#I’m halfway through Shadow &/ Bone s2

[slav-every-day]

[imaginarypasta]

one of the things i’ve noticed that changes between this series and the last is the newfound emphasis on diplomacy & decorum. i do understand why, both in how the narrative changes w the introduction of new ideas and frameworks as well as how it might want to adapt to have its own voice, themes, etc. but gone are the days of yes-anding oneself into strange situations and in are those of yet another scene highlighting the importance of a letter of introduction—and that was personally a huge reason why i liked the original series so much. i don’t even mind like diplomacy as a narrative device when it’s equipped in interesting ways but when it’s constant introductions to new characters that go relatively similarly every time & a very clear narrative voice insisting that original solution wouldn’t work when it’s 1. more interesting to me personally and 2. not even working any better practically, then that starts to get super boring

[buffyfan145]

Adding to my other post I had about how there’s a lot of scenes in “Shadow and Bone” season 2 I want “Rings of Power” to do with Haladriel in season 2, episode 4 had so many not just with Alina and Aleksander/The Darkling but also now with Nikolai too. LOL :D I remember seeing so many similarities in season 1 but awesome to see there’s still a lot in s2, even to some of our fanfics. 

ETA: Also wanted to add now that I’m halfway through season 4 I don’t get why some of the critics and some fans seem to hate s2 of “Shadow and Bone”. I’m not a book fan and still haven’t read the books but did read online about the plots of the others but just going by the show it seems to work for me and just judging it as a TV show.

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

please. i can’t do this alone.

Titans 3.01

thoughts! thoughts! thoughts! some red hot thoughts!

SPOILERS ahead.

1. one episode in, and this season already looks set to give me everything i want. its abandonment of plot and storytelling conventions as it goes from one point to the next at breakneck speed; its cheerful bastardisation of iconic storylines from the comics; the ‘as-you-know-bob’ clunky exposition on one end and extremely restrained, subtle explorations of complex character dynamics on the other; endless shots of neon bleeding into black and blue corridors, shadows and silhouettes; my delight in seeing it celebrate and deconstruct the dark nolan-y batman aesthetic at the same time; my bafflement that it’s so fucking goddamn obsessed with the batfam when it’s supposed to be about the TITANS; kory just... saving every overburdened, clunky scene that she’s in by her sparkling charisma. just... *chef’s kiss*. muah. my show is back, in all its glory.

MY SHOW IS BACK, Y’ALL!

1.5. i mean... this show is so artful and weird and not afraid to go absolutely bonkers in exploring its characters’ psyche, but can just about barely stage a passable comic book fight when every tom dick and harry and their new streaming services can deliver ones that are far more exciting. i love this show with every atom of my body.

(there’s something to be said about rooting for the underdog as well. a pleasure in finding something to love about what other people dismiss. but! enough navel gazing! i have fictional characters’ navels to look at! metaphorically! and maybe literally!)

2. i expected jason’s death to come about pretty early in the season as soon as i heard rumours that red hood was showing up, but for it to happen in the first five minutes of the first episode... that’s a record. 

(well. “happen.” still don’t know what exactly went down there.)

2.25. GOD. jason is such a tortured and tragic character in this show, used and passed around by people with alleged good intentions, never really fitting in anywhere. he’s veritably bleeding vulnerability and the need to belong, the need to be known, and yet the tragedy is that his death proves that nobody in his life knew anything about him at all; that they only saw the flimsy walls he put up to protect his soft core, and thought that that was all there was. that they say they loved him, but blame him for his own death. 

dick is flabbergasted that jason can read, though we know from last season, from what jason revealed to rose, that he has a love for plays and music. barbara is quick to dismiss his actions as ‘impulsive’. bruce has no idea that his supposed son was building his own little chemistry lab right under his nose, and beyond that, no idea that jason needed structure, stability and validation beyond being left alone in a huge house with a treasure trove of dangerous weapons. kory thought his decision to fight the joker was from not learning and growing when the guy tried to kill himself last season and nobody apart from dick even tried to talk to him about it! did you consider that he might still be suicidal? especially after the titans admitted to having “given up” on him because he was just “too hard”?

2.5. the one thing that’s been consistent across all three seasons (so far) of the show is the unreliable narrator trope. there’s a reason why the characters’ dismissals of jason’s actions as impulsive is so repetitive; why jason’s death is a mystery dick feels compelled to solve. it’s a flailing attempt to know his brother much too late--but with red hood, maybe he gets a second chance, just like he got one with the titans. this is what jason’s arc has been building up to. this is ‘death in the family’ but more fucked up in some ways. it didn’t linger on the death because the death wasn’t the point. the joker isn’t the point. everything that came before it is.

this way it will also make perfect sense that the red hood’s main enemy becomes the titans rather than batman.

2.75. goodness knows what’s going on with jason’s little chemistry project. at first i thought he was immunising himself to joker gas or something, but maybe it’s what passes for lazarus pit juice in this universe? 

anyway, it’s pretty impressive that jason learnt all of that from a college chemistry textbook. STOP BRINGING UP THAT HE READ SOMETHING, DICK--

2.8. i’m glad that dick doesn’t immediately sink into self-loathing and guilt and tries to investigate jason’s death while also acknowledging how he failed him. it’s like he actually learned something from the last two years! 

anyway. more about dick later. 

3. oh how i love titans!bruce. a lot of characters had a lot of Opinions on his reaction to jason’s death in this episode, but again, i ask you to consider that they’re unreliable narrators, and this universe’s bruce is a product of how it shaped him. bruce wayne has become a phantom to himself--an artifice borne out of vigorous discipline and crushing self-denial. 

bruce has been batman for a very long time, and without a robin for much longer. (dick must be... in his early thirties? so he was robin for about, say, 10-12 years according to the timeline of the show. that still makes bruce pretty old when he took on his first robin.) things have... calcified (possibly parts of his brain). the personal cost and the collateral from the mission he’s taken up for most of his life is too much to countenance; it has to be a war, and war requires sacrifice. 

on some level bruce knows that’s a lie. he’s so goddamned alone. what’s he going to do? sit down and cry? who’s going to listen to him now? oh, is he going to just stop being batman? who’s going to stop gotham from consuming herself then? he’ll just have to forge ahead, do better next time, maybe he’ll be firmer with them, or kinder with them, or notice more things, or train them harder, or spend more time--

3.25. don’t get me wrong: titans!bruce is an asshole and a half. his roster of potential robins was honestly bone-chilling. the fact that there’s a twisted root of compassion makes it more disturbing. 

3.5. alfred’s dead! it must’ve been pretty recent, because i could’ve sworn that dick tried to call alfred in the very first episode of season 1, or at least considered calling him... 

what a devastating double-blow for bruce then, losing his father-figure and his, uh.... son-figure so close together.

4. i don’t know about barbara yet. i mean, i like her, but she had so much clunky expository dialogue to deliver this episode, and for an episode that was named after her, she only showed up halfway through it. but i like the weight of history behind her interactions with both bruce and dick and her compassion to bruce before he cruelly crossed a line. i also like the implication that she and dick have been in touch recently, and that she didn’t immediately try to guilt-trip dick about some perceived abandonment. it’d be too repetitive.

4.5. there’s also a sense that she ran interference for dick a lot whenever there was something Too Big and Emotional for him to confront directly, and i like and appreciate that character beat.

5. dick, my man! it really does feel like a substantial length of time has passed between the end of s2 and the beginning of s3... kory’s got a new costume, they’ve become celebrities in SF, working missions together, and dick’s actually smiling! genuinely enjoying his work and having fun with it for possibly the first time in the entire series! it’s really a far cry from the fractured, dysfunctional mess that they were at the end of the last season.

i just hope this doesn’t mean that they’ve magically reached a resolution off-screen to all of their fucked-upness from last season, and that the repercussions--for gar in particular--are actually addressed on screen. 

5.25. i mentioned this briefly above, but it really is so refreshing that dick doesn’t wallow in guilt and self-loathing after jason’s death; he acknowledges his and the titans’ failure, is able to admit to barbara honestly that he’s not doing great, and is actively trying to reach out to bruce to make sure he’s ok, is trying to investigate what made jason seek out the joker on his own, and is probably the only person not immediately buying that it was jason’s recklessness that got him killed. i love that dick is finally beginning to trust his instincts or just employ them at all after years of guilt and paranoia and self-loathing. we love some positive character growth!

5.5. another thing i love? the bruce-dick interactions on this show. every scene they’re in together is so fraught with tension, both of them holding themselves back, their emotions on a whipcord-tight leash. dick wants to reach out to bruce, is even somewhat familiar with this brand of denial in the wake of grief, but wants barbara to make the first move because he genuinely does not know how to get bruce to open up. his instincts are right, and wonderful, and genuine, but his expression has been smothered by years of trauma, emotional and physical self-discipline, and what i suspect is poorly treated mental illness. 

it takes a lot for him to finally explode at bruce at the end of the episode--in a way he hasn’t done even when his only opinion of bruce was ‘fuck him’--and it’s all the more startling for how subdued he’s been through the episode, how much he’s been holding back his emotions for bruce’s sake. love it.

5.75. it sort of hurts my heart to see the flying graysons poster in jason’s room. there are a few implications:

a) jason settled into dick’s old room despite living in a giant mansion with dozens of other rooms he could’ve used

b) he didn’t take down dick’s poster--not when he moved in and was idolising him, not when he moved out of the titans and was sort of hating him. i wonder if the reminder of what dick was before robin--that he was forged out of unspeakable tragedy--gave jason the connection to dick that he so desperately wanted in real life

c) dick moved right back into the room and slept on the bed that was now jason’s. grief can be so quiet and piecemeal sometimes.

6. i spy the beginnings of actual arcs for both gar and kory! i just hope that with the move to gotham their stories don’t fall to the wayside...

6.5. i’ve known tim drake for less than ten minutes but if anything were to happen to him i’d kill everybody 

7. this review has gone on for too long and i am tiRED. however, before i leave: i miss some of the dedication-to-aesthetic that titans season 1 used to have. remember how the first few episodes didn’t really feel like a superhero show but something out of gothic horror? there was something gorgeous and raw about that, about open landscapes and the road and creepy buildings looming up at the end of it. moving to titans tower in s2 really ruined a lot of that for me, given its ripped-from-architectural-digest aesthetic, all smooth and clean and artificial. 

i hope that we really explore gotham’s hellscape in interesting and innovative ways instead of camping out in the batcave all the time and indulging in the show’s unending love for long corridors, neon backlights and silhouettes.

8.....

9.  wait, fuck, HOW CAN I FORGET ABOUT HOT PSYCHIATRIST GUY (TM)??? NONE of you prepared me for his return! NONE OF YOU! i gasped! i got up and did a happy dance! 

listen, titans writers, if you’ve had a peek at my titans s3 wishlist, please go ahead and give the other items on the list a go too, thankyouverymuch.

[mcd-ms-rants]

here’s the second part!! thanks for waiting

STUFF I DIDNT LIKE ABOUT MYTSTREET SEASON 6 PART 2:-

• Irene decides to be a kind and benevolent goddess by conveniently ONLY reviving aaron (in s4) and aphmau (in s6). if she’s so kind why doesn’t she do anything about all the other innocent civilians who died??

• with the whole ‘mcd and mys are related’ theory I’m surprised and upset that laurance wasn’t included since he was a Shadow Knight

• OK WHAT ARE THE FIGHT SCENES. Kim gets slammed to the ground on her back and kicked to the edge and she can walk no problem. Zane gets thrown out a window several storeys down but he doesn’t even get a scratch. hello garroth literally yeeted him down like five floors he doesn’t even have a single wound from the glass. Garroth slashes at Zane and Zane acts like he’s got a paper cut. The cut is deep and near his heart but it’s no big deal because he can somehow still walk and talk normally. he doesn’t even cover it. none of these people have a single broken bone or even a sprain. YA WTF IS THIS EXPLAIN THIS TO ME APHMAU

• idk a single thing Irene said,,, she was super cryptic and because of that half the flashback scenes were just a giant question mark for me

• IM SORRY EIN AND APHMAU ARE HALF SIBLINGS?? *war flashbacks to pdh s2* DID SHE WRITE SCENES OF EIN AND APHMAU GETTING TOGETHER EVEN THO THEY WERE RELATED?? WTF?! THATS INC*ST THATS GROSS AS SHIT PLEASE STOP look this is the calmest I can be when talking about this.

• I’m convinced to this day that she made them siblings simply because she didn’t want einmau to replace aarmau but that’s just a theory a mystreet theory

• I miss Laurance and Dante :(

• FINALLY after like thirteen episodes we get to see the main antag. Surprise surprise it’s the demon warlock. wait didn’t mcd Travis kill this guy like 6000 years ago back in mcd s3?? How is he back

• no seriously how is he even alive

• the fight scene between the demon warlock and Aphmau is so anticlimactic. first they go to the Irene Dimension but when Aphmau gets back it’s only been a few minutes in the real world. What happened to the whole ‘one minute in the Irene Dimension is a year in the Overworld’ rule?? Why does it suddenly not apply. Also even tho it’s supposed to be Aphmau’s fight Aaron takes control like halfway through and finishes the fight from there which doesn’t sit right with me because it wasn’t supposed to be his fight in the first place

• what role do Zane and Lucinda play as relics if they fall under Michael’s control like thirty seconds after the fight starts. why did she need to have three relics in the first place if Aaron was just gonna do the whole thing in the end??

• HOW DOES EMMALYN SUDDENLY KNOW MAGIC?? Last we saw she was a scholar of Irene and not a magics user the two are very different things. also how is she so strong that she can restrain the demon warlock no sweat and we have no explanation for this??

• for a fight that had a buildup twelve episodes long I expected the fight to be longer and harder and more dramatic tbh. it was over in just a few minutes and I was sitting there like what?? Because there’s no way it was that short

• WHY IS AARON FORGIVEN FOR LITERAL MURDER THAT WAS A MASSACRE RIGHT THERE WHYY

TLDR: aphmau don’t get a werewolf bf please

[tonystarkbingo]

Week 10 & 11 Roundup

A quick note from your mod Tisfan:

Sorry about missing a week; you know that phrase about how you should take one day at a time? I had several days attack me all at once and stuff got... dropped. Can’t promise it won’t happen again, but I’m getting back on track. Things are still going well, we have lots of lovely Tony Stark love tea out there for people to drink. We’re close to halfway through the Bingo, and I just want to say how proud and thrilled I am to have been working on this project!

Title: Square T5: Google Me (AO3) by @dracusfyre Rating: G Relationship: None Warnings: None Words: 1,689 Summary:  

This was my excuse to write the scene that I’ve been imagining since I saw Tony’s Infinity War armor which is OBVIOUSLY a result of a Tony and Shuri collaboration.

Title: Your Eyes look like coming home by @laufeysonthor Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Tony Stark Tags: Wedding Fluff, Planning a wedding is stressful even if you're a former assassin, Pepper Potts Is a Good Bro, James “Rhodey” Rhodes is a Good Bro, Tony and Bucky have basically adopted Peter Square filled: K4: Weddingfic Link: Part 3 of TS Bingo 2018 Summary:

“Okay, I’m convinced. December 8. Stark Mansion” James says “Save the date!”

Title: Cause Love Don’t Know What Distance is by @laufeysonthor Relationship: Tony Stark/James Rhodes Tags: Sharing Clothes, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Fluff Square: S2 - Sharing Clothes Link - A03 Summary:

Five times Tony steals Rhodey's clothes and one-time Rhodey returns the favor!

Title: Cuddling is Extra Collaborator: @tisfan Link: AO3 Square Filled: T1 - Virtual Reality, Tony Stark Bingo Ship: Tony Stark/Bucky Barnes Rating: E Major Tags: Whore AU, Virtual Reality, Silk Sheets, blowjob, grinding, lacy underwear, Sex worker!Tony, relationship issues, cuddling Summary:

“I’m very expensive,” the man told Bucky as he crossed the threshold, “and known to be choosy. High maintenance. Difficult to please, and I never fake satisfaction. If you wish to look elsewhere, no one will think the worse of you.”

“I think I can satisfy you, on all counts,” Bucky answered, and he tossed a pouch onto the bed, stepping further into the room. The pouch was small, but heavy, and it clinked when it hit the mattress.

Title: Old Ghosts by @novarain01 Link Here Square filled: S3 Ghosts Rating: Gen Major Tags: art fill, completely digital sketch, lighting work Summary: 

Marvel fanart: Tony Stark is still haunted by, but no longer cast in the shadow of, Howard’s memory

Name of Piece: He Doth Protest by @27dragons Square Filled: K2 - comics Rating: G Ship: Tony Stark/Steve Rogers Warnings: None. Summary: 

Tony’s got a bone to pick with the latest issue of Avengers Adventures. Who comes up with these ridiculous stories, anyway? [A/N: This is inspired by That One Comic where Tony and Steve spend the day together on what is clearly a date. You all know the one I mean.]

Title: Among the Missing by @shi-toyu Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Johann Schmidt & Tony Stark, James “Bucky” Barnes & Tony Stark Square K2: Unreliable Narrator Additional Tags: Childhood, Kid Fic, Kid Tony Stark, Hydra (Marvel), Pre-HYDRA Reveal, Red Room (Marvel), Family Secrets, Family Issues, Unreliable Narrator, Implied/Referenced Torture, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Implied/Referenced Human Experimentation Summary: Tony had always been a curious child. It was just something about the way he was wired. It got him into trouble more than a few times, but he also knew it was something his father really liked about him. So, even if he got punished for snooping somewhere he didn’t belong, Tony felt no inclination to try and suppress his curious urges. The one thing he wanted, more than anything else, was to make his father proud. At the tender age of eight, there was no one Tony admired more than his father, Johann Schmidt, Red Skull, Head of Hydra.

Name of Piece: The Sweetest Dream Will Never Do by @polizwrites Square Filled: R3 - Character Death Rating: General Warnings: Domestic Fluff with an Angsty ending Summary: Tony Stark/Pepper Potts

Tony and Pepper welcome their baby girl into the world; Harley and Peter are there to celebrate with them. 

Title: Make Way for Mother Hen by @rebelmeg Rating: General Audiences Square A5: “I regret nothing” Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: James “Rhodey” Rhodes & Tony Stark Additional Tags: Sickfic, MIT bros, Iron Bros, Sniffle Soup, Reference to Edwin Jarvis, Domestic Avengers, Hurt/Comfort, sorta hurt/comfort, Mostly just sick and miserable/comfort Summary:

Rhodey has nursed Tony back to health plenty of times, including after the most recent bout with whatever bug Tony managed to pick up.

Tony’s not exactly gleeful when it’s his turn to be Mother Hen… but he’s not hating it either. He’s going to make Rhodey drink so many terrible smoothies…

Name of Piece: The Pleasures of Pain by @27dragons Square Filled: S3 - spanking Rating: E Warnings: Dom/sub undertones Summary: Tony Stark/Bucky Barnes

The first time was an accident. After that, it was just fun.

Name of Piece That’s a Sharp-Ass Knife Chapter Four by @toneestark Square Filled  T1 - Fuck or Die Rating explicit  Warnings dub-con, whump, non-con Summary Tony Stark/Steve Rogers

When a familiar foe captures Tony Stark and co., he makes sure that Tony is hurt in every way possible. 

Name of Piece Soulmates Aren’t Just Lovers by @celtic7irish Rating: Teen  Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Tony Stark Additional Tags: Forced soulbonding, Imprisonment, Abandonment Issues, winter soldier programming, Bucky Barnes is still in there, Tony Stark is the most stubborn, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Bucky needs a hug, Soulmates, TWS on never happened Summary:

Hydra wants Tony to build them Stark/Chitauri Hybrid weapons. When Tony refuses, they decide that they’ll make him more pliable. By forcing him into a soulbond with the Winter Soldier. After all, his programming should supersede Tony’s stubbornness. Right?

Squares Chapter Six: A4 Date Night | Chapter Seven: T2 Labyrinth | Chapter Eight: R5 - Drabble

Name of Piece: Sealed with a Kiss by @celtic7irish Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark Characters: Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Victor von Doom Additional Tags: Attempted Forced Marriage, Crack, Von Doom wants Tony, Tony just wants information Summary:

“Then, by the power invested in me, I now pronounce you man and husband. You may now kiss the bride,” the minister proclaimed, looking smug. Von Doom reached for his helmet, and the countdown timer in Tony’s suit hit zero.

Square A2: Image > Steve Rogers Kissing Natasha Stark (wedding) - from Avengers Earth 3490 

Name of Piece: Upping the Ante by @polizwrites Square Filled: A4 Sex Pollen  Pairing: Tony Stark/James “Bucky” Barnes Rating: Explicit  Warnings: semi-slavery, implied non-con, eventual smut Summary: Sir Anthony of Stark, returning to the capital of the kingdom, comes across a traveling medicine man and fortuneteller who is keeping a man in chains. As it is the duty of a knight to right wrongs, Anthony investigates and ends up with more than he bargained for.

[papermoonloveslucy]

Lucy and the Submarine

S5;E2 ~ September 19, 1966

Synopsis

Mr. Mooney goes on training maneuvers with his old Navy buddy and forgets to sign some important papers before he leaves the bank. To get his signature, Lucy disguises herself as a sailor to follow him aboard a submarine but gets trapped inside when the sub takes a dive.  

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Gale Gordon (Theodore J. Mooney)

Mary Jane Croft (Mary Jane Lewis) does not appear in this episode.

Guest Cast

Roy Roberts (Admiral, above left) was born Roy Barnes Jones in Tampa, Florida in 1906. His early career was on the Broadway stage, gracing such plays as Old Man Murphy (1931), Twentieth Century (1932), The Body Beautiful (1935) and My Sister Eileen (1942). In Hollywood, the veteran character actor clocked over 900 screen performances in his 40 year career, most of which were authority figures.  He and Lucille Ball appeared together in Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949). Halfway through season 5 of “The Lucy Show” he will assume the role of Mr. Cheever, Mr. Mooney's boss at the bank, a character he will play for 14 episodes.  He was seen as various characters in 5 episodes of “Here's Lucy.”  In addition, he was a regular on “McHale's Navy” (Admiral Rogers), “The Beverly Hillbillies” (John Cushing), “Bewitched” (Frank Stephens), “Petticoat Junction” (Norman Curtis), and “Gunsmoke” (Harry Bodkin).  Roberts died in 1975 at age 69.   Robert Carson (Commander Bill Moore, above right) played bank employee Mr. Potter in “Lucy Saves Milton Berle” (S4;E13) and “Lucy at Marineland” (S4;E1). He was a busy Canadian-born character actor making his last appearance on the series. He also made five appearances on “Here’s Lucy.”

Steven Marlo (Marine Guard) makes the first of his two appearances on “The Lucy Show.”  He will return for “Lucy Visits Viv” (S5;E15).

Sid Gould (Laundry Man, uncredited) made more than 45 appearances on “The Lucy Show,” all as background characters. He also did 40 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” Gould (born Sydney Greenfader) was Lucille Ball’s cousin by marriage to Gary Morton.

Eddie Ryder (William Jones, Leering Sailor) appeared as Bones Snodgrass on the “Our Miss Brooks” from 1953-54 under the name Eddie Riley.  In addition to this episode, he was also seen with Lucille Ball in the 1964 teleplay “Mr. and Mrs.”  

Jerry Rush (Jerry Rush, Sailor, uncredited) makes the third of his ten (mostly uncredited) appearances on the series. He also did two episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Larry Anthony (Larry Anthony, Sailor, uncredited) makes his only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Other male background performers play sailors in the Navy yard and on the submarine.

On the same night this episode first aired (September 19, 1966), Roy Roberts (the Admiral) was seen in “The Road West,” which followed “The Lucy Show” on NBC.  

This is the only episode written by the team of Dirk Bensfield and Perry Grant. Both were integral writers on “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” (1952-1966), which ended its long run earlier in in the year, freeing them up to take freelance projects like “The Lucy Show.”  

This episode's premise of Mr. Mooney forgetting to sign important bank papers and Lucy following him to some exotic location is basically the same as “Lucy the Rain Goddess” (S4;E15), but instead of a dude ranch, the location is a submarine.  

The episode's underscoring integrates “Anchors Aweigh,” the march of the United States Navy composed in 1906 by Charles A. Zimmermann.

Lucille Ball's voice sounds a bit scratchy during portions of the episode, perhaps as the result of illness combined with heavy smoking.

Mr. Mooney tells Lucy he's going on a two-week training, but warns her (in his best deep-voiced, measure tones) that “I shall return!”  These were the immortal words of General Douglas MacArthur when he escaped the Philippines after being surrounded by the Japanese in March 1942.  

Coincidentally, Lucy has a telephone conversation with Mr. Cheever, the Bank President, in the same episode that features Roy Roberts (the Admiral), who will play Mr. Cheever later in the season.  

Lucy Carmichael once again mentions that she is from Jamestown, which was also the birthplace of Lucy Ricardo and the real hometown of Lucille Ball.

Mr. Mooney says he received the Victory Medal when he was stationed on the SS Porpoise submarine in the South Pacific during World War II. Later we find out that Mr. Mooney made all that up to impress Lucy and that he was actually a housing officer stationed just outside of Wichita.  

Film editor John Foley uses a 'flip wipe' to denote the passage of time when Lucy changes clothes in the laundry van. This editing technique was only used in one previous episode of “The Lucy Show,” which usually uses a standard 'fade' to transition between scenes.  

The episode also employs brief clips of stock footage of sailors working on a docked submarine and (later) of a sub moving through the water and then resurfacing.  

When all the other sailors are holding up their ID and stating their names to the guard in last name / first name order, Lucy says “Club, Auto” and flashes her AAA card!  

Where there's water, rest assured Mr. Mooney will end up wet. In the submarine his pants and shirt get drenched when he opens the hatch after the sub is underway.

With her floppy white sailor cap and bumbling demeanor, Lucy more than resembles Gilligan, the goofy first mate of the SS Minnow on “Gilligan's Island,” a series that was then entering its third and final season (of its original run) on CBS just as “Lucy” was entering its fifth.  

Callbacks!

Back in Danfield, Viv's son Sherman owned a submarine lunchbox, which was seen in “Vivian Sues Lucy” (S1;E10) and “Viv Moves Out” (S2;E22). 

Sherman and Lucy's son Jerry played with a toy submarine in “The Loophole in the Lease” (S2;E12).  

A deflated Mr. Mooney admits to being stationed in Wichita during the war. Wichita was also used as a punchline by the Kansan couple atop the Empire State Building in “Lucy is Envious” (ILL S3;E22) just before Lucy and Ethel appear as women from Mars.  Clearly they're not in Kansas anymore!  

Blooper Alerts

Mr. Mooney's office changes configuration yet again.  In the previous episode there was a white wall and potted palm where a wood grain wall and safe now are located.

Gale Gordon mistakenly mixes his metaphors when he barks at Lucy: “While I'm gone I want this office tip ship shape.” He starts to say “tip top shape” but the line is likely the nautical metaphor “ship shape.”  

Back in Danfield, Lucy and Viv often proudly mentioned that they were WAVES, a Navy reserve program for women during World War II.  Yet here, when Lucy hears of Mr. Mooney's service in the Navy, she says nothing about it.  

As usual, Lucy manages to go unnoticed disguised as a male sailor despite her bright red lipstick, blue eye shadow, and heavy eyelashes. Until she removes her sailor cap, that is – then the jig is up!  

“Lucy and the Submarine” rates 3 Paper Hearts out of 5