#I still need to rewatch the whole season and I might end up changing my mind

[those-badass-reeds]

Hacks finale

Idk man I'm kinda mad about that ending? I mean, amazing performances all around (Hannah though- WOW) and I was absolutely stuck to the screen, but it just feels a little bit like they're undoing too much of Deborah's progress. Especially after the start of the season when they had hashed things out and Deborah seemed to realise exactly how much she needs Ava. And I'm not looking forward to this version of Ava

I know a lot of people are enjoying the tension and the idea of Ava having the upper hand for a change, but I just don't like that THIS is the way it's happening. The episode was pretty incredible otherwise, it's really just that ending that left a bad taste in my mouth.

[luniise-kel]

thinking about how cool and awesome moon stone cassandra couldve been if she wasnt given the world’s worst villain motivation

dropping my whole au / rewrote of season 3 below

uh preface is im sleepy and its almost midnight, so like sorry if some parts dont make sense or whatever

uhh basically, instead of cass trying to like reach her destiny or whatever as like her Main motivation and the only reason to why she Evil and Malicious ive changed it so its more mixed in with her desire to protect rapunzel. i think moonstone cass is cool and i like the idea of her but i really just think her execution was poor mostly because it wasn’t built up as much as it shouldve been.

rewrote cass’s character slightly just so there more empathize on her idolization of her mother, and so when she learns the truth of why mother gothel left her, the knee jerk reaction to blame raps makes a little more sense.

Anyways, Season 3 cass deals with a lot of her issues, i think on the journey to get the moonstone something something happens and cassandra is told that if rapunzel comes in contact with the moonstone she will Implode. Like die. Return to being the sundrop. and cass is like oh fuck, shit, balls, I need to Protect her from Dying. So out of her intense Need to protect Rapunzel she yoinks the moonstone, and (still slightly pissed at raps for stealing her mom but not really she’s just trying to figure out her emotions + rapunzel needs to get away away from this rock) she goes into Evil mode.

Her villain arc is partly fueled by her anger at her own situation, always in second place. her desire to feel love and cherished and important rather than being the 2nd option. However, it is also fueled by her need to provide safety to her friends ,, even if it’s not the smartest choice. Moonstone Cass devotes her entire identify to being the cliche villain, so no one feels bad if like the solution to destroying the moonstone is killing her. she knows that logically the Zhan Tiri is manipulating her but 1. she idgaf and 2. she needs to learn how to control the moonstone’s power so she doesnt hurt her friends.

Tbh boiled now, it’s just cass isnt obsessive with mother gothel and mother gothel leaving her to kidnap a baby because it made like no sense for her character. like instead, moonstone cass grabbles with her identify and place in the world, who she is outside of rapunzel. Also she wants to learn more about her past, yknow, who mother gothel was and is she Worth getting upset over. spoiler she figures out that no, her bio mom sucks booty

Anyways, throughout my version of season 3, cass is trying to figure out a way to destroy the moonstone. She visits Rapunzel often too and pretends to be evil just so she can check in. She angry at her mom but not so much on rapunzel, maybe a little bit but probably more to with simply trying to crave out her identify outside of rapunzel. Same general plot beats happen in s3, but shes more grief driven than anger driven i suppose.

Theres probably a lot i forgot to like, reformulate in this especially w s3 bc i havent had the time to rewatch it and collect my thoughts that well. But, uh, hope u enjoyed. might yap more about my personal gripes with the show and how i think it shouldve been written.

also to add on i suppose, at the end of the series she gets exiled from corona officially, but lowkey comes back to hang out and after like a year every1 is like yeah okay i guess.

[midnightechoes]

Five years ago today, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power premiered on Netflix. I had seen a few preview articles about it, and liked what I saw. Those articles mostly focused on She-Ra’s, Adora’s, Glimmer’s, Bow’s, and Catra’s redesigns, and I thought they were fabulous. I loved Adora’s new red jacket and bouffant hair style. Glimmer’s entire redesign was inspired, and I loved that they made Bow black so we could have more diversity in the main cast.

It was She-Ra’s and Catra’s redesigns that caught my eyes the most, though. They made Catra an actual catgirl, and not just in the anime sense where she's just a cute girl with cat ears and maybe a cat tail. She was a full-on furry. It was a brilliant design choice. Honestly it’s no wonder that so many were instantly drawn to her.

And of course, She-Ra herself. I loved her new look, and her huge ass new Sword of Protection. In fact, I loved it so much that I drew this picture of her before the show even came out:

Then the show came out, and needless to say, I fell in love. And honestly, it changed my life.

I know, I know. That sounds very hyperbolic, and to an extent it is, but in a lot of ways, I’m absolutely serious.

Alright, I have to back up a little. Back when I was in college, and for a few years after, a couple of friends and I tried to make a webcomic called The Devil’s Gate. It was minorly successful but eventually floundered. Then I met some people and we tried to make a video game, which also failed. After those few years, I found myself on my own and trying to rework the concept of my webcomic. Making comics, creating stories, those have always been my dream, and I was desperately trying to figure out a story I could make work, something that I believed in. But it never truly got off the ground. By the end of 2015 I had given up on the comic, realizing that after working on it for years in different forms that I needed to step away from it.

I didn’t really know what to do after that. I was still doing my quick daily doodles, but I wasn’t writing, I wasn’t drawing anything of note. I felt emotionally and physically drained of my creativity. I was honestly getting to the point where I thought it might be time for me to give up on trying to be creative or making things all together.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power came out on November 13, 2018, but despite looking forward to it, I didn’t actually watch it when it came out. It wasn’t until that weekend that I decided to check it out.

I was instantly hooked. I binged through the entire season in two days, and did plenty of crying and cheering. And then rewatched it immediately. I was in love. I was obsessed. It had been a long time since anything grabbed me like SPOP did. I loved the characters. I loved the colorful, sci-fi-fairy tale world of Etheria. I loved how unapologetically feminine it was. And most of all, I loved how queer it was.

I hadn’t done a ton of shipping before SPOP. I’ve been down bad for harlivy for what feels like my whole life, and I was angry when Mika and HG didn’t get together in Warehouse 13, but more often than not I had just been conditioned not to look for queer things in mainstream culture, and even barely in subculture.

That is to say, when I was smashed in the face with Catradora I was surprised how much I glommed onto it immediately. I was absolutely taken with Adora and Catra and their relationship. Both characters were so relatable, and despite not quite being text (although the subtext was so loud and obvious it might as well have been text), it was impossible to not read their feelings for each other as romantic.

It wasn’t just Catradora, even if that was a lot of it. Spinnerella and Netossa being canon from the start was wonderful. How much Glimmer and Bow screamed “BISEXUAL DISASTERS” from the start was adorable. Scorpia’s crush on Catra was as cute as it was sad in its one-sidedness.

I had never really been in a fandom. That is, yeah I’ve liked things, loved things even, but I never found other people to talk about it at length, never found discords just for that thing, never read or wrote fanfic, barely ever drew fanart. 

But, I watched SPOP, and then I watched it again. And then I drew Catra. And then I drew Adora. And then I drew them again. And suddenly I was on AO3, a site I never frequented, reading Catradora fics. And then I had an AO3 account. That December I participated in Catradora Week 2018 (I’d never heard of this kind of thing) and drew two pictures for it and wrote my first fanfic.

By the end of February I had drawn more in the three months since the show had premiered than I had in the previous year. I was working furiously on a long, multi-chapter fanfic, and writing more words than I had in the previous couple of years combined.

I was inspired again.

In the 18 months that SPOP ran for, I drew more than I had in years, I wrote hundreds of thousands of words. I felt so rejuvenated and happy about my creativity and free for the first time in years.

It’s hard to put into words exactly how it felt. I was so close to giving up my art and writing, which honestly, would have been giving up a part of myself. An important part of myself. It’s not overstating that SPOP saved me, or at least my creative spirit.

I also learned about the wonders of being in a fandom and fandom things like fan weeks, big bangs, zines. And I made some wonderful friends that I cherish to this day.

Even as I inevitably moved onto other hyperfixations, my love for She-Ra hasn’t diminished. Plushie Catra and Adora sit next to me on my desk every day. Catradora art still hangs on my wall.

The inspiration that SPOP ignited in me hasn’t died either. It’s carried me through a tremendous level of creativity that I’ve been riding since the premiere. It let me create a ton of fan art for SPOP, and then RWBY and then the Witch From Mercury, and I’ve written a ton of fanfics for RWBY and Supergirl. And perhaps the best, that inspiration has helped me create more OC stuff in the last couple years than I had in a long time.

I owe She-Ra and The Princesses of Power so much. I am so happy that it exists and that it happened when it did. I’ll always cherish it.

And for real, Netflix, SPOP spin-off movies WHEN?!

[rhysdarbinizedarby]

‘Our Flag Means Death’ Star Rhys Darby on Stede’s Transformations & Hopes for Season 3

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Our Flag Means Death Season 2 Episode 8 “Mermen.”]

Our Flag Means Death saw Gentleman pirate Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) transform from a fish-out-of-water swashbuckler into the romantic hero he was always destined to be in the latest season of Max‘s original comedy.

After realizing the error of his ways at the end of Season 1, Stede sought redemption in the eyes of the infamous Blackbeard, a.k.a. Ed (Taika Waititi), after recognizing he was in love with the pirate. While the path wasn’t a direct one, they eventually found their way back to one another with the help of a fantastical mermaid sequence, some much-needed apologies, and ultimately a better string of communication.

Reflecting on his journey, star Rhys Darby is opening up about Stede’s various transformations in Season 2, including the excitement surrounding that mermaid tail, as well as about where he thinks the pirate lovebirds might end up next should the series return for Season 3.

Congrats on Season 2! Now that we can finally talk about it, what has it been like getting to see fan reactions, especially during the SAG-AFTRA strike?

Rhys Darby: Yeah, it was like a pressure cooker that needed to burst, for us and for the fans. When it finally came out, the burst happened and there was so much love for us, [but we] couldn’t talk about it. We were still stuck in this bottle and the cork wouldn’t come off, and that was difficult, but it was really lovely to see all the love and the surprise from everyone. Obviously, as you know, the fan artwork, it’s what we would say in New Zealand is pretty full on. So yeah, it was super cool.

And not that anyone gives out numbers, but I think I heard on the ethos that people [are] watching it, and it’s rating really high and at a time when we need this kind of beautiful love fest of comedy with a whole bunch of silliness to take us away from the disasters that are happening in the world. It’s been lovely. I just wish it was longer. I know people watch and rewatch and they’re so fanatical, but it’s just a comedy show, so to have any effect means so much to us.

In Season 2, Stede’s gone through a few transformations, one of which is that he’s a real pirate now, at least comparatively to Season 1. What helped you get into that new version of him? Was it the writing, costumes, or a combination of the two?

Yeah, the costumes are the first thing that comes to mind because once he starts wearing different gear, he looks at himself and goes, “Oh my God, I’m a different man.” And he really is turning from a man who is wearing these beautiful gowns with high heels and things inappropriate for a pirate ship to becoming an Errol Flynn-type hero straight away. That’s what they wanted to do with the character. So he’s lost a lot of that beautiful pageantry and is becoming a more practical guy who has to survive. He returns to this nightmare of a world because he wants to fight for love, and for want of a better term, “man up,” whatever the modern-day version of that is, “person up?” To become the guy that he dreamt of being in the first season.

He didn’t dream that he was going to fall in love with someone. He dreamt he was going to be this amazing pirate and that just was not going to happen. But then when he found this love, I think he went away from that [dream] going, “I don’t deserve this.” And then when he realized upon returning home that he does deserve it, he had to fight for it. And so the only way to fight for it was to drop the battle armor of the gowns and actually become the pirate he imagined being. So it was great to become that and to fight for that love and to thank god that [Blackbeard] didn’t die. He would’ve actually lost it, I think, because it would’ve been like, “Well, what am I fighting for now?”

I think it was just so fun to see that character change, but also within that change, see a bit of the old self come through, especially when he found that cursed red suit. And all of a sudden it was like, “Oh my God, the old me again, look how good I look!” So it was lovely that they had those elements… I was missing a little bit of the old Stede myself. So it was great to find that again. And then again near the end with the British invasion scenario where I got to do the big coat and everything, which of course looked awesome. You can see that moment where I put it on and did that slow turnaround. It was way more filmic shots of me wearing that kind of stuff. And I think that gave Stede's strength as well. So much of Stede's embodiment comes from the things he’s wearing.

Speaking of costumes, the big one of the season had to be Stede’s mermaid look. How did you wrap your head around getting ready for such a fantastical, and ultimately, beautiful scene?

That was the highlight of the whole season for me. As a kid, I used to swim around like a little merkid. I would put my legs together and I’d swim under the water. I’ve always been into mermaids and things because I’m into cryptozoology. So when I got to be a mermaid or a merman, I really took to it. It was pretty easy, to be honest with you. I didn’t have any training to swim like that. So the only training I did was some breath work beforehand to help me hold my breath longer. But that was kind of almost superfluous. Once I got that [tail] on, I just became a mermaid. It’s hard for me to describe how I suddenly become these things, but I think I just got under the water. I could swim really easily with it.

And I had weights on. So one of the things was we had to make sure I was the right weight so that I wouldn’t just float. That thing was sort of buoyant. So once we sorted that out, I could actually swim really well, and then just sort of hover underneath the water for a long time while [Taika]’s looking at me, I’m looking at him. To see it on the day, on the screen when I knew they’d got [the shot], there were just so many cheers, and I think they even played the music to see how the scene would work out. It’s one of those life moments where you go, “Oh my God, I’m becoming a cryptid again. I’m never going to forget this.”

This season really does focus even more on Stede and Blackbeard’s romance. How did you and Taika prepare for that? Especially since Stede’s more transparent about his feelings this time around.

It was good, and it was time. And because I was the new strong Stede, it felt really natural for me. I think it just worked really well with the writing because of the aggression that I was going through. When I was fighting that really bad guy [Ned Low (Bronson Pinchot) and] threw a violin at him because he ruined Calypso’s birthday, that was a good moment because it is not just about Ed, it’s about the crew, Stede’s family, and they were going through this amazing moment there, and all of a sudden this guy turns up and next thing we’re getting tortured. And I’m like, “How dare you?”

I think that progression of strength helped [Stede] break into the moment of, “I’m just going to take my lover as well now, and do something with him.” He probably had no idea what he was doing because it’s Stede, but it worked out and it was the right time in the show. Taika and I are really good mates, so it’s really easy to do emotional scenes together. As soon as we put our gear on, we’re just looking at that character, and we admire each other.

You and Taika have been known to improv on the show. Was there any improv moment from Season 2 you were particularly proud to see onscreen?

Yeah. Well, one, I noticed that some people are talking about that they thought was scripted, which wasn’t — most of the [scenes where] I’m with Taika are improvised in those emotional close moments — is on the deck of the boat where we’d do the thumb thing. That was all improvised on the day. So that was fun that we got that kind of stuff in. And there were some more little bits and pieces, but that’s one that comes to mind. That worked really well.

By the end of Season 2, Stede and Blackbeard have settled in to open their own inn. Do you think the peace and quiet will last in a possible third season, or will they get bored and want to rejoin the excitement?

Well, obviously as it stands now, it’s very lovely and it’s a nice positive ending, which is lovely for Season 2. But in reality, if you think about the characters, even in the fictional world, they’re both outlaws, they’re pirates, and the British back then… they never gave up. They did track down all the pirates and either hang them or get rid of them. There was only a couple that got away, and it certainly wasn’t those two. So I think what they’re thinking is, yes, this is bliss, but both those characters must be thinking, this is not going to last because you’ve got to sleep with one eye open.

Even though they’re in the middle of nowhere, they’re still in an area where everyone knows what they are, so they’re going to be tracked down. So I think if it was me, [they’d] end up back in action one way or another, especially if their inn is popular, which it probably would be. Word would get around. I mean, in those days, had you heard the Blackbeard and Stede had opened up an inn, [you’d have] to check that one out. It’ll be like Planet Hollywood.

There would be a wait-list, for sure.

Yeah, absolutely. Basically, they’re too famous now that Stede’s killed Ned and everything. He’s a famous pirate. So death is going to come to their door at some point. They’ll have to deal with it.

Do you think this version of Stede and Blackbeard’s story could avoid the fate of the real-life pirates?

Yeah, no, I think you’re dreaming if you think they’re going to live happily ever after.

Our Flag Means Death, Seasons 1-2, Streaming now, Max

Source: TV Insider

[actual-changeling]

if god did not want me to over-analyse a two second video clip she would not have given me video editing software, so welcome back to alex's unhinged meta corner with me, alex, as your host.

we're going off the deep end with this one.

let's have a look at a. well, you cannot really call it a scene at this point. more of a collection of frames - aziraphale's face right after crowley leaves but before the bell above the door rings. this has been on my list of metas to write anyway, but someone kindly pointed it out which gave me incentive to make this post.

now, my leading theory is that much like his mouth movement before saying "i forgive you", which looked and sounded a lot like the beginning of "i love you", aziraphale is mouthing a silent "don't". presumably, the complete sentence would have been "don't leave".

first things first, why do i think he would say it? well, if you look back at their breakup in the park in season one, aziraphale calls him back when he says he will leave.

"you can't leave, crowley, there isn't anywhere to go".

then, after the fucking mess that is "nothing lasts forever", aziraphale also calls out. "come back". it is also perfectly in line with his previous behaviour to try and keep crowley from leaving again. especially because he almost tells the metatron he will stay just a few minutes later.

some other important things to keep in mind: aziraphale is shaking and about to cry, and also probably still in shock. so his face is doing a number of things and any words he may or may not mouth are slightly skewed due to that.

the first few frames are him taking a breath, so far so good.

this is the part where it looks like he is about to say something and silently begins to mouth don't. if you pay very close attention to his lips, you can see that they get pushed forward just a little bit as one does when saying "do".

you can try it yourself to confirm, i certainly did several times while rewatching the same two seconds like an absolutely sane person.

the last few frames are him closing his mouth again and breaking off whatever he was going to say, but in my opinion, you can still see the ending of that "don't".

alex, you might ask, how do you know that's what he was trying to say? i don't, although i hope once the strike ends someone will ask michael sheen some much needed questions. however, i wouldn't be a scientist if i didn't have evidence to present nevertheless.

i compared two of the frames from above, one from the "do" part and one from the "nt" part with another instance of michael/aziraphale saying "don't" - "i don't think you understand what i'm offering you".

the mouth shape and the movement of his facial muscles looks very similar even taking the whole sobbing and crying business into account.

interestingly enough, once the bell does ring, signaling that crowley has left the store, he not only closes his mouth but also physically steps back even more. he almost says "don't leave", restrains himself by physically pulling back, and then inches even farther from the door.

that is also when his face shifts from completely openly heartbroken to angry/spiteful and heartbroken.

the camera angle changes a little bit but not enough to explain the discrepancy, so yes, he steps backward before turning away and touching his lips. that pillar is honestly a very helpful point of reference. also completely unrelated but the face he makes at the end cracks me up it is LITERALLY >:(

to summarize: someone get michael sheen on the fucking phone before i lose my mind. also you can pry this meta from my dead, cold hands, he almost said "don't leave" and i will die on this hill.

lastly, said two second clip at half speed if you want to have a look for yourself.

[bluelancelion]

So, I've been re-watching Stranger Things S1 - S4 and I got things to say just to let them out of my system.

First of all, kudos to the Duffer Brothers for one of the best found family ever created. I love the gang, I love the later addition of Max, Robin and Eddie. The characters are clean.

But here's the thing, let's talk about characters and, more specifically, Steve and Nancy.

So, we pretty much got a weird vibe between Nance and Steve in S4, kinda heavy hinting that Steve is totally not over Nance and they might get back together.

Now here's why this is a bad move.

First of all, I heard somewhere that Stranger Things is supposed to end like a circle, so many things that we've seen in S1 might return by the end of S5 (aka last season).

IF that's true, quoting some fans theories, then:

- Robin is gonna become Nancy's bestie (taking Barb's place)

- Steve and Nancy are gonna get back together (?)

Look.

I know what you're cooking here.

Steve and Nancy started their relationship when they both weren't fully evolved as characters, right? We're gonna pull a "right person, wrong moment" move in S1 that's gonna come back in s5 because after their MASSIVE character development, Steve and Nancy are basically two complete new people.

THAT could've worked IF Johnathan didn't exist.

Cause let's be real here, if Johnathan didn't exist, this trope would've been perfectly fit. BUT-

You guys gave us the whole "Nancy likes Steve but she's not in love with him" and then you pull out Johnny boy and pretend like we don't pick up the fact that Nancy loves him?

Plus, if Murray says so, then it's law.

I don't make the rules here! He's basically jesus, everything he says is right and if that man says Nancy and Johnathan love each other, then they love each other. If he says Hopper and Joyce love each other, then that's true, no questions asked.

"But people change, and Murray could always say that as things are now, Nancy and Steve are perfect for each other."

Yeah, maybe, but then what was the point of giving us such good chemistry between Johnathan and Nancy? They've hit it off since season 1, carrying it all on season 2, had a difficulty overcome TOGETHER in season 3, making their relationship even stronger if you ask me-

Only for it to... to what? In season 4? (I haven't rewatched season 4 yet so I don't remember the details except they wanna go to different colleges, but I'm dead sure they don't break up yet)

But noooo, the Duffer Brothers want to give us a lesson. Every person in our life is important to us and they shape the person we are today. Nancy needed a Johnathan in her life, in that specific moment of her life, not a Steve. But as we get closer to the future, or the present in s5, we might find out that the character that is Nancy Wheeler in that season, in that period of her life, doesn't need a Johnathan anymore, but a Steve.

And I don't say "need" as if boys can be swapped like socks, I mean that maybe Nancy is building her future somewhere where Johnathan doesn't want to be, or maybe Johnathan is growing into a man who's goals are far away from Nancy's.

And this is heartbreaking, cause you know these causes might lead to a break up and it had NOTHING to do with their feelings for each other. Nancy and Johnathan love each other, no matter if they break up or not because what they want in life is different.

Which brings us back to Steve getting back with Nancy.

Look, I'm all in for people finding happiness, but it feels a bit odd to give us such a good couple, make them break up (and thus breaking our hearts, but no matter what, we'll still love them both because life led them to break up, not their feelings)... Only for Nancy to be RANDOMLY back with Steve? Like???

I don't know, it gives me a bittersweet taste.

Now. Let's not forget this is Stranger Things, and stuff might go fucking south like:

- Johnathan dies and Nancy is left grieving. We have a timeskip into the future where Nance and Steve are together again, fighting the grief in the company of each other. Maybe in the past, Steve and Johnathan fought side by side in the Upside Down and it was Steve who failed to save Johnatan. In the meanwhile Steve and Nancy got closer as well, so it's easier to digest their reunion if it's under this perspective.

But seriously? Are we gonna pull that, Duffers?

OR Steve dies (please no) and Nancy's right there to hear his last wish and maybe she kisses him? Like a goodbye forever kiss, they might've worked out if it weren't for Jonathan and how things went in the end, yadda yadda

Honestly, I can think of a bunch of theories about how this could go, but no matter HOW it goes, I still think that making Steve not over Nancy is a tiny bit of an insult to his character development.

After Robin, his character was peak. He was supposed to get with her (which let's admit it, we all low-key rooted for it) but when Robin's actress proposed her idea of making Robin a lesbian, literally everything went from perfect to THE EPITOME OF PERFECTION. King (hair) Steve Harrington, popular once douchebag, now single mom besties with a lesbian? Peak writing. PEAK. WRITING.

You know what could've been even more peak? Making Steve come out as bi and have a little thing with Eddie but y'all were cowards

BACK TO MY POINT. Steve wishes for and deserves a soulmate, never ending love and a family. And, in a way, he has that already through the kids, through Robin, his friends-

I just... I don't think, and I neither see Nancy being that person for Steve. And it sucks cause they could've made a character specifically for Steve to fall in love with (I know, that was supposed to be Robin but since she's not anymore, either give Steve someone new cough Eddie would've been a good match cough OR give us a new female character so he can have his dream love story and we'd all be happy) instead of recycling old characters who had an awesome journey just to end where it all began.

And I get it, this is supposed to be Stranger Things ending, right? To finish where it all started.

And again, the Steve and Nancy of S5 might be exactly who they need in their lives at that moment.

But after EVERYTHING we've seen so far in these 4 season? Nah man. Just... It doesn't work.

I'd be happy to hear your thoughts :)

[candied-cae]

Okay... I finished OFMD S2...

And yeah, as much as it breaks my heart, this season disappointed me in so many different ways. There are a few things I absolutely adored, but a lot of it felt like a disservice to a lot of the work S1 did to establish the universe and its characters.

Oluwande gave Stede advice like one whole time this season, even though that was a big part of the first. Him consistently being supportive was such a light, and it was pretty much replaced with him just being generally bubbly (and I fucking loved watching him be bubbly and joyful, might I add, but it's different).

Jim's complicated relationship with the idea of taking vengeance wasn't brought up at all. Jim's relationship with Oluwande was absolutely shifted, even now, I cannot watch S1 with the knowledge that they're going to be played off as "best friends who hooked up once" and see it, they HAD to have been intended as an endgame couple in the beginning.

Frenchie didn't sing even once, despite the fact that the very first scene opens to his voice! Frenchie as a character was shrunken a ton, in general. Ed leaned on him a lot in S1, that was gone. Wee John was shown as his best friend, but how many words did they even exchange this season? They let him do another grift, but it didn't include Oluwande so (personally) it felt cheapened.

Wee John didn't make a single fucking joke about fire! Even though there was a lot of fire this season, and he made like three separate comments about arson in the previous one?!?!?! And, again, he barely even talks to Frenchie at all!

The Swede was benched for half the episodes, Buttons became a bird halfway through and possibly won't be coming back at all, Ivan was killed off with a one-liner, and Izzy died as a completely backwards version of himself that we were given almost no show of him transitioning into.

Izzy, who practically stole a bunch of other character's "moments" while they rushed through his redemption so they could kill him at the end and hope they got everyone attached to him enough to care. Izzy got to sing, Izzy got to play advisor to Stede, Izzy got to do drag with John, Izzy whittled a gift for Lucius instead of Pete, Izzy pretty much interrupted every single scene Gentlebeard had... It's just... frustrating.

Season 1 was revolutionary to me, but Season 2 just felt far more average in comparison. I don't know, I was so excited, and rewatching season 1 is still exhilarating, but season 2 just doesn't do as much for me. I really feel like it was the wrong choice to spend as much time as they did with Izzy when they still skipped almost the entirety of his "redemption," condense so many of the other characters to make for time, but still make sure we could fit in some incredible jokes.

One of the only things that didn't change for me, was the humor.

But about half of my favorite things just didn't exist these last 8 episodes, so I need to go drown myself in some fanfics.

[terapsina]

Shoutout to the temporary ships that were created with the intention of getting in the way of the intended ship but that I actually liked way more than the ship the writers were trying to get me to root for.

(a.k.a I kinda get a bit salty on this one)

---

1. Laurel and Tommy - Arrow

As soon as they got introduced I felt the feeling of doom. Because they were so immediately adorable and full of chemistry. I loved them from the word go even though it was so clear they were going toward a Laurel and Oliver resolution (and then to add insult to injury they changed their minds on that, but Tommy was taken from Laurel anyway).

---

2. Clara and Danny - Doctor Who

It's up for debate if Clara's relationship with the Doctor was meant to be romantic-coded or not (I personally prefer it as 'not' but they really were very fuzzy with the lines) but either way Danny was still used as the threat that might separate them. And that was really annoying for me because I liked Clara and Danny so much. And then they killed him (which is a scene that still tears my heart to pieces).

---

3. Cordy and Doyle - Angel: The Series

They were short and sweet and I enjoyed them (and though the Cordy and Angel thing wasn't really a thing at the time, there were some signs that it was on the writers' minds... and I wasn't a fan). And then they killed Doyle (...I might have to rename this post to 'killing off the love interests I actually enjoyed to give way to the ships I didn't').

---

4. Rachel and Joey - F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

This ship went past my notice when I watched the show as a kid (my entire obsession rested on Monica and Chandler) but after rewatching as an adult I actually really liked their potential. It might have come up a bit unexpectedly but there really was something quite genuine about it (and Rachel deserved so much better than Ross). I wish they hadn't ended it as such a joke.

---

5. Worf and Troi - Star Trek: The Next Generation

They were created with the sole intention of getting in the way of Troi and Riker. But I liked them better. I just found them more interesting.

---

6. Tamsin and Bo - Lost Girl

They were more fun to watch than Bo and Lauren, had better chemistry and I just enjoyed them a lot more ('and then you see you' living in my head rent free for years now). But instead they gave Tamsin the short end of the stick and used her as a stepping stone (in so many ways, genuinely, even past shipping they just never gave that Valkyrie a single break... and then killed her in the most insulting way possible, because of course they did).

---

7. Wynonna and Dolls - Wynonna Earp

Talk about chemistry. Season 1 of that show was so good and I really did fool myself into thinking this was where they were heading but no, of course not (I should have learned my lesson about Emily Andras after she killed off Hale on Lost Girl). How is an old dude with a gross mustache more interesting than a literal dragon? The answer as far as I'm concerned... they're not (now guess if they killed him off. Guess!).

---

8. Lucy and Flynn - Timeless

A tragic love story happening in the wrong order and out of time because he meets her when he needs something to hold on to and she gives him a crusade. And she meets him while he's zealously following that crusade and thinks he's just a terrorist? Dude. But no, apparently the happy ending is supposed to be the guy that wanted the cake and to eat it too (sometimes I genuinely boggle at how the writers just will not notice when they've hit gold and instead go on beating that dead horse even more to death (and yup, somehow manage to kill the gold)) .

9. Dutch and Johnny - Killjoys.

(First I have to say that I still recommend this show a 100% and this is just quibble of a shipper at heart) But how is it that when you build the whole series around the heart of this relationship, you still end up using Johnny as a brief stop point (a la basically a Married!AU) before you put Dutch back with his brother? Like, yes, they're each other's best friends and always will be but people that are in love can be each other's ride or die best friends too.

---

10. Mel and Abigael - Charmed (2018)

Alright, Mel went through the intended love interests like candy (and I liked most of them well enough) but Abby was the one that intrigued me the most, so it was a great shame that she was never properly Mel's love interest at all and more enemy/antagonist/ally/friend with mostly one-sided feelings for Mel (enemies to friends to lovers was RIGHT THERE).

[zeawesomebirdie]

Can I ask about Operation: Sleep? The title intrigues me!

[for this ask game here]

Omg thanks for the ask, this is a very fun one!!

I have an AU in which Len and Barry are both insomniacs and agree to spend the nights they can't sleep together. It started out as a little one shot, which I only wrote down because I thought it was cute enough to warrant being on Ao3 after using that little bit of a plot bunny to entertain myself when I couldn't sleep, and then I rapidly lost control of the plot and ended up with two more little one shots, and decided it was time to put together a longfic to give these one shots context 😌 [btw, those one shots can be found here on Ao3, or here if you want to read them in chronological order rather than the order they were posted in!]

Operation: Sleep is the longfic!

I'm still zero drafting it, and I actually need to rewatch season one of the Flash because my memory is a sieve and this is an AU that's a continuation of season one rather than a rewrite of season two (though. That might change when I inevitably get around to season two, lol). Mostly though it takes place after the Singularity, and it's an AU where Eddie and Ronnie survived, and Eobard is still gone.

The basic plot is as follows: Len catches Barry wandering around the neighborhood by Saints&Sinners in the early hours of the morning far too frequently to be explained away as a coincidence, and makes it his mission to figure out wtf Barry is doing. One night, Captain Cold has to step in to save the Flash, and when Len takes Barry back to STAR Labs, they get locked in the lounge for the night due to Cisco's latest anti-Cold tech, which can only be disengaged by Cisco or Caitlin from the Cortex, but it is 2am, Barry was out without Team Flash's knowledge, and they're stuck here for the night. They end up bonding over having insomnia, and after that night, Len makes it a point to try to get Barry to actually sleep, or at least come inside and not wander the streets when he can't sleep

One thing leads to another, and they end up in a dynamic that's kinda romantic-adjacent, but neither of them would actually use those words to describe it. They kiss, there is def sex happening, but both of them refuse to acknowledge their feelings for each other, and it actually works out just fine like that, up until other people find out. The moment everyone else finds out, it all blows up and becomes one of those miscommunication plotlines where each thinks the other isn't actually interested, and that this will ruin everything (spoiler: it doesn't, they do manage to work it out!)

The whole fic is born from a place of, I couldn't sleep and am making that everyone else's problem ^.^

[theredponcho]

I finally finished watching all 7 seasons of 2003 tmnt. I like the series as a whole and it might be my favorite iteration now but idk I might have to rewatch it again. Story wise I think its my favorite iteration. If were talking animation and comedy then rottmnt is my favorite.

Spoilers under the keep reading ⬇️

My favorite turtle in this iteration has to be Donnie. He was really intresting and I liked his personality a lot. It could also be that Im bias in my opinion since before I watched the series I was reading the fic Ghost in a Shell which was also one of the reasons why I decided to binge watch the series in the first place so who knows.

The shredder reminded me a lot of william afton from fnaf since…He always comes back. I swear they did everything to that guy and he just kept coming back. Decapitation, drowning/fire damage, electricution, and dragons??? Don't even get me started on stockman. It gave me flash backs to 2012 splinter. But 2012 splinter didn’t dye more so was assumed dead except for the ending and that one time in the space arc. I could go on a whole tangent talking about 2012 tmnt but we would be here all day. Maybe I’ll make a post on my thoughts on that if I feel like it.

I wish we could have seen more of cyberspace and learned more about how the future worked. I also would have liked to see more of professor honey cut he was cool.

I still have questions that were left unanswered mostly about the last season.

Did Serlion the future robot ever make it back to the future. I assumed he did eventually since it would probably screw up the time line or be very dark if he did end up staying in the present. Plus it would add a lot of plot holes.

What was that 3V3 shredder fight all about? During the begging of season 7 went viral was messing around with the time portal and sending the guys to different points in the past we saw a moment were 3 or 4 shredders were fighting each other along with a lot of foot clan members and I assumed that we would see this near the end of the season and this was just for shadowing what was gonna come and be the final epic fight because brain wash guy was their and the next episode after that we actually get to formally meet brain wash guy and we met a shredder that was basically resserected and they still needed to make a time portal which leaves room for more shredders to make a appearance. Idk maybe they just ran out of time and couldn’t do it so they just ended on the wedding and killed cyber shredder early or something.

Who in there right mind decide to change the turtles eyes and give them pupils in season 7? Im not mad I’m just disappointed. I didn’t mind the art style change in season 6. Sure it took some getting use to but I was able to get use to it after a while and find things I liked about it but I never really got over the pupils thing.

Is the shredder actually dead? The main core/program of the shredder is still tenically in cyberspace it wasn’t deleted (as far as im awear) so does that mean the shredder could still come back if he wanted to?

I would like to end this post on a cute picture of the guys if you read this far thank you. ❤️

[bekkachaos]

BRIDGERTON THOUGHTS PRT 2 !

Send help it's literally more Polin I can't help it!

Once again, spoilers ahead for S3 part 2 so keep scrolling if you don't want em! This is my part 1.

It might be an unpopular opinion, but there was too much angst for me. Colin was too angsty for too long, and I know it was only really an episode and a half, But I felt like we got too much of book Colin's bad side and not enough understanding. Like I very much get it and he had a very valid reason for being hurt, but it was dragged almost to the very end of the last episode and I just wish there would have been a little less.

The constant asking if she was going to give up Whistledown kind of annoyed me and how cold he was every time they had that conversation just broke my heart a little bit for Penelope.

I know so much has been changed from books to show, but it's strange that in the book he knows about Whistledown before anything really happens, I mean they have that first kiss where she asks him to but everything else happens after he already knows. So for him to be so cold. Just made me feel sad. I understand it in the context of the show but still.

And something I really disliked was when they're in the room where they're going to have their wedding breakfast and Penelope asks something along the lines of "if you still want to marry me" and he says "I'm a man of honour and we were intimate", I really hate that it came to suggesting he would marry her out of obligation, It just really rubbed me the wrong way. And I wish it had been something along the lines of. "I love you Penelope and I want to marry you. I just don't know if I can forgive you for this", which he'd already said, but I would way rather that have been put out there than to ever even imply that he could marry her out of obligation. I know he was mad and betrayed and jealous, But that one line really bothers me. I've made a whole post basically saying this word for word but that's how strongly I feel about it! Like I get it from Colin's perspective and how he's grappling with it, I do, I just didn't like it.

Also, Colin never actually said sorry? For treating her like shit after he found out. Like I do think his feelings were valid and that he deserved to be upset, but he never said sorry for some of the stuff he said and for being cold even though Penelope apologised so many times.

Luke's emotion though when Colin found out and in the conversations after was incredible, when the tear fell at the end of ep 6 my heart stopped and then broke into tiny pieces!

Something about their pairing that I really like though is that they both feel inherently unlovable for one reason or another (Penelope has always felt completely unloved and overlooked, and Colin has always felt people showed him affections for shallow reasons and not actually for who he is), but both of them prove to each other over and over again how much they love the other and know the other and see them in a way no-one else does.

HOWEVER, I'm not sure they did a good enough job portraying Colin's side of this (I'll update on my rewatch send help). Not sure his coldness and hesitation was addressed enough as jealousy as it could have been. The scene where Penelope says "just love me and hold me and kiss me, what holds you back" and he says "I don't know" like was that just a little abrupt or was that just me? Because from the book I could follow that it's the jealousy of how accomplished she is but not sure the general audience picks up on that.

AND ANOTHER THING, there was absolutely not enough making up after everything was resolved with Whistledown, I needed more love and kisses and softness after the ball!

I know there were things being added to set up for the next season, but damn it was already 70 minutes long, what's 5 more of sweet and in love Polin??

Gotta say though, all of them with their babies in the end was adorable, and you can't deny the last shot kissing in the sunlight of the drawing room (where Penelope spent so much time staring out the window pining after Colin) was so fucking romantic! And the shot with their little baby boy, love!

One last thing, did they spend an exorbitant amount of time dancing or is that just me? Almost as much time as they all spent drinking lemonade in eps 1-4

Overall I loved their story, it's been my favourite pairing so far. Not sure any of the others will top it for me, but time will tell! Episodes 4-5 were definitely my favourites by a long shot!

Okay okay imma do part 3 with my thoughts on everything else 😂

[meanderingtext]

ooh loved the ending cut away, and how they made sure Nora had the last (title) line

that’s season 1 finished!! kinda crazy, it went by so quickly…

this was my first live s1 and watching it live really made such a huge difference… with episodes, we might see eva and jakov fight, then make up within ten minutes. But when there are actual DAYS in between their conversations you empathise with eva so much more. It also makes chriseva way more believable for the same reasons. That, and the fact I found nix more likeable here.

the best part of this remake was hands down the cinematography (who would’ve thought). The acting was also amazing, Eva’s actor especially, but the clips were a bit too rushed, combined with small changes (that actually just confused the plot instead of taking it in a new direction, which was disappointing) meant that we didn’t get to see some of my fav scenes to the quality I was hoping for. Especially the Sara and Ines eva convo. Some changes, like the eva mum dynamic, were fun but for the most part they felt lacking of real purpose.

I think I need to rewatch this season to really come to a conclusion about the character dynamics - I still believe the eva-lovro dynamic felt off, but that may have been because I haven’t rewatched, watching live instead. But then again, the whole point of the live format (as I’ve discovered) is to manipulate how the audience views character relationships, so by that logic was it intentional?

Loved the girl squad too, their clips were my favs among the skatepark scene and some others.

I felt a bit let down at times, but this remake is still really interesting, and especially with the character shift for William/roko - even the way he made up with Tina was portrayed differently (and her reaction was hilarious I loved it) - and I really hope it gets a season 2!

[littlespoonevan]

Hi, can I please ask for some of the essays about the cemetery talk and what we were supposed to take away from that scene? If you feel inclined, that is 💕

well i don't know if i can write an essay exactly bc tbh i still don't know for certain what we're supposed to take away from that scene. but i do know the tone of it was completely different to anything we've ever seen for buddie before and it also lasted so much longer than most of their scenes have before??? like i just went back to rewatch it to refresh my memory and it's 3 minutes???? that is an incredibly long scene for two characters to have in an ensemble show when they're literally just talking and it's not strictly moving the plot forward

but to try and break it down a bit:

i find it fascinating the way eddie reacts to buck talking about natalia. that weary, almost irritated, "really?" when buck admits he'd met up with her followed by the "dating somebody you rescued, you know what never ends well." it's So Different to the snarky way he used to react to taylor. like when he'd make comments about taylor you knew he was mostly joking or at worst, just being a little bitchy. but he sounds genuinely frustrated when buck brings up natalia. the closest thing i can compare it to is that it's a more muted version of "his fiance's abby" and we know eddie knew how deeply buck was affected by losing abby so it feels a bit like eddie is potentially annoyed bc he knows buck will probably get hurt again???

then you have buck saying the whole "i think she sees me" bit which echoes so much of buck's overarching storyline and his struggle with love in the past. and i know some people call this eddie's 'oh' moment but i definitely don't consider it an "oh i'm in love with him" moment. i feel like it's more of an "oh he doesn't see that i see him too" moment, if that makes sense?? and i think there probably is a bit of frustration with that for eddie given that the will scene is eddie as loudly and demonstratively as he can saying "i see you" y'know? nevermind all the little ways he proves he knows buck

and tbh i think my favourite part of the scene is actually the last 60 seconds because first you have eddie saying "you haven't been the same since it happened, but then again how could you be?" and it's just!!! 1) it's literally him proving he does see buck and probably knows him better than anyone else and 2) there's a very subtle hint of realisation in his voice when eddie says "how could you be" as if he's been convincing himself buck is fine this entire time (maybe post-couch nap) only for him to now realise buck really, really isn't.

tHEN he says "you don't have to be anything for anybody" and it might be my favourite words to ever come out of his mouth tbh because it's just once again emphasising the gentle way eddie lets buck be?????????? "i had to do it" "i know you did", "you knew i wouldn't" "i knew you wouldn't". eddie is So Good at offering buck a reprieve whenever he needs one and he's usually the person best able to break through all the noise in buck's head to make him understand that he's fine just existing as himself.

aND THEN eddie makes the comment about how going through near death experiences change a person and all i can think about is how after eddie's near death experience he made the decision to tell buck about his will after keeping it a secret for a year and how he never actually answered buck's question about why he kept it a secret in the first place and i have to ask, eddie diaz what changed in you???????????

combine all of that with the fact their outfits mirror what they wore in 5x14 and the absolute irony of eddie saying dating someone on a call never works out only for him to pursue marisol two eps later and just- i don't know if they pivoted bc there was a fear season 6 would be the end of the series or if the last few eps were always supposed to go the way they did but this scene in 6x15 raises so many questions and i feel like i don't have the answers to any of them skjahd

[kmze]

Finally decided to do a TVD rewatch now that the 'verse is complete. Since I know how everything ends I thought it would be interesting to see how I react with that knowledge. Curious if my feelings might change about characters, ships, storylines etc. (obviously I am fully aware there's going some bias).

Adding my thoughts after I complete the half-way mark of each season (there is simply too many episodes to do a recap of each one). I am talking to the void mostly here but feel free to leave comments, thoughts on my posts for those who still follow me or just find this post. However, I am not here to argue, I simply DO NOT CARE whatever you think is right totally, please leave me alone.

Recaps tagged with k rewatches tvd

S1 Episodes 1-11

I am loving the dark atmosphere of the first season, feeling so much nostalgia! Nice to go back in time to when vampires were scary on this show. That's not really criticism because every supernatural show goes through this. The big bad must always be upped as it goes on but it was nice when the stakes were lower and the mythos was being developed.

Damon makes me feel so uncomfortable so far... I know he was the 'villian' for most of the beginning of the season but his treatment of Vicki and Caroline is just so predatory and gross. Which brings me to...

WHY HAS NO ONE GIVEN CAROLINE A GOD DAMN VERVAIN NECKLACE ALREADY!!! Stefan and Elena both know Damon was using her (and they know damn well he hasn't stopped). Her Mom has the vervain to give her and just has not for no reason!! GET AWAY FROM HER ALREADY! I got so mad when Damon was compelling her AGAIN in the 10th episode. I'm so glad she outlives them all, justice for my baby!

I'm sorry but Stefan is so creepy and self-righteous in the beginning, I remembered this but did not remember how bad it was. Also he did not need to kill Vicki, that pissed me off. I don't think it did as much when I first watch this (mind you that was literally 14+ years ago) but just knowing how freely everyone neck-snaps around here it was bullshit. His one cool moment remains when he told Logan he can't walk in the sun. The manipulative way he used Elena’s adoption to get her to forgive him had me rolling my eyes (then of course she used it against Jenna to get out of trouble lol).

I can't remember who the other vampire is who turned Logan, I'm thinking its Pearl's henchman but yeah I don't remember that part. I also didn't remember the crystal so I like that some of this is like a 'mystery' again.

I did remember that I thought Tyler was such a dick in the first season and yeah confirmed. Though now I remembered his Dad was an abusive piece of shit. Still, fuck Tyler for now.

Alaric looks so different I don't hate him (yet).

I still hate Matt #bias

The progression of Bonnie realizing her powers has been well done, again nice to just see the simple magic again. (Stefan totally wanted to bang Sheila back in the day... maybe they did)

Jeremy just met Anna and I still love them, I wish they got more time. They were the only 'ship I like in this season when it first aired.

The Bonnie, Elena and Caroline friendship is nice but I am annoyed they haven't done more to protect Caro from Damon. Especially when she doesn't know what's going on and they do (though Bonnie only just got all the deets). This might be magnified by my love of Caroline I admit but I hate the prop-y way she's being used so far.

I kinda rolled my eyes at the whole Katherine/Damon/Stefan stuff before Elena knew they were vamps because OMG Stefan is 17(!!!) Does no one thinks it's weird he's like "it was a long time ago" A LONG TIME AGO LIKE WHEN YOU WERE 12?! They should have made him at least 20, just bothers me.

I liked that not every vampire had a daylight ring and it was more of a novelty. That is something that could have stuck more in the later seasons.

Lines that made me laugh:

Caroline: Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today. It's only because you missed summer camp. God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines. (Bonnie offers to help her) I guess we can put her in the back. (all right in front of Elena lmao oh Caroline never change)

Caroline: So, Elena...how long do you think this fight with Stefan's gonna last? Is it...like a permanent thing? (eyes on the prize baby! lol)

Stefan: (imitating Damon) Now that the secret society of vampire haters is off our back, I can go back to my routine of how can I destroy Stefan’s life this week. (never gets old!)

Damon: *shoots Logan with wooden bullets* Payback's a bitch, isn't it? (all in the delivery here lmao kudos to Ian)

[dk-wren]

Buddy Daddies Finale Theory

I can't say what I'm really basing these thoughts on. I also am not sure if this is an actual theory or just my hopes/musings. But here we go:

Kazuki, Rei, and Miri will all make it. Kazuki or Rei might get injured, but nobody in this sweet, little family is dying on me!

However, I do think there is going to be a loss and after the end of Ep. 8, my bet is on Kyutaro (though I hope I am wrong!)

For a variety of reasons, all of which are valid, Rei, and perhaps Kazuki too, are gonna go after Shigeki and Ogino. If not outright killing them (perhaps symbolizing that Rei and Kazuki have changed and are different from them), they will somehow be out of the picture, leaving Rei as the head of the Suwa family/organization

Rei and Kazuki will continue to stay in that world or business, possibly to try and change the practices of the Suwa organization or still feeling too tied to it. So, Rei will step up to become the head of the Suwa organization, except he's doing things a little differently from his father. Rei will be handling that during the day while Miri is at school. During the same time, Kazuki will somewhat retire from missions and instead take over Yadorigi from Kyutaro, maintaining the place as both a cafe and location to exchange/gather intel. (Just let this man cook and be appreciated for his food/drinks)

Like Rei said in Ep. 8, his home is the apartment where he, Kazuki, and Miri live. And that's gonna stay the same. Their apartment will continue to be their home. Nobody is going to move to the Suwa manor and that place will instead become like an office or workspace for Rei. While they may all somewhat spend their day apart from each other, this little family always comes together at night in the apartment for dinner and family time.

.

.

.

Not fully related to the above, but also just wanted to throw my two cents into the conversation about this: I don't think we've crossed over into the present yet (or, we're still in the flashback). I feel it would explicitly be said when the show jumps back to the present or there would be overlapping events that clearly allude to the merging of the two timelines. I haven't watched a whole lot of anime, so I do not know if this is a common story technique or not and if there is like a trope or narrative device used in these situations.

I do agree, given Rei's growth and development in the relationship he has with Miri, going back and rewatching that first scene, Rei's reaction seems a little out of character now (like he still does not really care about Miri). But, and I saw a post about this earlier (sorry I forgot your @), if it's not actually Miss Anna calling, and instead Kyutaro or someone else with the voice changer, this could explain Rei's response. If this call is being made to lure Kazuki and Rei into a trap, and Miri does not actually have a runny nose or fever (I kinda forgot the specifics), then Rei's seemingly unfazed or uncaring reaction could be him simply trying to appease Kazuki's overprotective papa dramatics. Rei's "I guess" could be he truly didn't notice anything wrong with Miri because nothing is, she's just being used as bait. Regardless of the how the organization gets its info on Kazuki and Miri, they will know how much she means to both of them and what they are willing to do for her. That is why calling them and saying Miri is not in outright trouble or danger, but simply needs the love and help of her papas will quickly draw them to wherever the organization wants them.

I could be completely wrong, but just some of my thoughts about how the rest of the season may play out. I think the wait for next week's episode is gonna be a lot harder for me than previous waits.

[vro0m]

vro0m's rewatch - 171/332

2016 Russian GP

Okay. Round 4. Let's see if Lewis can turn the tide. Aha and this time I have access to the pre quali build up as well. Ferrari is facing reliability issues. Seb will have a grid penalty for a gearbox change and now they're struggling with Raikkonen's car as well. 

Another big story of the weekend is Daniel trying a halo type thing prototype on his car. It's a cockpit basically. It's not entirely covered, like you can get in the car from above like with the halo, but instead of the y-shape of the current halo, the half circle is covered in some kind of windshield. It seems dangerous to put any type of material on that that could shatter and cut the driver. Paul di Resta has some stupid opinion on it like most commentators do at this point, saying things like "most drivers think we should keep it open and be able to see the helmet, that identity" which is. Fucking ridiculous. Apparently though, RBR is pushing for it mostly because they think if they start developing it now it might give them a headstart as far as aero goes compared to Merc which is. On brand. Brundle is saying "shouldn't F1 be risky?" which is insane. He thinks we start with the halo and we end with "driverless cars" to take all the risk away. I'm banging my head on the walls from the stupidity, that's more than I can handle for real. Horner is defending the thing. He says from a purist POV he agrees, but the FIA is pursuing it and their concept is a more "elegant" solution than a "flip-flop style halo" that was tested earlier in the year. I have no idea what he's referring to there. He also says of course a purist wants to keep it open but there's been too many incidents over the years where something like this could have saved someone's life to ignore it. 

Massa organised a race in tiny kart cars between Daniel and his own son around his terrace I believe? It's funny af. 

Unfortunately, during quali, Lewis has the same engine failure that he got in China and can't take part in Q3, leaving him 10th on the grid. Of course, Nico is on pole.

Lewis is unsurprisingly unhappy about it. He's over being interviewed. In his usual attitude he's looking around, giving short answers, ready to go. He's gonna need a new PU and that means another penalty as well. The journalist says the season is really testing him in terms of making him work hard. "Definitely," he answers with a curt smile.

She asks how he copes with it because he seems to be taking it very well, very chill. (I completely disagree with that.) He takes off his glasses, lightly wipes his eye, makes a hand gesture as he's shifting weight on his feet, shakes his head and smirks. "There's nothing I can do," he says.

He's so frustrated. She says he's still in the fight for the championship and he's not gonna give up. "I never give up, so…" he says, defiantly. That's all. 

I don't understand why but in the end he didn't get a penalty for the PU. He does start 10th. Johnny asks him how he feels going into this race starting from 10th after a couple frustrating races. "Pretty chill."

Johnny wheezes. "Is that it?" Lewis smiles, mischievous. "You must be pretty hungry for it though," Johnny goes on, "because you know, you know how important it's gonna be to get a good result, the car is very very good around this track, so you've got an opportunity, do you think, down turn 2?" Lewis says there's a lot of opportunities ahead, he's chill, what will be will be, he'll give it everything he's got. Johnny asks how is his motivation, as good as ever? "Absolutely. I've never ever in my whole life ever struggled with motivation, so that's never even in question." 

Toto is interviewed and Crofty reports that many fans on twitter are spinning conspiracy theories about sabotage and Mercedes going against their own champion and shit like that. Is that how all the bs surrounding brocedes began? With stupid fan theories? Toto says he's not gonna answer to every lunatic that tweets and some of them are abusing the team. He denies all allegations and says they feel awful about him not being able to perform as well as he can. 

Niki is also against the halo which is preposterous. 

Anyway. It's time for the race. Here's how they line up then : Nico, Valtteri, Raikkonen, Massa, Ricciardo, Perez, Seb, Kvyat, Verstappen and Lewis. 

Formation lap. 

And they're racing! 

Just as I was about to say it's a clean start, it's not. Reaaally not. And just as they come out of the first round of contact, a Ferrari spins. I'll wait until we know more to tell you precisely what it's about. But Seb has crashed for sure. VSC. Lewis is up 5 places though! Hulkenberg is also out. Safety car. Perez is limping to the pits on three tyres and apparently Ricciardo has pitted as well. And Kvyat. And Ericsson. Those are looong stops. Gutierrez is in as well. That's a lot of damaged cars! Seb is driving the moped back to the pits himself lol. 

Okay so. Someone's RedBull hit Seb from the back. It's Kvyat lol. Maybe these two are still salty about China? It sends Ricciardo, who was wheel to wheel with Seb, wide. Meanwhile in the back, someone also collided with someone's back, who was sent spinning, collected the same person as he went AND another car that made contact with a final car by trying to avoid getting hit. Seb was still able to keep going at that point, but someone hit him again shortly after and that's why he crashed. He is PISSED. Who's the second one then? Safety car coming in. And we go again. 

So it's now Nico, Raikkonen, Valtteri, Massa, Lewis, Verstappen, Alonso, Grosjean, Magnussen and Palmer. But Valtteri attacks! He's ahead, and right behind, right at the same time, Lewis overtakes Massa. Verstappen attacks Massa as well but he's not letting it happen twice. Now it's Alonso attacking Verstappen. But that's also not happening either. Kvyat and Ericsson are battling for P15 and Kvyat, who's definitely not my cup of tea, maintains his track position by going off track which is arguable. Especially after already taking out one driver. Lewis is closing on Raikkonen who's closing on Valtteri. Valtteri defends. It's Lewis' turn. He's ahead but well. Raikkonen had to avoid contact there. "Get in there Lewis, come on man!" Bono rejoices on radio. On a on-board replay we see it's Kvyat who ran into Seb BOTH TIMES. So maybe Seb was right about what he told him in China lol. Anyway Lewis is breathing down Valtteri's neck now. Kvyat pits. Ted thinks he's about to retire. Indeed the mechanics are not touching oh no. It was to serve a 10 seconds stop go penalty. He's out again. Gutierrez also gets a drive through penalty for the collision on lap 1.

And it's lap 10. Nico, Valtteri (+5.8), Lewis (+0.4), then Raikkonen, Massa, Verstappen, Alonso, Grosjean, Magnussen, Palmer. Oh and Rio Haryanto is also out of the race. No idea when it happened. Lewis is falling back a bit. Too much dirty air I think. It puts him way closer to Raikkonen now. Like DRS range close. One lap later Lewis is closing on Valtteri again. He sets his best lap of the race, chasing. And Valtteri pits. He's back out in P7. In a real BDE move, Seb went straight to RBR's pit wall to talk to Horner about Kvyat.

And Lewis pits. It's a longer stop than the Williams'. THEY ARE WHEEL TO WHEEL! LEWIS IN THE PIT EXIT AND VALTTERI DOWN THE STRAIGHT! Valtteri stays ahead! Good job, Williams ! But Lewis is still very very close, it's down to the pit stop, really. Come on, come on… Massa pits. Lewis gets on the inside and overtakes Valtteri! He's already on Alonso, who was close ahead. And he made it very easy. And Lewis sets another fastest lap. 

That's lap 20. Nico, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Lewis, Valtteri overtakes Alonso ! Massa, Jenson, Perez, and I don't know who's P10 because Raikkonen pits so the graphics disappear. Lewis is clearly ahead, but Valtteri is behind Raikkonen! So that's Lewis back in P3. Nico pits. His stop is shorter. Of course he's still in the lead, 13 seconds ahead of Lewis, who will be P2 as soon as Max pits. And he does. All that's left to do for Lewis is chase Nico. Sainz gets a 10 second time penalty for forcing Palmer off track. 

On lap 30 there's racing in the midfield. Lewis is still 12.2 second away from Nico and that gap is not closing much. Raikkonen is P3, Valtteri P4, Massa P5, Verstappen P6, Alonso P7 and then there's a 4 way fight for P8 between Magnussen, Grosjean, Ricciardo and Sainz. Nasr gets a 5 second time penalty for "not respecting race directors instructions regarding turn 2". But then Nico hits traffic and Lewis gains on him like crazy. On lap 34 the gap is down to 8.4. And Verstappen slows down, parks his car on the side. He reported issues on his way to the grid earlier on. "Something with the engine," he says. DRS is disabled, yellow flag. 7.5. "You there, Bono?" Lewis asks. "Affirm Lewis, we’ve got a bit on at the moment mate." And then we immediately hear another message although I doubt they happened simultaneously : "So Lewis it looks like we’ve got a water pressure issue, water pressure issue." That's yet another mechanical issue for Lewis then. He loses speed. 

On lap 40, the gap is back up to 11.4. We're in for a boring ending I'm afraid. "Lewis the situation has stabilised," Bono says. So maybe not so boring? Can I hope? But the gap is still expanding, actually. We're almost done and it's 15 seconds. So yeah. Boring in the end. 

And it's the end of the race. 

So Nico, 25 seconds ahead of Lewis, Raikkonen. 

While Nico finishes crowd surfing his team, Raikkonen is casually chatting with dictator Putin in the cool down room. It's insanely cringe each season. Lewis gets there and shakes his hand while still wearing his helmet. Btw Putin is surprisingly short now that I think about it. Nico takes ages before he salutes him as well. Never do you see such a silent cool down room. Everybody is visibly tense and uncomfortable. Lewis stays away, back to the small crowd in the room. 

They nicely wait for all the officials to get away before they start with the champagne and Lewis immediately hands his bottle to the Merc representative rather than spray it himself and stand slightly to the side while he drowns Nico in it. He's smiling though, he's not doing it out of spite. When he gets the bottle back he pours some down on the man as well, then cheers with Nico and they both drink, synchronised. 

Lewis says it wasn't the easiest first corner. He's happy for the team and he got the points so he's satisfied. He says it was quite easy to overtake Valtteri who didn't seem to be defending. He has no doubt he could have won but then he had a problem with the engine "again". He's calm, not cheerful but not annoyed. 

In the end, Brundle asks Nico about the 42 points lead he has. Nico says it's only been 4 races, "Lewis is gonna come back of course you know, I mean he's on it and as motivated as ever so… Early days."

Horner says he could only apologise to Seb as it was Kvyat's fault, btw. 

In the post race, Lewis seems satisfied. He thanks the guys who flew over the previous night to fix his car and his engineers who stayed up late. About the water pressure issue, he says he's just happy he was able to finish the race. He says it wasn't due to pushing too hard, it's just another failure. "We just need to do a better job," he says, given they have few engines to go around for the year. The journalist says they get a lot of tweets from his fans saying it seems like the team has decided it was Nico's turn to win the title and a lot of conspiracy theories. His face is uncharacteristically controlled, I can't tell what he's thinking about this, he's usually so easy to read… He says what he can say is his side of the garage, his mechanics, are definitely having a hard time. He hums. Pause.

He has complete confidence and faith in them. It's an unusual situation for them (the mechanics), the majority of them were on Nico's car the previous year, and Nico's current guys were with him since he's come to the team, he smiles. "And all of a sudden," he shrugs, "you know, we've swapped."

He shakes his head. "For no apparent reason, but… that is not the reason why we're having these issues they're somewhere else, I don't know where these little issues are coming from but for sure, the team, the guys in the background, they need to work hard to try and rectify these." He says in testing they did 800 km a day and the car was thought to be bulletproof. "And all of a sudden… Hah!", he chuckles shortly," We're having all these problems so… No I would say that… Don't jump the gun." He smiles, very very calmly, confidently. "I don't believe that that's happened, it's not happened in the last three years and I don't have any reason to believe that would happen now." 

Huh. That's very very interesting. First of all I didn't know about the mechanics thing. So I went to read to see what that's about. Nico says it was because the two sides of the garage were at war and Toto decided to swap them to stop the feud. Something that was also stated by Mercedes. Lewis said later in the season he would tell his true feelings about it only 10 years later. Anyway it seems it will come up again during the year so we'll see. Lewis said it threw him off basically. Which is not surprising just generally speaking but also specifically when it comes to him. I mean we've talked at length about his trust issues lol. It must have shaken him. 

Second of all, he's very very calm and confident about his answers. I feel no hint of the paranoia he sometimes shows when he gets under pressure at that point. I would have expected him to start ruminating already but it's not the case. Either he's learnt to lie better or he's sincerely not worried about it. I would go for the second option because I don't believe for one second he's capable of hiding how he feels to this day lol. It's good to see, because you can tell he's evolving. I'm doubting that it will last in the long run though. 

Brundle says right after the interview he felt on the podium he was in the waiting room for the dentist and none of them seemed as happy as they should've been. He says Lewis has a thousand yard stare. He indeed seemed weirdly controlled. Johnny mentions that during the drivers parade he also was only able to get 3-word answers out of him and you wished he'd be slightly more outgoing. Then Brundle points out he was again sitting alone at the front. I feel like they're mixing things up. Lewis never likes to talk to them or anyone before the races, but that might also just be a matter of focus. It's very distracting having to do all of that right before you have to put such a performance in. Most other athletes don't have to do that. But yes, even through the thick composure you can tell Lewis is unhappy about the mechanics situation, and the engine failures of course. In his post race interview, the moment he talks about the swap is the only moment the composure slightly breaks. He's gracious towards the mechanics because he knows they don't wanna be working with him either, but he also says "we need to do a better job" and then "they need to work hard and rectify [the issues]" which tells me he thinks globally the team isn't doing its best at the moment. 

Oh I paused to write all that and actually Johnny does say to Brundle he doesn't mind Lewis separating himself from the grid because that's him getting himself in his bubble and focusing on the job at hand. 

Nico is happy but he also points out Lewis had issues. He's asked if he can take that confidence into a straight fight with Lewis, which they haven't had yet this year. He says that's what he's here for. That's the best racing "because he's the benchmark in the end," he smiles. He looks forward to it happening again. It's always gonna be a hard battle against him. He's still as motivated and quick as ever. She asks if he misses it, if he gets the same sense of achievement without it. He says he can't say he really missed it because it's awesome to win, he wants to win and it doesn't matter how. "But of course the ecstatic feeling isn't there, it's there when I win a battle against Lewis, you know? That's what really gets the ultimate thrill." Omg you guys are so gay.