#I think it has more emotional depth than s1 but then falls flat on its face in the end

[curtsies-from-princess-ashlyn]

Season 2 in review....

Surprisingly, there was a lot that was improved from s1 when this season started, but unfortunately those improvements weren't consistent through the whole season. The character work for the leads was much better than the first season, and I do think how the story was being told (i.e. literary devices, visual and musical cues, etc.) was stepped up (shoutout to Ilana Wolpert for 2x06, which I think is the best written episode this season). I also really liked how the music from BATB was incorporated into this season, which I think was used more effectively to tell the stories of the wildcats than the music from HSM in s1. I also thought the season was better paced in the first half than s1 (up until 2x07 or so), but then it started spinning wheels in the 2nd half a bit before coming to a screeching halt in the finale. The finale doesn't even really have a narrative, technically. For that alone, this is the weakest season as a whole.

The season's tone is noticeably darker than either s1 or s3 (and presumably s4), which I think really makes it stick out. I don't necessarily think the darker tone is a bad thing, since many of the characters are experiencing some really painful things this season, and it matches the gravity of the pain and trials they face. However, it's not tonally consistent with the rest of the show, and I think the inclusion of the North High crew makes this even worse. For the most part, the North High students were the ones who provided comedic relief this season, and the rivalry plotline simply did not work. The plot did nothing to further the arcs of the main characters, so as a framework for the overall season, it just felt superfluous. At least Nini's YAC arc had relevance and moved along her and Ricky's storylines, but the rivalry helped no character move from point A to point B in their growth. I think it could've been used to challenge Ashlyn's insecurities about being a leading lady, with Lily being her foil in fitting the "ideal" (I think maybe this was the original idea?), but there was almost no conclusion to Ashlyn's storyline as Belle. In the end, I think the North High rivalry felt much more like the Vocal Adrenaline rivalry in Glee than fitting in the very meta world of HSM or HSMTMTS.

If Ashlyn's storyline was so unfinished, then how can I possibly say the character work was improved from s1? Well, the storylines of Ricky, Nini, and Gina were done very well this season. I think there was a lot more intention and vision of how these characters needed to grow this season than in s1, and the writers do honor each one of them in their storylines. Ricky is continuing to be challenged to confront changes, and the more this happens, the tighter he clings to his past with Nini. Nini is discovering her own voice for the first time in a long time, and YAC and her relationship with Ricky are showing her that she needs more freedom and space to be her true self than they both provide. Ultimately, Ricky and Nini's breakup arc is the best written storyline of the season (even if its dragged out an episode too long). Ricky's arc still can't move forward until he confronts his mom (who it all leads back to), and overall the writers hit the perfect balance with his story. He was held accountable for his mistakes, but we the audience know exactly why he's making them and can empathize with his painful struggle.

Gina is figuring out where she actually fits in at EHS, and her growing insecurity and doubting of her instincts all ties back to her uncertainty in her relationship with Ricky. This all makes sense, given he's the first friend she ever made in SLC, effectively being the tether to the rest of her relationships there. S2a focuses on her struggling to navigate these new relationships and emotionally separate herself from everyone. The performance of "Home" is her turning point, but even after choosing to stay, she still continues to question her worth to others. Her conversation with Nini in 2x12 reveals that she still has insecurities about her true self, calling herself "off-putting". The one character I can't figure out if his storyline is written with intention or ultimately fumbled is EJ's. It's clear this season is supposed to start him on his journey of finding his own story, but rather than continue down this path, his storyline shifts to focus on his relationship with Gina. It could be intentional that the writers wanted EJ to think that his relationship with Gina was his new story, allowing him to learn in s3 that his story can't be defined by his father or a girl, but maybe that's a generous interpretation. I have more thoughts on his s3 storyline later.

I really appreciated the attempt to expand the scope of storytelling to be more ensemble-focused than s1, but I don't think enough attention was given to the rest of the characters. I loved that Kourtney had a significantly larger role this season, and her stories meshed better with the rest of the cast this season than Nini's, tbh. I actually loved seeing her work with Big Red and them as scene partners. Save for Kourtney's storyline, I don't think there was enough payoff or conclusion for the rest of the characters' individual arcs this season (Ashlyn, Big Red, Carlos, Seb).

Last comment: I was incredibly impressed by Joshua Bassett's performance this season. He gave a good performance in s1, but he reached a whole new level in s2 as Ricky. I think the clarity of Ricky's character and arc this season really helps, but I was blown away at how he was able to portray all these complex emotions so sensitively and believably. Sofia's undoubtedly the best actor, but he also really held his own this season.

[speedfreak01]

As the undefeated world champion MTMTE Megatron Roaster, how do you think you would portray an actually good Megatron redemption? Besides the obvious getting rid of Jim Bob’s Nazi imagery and such.

thank you for giving me such a lofty title! and this is a great question! i think it deserves a thought-out response, so sit tight

first things first yeah, getting ready of the heavy-handed imagery. it’s not my lane to allude to the holocaust and it certainly isn’t james roberts’

the cack-handed allusion to jo cox in the mutineers arc legitimately makes my blood boil

-let the readership come to their own conclusions

one thing the narrative of more than losts the light was pretty guilty of was insisting you liked megatron and his character arc, and very subtly throwing shade at you if you didn’t

i think the optimus prime series handled this kind of thing pretty well by acknowledging upfront that optimus prime was a complex character and embracing multiple interpretations of him, positive and negative. that story invites you to come to your own conclusions about him, and importantly doesn’t actively compare you to a skeevoid brexiteer if you don’t

like, at the mtmte 50 signing jro compared that issue to an episode of community where it turns out all the background characters can’t stand the main cast. thing is, the Bit in that kind of episode is that the background cast are justified in not liking the main cast, because the kind of people who make up the cast of a sitcom would be absolute assholes in real life

the comic seems to not understand that, and presents the background characters (the sole dissenting opinion in the story) as this single amorphous blob of assorted irrational shitheads, led by a guy who canonically groomed one of the main cast and rattles off tory catchphrases like it’s his job 

i think a good megatron redeption arc would have to accept that there are some people who will never accept his redemption, in-universe and in the readership, and work that into the story instead of complaining about it

-make megatron the core of the story without making the story about him

one thing that really grated me about season 2 of mtmte and lost light was that the great ensemble cast found family of season 1 was more or less ignored to make room for Robot Atrocity Morrissey and his manpain. like, there were so many interesting character dynamics that could have been explored that just got thrown aside because we needed to see a mass-murderer look sad and rattle off poetry for a few more pages

characters DIED and we didn’t get any time to explore them because we needed to see That One Dude In Your English Class Who Has More Of A Statement Than A Question But A Robot shove his head up his interdimensional portal ass some more!!!

basard

again, i think some lessons could be taken from the optimus prime comic, as well as elegant chaos, which i maintain is the absolute peak of mtmte/ll. 

in the optimus prime comic, optimus prime isn’t the moral core or the protagonist of the story- rather, he’s the discussion point around which the other characters in the story are able to develop. it’s a story ABOUT optimus, not the story OF optimus. i think using megatron as a springboard to develop other characters would have been a better use of the ensemble cast of mtmte, and would have actively_ used_ one of the main strengths of the series rather than working against it

elegant chaos does the same thing! this is a story about a character going back in time to kill megatron, but the narrative space of Autobot Megatron is instead used to give the characters we know and love additional depth. you did it SO WELL this one time, james!!! why couldn’t the rest of it have been like that!!!!!!!

EATS THIS SHIT UP WITH MY HANDS AND MOUTH!!!!!

-more focused theming

one of the strengths of mtmte season 1 imo is that despite the varied ensemble cast, there was a pretty clear and focused story with consistent themes.

for example, broadly speaking the Theme of mmtmte s1 was emotional honesty and the personae we put on to hide parts of ourselves-rodimus, drift, cyclonus, whirl, swerve, tailgate, brainstorm, etc, all their arcs resolved around this general question. 

 this focus gave reveals and moments additional weight and changed the way we viewed this principle guiding question, and in turn the story as a whole

issue 15? rewind's final message? a beautifully crafted moment,but one with a particular emotional power due to how it cuts to the core of the narrative and the questions it asks, both about its cast and about its audience. that "I love you" speaks directly to the heart of the story 

going back to megatron, with mtmte s2 and ll i couldn’t really pick up on what story the comic wanted to tell me. was it about atonement? because there were plenty of avenues to tie into that theme (developing characters like chromedome, or whirl, or i don’t know RODIMUS PERHAPS JAMES ROBERTS) that didn’t get used, and megatron certainly didn’t atone for shit. was it about violence? because the whole final act of dying of the light was megatron going hog fucking wild with violence without consequences

the ending of dotl, with megatron’s brutal unmasking of tarn, implies the Theme is "violent people dress their ideologies in grand narratives to disguise and justify their cruelty" but that doesn’t track because megatron doesn’t change his behaviour at all, and the narrative doesn’t mention how megatron has done and is still doing the exact thing he condemns tarn for doing

this unfocused storytelling also means the shock reveals don’t have the same impact that they do in season 1. things like minimus ambus and everything about overlord had the punch they did because they directly tied into the theme of emotional honesty, but things like DOMINUS AMBUS IS THE PET AND AGENT 113 or TARN IS GLITCH or THE NECROBOT IS JUST A GUY OH WAIT NO HE’S A GOD AND SO IS RUNG fall flat because they don’t change the way we view the characters or the story, they’re just kinda. there

also doesn’t help that they don’t get any oxygen in the story itself because of the megatron dick vortex

basically, if megatron’s redemtpion tied into an over-arching question or topic in mtmte s2 and directly challenged or answered it, it would have felt more like an organic integration into the story and less like something i have to push out of the way to find the few slivers of character development for the cast i actually give a rat’s cock about

thank you for coming to my ted talk

[sicklyscribe]

The Originals! (You have fallen for my trap. Half the reason I reblogged that meme was to get you to reblog it. :P)

I kind of suspected. But I kind of wanted to use this as an exercise to test my own objectivity. Trying to narrow it down to 5…

5 things I would change about The Originals:

Gonna put this under a read-more, in case people don’t want to see negativity. I know it’s hard for me sometimes. Just know all of this comes from a place of love and passion, and ultimately a betrayal of trust in a narrative that I had held higher than pretty much any other for a long time.

1. The framing of Elijah’s development (including the development of H/E) He needed to be framed as the ‘good’ brother in season one, but the ‘true love’ treatment of H/E from s1 onward really doesn’t make sense for him, and it skews and twists a lot of things concerning him when the writing tries to make Elijah Elijah-like when this uncharacteristic bit is hanging over it all. He also needed the arcs he was given in later seasons, but they were much too quickly picked up and dropped, and that also hurt his development. He deserves more nuanced consideration, even if he couldn’t have gotten more screen time.

2. The depiction of Kol: Again, with the idea that slapping a true love label on a man can prime him for any kind of behavior the story calls for. I don’t care if he falls madly in love with someone, even true love, but if you don’t spend time exploring how he goes from centuries of literal sadism and psychopathy to a sweet puppy who just wants to be Good for his lady, then don’t. Do it. Instead, make him struggle. Make him do everything he did in s3, but without being ‘cursed’. Have Davina wish it was a curse, try to prove it was a curse, and not want to believe that his love for her isn’t a cure-all. I can forgive “he’s calmer and nicer when he’s human, because vampiric urges and emotions were what ruined him” in s2, but when he turns back into a vampire again, and he’s pretty much A-Okay because he has True Love? That’s weak, and it’s embarrassing, and it could have been easily changed to something just as beautiful but with depth and justification.

3. Camille’s ending arc: Here is what I would have wanted. My issues with this can be found… anywhere on my asks tag or anamysis tag.

4. Strengthening the Hope thread of the narrative foundation in season 3, overall: A lot of the reason the general direction of s3 fell flat is because it tried to move both forward and backward (advance the plot while filling in the Mikaelson lore) without its anchor. Hope is that anchor. The Trinity mentioned her maybe twice? Absolutely ridiculous. I don’t think she needs to have a scene or a plot in every episode, but a lot of season three acted as if other focal points could take Hope’s place, and that is a huge reason why it didn’t work. Along this same vein, in order to heighten drama over Camille and Davina’s passing, the writing specifically avoids just how much danger Rebekah was in at the time of Lucien’s death. I’m not saying the characters should have acted differently, or felt differently, but having Kol confront Freya about what she did, and not talking about how it was to save their sister, who they both adored? Having Klaus absolutely broken over how much he’d hurt Marcel, and Freya specifically citing Camille as the reason Lucien had to die when he did, and not even give Rebekah a passing word? It just feels so so shoddy. In general, relationships were downplayed or overplayed in order to shape the narrative, when the relationships should have been the shaping force.

5. I thought that I couldn’t come up with a fifth, and that made me really happy, but then I remembered that the werewolf lore is all over the place. It’s not really necessary for it to be fixed in order for me to be content with the show, but it’s a pet peeve of mine and I would loooooooove to just get the kinks ironed out.