#I would like to alter the amy plotline too

[il3x]

Consider: Ward AU where Victoria mentors the Major Malfunctions instead of Breakthrough.

This was actually my first ever parahumans fanfic idea, I discarded it at the time because it seemed to go nowhere, but...

Kenzie definitely goes villain, at least in name, just because her only other friends are villains. We either get a Kenzie-Ashley villain duo or Kenzie joins the Undersiders/Heartbroken.

Without Victoria, Kenzie's family situation also doesn't get solved so neatly... how it does get solved, or not, will butterfly out from the other changes. (I'm partial to Ashley just blasting them, if not for the psychological toll on Ashley. Hey, Chris can do it, he can get rid of emotions!)

Speaking of Chris, I have no clue what he's doing, but it isn't good.

Rain's also in trouble without a hero team at his back; he'll feel the effect of the butterflies first.

Vic and Sveta are still friends though, and the therapy group still know one another, so Vic and the Malfunctions might be called in to help against the Fallen/clustermates? I hesitate to say both, because I don't want to stay too close to canon.

I don't actually know the Malfunctions well enough yet to say how their side of things goes, but... Yeah. Yes-anding welcome!

[izzyspussy]

why are they laughing at him as he gets straight up killed??? he doesn't deserve this! he's a sweet kid at heart! he literally just needs one (1) real friend!!

[a-reader-and-a-writer]

So I just finished Season 2 of Outer Range and I have very mixed feelings about the new season. I literally just finished the last episode so these are all my initial feelings with MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ALL 7 EPISODES:

I honestly couldn’t care less about any of the Tillerson/Autumn stuff (even though I realize it is what the show wants as the main plot). But every scene with either Billy or Luke and most of the scenes with Autumn just made me cringe and I always sighed whenever it cut back to them. The stuff in earlier episodes with Autumn and Cecilia was pretty good but as soon as she ate the mineral stuff, I lost interest.

I was so disappointed with the Rhett content. I feel like until episode 6, Rhett’s whole plotline was “Maria and I are at a motel”. Then both times he and Maria go to the Abbott home for dinner, it shows them for 30 seconds before cutting to them leaving. Finally, Rhett was tasked with keeping an eye on Autumn…then went to a coffee shop and didn’t have anything to do with her. Instead, he starts a new, last-second subplot that was given absolutely no time. Like I believe he would make this deal since he still wants to leave the ranch and needs money, but throwing it in at the last minute is such a huh? moment. It was almost as if the showrunners saw what a following Rhett had and threw in some thirst content before calling it a day.

 And I never liked Maria, but it seemed as if they were trying so hard to make her more likable in her first few scenes with Rhett but it came off forced and over the top. Then Missy Goody Two-shoes who left Rhett last season because of lies and possible law-breaking is stealing cash from work? What in her character has shown she would do something like that?

I was glad they spent more time with Joy this season and I liked her episode in the past. It was different from everything else the show has done but I thought they could have done more with her once she made it back to the present.

Surprisingly, I really enjoyed all the Perry in the past stuff. I despised him last season but his story this season was really entertaining. Plus, I loved the actors they cast as younger Royal, Cecilia, and Wayne. They felt like believable younger versions of the characters and helped build up their backstory. And I thought Perry returning to the night of Trevor’s murder and changing the past was really surprising and interesting.

But then when past Perry is killed, shouldn’t current Perry disappear or something? Autumn and Amy have been shown to be connected in a life/death sort of way, so why not Perry? Plus, we’ve seen changes in the past alter the memories of the future (like Royal shooting his dad to save Joy not as a hunting accident) so why does the fact Perry is dead and Trevor is alive not change the “present”? Even if current Perry didn’t disappear and took the place of past Perry, Trevor being alive changes everything that happened since Episode 2 of Season 1.  Does this mean if there is a season 3 there will be multiple timelines in play?

Overall, it was...fine? Like Season 1 was no masterpiece but this season they leaned way too far into the sci-fi stuff and not enough with the Abbott family or their dynamic. Rhett was an afterthought at best, and I really hope if they come back for Season 3, he is given something to do besides hanging around without clothes on (though I still want those scenes too 😅😊).

Let me know what you thought or what you hope to see next season! 💖

[crusherthedoctor]

If you had full creative freedom for a brand new Sonic cartoon, what would you do with it?

This is by no means a complete list of what I'd do, but it gives you a general idea all the same.

- Since Sonic X was long ago by this point, I think it'd be nice to have another attempt at an anime, particularly if it looked something like the OVA or the animated intro for Riders. The actual art direction would basically take the Modern designs, but place them in a world that combines the best visual elements of SA1 and the Classics/Advances/Mania.

- I don't care if the writers are Japanese or American. Treating one as better simply because they're Japanese/American is a tad too elitist and extremist IMO, especially since neither of them have perfect marks when it comes to writing for this franchise. Whoever the writers are, all that matters is that the writing is good.

- It would have a lot more in common with the game universe. Since there have been so many adaptations that practically make a point about doing their own wacky thing (even the ones that claim to be linked to the games...), I think a more genuinely faithful adaptation would be welcome. There would be minor differences of course, and I'm open to taking notes from the better aspects of certain adaptations, but the overall spirit and characterizations would be reasonably consistent with the games.

- Stories would be brand new. Callbacks and references to existing plots is fine, and I wouldn't necessarily mind a show to the side that tackles adaptations ala Pokemon Origins, but overall, I'd rather have new refreshing adventures rather than adapt SA1/SA2 for the millionth time.

- The tone would pretty much be like SA1. Funny and tense in equal measures, never goes too far in either direction. Whether it's a funny moment or a serious moment, it would be sincere. Self-aware enough to be able to acknowledge the weirdness and be willing to poke fun at itself, but not to the point of being overly self-deprecating and pandering to the franchise’s detractors.

- The lore would connect certain plotlines to each other on SOME occasions, and only if the logic was reasonable and kept to a minimum. It would not be all tied together in an overly contrived manner that ends up leaving no interesting questions. In other words, the S3&K/SA1 connection through Angel Island's lore would be fine, but there'd be no “Did you know the Black Arms worshipped Solaris, went to war with Chaos, were the offspring of Dark Gaia, and wrote the Arabian Nights???” bollocks.

- Sonic, Tails, Amy and Cream would make up the main quartet, with their personalities and bonds bouncing off each other. Other characters would appear and be of importance, but only when their involvement is justified. Said characters including - but not limited to - Knuckles, Team Dark, the Chaotix, Blaze, Big, G-Merl, and even Tikal and Chaos.

- Likewise, Eggman and his Badnik army would naturally be the main villains. Other villains who aren't affiliated with him are free to exist and get their own time in the spotlight (as long as they're not shit and don't need to upstage the doctor to look credible), but Eggman is a plague to the world in spite of his eccentric qualities, and is treated accordingly. He does what he wants, and unless you’re Sonic and/or his friends, there’s not a thing you can do about it.

- Since they appeared in Sonic Forces Mobile, I would MAYBE be willing to include Tangle and Whisper if they were allowed. Starline too, but only if he keeps his simp privilege this time, if ya know what I’m saying. The Hard-Boiled Heavies would definitely be there, because they're too good to be only used once.

Regarding certain characters in particular:

- Sonic is not dumb. Nor is he an asshole. He can be rough around the edges, he can make hasty decisions depending on whether he feels it’s the right thing to do, but at the end of the day, he’s still as good a guy as any good guy could be, and as long as you’re not a villain or a Penders-tier asshole, he’ll be friendly with you. You’d still have to deal with quips of course, but that’s just how he is, right?

- Tails maintains his independent streak from SA1, but he still thinks the world of Sonic and would drop everything in an instant if the hedgehog ever needed his help. Though his more cautious approach occasionally clashes with Sonic being a little more gung-ho (albeit not to the point of flanderization), he always has full faith in his big bro.

- The handling of Amy's crush would be perfectly balanced. Not too overwhelming to the point of acting irrational and chasing Sonic like a loony, but not too downplayed to the point where it might as well not be there at all. That said, more focus would be placed on her other traits and interests, such as her tarot cards and her bond with Cream.

- Knuckles would still be prone to gullible and less-than-flattering moments, because it's Knuckles, but more focus would be given to his admirable attributes, like his expertise in translating ancient texts, and occasionally making good points when in an clash of ideas with Sonic.

- Shadow's backstory would remain the same at its core (though maybe without the aliens), but it'd be altered to be less edgy. For example, rather than getting capped, Maria would succumb to her illness, and Gerald's anger would instead be the result of feeling betrayed by G.U.N. for denying him the means/funds to be able to cure her.

- Metal Sonic is fiercely loyal to Eggman, but his identity crisis would also be on full blast, and eventually he'd realise the oxymoron of believing himself to be Sonic while working for Eggman. Rather than turn traitor and wear elf shoes however, Metal would try to rationalize this to himself... with insane results. Eggman knows about this, and would humor it as long as it benefits him. He'd probably also bring out the other Mecha Sonics now and then for no other reason than to confuse Metal even more. Because he's a dick.

- The Sol Dimension now includes Soleanna, which would be the main kingdom. (It's already got Sol in the name anyway.) Since Blaze would be the ruler because of this, his sadly means that Elise would probably have to get cut, but ah well. Due to the change in context, Solaris would be built up as the Sol Dimension's equivalent to Chaos, with more focus on their contrasts (Chaos is water while Solaris is light, Chaos looks aquatic/reptilian while Solaris looks like a bird, Chaos' turn to evil was caused by an ancient event while Solaris' turn to evil was caused by scientists, etc).

- If Silver were in this show, he'd be no more of a casual acquaintance to Blaze than he would be to Sonic. Instead, her tagalong would be Marine. Though Blaze would still get annoyed by Marine's antics at first, she would come around to gaining more respect for her whenever the situation justified it.

- Trudy would-

[beatriceeagle]

I know its not the tag but I would love for you to talk more about your thoughts on the good place season 3 and the latest season of Bojack. I agree with you completely, I love both of them but didn't find either season emotionally satisfying enough and a little cobbled together. (Although the eulogy ep of Bojack is one of my fav episodes of TV ever probably). ALSO, thoughts on American vandal? Season 1 or 2? Feel free to ignore this, I just think you talk about TV really coherently and well!

I can do this thing!

BoJack

I know I said that BoJack Horseman was showing its age in season 5, but I actually think there were a couple of things going on that made its latest season feel a little less satisfying than the previous three, and neither of them are really directly about how long its been running. For one thing, the characters still mostly aren’t in the same place. That was kind of an interesting dynamic in season 4, but at this point it’s starting to wear. They tried to ameliorate it using Philbert as a way to connect people, which was both smart and a lot of fun, but it still didn’t entirely work, somehow. BoJack, in particular, is kind of always off in his own story, because just about everyone in his life is keeping him at arm’s length.

Which ties into the other thing: This was a season about BoJack’s lonely toxicity, which is a story we’ve seen before, and after a certain point, a story that just gets very draining to watch. I remember, after season three, reading an interview with Raphael Bob-Waksberg where he said that the show needed to move on from the constant cycle of BoJack being self-loathing and destructive, hitting rock bottom, and realizing the need for improvement. That at a certain point, you had to say, okay, we’ve brought this character to his lowest point, and now it’s time to do something different.

And season 4 really was something different! As dark as it could be, season 4 was also a deeply healing season. BoJack fucks up, but he fucks up, you know? He is on an upward trajectory. And although the main cast is off in their own worlds, the addition of Hollyhock and Beatrice means that there is a very real sense of connection.

Whereas season 5 is the story of a backslide, and of isolation. And while I can appreciate that any story about recovery is going to necessarily include stories about relapse, this particular relapse was a season long and like five orders of magnitude darker than the immediately previous season. We’ve had three seasons of BoJack fucking up and doing nothing about it, and only one season of BoJack really learning. And so instead of feeling like, “Oh, okay, we’re still telling a story about a recovery, but we’re in the backslide part,” it feels like, “Oh, okay, this is fucking BoJack being BoJack, round five.”

I think that in the very admirable desire to reckon with BoJack’s previous actions on the show – which I do think is something that had to be done in some manner – Bob-Waksberg just lost sight a little bit of the larger picture of “doing something different.” Because fundamentally, I don’t believe that BoJack Horseman is a show that believes we’re stuck in an endless cycle of misery and toxicity. For all that it’s very tapped into the voice in our heads telling us that the world will always be like this, I don’t believe it’s a show that thinks we can’t change.

All of which is to say that I’m hopeful about season 6!

The Good Place

My central problem with season 3 of The Good Place is that it just got swallowed by Eleanor/Chidi. I don’t have a problem with Eleanor/Chidi in principle, but a) this is the third time we’ve done this plotline, and I’m not enough of a shipper that that works for me, and b) the particular way that Eleanor/Chidi is being handled is indicative of some broader problems in the show.

To start with, let’s talk about the fact that this is the third time we’ve done the Eleanor/Chidi plotline. At least one person’s mind has been wiped after every time, so we’re going to get some version of a fourth plotline, too. It’s too much. It needs to stop. 

There’s something inherently disconcerting about the way that The Good Place wipes its characters’ memories at the end of every season. It makes it hard to track character progression, and it can destroy really lovely dynamics in ways that are hard to get back. (I’m still in mourning for the Janet/Jason of season 1.) But it’s also weirdly freeing. In theory, it allows them to reinvent everything anew, anytime they want. They can have a season where Eleanor and Chidi are platonic partners in crime, and a season where they’re soulmates. They can have a season where Eleanor/Tahani actually happens, instead of just getting teased all the time. They could have a season where Chidi and Jason’s friendship takes a central focus, and wouldn’t that be amazing? They can have a season where no one hooks up at all, but they all still make each other better.

But despite having clear evidence of how interesting that could be – season 2′s “Dance, Dance, Resolution” – they’re really determined to quickly force everyone back onto the correct path, every time. And because they keep retelling this same story over and over, it forces them to construct a narrative that this story is preordained or destined, when we actually know for a fact that although these people always make each other better, there are plenty of timelines in which they do it very differently.

And although Eleanor/Chidi is the most obvious case of repetition, it’s really only a symptom of the larger problem. Janet/Jason has started to feel kind of tired – I loved watching those characters fall in love, but I had no need to watch them do whatever it was they were doing in season three – and frankly, I’m ready to see these people start interacting in some different configurations.  Because when I say that Eleanor/Chidi swallowed the back half of season three, I’m not really exaggerating. When was the last time that Eleanor had a plot with Jason? With Tahani? With Janet? When was the last time that Chidi had a meaningful plot with anyone who wasn’t Eleanor? There are only six people in this cast. It should not be that hard to develop their individual dynamics, but Chidi gets maybe one scene with Tahani a season, and Jason never seems to break out of the the Tahani-Janet bubble. These people all used to get plots with each other, but by season three, we’re spending so much time rebuilding Eleanor/Chidi and the Janet/Jason/Tahani dynamic and sending Michael and Janet off to do plot stuff, that the little time leftover generally has to go to ethical discussions.

It’s just a little disappointing. I was talking in an earlier ask about shows that are beholden to the Way Things Are Going to Be, and The Good Place is beset by that both in and out of universe – characters keep finding out who they were in love with in previous timelines and then realizing that they’re in love with them. It’s happened to Eleanor twice! The Good Place is a show that could be doing literally anything, and it’s using that power to put the same six characters through the same events over and over and over. We’re even back in the old neighborhood now.

This is all a very longwinded way of saying that, for a show that started out feeling breathtakingly daring, The Good Place has come to feel somewhat formulaic. It’s beholden both to its own specific formulas – the endless cycles of memory loss and relearning – and to Mike Schur’s preferred formulas of low-key epic romance, which Eleanor/Chidi very much fit into.

(My one actual problem with Eleanor and Chidi as a couple is that they’re built up to fit Schur’s Ben/Leslie paradigm of one, true, soul-altering, best-friendship love, without ever having been given the time to grow into that space. They never have more than a season to get to know each other at any one time, and every time they fall in love, there’s an element of someone first telling them that they should be in love. The best thing about Ben/Leslie and Jake/Amy is how specific and lived-in those relationships feel, even as they take on mythic weight within their shows, but Eleanor/Chidi are by necessity talked about way more than they’re lived in, so I have a really hard time connecting to them. Which is a shame, because I’m basically rooting for them. It’s just that despite all the time the show devotes to them, I feel like I’ve never really spent any time with them, as a couple.)

HOWEVER, and let me be very clear about this: I love The Good Place. It remains a perpetual bright spot in my week when it’s airing, which I wish it were doing all the time. Despite running into a bit of a standstill when it comes to the relationship dynamics, it remains wonderfully inventive from a worldbuilding and comedy perspective, it’s absolutely packed with detail and humor, it’s thoughtful and humane and warm, and I do love its ethics. And I love the characters! I’m just hoping that season four will push them to new places. Shake things up. Get back some of that sense of surprise that made season one so magnetic. And there is some reason to believe that it will: Most of the characters survived season three with their memories intact. The moral arc of the season took them from “improving each other” to “improving all others,” which is a huge step, and one that really distinguishes season four’s aim from the aim of all previous seasons. And Simone is there, which can only be great!

American Vandal

I’m not sure I actually have all that much to say about American Vandal except to say that it’s shockingly good and that its cancellation was a crying shame. I think that what made it such a watchable show was that it was such a perfectly executed version of the very thing it was parodying, and it really nailed every detail. There was no exaggeration or mockery, and if there had been, it wouldn’t have been nearly as good. The humor was all about subject matter and scale.

I do remember wondering, in perfect true-crime docuseries fashion, how they were possibly going to pull off a second season, and then they did it. It’s a little broader than season one, a little more bloated -- it lacks the inherent joke that comes from comparing the size of the crime to the intensity of the documentary -- but it’s still just as fun to watch, and genuinely affecting by the end. Some of the performances are fantastic.

[douxreviews]

Star Trek: Discovery - ‘Brother’ Review

"Space: The Final Frontier. Above us, around us, within us. We have always looked to the stars to discover who we are."

By nature I love brevity: Star Trek: Discovery takes a long, clean breath of fresh air in this big, bold premiere that sheds the burdens of Season One and lets them roll down the hill behind.

Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled in 2005. And in the Fall of that year, as shows premiered, fans were faced with a sad reality: for the first time in 28 years, a new season of Star Trek was not among them. And for 12 years, this continued. And then we Discovered a new frontier. Breaking the silence of more than a decade, Star Trek: Discovery was a sign that Trek was not dead.

But of course, it was not without its flaws. Discovery Season One had issues with its tone and its dialogue. The crew, above and beyond their stilted, grandiose speech, rarely seemed like a family, or even a group of people who like each other. And the levels of anxiety and brooding were at dangerously high levels. We're talking Superman from Batman v. Superman levels of anxiety and brooding.

The fans pointed out these issues, though the good parts still remained (excepting the 'fans' who actively went out of their way to be openly hostile towards the series, its creators, and its viewers). And the team behind Discovery listened. 'Brother' benefits from a light and relaxed tone that feels like the lifting of a heavy curtain. The crew speaks in a generally human and natural manner, and they work together like a tight family. Brooding is nowhere to be seen, and the anxiety present is of a different sort than the cloud of deep worry that permeated Season One. Instead the viewer felt more of an empathetic concern about the characters and their lives.

The first and most immediate effect of 'Brother' is, in fact, to distance the show from its past mistakes. Associating these issues with the influence of Captain Lorca makes a lot of sense from a story perspective, even if the creators' insistence that all the darker elements were only a result of him doesn't quite sit right. From the outset, Captain Pike makes it clear that he is very different from Lorca. Everything about his manner and bearing suggests a completely different man from Jason Isaacs' power-hungry warmonger. But Pike is no Kirk, either, as one might anticipate. Anson Mount gives his Pike a humility and a grounded feel that Kirk never quite developed.

The other proverbial elephant on the starship is the presence of Spock. Though the adult version of our beloved half-Vulcan does not appear, his importance in the events of 'Brother' and the impact the mere allusion to the character has on the series is clear. We learn that he and Burnham's strained relationship is the result of her decisions, not his. It's clear she views him and his legacy as an oppressive force in her life, perhaps as a standard she could never live up to? There's a great shot that really sums this up, when young Spock makes his holo-dragon. The dragon moves toward Burnham, and roars at her, and Spock walks in through its mouth. I think that's how she sees Spock.

Sarek and Burnham's conversation about reverence also factors in. This show has decided to include a character that most fans undoubtedly have a lot of reverence for. But to make him a useful character, with an arc and a purpose, reverence is not enough. The massive weight of Spock's impact on Star Trek and the fans' adoration of him will be a problem that Discovery will have to deal with.

Moving to our regular cast, I loved how they were dealt with here. The other side of Lorca's effect on the Disco crew is that such a major and personal adversary has brought them together and made them rely on each other. All of the returning cast felt like a family around each other, and their interactions made the ship feel like a real workplace run by a real team. This is a major improvement from last season.

It looks like Burnham's journey this season will be thoroughly intertwined with Spock's. I look forward to seeing her relationship with him and how it develops, but I do hope they give her a role to play apart from and outside of the shadow of her foster brother. Likewise, Stamets seems overshadowed by the impact of someone else. Everything around him reminds him of his lost love Dr. Culber, and he's having a very hard time dealing with it. It seems like the end of this episode was enough to get him at least a little bit excited about science again, though it's unlikely that this is the end of his plotline about leaving the ship. With Wilson Cruz brought on as a full cast member for this season, it'll be interesting to see where this goes.

Tilly and Saru don't seem to have much in the way of an arc yet, but I'm sure this will change. I expect most of Tilly's story this season will have something to do with her enrollment in the Command Training Program. Saru mentioned his sister Siranna, from the Short Trek 'The Brightest Star,' and the showrunners have stated that we may see other Kelpians this season, so expect to see a visit to Saru's home planet of Kaminar sometime in the future. Maybe siblings will continue to be a theme this season.

Overall, 'Brother' was a pretty epic way to kick off the new season. It's fun and engaging, with a lot of potential. I can't wait to see where we go from here.

Strange New Worlds:

This section will record the planets the Disco visits and the places they go. Not a whole lot of that in this particular episode.

New Life and New Civilizations:

Here I'll keep track of all the new species, ideas, and cultures the crew encounters. Again, nothing in the way of that here.

Pensees (Thoughts):

-Mia Kirshner (Amanda) looks a lot like Amy Adams. She also really resembles Amanda from TOS, so that's nice.

-Stamets has a botanist friend aboard the Enterprise.

-In keeping with the Trek tradition of altering the intro, we have some brand new graphics added to the opening theme.

-Regulation 19, Section C allows a higher-ranking officer to take command of a starship in one of three contingencies: 1. An imminent threat; 2. The lives of Federation citizens are in danger; 3. There is no more qualified officer available to deal with the situation.

-I love Doug Jones' Saru walk. It's just so much fun to watch.

-That's the first shot we've gotten of a turbo lift running through a starship in all of Trek, if memory serves. Pretty cool, too.

-Another Alice in Wonderland nod. Also, holo-candles.

-Sarek mentioned that he's reached out to Klingon High Chancellor L'Rell (Mary Chieffo), and she had no explanation for the red bursts either.

-The Captain goes on the away mission, in true Trek tradition.

-There was a bit of Spock's Jellyfish ship from Star Trek (2009) in the design of the pods they flew.

-How cool was the pod sequence? Also, it was admittedly rather satisfying to see Olson Connelly get his comeuppance when he failed to pull his chute crashed and died because of the dumb risk he took.

-One of the ads loaded at the wrong time when I watched this the first time. The long ad break split a shot in half.

-I liked Reno (Tig Notaro). The idea of using an engineering approach to medicine is interesting, although I wouldn't want to be one of the first patients it was tried on.

-The Red Angel is still very much an unknown. I partially expect it will have something to do with the Klingons, if not only because they seem from the trailers to have a big role to play.

-The asteroid material wouldn't beam up. That's intriguing. It may be the key to fixing the spore drive, too, as it looks from the trailer that we'll be jumping again this season.

-'Not every cage is a prison, nor every loss eternal.' That's very interesting, and it has a lot of significance for Pike.

-It makes sense that the crew of the Enterprise would have issues with sitting out the war while on their five-year mission.

-The Disco's new Doctor is named Dr. Pollard.

-One of the names in the credits was 'Matt Decker.'

-A lot of references to faith/religion and related subjects in this episode. I don't think it's necessarily significant, but I thought it was worth noting.

-Alex Kurtzman directed this episode. I thought he did a great job; maybe he should stick to that instead of the whole coming up with ideas thing. I'm still baffled by the seriously weird and unsettling bits about Klingon anatomy from Season One.

Quotes:

Amanda: "I bless you, Michael... all my life."

Pike: "Do not covet thy neighbor's starship, Commander."

Pike: "Why didn't we think of that, Connelly? Think of all the syllables that gave their lives."

Pike: "Sometimes it's wise to keep your expectations low, Commander. That way we're never disappointed." Advice to the audience, perhaps?

Tilly: "I put her in a Utility closet, and I put you in there. I'm drunk on power."

Stamets: "Tilly, you are... incandescent. You're going to become a magnificent Captain because you do everything out of love. But I need you to repeat after me. I will say..." Tilly: "I will say..." Stamets: "Fewer things." Tilly: "Fewer thi- okay."

Sarek: "Spock has great reverence for his mother, but reverence tends to-" Burnham: "Fill up the room." It's the shot of Burnham's fairly empty quarters just as she interrupts that sells this one.

Pike: "Detmer - fly... good."

Pike: "I was expecting a red thing. Where's my damn red thing?"

Pike: "Spock asked the most amazing questions. It's completely logical, yet somehow able to make everyone see that logic was the beginning of the picture and not the end."

Burnham: "There are so many things I wish I'd said to you; so many things I want to say now. I'm too late, aren't I? I can only pray I don't lose you again... brother."

A strong, solid premiere. 5 out of 6 damn red things.

CoramDeo is interested in things.

[lioncunt]

What could have been done better

I have a lot of problems with season 4. Here they are.

The biggest issue, for me, was lack of a proper set up to Keith's Marmora training. This could have worked as a plotline, and from a character perspective, I absolutely understand why he felt he wasn't necessary to the team. It definitely makes sense in relation to his characterization. But from a plot standpoint? This has NEVER come up before. We were never told he'd been training with the Blade, we were never shown that it conflicted with being a paladin. Has he been doing it since season 2? When did this start? What if Shiro hadn't come back? It raises more questions than it provides answers, and to me, it felt like a cheap tactic to manufacture inorganic drama as a way to drive Keith away from the team in just a single episode.

This gets even worse when you consider how we've JUST been getting used to the new team dynamic, and now it's being switched up again, in a way that negates the impact of season 3. How has Lance proven he's capable of being Shiro's right hand man? Why is Shiro now able to pilot Black again, when he wasn't a mere two episodes prior? What was the point of showing Keith becoming a better leader as season 3 progressed, or having Lance support him?

Now, I feel this is something that could TOTALLY have worked - Keith leaving to join the Blade - but only after we had a full season of the new dynamic, and with proper foreshadowing of this development. We got two full seasons of the old dynamic, and to me, the new one deserved just as much attention, in order to have the true emotional payoff of Keith's departure.

In addition, they should have given us glimpses of his life with the Blade during episodes 2-5. If the point (I'm assuming) is to show him feeling out of touch with their mindset, slowly being brainwashed into that self-sacrificial way of thinking...why couldn't we have seen that? Why were we instead subjected to an entire filler episode about the Coalition, one that could have been placed at amy point in the series? Finally - and this is just opinion, but I feel obligated to include it - why wasn't Keith's absence felt more by the team during episodes 2-6? Why did they all simply continue as if nothing had changed? We know Keith means a lot to them, but they failed to really SHOW that, and I have to say, it bothered me.

Moving on, my second big gripe is about episodes 5 and 6. Bringing Zarkon back to full health (or apparent full health) so quickly was a poor decision. The final two episodes followed the exact same formula as the season 2 finale: gather the forces to launch a big attack on the Galra. It was the exact same plotline, with several details altered. I felt like I'd already seen it, only last time, it was better. A show like this can't sustain itself on simply doing the same thing over and over again. Because of its nature - introducing the final villain so quickly and not giving an exact number on the Galra - it could, potentially, go on forever, with infinite Galra fleets to destroy and infinite planets to save, infinite times Zarkon can be hurt and infinite times Haggar can revive him. Well, this is only the second time, and I'm already sick of it. Which brings me to the final point: Lotor.

In season 3, he was set up to be an absolute genius. Charismatic, a great talker, able to play people like a fiddle. He was a personal villain for a personal season; after the grandeur of the season 2 finale, it felt right to have such a character-driven villain in such a character-driven season. I wanted that for the WHOLE season. I wanted to see him get the best of the paladins in the finale in a ground battle - or even a mecha battle, it doesn't matter. I wanted it to be him versus them, with no one else. And i wanted him to win.

But they've depowered him, fodderized him, essentially. He's been declawed, and far too quickly. How can I see him as a threat when he was so easily overtaken? Or, if this was where they wanted to go, why not build him up for the whole season, and show how he falls next season? Why bring Zarkon back? All it does is complicate things and pull Lotor's plot out from under him. He wasn't given his true villain arc, and I'm disappointed.

Now, I do think this season will make more sense in context with what comes next. I think the Lotor plot will end up being amazing, eventually, but I'm severely disappointed in how it's been set up. I think Keith's eventual return to the team will be amazing, but, again, I'm disappointed in the set-up. And, hopefully, they'll figure out something new to do with the villains that isn't just "spawn infinite Galra cruisers and keep pumping Zarkon with quintessence", because, honestly, that would make me go insane.