#I’m being a little critical but it’s just that I read the last episode and it broke my Jason retention level

[jeinseng]

Sometimes it feels like the writers of Wayne family adventures and by extension some of the people who really enjoy it have read the cliff notes of Batman&Co comics but haven’t dived deep enough to get to the the real meat of the characters.

They know enough that to the average viewer it’s good but to me (a fucking freak) it feels a little surface level and fanony for lack of a better term. Wfa feels like the general gist of the character but you’ve sanded away all the flaws and shit they’ve done to build a nice little nuclear family, because that’s what people want, I guess.

For slice of life fun for Batman, it’s great, Batman comics tend to lean a little heavier so wfa is fine for change of pace. But whenever they try to drama or touch on insecurities or trauma, it feels very after school special, like I can’t see it in a mainstream book, it’s too polished, it wants to be dramatic but it isn’t, it’s too safe. So when they touch on things like Jason’s joker trauma I’m not impressed or invested because it’s boring, when it comes to wfa’s drama 2 parters it’s teethless, its too idealistic.

Tl;dr: Lil’ Gotham is better than Wayne Family Adventures in every way, suck it I’m right 😚😚😚

[heliza24]

Being a physically disabled Dimension 20 fan breaks my heart sometimes

I’ve been thinking about this since last Wednesday’s episode when we finally got a real scene with Lydia, one of the few physically disabled characters in the entire canon of the show. It was nice, but it was really just a lore dump. An excuse for exposition. A moment for Kristen to look good by expending sympathy/pity. (I’m a little frustrated about how that interaction went down. Extending the help action was nice but patronizingly touching the neck of a full-ass adult without consent was not. It was weird and not something she would have done to a nondisabled character).

I have watched almost all of D20 (still missing a couple of seasons) and as far as I know here’s where our list of canon physically disabled characters stand: Lydia Barkrock, Jan de la Vega (who feels pretty problematic to me, maybe more on that in a later post), one of the Dwarven statues in the temple in The Seven (who is not given the dignity of being brought to life like Asha), and Pete’s coworker in TUC2 who is in exactly one episode and is so unimportant I have forgotten his name. I guess you could make an argument that Gunny is disabled, but I don't feel that Lou or Brennan really talk about him or play him through that lens. So in terms of canon physically disabled PCs-- that leaves us with 0.

We do a bit better with neurodivergent characters and characters with mental health problems; Ayda (my beloved) is very well developed and Adaine is a PC. There have been some openly neurodivergent players, like Omar and Surena, whose characters also read ND to me. But that isn’t labeled or discussed in canon, so it's hard for me to know where to class that. I am going to focus the rest of this post on physical disabilities, since that is my area of lived experience. If another fan wants to write about their perspective of neurodivergence rep in the show, I would love to hear that, and will happily amplify.

There has never been a character with a sensory disability or a limb difference or a chronic illness (not a fantasy one, a real one) on Dimension 20. The only NPCs we have are nondescript, similar wheelchair users. And there has never been a physically disabled player at the table. On the flagship show of Dropout, a company founded on diversity and inclusion. It feels extremely pointed to me.

In fact as far as I can tell there has only been one (1) physically disabled performer on any of Dropout’s shows. (Shout out to Brett, you were great on Dirty Laundry.) Obviously I haven’t seen every episode of everything they have produced. If I have missed someone, please do let me know in the comments/reblogs. But it’s a problem. And Sam Reich even agreed with this criticism when I asked him directly about.

I do really hope they’re working on it, as Sam says. But why has it taken so long?

Dimension 20 has had trans and nonbinary and queer players. It has had players of many different races. I’m not saying that the diversity here is perfect; there should always be more POC in the dome, more queer people. We should keep pushing for that. (And we should also push for performers at the intersections of these identities!) But we’ve seen the ways this diversity has expanded and improved the different seasons, because diverse players create sensitively drawn, diverse player characters. They add details to their PC’s experiences that make them feel rich and alive. I’m thinking about each of Ally’s PC’s incredible capital G gender and Aabria “all my characters (even the stoats) are Black” and how excellent they all are. D20 would not be the show it is without this input.

And yet. And yet.

There are 1,000 interesting and complicated themes to explore around disability. Dealing with access. Dealing with ableism. Dealing with compassion and community care. Dealing with none of it and just being a cool fantasy or sci fi character that happens to be disabled. We don’t get any of it.

I watch my favorite show and I see myself in the ace rep and the female characters. But I don’t see all of me. I see a silent but ever present message: you aren’t quite welcome here.

I have this fantasy that I play in my brain sometimes that someday I’ll get to talk to Brennan in person, like maybe if I buy a VIP ticket and risk Covid to go to a live show or we run into each other on the street or something. I am able to look him in the eye and articulate why he NEEDS to include a physically disabled player in an upcoming season. I reference the ways he’s talked about inclusion and writing diversely on Adventuring Party. Maybe I hand him a handwritten letter, or hell, a printout of this post. And because he really cares about diversity and his shows and his fans he would listen to me, and cast a physically disabled performer in the next season.

But I think that might be giving that nondisabled man (whose work I adore, who I respect so much) too much credit. Because he’s had Jennifer Kretchmer, a physically disabled actual play performer, on adventuring academy to talk about access in gaming. He’s hired disability consultants. He knows about physically disabled people, enough to give us shoutouts as inconsequential npcs. And he still hasn’t thought to include us at the table. In over 20 seasons. None of that other stuff matters if we aren't given a seat at the story telling table, and the agency to craft our own narratives equal to other participants in the game.

When Lydia was telling her story in the last episode, I kept wishing for a prequel, where she is more than a plot delivery device and a kind but unimportant parent. I want to know about her adventures with her adventuring party. I want to see a talented, wheelchair-using actor play out the scene when she decides to put the gem in her chest. I want to hear about what happened after. I want to know how she survived. I want it so badly it hurts.

I am in the process of trying to find new indie actual plays that feature more disabled talent. I am learning how to GM myself so I can tell these kinds of stories. But it’s not the same as being a fan of something. Sometimes I don’t want to have to make my own representation. Sometimes I just want to turn on my favorite tv show, the one that I have cosplayed from and written metas about and loved whole heartedly, and see myself included.

If you’re another disabled or neurodivergent fan I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. If you’re not, I’d love for you to reblog this. I would love for the absence of physical disability in this show to be a topic of fandom conversation, at the very least.

[sunnysideaeggs]

some criticisms i have of episode 2. read the tags first please.

disclaimer: i am a targtowers’ stan first and foremost. that means: aegon, helaena, aemond and daeron. they’re my favorite characters. that’s where my ‘loyalty’ stands. everyone else (including alicent) comes after.

helaena’s grief should’ve been a bigger point in the episode. this is HER episode and aegon’s (i’m not complaining about him but her screentime was so low). everyone else, rhaenyra, alicent, yada yada is secondary.

alicent can light up candles for her enemy’s son but can’t even attend the funeral of her grandson 🙄 she doesn’t cry, curse the blacks, want to bathe in the blood of jaehaerys’ killers, or can even bring herself to say his name.

i love aegon’s performance. i love all of his grief manifested in rage and anger. he cries but he will kick everyone later. tom go get your emmy.

girl your daughter just lost a son and you want to talk about you fucking your bodyguard. i’m tired of her. helaena is with all right of ignoring her.

once upon a time there was a boy that loved horses 😭 jaehaerys my dear

a larys/aegon scene is all i could wish for. the cold mastery of secrets and torture combined with the unstoppable wrath of a wounded man. i need more of them.

i like how the funeral seems, by all accounts, normal but by helaena’s viewpoint everything is too much. the people claim for her showing support but it’s all noise. the carriage showing her little boy so that people know who to blame but it only reminds her more of what happened. he even looks like he’s sleeping.

tbh this scene shows how rhaenyra doesn’t fucking care about helaena and her children. the first thought she had when she heard of the news wasn’t to have compassion or empathy, but to do damage control and worry about her reputation.

lmao i don’t have a clue what daemon’s intentions and rationality is. he only cares about looking mighty and dangerous to other people even when he does dumb shit, then justifies it. he lives only for other people’s opinions but then everyone hates his ass lol. dilffailure.

also he’s the embodiment of living for a dick measuring contest he ends up losing. all of daemon’s behavior can be attributed to erectile dysfunction.

how the writers found time for an oc prostitute having a mommy kink scene with aemond but didn’t have more time for a longer scene with helaena and literally anyone is beyond me.

aemond talking about his regret for luke but not about the death of his nephew 💀 luke died like three years ago condal pls get over it. aemond would care more about jaehaerys than poor little luke.

some much needed baela character development. i love characters that are like the female version of their dad but then also fucking hate their dad lol

i liked the tidbits of the dragonseeds during the episode. i’d like some nettles too :) but i guess the only female and canonically black character is a little too much for this show amirite :)

of course daemon would never be able to bend to anyone he considers inferior, much less rhaenyra, who under any other circumstance would be seen as ‘lesser than him’. it reminds him of his failures. i’m glad we’re on the same page.

aegon never had a chance right? aegon was literally raised by hightowers in love with targaryens. he never would’ve been able to surpass viserys and rhaenyra in otto and alicent’s eyes. nothing he did could’ve changed that.

otto’s little laugh cost him a job lol. i’m sad we didn’t get his cats.

the focus on rhaenyra in the arryk/erryk fight is too much for me. once again, leave secondary characters have their moments instead of shoving r or a down my throat please. this is their especial moment, their last moment. rhaenyra being all 😨🧍🏼‍♀️ between their shots does nothing for the scene.

otto’s realization of his life’s work being flushed down the drain is so touching and painful in a way to me. he’s like tywin if he lived long enough to see cersei and tommen fuck everything up.

‘i have sinned’ ‘i do not wish to hear of it’ that’s peak cersei and tywin from that one scene when she confessed the incest.

daeron exists? yay. and once again i’m fucking tired of alicent not reacting to mention of daeron, not comforting helaena, bashing aemond, ignoring aegon. where’s the love for her children?

the scene of otto putting resting his face on his hands? chills. it should’ve lingered there. showcase otto’s regret? grief? idk. pity it just lasted half a second because we needed to see alicent once more.

from now on, alicent is cancelled for me. i don’t care anymore about her. any parent that leaves their child in distress to go fuck can eat shit. i gave that treatment to daemon in laena’s funeral and i’m giving it to her.

we have more sex scenes of alicent than we have of daemon and aegon combined. yet she’s the pious queen and they’re the lechers. condal please write accordingly.

how do i watch a show when i don’t care for the two main characters, because they’re cardboard cuts of women who don’t do anything? i don’t know.

[watchthisqqq]

This commentary was written after watching the show, reading the books and then re-watching. There are some spoilers but I think most of these are common knowledge.

Criticism of the show.

No surprises here the ending of season 1. This is not an ending. You feel this even more acutely after reading the books. Sheng Wang dropping to class B makes more sense in the books. Sheng Wang is worried that Jiang Tian is going to figure out his feelings so that is why he moves classrooms. In this case distancing makes sense because he is actively trying to hide things from Jiang Tian. There were a lot of moments in the books where they both noticed Sheng Wang’s behaviors towards Jiang Tian.

In the show they had the Jiang Tian’s “moments” which caused the viewers to be very aware of how Jiang Tian felt. In the books it’s much less obvious. Also this angst moment for Sheng Wang lasts about a week in the books before he is like “this sucks let me hang out with Jiang Tian again.” And he does so no problem. To make this your dramatic ending is odd.

The other issue is that by not having the book 3 ending (them kissing) be season 1 ending is that it becomes a perpetual problem. When would that scene come up? It’s clearly a climax, changes everything and the tone of the story shifts. If they intend season 2 to be the last one now they have to rush a bunch of things to have the rest of their time at school and then the time jump.

The director said that the script is already written for season 2 so hopefully they had this in mind. The end of book 4 (the separation) is also a natural end point. So I’m worried them being separated would be most of the last episode and then maybe 10 minutes of skip into the future.

Episode 11 felt like a penultimate episode and it should have been. I did enjoy the sport day filler episode but not at the expense of an actual ending. Cut episode 9 (and even a lot of episode 10) and most of the teacher stuff and then get to the end of book 3. This would make it a more complete (better) story.

It’s further frustrating because the teachers background is much better in the books and is interwoven with Jiang Tian’s story and they should have kept it that way. It felt disjointed and a waste of time in the show. Another reason why it’s important for the teachers to be together is that the relationship is the contrast to Jian Tian witnessing his dad in a same sex relationship. Furthermore their relationship haunts Sheng Wang a little bit in that this is a potential future that Sheng Wang could have with Jiang Tian.

Book criticism.

The character do sometimes feel a little mary sue when described. Their actions and personality feel very realistic but the level of admiration from the narrator and other people feels a little intense. They are the bestest, most handosemest, smartest boys in all the world. Everyone loves them except for the people who don’t and those people are evil and will suffer.

The relationship reveal also felt a little over the top for me. One or two of these events were traumatic enough but it just felt like it kept piling on. Though these were really minor issues for me and mostly made me laugh a little.

The books are great because Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian getting together does not end all tension. They are teenagers in a secret relationship who have virtual have zero alone time together. Every time they do end up kissing or more the risks are always high. I would frequently have the thought this is their downfall when they did or said something. It really is a good representation of being a teenager. Impulsivity and only thinking “In this moment this would make me extraordinarily happy.”

They are quite true to themselves and have very little shame within their relationship which is nice to read. It feels so foolish to be this free when they want to remain closeted but also yeah it should be that way so you are cheering them on.

It’s interesting how sad book 4 is despite a lot of levity. This deep underlying fear and anticipation of attack and ostracization. Of course they were right to worry. All the foreshadowing and the previous joy leading to end of their relationship. Honestly you grieve with them. The tragedy was inevitable but you grieve with them. Maybe because I knew ahead of time but it made sense to me that Jiang Tian decided to separate and built his life anew.

Life really has been cruel to Jiang Tian. Even after all Ji Huan Yu has done to his son and he is aware that he is in the wrong he still comes in and makes Jiang Tian’s life even more miserable. Jiang Tian is so protective of his mother but she just does not have that instinct towards him. I had the thought that there is a reason why Jiang Ou got to together with Ji Huan Yu and they do both care about their image.

Incredibly frustrating how they can both admit they were wrong in their treatment of Jiang Tian as a child but then continue to engage in cruel behavior towards him. Based on how their parents act of course Sheng Wang And Jiang Tian would cling onto each other.

Both the book and the series show how terrible the parents are. More so the books obviously because the series is unfinished but both show how much they are managing their parents emotions and how they put their own wants over their childrens. Also within Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian’s behaviors it’s clear the neglect that they have experienced.

The final blow from the parents is that our love is conditional on you being straight. How they could fucking do this again to Jiang Tian. Has he not been through enough and no one gives a fuck. It’s not surprising that even after the horrible things his dad did after he found out, nothing really changed in their relationship because Sheng Wang did not expect anything different from him.

Both the show and book are great in regards of highlighting friendships alongside the romantic relationship in this story. Part of the issue for Sheng Wang is that he was not able to build a lot of lasting friendships because his father moved him around so much. When things got bad for Sheng Wang his friends stuck with him and the friendships continued even when Sheng Wang was doing his 6 years of over doing it to avoid thinking phase. Jiang Tian kept his friends at a distance but he was till cared about by them.

When they get back together as adults and they can finally be carefree and happy it’s just so fucking good. I’m in tears thinking about it.

Having read the books and re-watch the series my conclusions is that the On1y One is an excellent adaption of the Mou Mou books. Changing things enough where it makes great television but still keeping the essence of the books. The tone, the characters, the dialogue, the setting you can kind of smoothly transition from one media to the other because it feels so similar.

The issues is that the show accelerate their relationship but also wanted to keep the slow burn it seems. The series adjusted things enough where a different ending just makes so much more sense. Not getting a second season will be super upsetting.

I really loved the books and I highly recommend them. I know I will reread them. Let me know if you need help getting the books.

[butt0nzz66]

okay I got some sleep my thoughts have changed slightly.

So after a little spiral of sadness yesterday and grieving the incredible love and softness we got in first 6 episodes. I got some sleep and watched it again with the bf who in respect to my obsession has watched all the seasons with me to understanding what I’m yapping about.

I actually am beginning to like it more and can’t lie I really enjoy episode 7 I love the angst, Mr fingerton of worldwide and the wedding. I think this did a great job of demonstrating Colin’s internal struggle between loving and wanting pen but not been able to reconcile both sides of her and the wedding was a happy one until big QC rocked up. I even didn’t mind the entrapment comment because as one other poster pointed out he’s lashing out in anger because he knows he basically ran to the carriage and didn’t give her a min to breath after lol.

However I am still struggling with a few points and I have laid out what I think they could have done to improve it with a few short scenes.

The ending of episode 7 e.g. lack of a wedding night. I personally think the queen thing could have happened after, so we get a sweet wedding night where things aren’t perfect but they are moving towards understanding eachother, this gives us as the viewers a min to breath and then next episode is the queen/cressida drama and then this new wave of struggles for him(yes even with the couch sleeping) or them against the world kind of approach.

Another thing I found is while I do think they actually portrayed quite well him talking to various people to reconcile his feelings in the last episode e.g. Cressida, Eloise, there was a lack of communication of his growth to Penelope and while yes he’s a sulker that isn’t a heathly representation of marriage like you need to talk. I think this could have been improved with a very simple “I’m trying to get to that, but it’s just going to take me time” kind of line in the study love confession.

I also would have LOVED to have seen the conversation between Colin and Violet following the letter Penelope sent, to see her go from shocked to impressed and to see Colin realise maybe I am a lil jealous and dragging it out a bit. She was so insightful with him in episode 4 I think we could have all benefitted from her wisdom and maybe pointing out that while LW didn’t always do things in the right way she has always tried to save the Bridgertons because she loves them more than anyone.

Finally if we could have added a short scene of them after the ball going home and her being like “no more on the couch?” or them running to the bedroom laughing not even sex just fluff then that last sex scene wouldn’t feel quite so plonked in. Like don’t get me wrong I’ll take any crumb I can get but would have been nice to have an intro to it.

I think if we sacrificed a few sub plot scenes for that then it would be a 10/10 despite the angst being dragged on a bit. But maybe that’s just me having too much drama in my own life I don’t want it in my escapism show.

Also the end of season 1&2 was pretty similar in a lot of miscommunication and drama right up until the last second so it was silly of me to hope for something more.

So big shout out to the BF who watched it and gave his perspective of colins feelings which I think helped me get out of my own way.

And I’ve seen a few posts saying why is everyone so critical and quite frankly um because that’s how I feel? Like overall I loved the season definitely my favourite of the 3 and all the actors did a brilliant job however I will point out where I think things could be better. Which is why I’ve tried to word things in a more cohesive way now I’ve had time to reflect. Forums like this are built from discussion if you don’t like what someone is saying scroll on past, to be honest reading your positive analysis gave me a new perspective and improved my thoughts of it so that’s great and thank you, but if you don’t like what I have to say please let me know your thoughts, mute me or scroll on by and stay in your happy bubble because honestly it was a great show overall.

sorry for my rambling but the comedown is worse than any drug and I miss them already 😢

[divine-knight-hand]

Night of The Maneater

Part 1: The Chase

Part Two || Michael Masterlist || Full Masterlist || Read on AO3 Halloween Triple Feature Masterlist

Pairing: Michael Afton x Ghostface!Female Reader

Summary: Since the destruction of Fazbear's Fright, Michael could finally celebrate Halloween in peace, but with a new serial killer on the loose known only by the name "The Maneater", how long will his night stay that way?

Content Warnings: Stalking, mentions of death and killing, descriptions of fear and creepy scenarios, death threats, sexual themes

Notes: I don't care that FNAF lore says that Fazbear's Fright happened in the future. This fic takes place in the 1990s because I said so... Also, that time is the perfect setting for a slasher moment and no, I will not be taking criticism.

I also just looked it up and the first Scream movie takes place in 1996, so my guts were on point with this one. Trust my judgement, y'all~

Word Count: 4,352

Dividers by @animatedglittergraphics-n-more

Halloween season had an air of peace ever since Fazbear’s Fright burned down. This year, instead of fighting for his life against a group of worn-down animatronics–only one of them being corporeal, though not untouched by the stench of death–he only encountered the bright faces that came to his door in search of candy.

Michael was more than happy to oblige, complimenting the costumes of each child as he dropped some candy into their bags. Each child’s parent warmly smiled in appreciation from across the lawn, and he always reciprocated the soft expression. It was nice, seeing parents who took the time to make memories with their children. It filled him with a sense of pride, knowing he could help create that experience for them.

Once he handed out the last of his candy for the night, he turned out his porch light and headed for his kitchen to start making popcorn. He figured he’d spend the rest of the night catching up on the episodes of The Immortal and the Restless he had recorded to his VCR.

As he was searching his cupboards for an aluminum popcorn pan, the radio on the counter switched from lighthearted Halloween tunes to an emergency news report.

“We’re just getting news of a new serial killing taking place here in Hurricane, Utah.” The radio anchor announced. “Police are currently unable to name a suspect. The only information they have is that this killer seems to only target young men in their mid-twenties. They’ve since been codenamed, ‘The Maneater’. Police are advising that all residents make sure their doors, windows, and all other entrances to their homes are locked-”

“And, that’s enough of that.” Michael muttered to himself as he switched off the radio. What a buzzkill…

He rooted around in his cupboards a little longer before finally finding the aluminum pan he was looking for. He’d just put the pan on the stove when the phone started ringing across the room.

He strolled over to where it was mounted and picked it up. “Hello?”

A woman’s voice softly responded. “Hello.” A long pause followed, the only sound Michael could hear being the soft popping of his popcorn, before she asked. “Who is this?”

“Who are you trying to reach?” Michael wasn’t sure why, but he felt the need to dodge the question. Something felt off already, and he hadn’t talked to this person for more than a few seconds. After another moment of silence, he tried to shut down the conversation. “I think you might have the wrong number.”

“Oh, do I?” The voice sounded playful.

“It happens to the best of us.” Michael reassured. “Take care, now.”

He had just moved to return to the stove when the phone rang again. Since when was I so popular?

He smiled to himself as he picked the phone back up off of the receiver. “Hello?”

“I’m sorry.” The same woman’s voice answered. “I guess I did dial the wrong number.”

Michael nervously chuckled. “So, why would you call me back?”

“To apologize.” The woman’s voice was smooth. She spoke lowly and calmly, like she was reading a bedtime story to a child. “I didn’t mean to inconvenience you, tonight of all nights.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Michael breathed a sigh of relief. “It happens all the time. I’m going to go now, okay?”

“Hold on,” The voice suddenly sounded hurried. “Don’t hang up, yet.”

Against his better judgment, Michael responded. “Why not?”

“I want to talk to you for a second.” The woman’s voice purred. It sounded almost… sultry.

Michael felt a shiver crawl down his spine. He wasn’t sure whether to be afraid or enthralled. “I’m sure there are more interesting people you could talk to at this time of night. I should go now. Bye.” As soon as he hung up the phone, it immediately began to ring again.

Michael audibly groaned before picking up. “Hello?”

“Why don’t you want to talk to me?” The same woman’s voice answered, feigning hurt.

Michael was beginning to grow fed up with what he assumed was a Halloween prank call. “Okay, who is this?”

“Why don’t you tell me your name first, handsome?” If the voice didn’t sound provocative before, it definitely did now.

“Michael,” He quickly clapped a hand over his mouth. He hadn’t meant to give up that information so voluntarily. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

“Michael~” The voice sounded borderline pornographic as it tested his name. “Like Michael Myres, from Halloween. I like that.” Michael gulped, the action requiring some effort due to his suddenly dry throat. “What are you up to, Michael?”

“I- I- Uhm-” He stammered. “M- Making popcorn.”

“Making popcorn?” The voice sounded genuinely interested. “I only eat popcorn if I’m watching something. Are you preparing for a scary movie marathon?”

“No, nothing scary.” Michael felt his prior tension easing as the conversation began to seem normal. “Just my favorite show.”

“No scary movies?” The voice sounded playfully appalled. “It’s Halloween! How could you pass up a scary movie on Halloween?”

Michael bashfully scratched the back of his neck. “Not really my thing, I guess.”

“That’s a shame.” The voice sounded almost melodic. “I love a good scary movie.” After a long pause, the voice spoke up again. “So, do you have a girlfriend, Michael?”

He felt his face begin to glow red as his heart fluttered. That question definitely caught him off guard. “I- Well- Uhm- No, not exactly.”

“No need to be shy.” The voice purred. “I’m sure you’re more than a decent catch~”

“Thanks.” Michael struggled to fend off the flattered smile that was tugging at his lips. “So, uhm… Why are you asking me so many of these questions? Are you flirting with me, or something?”

“Maybe~” The voice took on an air of mischief. “I just want to know who I’m looking at.”

Michael felt his heart drop out of his chest. What the fuck?

He cradled the phone in his arms as he ran around the house, checking the windows to see if he could find any suspicious figure looking back at him.

When he couldn’t find anything, he just made sure the windows were locked before he held the phone back to his ear, returning to the kitchen. “What did you say?”

“I said I want to know who I’m talking to, silly!” The voice lightly giggled. “Everything okay?”

“N- no…” Michael breathed, the dread from earlier creeping back into his chest. “That wasn’t what you said.”

“I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.” The voice spoke in a cautionary tone.

Michael struggled to swallow as he gulped again. “I wish I could say this was fun, but… Well… Goodnight, okay?”

“Don’t hang up on me.” The voice sounded a little more firm than the last time it asked him not to hang up.

Michael shivered. “Gotta go…” He hung up the phone and all but ran to the kitchen to take his popcorn off of the stove. He’d just finished pouring it into a large bowl when the phone rang again.

He rolled his eyes and tossed the empty pan in the garbage before picking up the phone. “Hello?”

“I told you not to hang up on me, Michael.” The voice sounded a lot less playful than before, instead bordering on angry. “That wasn’t very nice.”

“What’s your problem?” He began impatiently tapping his foot.

“I don’t have a problem with you, Michael.” The voice sounded almost as annoyed as Michael felt. “As I’ve already said, I just want to talk.”

“Well, talk to someone else, okay?” Michael hated the way his voice cracked, but he hoped he still got his message across.

“Are you getting scared?” The voice found its playful tone again, using it to tease him.

“No, just tired.” He slammed the phone back onto the receiver, making one last attempt to return to his cooling popcorn before the phone rang again.

Michael growled as he answered the phone. “Listen, I don’t-”

“NO, YOU LISTEN, YOU LITTLE BITCH!” The voice exploded. “If you hang up on me again I'll gut you like a fish! Do you understand me?!”

Michael was at a loss for words. As he tried to find the right words to say, his mouth opened and closed, like a fish filtering water.

“I’m sorry, Michael.” The voice purred after a tense moment of silence. “I don’t normally lose my temper so quickly like that. Especially on pretty boys like you.”

Michael was still stuck in an astonished silence, and the voice took that as an invitation to continue. “I don’t like being hung up on. That was rude…” The voice paused, sighing in disapproval before continuing. “I also couldn’t help but notice you locking your windows. I thought it was really bold of you to assume I wasn’t already inside.”

Suddenly, all the power in the house went out, plummeting Michael into a silent darkness. His blood ran cold as he rushed to one of his kitchen drawers to grab a flashlight.

“Wh- What the hell was that?” His hands began to shake as he clicked the flashlight on. “Is this some kind of sick joke?”

“No, no.” The voice reassured. “Nothing of the sort. I like to think of it as more of a game.”

“I- I’ll call the cops!” Michael attempted a threat of his own.

“Oh, come on, now.” The voice softly tutted. “You’re smarter than this, Michael. You know they’d never make it in time.”

He felt nauseous. “What do you want from me?”

“I want to play a game.” The voice calmly answered. “And if you play the right way, you get to walk out alive.”

Michael scoffed at the voice’s request. “You’re insane.”

“That wasn’t a no.” The voice softly giggled. “Come on, Michael. You know you want to. It’ll be fun~”

“Fine.” Michael spat. “I’ll play your stupid game.”

“Ouch.” The voice teased. “I haven’t even explained the rules yet. But, here they are. We’re going to do a little bit of trivia. I’ll ask you a series of questions. Each time you get a question wrong, I’ll walk into one room adjacent to the one I’m in. Each time you get a question right, I’ll stay put. You can move regardless, but only after you answer a question, and only one room at a time. Oh, and just know that you’ll be moving at your own risk. Got it?”

“You’re insane…” Michael repeated.

“I believe we’ve covered that.” The voice sounded amused at his apparent fear. “I may be insane, but I’m a woman of my word. I haven’t moved an inch since I got here.”

Michael silently shook his head. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“A few last-minute things,” The voice went on. “If you hang up on me, I’ll kill you. If you try to leave the house, I’ll kill you. If you try to call the cops, I’ll kill you. Notice the trend?” The voice chuckled before continuing. “And, if I get to the same room as you? …Actually, let’s keep that a surprise for now.” The voice giggled again. “Are you ready for your first question, Michael?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” He felt defeated, and the game hadn’t even started yet.

“Good!” The voice enthused. “These questions are scary movie-themed, so I’m afraid you’ll be at a disadvantage.”

“Of course.” Michael muttered, bringing a hand up to massage the bridge of his nose.

“First question,” The voice began. “Proclaiming herself to be the ‘Mistress of the Dark’, this character hosted her own ‘Movie Macabre’ before moving on to star in her own self-titled film. What’s her name?”

Michael struggled to find an answer in his anxious mental haze. “I- I don’t know.”

“Really?” The voice sounded genuinely shocked. “What, do you live under a rock? You have to know this one! Men really love her for her huge… ratings! Yeah, ratings…”

Michael cringed at the voice's poor attempt at humor. “I still don’t know.”

“That’s unfortunate.” The voice sighed. “I’ll be moving rooms now, since the name Elvira doesn’t seem to be coming to your mind.” Then, the only thing Michael could hear on the other end of the line was the sound of a door softly opening and closing. “There we go.” 

His mind began to race as he tried to find some strategy to get himself through this game. His house was only one story high, and he only had so many rooms. When moving in, he felt he didn’t need much more than that, since he planned on living alone. He’d originally imagined that the woman was on the other side of the house, but she’d only specified that she was inside. She never told him where she was. That meant she could be anywhere from across the house to right outside the nearest door. Michael decided to stay in the kitchen for the time being. He didn’t want to risk bumping into her just yet… though he’d still be taking that risk if he stayed where he was.

“Alright!” The voice interrupted his thoughts. “Ready for the next question?”

“Let’s do it.” He did his best to summon his courage and clear his thoughts.

“Tell me the name of the killer doll from the film Child’s Play.” The voice directed.

Michael began biting his thumbnail in deep thought. I know this one. It’s that creepy ginger doll. But, what was his name?

“Tick tock, Michael.” The voice taunted. “Neither of us have all night.”

“Chucky!” He blurted once the answer finally came to mind. “The doll’s name was Chucky.”

An agonizing silence passed before the voice purred, “Well done, Michael. You’re more clever than you look. I guess I’ll be staying put this time.”

His mind began whirring again with a million questions. Where could she be? How long would it take for her to find him? What would she do to him once she did? He couldn’t just sit around and find out. Michael took the opportunity to slip from the kitchen into the living room. Since the doorway to the living room was open, he was able to make sure no one was there before entering.

“I see you decided to move this round.” The voice pointed out. “Interesting choice.”

“You know where I am right now?” He shuddered at the possibility.

“Of course I do.” The voice calmly responded. “I’ve been watching you this whole time, Michael.”

He quickly spun around, looking over his shoulder to make sure the owner of the voice hadn’t already found him. “H- How?”

“I don’t want to reveal my secrets just yet.” The voice responded.

Fuck! Michael’s heart began to pound. This obviously put him at a huge disadvantage. He needed to find a way to even out the playing field.

“Well, maybe I’m curious.” A new idea slowly unfurled in his mind as he spoke.

“Well, maybe I want to move on to the next question.” The voice insisted.

“Wait,” Michael felt his resolve slowly growing. “Before we do that, I want to change the rules of the game, just a little.”

A long pause followed, and just when Michael was worried that the voice wouldn’t take the bait, it responded. “Go on…”

“What if I could ask questions, too?” He proposed. “For every question you answer, I’ll stay still, but for every one you refuse, I move.”

This time, the voice let out a hum of consideration. “That sounds fun… I’ll accept, only if I get to move regardless, like you do when I ask questions.”

“Deal.” Michael knew this was a risky plan, but any answers he could get out of this person could help him to escape her. “We’ll alternate asking questions, so it’s fair.”

“Deal.” The voice purred. “After you, cutie~”

Michael felt his face flush as he tried to think carefully about his first question. Now is not the time to get flattered by a crazy killer in your house! …Come to think of it, why is she here?

He decided that would be his first question. “Why did you come here of all places?”

“Hmmm,” The voice paused for a moment before answering. “Because I was looking for a new catch, and you happened to be alone.”

“A new catch?” He was even more confused than before. “What do you mean?”

“Michael, Michael, Michael…” The voice tsked. “You didn’t waste any time before trying to break your own rule.” Michael could faintly hear the sound of a door opening and closing over the phone before the voice continued, softer than before. “I believe it’s my turn to ask a question.”

“Sorry,” Michael gulped. “Go on.”

“Alright, next question,” The line went silent again before the voice found its question. “Name one scary movie that came out this year.”

Michael scratched his head. He knew a lot of horror movies came out this year, but he barely paid attention to the trailers when they came on the television. Think, damnit!

He knew he had to get this one. The owner of the voice could have been anywhere in the house, and the living room had the most doors out of all the rooms.

“Michael, are you still there?” The voice softly giggled. “Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you are! Come on. Don’t keep me waiting.”

He knew there was a sequel to some Stephen King movie. What was it? The Shining? No. It? No… Cujo? No, but he vaguely remembered it involving pets. Wait a minute… Pets! That’s it!

“Pet Semetary II,” Michael breathed.

“Well done,” The voice didn’t pause before congratulating him this time. “That tracks. Looks like I’m not going anywhere.”

Michael quickly ran up to the nearest door, holding his ear up to it to make sure he couldn’t hear anyone on the other side. When he felt confident enough, he entered the room, softly closing the door behind him.

“The laundry room?” The voice sounded condescending. “That seems like a dead end to me, but if that’s what you want…”

“It’s my turn to ask a question.” Michael was anxious to get back to the point. He leaned back against the washing machine, gripping the edge with his free hand until his knuckles turned white.

“Okay, okay.” The voice conceded. “Ask away.”

“What did you mean earlier when you said you were looking for ‘a new catch’?” His voice wavered mid-question.

“That’s a good one,” The voice answered. “Sometimes, I’m not even sure, myself. I’ve chalked it up to this. The ideal catch for me is someone beautiful. Someone who’s willing to play my games. Someone strong enough to put up a good fight. But, above all, the ideal catch for me is someone clever and obedient.” After a heartbeat passed, the voice asked. “Is that a satisfactory answer for you, Michael.”

“I- I think so…” He gulped. He felt weak in the knees. What the hell was this person playing at? What was she hoping to do with him once she caught him? No, I can’t think like that. He mentally chided himself. I can’t lose this. I can’t!

But, at the same time, a new feeling rose within him. His sudden weakness in the knees couldn’t only be chalked up to fear. Hearing this voice compliment him tonight, it did things to him. How many times had she called him ‘clever’? How many times had she complimented his looks? Not to mention the thrill of having her go through all this trouble with the hopes of catching him. Part of him almost began to want to be found. Maybe it was because he hadn’t romantically been with someone in a while, but he suddenly found that the hairs on the back of his neck weren’t the only thing standing upright.

Get a grip! Michael frowned the crotch of his jeans, which was slowly pitching a tent.

A new sound snapped him out of his thoughts. He heard a door open and close, except it wasn’t just over the phone. He heard it in real life. He heard it from the next room. The owner of the voice was in the living room. His breath hitched. Oh, god! It’s over…

“Ready for your next question, Michael?” The voice spoke just low enough so he could only hear it through the phone.

Michael decided to match its volume. “Yes, I’m ready.”

“Alright,” The voice softly hummed as its owner thought of a question. “Okay! I got one. What is the name of the movie where a group of people take refuge in an old farmhouse to protect themselves from a horde of zombies?”

Now, this sounded very familiar. Michael recognized this as the plot to a movie he’d watched with his family when he was younger. It was one of the fonder memories he had with them before everything began to fall apart. But, it had been so long that he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to recall the name of it. What was it called?

“You’re killing me, Michael.” The voice groaned. “Must you take so long to come up with an answer to every single one of my questions?”

Michael’s brow furrowed in concentration. The title was on the tip of his tongue. If only he could recall it. He knew it had something to do with the ‘living dead’, because of the zombies, and it all happened at night… Oh! Duh! I’m a fucking idiot…

“It’s Night of the Living Dead.” Michael answered. “I used to watch it with my family as a kid.”

“How cute~” The voice purred. “And I thought scary movies weren’t your thing.”

“Not anymore…” He muttered.

“Do you have your next question ready?” The voice asked.

“I think I do.” Michael shuddered as he took a breath to steady his nerves. “Are you ‘The Maneater’ that the radio station’s been talking about?”

“Am I ‘The Maneater’?” The voice softly chuckled as it repeated his question. “I believe that is what they call me, yes.” After that, silence…

That was, until Michael could hear growing footsteps. His heart leapt into his throat. He’d forgotten that whenever he asked a question, she could move rooms regardless of whether or not she answered. This was it. She would open the door and kill him. It was game over. Oh god. Oh, fuck…

He couldn’t breathe. He clicked off his flashlight, but he knew it didn’t matter. She already knew where he was. The Maneater was right there.

Once the shadows of her feet appeared under the door, Michael felt tremors work their way through his body. He gulped, the heartbeat in his ears blocking out any other sounds around him.

Then, the shadows disappeared, and he heard the footsteps quickly retreat. Michael let go of the breath he was holding, a fresh wave of adrenaline coursing through his veins.

“Your fear is adorable.” The Maneater softly giggled. “No, that’s an understatement.” Her words grew breathy. “Your fear… it excites me.”

Michael willed his heart to slow down. He was convinced that, had the washing machine not been holding most of his weight, he would have keeled over.

“I could chase you like this for hours.” She ecstatically sighed. “After all this time I spent searching… I finally found the perfect catch.”

Her words were barely registering to him. Did she avoid him on purpose? She had the perfect opportunity to catch him just then. Why didn’t she?

“I have to ask, Michael,” The Maneater went on. “And I’m counting this as my next question… Do you enjoy being hunted?”

“Wh- What?” That fully grabbed his attention again.

“Do you enjoy being hunted?” She repeated. “Does our little game of cat-and-mouse excite you?”

Michael felt his face flush. It was like she was invading his mind, as well as his home. “Wh- What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb.” The Maneater scoffed. “I know you know what I mean.” Her voice grew sensual. “Does being hunted turn you on as much as it turns me on to chase you?”

Michael hesitated. Clearly, his common sense steered him to believe it didn’t. This woman was insane, and she’d killed men just like him. There was no way he could possibly enjoy being in such a dangerous position.

His body, however, heavily disagreed. It didn’t care about the circumstances. It just fell prey to the allure of this woman’s voice and it wasn’t as shy as he was about expressing his sudden libido. He looked back down at the evidence, growing more apparent the longer it strained against the front of his pants.

He decided to respond as vaguely as possible, seeing as he wasn’t too sure of the answer himself. “What does that matter? That doesn’t change the fact that I’m stuck playing this crazy game until you leave me alone.”

The Maneater softly chuckled at his boldness. “I should’ve expected that.”

Michael didn’t wait to hear whether or not she considered that answer correct. He knew he had to keep moving. He had to get out of that laundry room before she cornered him in it again.

He threw the door open, not even checking for The Maneater on the other side. He knew she was just a room away, and all she had to do to catch him was turn around, but he didn’t care. He was willing to take that risk. 

Michael rushed across the living room, stopping by the door to his bedroom. He already knew what his next question was going to be. He was going to ask The Maneater for her name. If she didn’t answer, he’d be able to move into a new room. If she did, then he’d finally know her by name. He just had to ask for her name and-

WHAM! A flash of pain exploded from the back of Michael’s head, and he fell to the floor from the impact. The last thing he saw was the ghoulish, dark empty eyes of a ghost-faced mask looking down at him before his vision went black.

[electronickingdomfox]

Excerpts from “Shatner: where no man...”

I recently read this book (Marshak & Culbreath, 1979) and wanted to share some excerpts (the book can be borrowed for free at archive.org, by the way). 

To be honest, there’s a LOT of filler and hero-worship in this book (to very annoying levels), and it’s not a biography in the common sense of the word. But it also includes personal interviews with Shatner, Roddenberry and Nimoy, which I found the most interesting parts (chapters 7 and 8 above all). So here’s some of the stuff, chosen because it relates with Star Trek or it’s just funny/curious. With special attention to the K/S parts. Because I’m making the selection and say so.

From an interview with Shatner and Nimoy (1977)

Nimoy comments on the scenes he thinks define Kirk and Spock’s relationship:

Nimoy is asked about a particular blooper he’s never seen:

Gotta love his last line. In relation to Devil in the Dark:

Nimoy then explains that he wasn’t always conscious of his reactions in front of the camera, some of them may have come naturally to him while playing the scene (like the swallowing here described). On the other hand, Shatner said in other parts of the book that he himself was very aware of his expressions and why he used them. Interesting to know when analyzing certain scenes.

About the problems with Turnabout Intruder (Roddenberry also addresses these issues in another section):

Elsewhere in the book (not part of the same interview), Shatner had also talked about this same episode:

Really, Janice Lester never struck me as the classical femme fatale who seduces men for her advantage, but Kirk... would turn himself into one? Oh, well. I can see that.

From an interview with Roddenberry and Shatner (1977)

Gene comments on Kirk and Spock’s relationship:

For this well-known passage, I’d just like to address some common criticism from those who grasp at straws to discredit what Gene said here. I’ve often seen this interview described as the authors “manoeuvring” Gene into talking about physical love between Kirk and Spock. As if Roddenberry had said that at gun-point, and thus wasn’t valid. Well, NO. The interviewers only bring the subject of Alexander and Hephaistion because Gene had previously talked about the Alexander/Kirk parallel. And they never speak of them as anything more than friends. The whole “physical love” thing was brought entirely by Roddenberry (as a little later after this interview, he’d do with the t’hyla-lover stuff in the TMP novel).  The authors DO have an obvious agenda in this book, not gonna lie. But their fantasy revolves around alpha-male Kirk getting into relationships with strong women, not around K/S (at least not in this book). Believe me; I’ve read the whole thing, and it’s pervasive. To the point of trying to push Kirk/Uhura or Spock/Leila as love stories, despite Nimoy being much in disagreement with the latter, and both being forced to it. Not to mention, the authors barely brush on the “physical love” thing, and move back to the Alexander/Kirk parallels.

In fact, the authors ask Gene again about Kirk and Spock’s friendship, and again, it’s him who makes the connection between their relationship and sexual relationships in general:

Confront this with the passage in the TMP novel: 

But it still felt painful to be reminded so powerfully and unexpectedly of his friendship and affection for Spock—theirs had been the touching of two minds which the old poets of Spock’s home planet had proclaimed as superior even to the wild physical love which affected Vulcans every seventh year during pon farr.

But enough with the seriousness:

I can’t believe they were discussing Kirk’s ass in front of its owner...  There are other raunchy things in this interview (it’s Roddenberry after all), but I won’t put them in here.

From an interview with Theodore Sturgeon

So the legendary “In a pig’s eye!” line was DeForest Kelley’s improvisation? He’s the boss.

[lurkingshan]

Step by Step Missed Some Steps

Welp, here we are at the end of this show. And it sure did have a finale! That was indeed an episode 12.

Look pals, I’ve been clear about the fact that this show went off the rails for me in the final stretch. The finale didn’t change my view on that, unfortunately — it was, in my opinion, not a good episode of television and not a particularly coherent ending to this story. The time skip served little purpose in terms of character development and as one final hilarious pacing joke, Pat is still somehow 26! But we did get some nice domestic fanfic vignettes and one last bed scene as a parting gift, which was cool of them. I am a simple woman and I was in fact happy to get 30 uninterrupted minutes of domestic relationship fluff. Would I have liked it if the fluff had a stronger connection to an ongoing emotional arc? Sure would, but with this drama I’ve learned we really can’t have it all.   

In the spirit of giving this show a fair assessment while also not repeating myself too much or belaboring my criticism, I’m just gonna do a quick rundown of what its attempted big themes were and how successful I thought they were with each major thread, now that we’ve seen the full thing. Shoutout to @waitmyturtles and @neuroticbookworm for talking this through with me and keeping me sane the last few weeks, as well as @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle, @williamrikers, @wen-kexing-apologist, @colourme-feral, @bengiyo, @colourme-feral and @sunshinesanctuary, all of whom wrote posts I have linked here. This is going to be a critical analysis so if you want to just vibe and bask in the cute feel free to skip reading. :)

The slow burn that never caught fire  

Let’s just get this out of the way. This show failed on the romance writing. They did a nine episode slow burn then fumbled the emotional payoff, tacked on a traditional four-act-structure breakup that didn’t fit, and had the wrong person apologize in the final reunion scene. There may have been a lot of sex, but the emotional arc for these two was incoherent and dissatisfying in the end, and I saw nothing in their reunion scene that explained to me why I was supposed to believe they would suddenly be a functional and happy couple. You gotta actually do that character work to sell it, not just tack on some cute epilogue scenes where they are suddenly healthier without showing me how they got there. 

But thank goodness for Man and Ben, because they still managed to salvage something out of this mess on the strength of their chemistry alone. I thank them for their service, and I will always treasure the bittersweet arc of those first nine episodes and the exquisite angst of Jeng’s lonely pining. That was good shit. 

Pat’s emotional maturity and character growth

Speaking of having the wrong person apologize in the reunion scene, this might actually be the thing I am most frustrated about. I’ve had a somewhat rocky road with Pat in this show, but I’ve wanted to believe in the arguments that his emotional inconsistency was intentional and leading us to some major character development for him. The show almost pulled it out in the final arc and got somewhere on this theme, but they blew it on the dismount. 

Because all the ingredients were right there on the table. In episode 11, we saw Pat finally come into his own, both at work and in his relationships. We saw him succeed at work, we saw him grow more confident, we saw him draw firm boundaries, and we saw him call both Put and Jeng on their bullshit. We saw him walk away from these toxic relationships that weren’t serving him, and we were on his side. The finale even opens with him thriving in his new business with Chot! It was a little weird that the show had him suddenly being besties with Put given where we left them in episode 11 (I could see a way for that to happen but the show, as ever, did not do the work and hand waved it away with a time skip, so no points from me) but that’s fairly easy to overlook as long as it serves his arc. When the finale opens our boy is doing well for himself—he has become a successful businessman in his own right—which you would expect to also come with some advancement in his emotional maturity. In those early scenes he seems like he’s finally got a handle on things. 

Except that crumbles the moment he sees Jeng again, and he instantly regresses into the same insecure, emotionally erratic, weak-willed youth he was before. We see him repeat all of his old patterns (to the point where it felt almost like intentional callbacks to his scenes from earlier in the series, but that would be such a weird thing to do in this context). He begins doubting himself, he loses emotional control and sobs into his dad’s shoulder, he gets wasted and makes a public spectacle of himself, he randomly decides to get back with an ex who wronged him, and he apologizes to Jeng for standing up for himself and ending their relationship when Jeng was the one entirely in the wrong and has done no work to change anything about his situation or earn Pat’s forgiveness.

And so rather than enjoying the reunion, I was mad when I was watching this scene. Flames on the side of my face. I have no idea what the writer was thinking when they crafted this ass backwards reunion scene, but it did double damage in that it put the final nail in the coffin for two of the show’s major arcs. Impressive in its own way, I suppose! 

Filial piety and Jeng’s family expectations  

This one truly just has me scratching my head. It feels like they simply…didn’t finish this part of the show? Because they’ve been telling me for 11 episodes that Jeng is broken and crumbling under the weight of his responsibilities to his father’s company (well, if I’m honest, they’ve only been telling us that explicitly for a few episodes, because for the first two-thirds of the show they were telling us he loves his work, but I’m trying to go with fandom interpretations of subtext here) but that he couldn’t simply walk away from this job because he is the eldest son and must fulfill his obligations of filial piety. And that a big part of the reason he fucked things up with Pat was because of that enormous pressure he was under, and he would have to face that and make things right.

So what happened in the finale to continue this storyline? Absolutely nothing! After a two year time skip in which nothing in Jeng’s work or family life changed, Pat randomly decides everything was his fault, actually, and he wants to get back together, and then Jeng simply walks away from this job. Casually strolls into his dad’s office and hands in a resignation letter like it ain’t no thing in a very short, very oddly toned scene in which his dad just kind of shrugs and then tosses the letter in the bin. Jeng even mentions in the next scene with Pat that his dad’s reaction was bizarre. And that’s it! That’s the end of that plot. We go through a bunch more time skips and Jeng did in fact leave that job, nothing else happens, the end. 

And look, I’m on record as feeling like this version of Jeng that was so broken he couldn’t see his way out of this situation or be a decent partner to Pat emerged in episode 10 largely out of nowhere, but the show took us down this path, so they needed to stand by it and finish the story. But they didn’t bother. Jeng “I intend to improve myself” Kittipong Attajiranon did nothing of the sort (at least not on screen where we could see it) in either his professional or personal life. Instead his problems just magically solved themselves and we time skipped through him becoming more stable. What am I to make of that? Guess we’ll never know!

Whatever the heck that was with Jaab and Jen

I feel like for this section I should just insert that meme of the blonde lady trying to work out incomprehensible equations, because that’s what it feels like trying to figure out what the point of this storyline was. Jaab appeared on screen in this finale for about two minutes, and Jen didn’t appear at all. The show doesn’t even bother to tell us if they’re together already or if Jaab is going to Japan to try to win Jen back (even though they previously told us he’d be back from Japan by this time), and neither of them is even mentioned again.

For this, they ate up a ton of real estate in the penultimate episode? Make it make sense!

Perils of the closet and homophobia in the workplace

Let’s end this on a positive note, shall we? This is the theme I do think came through most clearly, and they almost pulled it off (but not quite thanks to the baffling end of Jeng’s work and family arc).

We saw Pat and Jeng and Chot all deal with various forms of the closet and homophobia throughout the show. We saw the way that Chot’s partner being closeted with his family hurt Chot, and the relief he felt when he was finally able to be fully open with his love. We saw how Put’s fears about being out with his career hurt Pat. We saw how Jeng’s parents did not fully accept him and how he consequently struggled to be his authentic self at work. We saw Pat express his discomfort with the way media companies exploit queerness for monetary gain. We saw Pat get caught up in an online scandal when his relationships with Jeng and Put were exposed. We saw how all of these gay men were put in the position of working for executives who saw their sexuality as a problem to be crisis managed and a bargaining chip to threaten them with.

And in the finale we got to see Pat and Chot flourishing in their own company, where their queerness was an asset and not a problem, and where they got to set their own rules about how they wanted to work and who they wanted to work with. We got to see Jeng focus on the job he loves most in a setting where he can be his authentic self. Everybody has found a better work life balance. And we got to see all of them happy and in love and thriving. And even though the way they got there didn’t always feel earned, at least we can say they got a beautiful ending free of those burdens.  

As a final note, I just want to say how fun it’s been to watch this show along with y’all. We didn’t always agree, but the discussion was always interesting and the experience brought me a lot of joy. The show yeeted itself off a cliff for me in the final stretch but I will always remember the watch experience fondly and y'all will have to pry Man away from my cold dead hands. Onward to the next drama!

[noelwho]

Ultimate Chronological Order Imodna Playlist!!!

Hello! I feel like I have to introduce myself ‘cause I’m barely on Tumblr. I’m still learning how to use it, I posted a couple of fanarts and they went really well, so I want to try and make myself a spot in here. My name is Noel (they/them) and I’m a big fan of Critical Role. I started watching a few months ago, with Exandria Unlimited. Once I was done I went ahead and started Campaign 3. I’m currently on episode 49 (I know, I have a lot ahead yet). I also watched the first season of Candela Obscura and a couple of One-Shots.

Today I’m here to talk about the Lesbian Southern Gothic Witches. Earlier this week I started to obsess over a playlist. An Imodna playlist, to be more specific. It started with me listening to one I found on spotify (I will credit below because it’s been a huge inspiration for this project) and I got the urge to make my own. At the beginning it was something chill, something normal…until it was not. Over the course of the last 3 days I haven’t thought about or listened to anything else. I got the idea of making the playlist in chronological order and I started to take it very seriously. I divided their history in 10 different chapters and assigned each song to the correct time period. At first it was just gonna be into chapters, but then I started to put them in order inside the chapters too, and it became very personal. For real, this playlist has been the one and only thing I wanted to talk about for days. Last night I finally finished it. I’ve played it for run tests several times and I think it’s finally ready to see the light (kinda feels like the project of my life even though I only spent a few days working on it).

After all this brainrot it didn’t feel right to just tweet a link to the playlist, I wanted the world to know everything that went through my head in the process of making this. I also don’t have many people around who care about Critical Role, and I thought it was a good opportunity to connect with the fandom. So all of this took me here, to tumblr. All of a sudden it became very clear that this was the perfect place to set my baby free.

There’s some things I wanna make clear before you start reading, the first being the classic: english is not my first language. Sounds like a joke at this point but for real, it’s very likely that this thing is full of grammatical mistakes and I want to apologize in advance (specially about the in/on/at situation, I’ve been having lots of trouble with those for some reason) This is also the first time I do something like this so it may not be perfect. The second thing is that this will obviously be filled with spoilers. In fact I actually haven’t even got to The Scene, I saw it around on Tumblr and Twitter (impossible to avoid that spoiler, but I don’t really care). I’m aware that there’s a lot of Imodna moments that I haven’t seen yet, but I couldn't wait to start this playlist. I don’t know if the episodes I have left to watch will translate into new chapters or into new songs for the chapters I already have but either way, I will keep this post and the playlist updated.

With that being said, welcome to this ride through an unhinged mind. Fasten your seatbelts and enjoy!

The tether scene is one of my favorite ones. I love that metaphor with a passion. That’s why I chose this name for the playlist. With the photo I wanted to make an allusion to the red thread myth given that Laudna herself carries around a spool of red string. I even edited the picture so the hands on the right are slightly gray like Laudna’s.

There’s not just one specific vibe to this playlist, but I find it to be a very calming one, with the exception of some specific moments that we will talk about later. I tried to avoid strong and distracting beats so I could keep it a little ethereal. Lots of acoustic guitar (which I love). I’m not going to talk about every single song because some of them have pretty obvious meanings. Usually the songs aren't a 100% match, but they do have a part to it that speaks to me and to the story on a certain level.

× Imogen and Laudna’s separate lifes ×

At the beginning of the journey that is this playlist, I wanted to introduce the characters. Intertwining their songs, we get to know Imogen and Laudna’s pasts, before they have each other to face the terrors of being witches in a world that doesn’t quite understand them.

Delilah - Florence + The Machine (Laudna)

I sometimes wonder if Marisha has ever listened to this song, because oh my fucking god. I wanted to start the playlist with Abbey, I didn’t because with the intertwining I couldn’t make it fit, but this one is a very good start as well. This song shows perfectly how it must have been being brought back by Delilah and having that power all of a sudden.

Abbey - Mitski (Imogen)

Matilda - Harry Styles (Laudna)

Imogen - Nick Mulvey (Imogen)

Laudna's lullaby - Ginny Di (Laudna)

Time comes in roses - Bess Atwell (Imogen)

The Tradition - Halsey (Laudna)

Burn it down - Daughter (Imogen)

There’s several songs from this album on this playlist. It couldn’t fit better. It reflects perfectly the moment Imogen started to develop her powers. It even refers directly to the way she parts ways with her town (which doesn’t happen for a few chapters but still I felt this one belonged here). Her fear of being a disappointment, her father becoming absent, the feeling of being cursed. It’s all here.

The hanging tree - The hunger games (Laudna)

Still I wait - Anna Leone (Both)

Even with everything they had to go through, they both still wait and cling to hope.

× Imogen and Laudna meet ×

Finally, their paths cross. They experience the feeling of warmth for the first time in a long time. They both feel the need to keep the other one close and begin to appreciate the little things in life, learning how to be taken care of. Goodbye loneliness.

Season of the Witch - Lana Del Rey

I'd like to walk around in your mind - Vashti Bunyan

How important is this song knowing what Imogen can do…

Comfortable Silence - Bella Porter

Without you without them - Boygenius

A hole in the earth - Daughter

That Moon Song - Gregory Alan Isakov

Love brought weight - Old Sea Brigade

That distant shore - Steven Universe

Sick of losing soulmates - Natalie Dawn

I Hear a Symphony - Cody Fry

Sidelines - Phoebe Bridgers

The bug collector - Haley Heyderickx

Sometimes I feel that it’s always Laudna taking care of Imogen, as if she didn't have anything on her own plate. It can't be easy to live with a voice in your head and paranoia. This song shows how Imogen is there to hold Laudna too when it becomes too much.

Look up - Joy Oladokun

If the last one was an Imogen’s POV, this one is totally a Laudna’s POV. Her and her silly little pep talks. “You’re so capable”.

Daylight - Taylor Swift

I love the idea of them learning that life can be good if you find someone to share it with. This song encapsulates that perfectly.

Spell - Dora Jar

I wanted this one to be the last one of the chapter because it introduces the idea of leaving together.

× Imogen and Laudna run away together ×

“Would you run away with me?” They learn what it’s like to have a home that’s not a place, but something entirely new. The past still follows but they’re no longer crushed by it, because they don’t have to sustain it on their own.

Departure - Daughter

Second child, restless child - The Oh Hellos

Just the two of us - Grover Washington, Jr.

I really like to imagine Imodna slice of life scenes when I listen to this song.

Dandelion Wine - Gregory Alan Isakov

Homesick - Dwara, Khotton Palm

Graceland Too - Phoebe Bridgers

When I realized how much of a Laudna's POV this song is, I almost cried.

Telepath - Manchester Orchestra

I really really like Manchester Orchestra, it's one of my favorite bands. I never let go of the chance of spreading them around, and this one is the best song they have. Laudna's POV for sure.

everything i wanted - Billie Eilish

With songs like this one and Intertwined, I wanted to introduce the idea that even though they're definitely better off now that they left the town, that doesn't instantly solve all of their problems. As I said before, the past follows, but they're no longer alone with it.

Savior Complex - Phoebe Bridgers

Intertwined - Dodie

Nothing else matters - Phoebe Bridgers

As long as they're together, nothing else matters.

× You lied ×

Even though I only have a few songs for this precise moment of the story, I thought that it was very important to include their first fight. The gem is broken and Imogen feels betrayed. Laudna is left abandoned and thinks she deserves to be punished for Delilah’s wrongs. We explore jealousy for the first time.

Witches - Daughter

The silence at the end of this instrumental song represents the loneliness that Laudna felt when Imogen left her alone after her incident with Delilah

Landfill - Daughter

There are two possible ways of reading into this one. This is in my opinion a Laudna's POV. She could either be talking to Imogen, expressing her deep rooted desire for a punishment for what she’s done; or to Delilah, alluding to the attachment she has to her own powers (that at least as far as she knows are there because of Briarwood) opposed to the hatred she feels for her and for herself for wanting those powers (this is a theme that they explore later on future chapters)

Are you okay? - Winnetka Bowling League

Afterglow - Taylor Swift

The archer - Taylor Swift

× Laudna’s death ×

Otohan Thull relentlessly kills three members of Bells Hells. A coin is flipped and Laudna is gone, again. What awaits beyond the afterlife? Perhaps a little girl, a monster and a tree.

DVD menu - Phoebe Bridgers

If death’s not exactly DVD menu by Phoebe Bridgers, then someone tell me what’s like because I can’t imagine otherwise. I freaking love how this song connects with Daffodil.

Daffodil - Florence + The Machine

Death with dignity - Sufjan Stevens

Bells in Santa Fe - Halsey

I like to imagine that Laudna didn't appear in Nightmarish Whitestone immediately. Up until this point, she's in a limbo, accepting her own death. Bells in Santa Fe marks the moment she sets foot in that Upside-down kind of world. The constant repetition of “All of this is temporary” is like a mantra for her, the only hope she has of getting through it with her sanity intact is believing that this will also end and she will finally find peace.

Willow Tree March - The paper kiss

Hard times - Ethel Cain

Tether me - Galleaux

With this song and the next one, I wanted to express desperation. We don't get to know in the series how she feels throughout all of this, but I can only imagine how terrifying it must have been. There's a point where anyone would have started begging for help.

Matilda - alt-J

× Imogen’s grief ×

“Is she your favorite?”. Imogen feels deeply guilty for what happened. The possibility of bringing Laudna back is the only thing that’s keeping her from losing it completely. All the regrets, all the words she wishes she said before, all the times she didn’t approached her when she wanted to, come afloat. Grief, disassociation and sorrow.

Words - Storefront Church, Phoebe Bridgers

This song is meant to represent the exact moment of Imogen floating and losing control, with Otohan in her head pushing her to let go.

Goner - Twenty One Pilots

No other song in existence can express better the moment Imogen realize Laudna's gone for good.

Lanterns lit - Son Lux

True Faith - Ashley Johnson

Hurt for me - SYML

Carry you - Novo Amor

My love - Florence + The Machine

Lucky for you - Novo Amor, Gia Margaret

Killer + the sound - Phoebe Bridgers, Noah Gundersen

Should have known better - Sufjan Stevens

Ya'aburnee - Halsey

Show you a body - Haley Heyderickx

Imogen (even Laura) loses hope for a moment during the ritual they do for bringing Laudna back. The end of this song summarize this repeating a lyric over and over (you can clearly see through this playlist how much I love repetition).

× Back together ×

After Bells Hells confront Delilah at the Upside-down-Whitestone of Laudna’s nightmares, Pike manages to bring her back to life. Imogen and her are back hand by hand, and nothing can ever tear them apart again. Here’s where I think something awakes inside them, but they are far from realizing it.

I am the Antichrist to you - Kishi Bashi

Like an angel “fallen from the sky with grace”, Laudna’s back on Imogen’s arms.

Darling - Halsey

This love (Taylor's Version) - Taylor Swift

Now that you're home - Manchester Orchestra

Lose you again - Manchester Orchestra

Halloween - Phoebe Bridgers

But not kiss - Fayer Webster

Like I said, something changes after this. What they’ve been through is not nothing. This song is here to show that something is born deep inside them, on their subconscious far from their reach yet

× Back to Gelvaan ×

Same as with the “You lied” chapter, I felt that this one was important even though I just have one song for it. It just matches perfectly. Imogen and Laudna visit Imogen’s hometown and the place where they met, searching for answers. Old wounds, some closure and an emotionally absent father.

My tears ricochet - Taylor Swift

× Tethered ×

In this chapter the platonic bond is peaking. It takes place right before The Unraveling, giving in to the “Can I kiss you?” phase and becoming romantic. They’ve been through hell and back just to stay together. This is my personal favorite bit of the playlist, everything is extremely intense but not yet explicit.

Tethered - Sleeping at last

I Will - Mitski

Anchor - Alli X

Don't let them see you cry - Manchester Orchestra

Crosses - José González

Quietly - Manchester Orchestra

Francesca - Hozier

Moon song - Phoebe Bridgers

Capital Karma - Manchester Orchestra

Everywhere, everything - Noah Kahan

In a week - Hozier

Monster - King Princess

j's lullaby (darlin' i'd wait for you) - Delaney Bailey

I will follow you into the dark - Miya Folick

I wouldn't ask you - Clairo

× Can I kiss you? ×

Finally, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. The beggining of something new, the next and most logical step of this journey. The platonic becomes romantic and they get to truly explore the feelings they always had, and some novel ones. This is the moment I know less about, but I’ve used my imagination and my own headcanons.

Can I - Genevieve Stokes

I debated a lot whether to put this one at the end of the last chapter or the beginning of this one because I don't know how relevant Laudna's death is up to this point, and there's a huge reference to this in this song. I know for a fact that the Delilah’s plot is not over and things will change, but I couldn't resist the urge to put it in here, given the name of the song and its obvious connection to the chapter.

We'll never have sex - Leith Ross

Wading in Waist-high Water - Fleet Foxes

This is the last time - The National

All my ghosts - Lizzy McAlpine

Prière pour la nuit - Barbara Pravi, November Ultra

Chewing Cotton Wool - The Japanese House

Bandages - Rachel Bobbitt

This is it, this is The Ultimate Chronological Order Imodna Playlist. I don't know if I'm the first one doing this, probably not, I don't know if this has any value to anyone beyond myself, but I had a hell of a lot of fun. If only one person were to read this till the end I would be more than satisfied.

I’ll link here the playlist that started all of this. Massive respect for this person whoever it is, I took lots of the songs from here

Infinite thanks to anyone who gets here or saves my playlist, feel free to respond with any song that you think adds to the story!! Something tells me this isn't the end of my Imodna brainrot so,,,, more things could be on their way (a fanfic, perhaps?).

No idea how to end this so… long live Lesbian Southern Gothic Witches!!!

[mortifyingideal]

okay hi just came across your go2 post cause i was looking for a more critical opinion on the season and it was hard to find...so thank you so much!! i thought it was just.. meh. i expected so much more.. the last episode got pretty engaging, but the whole season i was thinking that the plot was super disjointed, the writing could've been way funnier, and the new characters really were flat 😬 didn't get the maggie & nina stuff, they had no chemistry to me.. idk. so weird. so it felt great to read your little take on it. hope you're having a lovely day 🥰

hey anon! i pretty much agree with everything you’ve said here. we spent so much time farting around in flashbacks (trying to recapture the magic of the s1e3 cold open) that everything happening in the present day just seemed not to matter, or had absolutely no time to matter. all the new characters felt like they were introduced to do one specific thing and they weren’t characters outside of a particular function so had no depth or exploration. the ‘plot’ was a mess and i’ve seen people saying that this season was just a bridge to get from season one to season three, and season three is where the real ‘meat’ will be and i’m just like [regina george dot meme] so you agree? this season had no meat?

neither crowley or aziraphale grew at all this season, which whatever okay if this is the second part in a three parter that’s… sure, but it’s not even just that they didn’t grow. it’s that, despite the ending of S1 being both of them being like ‘oh we were wrong and being here and saving earth and being together is what’s important’ they still both made the exact same choices they made in S1 before they’d learned that lesson!

i had some fun, some bits were brilliant, but most of it was decidedly not. in my opinion. you’re not alone, anon, and it’s fine that you didn’t love it. it’s frustrating when you wanna be genuinely interrogating what was actually presented but are worried about coming off as a WAAH WAAH THE THING I WANTED DIDN’T HAPPEN GOOD type. i hope you’ve got some good pals who you can chat critically about it with! a balm for the soul. and that you get to read some good fix-it fic, or write some if that’s your jam. that’s what i’m doing. fixing literally the entire thing for fun and because spite is a motivator i can work with xxx

[syrena-del-mar]

Only Friends, Sizzling or Fizzling?: Overall Series Review

I quite literally have so many thoughts on Only Friends that I don’t know when I’ll be able to put them fully into words. So this is going to be a disjointed list of my running thoughts.

This means that the following will be filled with spoilers. So if you haven't caught up, and don't appreciate spoilers, read with caution.

How the friend group came out: I will say, I went into the show wishing the friend group would be destroyed with people going their own ways or at least the couples… Instead, we got Boston ostracized from the group with him meekly extending an invite for the rest of the group to meet him next new year in New York. Now, I’m not fully on the Boston-did-no-wrong boat, because I do think several of the things he did warranted apologies, but I also agree that he deserved just as many apologies back. I really wish the show had either gone the direction of everyone begrudgingly reconciling, the friend group completely destroyed, or at the very least truly acknowledging how they all hurt each other. But as much as the ostracizing of Boston left me with a bitter taste in my mouth, I guess the outcome mirrored reality. Friends band together when they all feel wronged and Boston had self-sabotaged his relationship with all of them.

Boston and Nick: I’ve seen some murmurs about Nick was hypocritical about saying that Boston doesn’t have to change but still leaving him, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Nick loved Boston, knew how Boston was, but also let himself be taken by his own fantasies of a monogamous relationship. He even acknowledges to Sand that Boston was being fair with him... which I still think this is debatable, because I strongly believe Boston and Nick needed a whole conversation about non-monogamy long before Boston started making out with Boeing. I'm actually relatively happy that Nick and Boston didn't end up together, for both their sakes. Nick wanted and needed that monogamy from Boston, he realized that he would never get that from Boston. He may love Boston for who he is, but that doesn't mean that his love can overcome that need for monogamy. Meanwhile Boston doesn't want to be monogamous, even if he does want to be Nick's boyfriend. This was never going to be solved even with all the power of love. They had different needs and Nick wasn't willing to put himself through that pain of understanding Boston but neglecting his own needs, so he let him go. Now, my issue lies in the execution of getting to that point. Since the beginning of the last quarter of the show, Boston and Nick got incredibly sidelined. As a result, their story development suffered for it. I think we were lucky if we even saw them for about 5 minutes after episode 9, it almost felt as if the show didn't know how to reconciliate their story once Boston was out of the friend group. I don't think P'Jojo was intentionally going out to villainize Boston's non-monogamous preference (assumingly, based on his other works) and I don't think that fans are reading it as so are being deaf/illiterate, but rather the vagueness due to the lack of story-telling time that Boston's arc had really fed into it. Also, maybe it was just me, but the sense of time in the story felt incredibly confusing when watching these last couple of episodes. So Boston's admittance of self-sabotaging his relationships, asking to be Nick's boyfriend, then making out with Boeing feels like it all occurred with 72 hours; it gave me whiplash and made me disappointed.

Sand and Ray: Out of everyone, I'm the most satisfied with their outcome and journey to it, but even then I still have a little criticisms. First off, let me get the airplane out of the room: Boeing. I'm in the boat (unironically) that Boeing should have been introduced much sooner and have been utilized more to create the suspense of potential rift between Sand and Ray. Or even more development of Sand and Boeing before SandRay got together, because I swear the emotional stakes lagged for me, because I'm not sure why Sand would have even been swayed by Boeing when he had just confessed to Ray that he couldn't live without him either. I understood why Sand was so hostile with Top, but I'm not sure I understood BoeingSand as well. So this whole cockfight just felt needless and an attempt at a last bit of messiness, because how underdeveloped it was. Now Sand and Ray, as individual characters, I only have minor qualms about. I wish we had learned more about Sand's dad and Ray's relationship with his father. From what I've seen, there's so much context that was left out behind Ray's backstory, that it would have been nice to explore even 5% of it. Now we kept hearing about Sand's dad, but it just felt like a lost plot point. I wish we really had time to delve into Ray struggling with his addiction and rehab. Aside from those minor complaints, I'm happy with where we left them and I hope they're able to go around festival-to-festival with a lot of love and success in their future.

Mew and Top: I have very little to talk about them, mostly because I skimmed through their scenes. Now this isn't because I think that Force and Book were bad in their scenes, because it was the exact opposite. They skeeved me out so incredibly much, that it was suffocating to watch their scenes. I wanted Mew to be more that a judgmental, holier-than-thou, character, especially when he stooped so low to revenge-porning Boston. I wanted him to acknowledge that he was just as nasty as he perceived Boston to be, but instead he always felt so sanctimonious and self-righteous that it was nauseating. With Top.... I wish we had gotten more towards his backstory with his fear of being alone due to the fire. It completely went over my head that the fire scene in the last episode was supposed to show that Top was finally able to handle his trauma better and that he was a better person because of Mew. His backstory was so little and came in just disjointed scenes, that I just made no connection and didn't come out of that scene with any emotion other than confusion. They came out of everything together... Not surprising. I have no comments neither positive nor negative towards that aspect.

Cheum and April: Cheum was as aggravating as Mew for me. Self-righteous and I swear she didn't like anyone in her friend group other than Mew, and even that feels questionable. She had literally no faith in Mew being a grown adult and kept pulling Top around when Mew was going through a breakdown. I felt no love from her when it came to Ray, so I always wondered if their friendship was solely out of convenience. Then the final blow was with how she dealt with the Atom x Boston situation. I completely understood her initial reaction of believing Atom and even confrontation, as a sibling, I would also deck a friend if they SA'd and were lording over my sibling's head a nude picture. But the moment that she knew Atom was lying and she just hugged him? Yeah.... I lost most of the little respect that I had for her. Pity points for that tiny apology that she gave to Boston, because she was the only one that did so, but definitely was not enough for the accusations that she brought against him. ALSO! Her absolutely shit-talking April's passion and work to her friends? That's not lack of communication between April and Cheum, that was just so backstabbing of her. April is a better woman than I will ever be, because I will never have the patience to deal with a girlfriend that thinks so lowly of my work. April, I wanted so much more of our indie-film queen. I wanted more out of her relationship with Cheum, especially with that truth-bomb that Ray spilled out. I wanted both of them to do the hard work of saving their relation other than just sweeping it under the rug. I wish we had seen so much of her!

P'Jojo and Vivienne: This is a tricky situation, so I'll be very brief on my thoughts, but I really hope these two never made it to Tumblr. Creators always getting involved with fandom spaces are always going to be difficult to navigate, this time around it seems that feelings were hurt and anger arose on both sides... Criticism of one's work will always be around and its more prominent the bigger the fandom is, which for most BLs, I think Only Friends was under a huge magnifying glass. It's nice to see staff interacting with fans about their work, but I do think there should be a line drawn. I'm not sure if their crossing of the line was for better or worse.

Final Thoughts: Anyways, this show will be missed because I did come out of the weekends enjoying the vast majority of it. I even have a couple of metas half-written, so maybe I'll get around to finishing those in the coming days. For a show that promised mess, it did deliver on that front, but I can't help but be sad that its coherence fizzled a bit towards the end. Maybe I'll come back to it in a year or two with a better appreciation of the vision, but for now... I'm mostly satisfied while also conflicted on what I think about the end. OH! And before I close this off... What the hell happened to the confessionals/talking head/asides? Why did we drop those off in the latter half?

[neurosiscocktail]

OFMD finale spoilers ahead-

I’m on my third rewatch because I read the Vanity Fair article, and I’ve heard some really interesting opinions that differed from my own, and so I rewatched it with all of that in mind. unfortunately I still just think the last episode was not great. Some stuff I really enjoyed, but a lot that I didn’t.

1) no one searched the hostage for weapons? You’re telling me not one of the people who have been pirates most of their lives thought to search the hostage.

2) Izzy might have insisted, but putting the most notable and visibly recognizable pirate on your crew front and center feels like a very stupid move. A large part of this season was about Stede learning to be a pirate, and it feels like they slashed his character development and Ed, Izzy, Fang, Roach, and several other crew members critical thinking skills because they wanted to kill Izzy.

3) they did a good job foreshadowing his death. I kind of always knew it was coming, but wasn’t paying much attention because I didn’t want to. I really dig the fairytale themes. Someone else mentioned this and once I was looking for it I really loved it!

4) now that I’m looking for it, I see a lot of places where Izzy was a mentor and I get what he was going for and don’t mind it, really like it in some ways. however, the docking joke made me very uncomfortable now that he’s said Ed sees Izzy as a father figure. (I think I was a little delayed on seeing this because I was busy making jokes about how they were cowards for not hiring a child to play Izzy, since in real life he was estimated 15 years old when ~38 year old Ed and Stede met)

5) now that I’ve rewatched it with the writers intent in mind, I still think the “killing your redeemed antagonists” and the “killing your mentors because they have nothing left to teach” troupes are bad and lazy. Knowing that that’s what he was going for didn’t make it less so. I thought it might. If you love this troupe, more power to you, they did a good job with it and this finale was probably right up your alley. I unfortunately find it to be lazy writing and the troupe stopped being good 40 years ago.

6) Lucius was AMAZING this season. I thought his arc dealing with his trauma was very good and very realistic. I love that they didn’t just hand wave off his experience, but had him deal with things in a tangible way.

7) again, I still don’t understand why cartoon rules apply to everyone but Izzy and this gunshot wound.

8) I really loved the relationships between Izzy and the crew this season but especially him and Jim, Frenchie, and Lucius. I thought the casual intimacy really showed how their relationships developed.

9) His death speech and funeral were worse on the second and third watch when I was really paying attention and not bawling my eyes out. Ed has really… not been forgiven by the crew. A lot of them did, but Lucius sure didn’t, and it seems like they accepted his ‘apology’ but they still don’t trust him. So to have his death speech, one, include him taking more accountability for Blackbeard, which Ed hasn’t done at all yet, and then follow it up with the crew being his family who love him felt weird. It felt like that speech was written when we had 2 more episodes of character growth that got cut. Because that did not seem like how they felt. There really wasn’t much happening with the crew during his death or funeral which felt weird. Except Roach at the funeral. That was excellent.

- addendum: I know that death speeches in shows are for the protagonist but I feel like some of it should have been about him, and not an apology? The whole thing just felt awkward. And we have heard from creators that Izzy is a deeply sentimental man, not burying him with his ring and using it as a grave marker where anyone could steal it felt bad.

10) I felt when they first introduced the prince that he was supposed to be a wake up call for Stede. It seemed like he was meant to represent what Stede could have been. A spoiled rich brat with no common sense or thoughts about how his actions effect others. Someone who views themself as a main character and everyone else is a supporting role. When he was first introduced it felt like that was supposed to be a wake up call for Stede- “this is what you could have been if you didn’t want to be better. If you weren’t kinder and more empathetic” and I thought that started off really well, but then it felt like they took back some of Stede’s character development and it didn’t pack as big of a punch.

11) I really feel like Stede and Ed have not been put in a good position to be successful in the very intense relationship they have just started. They have just decided to completely isolate themselves, when we just had a whole episode foreboding doing that. I LOVE Mary and Anne, but I do feel like the finale had Ed and Stede just ignore every warning they got and I feel like that’s been disappointing- feeling like their characters were making progress but ended somewhere where they didn’t actually make any progress. It was all very romantic but lends itself to 0 longevity.

12) Ed especially felt stunted this season. Stede made some great progress, but Ed just kept running away from his problems, figuratively and literally and not taking accountability. I love Ed, but I think if I didn’t already love him before watching this season, this season wouldn’t have convinced me to. I’m not sure where that leaves us for season 3- I think maybe that season will be about him having to actually face himself, and I look forward to it.

Overall I feel like I could have really loved this season if the writers were given more budget and time, and they weren’t, and that’s not their fault. However, I’m really not thrilled about the product we were left with. Which is unfortunately kind of what MAX wants because it has really seemed like they’ve been trying to cut this wildly successful show.

Again, dissatisfaction with a season is not a reason to harass other fans, writers, or actors. I’d love to hear how other people are feeling about things

[makeste]

BnHA Episode 122, a.k.a. NOBUHIKO YOU'VE DONE IT AGAIN

THEY CAN'T KEEP LETTING HIM GET AWAY WITH IT!

oh my god.

so first off, let's just get the one big major criticism out of the way: this episode was definitely not up to the same high quality standards as the first third of this season. and hey, I get it! you're doing 24 episodes in all, you're on a time crunch, and you've only got so many animators to go around. and the quality of some of these earlier season 6 eps (118 and 119 especially) was seriously some of the best this series has ever had. by contrast, chapters 284 and 285, while still easily ranking among my favorite chapters of all time, definitely do not go as hard with the visuals as some of the other War arc chapters (that very last 285 page being the one standout exception).

anyway so yeah, it was still a slight disappointment, but I'm fine with it. it does mean Deku vs Kacchan 2 will still retain its crown as my all time fave, but the real meat of this episode was never going to be about the flashy visuals -- it's all about that sweet, sweet character development.

two more very minor criticisms before I get to the OMG nonstop gushing part of this post! one, they did cut out this scene from ch 282 where Tomura originally had TWO quirk-be-gone bullets in his possession and Kacchan actually destroyed the second one.

YOU THOUGHT WE WOULDN'T REMEMBER, BONES. BUT WE DID. so for everyone who is giving Kacchan his well-earned love, praise, and admiration today, don't forget to also give him props for saving Aizawa's other leg, or whichever other appendage this doubtless would have hit. my boy out here lowkey saving his sensei from being ReDestro'd.

and then one final nitpicky little quibble, which is that the anime subtitlers declined to use the "Catch-A-Kacchan" translation, despite it being the single cleverest translation of all time, and by far Caleb Cook's biggest and most important contribution to the BnHA canon. alas, twas not meant to be. BUT ANYWAY NOW ON TO THE GUSHING.

okay so first off, we all know that Aizawa is an absolute badass and the most metal motherfucker in this entire series, and that Shouto has by this point all but perfected the art of swooping in to save the day at pivotal moments, and that the U.A. kids all need ALL OF THE THERAPY GODDAMMIT, and that Deku is a COMPLETE LUNATIC who thinks that HAVING FUNCTIONAL ARMS IS OVERRATED ANYWAYS. yes and yes and yes and yes. and if you wish, you can read all about my thoughts on these things and more, here and here and here and here.

but you already know what I actually came here to talk about today.

first of all, YOU GUYS. the music. THIS FUCKING MUSIC, THOUGH. they used the exact same OST track that was used for the "why was I the one who ended All Might?" speech all the way back in DvK2. THIS IS OFFICIALLY THE "TIME FOR NOBUHIKO TO FLEX HIS VOICE ACTING CHOPS" MUSIC. A TRADITION HAS BEEN BORN.

anyway so if anyone needs me I'll just be sitting here playing this scene on repeat until the end of time. no big deal though. I can quit at any time. not like I'm obsessed with it or anything. I definitely love this scene and this character a perfectly normal amount.

All Might talking about how Katsuki understood from the get-go about how OFA was a secret that could put other people at great risk really hits hard in hindsight. especially when you realize that Katsuki really did know right from the start, and he willingly accepted that risk with no hesitation, and he absolutely did suffer consequences for it (it was his knowledge of OFA that led to him following Deku and subsequently getting involved in this battle). and I don't doubt that he has absolutely zero regrets.

okay but can we seriously just talk for a sec about the way Kacchan's anxiety is practically boiling over when he starts to ask All Might about the Fourth's cause of death?? I feel like this is one thing that kind of got overlooked at the time in the manga because we were so completely distracted by EVERY SINGLE OTHER DAMN THING IN THAT CHAPTER lol. but hearing it again here, you feel how worried he actually is about Deku, and idk why but it all of a sudden just hit me so damn hard.

"I'm worried about him. you are, too." because that truly is what this whole conversation is really about. or at least that's the driving force behind it. behind this whole episode, in fact. it's simple, when you get right down to it: Kacchan is afraid that Deku is going to die. it's literally been the biggest fear on his mind ever since Deku unlocked SIXQUIRKS. right from the start, his mind was immediately going to the worst case scenarios. he immediately deduced that OFA might have a deeper connection to AFO than any of them realized (shoutout to Kacchan for being the original "Deku is a horcrux" truther lol. ONE DAY HORIKOSHI WILL FINALLY REVEAL THE TRUTH AND PROVE US RIGHT). he instantly zeroed in on the sobering fact that all of the previous OFA users died young. and as he reveals here, he took particular notice of the fact that All Might seems to be hiding something about OFA IV's death, and he is goddamn PRESSED about it.

and I absolutely LOVE the way that Nobu voiced this part of the conversation. when he starts to question All Might, his breathing starts to pick up a little, and his voice starts to get louder, and the words start to spill out faster and faster almost like he's in a rush to get it all out, and his voice starts to crack just a little, and he goes from not looking at All Might to hesitantly, almost fearfully glancing at him from the side, and then finally turning to face him head on with his eyes all wary and his teeth gritted like he's bracing himself for the very worst (because he is).

and then he finally just asks him, "was it because you realized something?" and then he takes in this achingly hesitant little breath before finishing with, "...about One for All?" and just. the whole scene is just SO well done. like, he's seriously so fucking scared about this, though. but at the same time he just needs to know, and just. oh my god. and Nobuhiko manages to emote all of this so clearly, and that is such a difficult line to walk when you're dealing with a character like Katsuki who's always so hesitant to show his vulnerability. he has to portray these two separate layers of Bakugou at the same time -- the part of him that is trying his hardest to be nonchalant and matter-of-fact in order to hide his fears and emotions; while at the same time also portraying said emotions which are clearly seeping through anyway, regardless of his efforts.

anyway so yeah. I could talk about this for eighty years and never get sick of it honestly but let's move on.

let me tell you guys, I've been bracing myself for this scene for two full years, and it still kicked my ass. THIS SCENE HAD NO REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE. literally RIGHT IN the feels. direct hit.

"he's always been that way." no, but guys. the regret when he says that. the way he states it with such simplicity and clarity. almost profound. this is just a truth of the world. this is just how Deku is. this is something that took him so long to understand, but now that he does, he can't fathom how he was never able to see it before. and then that ever-so-slight bitterness that creeps into his voice as he goes on to describe how he fucked it all up. ;_;

and then last but not least!!

"ijimeta." one word, in Japanese. it all comes down to that. and his voice gets so quiet. this whole last part of his speech is so quiet and so soft. but when he says this very last part, his voice wavers perfectly on that last word, and it just. sounds so resigned, somehow, but also just... almost faltering, for just a moment. you can hear the regret as clear as day, but you also hear the fear once again as he finally reveals this fact -- literally his biggest shame; the worst thing that he's ever done -- to All Might. his hero. just, damn.

anyway. so needless to say, despite my expectations being SKY HIGH, this scene absolutely met all of them and blew me away. as expected from the best fucking voice actor in Japan, according to me, a single lone person, whose subjective opinion is absolutely definitely not biased in any possible way.

back to the action! and Nobu getting to do his very best Deku impression lol.

can you believe this kid. one single nerdy analysis speech was all it took for him to start emitting such powerful Main Character Energy that even Endeavor got taken in and was just automatically following orders lol.

awesome choice of music here while Deku and Tomura continued to battle and Bakugou laid out his plan. you know it's good when they still manage to make you feel the tension even though this is basically just a generic action scene, and you additionally already know exactly what's going to happen.

I have no idea why, but that part with Deku's "Kacchan... my 'Deku' means 'you can do it!'" speech juxtaposed against the image of him going all out against Tomura with such fierce determination hit me like 100x harder than it did in the manga. I was NOT expecting that to be as powerful as it was. damn near gave me chills.

literally the only time I've ever been on board with the whole "FUCK YEAH, I'LL JUST BREAK ALL MY BONES AT YOU!!" deal lol. it literally makes no goddamn sense but this scene is just so raw.

THEN WE YEET THE ENDEAVOR!!!!

SO ON-BRAND. NO DEKU-INSPIRED PLAN IS EVER TRULY COMPLETE WITHOUT A GOOD YEETING.

and then the next few moments are some of the most legitimately unsettling of the entire series, as we have Tomura screaming at the top of his lungs while being burnt to cinders (and I mean, I love Tomura dearly, but I get it; he literally just Thanos'd tens of thousands of innocent people), followed by AFO's creepy fucking ghost hand reaching out all "LEND ME YOUR BODY~~~" which is a scene that absolutely NO ONE ASKED FOR but okay.

but then right afterwards though! when AFO finally did take over, and you hear that "TV shutting down" sound effect all of a sudden? and then the next few scenes with all the BKDK flashbacks are also weirdly TV-themed? I could not for the life of me figure this out at first, but now I'm actually thinking it could be a reference to the chapter 306 color page?

OR MAYBE NOT? I actually have no idea. anyway though it may have been random af but it worked for me, what can I say.

AND THEN THE MOMENT OF TRUTH AT LONG LAST.

THIS ACTUALLY IS SO PRETTY THOUGH?? LIKE I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT COLOR COMBINATION AT ALL?

AND IT HAPPENS SO QUICKLY!!!!??? YOU BARELY EVEN HAVE TIME TO BLINK?!?!!

oh. my. god.

THE WAY THE MUSIC SUDDENLY GOT QUIET. THE WAY HIS NARRATING VOICE CAME ON AND, PRAISE EVERYTHING, IT REALLY WAS DEEPER. THAT REALLY WAS THE ADULT HIM. SAME AS DEKU. MY FEELINGS ABOUT THIS ARE SO FUCKING MUCH RIGHT NOW.

AND THEN THE FLASHBACKS!! THE SCENES OF THEM IN MIDDLE SCHOOL!! AND GROUND ZERO!! AND THEN CUTTING TO THE TWO OF THEM AS LITTLE BABIES, AND THE TV SCREEN ALL OF A SUDDEN SWITCHING TO COLOR??? AND THE HANDS??? THE REACHING?!?!

AND THEN?!?!?!

"HEY MAKESTE, IF WE GO AHEAD AND ACTUALLY MAKE THE VOLUME 29 COVER CANON, WILL YOU FINALLY FORGIVE US FOR ALL OF THE HALF-BAKED PAINFULLY OOC FILLER EPISODES AND OVAS?" WELL, STUDIO BONES, YOU DRIVE A HARD BARGAIN, BUT HOW CAN I POSSIBLY REFUSE.

AND THEN THEY FULL ON MURDERED ME!!!!!

that's right bitches. DREAD IT. RUN FROM IT. THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT ARRIVES ALL THE SAME.

holy shit. and then THE END CREDITS oh my freaking heart. words can't even describe.

Studio Bones out here not resting until they've succeeded in making EVERY SINGLE PERSON feel the MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF SADNESS THAT A HUMAN BEING CAN SUSTAIN. their callousness truly knows no bounds.

anyway so there we have it! part one of the spectacular season 6 Bakugou Katsuki Redemption Saga. I laughed, I cried, I cried, I cried, I cried a little bit more, and then I cried a little bit more after that. final verdict: yeah, it was pretty good.

[phykios]

Review: "We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium"; "I Plunge to my Death"; "A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers"

Hey y'all! I'm back. It took a while to write this review, and not just because I had a busy holiday season. The more I tried to consider episodes 3 and 4, the more I realized that a lot of my critiques of them were things I had already touched on in the last two–poor exposition, bad lighting, rushed plot, etc–and so it felt a little redundant to say the same thing all over again. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how annoying you find me), episode 5 was such a cut above over the rest of the season, I finally have new things to say! With that in mind, the format of this review will be a little different, as I will compare the episodes side by side, rather than consider each one individually. 

For a brief, brief recap, the three episodes follow fairly similar plot beats: the trio travels a little, meets a mythological being that tries to mess with their heads, then they all try to sacrifice themselves for the good of the quest before figuring out an alternate way to win. This isn’t a criticism, by the way–the book chapters have similar formats, and repetitive framing is a great way of demonstrating character growth. And of course, there’s no better way to spruce up a travel montage with a little lore dump. 

What makes for effective exposition? It’s a delicate balancing act between making sure that the information you need to get across gets to the viewer, but not letting them know that you’ve done it. “Show, don’t tell” is the most common expository technique, and for good reason–information is better retained and more effective when it’s not delivered to you like someone reading off cue cards. And it’s most effective when it’s withheld until just the right moment. PJO TV is not… great at this. It’s mostly little things, one-off little lines, like Luke saying “I’m the best swordsman” or “Annabeth is the smartest,” but there are some more egregious examples, mostly with Chiron explaining the world to Percy. This, I get, and it’s not like Riordan did it that much more elegantly in the books. But I’m more annoyed about Luke info-dumping than anybody else.  

I was re-reading The Lightning Thief for several reasons, and one of the things about Luke is that he keeps things very close to the chest. It’s partly to conceal his villainy, but it also makes sense from a psychological standpoint, hiding his emotions not only to keep everyone from finding out the truth about him, but also to recruit kids for the upcoming war. Luke only opens up about what happened to him and Thalia once: at the very end of the book, just before he tries to kill Percy. It’s a powerful moment–the specter of Thalia haunts Percy throughout the book, the ideal of a hero he’s afraid he’ll never be able to measure up to, and we find out that she’s been haunting Luke as well, but for very different reasons. (She haunts the TV show as well, which I like very much–I just hope it pays off!) We are shown hints of his darker side earlier, but withholding the heel turn until now, and pairing it with the first time we see him actually talk about himself, is part of what makes this scene so good and so heinous at the same time. The first time we get glimpses of Luke’s true self, his motivations and what drives him, is the same moment where he crosses the line. And in the meantime, TV!Luke just lets it all hang out. 

Consider: 

Before camp, I was on the road. Me and a forbidden kid I met along the way. Her name was Thalia… A long time ago, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades agreed their children were becoming too powerful, so they made a pact not to father any more. And it held for a long time, until Zeus broke that pact. Until Thalia. A forbidden kid attracts trouble. Monsters everywhere, it's just a constant battle to stay alive. One day, we, uh, find this little girl hiding in an alley. Annabeth. We were worried about taking her in, exposing her to all that danger. Then we saw her fight. Thalia didn't make it. But Annabeth and me... we did. And we've been family ever since… Annabeth is the strongest warrior in camp. The only way left to prove herself is to go on a quest. [S1E2, “I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom”]

Why is he saying all this? Is it for Percy’s benefit, or the audience’s? What does this reveal about Luke’s character? What about this monologue reveals what Luke actually thinks about the pact, or Thalia’s death, or even Annabeth? We’re told he sees her like family, but what does he do to show us? 

For contrast, here’s Ares’ lore dump a few episodes later:

You're new to the family, young one, so let me fill you in on how we work. See, years before I was born, my grandpa Kronos ate my aunts and uncles. Yeah. Then my dad made him puke them back up, then chopped him into a million pieces and chucked 'em into a bottomless pit, so that kinda set the tone right outta the gate. Olympians fight. We betray. We backstab. We will push anyone down a flight of stairs to get ahead. And that's why I love my family so much. My dad knows he's not getting this bolt back with quests or goose chases. He knows there's a war coming. And in reality, I think he's okay with that. I think he feels it's just time for a war, so we're gonna have a war. Isn't that great? [S1E5, “A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers”]

What does this reveal about Ares’ character? That he loves violence, and that the threat of war is exciting. That he doesn’t exactly hold his family in high regard. That this is something that is central to who the gods are. All of this is supported by Adam Copeland’s performance, which is flippant, funny, and immature. The details work in concert to show us who Ares is and what he wants, all without ever having him say it out loud. 

For all of its clumsiness, though, I actually really like Grover’s little monologue about the nature of questing as we follow the kids into New York City in episode 3. It has a very Fellowship of the Ring vibe (which I’m pretty sure is deliberate) which fits on a meta-level too, with Percy Jackson in conversation with epic stories of the past.

But you know what wasn’t in conversation with the past? The shortest Medusa battle ever recorded. 

I’m being a little hyperbolic for comedy’s sake, but genuinely I hated the Medusa fight. Not the Medusa backstory–sidestepping the sexual assault in a middle-grade book was the correct choice, and it’s not like a post-#MeToo Medusa is a shocking or novel idea–but not only should the fight have been at least twice as long, it was missing a full fourth of the mythological ingredients. The mythical Perseus has four gifts: the sword, the mirror shield, the helm of invisibility, and the winged sandals. The book reinterprets the shield as a glass ball. And the show doesn’t use it at all. Is this a nitpicky critique? Maybe. But some of Percy Jackson’s strongest moments are the reinterpretation of mythological scenes, and for those to work, you should incorporate the key details. 

Also, again, cannot stress this enough, it was way too short. At least the Echidna fight scene had some blocking involved. And acting. 

Speaking of acting, I will say that it’s very consistently well done. I think the kids are more than holding their own against the adults, and they walk the line between playing maturity and still being young very well, which is a very difficult thing to do. In fact, rarely is the acting ever a problem. Because, once again, it’s the writing that makes it fall short. 

Let’s do another comparison: Percy sending off Medusa’s head and Percy and Annabeth with Hephaestus’ chair. One is from the books, and one is new. Both are given the appropriate amount of weight in the episode’s runtime. Both are well-acted, well-blocked, well-scored. But the new scene feels out of place to me. Part of the problem is that, being a scene lifted from the books, Percy sending off Medusa’s head feels earned and supported by the material of the last few episodes. He’s pissed at his dad for ignoring him, and pissed that the gods are forcing him to do all this nonsense for reasons he only barely understands. Of course he’s going to foist a magical WMD on them. 

But the chair scene doesn’t have that prior support. Consider: 

Eat or be eaten. Power and glory and nothing else matters. Ares is that way, Zeus is that way, my mother is that way. He isn't that way. He's better than that. Maybe I was that way once. But I don't wanna be that way anymore. I won't be like all of you. I just won't. [S1E5, “A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers”]

In a vacuum, this would be a great scene. Walker’s fear is palpable and real, and Leah delivers a heartfelt performance in anguish at her friend’s supposed fate. That’s all well and good, except that these characters have known each other for… what, three days? A week? And for all her talk of glory, Annabeth dispensed with that idea pretty much right out the gate, as she killed a Fury rather than hand Percy over to Alecto. She tries to sacrifice herself for the quest all the time. What power and glory is she seeking? 

This is an excellent scene that unfortunately doesn’t belong in this season. This scene, as my dear @frenchswissborder pointed out, does not belong after the Thrill Ride of Love (before the Zoo Truck scene as well!) but instead feels like it should be in the Battle of the Labyrinth’s Mt. St Helen confession scene. Putting it there at least would build on three years of friendship, rather than a handful of days of not annoying each other. 

I don’t mind new scenes. I want new scenes. If I wanted a one-to-one adaptation, I’d just read the books again. But the new scenes have to matter. They have to bring something new to the table. Let me put it this way: when The Lightning Thief musical said, “Fuck it, Cerberus is a DJ,” it was both leaning into its own medium as musical theater and riffing on the idea of the underworld being under a recording studio. When PJO TV says, “Fuck it, exposition time,” it feels like they’re reading off Mythomagic card stats. 

What makes an adaptation great, in my opinion, is how well it speaks to the subtext of the original work. The musical is excellent at this, in particular how it uses the conventions of musical theater to highlight the parallels between Percy and Luke by giving them variations on the same “I Want” song. Where PJO TV shines is how it speaks to the subtext of abusive adults. Abuse of children is sadly not always so obvious, and I like how the Mist lets Alecto, Echidna, and Ares act pretty much with impunity. They are predators, and they are able to move without fear of detection. This even applies to Medusa, too, having her pretend to offer Percy a way out, when she really is only interested in herself and her needs. 

But, as the show tends to do, this only causes the story to kneecap itself by neutering Gabe as an abusive figure. I understand why it is this way, as book Sally, for all her kind and loving nature, wasn’t exactly written with a backbone. Part of this, I assume, is just that The Lightning Thief was published in 2005, and that a) the conversation around intimate partner abuse simply was not in the mainstream, and b) Riordan just got better at female characters over time. So the trade-off is that by making Sally a more formidable, dynamic character in the show, they had to dial down Gabe’s uglier, abusive nature–which is going to be really awkward in a few episodes when Sally kills him just for the crime of being annoying. 

Stray thoughts: 

Just taking a moment here to say that I think the set design has been really gorgeous so far. Shout out in particular to the attic in the Big House!

I’m only just noticing this now, but the trunk of Thalia’s pine tree looks like there’s a human in there–bent knee, arms outstretched, head bowed–and I think that’s awesome. 

The idea of monsters sensing a demigod’s weakness and responding to that is so good, and I’m taking it. 

Earlier versions of this review had a long and annoying rant about Medusa’s origins, so allow me to tl;dr: there is no original Medusa myth. Ovid’s Medusa myth in Metamorphoses comes about 800 years after Hesiod’s Theogony, which comes after Homer’s Iliad. It’s not a question of Ovid against Hesiod against Homer, it’s a question of these authors plus thousands of pieces of pottery depicting hundreds of variations on the Medusa myth, and we cannot definitively say which one is the source of the myth. That said, I don’t dislike a #MeToo Medusa, I just mostly hate the discourse around it.

It’s nice to see some architecture nerd Annabeth, but between the way the show glosses over it, and the lack of crippling arachnophobia, her character is being reduced too much to “prideful” for my tastes. It’s not that Annabeth isn’t prideful, obviously, it’s just that she has more dimension to her than the show is currently presenting. 

Annabeth and Grover throwing water on Percy like a beached whale is very funny, but it did make me realize that they haven’t introduced nectar/ambrosia in the show. Maybe they’re saving it for the finale? 

Ares calling them all cousins makes me extremely happy. This was something that Riordan did in the early books, but he kind of petered off, presumably so as not to imply weird pseudo-incestuous things once Percabeth started, but I always loved it.

I’m saving the Percy and Annabeth relationship breakdown until after the season, but it is coming! (But I am sad that “seaweed brain” came out of nowhere :( we just rolled right over it!)

The lighting is really bad, especially in the dark, and I am learning to live with it, but I am not happy about it. 

Aryan is the breakout actor of the trio, in my opinion. Playing awkward is so, so easy to overdo, but he brings a sincerity and a quickwittedness to Grover that I absolutely adore–he’s a sweet kid, and he’s clearly scared, but he knows when to summon his courage and do the brave thing for him and his friends. 

Also here are some screencaps that I like. They don’t have anything to do with the review, I just think they’re neat :3 (IDs/thots in the alt)

[littlerosetrove]

Why season 6 was overall disappointing for me.

To varying degrees, I felt like ALL of the characters were fumbled. Let me explain, and buckle in because this is stupidly long, but I needed to get it out of my system. 🤙

My critical thoughts are under the cut to save your dash. If that’s not your jam, don’t read.

✨ CHIMNEY & MADDIE

Do I like that Maddie and Chimney are engaged? Yes. But do I think the mending and coming back together of Maddie and Chimney throughout season 6 was done super well? Ehhhh it was okay. Even then, this was probably the better handled story for any couple/character this season.

Why didn’t we get to see them working through things in therapy? And then continuing to work on things outside of that as well? It really felt like we had a speed run through them making up for everything that went down in season 5. They both clearly had issues to work on like Maddie’s hesitancy to marry again, her guilt over (needing to) leave, Chimney’s overall self worth and insecurities. It felt like a little too often Maddie and Chimney weren’t talking things out together, weren’t properly communicating, but talking with other people about any issue.

Also Chimney needs to retake his paramedics exam or something because my dude pulled out a bar after being impaled?!? Wtf, you know better Chimney! And he lost a ton of blood, but bounced back hella quick. 🙃

✨ ATHENA

I’m truly drawing a blank on what Athena’s story even was in season 6, beyond I think the first 1-2 episodes of a childhood friend's (or was the girl even a friend of Athena’s??) murder being solved; that was it for her. Even then, the closure was definitely more so for the benefit of the sister of the murdered girl.

Oh wait, Athena’s dad was in an accident, but he recovered. Nothing about that was touched on once the episodes were done. No other mention of Athena’s parents.

Athena honestly just kinda floated through the whole season. Yes she had moments of being a wonderful and supportive partner to Bobby, they had some cute moments together, but that was it.

✨ BOBBY

The story of Wendal in theory was good, but not handled in a satisfying way. Like at all. Why? Because the show really brought in someone we’ve never met, told us he’s been important to Bobby and Athena for years, and then asked us to be very moved by it all in about four episodes.

Before anyone starts to protest, “but the show has done so well getting us to care about one off characters in 911 calls many times before.” Yes, they have, but the big difference is that those are one off characters. Wendal wasn’t meant to be seen as a one and done character, but rather someone that’s been present for years and actually meant something to two of our main characters.

What didn’t help was that Wendal was set up in episode 6x9, the last episode before a 3 month hiatus. Then when the story was picked back up and concluded in 2-3 episodes, I think there was a passing mention of Wendal and then… nothing. We didn’t see this affect Bobby any further. We didn’t see him continue to go to AA meetings, nothing with that.

Another fumble was May confirming I believe in episode 6x11 or 6x12 that Bobby is Buck's dad. He’s a father figure to Buck. However, after that scene the show didn’t do nearly as much with this as they could have. They could have and should have had more bonding scenes between Buck and Bobby. Like yes, has it been pretty clear that Bobby is essentially a father to Buck before May stated it out loud? Yes. But it still would have been nice to, idk, maybe even have Buck and Bobby have a conversation about this in some capacity. Just something you know?

Hell, if the show had stuck to the story of Buck processing his death - which they kinda dropped - then they could have had one or two scenes at least of Buck talking to Bobby about his dreams and everything. Instead we got Buck brushing off his death (because running from and not really processing trauma is nothing new for Buck), having at least two honest conversations with Eddie saying he feels lost and unsure, but then nothing else. But more on Buck later.

Beyond the Wendal story, Bobby didn’t get to do much this season. And he too healed from his injuries in the finale hella quick. 

✨ MAY

I guess this important side character is doing fine at college? Still going out with that young man she had dated in high school?? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

✨ HEN

I think overall I’m pretty satisfied with the wrap up of Hen deciding to quit med school and focus on and remain being a firefighter. Still, I don’t know if this is necessary, but I kinda think the whole doctor thing could have been brought up once or twice afterward? Becoming a doctor had been a big thing for Hen for something like 3 years, and I know she decided she’s happy being a firefighter, but I suppose it feels like the doctor thing has been forgotten all together? *shrugs* Not a big thing, but yeah.

Karen's workplace blowing up was a one and done story. No mention about or fallout from that. Mm.

Uhhh where was the build up to Hen and Karen wanting to adopt? In the finale I really thought, “Who are all these kids running around? Is this a sleepover???” Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of Hen and Karen wanting to adopt, but if this had been discussed at all in season 6, it must have been once early on in 6A or something, because I was confused where this story came from. They needed a little more build up to this because it really felt a little out of left field, and rushed (like much of the finale).

Correct me if I’m misremembering, but didn’t Toni say to Hen, “a boy needs his father”????? What kind of messaging is that? Not a good or positive one, I’ll tell you that. It’s coming across as, “actually these two powerful women, these wonderful mothers, aren’t enough to raise a child.” It’s coming across as “actually, low-key, the nuclear family is the best kind.” This post by @very-feral-lesbian stated that it’s homophobia, and I don’t think they’re wrong.

And this isn’t the first time 911 has implied this, that the nuclear family is right. Carla in season two said, “that boy needs his momma” about Chris and Shannon. In that case, it felt disrespectful to Eddie being a single father. As if Eddie wasn’t enough for Christopher.

911 may be diverse in many regards, but they’re not consistent in their messaging.

Plus, wh - where did this Nathaniel story even come from? We haven’t heard anything about him since season 2, when it seemed Hen and Karen were on good terms with him. But out of the blue in season 6 we have Denny suddenly wanting his biological father in his life? When as far as we knew, he seemed perfectly content with his moms and his grandma in his life?

Another rather awful message is that Nathaniel, a grown adult, a stranger to Denny, thought it was okay to meet his biological son behind Denny’s mothers’ back for months??? And he was forgiven for that????? Yeah Hen and Karen said “do something like that again and you’re out,” but still. Nathaniel has definitely proven himself untrustworthy. I didn’t care for how this was handled at all.

✨ The Buckley Parents & Mr Han

*deep sigh* Good lord, I’ll try to keep this brief. These reconciliation stories were not handled well at all. I’ve seen plenty of people baffled and upset that the show had given these sucky parents a redemption, which means the show did a poor job in making it clear what they were attempting.

The worst was probably Mr. Han because the only “work” he put in was playing with Jee-Yun once or twice. He did nothing else in regards to Chimney. It was just Albert guilting Chimney to give Mr. Han another chance, and Mrs. Han giving a one minute speech about how “you and your dad are both stubborn.” Wow, so satisfying.

Personally I do wish the show would have the balls to say, “you know, some parents just suck, they don’t change, and that’s life.” But nah, gotta allow even the shittiest of parents reconciliation stories.

✨ BUCK

I have the most to say about him because this season gave Buck 5 storylines. These storylines overall were messily executed, and three of them not even resolved.  

— Leadership —

At the beginning of the season, yes, it was set up that Buck wants to take on leadership. However, from that to the finale there wasn’t really anything in between to connect it. So this particular arc felt a bit unearned.

— Donor Storyline —

I do believe it had potential, but it was fumbled in my eyes. In 6A it was really clear that Buck was struggling with donating, wondering if this was a good decision for him. Okay, that right there makes sense for Buck. Buck’s continuous struggle of being seen as parts to be given away no matter how it actually affects him.

However, Buck’s struggle was fully dropped once 6B came back on. Instead it pivoted to Connor and Kameron having the issues, specifically Connor. Connor was the one struggling with being a dad to a kid that’s not biologically his and not communicating with Kameron on how he feels. Keep in mind, we got most of this information in the last two episodes. No idea what other reasons, if there were any, why Kameron and Connor were struggling being married.

In episode 6x17, the show seemingly implied that Kameron and Buck were friends? Friendly enough that Kameron thought it was okay to crash at her donor’s place for however long. I guess she has no friends or family in LA. In any case, it really wasn’t until the last two episodes that Connor and Kameron really “mattered.” Buck became the mediator and pep talk guy. I guess Buck's line of “just love that kid” helped solve Connor and Kameron’s issues. 🙃

And I guess it was necessary for Buck to see the baby, so he could have some realization of “Wow, I really helped create this baby, but I’m okay with letting him go.” Though I honestly don’t think it was truly necessary for Buck to be the one to help birth the baby, but that’s just me. *shrugs* He could have just seen the baby at the hospital after being called up to see, and then peace out.

Overall I just don’t feel 100% satisfied with this story since, again, Buck was struggling with the decision in 6A, but 6B said “no he’s not.”

-– Being at Ease & Finding Happiness -–

I’m grouping these two storylines together. The only concrete thing I can say about them is that they were forgotten and not concluded by the end of the season. 🙃 I’m definitely disappointed because Buck learning to be at ease with himself? Now that was something he has needed to learn, and would have been great to see. It’s a much needed healing opportunity for Buck, but alas.

It’s an added layer of frustration because, to me at least, it really feels like those at 911 are dragging their feet at genuinely allowing Buck to grow and heal as a character in more significant ways. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking the growth I have seen, nor saying he’s had zero growth as a character in the past 3-4 seasons. But damn if it feels like it’s mostly one step forwards, two steps back, and sometimes just going in circles.

I’ve seen other fans thinking that Buck has become kinda stagnant as a character, not just in season 6 but for longer. And I don’t think it’s because “they’re stupid” or “they’re just not seeing the long form storytelling” or something. No, if that’s some people's view of Buck? There’s reason and merit to that.

— Bucks Death (and revival) —

Buck died, struggled with his death, and… there was no conclusion or resolution to this. 🙃

We saw Buck not processing his death, refusing to properly process it for a time. He only admitted to Eddie twice that he was struggling, and then… nothing. 

— (unnecessary) Romance —

We all thought when Natalia, the death doula, was brought in that she was going to help Buck process his death - despite the fact that it would have been more narratively satisfying to see Buck figure things out with the help of his found family, but sure. And yet, we didn’t get Natalia helping Buck process his death. Rather she found it cool, they went on a couple dates because Buck is once again in a trauma response mode, Natalia seemed honestly uncomfortable with how full Buck’s life is and ran, but came back and said sorry, and now after 4 dates Buck asked her to buy a couch with him.

??????????????

What bugs me the most is that Buck’s romantic life was not a part of his narrative or story for the majority of season 6. This out of left field romance was shoved in, poorly, into the last 3-4 episodes of the season.

I’ve seen one take that a romance for Buck - at what was potentially the last season - was something the general audience would expect, so the writers put it in. I - can’t say I really agree with that. Given Buck’s story and narrative through most of season 6, would the general audience really be upset and confused for Buck to, for example, be single and happy in the end? I also gotta say I don’t like the messaging that the only happy ending is for someone to be in a romantic relationship.  

Plus, setting aside the fact that season 6 could have been the last season, Buck has been single at the end seasons 2, 3, 5, and arguably even season 1, but he didn’t realize it yet. In season 2 he was sad but not heartbroken over Ali, and I doubt the audience was particularly sad about it considering she was barely present. Season 3 Buck found peace (of sorts) with Abby, and was otherwise fine. Season 5 he’d broken up with TK and was looking really fucking happy and at peace about that.

So why exactly would the general audience “expect” Buck to be with someone, especially in a season that had up until the last 4-ish episodes had zero focus on his romantic life? “Because Buck for years now has been searching for a romantic partner.” Sure, but it’s a disservice to Buck and really everyone that the solution is to pair him off with someone they barely developed, and show/say that he’s happy about it. Like “aren’t you glad we gave Buck someone whose sole purpose is to be a love interest and nothing more?”

But circling back to Natalia. It’s hard to have much of an opinion about her because we’ve been told literally nothing about her beyond her profession. The most we’ve gotten out of her is her only being interested in Buck’s death and being generally overwhelmed at Buck and his life (even a little judgemental), before and after her apology.

We have no idea why Buck thinks “she sees me.” We don’t know what Buck sees in Natalia beyond her profession and being a beautiful woman. We have no idea what Natalia even sees in Buck despite her saying “I like you.” Because we’ve been shown nothing. And I will say what doesn’t help is that these two actors have zero chemistry.

Once again Buck has found himself passively in a relationship with no idea how he’s gotten there. I’ve seen this movie before, four times to be exact. It’s tiring, repetitive and boring at this point. Natalia and Buck are following too many similar beats already to Buck and Taylor.

There are two possible outcomes of this in season 7, 1) they break up or 2) the folks at 9-1-1 say fuck it and make Natalia and Buck endgame. Neither option is great, and I’ll explain why.

If they break up? Then what was the point? Is it going to be, “Buck learned that Natalia didn’t actually see him for who he is, nor could ever really understand and love all of him”? Hello. We’ve seen this movie before. It doesn’t matter that “Natalia isn’t as bad as Taylor” because we’ve seen this movie before. Introducing Natalia or any new love interest earlier in season 6 would have made it a modicum better, but I still wouldn’t like it. And I’m allowed to not like story choices. I must emphasize that what doesn’t help anything is that Natalia is barely a character.

So if the folks at 911 do decide to make Natalia and Buck endgame? It’s not hyperbole to say they have a shit ton of work to do to make this satisfying in any way.

The show is in such a weird spot because of the writers strike, WHICH I fully support. But the reality now is that the show, as far as we know, may not come back until January of 2024. 911 has always, as best they could, followed a real world timeline. So either the story will jump ahead 6 months, which you can imagine will cause several issues for many characters, or they’re for the first time going to only jump ahead, idk, a couple months into the future. Taking into consideration how the show left things off, they kinda shot themselves in the foot.

Because if they jump ahead 6 months and Buck and Natalia are still together? Great. Then we’ve literally missed a significant portion of their relationship, and the beginning of it has already been a whole lot of nothing.

What’s worse is IF, for Eddie, there is a 6 month time jump and he’s still with Marisol. 1) Eddie may be interested in dating, but not for something serious. If he does end up with Marisol - a character I’m sure a majority of people didn’t remember from 6A, but was brought back to remain a non-character in 6B - and we’re supposed to, what, care about them? Again I must say woof. 2) If Eddie and Marisol aren’t together at the start of season 7, then… there’s something underwhelming in that too. Although option two would make the most sense, even if I’m like, “yeah….. okay.” about it.

Tl;dr of Buck → Buck got a ton of screen time and a ton of stories, but not a whole lot of it was satisfying, to me at least.

✨ EDDIE

Eddie felt a bit like an afterthought in all of season 6, but it was especially evident in 6A.… But really all of season 6.

I think the story of Chris wanting more independence had potential to be spread out over 6A, rather than truncated into I think just one episode. Show us how Eddie is struggling with Chris’s independence, and show us Eddie trying to figure out what to even do with more time on his hands. More time to not be a dad, so to speak. Hell, bring in Ramon and Helen into all of this. 

Ramon got redemption in season 5, but there was nothing for Helen. We know Helen was hard on Eddie too, but so far? She’s gotten a weird free pass. I know this show particularly likes to make troubled relationships with dads (moms too, but majority dads), but they could put a little more focus on the mothers as well. Considering there were a lot of parental stories in season 6 (not all well handled), this was a good opportunity.

I’ve only watched season 6 once, so correct me if I’m wrong, but Eddie’s loneliness really didn’t come into play until something like episode 6x13 or 6x14, right? Even now I still can’t formulate a comprehensive thought, but this aspect and Eddie deciding to date wasn’t handled in a satisfying way. I mean, with the added details and timeline put in about just how young both Eddie and Shannon were with *gestures*, it puts into perspective how little experience Eddie has in dating. And because of this, Eddie, I guess, wants to try out dating? Just for fun?? Okaaay. That could work, that could be something. I just wish it hadn’t been handled so clumsily.

And this is where Marisol comes into it. A person who, at this point, is 1) making Eddie look like a hypocrite because he said trying to date someone you met on a call never ends well, and yet. 2) Marisol is, currently, a blank character. All we know is that she does DIY. That’s it. Her only purpose, at the moment, is just to be a love interest for Eddie, however long it lasts, and that’s boring. 

But I guess we were supposed to be happy about Eddie asking Marisol out? I mean, theoretically sure, it’s good to see Eddie putting himself out there, but only the concept is fine. Let’s not forget that the timeline to Eddie calling Marisol is fucked.

Supposedly they met at the hardware store (but originally on a 911 call), and I guess exchanged phone numbers off screen???? Then, idk, a week later the big emergency happens, where Eddie has broken ribs. Now realistically that would have taken 4-6 weeks at least for Eddie’s ribs to heal, otherwise Eddie wouldn’t be able to dance in his living room as we saw. Which means IF he’d waited for his ribs to heal, then both he and Marisol - despite being “excited” to call each other - had waited nearly two entire months to finally call each other? Haha what??????

My point being? Eddie wanting to go off into the dating world story wasn’t handled well, at least not to me. OH, and speaking of Eddie dating.

The last time Christopher found out his dad was dating, he ran to Buck. Now yes Chris has grown since then, but, where’s the through line? Why is Chris perfectly at ease with his dad attempting to date now? Where was the discussion for that between Chris and Eddie?

Side note, which is relevant here, let’s not forget that in 5x2 or 5x3 Eddie said “my kid loves her” about Ana. We never got to see this supposed love beyond a few brief scenes of Chris smiling with Ana in the same room. Mmm yes, I can feel and see the love. On top of that, we never got to see how Chris even felt about Eddie and Ana breaking up. So this is nothing new, the show failing to have connecting scenes for important issues being addressed when it comes to Chris and Eddie. Which is a damn shame because this is such an important relationship in the show, but in some ways has been neglected over the years. Definitely missed opportunities.

With Ana and mother of if all, Eddie had really only dated Ana because it’s what he thought he should do (because of his parents and heteronormative society). He thought he should give Chris - another mother? Okay, well go farther with that. Since Eddie did have a wonderful healing arc in season 5, we could have taken the time to explore both Chris wanting more independence and explore what Eddie wants in a partner in season 6. Season 6 could have then explored and made it clear that Eddie isn’t straight (because we live in a heteronormative world, so gotta “ease” people into saying “hey, not everyone is straight”).

And yes of course I’m going to bring Buck into this, Buddie into this, because disregarding the fact that the 911 folks didn’t know if the show was going to come back or not, they absolutely could have worked through the entire season to build up to Buddie canon. Hell, plenty of people in fandom thought that’s what was happening even after episode 6x01 (and definitely after the end of season 5). After everything in season 5, it’s not irrational or illogical to think the show can 100% have worked on making Buddie canon in season 6.

@lovecolibri made a really wonderful post explaining how the show and those at 911 are essentially “ship baiting” at this point in the game. Not queerbaiting, but ship baiting, which I think is a great term to use for Buddie. Definitely give the post a read.

But no. Instead we got Eddie only showing interest in women, and then calling a woman he and we know nothing about on a date. Okay. Cool. Yes, good for you for putting yourself out there Eddie, but… *helpless shrug*

me looking at Buck: Yep, I sure hope Eddie figures out what he wants in a partner. I hope he figures out he wants someone to always have his back, someone he can be himself with and not pretend. Someone who loves Christopher like he does. I hope he finds someone who he can have fun with and be silly with. Yep, I sure hope he learns that while going on dates with Marisol and whoever else.

— The Buddie of It All —

If they truly wanted to, the writers/TPTB could have made season 6 about Buddie becoming canon in some capacity. Whether that was a love confession, or an acknowledgement of feelings that will clearly lead to more. Hell, the first few episodes absolutely had this fandom believing that is what season 6 was going to do. But it didn’t. 6A was a bit scattered on the Buddie of it all, then 6x10-6x13 was pretty heavy on the Buck/Eddie/Chris aspect, and then there was a hard pivot to, “let’s pair off our super hetero hot guys with some women who are purely love interests.” Nope, nothing to see here.

Like? No matter what stage the people at 911 thought season 6 may be the last, you’re telling me they couldn’t have made Buddie canon work? That the general audience would be disappointed and mad about that? There were 18 episodes to work on bringing Buddie from subtext to canon, again, in some capacity. There were 18 episodes to finally say, “hey, yeah Buck and Eddie? Not straight.” They could have made this work. The fandom at the very start of season 6 thought it could work, as I’ve said, but it wasn’t until nearing the end of 6A and definitely the start of 6B that people had to say, “Oh… well. So they’re not going to work on making Buddie canon because it’s becoming too late now and it would be rushed.”

I am not pointing this out to say anyone has been queerbaiting. No one has. Ship baiting yes, but not queerbaiting. What has been clear since season 2 is that Buck and Eddie have something really special. There are big Buddie shippers for a reason. The groundwork has been laid down for 4 seasons already, so why not take the opportunity now, in season 6? Really, why not? Once again they had the opportunity in 18 episodes to make it make sense, even for the general audience.

✨ CONCLUSION

Season 6 was disappointing overall. As of right now, I do have some trepidation of what’s even going to happen in season 7. I have lost some faith in the writers and TPTB considering what they gave us and how they handled season 6 (yes I understand the cancellation pressure, I’m not saying they weren’t in a tough spot). I haven’t fully given up hope, but……. *sighs* yeah.

[lenafromthenordiccoven]

This Is Only Temporary - Part 2 of 3

(moodboard made by me, Top Gun Maverick screencaps by hd-screencaps, the rest is unsplash.com)

Pairing: Robert “Bob” Floyd x afab!reader x Jake “Hangman” Seresin

Rating: M – MDNI 18+

Word count: 4046

Warnings: Bob and Hangman being menaces, and so is reader (oops), little bit of fluff on top of MORE shameless flirting, beginnings of polyamory, Hangman being a flirty dick who wants what he thinks he can’t have; I’m neither US Navy nor American, so reader isn’t either – meaning there might be a little, uh, criticism here and there (also, we all know aviators are cocky af, right?), not beta-read but I did try to proofread a bit

Summary: After months of irregular phone and video calls, and constant e-mailing back and forth, you finally get to visit your boyfriend, Bob, in California. What you didn’t count on, was the fact that the guest room in his new house was temporarily occupied by one of his colleagues. The same cocky aviator, who can’t help but hit on you when you first meet – and even after he knows, you’re taken.

Read on ao3

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

Taglist: @formulapierre (If you wanna be added to the taglist, just lemme know)

A/N: Part 2, here we gooooo. :D A little shorter than I thought it would be, and Jake turned out a little differently than I had expected, but I decided to just go with the flow. Songs for this chapter would be Whattaman by Salt-N-Pepa and Nowhere to Run by Lola Colette.

“I swear to God, if Beth and Rip don’t get their happy ending, the producers and I will need to have a word.” You grumbled at the episode of Yellowstone playing on TV, wrapped in a warm cocoon of Bob’s arms and a thin blanket on the couch in the living room. Your legs had intertwined with his and you rose and fell with his every breath while lying directly on top of him. You’d propped your head up one of your hands to see the TV better.

Bob’s chuckle rumbled through you and lured a smile onto your own lips. “I’m sure, they’ll be fine, darlin’.” His breath fanned across your ear and the side of your head – and you knew, he wasn’t really watching the show as much as he was your reactions to it. You’d started to watch Yellowstone together last year – well, together and still apart, just connected by a (video) call on your phones while you each watched on your own devices. Bob had suggested the show since he knew, you liked cowboys. (Not least because you loved Bob’s family and the farm where he grew up in Montana.) And it was set in Montana, so that was a plus.

“I had no idea, you were into cowboys, sweetheart,” Hangman’s voice suddenly said from the door arch led into the kitchen with its open counter that looked out over the living room.

You lifted your head from your hand on Bob’s chest to glare at Hangman over the back of the grey couch. The words died on your lips though as you laid eyes on him. He was wearing dark grey sweatpants that were hugging his hips just right (and maybe sitting a little too low). He’d forgone a shirt and his perfectly styled, golden blond hair was still tousled from sleep, sticking up into different directions. You couldn’t help the rush of heat flashing through your body and to your core as you let your eyes roam over his body. God damn it, he was hot. You knew, Bob was still watching for your reaction as his arms tightened around your waist. Besides, you were an open book to your boyfriend by now. You’d known each other for too long not to. “W-well …” You cleared your throat. “Depends on the cowboy, Hangnail.”

You turned your attention back to the TV, putting your head back down on Bob’s chest. You assumed Hangman had gone into the kitchen. But you didn’t get to watch a lot of it in peace when you heard footsteps approaching the couch. You shifted in Bob’s arms, turning over onto your back to be able to look at him without breaking your poor neck.

Your breath hitched in your throat when you saw Hangman leaning slightly over the back of the couch and staring down at you. You’d expected to see his thousand-watt-smile plastered onto his face, but his expression was somber. It reminded you a little of the way Bob looked when he wanted to apologize for something. But you couldn’t wrap your head around why Hangman would look at you like that.

“Listen, Y/N… And, I guess, this goes for Bob, too. I’m sorry about yesterday.” He brought up his right hand to scratch the back of his head sheepishly. “I didn’t know you two were a thing.”

“That wouldn’t have stopped you anyway. And it didn’t,” Bob replied before you could say something. But he said what you had been thinking as well. You hadn’t pegged Hangman as the kind of man that would be stopped by the knowledge of his desired conquest’s relationship status. Neither would you have thought him to be the kind of man to apologize for flirting with you.

Hangman sighed. “You’re right. And I … I just wanna say, I’m sorry, alright?”

“Don’t be,” you piped up. Suddenly reminded of your conversation last night with Bob before you’d both drifted off to sleep. “I actually don’t mind. Neither does Bob. And I do hope, you enjoyed last night’s show.”

“Oh, he did,” Bob teased behind you. One of his hands slid down your waist, over your hip to squeeze your thigh lightly. You could hear the smile in his voice, and you couldn’t help but smirk, when you saw the way Hangman’s face fell a little and his ears and cheeks turned red.

He squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “I’d like to apologize for that, too,” he said with a groan.

You pushed yourself up until your face was only a couple inches away from Hangman’s. You narrowed your eyes for a moment. “Didn’t peg you to be the type to apologize, Jake. If anything, from what Robby told me, you’re more of a … How’d Salt-N-Pepa put it? A ‘Wham! Bam! Thank you, ma’am!’ type of guy.”

“Y/N…” Bob’s voice held an unspoken warning. But not for you to not push Jake, rather in the “Please watch your mouth, before you say something, we might both regret”-type of way.

You looked down at him over your shoulder and shot him a wink, before squeezing his hand on your thigh reassuringly. You weren’t going to cause friction between him and his friend. You just wanted to tease a little. You turned your attention back to Hangman. You lifted your hand from Bob’s and put Hangman’s chin between your index finger and thumb. Carefully pushing your face even closer to his until your lips almost brushed his. “And yet, you’re here this morning. After you watched Robby and I fuck.” Bob’s hand on your thigh squeezed again, but this time, there was no warning accompanying it. If anything, his hand trailed a little higher, back to your hip, innocently brushing over your clothed core. The touch sent a jolt of electricity through you. A reminder of last night and a promise of more to come. “Why? Did no lady want to take you home with her last night? Or were you curious to know what the two of us would sound and look like?”

You leaned back a bit, your lips curving upwards in a smile as you watched Jake’s chest, neck and face flushing an even deeper red underneath the golden-brown tan. His pupils dilated, transforming the emerald-green eyes of his to a darker shade. You could see the hunger in them. And the yearning. You wondered if he was lying to himself and the rest of the world. That he didn’t like to be this egotistical gigolo with a toothpick, but rather that he was playing this role others had assigned to him. Why, you weren’t sure. To protect himself? Or to prove that he was worthy of his job and others’ attention? Whatever it was, you couldn’t deny that you were curious to know what lay underneath all the bravado and charm.

He swallowed, cleared his throat and averted his eyes. Then he took a step back from the couch. “Right, we should probably get ready for dogfight football.” His voice was hoarse, low. You loved watching him this flustered. Loved it with Bob, too. But Bob had grown used to your special brand of teasing. You still got under his skin, but he fought back, too, from time to time. (Not that he really needed to. Let’s face it, one look from Bob and you could turn into a puddle at his feet.) Jake, though, provided a bit of a challenge.

Behind you, Bob sat up, intentionally pressing his chest to your back. He pressed a quick kiss behind your ear, then gently slapped your thigh. “He’s right, darlin’. We have to go.”

“Fine. But we’re not done talking about this, alright?”

--

The rest of the Dagger Squad were already assembled at the beach behind the Hard Deck, together with the bartender from yesterday (whom Bob introduced as Penny), his instructor for the last detachment and a dark-haired woman, who introduced herself as Phoenix.

“So, I should probably thank you for getting him back to me in one piece,” you said with a slight lovesick smile in Bob’s direction, who was currently talking to Fanboy.

Phoenix lightly clapped you on the back with her hand. “Nah, I wouldn’t have made it back without him either. We protect each other up there.”

“Suppose you have to, otherwise …” Your voice trailed off as you watched Jake – now back to his usual cocksure self and with the charm turned back up to a hundred – take off his shirt. He shot a wink in your direction before putting his sunglasses back on. You heard Phoenix say something, but the words didn’t quite register.

Bob walking over and wrapping you up in his arms saved you from an undignified response, though. “You two good?”

You nodded, as did Phoenix. You tried to ignore her change in behavior after Jake had winked at you, but you saw the light crease forming between her brows. Before she could say something though, Maverick called all the aviators onto the field – that wasn’t much more than an unoccupied part of the beach.

Bob was about to join them, but he turned back to you. “Do you want to join in?” His arm around your waist pulled you further against his body. You tried not to let the feeling of his body – although still fully clothed in a tattered yellow T-shirt and swim trunks – distract you too much.

You glanced at the group of the other aviators, who were now calling out for Bob to join them. Then you shook your head, directing your attention back to Bob. “You go ahead and have fun. I’ll stake out the beach and maybe go for a swim.”

“Alright. Love you,” he whispered and quickly kissed you. Nothing too salacious that would warrant the hollering and jeering coming from his friends, but it left you leaning up to try and chase his lips when he pulled away. He smirked down at you, licked his lips as he let go of you and walked over to his friends. Not before turning his head and winking at you the same way Jake had.

You blew him a kiss in response and rolled your eyes when he pretended to catch it. Your brain returned to the thought that you couldn’t quite believe he was really in front of you. Not just a figment of your imagination. God, how you’d missed him. And you were sure, none of his friends would have guessed that your presence alone would bring out a side of Bob that was more smug, secure in the knowledge that you loved him and were with him again.

“You’re not joining us, Y/N?” Jake called out, twirling the football in his hands. Some of the aviators – you thought, you heard Rooster and Payback – accompanied his question with several shouts of “Yeah, come on.”

You shook your head. “I don’t know a thing about American football. Apart from the fact that, if it lived up to its name, you wouldn’t be running around with the ball wedged under your arm. Should’ve named it American handball.” Your reply got a couple of “ooohs” and “She got you there, man”s from the others.

“Oh well, you enjoy the show then, sweetheart.” Jake grinned and you snorted at the callback to your earlier conversation in Bob’s living room. You weren’t quite sure if the heat that blossomed in your veins was the result of seeing Jake shirtless again – and clearly peacocking for your benefit – or if it was the heat of the California sun beating down at you.

You decided to join Penny in the shade of a parasol and watched the first two matches intently. You didn’t understand any of the rules, but Penny tried to explain them to you as best as she could. Not that it really mattered. You were barely paying to attention, too focused on watching Bob and Jake – on opposite teams. You bit your lip when Bob decided to take off his shirt after all, shocking his friends in return.

“You bring out a different side of him,” Penny suddenly said next to you, watching just as you were.

You turned your head, an eyebrow raised in question. “What?”

“Bob.” She nodded towards your boyfriend, who was just now running from Jake with the ball under his arm. Your eyes stayed trained on him, even as Jake caught him and tackled him to the ground. “I’ve never seen him this confident. Usually, he just hangs back, like he’s saving his strength or something. But with you, he even takes his shirt off.” She chuckled.

You blushed at the implications. “I don’t know. He’s almost smug when it’s just the two of us. But his shyness and consideration are part of his charm.” You smiled at her, then got up from your seat on the beach towel. “I think, I’m gonna go for a swim.”

You shimmied out of your jeans shorts and Bob’s shirt that you had taken hostage the last time he’d visited you in the UK, purposefully trying to ignore the whistling from the aviators. Until you recognized one of them to be Bob’s and your head snapped up and over to look in his direction. His hand lingered in front of his chin, and you blushed at the wide grin spreading on his face when your eyes locked – and at the reminder that you sported some distinctly shaped bruises on your upper thighs.

“That’s exactly what I mean,” said Penny with a smile of her own. You shook your head and chuckled, then went to where the waves crashed onto the beach.

While you dove into the water, you didn’t notice the way Phoenix took Bob aside for a moment. Nor would you have heard their conversation.

--

“What’s going on between Bagman and your girl?” she asked without any preamble. Bob froze, his eyes still locked on your head bobbing in the water as you swam not too far away from shore.

“I have no clue what you’re talkin’ about.”

Phoenix groaned, forcing Bob to look at her with a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t lie to me, man. You must be blind not to see the way they’re flirting with each other. Especially Bagman. He’s got it down bad for your girlfriend. And you’re fine with that?”

Bob shrugged. Of course, the ease with which you retorted Jake’s flirtations stung a little. But it wasn’t like you reacted any more than if it were Bob doing the flirting. If anything, he could see clearly through your own mask of bravado around Jake, trying to hide the insecurities he knew so much about by now. And he’d be lying if he didn’t like the idea of you and Jake maybe acting on your mutual attraction. You and Bob had talked about it late last night, entangled in each other’s arms and on the brink of sleep. In fact, Bob had been the one to bring it up. The idea of seeing if Jake would work as a third person in your relationship. The flirting and teasing went on easy enough between you. Bob just wasn’t sure, if Jake would be willing to open up as much as he would need to, if he even wanted to join the two of you in this relationship.

“Hello? Earth to Bob. You there?”

He turned his attention back to Phoenix. “Yeah, yeah, ‘m here. Actually, I don’t mind. It’s just harmless fun. Y/N would never cheat on me, I trust her on that front. Besides, it would depend on your definition of cheating anyway.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Bob didn’t reply immediately, instead heeding Maverick’s call to return to the game. He fell into a jog back to the group but turned around to throw back at Phoenix: “Monogamy isn’t the only way to live in a relationship, ‘nix.”

--

The sun was way past its zenith when Dagger Squad called it quits on the football front. While the majority of the group agreed to just stay at the Hard Deck, you admitted to Bob that you were positively starving right now and if you could find a place to eat.

“Burger’s okay?” Bob asked, gently pulling your body closer, until yours was flush against his. You nodded, unable to hide the way your eyes flickered to his lips for a second. Distracted by the way he was licking them, unintentionally reminding you of the way his tongue felt between your legs. You cleared your throat and took a step backwards. Otherwise, you couldn’t guarantee, you wouldn’t have dragged him behind the dumpsters right now.

“I’ll just tell Phoenix, we won’t be joining them, okay?” Bob leaned down, kissing you quickly, before waiting for your response.

“Yep. Would you … mind if we asked Jake to come with us? Given what we talked about last night and this morning, I just … kinda wanna try to get a minute to see if this would actually work. I mean, we haven’t even suggested it to him yet, so, I just thought –” Bob silenced your rambling by pressing his index finger against your lips, then he moved his hand to brush his knuckles against your cheek.

He was smiling his lopsided smile when he replied: “You know, I don’t mind. Do you want to ask him or should I?”

“I’ll go. You tell Phoenix.” You leaned up on tiptoes to press a quick kiss of your own against his lips, your hands resting on his chest that was once again covered up by his Navy T-shirt.

“’kay. Meet at the car?” he asked, and you nodded, before trotting off towards where Jake stood with Javy.

“Well, would you look at that. The princess graces us with her presence.” Jake grinned at you and you rolled your eyes at the new nickname. Really? Princess? You could deal with sweetheart, but princess was a step too far. Even if he’d said it with a light sarcastic undertone. “What can we do for you?”

Since he didn’t look like he would further comment on the sudden appearance of princess in his vocabulary, you didn’t mention it and instead chose to get right to it. “Robby and I were just wondering if you wanted to come with us, we’re gonna get burgers for dinner. And seeing as you’re still staying at Bob’s place and we came here with one car, it just might be easier if you –”

“Sure.”

You hadn’t even finished before Jake had agreed. In fact, he’d been so quick to say yes, you were stunned into silence for a few moments. You blinked at him. “Okay, then. We’re meeting Bob at the car.”

“Lead the way, darlin’.” Jake tilted his head a little downwards. Not that he wasn’t always looking down at you – he was as tall as Bob, after all. Bob just … didn’t always feel as tall. He made himself small sometimes, which you understood. Sometimes it was just easier to try and be invisible instead of standing out like Jake apparently always did.

You quickly said goodbye to Javy and then walked around the bar towards the car, where Bob was already waiting for you, leaning against the hood, his hands in the pockets of his swim trunks. He pushed himself off the car when he saw you approach.

“So, where do you wanna go? Leroy’s?” Jake suggested when you’d reached Bob.

“Sounds good.” Bob answered for both of you. After all, this was your first time in California and in Fightertown. You had no idea what was good here – just knew that you were really hungry, and you’d probably die in the next five minutes if they didn’t get a move on.

--

You’d spent the drive from the Hard Deck to Leroy’s – full name actually being “Leroy’s Fantastical Burger Shack” – talking about the football game. Or rather, Bob and Jake were talking about it. You just listened and tried to wrap your head around the rules. While you were studying the menu and ultimately decided on a veggie burger, you noticed the look Bob shot you over the menus. He seemed to silently ask you if everything was okay, since you hadn’t said much over the last couple of minutes.

Even Jake seemed to notice. He put his menu down and looked at you from across the table, a twinkle in those green eyes. “So, how’d you enjoy your first Californian beach day?”

You smiled, warmth spreading throughout your chest at the two of them caring enough for you to pull you into the conversation. Even though Bob recognized the signs that you were exhausted and that’s why you’d fallen silent, not because you didn’t want to participate or felt left out. “It was … good. Been a while since I got to swim in the ocean. I just think, I might have gotten too much sunlight. I’m exhausted.”

“And here I thought, that might have something to do with what you two got up to last night,” Jake replied, the corners of his mouth twitching. You couldn’t help the smile growing into a grin on your face. So, this is where he wanted to steer the conversation? Fine. Two could play that game. Or more than two people, for that matter.

“That reminds me, we never finished our talk from this morning.” Before you could continue, the waitress came to take your orders. And you couldn’t fault her for batting her eyelashes at Jake. To your surprise, he let her down gently. You’d expected Jake to take her up on her flirting, maybe disappear into the bathroom for a bit before returning to you. After all, Bob had said, he was a nice guy if you got to him better – but that Jake was also still a bit of a womanizer. Scratch that, he was a big ass womanizer. But Jake didn’t leave. Instead, his eyes kept flitting between you and Bob. That small gesture alone sent heat blossoming through your chest down into your stomach. Maybe Bob had been right in suggesting Jake as a third person in your relationship.

“Right, where were we?” Bob tried to steer the conversation back to the topic at hand before you’d been interrupted by the waitress.

“The talk we had this morning,” you replied. You blinked, looked out through the window onto the relatively busy street outside. Gathering your strength before you said what you wanted to next: “Robby and I have a suggestion to make, Jake. This is only temporary, but it’s a suggestion nevertheless.”

“Whatever you say, sweetheart. I’m curious what comes next.” Jake leaned forward, bracing his chin in his hands, with his elbows on the table. You looked at Bob, who nodded encouragingly and took your hand over the table, lightly squeezing it.

“It could be more though, if you want,” Bob helped you along.

You saw Jake’s mega-watt smile flicker; he furrowed his brows.

“I don’t know how familiar you are with the concept of polyamory. But that doesn’t really matter right now anyway. Uh …”

“Are you two asking me to join you for a threesome?” Jake now raised one of his eyebrows. While you could see the glimmer of desire – and was that hope, too? – in his eyes, his face remained serious. He leaned back a bit, as if he was suddenly wary of you. Maybe even scared that this was all an elaborate prank to get him back for watching you last night.

“And … more, if we all want and it goes well,” Bob replied. You nodded in agreement.

“We’re not joking, Jake. You were right, I do like what I see. And I actually enjoy flirting with you. I just want you to know, this would require communication. Honest communication. I don’t expect you to rattle down your whole life’s story in front of us. Just … Be honest,” you explained. When you were done, you saw Jake take a deep breath. And that look of yearning from this morning was back on his face. “Okay,” he said after a couple of seconds passed. “What would you like to know?”