and then THAT is when he sees Niccolò, because his mind is already wandering. Not when he’s engaged in this conversation. Or keep in Luca asking Martino about going girls and wanting to know how Martino finds the clitoris, and Martino having to struggle to answer that when the boys are all looking at him.

I mean, again, it makes me wonder what they’re going to do with Martino’s characterization because they’re playing up his struggles with his attraction to Gio, but he does not seem to be struggling as much with the public performance of liking girls. Or even perhaps the internal conflict of liking boys. And that would be fine except it seems like it should be. Martino was the one who introduced the idea of liking Eva back in S1, before Eva had even suggested it herself. He was definitely on the defense then, so what’s going on now? 

Also, Isak glanced at Even and Even looked back, which made Isak look away. Julie pointedly did not show Even again in that clip because Isak was clamping down on his attraction and forcing himself not to look. Martino allows himself a second glance. It frames the scene way more comfortably.

Clip 4 - Fede almost had it all

12:12 ...it begins...

Martino sees Fede and Sana, so he approaches them. He calls them “rays of sunshine,” which is cute! Though he’s totally doing it to butter them up so he gets his stash back.

LMAO I love the part where Federica is like, I found a drill, who brings a drill to a party? (Someone you pray to God remains sober.)

He asks if he can come over and Federica chokes on her drink. She’s really cute in this scene. Honestly, she didn’t make a ton of impression on me in S1 compared to other girl Chrises from the remakes, but I enjoyed her here a lot, she’s sweet.

They can “study” together in the living room because Fede’s parents are gone. Oh babe, I think you’ll be disappointed at the amount of actual learnin’ that would take place were such a study session to take place.

Sana sits there texting Martino that she has his weed while he’s right there next to her. I guess Fede was just really excited by the prospect of having Martino in her house, but did she really not notice that Sana was texting and Martino just so happened to receive a text at the same time?

Sana saying that it’s “a friend of her brother’s” who has Martino’s “necklace.” Is that an actual nod toward Niccolò or just a coincidence? If she means Niccolò, then why is she bringing him up?

Like I know people like this theory, but I don’t think it makes sense that Sana was trying to hook up Isak and Even all along (or Martino and Niccolò if the circumstances are the same), because how does that explain her reactions to being asked about Islam’s view of homosexuality, or to Isak being outed? Of course they could be going for a diferent approach in this remake.

Federica is really adorable freaking out over how she ALMOST had Martino within her grasp. Poor girl, I’m sorry to tell you that your day is never coming. (Lmao, I guess one day a remake could swap out Emma for Isak hooking up with the Chris character? I mean Chris >>>>> Emma, but then I’d feel so bad for her.)

Clip 5 - Here we gooooooooo

So the carrot cake (made by Silvia) suuuuucks. Martino’s disgusted face is pretty good.

The girl squad is trying to Skype with Eleonora. Meanwhile Martino sits there by himself, not having a great time. As a contrast to the girl squad who are laughing and having fun, Martino is on his own because his dumbass friends ditched him.

Sana wants Martino to let them use his Internet connection to continue the Skype call, he’s like lmao, she’s ditching you guys on purpose. Gonna go out on a limb and say that he’s projecting.

Tbh I do think it’s odd that they wrote out Eleonora so much if they didn’t need to. Like I know people think they switched S2 and S3 for dramatic, important reasons, but I get the feeling it was just a matter of actor availability. I could be wrong!

That random curly-haired dude at the meeting is the true star of this clip. He was INTO everything that was happening.

SIlvia says it took forever to make her cake. And it still sucks, apparently. Good thing that the girls never seemed to get her pineapple cake from S1? Was Silvia behind the Jell-O disaster, too?

She doesn’t want another piece, which might be another hint at her ED, but the cake is garbage soooo maybe she just has taste buds and a self-preservation instinct, IDK.

It’s actually intriguing that Silvia seems to be baking cakes for people and yet she monitors her own eating so closely.

Lmao at there being dead noise when Martino sees Niccolò enter the room. Everything fades except this smiley hottie. (For a second I was like “is he flat-lining?”)

Niccolò walked in with some other people, including Covetti. He sits on the table beside Martino. Martino keeps glancing at him but Niccolò will NOT glance at Martino. Again, if they’re going to go with “I saw you the first day of school,” I don’t think they set it up that well. It’s fine if they don’t, but there are really no fun “extras” you get from these scenes with that reveal. In both of his scenes Niccolò has been hanging out with other people, he’s not glancing at Martino. There’s no foreshadowing. You can be like oh, Niccolò positioned himself outside the school for Martino to see, he DELIBERATELY didn’t look at Martino for reasons! But that’s not very enjoyable on a rewatch.

The way Martino begrudgingly greets that Uglydoll or whatever is the best part of the episode.

Covitti notices Martino looking over at Niccolo, by the way.

Okay, WHO IS THAT BLUE-HAIRED GIRL. Like it seems as if she would make a good Sonja, she reminds me a little of Theresa. 

Covitti whispers something to Martino but we don’t know what.

“Bad story about Chicco Rodi” Who was that? I vaguely remember the name from S1? Oh wait, was he the guy who got the award for worst attendance? I hope that “tutorial” is foreshadowing for Martino and Niccolò breaking into the school at some point.

Silvia comes across as positively chill compared to Vilde. It must be Osvaldo’s influence.

Why is Covitti even there, since she’s not interested in what Silvia’s saying? To stalk Martino? How did she know he would be there? Emma knew Isak was going to be there because of signups, were there signups for this? (This is nitpicky and I’m sure that’s what they meant, it’s just that they’re skipping over some parts where her motivations become clear.)

Martino: Sorry I have to take this totally real and not at all imaginary call!!!!!

Wow, no finesse, just like our man Isak.

Martino’s fake phone call is pretty funny, like he lets it go on way longer than necessary.

He plops down in a chair in the radio room and then he starts talking to himself and pretending to be on the radio. I really do like the idea of Martino finding his voice through the radio, literally and metaphorically. And actually, when he starts speaking by himself, he sounds pretty good to me! Confident, composed, his voice sounds good, the words come easy. So maybe this is a move from him being passive to speaking up for himself.

That shot of Martino, fractured in the glass, when Niccolò turns on the light is fabulous. Showing how Niccolò’s introduction is going to break apart Martino’s sense of self. And Niccolò‘s image is clear and whole so Martino perhaps sees him as this cool, confident dude who’s got his shit together. So he thinks. (Plus Niccolò literally turns on the light on and all.)

Niccolò says it’s a shame Martino stopped talking, basically, and they laugh about Silvia’s dry-ass cake.

Niccolò has a shitty ancient phone? Would that play into his avoidance of social media because of his manic episode? Since you can’t post to IG/FB/any apps from one of those. Or is he just a hipster who hates technology? Or something else? 

Lol, I didn’t have to wait long before the “breaking into the school” prophecy was fulfilled. They end up climbing into a part of the school that’s closed.

Beautiful view on the roof, obviously. I guess for O Helga Natt, Martino is going to run and find Niccolò here, maybe? And then he’ll be in the radio room instead? Will they stare at each other from behind the glass? 

Niccolò asks if Martino knows Silvia, and he says no, she’s a friend of a friend. Niccolò asks which one, so he’s probably wondering if Martino is good pals with Sana.

Niccolò notes that Martino doesn’t seem happy to be there, and neither does Niccolò. Taking him at his word, he’s doing this as part of school-work interchange. So I guess he didn’t show up just to meet Martino? Again, I have no problem with that changing that (I loved it with Evak but I’m fine with them not repeating it), I just want them to do a good job of foreshadowing if they do go with that.

We get the conversation about Niccolò being from a different school, but there’s no line (as in the original) where Isak notes with some incredulity that he transferred during his last year, so there isn’t as much of a hint that something happened to Niccolò, provided they are still keeping in his backstory. (I think he’s still in his final year?)

The camera gets very close up in the boys’ faces as they talk about more personal topics, THANK GOD. Like I do think the coldness and distance in other clips is intentional, I just don’t think it works with this show, but at least we can get warmer, closer scenes when necessary.

Covitti (whose first name is Emma, by the way) shows up and literally comes between them. They do the whole thing where Martino “introduces” Niccolò to Emma, except they’re not trying to pretend they’re already partners to avoid her. 

“Fares” means horseman or knight in Arabic, so I guess Niccolò is going to be Martino’s knight in shining armor? Or fight for him? That would explain his flipbook in the trailer with stick figure Niccotino on a horse.

Covitti isn’t very awkward as a person. She and Niccolò have a polite, maybe even flirty conversation when filtered through certain jealous ears; it’s Martino who suddenly feels like a third wheel. Covitti is still making eyes at Martino, though. Niccolò says he and Martino will stay back and smoke, which pleases Martino, but she invites herself to smoke with them. It’s awkward but way less so that with Isak, Even, and Emma, in my opinion, maybe because Covitti seems like she’s enjoying herself even if the boys aren’t. 

The poppy indie song at the end of the clip feels out of place. Like if they wanted to emphasize the awkwardness, they should have just ended in a stranger song or complete silence to drive home how Martino did not want her there. If they wanted to use this song to emphasize Martino’s crush, show closeups of Martino glancing at Niccolò with the sunlight bouncing off his face without including Covitti in there. 

Oh god. Don’t kill me for this. Okay. So we have Niccolò’s introduction in this clip, obviously, and I like him in the sense that he's a friendly guy with an utterly beautiful smile. But I felt like they made him just like ... a really nice, smiley guy, in a way that was one-note. And I’m NOT criticizing the actor’s abilities, because I’ve seen his acting clips from other projects and I think he could do justice to the character. This is more about directorial decisions.

Part of the reason I love Even is because he’s fucking strange. Sure, he’s Isak’s dream boy with his denim jacket and styled hair, and he’s got a smile like the sun, and he just feels cool, but he’s also a bouncy, twitchy weirdo coursing with energy. In his first clip he makes a HELL of an impression and it’s by pulling a bizarre stunt in the bathroom with paper towels and then by making a blowjob joke as one of his first lines to Isak. Now I don’t think every Even of the remakes need to do that, not at all, but Even felt like a really specific character to me, someone who was weird and strongly himself and presented in a way that made us fall for him piece by piece. And one fear I have about the remakes is that they’ll remove some of his weirdness to make him more of a general artsy hipster type who gets along with the Isak. (Or maybe him an artsy hipster asshole, but that’s another story.)

I feel bad because I do actually want to love Niccolò I think the actor is tremendously adorable and enthusiastic about is role, and I think he can make Niccolò into someone specific and memorable. But the way this scene was directed and performed, it felt like Bessegatto told Rocco to be charming by smiling a lot. And I mean, he DOES have a great smile, but Niccolò has the same amused, benign friendliness the whooooole clip, and my gut feeling was that they were trying too hard to make us like him and eliminating anything that might make the character off-putting, which is unfortunately some of what makes the character compelling, especially this early on as he should be something of a mystery both for Martino and the audience. 

Where this approach would have worked more for me is if Niccolò was this unstoppable force of sunshine against Martino’s constant grumpy iciness, and he couldn’t help but melt in the face of it. But the thing is, Martino isn’t a constant grump who’s freezing people out. He’s actually pretty friendly to people. So it was like radiant sunshine against slightly less radiant sunshine, and there wasn’t a lot like I felt I could mull over, IDK. 

And yes yes I know this is only the first clip. Niccolò has tons of time to make himself into a distinctive, memorable character. I’m aware of that. But I don’t want to lie about my reaction. 

General Comments/Social Media:

Continuing with Martino’s crush on Giovanni makes sense considering only a few months have passed. Though it should be said that I never thought Isak getting over Jonas from S1 to S3 without any elaboration was like .. a flaw of the show? It depends on how deep you think Isak’s feelings were. Personally I never saw him as in love with Jonas, I saw it as an intense crush, compounded by Isak’s bad home life so that Jonas, his best friend who was always there for him, was someone who really made his life better at the time, and whose attention he craved.

There was almost a year between the end of S1 and the start of S3, and during that time, Isak had seen Jonas go from Eva to other girls, so I’m sure it sunk in that Jonas wasn’t suddenly going to go for him just because Eva was out of the picture. And Isak had moved out of his parents’ home so there was less of an immediately chaotic situation where he was more dependent on Jonas for support. I mean he’s clearly not in a great place at the start of S3, but he was able to get some independence and distance from his parents. I think his life was more stable on a day-to-day basis. So it’s not hard to see how Isak’s crush would have faded with those factors in mind. Martino, on the other hand, has had less time to get over Giovanni, Giovanni perhaps has not moved on to other girls since he’s still trying to get with Eva, and Martino is still probably depending on him for more emotional support since he has to deal with a more directly stressful environment at home.

In the texts, Giovanni refers to Sana as “Sana Escobar” in reference to her taking the weed. Pablo Escobar is obviously extremely well-known on his own, but I do think it’s a nod to all the Narcos/Escobar mentions in Isak’s season. Or at least they took inspiration there.

Elia is apparently one hell of a dumbass according to an essay he wrote that showed up on IG.

I wonder if they’re going to swap out the Grindr clip with Eskild for the first meeting with Filippo. I really do wonder how that relationship will come across, because I know people are excited about seeing them meet (and I am too) but the thing is, a big part of what made Isak and Eskild’s relationship in S3 meaningful was that they had months of trust to be established between them. Eskild saw Isak repressing his sexuality for months, and when Isak finally came out to him, there was pride in seeing this kid’s long journey to acceptance. We also got plenty of little scenes between them so the dynamic wasn’t just a big dramatic thing, we saw the casual side of their relationship. So I’m not sure how they can replicate that with a relationship that cannot help but have less buildup.

Niccolò is a pianist and there’s a video of him playing on YouTube! I’m really glad they incorporated the actor’s talents into the character and gave him his own artistic skill to make him a little different from Even. I assume that Martino will find the piano video and watch that endlessly. And it’ll be fun if Martino is all convinced Niccolò is a serious classical music snob but then Niccolò is like, “YES, this is my JAM” over a cheesy pop song.

One big problem I have is that it feels like a lot of potential for conflict or tension (both internal and external) is being minimized across various relationships, in multiple situations. It just feels safer for Martino despite him still going through some major problems that Isak was not at this point, and so it really shouldn’t. And that makes it harder to get involved in his POV or to immerse ourselves in his struggles. For example:

The boy squad isn't angry or annoyed with Martino for losing the weed, they're just kind of like lol, get it back. 

Sana and Martino don't clash with as much tension, and does Sana even explain why she’s holding onto Martino’s weed instead of giving it back? Sana B. was disgusted that Isak left the weed in Eva’s house where Eva could get in trouble if it was found; Sana A. is just doing it to be sassy, so far? Knowing that she found Isak’s actions distasteful upped the animosity of the Sana-Isak relationship, whereas Sana-Martino doesn’t have that element. I mean it’s certainly a reasonable inference that Sana is mad at him for potentially getting Fede in trouble, but it’s not a clear motivation. Martino doesn’t know why she’s randomly holding on to his weed. Does he think she’s doing it because she’s Muslim and disapproves? Because she wants it for herself? Just to torment him?

Italian Emma comes across way more of a chill, tolerable girl than Nowegian Emma and less of a persistent nuisance causing him stress just by existing.

Martino is less alienated and uncomfortable and more like a chill dude who likes to look at guys. The boys talking about going down on girls doesn’t make him uninterested and detached from the situation, he just mildly protests about TMI but continues to engage. He can look at Niccolò without having to make himself look away. He puts up less of a show to perform heterosexuality than Isak.

Martino doesn’t want to get involved in the radio show, except when he’s left alone he starts talking into a mic and pretending he’s on the radio, suggesting that it is of interest to him even if he’s not into Silvia’s leadership or whatever (as opposed to Isak who just didn’t want to deal with kosegruppa).

Even the Martino and Niccolò meeting had them bantering right away, practically as soon as they spoke, rather than encountering any moments of uncertainty or confusion, no time where they had to find their groove. And people are going to be like “They got along right away when Isak and Even didn’t!” when the reason Isak and Even were a little awkward at first was not because they clashed but because they were attracted to each other. Isak was shy about talking to a cute boy and taken aback by Even’s approach; Even was overwhelmed about talking to the boy he’d liked for weeks. It’s also a mark of how genuine Isak’s interest was: with Emma he was all slick and insincere, with Even he was real and tongue-tied. I mean, think about episode 2 and what a great moment it is when Isak runs into Even on the tram and they fumble for words at first. It’s so good! It’s human and real. It’s vulnerable, especially from Isak’s POV since we know how hard he has been pining over the last week, but also from Even’s POV especially when you know he’s liked Isak for a long time. The thing with Martino and Niccolò is that they settle into conversation so instantly, without any bumps, that I don’t think I would buy a moment like that happening. It’s not like I expect them to immediately become best friends but it would feel strange after this scene. And personally, it’s not like this relationship needs to develop the same as Isak/Even, but it’s good to leave some room for build-up from a narrative perspective. That’s why it’s so satisfying when Isak goes from barely being able to speak to Even to getting so comfortable with him that he can joke around and laugh with him. Like, let Martino say the wrong thing, or not know what to say, or make a mistake, so he can earn that more comfortable place with Niccolò, or so we can savor the moments that show him as vulnerable. (I mean, did people not enjoy Isak and Even being shy around each other? Because the awkwardness, the long silent pauses, the fumbling for what to say ... I ate that shit up. I loved it.)

Now on their own, it’s not wrong for any of these plot threads or scenes to go more smoothly. But do you see how cumulatively, they don’t contribute that much to creating a stressful internal and external climate for Martino? He’s just so much milder about everything, and the people around him are milder to him, and from a dramatic perspective it’s not as engaging.

I mean fandom does this thing where it’s like “These characters get along better! Things are Softer! Cinnamon rolls!! It’s an improvement!!!” but that’s not ... actually great from a narrative standpoint. We’re at the beginning of Martino’s story and it makes more sense to emphasize what a shit place he’s in so we can build him up over the season. 

The conflict that IS there, and felt like it had more of a presence on screen when it was addressed, is Martino still having feelings for Giovanni and Martino’s issues with his parents. I’m not sure how much farther they’ll take Martino’s crush on Gio, since now Niccolò is in the picture, but they’ll likely have Martino keeping secrets from Giovanni that are Eva-related. And we have Martino living with his mother and dealing with her problems, but I felt like that should have been more emphasized in this premiere episode and not just one clip, since it’s really fucking huge. It’s not a problem he can kind of repress like Isak because Isak can just ignore his mom’s texts. Martino has to go home and deal with it every day. (Like I would have put the radio/weed stuff for episode 1 and kick off with Martino’s parental problems and meeting Filippo, since that should set sooo much of the stage for this season, emotionally.)

I’ve also seen the idea that this season will focus more on Martino dealing with external homophobia than internalized homophobia, and that’s certainly a good idea, but then they really should have hit the ground running with that theme. Show the boy squad making casually homophobic comments, show him fearing what his mom will say. Show some random assholes making gay jokes about Filippo at the party and Martino overhears. 

I think they’re doing the meeting with Filippo in episode 2, so hopefully we get more meat to Martino’s conflicts.

I sound like I’m being negative, probably, but I’m aware this is only episode 1, and there’s plenty more to come. There are things that I do like, such as Filippo being Eleonora’s brother and the introduction of the radio. I think those could be really cool for the season. And I’m still intrigued by everything else, because this is S3 and of course I’m wondering how they’ll adapt it!

Please feel free to correct me if I missed or misinterpreted anything!

If you got this far, thank you for reading! Especially if you disagreed with me, lol.

[hackedmotionsensors]

Im not updated enough w the ships but did stony get wincested? I mean like. In the SPN fandom the biggest ship if not only at first was wincest, and then a new ship appeared called destiel and totally overpowered it? Thered be the common drama of ship wars but i wanted to know if thats what happened?

lol I guess!?!?! Kind of. I don’t think it was so much of an overpowering as it was a massive butting of heads. SteveTony is still a very big ship but Stucky is also a very popular ship though fairly new since most of it stems only from MCU. Kind of different than a ship encompassing only a TV show.

So here’s what happened. The full damned story. Probably fft. its gonna be a long one folks so strap in. This isn’t really a call out but if you were curious as to why there’s so much damned fighting in the marvel fandom over really dumb shit this is an unbiased as possible explanation. Beware. I think the whole thing is dumb but I got some extra time right now.

Back in 2006 and 2007 Marvel Comics decided to have an event. You probably heard about it and they made a big movie about it. Civil War. Civil War was promoted as being a huge rift that cut down through the lines of the Marvel 616 Universe. Do you register and be accounted for your actions as a super human, or do you protect the privacy of yourself and your loved ones in an effort to fight without the limitations of government and the fear you might be policed and punished just for having powers AND put your family at risk of Supervillains (many who are tech geniuses) accessing your information and attacking your loved ones.

That was the premise. What it ended up being was a huge divorce between Steve and Tony. Like LEGIT it read as this HUGE divorce. They’ve fought many times before but they always sort of end up back together as buds. Now as fandom we took that full stop as they are clearly in love. They are divorced.

And now Steve is dead. LETS FIX IT. So since 2006-2007 a huge wave of new fans started writing fanfic. Started doing fanart. We got horny Commander Rogers when Steve eventually came back. Tony wiped his brain and we got fics from that. Steve creates his own team and refuses to give Thor and Tony to Luke to use as Avengers.

Then in 2008 Iron Man 1 is released. A bit later Captain America is released. Having known about the comics before and the rift between the two this is where yours truly gets involved. *Smash bros voice LYDIA HAS ENTERED THE HORNY GAME* 

Captain America being released is also I believe the start of Steve/Bucky. Because in this universe Bucky isn’t a small child/teenager (A Robin to Cap’s Batman) so its less gross. (All things being honest I definitely drew bottom steve with young Bucky hohoho ho)

So then in 2012 Avenger 1 is released. And there’s a fresh wave of MCU fans. A lot came over from being 616/Ultimates fans but a lot were brand spanking new fans. 

And then Winter Soldier was released. And it was a big gay romance between Cap and Bucky and the power of LOOVE!!!! AND FRIENDSHIPP!!!!!! Like in the WInter Soldier comics Steve has to use a cosmic cube to free Bucky’s mind and in the movie all it took was Steve Can-do attitude and his pure kokoro.  Its great.

However. This is when TENSIONS RISE. Stucky being a relatively new ship and SteveTony being a fairly old ship have one common denominator and that’s Steve. And its the typical well this ship is better than that ship. This ship is older than that ship. This ship has more MEANING than that ship. This ship is PROBLEMATIC. And its been going on to this day. It escalated again when Civil War came out. Becaus Civil War is supposed to be a Steve movie but reads as an Avengers movie. But the big point of the movie is like in the comics the splitting of Steve and Tony. A big damned divorce. Now is that divorce a divorce because they can’t find a common ground, or is it that Steve’s love for Bucky over-rides his rational thought and makes him fairly hypocritical because well shit he just loves Bucky so much. He says it to Wanda “Rumlow said Bucky and I...”

It was a movie just asking for shipping wars to happen.

So that’s WHERE this stems from. But here’s the issue. I have no doubt there are plenty of SteveTony fans causing just as much shit as anyone else. But at least from my experience, the Stucky fans have been far and wide more aggressive in harassing artists, even artists who don’t speak English as a first language, harassing the actors, harassing the comic book writers and artists who don’t have anything to do with movies, claiming that they’re homophobic for wanting to have a story with Bucky (who is still in love with Natasha [and that’s a whole other ship war there]) team up with Hawkeye (who is also still mostly in love with Natasha) to hunt down Natasha. When the author said “Hey this story doesn’t have gay people in it unfortunately but here are a list of comics that have gay characters in it” they ignored them and continued saying they were being transphobic. Because the person happened to be a trans man and disagreeing with them was transphobia. Which had nothing to do with what had happened at all. They’re the same fans that in person and over radio harass Sebastian Stan so much that he has to hide who he’s dating. 

They’re the same types of fans who call me a hateful cunt (which..probably true lbr) but I haven’t done anything recently. They’re the types of fans who come up to me at a con and whisper “Are you a stucky or a stony fan” And I (Because I was raised right) tell them “Oh I like both but I have a preference for Stony”. And then the person walks away. I’ve had friends tell me of their own horror stories at artist alleys where Stucky fans will open a book (clearly labeled as stevetony) go “UGH GROSS” and then put it down.

They’re the types of fans who refuse to watch an Iron Man movie but will say things like “I wish Tony would get captured and tortured by Hydra so he would know what Bucky felt like” (Which...omg that’s literally the first 20 minutes of the first iron man and the start of the MCU my dude)

They’ve attacked Thorki (and other ships and don’t get me wrong I get why people would complain about Thorki. Thorki;s generally know and don’t care about those complaints)

They’ve made entire articles on CBR, on Polygon on other internet news pages, as editors they’ve had some feisty tweets that causes some fans to worry that storylines they were enjoying (ex: Bucky/Natasha’s relationship) will get lost and destroyed in favor of a ship.

Now generally. This isn’t anything unusual. These fans exist in every fandom. And I have Stucky friends, (My BFF, one of my coworkers) and we get along just fine. Because we’re old ass ladies who realize that a ship doesn’t define our life. I think Stucky has some of the most jaw droppingly beautiful artwork this fandom has produced.

They just unfortunately have a lot of bad apples that seem to have only time to hassle other people and try to tear down other fans and have the loudest voices.

Also I’m 1000000% not saying that SteveTony fans probably don’t start as much shit as the rest but from my experience and from what I’ve seen SteveTony fans only ever bitch about Stuckys after the fact. After they’ve been hassled or saw something that was really rude or very non-canon complaints (if that last bit makes sense)

Oddly enough it kind of died down a little with the MCU killing half of the cast including Bucky (he’ll be fine I’m sure). But occassionally someone gets a lot of built up energy and wants to come into my ask box and tell me that I’m an elitist shipper.

PERSONALLY. I like to think of SteveTony and Stucky as Coke and Pepsi. You’re going to have a preference for one or the other. And you’re either gonna tell the waiter “I’d rather have a water” instead of the opposite one that you like, just agree and order what they have bc honestly who cares its basically the same or you’re going to be rude to the waiter, complain the entire time, leave a bad review on yelp and not tip him.

[ratemysheppard]

26) Medium

26) Title -  Medium 

- 3x4 Blood Relation 

- 2x12 Doctor's Orders

- 1x15 Penny for Your Thoughts

Year- 2005-2006

Character- Dr Charles Walker / Jack Walker

Synopsis- Alison DuBois is a psychic who works with the police to stop crimes. She starts dreaming of a man named Dr Charles Walker who it turns out was lynched in 1902 for raping and murdering 14 young girls. When a rash of similar murders start occurring, Alison traces the pattern back through the decades and comes face to face with a ghostly killer who is possessing men in order to continue his evil from beyond the grave.

Here’s a little interview with Mark Sheppard about filming Medium.

Medium- (lol) TV series, DailyMotion, good quality but a lot of ads. 1x15 here, 2x12 here, 3x4 here.

Entirety or episode?- Just these episodes, but it’s a neat mini character arc.

Overall verdict- Medium is exccellent. It’s imaginative, topical and well observed. The writing is very good and the acting is all top-notch. It is, however (at least this arc) dark AF in a way that actually surprised me, given that the tone otherwise is pretty light. It feels, particularly the first two episodes in this arc, like a family procedural drama which has sudden bursts of gore and, more disturbingly, pretty graphic paedo-fantasy which I found very unsettling. People might want to exercise caution if they are sensitive to topics of abuse and assault. The third episode of this arc, however, really impressed me. The writing is excellent, the storyline and twists are surprising and I found myself enthusiastically relaying the plot to my partner after I’d watched it. I loved the notion of it taking Charles years to insinuate himself into a suitably suggestible target’s mind. The notions that he had to ‘adapt or die’ when women started going to female doctors, and that potential host women tended to listen to his suggestions less than men were really interesting and sinister. Then they bring on the backstory and the constant twists in the third episode. Colour me impressed. The kids are really good actors in this, too. I very much enjoyed it, subject discomfort aside. The only criticism I’d make is that the ending seemed a tiny bit anticlimactic after how brilliant ep 3 was, but I like how they leave it open – we never know if Charles is really gone or not.

Screen time- Hardly anything in 1x15 but you need to watch for context. Main character in 2x12 and 3x4.

Accent- English and American

Mark’s character- This is probably the most impressed I’ve been at Mark’s acting since Crowley. He’s good in the second episode, but he is incredible in the third, where he plays not only evil spook Charles Walker, but his suffering descendent Jack Walker too. Charles is a completely repellent, evil monster, until he isn’t, entirely… the backstory, oh man. It absolutely doesn’t change how repulsive this character is, but it certainly makes things even more uncomfortable and grey. There’s a lot to think about with this character. Jack is almost even more fascinating, and the storyline that he’s spent his whole life as a functioning alcoholic in order to keep ‘the voices’ at bay is utterly heartbreaking and it’s really difficult to not think of Mr S’s personal experiences with addiction that he’s spoken about so eloquently on numerous occasions. The plot twist with Charles purposefully ensuring Jack will be in custody for 72 hours just so he’ll be cut off from alcohol so Charles can get in is just brutal (and ingenious). That’s one of things that really struck me about Charles – he’s clever. I noted down ‘why would he phone and warn Alison that Ariel’s at the party?’ but then it turns out he’s playing her again and… yeah. TBH my notes for this show are all just caps ranting of stuff like ‘GROSS’ ‘SHUDDER’ ‘UNSAVOURY’ ‘FUCK THIS IS CRUEL’ ‘OH GOD POOR JACK’. I’m reading my notes now and laughing a bit. Verbatim: “Oh my God Charles is talking to the girl!!! Twist! He planned it all along! Holy shit he’s gonna make her kill HERSELF!” I basically identified way too much with Jack and got the full force of protective outrage over him. Anyway, suffice to say I have more feelings about Charles and Jack than I can really write up here, but Mr S is stellar in this. These two identical characters are believably different people. It’s almost unsettling how he can go from dead-eyed stare to creepy, lust-drunk murder-face, to such convincing anguish that you just want to hug him. It’s weirdly distressing to see Jack (and actually, Charles) so convincingly upset and this dual performance is hypnotic. It really proves what Mark S can do when he’s given good material (FILM MAKERS, GIVE HIM MORE GOOD MATERIAL!!!) I will also add a side note to this that Charles’s costumes are all really awesome.

Highlight- “Maths is about STUPID.” – In this moment, Ariel is me. “Think about icecream, or cake… chocolate works good… Mommy, I’m hungry.” – In this moment, Bridget is me. “I have nothing but time” Shudder, shudder… did not expect him possessing Alicia. All the super repellent objectification and “Put it in her!” are hideous but effective and well-played. “Stop crying! Nothing happened!” – I guilty-laughed at that, but it effectively sums up Charles’s thought process and how psychopathic he is. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt so loved” – and there we have it :\ Charles being dragged away to his lynching screaming “I. WILL. NOT. GO.” Creepy because he’s a baddie etc but heck, I admire his determination. The sheer twists in episode 3. Jack’s emotional wrangling with whether to confess, as he’s being pushed to do, to a crime he can’t remember committing.

Rewatch?- It’s seriously good, but it seriously skeeved me out – I’d rewatch ep 3 but probably not the first two.

(Apologies for twelvety billion screencaps)

Possibly the worst facial composite sketch I’ve ever seen.

Bowl of fingers, there.

There it is.

Stop crying! Nothing happened!

;__;

Sorry I had to.

This outfit works.

Bless you Jack. Come here and let me hug you.

Puppy Eyes Level: Extreme.

[constantviewings]

The TV Show Trials - Batman: The Animated Series

Batman: The Animated Series is an animated television series based on the DC Comics superhero Batman. Developed by Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski and produced by Warner Bros Entertainment.

Bonus review of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm at the end!

Batman and Robin, a pair of caped crusaders, battle crime in Gotham City.

Almost Got ‘Im

In a bar, a collection of Batman’s enemies chat about their failed attempts to kill him.

This episode is formatted as a clip show, providing four stories on top of the main plot of the episode. This episode was a great filler as it showcased so many villains including The Penguin who I, unfortunately, didn’t watch a whole episode dedicated towards.

Heart of Ice

Batman must stop a vengeful Mr Freeze from fulfilling his vendetta against a callous business man.

Heart of Ice was the first episode I watched and I think it was the perfect starting off point. I only found this out while writing this review, but this episode depicts an entirely different origin story for Mr Freeze compared to his debut; though the storyline depicted in this episode quickly became canon in all other media portrayals.

 Two-Face

Thought the ever calm Harvey Dent puts on a happy face in his bid for re-election as Gotham’s District Attorney, he can’t still supress the psychopathic split personality of ‘Big Bad Harv’.

I really enjoyed this pair of episodes and how easy it is to sympathise with Harvey Dent and, to an extent, Two-Face. This series also includes my favourite, and perhaps the most iconic, design of Two-Face.

 Robins Reckoning

When Robin discovers that the thug who murdered his parents is back in Gotham City, he recalls the vents of his life as a young circus performer and the tragedy that made him an orphan.

There are an awful lot of dead parents in the Batman franchise aren’t there? I loved seeing Robin take centre stage in these two episodes and watching how he came under Bruce Wayne’s tutelage.

Harley and Ivy

After a failed heist, a frustrated Joker boots Harley Quinn from his gang and leads her to form a partnership with fellow criminal Poison Ivy. Both The Joker and Batman set out to stop the amazing duo. Little do they know, no man can stop Harley and Ivy.

I loved this episode. Besides The Joker, Harley and Ivy were the only other Batman villains that I had decent knowledge about and I loved seeing this iconic pair work together. The Queens of Crime being foiled by another woman was a nice twist that subverted expectations, especially for this series.

 Over the Edge

Batman and his allies have their secret identities exposed and are now being hunted by the Gotham City Police.

Now don’t start complaining that this is from The New Batman Adventures and not Batman: The Animated Series, but given the fact that it was mentioned on eight different lists of the best Batman: The Animated Series episodes; it counts. I’ll be honest, I was somewhat confused during the first half of this episode, as I feel most first-time viewers would have been, but I am a sucker for the ‘it was all a dream’ trope. Though my only issue with this episode was seeing Nightwing with long hair; gross.

 The Demon’s Quest

Robin is kidnapped, and Batman unexpectedly joins forces with Ra’s Al Ghul, whose daughter Talia has also been taken.

I didn’t really enjoy this pair of episodes; that is the only time I will say this. By half-way though the first episode, I found myself to not being paying any attention and ended up leaving the episodes on in the background; so much so, that I don’t remember anything that happened.

 Beware the Grey Ghost

Gotham City is struck by a series of remote activated bombings as a warning to a ransom demand. Batman realizes that the pattern of the recent bombings is based on an episode of an old television show, the “Gray Ghost”. Seeking information, Batman visits the actor who played the TV hero, Simon Trent.

This episode revolves around an interesting narrative device that shows both a young Bruce watching The Gray Ghost and present Bruce solving the crimes. Another feature that I only discovered upon writing this review is that Adam West voiced The Gray Ghost.

Joker’s Favour

An everyman schmo named Charlie Collins insults the wrong super villain on the road, leaving the terrified loser at the beck and call of The Joker. Two years later, he crashes in with Collins, who desperately tries to find a way to alert Batman to his master’s evil scheme.

This is an interesting episode, with the focus being on an everyday citizen who gets caught up in the crime world. Featuring Mark Hamill’s iconic performance as The Joker being the icing on top of a well written and entertaining episode.

 Perchance To Dream

After being knocked out in a mysterious warehouse, batman wakes up in an alternate existence that’s seen Bruce Wayne lead a fulfilled life with his family and fiancée Selina Kyle. But Wayne’s inability of live the dream reveals his mind to be in the thrall of The Mad Hatter.

I quite enjoyed this episode, especially as it highlights how much of Bruce Wayne’s personality and purpose is taken up by Batman. I don’t know much about The Mad Hatter and his ‘abilities’ so which did leave me somewhat confused, but it didn’t effect my viewing experience.

Zatanna

When the glamorous magician Zatanna is framed for a robbery during her act, Batman swings to her defence. Zatanna is grateful though a little puzzled by the Dark Knight’s commitment to prove her innocence, but the two heroes unite and use the skills her father, Zatara, taught them to expose and combat an evil illusionist.

I loved this episode, particularly the relationship between Bruce and Zatanna when they were younger. I don’t remember much of this episode outside of that.

 Trial

Gotham’s deadliest criminals, The Joker, Two-Face, Mad Hatter, The Ventriloquist, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy among many others, kidnap Batman and put him on trial in Arkham Asylum. The Dark Knight’s only hope rests with District Attorney Janet Can Dorn who, despite her anti-atman stance, is forced to defend the Caped Crusader’s life as well as her own.

Another villain-filled episode I really enjoyed. I’ve always enjoyed the aspect of superhero media that delves into the moral and justice-based side and this episode fully satisfied my craving. That, combined with the story of a DA coming to term with Batman’s presence in Gotham makes for a great episode.

 If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?

After being fired from Competitron; Edward Nygma takes over the identity of The Riddler in order to get vengeance over his former boss Daniel Mockridge. It is up to Batman and Robin to decipher the riddles that Nygma has been placing for them in order to save Mockridge from Riddler’s vengeance.

While writing this review, I did happen to confuse this episode with another episode featuring The Riddler; take of that what you will. Apart from that, I really enjoyed this episode.

 The Cat and the Claw

Catwoman and Batman join forces in an attempt to foil the evil forces of a terrorist by the name of Red Claw.

The pairing of Catwoman and Batman has always been a great one and this episode proves no different.

 What is Reality?

When the Riddler traps Commissioner Gordon’s consciousness in a virtual reality device, Batman must enter the villain’s construct to save him.

The only negative aspect of this episode is the dated understanding of Virtual Reality technology. Looking past this, this episode provides a great viewing experience.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

I never thought Batman’s origin story could get more tragic, but alas, this film proved me wrong. Featuring great animation, a compelling story, a darker tone compared to the animated series and a compact runtime of only 76 minutes, Mask of the Phantasm is a fantastic film that covers ground untouched by the animated series.

Rating: 4

After watching Batman: The Animated Series, I now understand why it is held in such high regard by Batman fans. Its compelling stories combined with iconic characters and performances make for a viewing experience unlike any you will find among any other Batman media.

 Did I like this show? Absolutely.

Will I continue watching? I would love to watch the entire series from beginning to end, but that’s for another time.

Artist Credits

George Caltsoudas

Phantom City Creative - Justin Erickson

Ken Turner

[tmae3114]

Got any favorite Mechquest moments? Favorite mechs? hero in college shenanigans? Tell me all the things tmae3114! Because this game is so underrated and deserves more love.

*kicks down a door* I AM SO READY TO TALK MECHQUEST THANK YOU FOR ASKING ME MECHQUEST THINGS

I am in absolute agreement that this game is underrated and deserves more love!! I have a lot of love to give it but I am only one person and this game deserves more people.

This is under a readmore because it is so very, very long. So long.

I apologise to anyone who is on mobile and has to scroll past this.

Okay! Starting off, a non-exhaustive (haha) list of my favourite moments in MQ:

pretty much the entire Rebel Leader mission because a) it introduces us to Odessa and b) everything she says in it is so good??? but especially

“If you are indeed Slugwrath's loyal servant then crush me with your mecha as a symbol of how the Shadowscythe will crush you... honorless cowards!”

also Sys-Zero getting cured! that’s such a good moment! especially how he was cured because the solution turned out to be giving him the strength to save himself!!

and that what he needed to get that strength was Odessa. it was Odessa calling out to him that gave him the strength to fight his way out of the dark!

(listen I am emotional about Sys-Zero and Odessa and it’s a crime that we didn’t get more about whatever relationship they have? there’s something so significant there. he literally says that as long as Odessa lives, hope lives. he was broken and dragged down into darkness and the only light that could pull him out of it was her and there’s something very significant there and we never get to find out what)

ALSO ODESSA’S SPEECH AFTER SLUGWRATH IS DEPOSED AND SHE GETS ELECTED AS HIS REPLACEMENT

“Only together do we stand a chance! I know in my heart that we can succeed!”

All of Odessa’s dialogue is just so heroic and she’s so good so to keep this list a little shorter let’s just say Every Single Time Odessa Is Involved

(listen Alden is great and all but if I had the chance to swap out the ruler of Greenguard from him to Odessa I would do it in a heartbeat)

OKAY SO TO GET THIS LIST BACK ON TRACK FROM MY ODESSA GUSHING

The bit in the Planet Romero plotline where the hero, Artix & Helia are discussing the plan and Artix retorts that he’s done this before. What is MQ Artix’s past after the Planet Carpenter incident? Why does he have prior experience and confidence in espionage? Other Artixes (Artii? What’s the plural of Artix?) don’t have that! Other Artixes are actively terrible at that!! What is up with you MQ Artix I want to know

(also there’s a point where he says “I know that sacrifices must be made in the never-ending battle against the undead” and what does that mean Artix what sacrifices are you talking about)

(MQ Artix is like. the darkest Artix. something is up with MQ Artix and I Have Questions)

Also the bit in the Romero finale where Artix and Helia share that quick, quiet reconciliation because it just feels so real to me. It’s not some big drawn out emotional conversation, it’s just a small exchange that shows that they’re starting to mend old wounds!

speaking of Romero, Artix being all dramatic about thinking he’s turning into a zombie and going all poetic like “If I am to go, I wish to go knowing that I am leaving the universe in good hands. All I ask is that when I am too far gone, you make it quick and clean, and that my mission will not ever be forgotten!” and then Helia just goes “Oh stop being so dramatic. You’re not turning into a zombie.”

also, the Wormhole Saga

just. the entire Wormhole Saga.

but most especially the bit during Zargon Part Two where you have to decide whether or not to change the past and Sys-Zero literally just. puts his hand over his heart. and asks you to do this with him.

“I can’t order you”

(*whispers* he’s the commanding officer he could totally order you to go through with the plan but his moral code won’t let him-)

I mentioned Sys-Zero getting cured earlier with the Odessa stuff but you know what else I love? The mission where we find him after he was infected! For one thing, the opening cutscene with Sys-Zero on his recon mission is really cool (though, honestly, why did he have fast food with him. who takes fast food on recon missions. Sys-Zero you dork) and the dialogue before you have to fight him is so good (I love characters trying to warn their loved ones when they’re being mind controlled)

and honestly with how much skill the story builds Sys-Zero up as having, the only logical explanation for the hero winning that fight is that Sys-Zero was forcing himself to hold back even through the nanovirus

I’m going to stop myself from going on about Sys-Zero moments or it’ll end up even longer than my Odessa gushing

actually I’ll just stop the list here because you asked other questions too and I should answer those because this list could go on for so long

My interest in things generally tends more towards the storyline than the actual gameplay mechanics (the most I have for things like that in terms of preference is turn-based strategy games) but believe it or not, I do actually have some favourite mechs!

The Golden Wrapped Nubertron was invaluable for me in early gameplay (and still can be, tbh) because it’s optic weapon lowers the level of your opponents, which makes battles far easier. Also I love the flamethrower. Honestly, if it hadn’t been for this mech, I may never have gotten into the game as much as I have, as it’s abilities were vital for helping me beat battles I would’ve otherwise been vastly underlevelled for.

I’m also very fond of the Draconic Guard mech, mostly because I like the spear.

The Dragon Spirit Form mech is also one I really like! I actually spent a decent while grinding for the credits to get the permanent one because I enjoyed using it so much in the mission it’s temporarily available in for plot reasons.

But my absolute favourite mech would have to be the Iron Cook, which is the one that I use as my default. I enjoy every weapon it has available and also just really like the design.

Hmmm... well I have headcanons about the hero being a uni student (and the other GEARS students too) but most of them are angst related to the fact that they’re also soldiers with no training and you specified shenanigans so I guess I’ll just have to come up with some now!

The hero is never, ever late to one of Aleysia’s classes again after the first time. Moreover, they’re always extremely smugly early, and will tell her exactly how early they are when they get there.

Not even battles will keep the hero from being early to Aleysia’s classes

The Hero, with blood and oil smeared across their face and the tips of their hair still smoldering: I’m exactly 0.00000145 microseconds early to class

Aleysia never admits it but she’s actually proud of the hero’s efforts to always be early to her classes and impressed with their timekeeping when they do it, even though she compeltely and utterly aware that the entire thing is an elaborate way of poking fun at how strict she is about not being late

the hero is a certified over-achiever and totally passes out all the time because sleep is for the weak (and those with time to do it)

I mean, being a uni student, the hero is likely somewhere between the ages of seventeen and nineteen circa the start of the game, and just going off of the things you can do in game, they are- a university student- a solider fighting in a galactic war - a volunteer at the local hospital- a pizza delivery person- a member of the local police force

this kid is a complete over-achiever and frankly I am surprised that they can function at all

(”kid” I say about a character potentially my age or older)

[Hero voice] caffeine tablets are functionally the same thing as sleep, right?

the staff & students of GEARS have a bingo game going for “Places I’ve Found The Hero Sleeping That Aren’t Meant For Sleeping”

Sys-Zero is winning but Sarrina is a close second

the hero is notorious for having almost unreadable handwriting and being told to hand in all their assignments typed up

their handwriting isn’t actually all that bad it’s just that they procrastinate and attempt to do their assignments last minute in their mech during a battle

And I wish I could tell you all the things but there are so many things and it’s hard to make up my mind what to talk about!!

If you still want more MQ infodumping from me after reading this monstrosity, just shoot me a few other questions and I’ll keep going! :D I will let loose literally Every Bit Of Information as long as you give me a direction to go in ^_^b

[karenymarie]

Pretty Little Liars Review Season 7b Episode 2

It’s finally here! The last half-season of PLL ever! I can’t wait to process all the ups, downs, zombie hallucinations, and body burying shenanigans with all my fellow PLL superfans.

First, let me introduce the new episode rating scale, starting at 1 (the least impressive) and going through 5 (the most impressive). Each number has been assigned a corresponding PLL moment.

PLL Episode Rating Scale:

1: (Very Bad) Charlotte’s Holographic, Tactile, Wall Street Investor Panel

2: (Bad and a Little Pathetic) Drunken Ezra Getting Thrown out of the Radley after one too many Pink Drinks

3: (Mildly Pleasant) A Pair of Shay Mitchell Sunnies

4: (Ooo So Good) Season One Instagram-Filtered Ezria Drama

5: (WTF this show is Awesome) Aria Twisting a Doll Baby’s Head the Wrong Way

Episode Rating: 2

Thoughts:

1: Apparently the writers want us to forget that Spaleb ever happened.

I know I was one of the few fans eager to toss out Haleb for this sexy five-years-forward twist, but the writers are proceeding as if this major plot point never happened. Shots of Hannah and Caleb waking up in bed together and Caleb’s oh-so-husky support of Hannah’s budding fashion career is not enough to erase Spaleb’s sex-brunches. Also, last time I checked, Hannah was apologizing for kissing Spencer’s boyfriend and lying that she was okay with their new relationship. Flash forward to 7b, and Hannah is the angriest with Spencer for playing AD’s whirring, meta board game. “I may have been the one driving the car that killed Rollins, but we are all in this together.” Really, Hannah? Really?

2: Emily v. Addison is Problematic In at Least Two Ways

Falsely accusing lesbian and gay professionals of inappropriate behavior is a longtime tool of homophobes, and these accusations against Emily are no different. However, there is another aspect of this storyline that I find very troubling. Many, many times the young victims of sexual assault are doubted and dismissed by the adults around them. Yes, I know Addison made up these accusations, but this storyline affirms the idea that teenage students are quick to throw fake accusations against faculty. From my personal experience, and those of many I know, teachers (usually males in power) are often inappropriate and manipulative to young male and female students. What stops these students from speaking up? Fear that they will not be taken seriously. Honestly, I’m angry the PLL writers went this direction. It’s a lazy, problematic plotline that hurts Addison Derringer’s otherwise impressive performance. And let’s not forget the years Ezra Fitz manipulated Aria, using his position of power to date and stalk his student without any repercussions.

Phew… rant over.

3: Holden + Aria = Happy Face. Holden’s Advice about Ezria = Sad Face

I’ve actually really enjoyed the return of the karate kid Holden. He is a fun foil for Aria’s flirtations with her murderous, alter ego. (She was definitely going to kill Nicole with that salt water taffy, right?) That being said, why oh why is he giving his former English teacher a pass? It’s almost like he’s feeding Aria exactly what she wants to hear. Every time her devotion to Ezra is wavering, he’s there to present some weighty/confusing metaphor about the time it takes diamonds to form. Come on, Holden - can’t you just take the place of Liam? (I miss his scathing takes on Ezra the Predator).

4: Is Paige a Supportive Ex, or a Crazy-Eyed Stalker?

Paige is on her fifth or sixth personality in this show. In 7a, her earnest devotion and semi-aggressive PDA was enough to make me cringe. Now? In the tortuous Emily - Allison - Paige love triangle, she is the most level-headed. Next to Emily, Paige looks like a sane, professional Rosewood High faculty member with a firm understanding of what is and what is not appropriate. Is this sudden increase in confidence and capability because Paige has joined forces with A.D.? Or because she is A.D. herself?

5: Mona is Making Me Uneasy

I love Mona, and I always will. I’m enjoying how hands-on she’s become with Hannah’s fashion career, but am I really supposed to believe Mona didn’t know Jenna was back in town before the rest of the girls? No. I refuse to accept it. Mona always knows what’s up before anyone else, but when Jenna showed up at the Brew in an almost-replica of Hannah’s lame black swan ballerina dress, she acted shocked. Sure, her sass with Hannah and the Jenna-thing was a blessed thing to behold, but I can’t help wondering if she knows more than she’s letting on.

6: Why is Spencer Boring Now?

I don’t have much to say about this one. Spencer’s normal shenanigans have been downgraded to going to the *gulp* Rosewood police for help in finding her birth mother/vampire, Mary Drake. Spencer as Mary’s daughter was a fun twist, but I’m kind of over it. I want Spencer to get back to her sleuthing, manic self.

7: Hannah is Brutally Attacked by Sentient Shoes

Not only was this scene almost too dark (visibly) and bizarre to comprehend, it was also boring.

8: I Miss Young Caleb

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Caleb was always a little too perfect for my taste, but this five-years-forward Caleb is a huge disappointment. His days are spent as follows: 1. Wake up sexy and shirtless next to one of the liars 2.Say something ridiculous about how amazing said partner is while assuring them that stealing a dress design is a good idea 3. Go out to lunch for fuel after a night of sexy sex 4.Threaten women with a throaty voice and 5.Grab blind women’s walking sticks. (There might be some light-to-no-hacking in there, but I can’t be sure). I’m over it. The only way this character will be redeemed in my eyes is if he is A.D or working for A.D., and I don’t think that’s going to happen.

The Best

Runner Up: Aria

For being terrible to that geeky reporter and comparing her stature to a normal-sized kitchen knife.

Winner: Paige

Yes, I’m as surprised as you, but thanks to Emily’s bullying of a fifteen-year-old student, she was quite refreshing.

The Worst

Runner Up: The Rosewood Police and Marco

Why isn’t the police force already searching for Mary Drake? Isn’t she the lead suspect in Spencer’s shooting? Also, negative 100 points to Marco for telling Spencer she sounded “fragile” on the phone.

Winner: Emily

Oh dear. This was nothing short of a trainwreck. If bullying a teen and showing obvious and constant PDA is indicative of Emily’s maturity level, she should not be parking in that faculty lot.

PLL Recommendations:

Want some companion guides for your PLL watching? Look no further than Bros Watch PLL Too. I actually look forward to their three-hour line-by-line review podcasts more than the show itself.

[hanna-kin]

Skitten snø review

repost becuse tumblr hates me

So I was going to wait until I had my computer but I’m on the train and bored af so here it goes. (Actually I’m not on the train anymore but since I was on my phone I could not get the “keep reading” thing to work and I hate having to scroll through long, irrelavant posts so I had to add it. I did write it on the train though.)

Trigger warnings: rape and sexual assault, mental abuse, stalking and manipulation. And of course there will be spoilers :)

Overall I enjoyed watching skitten snø. It is most definitely a thriller which is not my favourite genre normally. But this had be waiting rather eagerly for the next episodes and I wanted to watch them as soon as I woke up. It was easy for me to root for the main character and my favourite thing was the friendships between the four girls.

As for Tarjei’s character, I think they gave him enough characteristics to not just become a super stereotypical villian. One the other hand Nicolas is your typical villian. Like he has many of those stereotypical traits, yet, like I said I still feel like he was a bit more well rounded. But most likely with psychopathic tendencies, which I guess would explain his charm and charisma he shows for three minutes.

The assault scene in the first episode is very graphic and I definitely see the point of people that have said that it is not necessary for it to be this graphic. It was horrible to watch and made me feel sick. I can imagine it being triggering for people. Personally I struggled more with the aftermath in episode 2. Either way I think episode 1 and 2 are definitely the heaviest but they are also very well acted. But I’ll save the acting part for later.

The storytelling is very basic and to the point but not necessarily in a bad way. It works for this kind of story but I’ve become used to very pretty cinematography with all the shows I’ve watched lately. In that sense skitten snø is not very revolutionary but like I’ve just said it doesn’t really need to and the focus is on Sumera’s story, how she copes with her trauma, how she gets support from her friends, but feels like she can’t trust the authorities or even the grown ups in her life. It really is a theme that I myself can relate to even if I’ve not been in her exact situation. The thriller aspect of it also works without extravagant camera work or music. But I have to agree that the music/sound editing is not the best. But again I have been so spoiled recently. I just don’t think skitten snø is made to be “pretty” if that makes sense. With that said there could have been so more refined scenes.

Thinking back to it I think I enjoyed the first part of the show slightly more than the second. In other words, episode 1-4 vs 5-8. Over all it was a great little series but I personally think that 1-4 showed less of the thriller clinches that I’m not super thrilled about. I could have done without the whole chase in Nicolas apartment complex for example. Even if those scenes were intense to say the least they did follow that typical pattern of suspense scenes and you could predict the outcome a bit.

With that said there were a few twists I did enjoy and didn’t see coming. From the beginning I knew there were something going in with Charlotte and Nicolas. You didn’t have to be sherlock Holmes to figure that out but I did not expect them to have a baby together. I kind of liked that though. And it can’t be a coincidence that the baby was named Isak? Right? Right? It gave us the best gifs of Tarjei holding a baby though. I mean how can you not love that? On a serious not it gave another side to Nicolas and made Charlotte’s role much more difficult because she had her son to think about and also her own scars and fears. I felt so bad for her when she finally told her story to Sumera. Speaking of “twists” there was one I didn’t enjoy at all and it has to do with Nida.

I liked the parallels between Nida and Sumera and how Nida was also raped but that she was slut shamed, and victim blamed which lead to her suicide. It seems like an important story to tell and one of my favourite scenes and lines from the entire series is when Sumera tells her friends about Nida and they tell her that it won’t happen to her because she is not alone. What I didn’t like was the twist that Nicolas was also Nida’s rapist. I don’t know I just didn’t like that. I feel like it was enough that both Charlotte and Sumera had been victims of Nicolas and I would rather have Nida’s story to be seperate from that. It would have been just as meaningful without it in my opinion.

In contrast I absolutely loved episode 3 and 4 and Sumeras friends being there for her, providing her the support she needs and encouraging her to go to the police. I also really appreciate the show’s portrayal of Sumera’s struggles with self blame, shame and fear of what will happen if people find out. Especially the parallels to the girls’ old friend Nida. I’m not going to pretend that I know anything about the Pakistani culture or how it is to be a girl born in Norway to immigrant parentqs but for me that was one of the strongest parts of the whole story. My heart breaks for Anila and what she had to sacrifice in order to help Sumera. Again it feels like an important story to tell and the contrast between Sumera’s family and Anila’s is striking.

As for the final episode and the end it felt very abrupt and I was left with so many questions. They could easily have made 2 more episodes focusing on the aftermath. I would have been a lot more satisfied with s more fleshed out ending. As it is now you have this very intense climax and then the show kindof ends without offering any explanations. Maybe they are interested in making a season 2 but I find it unlikely to be honest.

As for the characters I really like Sumera, the protagonist and her friends including Charlotte. I think they had a good chemistry together and it felt like a very good and warm friendship, especially between Anila, Ambar and Sumera. We got a bit more insight to Anila’s life compared to Ambar and I loved that we got to see her home life. I wished we had gotten more about Ambar though. We got backstories for Charlotte and a glimpse of Anila’s life and Sumera is obviously the main. But Ambar is not as fleshed out. She is not bad or anything. She proves that she is a great friend to Sumera. She is not just funny or quirky. She gives good advice, comforts her friend, and really is there for Sumera. With a few more episodes maybe we could have seen more of her life?

Nicolas was a good villian. Very evil but with some dimensions as I’ve said before.

As for the side characters I love Atif, Sumera’s brother. I liked their relationship and it felt pretty authentic. I also liked Sumera’s parents even they were not that present.

Wasim (oh and Anila’s dad) was probably one of the few characters I really dislike. Maybe that is also a reason why I didn’t like Nida being one of Nicola’s victims because this meant that Wasim became directly involved with this storyline and I prefered him hanging around in the background not doing alot. Unfortunately I don’t think the actor was that great which most likely contributed to my dislike for the character. I would have prefered only Atif helping them out. Now Wasim became the wounded hero that got reunited with the girl at the end. Could have done without that too.

Acting: I think the acting is okay for the most part but I can see why people think it is on the weaker side sometimes. I do think the girl playing Sumera, Kamaalpret, is holding her own and there are a few scenes especially in the first few episodes where she is really good.

The other actors do vary in their delivery but I think it works. The girls dynamics work well and their friendship feels genuine enough. But the acting over all is far from what I’ve become used to. I’m picky as fuck.

Tarjei: There’s no way around this but Tarjei is by far the strongest actor in all the scenes he is in. He does the role of Nicolas so well. And he’s on a completely different level than the rest of the cast. Granted he has more experience but we also now he is just that talented. He gives life to Nicolas and some of the scenes has made me feel almost sick. I’ve also spent a lot of time listening to his voice only when timing subs and let me tell you he is not only good at micro expressions. His voice goes from pure evil to threatening to desperate to fear full etc. I could go on about this but he keeps doing distinctive changes with little nuances depending on the characters mode. While I think Isak is a more complex role to play and hence his best role yet I have to say that this is definitely his second best by far. I can’t put words into it even. He is amazing. Period.

Let’s make a top 5 scenes of Tarjei as Nicolas in no particular order.

1: the opening scene to episode 2. “You are allowed to move” that line. But he is amazing the whole scene.

2: the confrontation scene in episode 4 I think. Where Sumera gives Nicolas the money. Again he does a really good job with playing an evil, manipulative psychopath. “We are done when I say we are done”

3: Nicolas attacking Atif and Wasim in the forest. Omg. When he screams “Down”. The desperation and loss of control is very haunting and you can tell that Nicolas really has no boundaries. He is almost like an animal in that scene. You feel terrified of him.

4: His very final scene. The noises he makes when he is about to fall. Again he sounds like a desperate animal. He is scared and absolutely terrified. Tarjei really is an actor with no fears or inhibitions.

5: the scene with Sumera, her mother and Nicolas in the kitchen. To Sumera’s mother Nicolas is just a polite, handsome guy trying to help but all his interactions with Sumera are so manipulative and threatening but in a very subtle way compared to their other interactions. He’s in control and he knows he can get what he wants from her.

I could honestly have picked many other scenes and on a rewatch I’d probably go “oh this is definitely a in the top five” with every other scene.

Tarjei truly is one of the most talented actors I’ve seen. Ever. Ever. Ever. He has such a wide range and he’s not scared to challenge himself. In combination with his raw talent and his ever growing experience there are no doubts in my mind that he will only do more and more impressive roles.

To sum it up, skitten snø is worth a watch in my opinion. It’s not the best series I’ve ever seen but certainly not bad. It is entertaining but still carries a good message. The friendship of the girls is the highlight of the show. My wish would have been more episodes. At least 2 but maybe even 4. Just to develop the story a bit more and have more time with each character (not you wasim). I imagine one episode more in the beginning, one in the middle and then two more to finish off the series.

If it wasn’t for Tarjei I’d never watched it in the first place but if someone sat me down and forced me to watch the firat two episodes I’d still want to continue even without him. He is their strongest actor by far and he certainly is a good asset but he doesn’t carry the series. The girls really are the most important characters and again their relationship is my favourite thing. I’d still root for them with a different actor playing Nicolas and I’d still watch with anticipation and enjoy it because of the girls.

Overall I’d probably give it a 3.5 rating out of 5. Tarjei gets 5 out of 5 though.

What did you think? I’d love to hear your opinions.

[jazy3]

Some Thoughts on Sherlock Season Four & The Final Problem

So having watched The Final Problem at the Theatre this week I have some thoughts. Overall, I really liked the finale and this season as a whole. I understand that a lot of people really didn’t like it and I can certainly see why. But I did like it. I liked it a lot. My only real complaint about this season is how little Molly Hooper was in it compared to previous seasons. That being said with the storylines they decided to go with she couldn’t have been in every scene and I hate it when shows force or put characters into scenes that they really don’t need to be in just because they are main characters. 

So I wish she had been in it a bit more, but at the same time I don’t know how they would have done that without making it looked forced. But I’d be interested to hear other people’s (respectful) thoughts on it. I also think it’s really odd that people were surprised by Mary’s death. One of the reasons I love Sherlock so much as a show is because of how faithful it is to the original stories that Arthur Conan Doyle wrote. There are lots of little tid bits sprinkled throughout and if you know Victorian policing history it makes for a really fascinating watch. In later seasons they don’t follow the cases exactly, but I do feel that they stay true to the characterization of Doyle’s characters. 

Which brings me to my next point: Read Your Source Material. I’ve found a lot of what has surprised people about the series are actually things that happen in the original stories. If you choose not to read Doyle’s work that’s perfectly fine, you can enjoy the series without ever having read his work. But to complain about the writers making a particular decision when it was actually decided by another writer over a hundred years ago seems odd to me. 

Now on to some things I really like about this season and the finale. Let’s begin with The Six Thatchers. I loved the moments between Mary and Sherlock. The scene with the dog was my personal favourite! I thought that her death scene was particularly well done in the way it was shot, the background of the aquarium, and the acting. All the red herrings with “Miss Me?” kept turning me around. Which I liked. Also MyCroft’s lines throughout this whole episode were pure gold! 

I liked all the twists and turns The Lying Detective brought to the table. The hallucinations of Mary were particularly well done. Culverton Smith was profoundly chilling. Definitely a well done villain for sure. The back and forth about who and what Faith really was and whether or not she was real kept me on the edge of my seat. Also there was a lot of humour with Sherlock in these scenes that was fun to watch. Mrs. Hudson and the sports car. That fake out was fantastic! I’m glad they dealt with the texting/cheating in this episode. I was worried they were going to leave it hanging and that would have been annoying. The scenes between John and Sherlock at 221B about the birthday revelation, the cheating admission, and the acknowledgement that we are all just human were really touching. They were well done without being cheesy.

Finally, we get to The Final Problem. I liked the fake out with the young girl on the plane. It pulled me in right away and kept me hanging on. I’m really glad I saw it at the theatre because if I hadn’t I don’t think I would have been able to get through it at home. I think I would have stopped and started it a lot. The scene with Mycroft at the house was superb and the humour that wrapped it all up with John and Sherlock was priceless. I loved the scene at 221B where Mycroft wants to speak to Sherlock alone and Sherlock insists that John stays because he’s family. You can see the quirk of John’s lips as he smiles briefly upon hearing this. You can see in that moment that John truly forgives him and decides to put the past in the past.

I know a lot of people didn’t like the bomb scene because they thought it was too James Bond, but I liked it. I thought it was done well. The banter between the Holmes brothers while they are waiting to make their move was my favourite part. The pirate line of Sherlock’s when they commandeer the boat is great. The scenes between Sherlock and Eurus are truly, horrifyingly disturbing. The actress who plays her does a phenomenal job. And it’s the reappearance of Moriarty! Ah how I’d missed him. He was always the most fun to watch. “I want to break free!” Only Andrew Scott could pull that off.

The murder palace/house of horrors that Eurus creates and then puts Sherlock, Mycroft, and John through is astounding. I find it really interesting to compare the way Sherlock reacts to being told by Eurus to have Mycroft or John kill the head of security and the way he reacts later when told to kill either John or Mycroft to how he reacts when Molly’s life is put in danger. In the other two scenarios he is calm, cool, and collected as he is throughout most of the Sherrinford Experiment when other people’s lives are ended or put in danger. But when it comes to Molly it is a completely different story. 

There are so many things I liked about this scene. How John hypothesizes the coffin is meant for Irene Adler, but Sherlock almost instantly ascertains that it is meant for Molly. I love how Molly stands her ground the whole way through the interaction. How she makes him say it first. The Molly we saw a few years ago in Season One would never have been able to do that. Now Molly holds her own. This evolution is part of why we, the fans, love her so much. 

I know fans and even the showrunners and writers are divided on this scene and what it means, but here’s my take on it. I think the first time Sherlock says, “I love you” he is saying it because he has to. If he doesn’t she won’t say it and she will die (or so we, and Sherlock, are led to believe). The second time he says, “I love you” he means it. You can see it in his face, in the way he says it, the tone of his voice, and the very fact that he says it again even thought he doesn’t have to. I think Molly hears it too and that is why she says it back because she can hear that he means it and is being sincere. I think he is.  Coming back around to my previous point about how differently Sherlock handles and reacts to the different life and death puzzles we can see in his reaction how much he cares for Molly. Previously and after with the other puzzles and orders he is calm, cool, and collected. He handles it well. But after he saves Molly by getting her to say those three little words he reacts completely differently. He yells at Eurus to play fair. He orders her around. When he realizes Molly was never in any danger and he has hurt and humiliated her for no reason he is devastated. He is devastated not only by what he has just done to her, but as Eurus says, what he has done to himself. 

By saying those words he has finally allowed himself the realization that they are true. That he has felt them all along. In reaction to this, instead of simply moving on to the next room as he had done previously he lovingly places the coffin lid on its base and lovingly traces the words “I love you”. He then proceeds to smash the entire thing and everything around it to pieces in a screaming fit of primal rage. When all’s said and done he sits on the floor: a broken man, still shaking. John’s words to him are very telling as well. I know that was hard for you, but you have got to keep it together so we can all get out of here alive. 

I thought the realization that Redbeard was actually Sherlock’s childhood friend and not the family dog was a cool twist. It also explains a great deal about why and how Sherlock is the way that he is and how he’s able to attach himself to John later on in life. I personally was a fan of the montage at the end. I know a lot of people were upset about Molly bounding in at the end there (especially after Moffat’s comments) but here’s how I took it. It’s supposed to be open ended. There are a lot of possibilities. The first is that Sherlock and Molly reconciled in some way and that the whole “I love you” scene is something they will address in a later episode in a later series. 

For example, something will happen with Molly that will prompt Sherlock to finally tell her that he meant it and start a relationship with her. I also thought it was possible that their reconciliation included Sherlock saying something to the effect of “someday we’ll have our moment/time, just not right now.” It is also possible, judging by the look on Molly’s face and the fact that she’s smiling and waving to John and Rosie, but moving towards Sherlock with a big smile on her face that they’ve already started a relationship off screen between that time and it’s something we’ll get to see more of in a later season. 

Those are my thoughts! :D 

[mononohke-archive]

Anime Roundup Pt.1 - Fall 2016 [Spoilers]

It’s that time of the season again where I get to write thousands of words nitpicking whatever anime I happened to watch! For the first time, I want to add a SPOILER warning because although I don’t go out of my way to spoil plot points, I will bring them up if necessary. This is late once again, and honestly I don’t have much of an excuse. I did have some writers’ block, but I also just procrastinated a lot. It’s a good thing no one cares about my opinions in the first place! :D 

Also, I had to split this into two parts because apparently there is a word limit of 5000 on text posts. 

Overall: This was a really damn good season. The were a couple of disappointments, yes, but it still mostly good and there were a few amazing, Anime of the Year contenders too.

Total Anime: 11 | Average Score: 7.5 | Word Count: 5058

- (DIRECT) SEQUELS -

Bungou Stray Dogs 2nd Season [7/10]

Oh... Bungou Stray Dogs. How dare you do that to me? How dare you get so damn good you made me cry, then a few episodes later, take it all away? That’s what the first 4-episode, completely unrelated flashback arc of this second season did. Meaning: it switches protagonists (focusing on a character/friend from Dazai’s past in Port Mafia), switches tone, and switches... um, quality of writing to be perfectly honest. This whole 4-episode arc is like a masterpiece compared to the rest of the show before and after. I need to talk about why I like it better so much.

#1) The main character is someone I ended up really caring about. Oda Sakunosuke (voiced by the great Jun Suwabe) is a Port Mafia hitman who is unwilling to actually kill people. Despite his job, he takes care of a few adopted kids and tries so hard to do what’s right and follow his principles. He is a protagonist which I rarely see, and I fell in love with him instantly. Compare him to Atsushi who is... just okay... nothing special... kind of boring by comparison, actually. I have issues with being invested with the characters in the main storyline.

Of all the people in the Agency, I only like Kunikida and the boss, Yuki. Collectively, they don’t get much screen time, especially compared to Dazai, but even I did not have a problem with Dazai in this arc. His stupid suicide jokes and tomfoolery are severely toned down and frankly, he’s a lot more likable like this. The other side characters were great too, like the villain, Gide (voiced by another one of my favorite seiyuu, Shinichirou Miki).

#2) Total difference. If you haven’t seen BSD, you won’t know that it is full of humorous moments. A lot of it is... hit and miss. And sure, it’s not overall or primarily a comedy, but the comedy elements are pretty strong and frequent, especially in the first season. In this arc though, there was almost no humor. It was a serious gangster drama with a few supernatural elements. It’s almost comparable to last season’s 91 Days, which I personally enjoyed a lot.

#3) Genre shift. This is related to the previous number and to reiterate, the first arc of BSD season 2 is a dead serious gangster action/drama. The rest of the show is highly comedic with a lot of anime tropes/cliches, but the flashback arc had none of that. It almost didn’t feel like an anime. It was a legitimate crime drama (with the focus on the criminals instead of the police) which is actually really damn rare in anime. I praised 91 Days a lot for this in the previous season, so BSD gave me another taste of that and it was beautifully done. The bleak, but still beautiful color grading, the 1930s aesthetic despite it taking place in modern times, the soundtrack, everything was on point.

Aaand that’s why I upped the score by one point compared to the first season. This flashback arc did it for me. It made me desperately wish that BSD was about Odasaku and Port Mafia instead of Atsushi and the Agency. If this arc was released alone as an OVA, I would’ve given it a 9 for sure.

To be fair though, this season was also genuinely better than the first in a few ways. Namely, the introduction of the overseas/foreign group of specialists full of familiar Western authors like Mark Twain and H.P. Lovecraft. The leader of The Guild, F. Scott Fitzgerald (played by another one of my faves, Takahiro Sakurai), in particular is a delight to watch as he pulls the strings of his evil plans. Generally, all the new additions to the cast, including the extra focus on Port Mafia, are highly entertaining to follow, much better than the Agency alone. Although the Guild arc is a little bit rushed because of the flashback arc, the pacing and everything just felt a lot more exciting than the previous season.

Other than that, I can’t say I have any new criticisms or appraisals. Most of the things I mentioned in my first review of Bungou Stray Dogs carries over. I do want to praise the production values again because this show genuinely has top-tier animation and sound design (because Production I.G.). Forget what I previously said about the direction because that and the cinematography are beautiful. Some of the shots in the show are worthy of being framed. Even the soundtrack was good, even if it isn’t particularly memorable. The biggest, and pretty much only, flaws that this show has is in the writing/plot and characters and those are really important things. Great writing can often make up for a lack of production values, but it usually does work the other way around.

Haikyuu!! 3rd Season [8/10]

I was kind of surprised that for the next sequel of Haikyuu!!, they would dedicate an entire (10 episode) season just to one match. Even now, I question that decision. Don’t get me wrong, Haikyuu!! is still as good as it ever was in terms of production values, writing, voice acting*, etc buuut having 10 episodes dedicated to one match and nothing else? I’m not a fan of it.

Part of that is because as far as sports anime goes, I tend to favor training arcs and down time in-between matches, more than actual matches themselves (and I also prefer shorter matches). This “season” is one rather lengthy match, with nothing after it or before it like in the previous seasons. I’m sure I would’ve been fine with it if it was part of a full 25 episode season. That’s why I actually dropped it one point instead of being a 9/10 like the first two seasons.

Other than that, I don’t really have any complaints... I mean, yes, my preference for shorter matches is a thing, but it’s not at all badly paced like Diamond no Ace. But looking back, I might’ve preferred marathoning it than watching it week-to-week like I did...

*RIP to the original voice actor of Ukai, Kazunari Tanaka.

Natsume Yuujinchou Go [10/10]

Watching this new season of Natsume Yuujinchou was like meeting and old friend. It was like going home. With the exception of a slight change in art style, there is no difference at all between this and the last season that aired back in 2012. My biggest complaint, honestly, is that Go only had 11 episodes rather than 13 like every other season does. Thankfully, another season is guaranteed next year, so it’s not over!

Now, I don’t want to discuss every reason why I love Natsume Yuujinchou so much because I plan to do that one day in a proper review of the series as a whole, but let’s just say that this series is really important to me. This season gave me what I wanted: more fun, heartwarming, and emotional anecdotes of Natsume’s everyday life interacting with youkai and humans alike as well as a bit more backstory of Natsume, Natori, Matoba, and Natsume’s family/friends and the slight moving forward of an overarching plot. Further character development for some few characters also happened in the usual subtle way.

I’m so happy Natsume has maintained its level of quality, even with the studio change. All the original voice actors and most of the original production crew came back. Thank god for this consistency because not all shows get it (*coughsdgmcoughs*).

- INDIRECT SEQUELS & NON-SEQUELS -

Days [7/10]

This is a sports anime. Just a regular sports anime which hits all the beats of every other sports anime. The production values are pretty decent, although the CGI players in long shots are somewhat distracting, but they are nothing special.

So why did I like this one? Well, aside from how I generally favor sports anime (albeit for shallow reasons like good yaoi art/doujins/fanfiction), I did get invested in the characters, that much is undeniable. What helps is that the voice cast is incredible, with Takahiro Sakurai, Daisuke Ono, Tomokazu Seki, Daisuke Namikawa, etc etc. Yes, despite the sameyness of this sports anime, I took a liking to it. It entertained me and it’s good enough for a sports anime, which I rate relative to each other, not other anime of different genres.

Days, in all actuality, is pretty average, but I liked the characters a lot and that’s enough for me.

Drifters [7/10]

Before I start talking about this one, I am not familiar with Hellsing (yet, but it is on my plan-to-watch list), so I can’t really use that as a comparison. Now then, Drifters is a little strange to me because on one hand, it really plays to some of my base desires/guilty pleasures and overall I found it fun to watch. For example, It’s incredibly gorey and violent, which I appreciate. It’s a massive crossover story with famous historical figures and takes place in a very Lord of the Rings-esque (almost like a cliffnotes version) alternate universe. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and has plenty of hilarious and cool moments.

On the other hand, there’s a lot of unfunny “offensive” humor/etc that really takes me out of the viewing experience. How can I properly enjoy something when I’m always lowkey uncomfortable? Some of the sexism and homophobia/transphobia is so bad it feels like an 80s anime. (If you’ve seen an older anime, you know how much more blatant they are.) How is this writer still stuck so far in the past? Get a clue, man, most modern anime is usually at least subtle about it.

Anyway, aside from that, I did also have some problems with other things, which I can only describe vaguely because sometimes I zoned out while watching the show. Well, regardless, I still thought Drifters was pretty good, and I liked it, but it sure as hell is flawed. Looking forward to the second season though.

Fune wo Amu [5/10]

If I had to pick the most disappointing anime of the season, it would be this one. Not that Fune wo Amu/The Great Passage is actually bad, per se, but I expected much more. Granted, it was probably my fault in the first place. I made a lot of assumptions about what it would be like because I heard Haruko Kumota was attached to the project and thought it would be a masterpiece drama like Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu (written/drawn by Kumota) earlier this year. Turns out that Fune no Amu is actually based off of a novel written by someone else and Haruko Kumota is merely the character designer for the anime and is currently drawing the manga adaptation.

Even so, this anime looked promising. The whole premise centering around an adult cast working on the production of a dictionary (a somewhat mundane job) is exceedingly rare in anime. Sooo... maybe it would give a unique experience since there would be little-to-no anime cliches and tropes, right? Um, well, yeah that’s the thing. While is succeeded in not having that many of anime’s typical pitfalls, it did not succeed in making the characters or dictionaries in general interesting.

The biggest problem with Fune wo Amu is the complete lack of focus. It kind of goes all over the place and tries to cover everything, but instead it spreads the narrative thin. The only exception is Majime (the main character)’s connection to dictionary making, but even that is marred by a different issue (which I’ll get to after this). There are other things which are subplots or otherwise brought up, but never get properly explored or resolved.

For example: the romance between Majime and Kaguya. For a few episodes, they interact a little bit, Majime has a crush on her, halfway through he writes a cheesy love letter to her and bam! 10+ year time skip and they’re happily married. As someone who hates romance in general, it’s really weird for me to say that I wanted more focus on the romance. (On a sidenote, can I just say that Kaguya’s career of becoming a chef and restaurant owner in an extremely male dominated/sexist industry is about hundred times more interesting than Majime faffing about with dictionaries? Makes me wish the anime was about her instead.)

And that’s not the only thing ofc... the friendship between Majime and Nishioka was not really resolved. The old man and his dedication to making the dictionary was there in the beginning and brought back only at the very end as he’s about to pass away. Almost everything felt like it didn’t get enough attention.

As for Majime’s character development and his relationship with dictionary making. The problem with that is not really the writing, but with the imagery. The symbolism in this show is about as subtle as a sledgehammer. A character says something like “a sea of words” to describe making a dictionary and then later in the episode, Majime has a dream where he’s literally in a sea of words. Not only is it distracting as hell, but it feels unfitting for this kind of anime. Yes, there is some media where big and bold imagery is the way to go (Gurren Lagann, anyone?), but Fune wo Amu is not it. If the symbolism was more subtle or abstract, it definitely would’ve worked in its favor. Instead, it’s hamfisted and corny. If you want a good example of subtle, interesting, and effective imagery from a show with a similar vibe, watch Rakugo Shinjuu (which is in my top 3 best anime of 2016).

I also have to quickly mention the music, even though it’s not visual, because it also suffers the problem of being too obvious and distracting. It’s not a good thing when the main theme kicks in and I groan because it annoys me that much. Again, a more subtle soundtrack would’ve been better. Other than those major problems, there’s nothing really of note to mention. The animation itself is decent and the voice acting is fine as usual. Nothing standout though, despite the cast full of veterans.

So in the end, I struggled between giving this an anime a 5 or 6. I originally settled on a 6, but then lowered it back down to a 5 because I was being too forgiving.

[recentanimenews]

THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH Nears the Finish Line with Episodes 211-217

  Welcome back once again faithful readers to the penultimate edition of the GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH! I’m Nicole Mejias, and It is hard to believe that we’ve nearly reached the end of these ninja adventures, and next week will be our final outing into the world of Naruto. Before we hang up our ninja headbands, though, we’ve still got a week’s worth of episodes to discuss! 

Before we get started, I wanted to briefly mention how amazing this entire process has been. When we posed the idea of a group rewatch, I didn’t think it would evolve into something as fun as this was; to be honest I was kind of dreading going through all of these filler arcs, but doing it together has made this into a pretty fun experience! I hope you all at home enjoyed following along and watching with us, and stay tuned for any future adventures we might have! 

That said, let’s get on to this week��s episodes and questions! We’ve got the end of one mission, the entirety of another one, and the beginning of the last one to tackle, so without further delay, let’s get to it! 

Boy, am I glad that arc is over. What are your closing thoughts on the Gantetsu Escort Mission storyline? 

Kevin: I mean, in theory I liked it. An impulsive police officer who wants nothing more than to kill the criminal he is escorting isn’t a story that we’ve seen in Naruto, as best I can remember. Unfortunately, then everything else happened, and it was all obvious and boring.

Paul: Gantetsu should have turned himself in at the end. He was penitent and prepared to accept death as punishment for his sins, but Todoroki not only let him go, but encouraged Gantetsu to continue acting as foster-father to Akio and the other children that the Ninja Dropouts left as orphans. That doesn't balance. There should have been serious karmic consequences, considering the severity of the Ninja Dropouts' crimes and the breach of Todoroki's duty.

Danni: Yeah, I agree with Paul. There are some weird inconsistencies in this arc. Gantetsu knew Akio had an older brother, but still effectively kidnapped him in the name of saving him? Plus I can’t get over the fact that all of the kids are super okay with the fact that Gantetsu effectively assisted in the murders. AND in the end Akio abandons the only family he has left to keep living with his kidnapper. It’s one thing to nitpick plotholes, but this is just plain bizarre. 

Jared: It certainly happened. I feel like half the time it was going on I was just completely checked out and then it ends on some pretty baffling notes. Plus, Gantetsu and Todoroki just felt super one dimensional with their characters and everything around the plot was way too predictable.

Kara: Have you ever watched something and then afterwards had no idea whether you liked it or not? That was me. I have literally no discernable feeling on this storyline. I do remember watching it, though.

David: I usually love characters like Gantetsu and their arcs basically as a rule, but this was handled unbelievably poorly for reasons others have stated. I’m pretty disappointed. 

Carolyn: I’m a little torn. The ending is a bit messy, for sure. But I did like seeing Rock Lee and Sakura trying to figure out how to handle adversaries who are literal children. (Although, aren’t they also technically children?) It’s just a different dynamic versus immediately jumping into a fight.

Noelle: It really just felt all over the place? It started out strong but then it really dissolved. It kind of felt like they didn’t want to commit to too dark a story, which seems strange considering some of the things they’ve thrown at us.

Joseph: I didn’t love the arc but I did love that it featured T. Hawk from Super Street Fighter II. Such an unexpected yet welcome cameo, and I knew he would turn out to be a good guy who fostered youth in the end.

Something that kind of bothered me as this show lurched on is that for all of the amazing things that Naruto and others can do: a lot of filler arcs have them acting weaker or sillier than the norm. What’s your take on that? 

Kevin: Sillier can be amusing, actually. Please let me have a filler arc like the Ninja Chefs, where we see the gang using legendary ninja techniques to make really good ramen. It’s dumb, but at least its entertaining! Instead, we get a lot of arcs where the main cast is just being stupider than normal, and it’s just aggravating because we’ve all seen that these characters should be more competent. 

  Paul: My biggest complaint is that during the filler, they aren't introducing any variations on Naruto's training. He's still confronting every challenge with Shadow Clones and the Rasengan, and I lament the lack of creativity, because Naruto isn't learning anything, developing any new Jutsu, or polishing his skills as a shinobi. He doesn't feel so much “weak” as “static”, since his growth as a character is in suspended animation.

  Danni: Sillier is fun, but too much of the filler has them acting weaker and dumber. The Rasengan has been so flippantly used in all of these arcs that I’ve effectively forgotten how powerful and novel it was when it was introduced. That being said, using it to make ramen was absolutely inspired. 

Jared: I think silly can totally work, especially in filler, but sometimes the show really pushes it in the wrong direction. Such as having somewhat serious arcs end on something that makes it end up more as a joke. I get that they kind of can’t add a ton of new moves to everyone, but that doesn’t help the fact that everyone’s attacks and especially Naruto’s have gotten kind of stale due to that.

Kara: I don’t mind silly, but this seems like they’re regressing him to his early series “I’m gonna use Disguise Jutsu to embarrass Sasuke, also I need to potty” self. I think there’s a way to do that effectively with characters (late-era Phoenix Wright is a great example of someone who’s grown in skill but can still believably be a doofus sometimes). I don’t think that’s what is happening here. Also, I can’t be the only one noticing the literal Hanna-Barbera sound effects.

David: Well, it’s filler, they sort of can’t give them anything that would actually challenge them or make them grow without bumping heads with the inevitable return to the manga-adapted episodes. Or they can, and it turns out really messy. I’m reminded of a filler arc in Bleach where one character had used a technique in the previous arc that stripped him of his powers, so they had another character invent some nonsense plot device to “temporarily” give him his powers back so he could participate. That is worse to me than just not trying.

Carolyn: I don’t mind the occasional comedy and slapstick but I suspect downplaying the characters’ strengths is just a shortcut to keeping them from moving forward. We have to stall and overpowered ninja won’t let us do that.

Noelle: There isn’t anything wrong with comedy. Too serious for too long ends up being depressing. It really does feel that for the majority of the filler arcs, the characters end up reverting to elementary school level jokes. It’s not witty, it just feels lazy. I could really do with some more serious filler arcs. 

Joseph: Echoing Paul, because the biggest downside to filler for me—besides the abysmal writing and lackluster animation—is that it restricts growth by design. Naruto is stuck in stasis for 100+ episodes and it totally kills the momentum and energy of the end of the main storyline.

This week we get to the small storyline of the Menma Memory Search Mission. I have to admit: I did not remember this arc at all, which is maybe ironic. How did y’all feel about it?

Kevin: For most of it, I didn’t care too much. It was basically a standard amnesia story for the most part. The ending reveals, basically from when Menma wakes up until the end of the episode, were actually engaging in my opinion though. We see him genuinely try to repent for what he’s done, and see that the opening scene wasn’t just showing that he was a bandit in a boring attempt to create suspense, but it also had another hidden moment that I legitimately did not think was coming (although admittedly if I had kept in mind that he showed up almost dead in a river, I might’ve seen it coming).

Paul: The key detail of the Menma storyline that didn't come across as boilerplate was the reveal that Menma had been faking his amnesia in order to manipulate Naruto into helping Menma to atone for his crimes. That added extra punch to the character and story dynamics. Naruto got played, and perhaps he'll eventually realize that he's not the keenest judge of character, and that not everyone with a kind face has pure intentions. Also, the principal villain, Shiin, is a palette-swapped Orochimaru, and Menma was voiced in the English dub by Wil Wheaton. Make of that what you will.

Danni: I honestly wasn’t that into it. The reveal that he always had his memory and his sacrifice at the end were both interesting points, as was Naruto’s silent decision to take Menma’s deception to the grave, but the ending kind of flew by. After getting bested by Shiin twice, suddenly Naruto is just finally able to beat him? Overall it felt like a really weak arc.

Jared: The end was perhaps the most interesting part, but even then it wasn’t as if it made it good. I was sort of surprised since it was basically another arc introduced by fire and something being ransacked, which didn’t give it the best start since we’d just saw that. Combining this with the end of the previous arc was a rough set of episodes to get through. 

Kara: Naruto filler villains have like three modes: pushovers, not actually bad after all, or part of Orochimaru’s downline. None of those is necessarily bad on its own, but I’ve seen these plates go by on the conveyor belt over and over and over again. The “No one trusts a potential villain but Naruto just knows they’re good” shtick has been done fairly recently, even. I get that Naruto has heart and understands misunderstood people and that’s why he’s gonna be such a great Hokage someday, but never challenging that trope ever means every story is broadcast from the first episode and the eventual info-dumps come across as comical. 

David: What really frustrates me is that in canon material, characters meant to be redeemed show some sort of connection or flash of goodness to Naruto that allows it to feel natural when he defends them later on. In filler he basically just guesses and is always right, or everyone except Naruto is clearly being irrational. There isn’t much if any attempt at convincing the viewer the conflict is meaningful at all, and Menma is a prime example of this issue.

Carolyn: A blonde guy who plays the ocarina and starts his story by waking up from a deep sleep? I think we all know his real name.

Noelle: I think that the ending was probably the best part. Like people said, it was a decent twist that exposed one of Naruto’s blind spots. At the same time, it felt like far little too late, as the rest wasn’t that enjoyable. 

Joseph: I liked the ending, and it certainly wasn’t the worst of the stories, but I dunno, like, who cares at this point? Naruto has defeated me.

Something about filler arcs in anime that has always bothered me is how tenuous they are; Naruto mourns Menma’s death, but we know that will never come up again ever, and it feels like a wasted opportunity for character development. Naruto is roughly 40% filler, so do you feel all these arcs damage the overall series? 

Kevin: If anything, I wish there was MORE damage to the overall series. Sure, a lot of filler Hell was boring or stupid, but there were also some legitimately interesting character moments and abilities. Imagine if Hinata had another three years to perfect her Protective Gentle Fist, or we saw Naruto take a moment after coming back to the Hidden Leaf at the beginning of Shippuden to mourn the people he’s lost while eating ramen next to the KIA stone, almost like a variation of Iroh’s Story from Avatar: The Last Airbender! Instead, it takes the likes of this massive Rewatch for even me, a longtime fan of the franchise who grew up watching it, to even know about those gems.

Paul: Now that we're near the end, I don't think the filler arcs are that damaging to the series overall, but I do lament certain missed opportunities. The arc where Anko regains her memories demonstrates that it's possible for filler to build proper character development, but it's a difficult task and I don't envy the show-runners that responsibility.

Danni: As much as I’ve liked some of these arcs, I think the filler is absolutely damaging, because a version of Naruto where we go straight from the Sasuke Retrieval arc to Shippuden definitely sounds better than one where you have to watch three full seasons of filler. I don’t normally recommend skipping filler sections in anime, but I will 100% cosign skipping filler when recommending Naruto.

Jared: It’s perhaps slightly damaging because it sure is a grind to watch all the way through. Maybe if it was tighter, had better written arcs as a whole, and was less episodes, it could be a lot better. With what was made though, I think there’s a few arcs that could be recommended to someone new, but going through all of the filler is tough because of how much of it will ultimately be meaningless.

Kara: I’ve never minded filler as a whole from a story standpoint. But I’m also used to watching shows where “filler” means “not progressing the main plot but still part of the intended experience” as opposed to “killing time until we have more main plot to adapt.” I think in a show where those side stories are there by design, or even with some minor degree of forethought, they can be really rewarding. Especially since then you do get those little callbacks, or the writer may bury a nugget of info for later amidst the “unimportant” stuff. But this is very obviously time-killing… and full disclosure, I am distracted a lot by my brain going “I wonder if these decisions are going to clash with the main plot when it starts up again.”

David: The filler isn’t damaging because it just washes over me. Once it’s over and we’ve written about it the details seem to magically leave my mind.

Carolyn: I definitely think it’s damaging. I had remembered the show as being a lot stronger than it is. I think I was mostly remembering the exams, to be honest.

Noelle: I think it’s a little bit of both. Plot-wise, it’s not really damaging, because filler lets characters that don’t do much in canon have some limelight, and it lets some new ideas get around. Audience experience-wise, it totally is, because there’s nothing in filler worth emotionally investing in, we’re just waiting for Kishimoto to push out more chapters and what a long wait that was. 

Joseph: The filler fully turns this into an anime I can’t recommend beyond a certain point. It’s pretty bad when you have to tell someone to avoid around 100 episodes of a 220 episode show. I would recommend reading Masashi Kishimoto’s excellent manga and watching some highlights, or just watching the first 100-and-some-change eps.

Finally, we leave off this week midway through the Sunagakure Support Mission, which unlike the Menma arc, was almost entirely about Naruto, features a lot of the supporting cast in what seems like a last hurrah. Are there any supporting cast that you like more now than you did when the show started? I find I really grew to love Gaara a lot more than I did when he first appeared. 

Kevin: I’m a bit spoiled on this one, because the arc is essentially giving us the characters’ Shippuden selves before going into Shippuden. As a result, I actually hold off from talking too much about the characters, for fear of spoiling stuff from the beginning of Shippuden. All I’ll say is that I really like the idea of Gaara actually trying to train and support a student. 

Paul: Gaara is still a precious baby cinnamon roll, albeit one that is slightly less murder-flavored. I wish that the filler episodes had focused more on the Jonin characters. It's been so long since I've seen Kakashi that I almost cheered when he summoned his horde of ninja dogs. Anko and Kurenai got a chance to shine, so I'd like to see more of that. I'd even accept a Might Guy episode, especially if it reveals what makes him tick. There must be something tragic beneath his bluster. His eyes are filled with sadness now and then.

Danni: I liked Gaara from the start, but I think he’s shot up my list of favorite characters. Seeing him struggle to connect with his students really makes him more sympathetic of a character. Giving him someone that he wants to protect is exactly the kind of cathartic development that his backstory warrants. I’m really looking forward to seeing the rest of this arc. 

Jared: I was actually thinking about this when watching these episodes since when Gaara first showed up I couldn’t stand him. Now, I’ve pretty much flipped all the way around on him. Probably the whole sand crew as well now that I’m thinking about it. Where’s the weird Naruto sports spin-off where Gaara is just the strange coach that has a good team, but no one understands how?

Kara: One of the things I’m enjoying about Naruto 200+ episodes in is that characters who were Rivals or Bad Guys are now allies and friends, or maybe rivals in a healthier sense. Really, it’s cool to see the Sand Kiddos being awesome and not feeling divided about it.

David: Most of the supporting cast is who I liked going in, so actually the character I have grown fond of over the course of this journey is Naruto himself.

Carolyn: My favorite side characters are still my favorites. I have found myself liking Naruto himself a lot more this time around, which I definitely did not on first watch.

Noelle: I think that my feelings on the characters maintained relatively the same from my first time watching the series when I was young. Gaara is still great, Itachi is still great. And Gaara is fun here! I do think overall, as an adult, I appreciate Rock Lee a whole lot more. I didn’t give him a chance when I was young but now? Fantastic.

Joseph: This was a decent little portion of this week’s batch. It’s just more “fighting in the same forest set” from before, but I enjoyed seeing a bunch of these long lost characters again. Felt more in line with Naruto proper.

For (almost) the last time: Highs and Lows from this week? 

Kevin: High - Menma’s redemption. Especially in a show that loves to have its characters loudly proclaim what they’re doing, having a character who we’re not entirely sure if we can trust stand up and start helping build town defenses while barely able to stay conscious was a really good moment. Same goes for most everything else that followed.

Low -  The reveal and resolution of the Ninja Dropouts. First, did none of the other Dropouts realize that Gantetsu kept disappearing after they attacked? Second, why didn’t Gantetsu mention any of this earlier, since it would’ve come out in trial as evidence to prove his innocence? Third, how is that thread stronger than steel, but a single drop of sweat noticeably loosens it? I have many other questions, but most are either the same logical fallacies or about how predictable and obvious the ending was. 

Paul: My low point was the scene where Todoroki stumbles from the flames of his family home, having just witnessed what he assumes is his younger brother being horribly murdered, and the little bundle containing his books and that wooden fish key-chain that he keeps as a memento of Akio is trailing a cartoony streamer of smoke. It was visually dissonant, reading as comedy instead of tragedy. My high point is the pay-off of the Leaf Village kids helping the Sand Village kids in their pursuit of the Celestial Four. I know it’s filler and it doesn't really count, but I appreciate when story elements come full circle like that.

Danni: My low point is the moment I realized that Gantetsu is 100% just a kidnapper that the show tries to redeem. High point is everything in the Sand Village Assistance arc so far. It goes hand-in-hand with the Sasuke Retrieval arc so well that if you told me it was canon I would *ahem* believe it. Also, it seems like Shikamaru finally attended a gender studies class and realized that women are people too. Hooray! 

Jared: High point would be the Sand Village trio returning and seeing Gaara try to be a teacher in his own way. Reintroducing them with how they showed up in the Sasuke retrieval arc made me remember just how dang good that was and also how good this show can be. Low point would be the other two arcs that just fell completely flat for me.

Kara: High point is the Avengers rollout to help the Sand Village trio. This is one of those cases where mirroring previous episodes works, because we have a one-to-one comparison for just how far they’ve come. It’s so cool to have these very obvious moments at which we can measure everyone’s growth. Low point is just straight up the existence of Todoroki in the Gantetsu Arc and his very Heavy Rain-y “Press X to Akio” behavior.

David: My high point was all the callbacks to the Sasuke Retrieval arc, including when Naruto outright asks if they’re going to do the line strategy Shikamaru implemented last time. Low point was slowly realizing no one in the Dropout Ninjas arc was going to understand how messed up the situation was.

Carolyn: Naruto dumping Menma off his back when he found out he was lying was great. I would have to agree with the kids’ weird dedication to Gantetsu being a low point. That’s just kind of sad.

Noelle: Gantetsu’s arc just seemed messy and confusing. It really felt like they weren’t committing to anything, so that’s my low point. High point, I think was seeing Gaara again! Gaara trying his best is genuinely good. What a great kid. 

Joseph: The low point was the resentment building up within me for Pierrot producing so many bad episodes of an otherwise excellent show. Also, the whole Gantetsu storyline was weak, even though I love the idea of Ninja Dropouts. High goes to the return of Kakashi, Gaara, and some others I’ve sorely missed. 

  COUNTERS:

Ramen:  7 bowls + 3 cups Hokage: 0 Clones: 28

  Total so far:

Bowls of Ramen: 208 bowls, 20 cups (Wow... that's a lot of ramen!)

“I'm Gonna be Hokage!”: 62

Shadow Clones Created: 940

  And that's everything for this week! Remember that you're always welcome to join us for this rewatch, especially if you haven't watched the original Naruto! Watch Naruto today!

  Here's our upcoming schedule:

- On August 23rd, CAYLA COATS will wrap up our GREAT NARUTO CRUNCHYROLL REWATCH! 

CATCH UP ON THE REWATCH!

Episodes 204-210: Escort Mission Time

Episodes 197-203: Solving a Mystery

Episodes 190-196: Matchmaking Gone Wrong

Episodes 183-189: No Laughter Allowed!

Episodes 176-182: Reach for the Stars!

Episodes 169-175: Anko’s Backstory At Sea

Episodes 162-168: The Tale of the Phantom Samurai

Episodes 155-161: Quickfire Curry

Episodes 148-154: The Forest is Abuzz With Ninjas

Episodes 141-147: Mizuki Strikes Back!

Episodes 134-140: The Climactic Clash

Episodes 127-133: Naruto vs Sasuke

Episodes 120-126: The Sand Siblings Return

Episodes 113-119: Operation Rescue Sasuke

Episodes 106-112: Sasuke Goes Rogue

Episodes 99-105: Trouble in the Land of Tea

Episodes 92-98: Clash of the Sannin

Episodes 85-91: A Life-Changing Decision

Episodes 78-84: The Fall of a Legend

Episodes 71-77: Sands of Sorrow

Episodes 64-70: Crashing the Chunin Exam

Episodes 57-63: Family Feud

Episodes 50-56: Rock Lee Rally

Episodes 43-49: The Gate

Episodes 36-42: Through the Woods

Episodes 29-35: Sakura Unleashed

Episodes 22-28: Chunin Exams Kickoff

Episodes 15-21: Leaving the Land of Waves

Episodes 8-14: Beginners' Battle

Episodes 1-7: I'm Gonna Be the Hokage!

  Thank you for joining us for the Great Crunchyroll Naruto Rewatch! We hope that you'll join us next time as we conclude our Naruto rewatch adventure. Have a wonderful weekend, y'all! 

Have anything to say about our thoughts on Episodes 211-217? Let us know in the comments! Don't forget, we're also accepting questions and comments for next week, so don't be shy and feel free to ask away!

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Nicole is a features and a social video script writer for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

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