#I'm rewatching all of season 1

[dragon-razor-writings]

So.

I watched the Solo Leveling S2 Premiere.

This is my response:

[housemdork]

house md rewatch: 2x15, "clueless"

"love will make you do wrong" oh i'm sure.

this is one of those recaps where i'm definitely just reiterating what the writers were putting down, but it's so insane that it bears in-depth repeating imo.

please believe me when i say this rewatch project's goal is a wholistic view of the entire series. yet, with that in mind, you can imagine the stress i feel when what seems like an episode devoted entirely to unpacking intimate interpersonal relationships has hilson as the fulcrum. and not just hilson - equal character development for both house and wilson as the domesticity shenanigans unfold.

that's not to downplay the patient story - it's crazy, and i'm kind of obsessed with it. the zebra factor is probably way off the charts, but i love the extra sherlockian vibe and the confirmation that house md can, in fact, do shock value without throwing entire identities under the bus (@ 2x13). all that plus the horror movie opening? golden (lmfao).

from the top, then. look at his triangle ass stance here:

we can safely say, i'd argue, that 2000s audiences were supposed to laugh at how much wilson cares about his appearance; i'm laughing, too, but in a 2020s Woke Queer Way. and house lasts just one night with wilson crashing on his couch before he says that this won't work; his domestic sphere has been invaded by someone he doesn't know how to account for, at least not in this capacity. one of the things we know about house thus far is that routine is immeasurably valuable to him.

it also kills me how devastated wilson is to hear that house wants him out, along with his sassy retort about house's hair, or "what's left of it." gagged.

this entire episode is based on the (heterosexual) domicile. it also devotes a lot of time qualifying the patient and his partner, bob and maria, as Sexually Freaky (tm). they upend traditional notions of marriage, partnership, and sex through their kinks/bdsm, including consensual noncon sex. the team leaps to the initial conclusion that bob's sudden suffocation comes from repeated history of rough sex, which is quickly disproven.

maria and bob's sex life absolutely boggles everyone's minds...except for cameron's lol. the growing fluidity with which she treats relationships as some of her convictions adapt (not dissolve! just shift!) is really interesting to me, like it interests chase, too lol.

2x15 persistently deconstructs maria and bob's personal lives until its full ugliness is on display (while unforch being a little kink-shamey, but we can look past this). despite their insistence that they're happy, maria is secretly poisoning her husband. despite their pristine home, what takes place in there is only thinly disguised intermarital violence. cameron's bet on their happiness falls flat on its face, and house md argues that a frontward functional relationship will always be plagued with deeper issues.

those issues are not represented visually, however! let's contrast the 2 major sites of domesticity in this episode:

foreman's remarks that maria and bob keep an impeccably clean place contrasts with wilson's general opinion of house's apartment. over the seasons, we see house's place in various states of disarray, though it's chock full of his personality and history, whereas maria and bob's place is just cold, 2000s chic. this reinforces the subliminal distance between maria and bob and captures the degree to which wilson is invited into house's personal life.

next i want to tackle the emphasis on food, poisoning, and choking in 2x15. i thought it was a silly bullet point in my notes until i actually sat down to right this (like literally in this moment!). after repeatedly arguing that bob was poisoned with heavy metals, house eventually lands on the theory that maria is behind it. it's not until the end does 2x15 reveal that she's been dosing his food with gold (don't ask me the full name lmfao), scarring his lungs over time.

meanwhile, in stuffed pepper, pancake, salad, and sandwich land:

house pretends to find the bell peppers stinky but takes a liking to the rest of wilson's cooking immediately. no poison to be had here. in an outwardly dysfunctional domestic situation, food sharing (however reluctant) is a net positive. wilson's final note warning house off his lunch is closer to a joke than a formal warning:

if it's not clear, i'm casting house as maria and wilson as bob in this off-kilter domesticity parallel, and a subtle but brilliant example of this comes at the very end. while maria is taken away in handcuffs, house rushes back home on his motorcycle. while foreman and chase inform bob that maria was trying to kill him, wilson sleeps soundly on house's couch. viewers are also treated to al green's "love and happiness" in the background, with the very poignant lyric: "love will make you do wrong."

everything about house/wilson and maria/bob is reversed, along with their respective "wrongs." 2x15 is funny and crazy enough to suggest that house deleting the message about wilson's apartment is symbolically akin to maria killing bob slowly over time. look how they both gaze upon their domestic partners - one with faux guilt on their face, and the other with faux annoyance:

i've spent all this time building to the following argument: in pretending that he hates having wilson around, 2x15 subverts the assumed happiness brought on by a heteronormative domestic space. as much as maria pretends to love bob, house pretends to hate living with wilson. maria tries to remove bob from her domestic (and from this earth lol) while house tries to keep wilson around. we spend an entire episode unearthing how sinister a sexually charged heterosexual marriage can be, only to arrive at the house and wilson dynamic of it all.

i'm not even strictly hilson posting here, just highlighting how bizarre it is in that 2000s network tv decided to deconstruct heteronormativity, however intentionally/unintentionally. it's not my fault that wilson has to make everything about sex. and that every moment of this episode is about sex except for the moments spent between house and wilson.

lastly, one of the concluding scenes between house and the fellows is a nice example of audience/house solidarity, something the entire show does subtly throughout to get us squarely in his headspace. the four of them are ruminating over what could possibly motivate someone to kill their partner, which cameron seems especially appalled by.

in response, house makes a slew of interesting deductions: "maybe she just got tired of being married. didn't want to admit to family and friends that the marriage everyone thought was perfect wasn't."

i call this house solidarity because we know for a fact that he's talking about wilson's situation...but who within his marriage? we never meet julie (which, apart from the unfortunate fridging, i think is a good narrative choice), so we don't get her side of the story or understand if/how she's been open about her and wilson's separation. all we know, and all that house cares to know, is that wilson's marriage isn't perfect.

this next bit is informed by my hilson brain, but there's been a subtle thrill in house in the face of wilson's separation. i get the sense that he hopes he's talking about wilson here, that he hopes wilson got tired of being married because things (in the aforementioned heteronormative relationship!) are imperfect. and, as if to secure this hope, he deletes the message about the apartment while looking especially smug.

this line of dialogue also does some work in acknowledging wilson's vulnerability. like the patient in 2x14 suggested, we can't be afraid to look stupid. by nature of showing up at house's door, he's admitted that things aren't perfect. that's their give-and-take; wilson lets house in emotionally while house lets wilson in physically. given house's reliance on routine and privacy, this is an equal exchange.

here's my actual final note: why can't wilson realize that he has a real love language? FOOD! and acts of service! you don't just have to sleep with everyone you love! there are other ways to express these things! you literally had a spoon at the ready for house! and you seem so secretly pleased when he doesn't hate the taste!

[ineed-to-sleep]

I forgot about how killing eve's writing just starts getting progressively worse the more season 3 goes on. Like girl what happened to my show.......... my characters......... what did they DO to villanelle...................... and where is EVE

[honourablepranksinatra]

One of the things about all creatures great and small that makes me want to chew metal is how Tristan and Siegfried quickly transcend the stereotypical archetypes they seem to fit at the beginning to reveal two complex characters with one of the most nuanced familial relationships I've seen on tv.

Tristan is introduced as the lazy younger brother who doesn't apply himself and doesn't take responsibility even if it harms others, while Siegfried is the gruff, controlling older brother who is constantly trying to change his sibling.

But even in as season 1 progresses, we see them as so much more. Tristan desperately wants Siegfried's affection and approval, but he's afraid to try for fear he'll never measure up to Siegfried's exacting standards. He's genuinely confused about his place in the world and lacks confidence in his abilities and struggles with book learning. He acts out a bit at the beginning when he first meets James; he thinks Siegfried is finally getting the brother he always wanted— one he isn't disappointed in! But Tristan has a massive heart— he quickly warms up to and befriends James and grows more comfortable with Siegfried and James' relationship.

And Siegfried— their father died young and he believed it was his duty to fill that role for Tristan. He's terrified that he messed Tristan up, and takes out those fears on him. In his mind, if Tristan is a failure, then he is a failure, and his sacrifices have been in vain. Part of him resents Tristan's ability to lollygag because that was never something he had the luxury of doing, as he had to take care of Tristan. And Siegfried is so focused on being a veterinarian, he defines success for Tristan as being a good vet without considering his aptitude or interest. Also, he's very aware of mortality given the loss of his parents and his wife, and he worries Tristan wouldn't be able to stand on his own two feet if something were to happen to him. But even though he can be hard on Tristan, everything Siegfried does is because he loves Tristan so much— he genuinely wants the best for him— and would sacrifice everything for him.

All of this is just in season one. Siegfried and Tristan get 4 other seasons of development.

[mysecretwindowuniverse]

Season 1 | Oswald + The Dons

[sillybayo]

Its crazy how realistically (the fake) Professor Avalon grooms the fairies at alfea, Bloom especially (Not sexually but you can easily interpret it that way). The moment when it was revealed that he was actually the fake professor and Musa goes "But hes been so nice! How could he be the fake one :(". The way they break down how he relied on building up trust in the girls.

You can also say that Tecna suspecting Avalon to be evil,,, solely based off a (fake and comedic) story/myth that pointed out the traits The Bad One """will""" have. Similar to how people pin physical and personality stereotypes on what an abuser should be. And how accusing people based off of them is wrong (I mean. She wassssss right but not for the right reasons)

[glowingwaves]

It's interesting how in season 8, everyone - even the other ninja - is calling Lloyd "Master".

But in DR s1 he actively REFUSES to be called master.

I suppose though, it is in different situations and there's different meanings to it... but still, i find this change interesting to his character

[housemdork]

house md rewatch: 2x17, "all in"

hit it, lady gaga. does it count as a poker face if you're talking over the phone, though?

and if i said this is my "three stories?" would that break your trust in me?

it doesn't do the same story work as 1x21, nor is it all that innovative in its presentation, and YES, it's a bit gimmicky, but i love her (2x17). next to 5x04, it's probably my most watched, which is why i was surprised when i realized i don't have a ton to say! one of 2x17's strengths is its directness/efficiency, so this recap may just read like a big appreciation post, more than anything else.

and what i want to appreciate first is how wonderful everyone looks :)

foreman is kinda real for that lol ^

second, i think someone told the writers' room what "haunting the narrative" meant when they started drafting this episode and they Ran with it. apart from reinforcing house's addiction to the puzzle and reaffirming his godhood along the way, i couldn't decipher much more about the old patient esther. the king james bible dictionary (lmfao) says that the name comes from the old persian word for star, "satarah," which could allude to a sort of northern star situation; something that house strives for. but it's also a stereotypical old people name, and house as god is actually deconstructed by the end of 2x17, so who knows.

at a textual level, what i liked the most about 2x17 was its self-awareness about its driving theme/allegory: gambling & games of chance is like diagnostics. audiences are fully down with the sickness atp, so to speak; this isn't news for us. but the kid patient ian and his parents are NOT down with this. every time the team unveils a new potential diagnosis, the parents try to roll with the punches but grow increasingly restless and distrustful of house. fair enough!

the team's stress mounts as ian begins tanking just like esther did twelve years ago, and right around the time that the party has about 2 hours to go, so does ian. their desperation turns to a numbers/instinct game, with house having a very Always Bet On Black moment with his repeated erdheim chester diagnosis. it ends in his favor; his celebration is very much that of a gambling addict, too. but remember this for later!

back to self-consciousness: house and wilson have a very interesting conversation when rehashing the esther saga from twelve years ago. wilson, because he's a theatre/literature/pop culture nerd (a man after my own heart), reasonably compares esther to house's own personal moby dick. house replies with a short tirade against metaphors:

"you do realize that the point of metaphors is to scare people from doing things by telling them that something much scarier is going to happen than what really will happen? god, i wish i had a metaphor to explain that better."

first, i have to laugh because house does nothing but use metaphors every chance he can to describe things from the mundane to the medically complex. but more importantly, here, house md is directly acknowledging the shakiness of the metaphor of gambling/doctors. its anticipating the audience's renewed anxiety - will my health be reduced to such a turbulent guessing game? - and maybe even taking a stab at repairing that anxiety. i think this is so clever!! i love manipulating and acknowledging the genre!

this discomfort translates to house, too, like i've alluded to above. esther really does haunt his narrative, and we've never seen him outwardly celebrating cracking a case like this one before. he himself is unwilling to admit to the gambling/doctoring dichotomy, either, because it would reinforce his fallibility. even when cuddy directly (and rightfully) attacks him for hijacking the case, he doesn't totally relent.

"sometimes you lose, house! you're not god!"

very, very true and important and telling!

house's fallibility isn't just thrown in his face via dialogue or inward self-doubt, however. it's obviously unusual for house specifically to be dressed so formally ever since the vogler/lab coat debacle. but as the case progresses, the pomp and circumstances of the poker tournament fall away. while the fellows don their lab coats and Doctor Gear, house strips down:

his second to last iteration is the sterile gown he wears while sitting next to ian with cuddy. i like how this transfers this motif to cuddy, too. they're both without their pretty poker night outfits, united in a cleanroom with concern. that happens a lot - the patient's urgency trumps their tension/pettiness. subtle but forever mounting moments of solidarity between them.

the revelation that it was, in fact, erdheim chester all along in ian and esther's cases superficially restores house's poker face. he's reclaimed that godhood card - on the surface. wilson delivers cuddy's same point in another instance of vulnerability like the cleanroom moment. this time, the text of 2x17 hands wilson the self-consciousness reins. he forces house to confront the immense gamble he won, and their resulting laughter is one the audience can join in:

in Every Way, this scene is stripped back. the hospital is actively disassembling the poker night decorations/paraphernalia. they aren't using poker chips anymore. their clothes are in equal states of disarray; i don't quite understand why wilson hung back for so long lol. and house's cigar is lit, whereas in the first poker game, it was a prop to irritate and see through wilson and cuddy's poker faces. now wilson can see through its literal smokescreen.

this is also the first time house/wilson and cigars makes landfall. i'm obsessed with this motif.

better yet, house doesn't call. he doesn't try to read wilson - he's too busy being read for filth himself. i truly love this scene, especially when you think about all the pseudo-marital problems they've been having lmfao.

finally, i need to address the Hudson Psychosexual Games of it all. they play THROUGH wilson. the trifecta is trifecta-ing. for now, this reads as an isolated incident, and showcases how well these 3 know each other. i like that it finally invites cuddy into the mix since she'll quickly become integral to house and wilson and all the rest in a way that's not fully realized yet. more than that, i like how she and house can see through the communication barrier. above all, however, i'm obsessed with the thrill wilson gets from the arrangement. freak. obviously there's more to come on this matter >:)

i just love this episode. 10/10. no notes. and look how happy he is that he won the tournament! never mind that he couldn't have done it without house's help! he beat burman, from business affairs! (i can recite his dialogue here from memory).

i'm gonna throw up.

[kibibarel]

every time i rewatch ATLA i am so charmed by how many times an episode ends and the Message of the Day seems to be shit like "remember, kids: stealing is okay" or "lying is bad unless you're really good at it"

[mikimeiko]

Arcane | Season 2 (2024), Christian Linke and Alex Yee

[youchangedmedestiel]

Favorite shot of Dead in the Water (1x03):

Dean sort of looking at his young self, scared and voiceless. Either because he's not talking or because nobody is listening, but Dean does listen here. He's being the ear and comfort he needed when he, himself, was young.

[lyxchen]

I feel like I'm digging myself deep into a hole and finding nothing, trying to figure out more about In-ho's family

[discocandles]

I haven't talked about my babysitter's a vampire in a bit, but it's october, so i have no excuse(or every excuse. whatever). this show impacted me a lot.

In mbav, i feel like vampirism is treated a bit differently than in other supernatural media. and maybe that's because its for a younger audience that a lot of other vampire media, aiming for pre-teens rather than actual teenagers and young adults. From what i remember of buffy, vampires aren't people anymore. The person dies when they get turned and are left as like demons, i think? its been a while since i last saw btvs. When turned into a vampire in mbav, you still retain your personality for the most part. there's just also vampire quirks next to it. and don't ask about the vampire diaries, i've never wached it.

like we only see people get turned in the mbav movie, and while we never see what Sarah was like as a human, we get a few ideas from erica, and it's not like she's unrecognizable after being turned(into a fledgling, but beside the point), just acting kinda weird and distant. Rory also doesnt act super different when turned, but almost made this whole post about him, and i have a theory about why he barely changed that i'll get into later. Erica's change was pretty dramatic but given the fact that the main thing the movie told us about her personality before being turned was her obsession with the dusk franchise it was pretty easy for her to have a dramatic change, and she still has elements of the girl she was before that come through from time to time, especially in season 2.

I think people don't change a lot when turned in mbav because they has a bigger sense of freedom to do whatever they want to due to all the power they now have at their disposal. We see this more in the show, because of the need to defeat Jesse takes precedent in the movie. In a lot of Erica's s1 plotlines, she's doing things because she's "hot now", or didn't have the courage to do, or just because she wants to. And with Rory, part of the reason he didn't change all that much is because prior to being turned, he already did whatever he wanted, and his wants are more aligned with publicly being a nerd rather getting more power. Like in the movie, he talked about his interests with Ethan and Benny, but as a vampire he's broadcasting those interests in the hallways in addition to that.

Sarah is a bit of a different case, especially as a fledgling, because she feels held back by her vampirism rather than her humanity. The thing Sarah wants is one of the few things her vampiric powers can't do: go away. she sees them as a shackle instead of as freeing. and she acts like a normal human should act like to cope, trying out for sports and getting a job or two. Scarfing down human food to stave off her bloodthirst. But in season 2, when she's fully a vampire, we see her sense of doing whatever she wants pop up a few times. it happens a lot in episode 1, when she dunks VP Hicks in the trash can, and especially when she's resistant to the Vampire Counsil. We also see her join activities that she's actually interested in, similar to Rory being even more outward about his interests after being turned. she joins the talent show and the school play, and she starts dating again. ironically, i think that's pretty similar to things she would've done as a human. hell, we even see her being best friends with Erica again, which hadn't happened since before Jesse turned her.

and speaking of getting turned, vampirism started as an allegory for like, losing your virginity before getting married. and it's not really present as a metaphor in the show(again, made for pre-teens), but there are a few moments that it's hinted at. Like Rory calling his vampire bite a "wicked hickey" or Erica leaving a bedroom with Gord looking really disheveled. It's the closest to a legitimate allegory with Sarah and Jesse, because the way he phrased him turning her into a fledgling is very very similar to that of sexual assault. it's very clear that Sarah did not consent to being turned, even if Jesse was her boyfriend at the time. its less an allegory for loss of virginity and more one for the importance of giving consent, and even then, it's not that exact of a metaphor.

away from that, also interesting is how different Erica is from Rory and Sarah. there were hints of her desire to rebel in the beginning("if i had a hot boyfriend, i'd totally ditch class too. what? i would!"), but they feel understated after everything she does after being turned. while in the movie, it's because she was one of Jesse's followers, but her morals also skew towards the gray area in the show, sometimes having Rory as a henchman to have do her bidding/hep her. it could be attributed to her vampirism, except the fact that Sarah and Rory don't often share that muted sense of morality is odd, especially since she was introduced as a straight As good girl that's really into canon's twilight. And in season 2, we see she still has some of her nerdy aspects in there that she's hiding, like when she geeks out to Ethan that the star of dusk is in town, or her chemistry knowledge, or her following instructions for vampire rituals on halloween. also, the way she acted around David in the werewolf episode seemed to call back to her nerdier side. idk it just fascinates me the ways that erica acts, because she will wholeheartedly do things that are at least kinda questionable morally, but hesitates when it feels nerdy or sees the guys are also doing it.

anyway, those were some of my thoughts mbav that i've kinda just had in the back of my mind.

[aberooski]

Abby finishes Yugioh GX 🥹

[the-breath-in-air]

Interview with the Vampire - S1E5: A vile hunger for your hammering heart // S2E5: "Don't be afraid, just start the tape."

[sloasis]

Gonna start watching season 1 with my dad while I'm also on my own rewatch and now on season 5 WHILE ALSO watching season 8(b) as it comes out .... I'm 9-1-1pilling way too hard someone has to stop me