#JONN HAS WORKED HIS WAY INTO MY HEART

[lindalofbroome]

04 - Caring

‘All well, Jonn?’ he asked, as cheerfully as he could. ‘Nearly there now.’ And was struck by a sudden memory. An echo of Strong Jonn’s voice, saying those very words to him. In just the same way, on thta first morning, as they walked away from Rin. Rowan caught his breath. Had Jonn’s heart been aching for him then as his ached for Jonn now? And for the same reasons? Had he then be wrong, quite wrong, about Jonn all along?

Rowan of Rin // Ch 12 Bravest Heart

when i first reread Rowan of Rin when i was older and read that jonn was in love with jiller i was like ‘hey wtf??’ and when rowan was trudging up the mountain in ch 5 thinking angrily “What right had Strong Jonn to look at his mother like that? What right had he to hold her hands as if he were more to her than her dead husband’s friend?” i was like yeah??? it was definitely mutual interest, but it still would’ve been so much to process for rowan, even without the whole threat to his entire village. 

but i also think that these two have an underrated relationship. 

because they go from this awkward wariness to genuinely loving each other. rowan thinks that jonn is just looking after him out of a sense of obligation. that he’s only doing it because of his mother and it would break her heart if something happened to him. and i think a part of that is true. 

but i think that jonn was also genuinely trying to connect with him. he definitely did with annad. the only problem was the point of the entire series, and that rowan is just so different from most people in rin. jonn could connect with annad because they were similar,, anne with an e is stuck in my head now, so they’re like kindred spirits <3 but rowan? they’re opposites. there’s like a window in between them and they can see but not touch.

then the stream dries up and it has catastrophic consequences for the village and it shatters the glass.

they are united under a common purpose. and jonn, out of a tentative act of love, extends his hand passed the threshold but rowan is too angry and shocked and terrified to accept it.

one by one, the members of their party bow to their fears and return home. but this is never rowan, reknowned for his cowardice. he persists. despite everything. “I will not go back!” he says “You cannot make me. I must hold the map for you. I must find the water for the bukshah. I promised them.” (ch 11) i think thats when jonn gained a bit of clarity about the young boy who was the village oddity, who puzzled him for a long time. he understood what it was to make a promise and to stop at nothing to see it through. “By my life, I promise I will bring him home to you[, Jiller].”  (ch 5) he understood the determination, the blood, sweat and tears, the ache in the heart. and i think that jonn started to admire him. he admired that above all else, this child, the runt of the village, could show such courage in the face of a danger that turned away six of their bravest. that this child, the shame of the village, embodied its most praised quality when even he lay down and gave up.

'Jonn, do not go to sleep! It is too cold. You are too weak! You will freeeze! You will die! Jonn, get up!' Jonn did not move. Rowan sobbed, beating at the ground. ‘Jonn, I cannot go on alone! You know I cannot! Sheba did not foretell this! Sheba said the bravest heart would carry on. That is what she said. And I am not the bravest heart. I fear everything! Everything!’

Jonn’s pale lips curved. 'Yes, skinny rabbit. So you do,’ he murmured. ‘Fearing, you climbed the Mountain. Fearing, you faced its dangers. And fearing, you went on. That is real bravery, Rowan. Only fools do not fear. Sheba knew that. Sheba knew everything, all along.'

Rowan stared. And slowly an icy calm settled on him. He knew what he must do. ‘Sleep now,’ he whispered. ‘I will look after you.’

Rowan of Rin // Ch 12 Bravest Heart

im on the verge of crying now but just,,, the way that rowan starting caring for jonn and realising that he was falling into the patterns that jonn had earlier in their journey,,,,,, and “Had Jonn’s heart been aching for him then as his ached for Jonn now?” (ch 12) and this understanding that’s grown between then because of this harrowing journey.... 

jonn was slipping and his hand was falling back to his side of the window but rowan siezed it in a tight grip and did not let go. they grew to be good friends and they loved each other and they trusted each other. and i love that when they returned home,, even though jonn was exhausted and injured, he made sure that the villagers all knew what he knew. he made sure that they knew that the quest’s success was rowan’s success. he made sure that there could be no mistake in their minds.

and throughout the rest of the series you can see that they were both very important to each other and they were no longer bonded only by jiller. that they had a connection outside of her and they loved to be with each other. im gonna add some quotes in a rb

[ruffiorocks]

Kara needs to realise she's in love with Lena on her own!!

This one for away from me! 😅

I've been seeing a lot of posts saying they wish Cat Grant would come back and tell Kara she is in love with Lena, or that Alex should tell her.

But the thing is, I don't want that to happen!

Guys, one of things that has been annoying people to no end is the fact that Kara has to be TOLD she's into someone. She had to be told she was into Mon El and she's basically being told she's into William.

Lena had to be told she had chemistry with James, a romance that came out of literally nowhere and didn't go anywhere but rock bottom because of the lack of build up, chemistry, communication and utter disrespect James had for Lena both as a girlfriend and as his boss.

Anyone who reads my posts knows I couldn't stand James, but at least he and Kara had actual chemistry in season one right from the get go. Kara didn't need to be told she was into James, she was aware of it. She did however have to be told by Alex that Adam was flirting with her.

So why would we want someone to once again tell Kara she is into someone rather than her coming to this realisation all on her own?

Should the writers ever put Kara and Lena together they need to come to the realisation that they are into each other all on their own. Constantly having to be told you are into someone is a poor way of showing a romance.

Antis would have a field day it Alex or anyone else told Kara she was in love with Lena. They would say the exact same thing we've been saying, that they had to be told this because there is no chemistry.

So no, I don't want Cat Grant to come back to tell Kara she's being and idiot and is in love with Lena. Should the writers want to make SC canon I want Kara to realise she's in love with Lena. I want the writers to stop making her an oblivious dumb ass who protests she isn't into someone only for another character to tell her she must be and for her to be like "yeah you must be right and I must be wrong " and to constantly second guess herself.

Kara had chemistry with Mon El but the relationship was riddled with problems, lies and a lack of respect. Not all on Mon Els part, Kara didn't have a lot of respect for him either and tried to push him into doing something he didn't want to do.

My biggest issue with Karamel and why I never saw it as endgame was because these two characters didn't really know all that much about eachother. Kara knew Mon El the ex royal guard and the new person he decided to be on Earth and Mon El knew Kara Danvers and Supergirl. Kara didn't know who Mon El truly was until just before she had to send him away. She found out he was the Prince she couldn't stand and they had no time to discuss it before he was yeeted into space. After Mon El came back he was someone completely different, he wasnt the Mon El she had known and Mon El finally got to meet Kara Zor El. This would have been good for me if he hadn't come back with a wife. But he did, and he still strung Kara along, even discussing his marriage issues with her to the point she told him she didn't want to hear it.

Now Kara and Lena have a similar issue. Lena got to know Kara Danvers and Supergirl but unlike Mon El she knew them as two separate people. Kara got to know Lena Luthor, Lena didn't have a secret second identity and didn't lie about who she was, she didn't pretend to be "Lena Thorul" or "Tess Mercer". Kara actively kept her identity a secret from Lena which would have been fine if she hadn't gone all OOC in season 3 and decided she could play Lena by being an ass to her as Supergirl but then come back and play nice and be Lena's bff as Kara Danvers. Yes, Lena kept secrets from Supergirl but she didn't do these things to hurt her, secrets were kept to protect Sam and it's not like Supergirl didn't keep secrets from Lena. Lena didn't tell Kara everything either, but why would she tell her civilian best friend about the top secret projects she was working on ? Or that she had met with Lex and was keeping him alive? What buisness is that of Kara Danvers?

Remember when Kara screamed at Mon El that she had given her heart to a lying Jack ass?

what if Lena believes she gave her heart to a lying Jack ass as well? Lena even told Kara that she had broken her heart.

The funny thing about these two is that no matter what they just can't forget about each other. Even when Supergirl was being an ass to Lena she was still there for her and Lena was still there for Supergirl. They may have been mad at each other but they came swooping in whenever the other needed help.

Remember the scene where Kara had hoped that what had happened wouldn't ruin their friendship? But Lena wasn't going to sit and take that and told her that she had real friends, ones that didn't lie to her and didn't ask her boyfriend to vilolate her trust? Kara or rather Supergirl looked broken and what did she do? Kara went straight back to Lena for the first time in RAO knows when as Kara Danvers so she could be with her best friend so she could have Lena in some way. But we still saw the guilt on her face when Lena said she could never trust Supergirl again.

Then we had the reveal and great RAO!! That was one of the most emotional scenes the show has ever produced. Kara was broken! She knew what she had done was wrong, keeping the secret for a while wasn't wrong but all the bull shit that came with it and the length of time was what was wrong. Kara herself has admitted this. Kara was practically hyperventilating when she revealed herself and when Lena just walked passed her she was broken. The look of utter relief when she believed Lena had forgiven her was amazing. Personally to me it looked like Lena really did in some way forgive her and couldn't bear to see Kara like that. She's always been weak around Kara, but the moment she was alone with the AI and only her thoughts for company the hard side of her that closes of any feelings of love came out.

Then we had Kara going out of her way to try to make Lena happy. She flew around the world to her her favourite things to make her happy. Lena really looked like she appreciated this , I know that she was pretending but part of me thinks she really did appreciate it. It only took a request and one pouty face from Lena for Kara to break the law, to go against advice not to do it just to make Lena happy. Non of that was healthy for either one of them, the problem was that they didn't really discuss the 3 years of lies and everything that came with it. They had a few tears and a hug and suddenly were bffs only with super benefits now. We know why Lena didn't bring it up, but Kara was willing to accept that everything was absolutely fine and she didn't really question it, she was to over the moon Lena seemed OK with her.

Then we had the scene in the Fortress. Lena may have been trying to play the big bad I don't need you Luthor in this scene but she failed miserably. This was Lena's turn to absolutely break down like Kara did at the award ceremony. There are true feeling of love between these two whichever type of love you decide it is. You don't break down over someone you don't care about. Lena shot Lex to keep the world and Kara safe even though she felt betrayed by Kara. Now I know people hate that Lena used Kryptonite , but I'm sorry Kara showed no signs of pain, only heart break. Plus no one gave a rats ass when Jonn or Alex used it on her and she showed it bloody hurt. Even after she was released from the fortress she showed no signs of being in any pain, so any 'torture' commentators can sit down before you hurt yourselves.

Kara STILL believed in Lena and didn't want her hurt when she was about to use the medusa virus. It was Alex who used and manipulated her. Kara was almost getting through to Lena before Alex decided trick her then to point a canon at Lena! Rememeber it was Hope that shot at Kara, Lena didn't want that to happen at all.

Lena is still fighting to help save the day even when she supposedly hates Kara. She helped during Crisis and even if she did 100% hate Kara and the super friends she is still the reason 1000s are still alive. But no one wants to remember that. No one wants to remember she's the reason National City survived the Daxamites, no one wants to remember how she helped with Reign. No one wants to rememeber how she re-created Harun El and cured cancer. No one wants to rememeber that she mass produced Harun El and gave it to Alura along with the recipe so Argo could survive. No one wants to remember she saved Argo a second time when she shot Lex. No one wants to remember that she saved all the aliens of National City from the isotope. No one wants rememeber she had a suit ready to save Supergirl from the poisoned air. Shall I go on? Lena Luthor is a hero, she's going down a dodgy path because she is hurt, confused, betrayed and traumatised but it doesn't mean she's evil. A lot of fans don't seem to understand the definition of the word at all, Lena isnt being good right now by any stretch of the imagination but she certainly isn't evil.

People keep saying how she should finally have her redemption, and how bad it is that the guys get theirs. But here's the thing, all those things I mentioned above? Those ARE Lena's redemption. To be completely honest, Lena came into the show with people believing she needed redemption because of her name. But she didn't, it wasnt Lena herself who needed the redemption, it was the family name. Lena hasn't redeemed the Luthor name so much because Lillian and Lex kept f**king it up, but my RAO she has more than earned her place as hero and not like her family at all. This right here? Is a set back and everyone likes to conveniently forget everything she's done.

The writers have made Lena very OOC this season. Personally I think she will give up on this idea of hers. Lena isn't an angel, but then neither is Kara, or Alex, or Jonn or Brainy. The only actual angels at the moment are probably Nia and Kelly since we haven't seen them do anything dodgy or kill anyone (I'm assuming bad past Brainy did) and have it glossed over like it didn't matter.

But now we have Kara still not being able to stop talking about Lena. Even in regards to possibly starting a relationship with William she can't help but compare it to what happened to Lena.

Now that was a lot, but bottom line is if Kara is in love with Lena SHE and only SHE needs to come to that realisation. Having someone else tell her would cheapen it and make it look like the writers had no choice but to have some tell Kara to make it real, just like that have been doing non stop so far.

Plus Lena and Kara can not start a relationship any time soon. That would be a terrible idea. They can realise they are in love but starting something together would be rushed and unhealthy. THERAPY! They have Kelly there! But personally I think Kelly giving any kind of therapy to her girlfriends sister and her brothers ex would be a conflict of interest. She would be biased in Kara's favour whether she would realise it or not.

Peace ✌

[talatomaz]

jinx | kara danvers x arias!reader

a/n: i decided to just combine both these requests and I had fun writing this :)

requested by @babyydanvers and anon:

“hi, could you write something where kara x fem reader go on a date for their 2 year anniversary together & then they go back to their apartment & the reader & kara propose at the same time thank youuu.”

“can i make a request for either kara or laurel? i don’t care what it is lol you just write good quality fics. i know it’ll be good”

warnings: none

word count: 2.1k

masterlist | request list | request rules

i do not give you permission to repost or translate my fics on any platform - likes/reblogs are okay and are much appreciated

“Will you marry me?”

12 hours earlier

“Would you stop pacing?”

“I can’t. I’m too anxious about tonight.” You said, as you walked back and forth in Lena’s office.

“She’s gonna love it, y/n.” Lena said, admiring the ring you had bought.

After 2 years of being together, you had decided to propose to your girlfriend, Kara. And you were extremely scared, to say the least.

What if she said no?

What if she didn’t like the ring?

What if-

“Y/N, it’s beautiful. So how are you gonna do it?” Lena asked as you put the ring back in it’s respective box and pocketed it in your coat.

“I was planning to take her out to dinner. Make it extremely romantic and then when we get back to the loft, I’ll propose. It’ll just be us two which is better because we’re both private people and it’s more personal that way.”

“That’s gonna be awesome. And she doesn’t suspect a thing?”

Your best friend asked as you both turned to look at Kara through the glass doors. She was sitting at her desk, typing away on her laptop, presumably preparing her next article.

“No. At least I don’t think so.”

Saying goodbye to Lena, you walked out of her office and made your way behind Kara. Moments before you were beside her, she closed her laptop and turned to face you.

“Hey, baby. You okay?” She asked sweetly, standing up to kiss you.

“Yeah, I’m good. What are you doing?”

“Oh, I-I’m just writing an article.”

“Oh, what about?”

“I-I, uh, can’t say. It’s top secret.” She said, readjusting her glasses.

“Okay.” You said, eyes narrowing at her behaviour. “I should be getting back to L-Corp. I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah, I’m excited for our dinner tonight.” She beamed.

“Me too, love.”

You kissed your girlfriend goodbye and then caught a cab back to work.

***

Stepping into the office, you greeted your sister.

“Hey, Sam.”

“Hey. I know you’re gonna be leaving soon for the thing tonight but I need you to do me a favour.”

“Yeah, sure. What’s up?” You asked, leaning on Sam’s white desk, arms folded.

“Ruby left her USB with Alex. And it has her homework on it. She’s freaking out and I’m not going to let her go alone but I’m super busy here. I’ve got back to back meetings and-”

“Sammy, breathe. It’s fine. Just tell Ruby I’ll be at yours in a hour or two and I’ll give it her then.”

“God, you’re a life saver. Anyway, how are you? You nervous?” Sam asked, a smile replacing the worry on her face.

“Extremely. I just love her so much and I can’t wait to ask her but I’m just scared she’ll say no.”

“Of course she wouldn’t. I know she wouldn’t. She loves you, y/n.” Sam reassured you.

“Yeah, I know. It’s just my anxiety. Anyway, I better get to the DEO now if I’m gonna be ready for tonight.”

“No worries. Good luck, sis.” She said with a look in her eye that you couldn’t distinguish.

“Thanks” You replied before hugging her.

You then drove your car to the DEO. You had left it at L-Corp before visiting Lena at CatCo but you knew that you couldn’t catch a cab to the DEO. It was a secret Government organisation after all.

Walking into the DEO, you greeted Jonn and a few other workers you were familiar with when you noticed Alex speaking to Brainy.

“Hey, Danvers. Hey, Brainy.” You greeted the duo when they turned to face you.

“Hi, Y/N. Here’s Ruby’s USB.” Alex said, handing you the small memory stick which you put in your pocket.

“Thanks, Rubes was losing her mind according to Sam.”

Alex laughed in response before smiling.

“So...everything set for tonight?”

Alex was one of the very first people who knew about your proposal as you had asked her for permission considering she was the most important person in Kara’s life. Of course, when you had asked, she immediately gave her blessing and then gave you her whole ‘If you hurt my sister, I’ll hurt you’ speech.

“Yes. I think I’m good. Just hope everything goes to plan and Kara loves it.”

“I know she will.”

It was funny. Both Lena and Sam had said that too, as if they knew Kara would definitely say ‘yes’.

“Yes. Did you know that 1 in 4 women actually turn down a marriage proposal? I’m sure Kara won’t be that one.”

“Brainy!” You and Alex exclaimed as Alex hit him upside the head.

“Ow. That was insensitive of me. I apologise.” The intellectual said.

“It’s fine, Brainy.” You sighed and when you lifted your head, you noticed Kara in one of the labs.

“See you guys.”

You made your way to the lab and when Kara saw you, she closed the door to the lab behind her and walked up to you.

“Hey, we keep bumping into each other.” Kara laughed.

“Yes, we do. What are you up to?” You asked curiously.

It was the second time today that she was acting suspiciously.

“Oh, just Supergirl stuff. Anyway, we should be getting ready. Meet me by the stairs and we can go home together?”

“I drove so just meet me outside.” You countered.

“Okay, let me just pack up.”

Kara nodded and as you walked away, Kara re-entered the lab but her cape cloaked what she was doing.

***

“That was delicious.”

Kara said, unlocking the door to the loft. You both had had dinner at an infamous restaurant and after sharing dessert, you decided to come back home.

In the cab, your nerves had started to bubble but now that you were home, they were at an all time high.

Kara dropped her keys on the table and she grabbed your hand and pulled you to the sofa. You both sat on it but you couldn’t stop fidgeting.

“Kara?”

“Yes, baby?”

“I need to ask you something.” You stood up and held Kara’s hands in yours.

“I think you’re amazing. You really are the best person in my life. Before I met you, I was a mess. I didn’t really know how to live until I met you. I love the way you see the world from a different perspective. I love that you give life a new meaning.”

“I love that despite everything that has happened in your life, you still care so much for other people and it physically hurts my heart to see you cry. That is how amazing you are. That is why I love you. That is why I have something important to ask you.”

You continued before letting out a breath when you saw tears in Kara’s eyes.

It was now or never.

“Will you marry me?”

“No.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“No.”

12 hours earlier

Kara paused typing on her laptop and peered over her shoulder where she saw you and her best friend, Lena, in deep conversation. She was going to use her super hearing to listen in on your words but stopped herself. She promised you that she wouldn’t use her powers on you.

She looked back at her laptop and scrolled through the images on her laptop. She had already chosen the perfect one and seeing all the options available reconfirmed her initial choice.

She stopped when she heard the door open and footsteps nearing her. Shutting her laptop to hide its contents, she turned around to face you.

“Hey, baby. You okay?” She asked sweetly, standing up to kiss you.

“Yeah, I’m good. What are you doing?”

“Oh, I-I’m just writing an article.” Kara stuttered.

“Oh, what about?”

“I-I, uh, can’t say. It’s top secret.” She said, readjusting her glasses. She was now getting flustered.

“Okay.” You said and Kara saw your eyes narrow at her behaviour. “I should be getting back to L-Corp. I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah, I’m excited for our dinner tonight.” She beamed.

“Me too, love.”

Kara reciprocated your kiss and watched you step into the CatCo lift.

That was close.

***

“Maybe next time you should rethink robbing a bank.” Kara said, handing the handcuffed criminals to Maggie and another detective.

Before Maggie left, she gave a quick thumbs up to the superhero and Kara flew back to the DEO.

When she arrived, she greeted Alex with a hug.

“Where is it?”

Alex nodded in the direction of the lab so Kara made her way to it. Upon entering the lab, she saw what she was looking for in the centre of the table.

Looking behind again, she saw you speaking to her sister. Quickly moving a set of beakers in front of the box, she left the lab to greet you.

“Hey, we keep bumping into each other.” Kara laughed, hands on her hips.

“Yes, we do. What are you up to?” You asked curiously. Kara could tell you were suspicious.

“Oh, just Supergirl stuff. Anyway, we should be getting ready. Meet me by the stairs and we can go home together?” Kara hated lying but it was necessary.

“I drove so just meet me outside.” You countered.

“Okay, let me just pack up.” Kara nodded and as you walked away, Kara re-entered the lab and grabbed the box, concealing it in her cape.

***

You and Kara had now had an amazing dinner at the restaurant and were back at your loft.

Kara watched as you began to pace before kneeling in front of her and listened as you told her why you loved her causing tears to fill her eyes.

“Will you marry me?”

Kara looked into your eyes and saw that they were dark. Stark. For all you’d endured, you were a nurturing soul with a full heart. That was the quality that first attracted her. Breathing deeply, she built up her courage.

Now or Never. She thought to herself.

“No.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Present Time

Your heart dropped into your stomach as you knelt on the ground.

“What? Why?”

You watched as Kara slid off the sofa and kneeled in front of you. Pulling a small box from her pocket, she opened it and stared at you lovingly.

“Because I wanted to propose to you.”

You stared in shock at the ring in the velvet box as she did the same to yours.

You both were tearing up before Kara laughed through her tears, “so...are we gonna answer?”

“Yes, you fool. I love you and I’d love to marry you.” You chuckled.

“I love you too and can’t wait to marry you either.”

You both then took your rings out of their respective boxes and placed them on each other’s fingers. Kara then grabbed your face and pulled you in for a deep kiss.

When you pulled away, you jumped at the sound of applause behind you.

You both turned and saw Lena, Sam, Maggie and Alex standing in your bedroom; Lena and Maggie were holding up phones, presumably videoing you.

Your mouth dropped and you looked at Kara in surprise.

“Did you-?” Kara shook her head.

“You?” You shook your head.

“Where the fuck did you guys come from?”

“You said we’d be alone.”

You and Kara said at the same time.

Then you both looked at each other again,

“Wait, you told them you were going to propose?” You asked, looking at Kara.

“Yeah, and I asked Sam, sort of for her blessing. Wait, you told Alex?”

“Yeah, I asked Alex for her blessing.” You replied.

You both turned to face your family again.

“You guys fucking knew Kara and I were going to propose to each other at the same fucking time and you said nothing?” You shouted.

“Yeah, we thought it was going to be both hilarious and romantic.” Sam snorted causing everyone to laugh.

You and Kara looked at each other and nodded then you both picked up the pillows on the sofa and ran straight for the small group. You began hitting them until you, Sam and Maggie fell on the bed and Kara, Alex and Lena fell on the floor.

You started laughing and once you started, everyone joined in.

You whacked your sister’s head before leaning over the bed and meeting your fiancée’s eyes. She kneeled and kissed you lovingly once more.

Pulling away, she winked.

“Jinx.”

[popculturebuffet]

The Color of Friendship Review (Commissioned by WeirdKev27): A World of People

Happy Black History Month! Another day, another comission from longtime supporter of the blog Weird Kev and like a good chunk of his-non duck asks, he asked me for something outside my usual wheelhouse. In the past this has meant an episode of the short lived fox show whoops in which we found out how Santa dealt with the end of the world, didn’t know how doors worked, and interacted with some characters so thin you could remake the episode with just Mick Foley in a santa suit and carboard cutouts playing the characters lines and it’d be about the same, and earlier this month Sorry Wrong Meeting, an episode of a sitcom i’d never seen an episode of the Jeffersons about the KKK. So unsuprisingly his big comission for Black History Month was the 2000 Disney Channel Original Movie, The Color of Friendship. 

I couldn’t find much on the making of the film, which dosen’t entirely suprise me as at the time this came out, Disney was releasing around 10 a year and whlie that stopped shortly, it still was a whopping 6 a year for some time, ocasionally more ocasionaly less, slowly dwindling down to the two of year we have now. Though it’s still an ongoing concern and has been since the channel started in 83, closing in on 40 years ago, so it’s still impressive Disney hasn’t just outright phased them out. Then again the popular ones make them a lot of money and some like High School Musical and the Descendants Trilogies have broken out so big they’ve lead to spinoff books, tv series in the latter’s case, and all that stuff making them money hand over fist. So making some cheap movies that MIGHT end up making them rich and usually star people that are already on shows they have or were at one point is a no loose proposition, especially now they add an extra release to the Disney Plus callender twice a year. And while the library has it’s gaps and i’ve griped about them enough.. I will say it’s stil la damn good library and it’s nice to be able to watch a film like this, as the dvd was LONG out of print and likely horribly expensive, and while renting it was an option, it would’ve chipped into what I got commissioned for the film. Still would’ve done it it just would’ve sucked to loose money on the deal, if only two bucks, for something I had no control over. Still would do that over adding it onto the comission fee. Point is stuff that’s not been easy to get for some time is now just a few clicks or taps of the remote away, and having the VAST majority of disney’s long and storied history from theatrical to dcom to weird tv oddities like.. this thing

I don’t know what Fuzzbucket is, and frankly I don’t want to know.. I mean I will for a comission or something but i’m not going to go out of my way to find out what that thing is and if it can give me scabies through a telvision screen despite being fictional and proabably long dead. At least I tell myself it’s long dead so ic an sleep at night without worrying about that thing breaking into my house and watchnig me while I sleep changing “SOON JACOB, SOON”. So yeah while you’ll hear me complain about the gaps in DIsney Plus’ library a lot on this blog. 

I will give credit where it’s due, and what is on there is pretty expansive and now includes the Muppet Show, which I give them full credit for as that probably took a LOT of work and money to make happen. Plus WandaVision is fucking fantastic, especially now i’m finally all caught up. 

But while as I said I couldn’t find much on the making of the film I did find a bit on it’s inspiration: It was inspried by a short story wrtten by Piper Dellums, a writer, poet and activist, and daughter of Ron Dellums. Dellums is a notable congressman who fought against apartheid and constantly fought for a bill to divest from South Africa, something that SHOCKINGLY, Ronald Regan tried to veto because he was a racist disney anamatronic what did you expect, and all in all seemed pretty awesome. He sued Bush SR to try and prevent Desert Storm, in his earliest days in office had an exibit near his phsyical office of vietnam war crimes to try and hold them acountable and in general seems to be a fascenating, hardworking man who constantly and religiously fought for the people and against war. 

The story was a real life account of the Piper’s experince housing a South African Student, Marie, who the Delums Family expected to be black.. but turned out ot be white. During Apartheid, south africas racist as hell and horrifying goverment system of segregation that wasn’t abolished till the 90′s. As expected she was racist, but as a proudct of the horribly racist country she came from and much like with her fictional counterpart in this film, slowly grew to realize how fucked up her homeland was and by the time she went back, became an activist She and Piper were very close but her story ends tragically as eventually Piper stopped hearing from her after she was arrested and despite attempts to talk to her.. it was clear by the silence, and by the fact Piper visited South Africa post-aparthied to help and likely would’ve seen her.. that she was likely quitely killed by the state. But her story thankfully lives on, so join me under the cut to see how a 20 year old disney movie aired during black history month handles this difficult real life story, racisim and the 70′s. 

The Cast: Quick bit about the cast since I usually do this for first episodes of an animated show and wish i’d done so for my other film reviews so far. Though to keep things simple, i’m only doing the main four cast members, especailly since frankly outside of Mahree’s parents the rest are more supporting roles that don’t have a lot of screen time and in hte case of the south african embassy workers, are just there to be racist card board cutout villians.  Piper, who keeps her name from real life is played by Shadia Simmons, who eventually retired from acting to become a High School and Acting Teacher. During her career she was in a bunch of Disney Channel Original Movies, including the first two Zenon Movies, and was in a major role in a bunch of live action childrens shows: I Was A Sizth Grade Alien, Strange Days at Blake Holsely High, and Life with Derek, the only one of which i’ve seen and even then barely so I can’t comment on the rest of her work. Simmons does a decent job in the film, and does shine in the more dramtic scenes, not the best part of it but certainly not bad at all. 

Lindsay Haun plays Mahree, and had more of an acting career after this one, having a small recurring role on True Blood as Hadley, while also directing some smaller films. Haun is easily one of the two highlights of the movie and the best of the two main tween actresses by a mile. More on that in a bit. 

Next we have Carl Fucking Lumbly as Congressman Ron Dellums. Carl has had a long and storied career and the fucking is because of what I best know him from: Playing the Martian Manhunter Jon Jonzz on Justice League. And let me not undersell it: his version of Jon is waht made me LOVE the character, still do to this day, being the first time I encountered any version of Jon and the one I still love the most, a stoic man who tries to adapt to a world he feels he can never be a part of, adding shades to his stitled demeanour to show off his emtitons and in general being the heart and soul of what made this verison work and made me love the character with his performance. He’s done other stuff too including Cagney and Lacey, Doctor Sleepand what have you.. but he’ll always be Jonn to me and that’s not a bad thing in the slightest. Unsuprisingly he’s the other standout here. 

Finally we have Penny Johnson as Ron’s wife and Piper’s Mother Roscoe,  who played Captain Sisko’s love intrest on Deep Space 9 and was one of the leads on castle. Haven’t seen either of those but she does seem awesome and does a terrific job here. 

Moving on to the film itself.. it’s really fantastic. It has some awkwardness and goofy bollocks as you’d expect from a disney channel original movie in 2000, but it handles a really heavy subject, race relations, gracefully and clearly with the goal of educating an audience with a lot of white kids in it about race. So I can praise what it does right i’m going to be handling the parts that are a bit wobbly first so I can get to the good stuff

Awkwardness and Goofy Bollocks:

First the out and out criticism: The films TV Movie roots show in places, as this film lacks the polish these films would have later this decade, with the film barely having an opening title sequence and just sorta throwing you in, though to their credit it does open with the utterly awesome Back in Love Again, because 70′s. 

That slaps and that’s an undeniable fact. What’s also an undenaible fact is the film dosen’t try the hardest to be very 70′s in it’s sets and what not, though it does do it a little with the clothes and that not being the case with Mahree is intentional, as her family while wealthy is from another culture and one literally and metaphorically behind the times. 

I will also say Shadia Simmons is a decent actress, but is mildly weak in comparison to the other 3 in the leads, but its more the result of putting a pretty standard child sitcom actress up against two experinced actors who know what their doing and one whose about as experinced as her, but simply has a LOT to work with and goes above and beyond. It’s less that she’s bad and more that she’s simply not as good as what’s around her, and in general I tend to go easier on child actors since it’s not an easy job for a grown adult much less a teenager, it’s very pressurey and there’s a reason a LOT of them bottom out as they get older or retire all together. 

I will say though that Piper’s brothers are awful and I feel are only there because she actually had brothers. The actors try, i’m not pinning this on them but writing wise their just two little shits who contirbute ntohing of value to any scene their in, being generally way to young to get into the heavy topic at hand, and mostly being there for unfunny shneanigans. They aren’t in the film too much otherwise they might’ve ruined it for me, but if Shadia struggles a bit agianst sttronge perofrmances imagine who younger actors with the stage direction “Be the bane of my existence” and you’ll MAYBE see the problem. 

The film also loves cheesy time passing montages, including an actual factual shopping montage, easily the goofiest, but it’s something you’d expect from a dcom and helps lighten the mood. That’s a running theme outside the brothers there really isn’t anything too silly.. until the last act.  See in the last act, the film tackles the real life death of Steve Biko, a South African activist against apartheid who was captured by the state and very transparently murdered in jail. with the government claming he killed himself which no one bought because why would they, and it sparked riots worldwide and finally got the US to take Apartheid seriously according to the film. Though as I mentioned earlier Regan did not in case you thought the republican party being terrible and deeply racist was a brand new thing. It was not. Guys like Tucker Carlson and Former President Trump are a symptom, not the disease.. though they certainly look and feel like some form of plauge. Point is Mahree is breifly taken by the embassy.. whose staff who take her feel like the Disney Channel Original Movie form of Nazi’s. The heavy accents, the way they compose themselves... I half expect an elderly indiana jones to show up to whip the piss out of them. And dont’ get me wrong, the only diffrence between these pricks and a nazi is the fact they don’t call themselves nazis, this isn’t a nuanced horrifying racist to be scared of but a saturday morning cartoon version. 

While  white supremacists in real life can be cartoonishly evil, again see trump and carlson, it does kind of undercut the seriousness and nuance of things to have your villians be cold, cackling cutouts who are 5 seconds away from saying “You are part of the rebel alliance and a traitor take her away” to our heroine, especailly since Mahree’s reaction to being taken away and confusion at everything and at being treated like a prisoner by her own people are very painful and very well acted.   I do get showing them as monsters, because they were, but given Mahree’s father who as a south african police man was DEFINTELY ONE and even outside his racisim doubts and downtalks his own daughter, still feels like an actual person, if not a GOOD person, they could’ve done better and did in the same film. 

But that stuff aside.. I really can’t find much that’s honestly that silly or bad and as you can tell what little I did was more a product of being a tv movie. So now i’ve got the negatives out of the way

This Film Is Pretty Good: It truly is, for a lot of reasons. But the biggest is the nuance. It could’ve been easy to just have Maree as some racist kid needing to learn a lesson who was openly cruel and easy to jeer at.. but the film went iwth the reality: that she was instead an extremley privlaged and insulated girl who simply NEVER knew better. To her her very racist and segregated world is just the way the world worked for her and she dosen’t even consider when the Dellums come to pick her up minus Ron these aren’t servants and her own servant’s words fall on deaf ears, as the poor woman tries to make it clear how miserable her life is and how much she deseprately wants this child to do better. Marhee is never actively malicious even when, due to the shock of her all black host family, she baricades herself in Piper’s room. It’s obnoxious sure and CERTAINLY hurtful and the film makes no bones about it and Piper rightfully calls her out on it. The film dosen’t let her get away with any intetnional racisim like that and after Piper calls her out, she realizes she’s been selifsh and makes a genuine effort. And even then the film makes a good choice in not making it an easy road to realization. Mahree makes a genuine effort in the first place not because of any big revelation or anything, but because she simply hears her dad in her head telling her she’d give up after a week and that, coupled with Piper’s words, makes her see herself as a selfish brat. Even after she’s floored by a mall where black and white people stand side by side aand casually talks about horrors like ID Cards like i’ts a GOOD thing, because that’s what she’s been taught by her dad. That black people are happy being told where they can and can’t go when no they weren’t they simply had no chocie in the matter. And while we do see early on when an asshole at a restraunt assaults a waiter for an accident that Mahree clearly isn’t okay with the more horrifying side of things, she still dosen’t quite grasp WHY that happened, simply that it’s something that does reguarly she dosen’t like. It’s excellently, and unsuprisingly called back when they visit an ice cream place in the states and something similar happens.. but the guy takes it in stride, even ordering a sundae, to Maree’s confusion. 

It’s what makes the film work and all the more striking: As Roscoe makes clear to Ron, whose admant about nto having a racist in the house, this is not her fault. While the film makes it clear Mahree’s behavior at first was not okay and her prejudiece is not okay, it also makes it VERY clear she’s a product of a terrible system and terrible parenting from people who choose to benneift from the system instead of challenge it. She’s only like this because she hasn’t had a reason to ever think diffrent and just took her parents at face value and no mater the country, this is something that sadly happens far too often: Someone hating a group or thinking discrimination is okay because that’s how they were taught and that’s all they’ve known and the only way to change that is to challenge that opinon and try to get them to have some empathy and see the other way and as this film shows it’s a struggle.. and at the end of the day while the Dellums make a concentrated effort, Maree is the one who has to realize what her parents taught her is bad and her country is inherently flawed and NEEDS to change, just like ours did, and STILL badly needs to. 

And that’s where the nuance kicks in as the good congressman is understandable in not wanting a racist in his house... but his wife is equally right that Maree is not some easy symbol of his hatred towards south africa, but a girl who grew up knowing nothing more than the fucked up system, and eventually he comes around, realizing , especially after she apologizes for him even thinking she’d use a racial slur on piper after a very powerful conversation with the two and piper accidently saying she used the South African N Word, almost accidently getting her friend thrown out, that she simply hasn’t been outside her shell and gently guides her to keep reading roots, even letting her take it with her if she wants back home. The film shows the full pain of the situation  but also shows change is posisble. Again it’s not easy, Mahree has a panic attack waiting in an almost all black line in school and it’s shown to be as horrible a thought as it is., but she DOES change and it comes off as real, as someone realizing the system they grew up with is broken and needs to be fixed and she can’t just sit back and let it. 

What makes this happen, besides the aformentioned kidnapping by saturday morning cartoon racists, is Piper confronting her after a friend from south africa forces Piper to acccept that while her and Mahree are friends, Mahree might not seee her as equal and Piper in turn in a heated argument and easily Simmons best performance of the film, that things are broken and wrong and that her “firend”, her nanny/servant back home, is not happy. It leaves Mahree crying and Ron telling her the honest truth: Change was, and again still is but this was 2000 and while we should’ve had this talk disney channel wasn’t ready for it, needed to make things better here.. and tha’ts what south african’s doing> Fighting for equal rights at last. It’s some powerful, heavy as hell stuff you woudln’t expect from a line of movie that also include a robot house, before that was an actual thing, a merMAN dad MerMan, a boy slowly turning into a leprechaun, and at least two diffrent movies centering around wacky kidnappings. It’s a nuanced and hard look at race, as hard as late 90′s jsut turned into the 2000′s disney could get mind, aimed at kids and the film, whiel stilted really has my utter praise. It’s genuinely moving, well acted and teaches a valuable message that while not eveyrone can change.. it dosen’t hurt to try and help them, as well as the equal message that change start with YOU. someone has to WANT to be better and learn and actually let other people in to help them. And I wont’ lie and say this is the most naunced or subtle film.. at time’s it’s about as subtle as a ralph wiggum throught he window

But sometimes you don’t need to be. It also taught kids about apartheid, not me as I barely saw the film, but many learned of something ghoulsih that had barely ended at the time of the film’s release, something I only learned about as a teen via bloom county and a diffrent world, which has an utterly awesome apartheid episode “A World Alike”. Seriously check it out if you have prime, as it shows that america isn’t the only country with a deep history of ingraned racisim. And was it an easy way to have an anti racisim narriative without fully confronting america’s own racist history? Yup. Just.. yup. Can I blame Disney Channel for it when they clearly, while equipped to tackle racisim, weren’t ready to tackle something that dense or heavy, and while Proud Family later would there’s a diffrence between a 20 minute one off episode of a cartoon and 90 minutes of film? Yeah. For what it is and for what the time period is, I applaud this film taking on such a heavy topic with grace. Some goofyiness here and there yes and some lack of subtly.. but still grace. For what it is is, it’s pretty good and i hope to show it to my nieces one day soon. It has i’ts heart in the right place and thus has a place in my heart. See you next rainbow. 

[inklingleesquidly]

THE WISDOM OF LEE SQUIDLY

CHAPTER 3

Lee Squidly has been called into  action. Callie has gone missing and according to Marie he’s her only hope in finding her. There is a lot more going on in Octo Canyon than Lee truly knows but Is he up to the task when he is uncertain of even his own feelings?

A new journey of discovery awaits our hero as he comes to realize what the true meaning of the relationship between the Squid Sisters is, and what they mean to others..

Featuring an unreasonable facsimile of another squid...

Word count: 2,461

Chapter 2 can be found here

Some familiar with Lee Squidly knew him as a negative influence, a magnet for trouble, a luckless somebody just unable to avoid getting into unfortunate situations. No time was that more apparent than now where he found himself in some kind of gladiator arena smack in the middle of Suction-Cup Lookout. His journey was impeded by a hulking brute of an Octarian known as the Octo Samurai.

This was someone Lee was actually familiar with. Back in Shee-Booyah he heard tales from immigrants of Octo Canyon of a man who was something of a local legend. Known for his movies, his wrestling career, and his fanaticism for motorcycles, he was a hero that many looked up to. There was always a lingering sentiment in Lee’s mind that it would be so exciting to meet him; the illustrious Octo Samurai –

“AHHH, AIYEE, WAAAAH,” Lee screamed, dodging walls of ink flung at him from the octopod’s mighty roller by skittering about on the ground like a frightened insect.

--He never thought he would meet him under circumstances like this.

Octo Samurai let out a roar, “Hold still, you lousy little squid.” The Octarian boss let out one more earth shaking battle cry before slamming his weapon down directly upon Lee. A massive wave of ink erupted from the ground. Once it cleared it was revealed the teenager had been knocked onto his backside at the edge of the ink.

“AUGGH,” Octo Samurai screamed, “That’s enough goofin’ around, now I’ve got you right where I want you.” He watched the Inkling slowly, fearfully try to scoot backward. It would just take one swing, one more swing and he would be rid of this little pest. Something stopped him; his roller, when he tried to swing it felt so off-balance.

The giant Octarian peered up to inspect what it was that threw off his equilibrium only to discover the little robot attached to the child’s back clinging onto the weapon. “What the,” he gasped, “Get off there you little hunk of junk!” He shook it in an attempt to get rid of Mooky and when that didn’t work he wildly flung it every which way.

Defiantly, Mooky yelled, “No I will not,” and he held onto the ink flicking weapon with everything his tiny blocky body had. “I will do everything to protect Master Lee,” he proclaimed, and then turned to order, “Run away Master Lee, I will distract him as long as I can!”

That was out of the question; Lee couldn’t and wouldn’t abandon Mooky. He wasn’t going anywhere without him but what could he do against someone like Octo Samurai? Without any plan, Lee’s first instinct was to ink a safe space for himself but upon raising and attempting to fire his .96 Gal Buster…

Click click click

He was out of ink!

What was worse Octo Samurai let out a gruff huff, “Fuhgeddit, Im gonna flatten you with this and your little robot! HURRAAH,” he swiftly raised the gargantuan roller high then brought it crashing down to the ground. With nowhere to run and nowhere to hide Lee could only vainly cover his head in preparation for the worst.

BANG!

There was a massive metallic noise and somehow—nothing, he was okay. One eye peeked open to see a mysterious figure cloaked in a long form fitting coat that stopped Octo Samurai’s roller with a pair of rods. No, they weren’t rods, they were a unique weapon, tonfas.

With a mighty rumble, the unknown savior parried the attack, knocking away the roller and nearly throwing Octo Samurai off his unicycle. “Step off Octo Slob,” they snarled in a grave, gravelly voice. Lee knew who they were! Though they may have been shrouded in mystery, he was certain of who it was.

Steadying himself, Octo Samurai sneered, “Ohh great, another one of you rotten squids show up.”

Lee’s savior replied, “You got a lot of nerve picking on just one little kid, try picking a fight with someone your own size!” Shifting the bladed weapon in his hand, he challenged the Octarian boss in Lee’s stead.

Octo Samurai gripped his roller in both hands, unphased by the new challenger. “I’ll splatter a hundred of you squids before tea time,” he declared, racing toward Lee’s masked rescuer.

“I’ll give you 45 seconds Octo Slob,” he fired back, charging into the fray.

“WAIT, STOP!!!” Before they could clash, Lee’s voice rang all throughout the arena, stopping them dead in their tracks.

Lee stood up and stepped between them, his gaze transfixed on Octo Samurai as he said, “Mr. Octo Samurai, please, I don’t want anybody to fight!”

Both Octo Samurai and even Lee’s support gave a unified, “Huh” in confusion. The Octarian hero peered down at the boy with narrowed incredulous eyes, “What are you trying to pull,” he wondered, skillfully managing to maintain his balance on the unicycle as he bent down, locking eyes with Lee.

Lee shook his head, “Nothing, I swear, I’m just here looking for a friend who’s lost in Octo Canyon.”

“Probably another trouble making brat,” he scoffed scornfully, “And why should I trust anything you say, you’re a squid.”

His gaze was so frightening but Lee answered his skepticism, “I promise she isn’t—she’s lost somewhere and I—I—hii, I just want to find her!” His voice choked as he uttered those words. Desperate to end this fight and continue his search, Lee sunk down to his knees and clasped his hands together, pleading, “I’m begging you Sir, I promise I don’t want to hurt any Octarians, so please let me leave so I can find my friend!” He shook his hands then clutched them tight against his heart, imploring mercy from the Octarian hero.

Octo Samurai analyzed everything about that look the tiny green squid gave him. He peered between him and the other who just stood there watching the boy beg and plead. The way the small one’s lip trembled, the way his eyes watered, the way he panted as if he couldn’t get enough air to breathe—it was a pathetic sight for any creature, big or small.

Knowing he would regret this, he let out a long huff and decided, “All right, fine, you can leave.” Even though he had his orders, it would be a dishonor to bring harm to someone begging for their life, and who claimed such a noble undertaking.

Lee’s eyes lit up like the stars in the sky and he smiled from ear to ear, “Y-You mean it?!” He shot up to his feet, shaking his tightened fists in glee, “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, I swear Mr. Samurai, as soon as I find my friend I’ll leave right away.”

The boss mumbled, “Yeah, yeah, just make good on what you said, if I find out you lay a single tentacle on any Octarians I’m gonna smash you flat! Now get lost before I change my mind.”

“There’s just one more thing,” Lee timidly murmured.

“What?”

Pointing up, Lee requested, “Umm, can I please have my robot back,” referring to Mooky still dangling from the octopod’s humongous weapon.

A low grumble escaped from Octo Samurai as he gently lowered Mooky, allowing him to slide off. “Fine, here ya go kid, just be thankful I didn’t decide to crush him into a hubcap for my bike.

As the metal butler secured himself onto his owner’s back, Lee replied with a glad, “Thank you very much Sir.” He ignored the comment about harming Mooky as he could tell the octopus before him was every bit the good and influential creature he knew him to be. The mercy he was willing to show to him was evident enough of that.

Leaving Octo Samurai’s arena, Lee & Mooky were tailed by their earlier rescuer who soon stopped them. With his arms crossed, he sternly chided the starry eyed youth’s actions, “Lee, I’m glad to see you haven’t stopped being you but not every opponent is going to show you mercy.  Don’t you remember what I taught you about standing on your own two feet and—“

He was stopped by the sudden, speedy movement of Lee who threw his arms around his waist, “Mr. Jonn, I can’t believe it! Thank you so much for helping me out of that jam, you’re the best!”

Mr. Jonn, or rather Jonn Inkra, Agent Binary, another founding member of the Justice Society of Inkopolis couldn’t help but smile and pat Lee’s shoulders. Feeling the embrace of the excitable, appreciative teen, the mystery man hooked a thumb underneath the face mask he wore and peeled it down. With that removed, his deep, menacing voice was replaced by something strangely soft, almost melodious as he said, "Who could stay mad at a kid like you? It’s been too long."

Along the way from Suction-Cup Lookout to Beaker’s Depot, Lee informed Jonn of his situation thus far. Hearing the story, the agent let out a heavy sigh, “So you’re the one she brought in for this search? Hmm—I thought it would be you but a part of me really wished it wasn’t.”

Though Lee was unsure of what he meant by that there was a much more pressing thought in his head. “Well now that I’m here, have you found anything about Callie?”

His hopeful smiled and tightened, shaking fists were met by an unfortunate shake of the head from Jonn. “I’ve been back and forth between these sectors for awhile now and I haven’t seen or heard a thing, I’m sorry.”

Lee loosened his fists and his arms dropped to his sides; two people he had to meet had nothing at all for him. His head tilted down, a downtrodden look upon his face that Mooky was quick to console. The little servant spun around and patted Lee’s shoulder with one hand, “There there Master Lee. We still have one more informant to meet and much more of Octo Canyon left to see, we must press onward.”                                                                                                            

“Right,” Lee muttered, “Yeah,” he said, lifting his head back up, his morose look not leaving . Ready to leave to find the next contact he turned to Jonn and said, “Well thank you for saving me Mr. Jonn but we’ve gotta get going.”

Just as he took his first step he was halted, “Hold on there, Lee, we’re not done talking yet,” Jonn called.

“Huh?”

“I want to talk to you about Marie.”

Hearing that name made Lee let out a quiet sigh, he said, “With all due respect Mr. Jonn I already heard plenty from Mr. Bl— Blueshift. There’s no excuse for what she’s doing. Callie wouldn’t want this.”

Jonn was forthright in replying, “This is about Callie to. There’s some things you should know about the both of them.” Lee was unsure of what he was getting at but he listened as Jonn continued, “Listen, I’ve known these two longer than anyone so I can tell you they need each other.” There was a lot of that Lee couldn’t argue; he knew of his history with the Squid Sisters beyond their work as Agents and him as their personal bodyguard.

“I swear, ever since we were kids in Calimari County those two were inseparable. They did everything together, and I mean everything.” A small, nostalgic smile spread across Jonn’s lips as he looked off at the scenery of the canyon. “Every scraped knee, their first day of school, their first ride with training wheels, every lost baby tooth, every lost or broken toy—.” He started to regale Lee with a number of stories about their lives together.  Some of those tales were new to him but many he happened to have heard previously from Callie. Quite often during their time together he would hear these stories.

His train of thought was broken as Jonn revealed, “—And that’s why getting their big break was one of the happiest moments of their lives.” He breathed deep,  “It wasn’t the fame, the fans, or getting to sing and dance like they love, it was getting an excuse to finally have fun together all they want.”

Them making music together—their partnership as the Squid Sisters was a cornerstone in Lee’s very life.

Jonn’s tone then became glum, “Them being apart like this—they both just get so out of whack!” He waved his hands about as he spoke, as if trying to piece it all together himself, “Things were all ready pretty rocky between them after they started doing their own thing months ago, especially for Marie.” He sighed, holding his hand over his face after stroking his chin, “Whenever she was sad, Callie would always be there to make her smile better than anyone. Whenever she was frustrated, Callie could calm her down the best. Whenever she was at a loss, Callie could help her get back on track.”

Jonn paced about before he quietly mumbled; “Now all this happened and just-- Marie is just a wreck.” Lee thought back to his initial meeting with her what felt like hours ago. He thought of her hurried, muddled tone of voice, the way she fidgeted with her parasol. There was more he didn’t notice that stuck out in his mind now; particularly her inability to put her thoughts together.

Crossing his arms, Jonn was deeply serious as he said, “I’m not gonna force you to believe me but if it was Marie who was captured, Callie would be doing crazy things to get her back to.”

Lee couldn’t think of anything to say or even fathom a means of reply, especially when Jonn said, “Keep this in mind Lee, you’re not the only one who needs Callie in their life. That’s why we’re all here.”

He tried to talk but nothing came out. He could say anything, anything at all. By now he should be feeling sympathy for Marie and her plight like Blueshift and Jonn wanted him to-- but he couldn’t.

Mooky ended up speaking on his behalf, “That is a lot to take in Mr. Jonn, Master Lee will certainly keep in mind the importance of Miss Callie to others and her necessity in their life, right Master Lee.”

“Y-yeah,” Lee muttered unconvincingly under his breath.

Jonn could see right through him, there was no deceiving one of the Agency’s top operatives.”Think long and hard about that Lee, I’ll be in touch, if I find anything, you’ll be the first to know about it.”

With that, Lee & Mooky were back on their way. Conflicting feelings ran rampant in Lee’s head but in the end his resolve returned to one thought, I promise Callie—I’m doing this to help you, and not Marie.

[angelsd0ntkill]

There are too many interesting things in the concert ask that I wanna answer so I’m doing them all. :^D

How many concerts have you been to? 28 so far.

Have you been to any festivals? Not any proper ones. I guess Paganfest was technically a festival, and same with Heavy Metal Heart, but they were small and indoors so idk.

Which artist/band have you seen the most live? Korpiklaani.

First concert you went to? My Chemical Romance.

Last concert you went to? Heavy Metal Heart 11 Day 2 (Winterthroned, Brymir, and Korpiklaani)

What is your next concert? Ensiferum.

Which artists/bands would you love to see live? Bands I wanna see again: Children of Bodom, Wintersun, Ensiferum, Korpiklaani (always), ALESTORM, BILLY TALENT, Iron Maiden, Nightwish, Arkona. Bands/Musicians I wanna see, period: AC/DC, Lady Gaga, Blackpink, Dalriada, Marina and the Diamonds, Nicki Minaj, The Pretty Reckless, WARMEN, That Poppy. And as I’ve said, I would have loved to see Michael Jackson, 2NE1, My Chemical Romance, Norther with Petri, Enska with Jari, and Tokio Hotel in the Scream or Humanoid era. Actually even Zimmer 483 era woulda been awesome.

The farthest you’ve traveled to go to a concert? Ehh... idk whether Guelph to Toronto or my current home town to Helsinki is a longer trip. The former took longer, but that could be coz of the bus route. I’m too lazy to look it up. Point is, I haven’t traveled very far at all for a concert.

Best opening act you’ve seen? Winterthroned wasn’t technically an opening act but they’re the only ones who come to mind. Eluveitie was pretty good, I guess. I liked them better live than I do otherwise (they opened for Bodom the first time I saw them).

Worst opening act you’ve seen? Whatever bands opened for Billy Talent the first time I saw them. I’ve never been a screamo fan, my dudes, and those headache-enducers did not help that fact.

Have you met any bands/artists at a concert? Not AT the concert, but afterwards, I’ve met all of Korpiklaani, Chris from Alestorm, Olli and Tuomas from Turisas, Masha and Vladimir from Arkona, and, if we’re counting the listening party, Teemu and Jukka from Wintersun.

What’s one thing you have to bring to a concert? Money to buy merch.

What’s the most you’ve paid for a ticket? $78 (Canadian) for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. (Side note: I looked through my tickets for this question and I’m dying @ the prices I’ve paid for shows there holy fuck metal bands have spoiled me..........)

Best concert you’ve been to? Most concerts I’ve been to have been AWESOME, but my first show will always stand out because it was the first, and it was my favourite band, and it was at the height of my love for them, and I still refer to it as a spiritual experience coz, well, that’s what it felt like. I’ve never felt such a connection to a crowd since, I’ve never had music touch my heart that way since, I’ve never felt that passion and whirlwind of emotion and sheer awe since.

Worst concert you’ve been to? Honestly, probably the first time I saw Children of Bodom. Not because the band or set-up was bad or anything, but because I got pulled down into the pit,grabbed by assorted people, a drunk man put practically all his weight on me and tried to kiss me??? and I had to punch him to get away, I got separated from the people I was with, and I ended up having to spend the whole show near the back, not even able to see the band. And this is literally all I remember from the show!! What songs did they play? What antics did they get up to? HELL IF I KNOW!!

Have you been in a social media post an artist posted after a show? YEAH, since moving back to Finland and making sure to be in the front as often as possible I’ve found myself in loads of after-show pics on Facebook. :D Also, when I saw Ensiferum and Finntroll in Canada, I was mentioned in a Finnish newspaper in Toronto coz they could see my Finnish flag. B) Not social media, but still cool.

Funniest concert memory? The singer of Winterthroned asked if we wanted to hear a joke and we were like YEAH and he was like it’s a bad one and I yelled EVEN BETTER and he applauded me and told the joke: “What does it say at the bottom of a Swedish swimming pool? ... Smoking Prohibited.” ... which I found hilarious for some reason. And the whole thing was so random I was just like lolwat. There are probably funnier things I’ve seen but this is so recent it’s the first thing that came to mind.

Do you buy your tickets as soon as they go on sale, after, or the day of? As soon as possible if it’s a band I love, maybe later if I’m not sure whether I want to/can go, but I never the day of, I don’t wanna risk it being sold out.

Have you ever been noticed by an artist at a concert? Hahaa, yeah. The Finnish flag got me noticed at the Ensiferum and Finntroll show by almost everyone in both bands. I was also front-and-center the first time I saw Korpiklaani at a tiny club in Toronto, so it was kinda hard not to get noticed. I also kinda tugged on Jonne’s hair to get his attention, whoops. I apologized after the show, though. :^D And at Paganfest I was also front-and-center and when Alestorm was setting up I got a fist-bump from Chris!

Have you met any internet friends at a concert? Not yet... :0c

Which concert that you’ve been to has had the best stage setup/production? Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s set-up was pretty boss. MCR’s was definitely impressive when they were touring for the Black Parade, too. I don’t usually pay that much attention to that, since it’s rarely a big deal at the shows I go to. :P

Have you ever caught a guitar pick, drumstick, got a setlist, etc.? I got Finntroll’s setlist when I saw them, and I’ve got picks from Korpiklaani, My Chemical Romance, and Wintersun. Also, when I saw Billy Talent in Finland, I CAUGHT AARON’S DRUMSTICK, but so did the 3 girls to my left, and since they were all there together, they won the tug-of-war. :(

Favorite concert venue? The Opera House in Toronto became a fast fave, and in Helsinki it’s Nosturi, followed by Virgin Oil Co., followed by The Circus.

Least favorite concert venue? The Sound Academy in Toronto annoys me for some reason. Also don’t really like Kaapelitehdas in Helsinki, but I’ve only been there once. I think it’s coz they’re both kinda inconveniently situated, and something about the layout, especially Kaapelitehdas.

Which do you prefer: indoor or outdoor concerts? Indoor.

Which do you prefer: clubs, theaters, arenas, or stadiums? Clubs.

Have you ever missed school or work to go to a concert? LMAO YES. Or, well, when I worked, I’d make sure to book that day or weekend off well in advance, but school? Lol, I was an excellent student, I can miss a day or an afternoon no problem.

Have you ever been surprised with tickets from someone? My mom got me a Billy Talent ticket for my 17th(?) birthday, but other than that, nope, I’m usually the one surprising others with tickets.

Who do you enjoy going to concerts with? Ehh, I’m used to going to concerts alone, so it kinda throws me off when I’ve gone with someone. It’s not bad, it’s just weird. Different. I haven’t gone to shows with anyone one person enough to answer this.

General admission or seated concerts? General admission.

Have you been to multiple dates for one tour? No. :(

Have you been to concerts 2 or more days in a row? No. :(

Have you ever received free tickets from a contest or an artist’s crew? Nope.

Have you been front row and/or back row for a concert? I always strive to be at the front, though sometimes (first time seeing Bodom, last time seeing MCR, only time seeing Stam1na) I started out in the front and either got forced to the back or had to shove my way there lest I have a panic attack and die or something.

Have you ever gotten sick, bruised, or broken a bone after a concert? I’ve probably caught a cold from waiting outside in below-zero temperatures wearing jeans, a tshirt, and a hoodie (ain’t nobody got time for coat check). And of course I’ve found mystery bruises. No broken bones, though.

Have you ever had surprise guests at a concert you attended? Jon Gallant from Billy Talent appeared on stage during the opening band’s set the last time I saw MCR. That was awesome. I knew the bands were friends, but I never saw that coming. :D

Did you start listening to an opening act after you saw them in concert? I really liked what little I heard of Valkeat, who opened for Wintersun. I also liked Winterthroned, though as I said, they weren’t technically an opening act. Both are on my “listen to more of” list.

What’s the latest you’ve got home from a concert? Whenever I went to concerts in Toronto, I’d have to crash at my dad’s place in Richmond Hill and then get home a.s.a.p. the next day if I had school or work, so... latest getting to my dad’s was probably 6:30 to 7:00 in the morning, and if we’re counting actually getting home then like... 11:00 to noon the next day? Haha.

When is the earliest you’ve arrived to a venue for a concert? 8 hours before doors.

Have you seen your favorite artist in concert? Yep, but I’d love to see them more!! Alas, I cannot, as they have broken up.

Longest you’ve waited in line for a concert? 8 hours. In rain and snow. Without a jacket or gloves. #YOLO

Have you ever attended a concert alone? Almost exclusively.

What’s the best part of a concert in your opinion?

Have you ever heard/seen an artist soundcheck before their show? Nope.

What’s the biggest venue you’ve been to a concert at? The Air Canada Center or the Molson Amphitheater. Not sure which one’s bigger.

What’s the smallest venue you’ve been to a concert at? Mod Club, the place in Toronto where I first saw Korpiklaani.

Have you ever had side stage seats? No.

Which venue have you been to the most concerts at? Nosturi, maybe?

Do you post a lot about a concert you’ve attended on social media or very little? I post pictures and might tell a story or two. :^D

Has a concert or tour you were planning on going to got cancelled? No.

Have you seen a band in concert before a member left the band / they broke up? My Chemical Romance for BOTH -- I saw them before Bob Bryar left and after, and obvs before they broke up altogether. Saw C.o.B twice before the Roope debacle, too. And I’m not sure about this, but is Aaron not touring with Billy Talent anymore? Oh, and I’ve seen Ensiferum before Emmi left. Well, other than that I’m not sure about line-up changes and whatnot.

Favorite song you’ve heard live? Probably “Famous Last Words” and “It’s Not a Fashion Statement, It’s a Fucking Deathwish” by MCR.

Have you ever seen an artist/band play an album in full? My Chemical Romance played The Black Parade in full and came back and did a bunch of songs from the previous two albums.

Which artist would you refuse to see in concert? Uh. Anyone I don’t like?? Idk, there are some artists where I probably wouldn’t buy a ticket myself, but if someone wanted to take me, I’d go. It’s hard to think of specific bands/artists I would refuse to see. You couldn’t pay me enough to go to, like, a grindcore show or some screamo shit or techno/DM/whatever you call that nonsense my brother listens to. Oh, and obviously NSBM is completely out of the question.

What’s the craziest thing a fan has done at a concert you’ve been to? Crowd-surfing/stage-diving. I remember at Paganfest while Turisas was on security barely had to do anything, Warlord had that shit under control, he’d just toss bitches back into the crowd.

Which venue(s) would you love to go to for a concert? My favourites...? There aren’t really any special venues I’m dying to see, lmao.

Have you ever been to a concert at a venue that no longer exists? Not that I know of.

Have you ever lost something/got something stolen at a concert? I lost my bus ticket home at an MCR show which fucking sucked coz I was super low on money to begin with and I had to buy a new one using my Finland Fund. >.>

Have people made fun of you or laughed because of how you were acting at a concert? Ehh, one time I covered my nose coz someone behind me was smoking weed and the smell makes me nauseous and I kinda didn’t wanna throw up or pass out, and my boyfriend at the time got all huffy and annoyed and was like “grow up” and I said “you grow up” and rushed off and people laughed a bit, but more like in a “daaamn u fucked up” way imo.

Have you ever been kicked out of a concert? Nope.

Has an artist thrown or spit water on you? Nope.

Have you ever seen a security guard dance to a song at a concert? No.

Have you seen any acts you don’t like at a concert? Huntress and Ex Deo at Paganfest. -_-

Have you ever passed out or thrown up at a concert? No, thank the gods.

Have you seen any artists in concerts that you don’t like anymore? Nope!

[kdilanie]

219 or the episode that makes you feel Alive.

Finally I can write about this fantastic, intense, emotional episode which is by far with 215, the best episode of the season. An episode focus on the women of the show, and that’s what Supergirl is. It’s about women. The title is “Alex” but it could have been “Kara”, “Maggie”, “Danvers” or “The Fantastic Four”, 219 was all about them. We finally have Kara/Maggie connection, Maggie as an amazing detective, Sanvers L word’s scene and Lena. It’s the episode I was waiting for.

Now, recap (sorry it’s a long post):

Kara: “She’s my Sister”. Our precious little Danvers. Kara could move every mountain, could cross every galaxy for Alex. 

It’s a fact, this season, we kind of lost Kara, The Danvers Sisters have been sidelined, but 219 is here to remind us that Kara is the Soul, Alex is the Heart, Kara’s Heart. And it feels good, it’s beautiful. Kara and Jonn scene outside the DEO is a tresor… Kara loves Alex so much, Alex is Kara’s world. 

Also, Kara has more development in one episode than during this whole fucking season. Kara learnt that sometimes, having super powers is useless… or if I can say, not enough. Kara Danvers, is the strongest, the most beautiful and inspiring Hero when she is a Super Human Girl (remind me of episode 7 in season 1). I love her.

Alex: “You’re a badass Danvers”. She is. But she’s more than that. Well, she can’t cook but Alex believes in others, she trust the ones she loves, she is sensitive. She loves Kara, she loves Maggie. “I knew you were coming”, she never gave up, she held on, she held on love. The scene at the end when she’s surrounded by Kara and Maggie is everything.

Since season 1 and by what she represents, Alex Danvers is one of the best tv character ever created. Thanks to the Gods, Chyler Leigh is Alex Danvers.

Winn: Winn the little brother. How can you not love him? Winn is family.

James: Ok. James saved Alex twice in 215. 219: Alex is in a fucking water tank and James is on holidays. Why not… Good to know, he’s back in 220.

Jonn: Space Dad. Don’t mess with his girls, Kara, Alex and now Maggie or he’ll be there waiting for you. Jonn for what he represents: the father, the mentor, the safe home, is important. CW don’t mess up.

MonPrince: Ok. Seriously, it’s getting ridiculous and I feel bad for Chris Wood. I watched him recently on V.D and Chris Wood can fucking act. Bonus, as the villain, he’s really good. So, if in season 3, the writers could give him an interesting storyline, something deeper and complex, I would probably stop rolling my eyes when Mon-El is on screen.

Rhea: Rhea is here since 3 episodes and I’m more interested in her development and what she is up to than her son. By the way, Teri as a villain, you are FABULOUS.

Lena: In a record time Lena knew that Rhea is an Alien, but they want us to believe that she still doesn’t know about Kara… What kind of joke is that? 

I hope the writers didn’t decide to turn Lena as a villain by being brainwashed. But, I would love to see her fighting for not falling into the dark side. Anyway, as always, Lena was great in 219.

Karamel: I still dont understand, what kind of relationship is that?

Supercorp: “Brunch next saturday”. Even through the phone they shine together. I’m looking forward for what’s gonna happen next. The connection between Melissa and Katie is amazing.

Sanvers: “A Lifetime of Firsts”. The L word’s scene is just beautiful. Sanvers is love, Sanvers is real. I’m not saying this because Alex survived, we knew she’s gonna survive, it’s more than that. It’s the whole development of their story. It makes you feel and believe that it’s possible to find someone, one day, that will stand by you no matter what happen. “Hold on until I get to you”, in these dark times, hold on to Sanvers. They’re hope.

The Danvers Sisters: “Alex”, “Kara”. This episode is full of the Danvers Sisters HeartBeat. Kara can loses control on everything when Alex is in danger, she doesn’t even think, she goes. From “Supergirl is bigger than me” showing us how much Alex believes in her sister to “I’m listenning for her”, which is an important, emotional line because it shows how Kara tries to relax, to find some peace for Alex, because Alex is Kara’s world. Alex held on, Kara held on, They held on.

The Danvers Sisters are the most important relationship of the show.

Kara and Maggie: “We made a pretty good team, didn’t we”. I loved them. I was waiting for an episode with them since 204. Even if it’s late in the season, it was worth to wait.

Kara and Maggie are different, they work in a different way, they don’t share the same opinion, they don’t listen to each other but they have one common point: Their love for Alex.  The scene between Kara and Maggie in the DEO when Maggie tells Kara “I have just as much to lose as you”, is the moment where it hit Kara (she’s almost in tears): Love is not a question of how long, love is not a competition, love is love. It’s about what you’re living now, what you feel. Kara didn’t realize that another woman could love Alex as much as her and could fight and give up everything for her until this moment. Kara and Maggie learnt from each other, they learnt to work together, to listen, to share. Maggie was ready to lose her job and Kara understood that with words you can change the day and save the love. The moment she broke the glass is powerful. 

Kara and Maggie teach us that with our differences we should complete each other instead of fighting because Together, We Are Stronger. So yes, Kara and Maggie made a pretty good team and their hug, their smile, at the end are precious and important. Melissa and Floriana were fantastic. I hope we’ll see more of them in the future.

Maggie: “I love you Alex Danvers”. Maggie Sawyer is not just the best character right now in season 2, she’s also the one with the best development. She went from being that tough cop and “See you around Danvers” to that woman who is ready to lose everything to save the person she’s in love with. Maggie Sawyer went through a difficult past, outed and family issues, she had to fight, she had to be strong, she had to hold on to keep going in the life. And one day, on a crime scene, here comes the light in the night. She met Alex, and her world changed again but this time for the best. Maggie Sawyer is life.

The laptop speech’s scene is iconic and the “I got her to be herself” is as important as “We should be who we are” or “You’re real”. Maggie Sawyer is important and iconic. Maggie Sawyer is ready to be happy with Alex Danvers. Let her live a real full, happy life.

Oh and I almost forgot: Gertrude the dog, really Sanvers?

[puppy-phum]

Fic Meme

Your curiosity gets rewarded @asetyleenihappiliekki :3 Thanks for tagging me to this. 

Rules: Cite the final line of five of your fics – your favourites, or the most recent ones. Tag five writers who should do this next.

- But, let me change it a bit. I’ll add one work in progress, one that I’ve not published yet. Forgive me my immodesty. 

Liian monta kertaa (eng. Too Many Times) - LaeppaVika 

“Katseessaan uusi universumi, jonne Protolla on lupa kadota.” (”A whole new universe in his eyes where Proto has a permission to hide.”)  

Likavesienkeli (eng. The Drain Water Angel) - LaeppaVika - Zappis/Rauski

“Se on vapauttanut hänen sisäisen lapsensa, kaikkien niiden rumien muistojen keskeltä.” (”It (meaning “he” because this is how finnish spoken language works) has freed his inner child from the middle of all those ugly memories.”)

Lasinsirukahleet (eng. Shard Shackles) - Uta no Prince-sama - Tokiya/Otoya 

“Mutta tästä lähtien heillä on taas vapaus päättää.” (”But from now on they have the freedom to decide again.”)  

Puoli vuotta pakoaikaa (eng. Half a Year for Escaping) - Original Story 

“Enkä mä koskaa anna sun lähtee.” (”And I will never let you leave.”)

Working title: Somehow - DA Inquisition - Dorian/Inquisitor

“The ache in his chest doesn't go away but it grows bearable.” (A what if -story about a 15-year-old Inquisitor who steals Dorian’s heart from the start, making it difficult for them both.)

Yes, it’s done. It ended up being fun, especially the translating. I hope those translations work, oh god. My English gets so rusty somedays :’D  I need to write more in English, I know and I want to do it.

But the reason to choose these five was my own love for them. These five have taught me something and have worked way better than I expected. It was strange to come back to these fics and think about them through words only. I have no such things as “fantastic last words” or “the last sentence that leaves you breathless” in my fics. But these... work. Somehow. And no one judges any piece of written art by the last words, right?    

Teille suomea mongertaville: Kiitos kun olette lukeneet näitä, joskus, kerran, useastikin. On ollut mukavaa. 

I want to say that I will tag no one but because I’m curious and a little bit evil, I want to see how this turns out. I’ll tag @bigsmallworld (I know you have something! Don’t try to tell me otherwise!) and @yukarini (I want to hear about your works, dear!) Do as you wish. Prepare for fun times ;)

[viralhottopics]

The Former Secretary of Defense Outlines the Future of Warfare

To an engineer in Silicon Valley, the Defense Department can look a little old, a little slow, and a little fat. To the Defense Department, the smug confidence of young engineers doesnt go unnoticed. Is it really better to work on an app for ordering sandwiches than it is to build submarines that can launch nuclear weapons?

Two years ago, Barack Obama appointed a new Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter—a technocrat physicist, an arms control veteran, and a professor at Stanford—to help close this divide. During his tenure, Carter set up a virtual outpost in Silicon Valley. He worked to make it easier for tech companies to sell things to the Pentagon, for their engineers to work there, and for their bosses to offer up advice. He even let WIRED tag along and write a profile of him. He also impressed the local royalty. Hes been amazing, Ben Horowitz, the co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, told me in an interview.

This week, Carter, who left office along with Obama, agreed to chat with WIRED about his tenure, the challenges facing his successor, and a White House that isnt entirely beloved by technocrats.

Nicholas Thompson: Thank you for taking the time to talk with us.

Ashton Carter: Sure. Its good to be back with WIRED.

You put a lot of effort during your tenure into building bridges between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon. How well will they survive your departure?

I think the logic behind them is so compelling both for the defense mission and in a different way for the innovative people in the Valley and other technology hubs that this gives me confidence that it will continue. The Defense Department has to adapt and be flexible and be user-friendly for people who have their own particular style of working and who have, quite honestly, some reservations about whether working with the government is a good thing to do.

I remember you telling a story about going to Andreessen Horowitz and being asked whether someone who smoked pot could get a security clearance.

Yes. We need to be realistic. Some behaviors that in past times might have been predictive of instability or espionage or a propensity to be blackmailed are simply not in that category anymore.

Theres always been tension between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon. But now theres a new sense here that employees at tech companies generally hold values that are different from the values held dear by the occupants of our current White House. What is your advice to them as they think about working with the Pentagon?

Stay the course. Stick with the values and the idealism that makes the innovative community so important to Defense. That will be widely recognized by professionals in the Department of Defense.

I think that my successor [Gen. James Mattis] spent a little time living in the Valley and therefore has the opportunity to relate. Thats a good thing. But, more fundamentally, I think that people in the tech community are animated by making a difference in the world and they know that, whoever is President of the United States, security is a very important thing. They can make a difference there, and the governments job is to create bridges and doorways which allow them to use that great positive spirit of theirs in a way that is also consistent with their values.

So you think well get past this rocky moment?

Its only day 24, so I dont know where that will go. But I do think that it is widely understood that this is a critical relationship to have, and that in order for it to be helpful the government has to be flexible and has to meet technologists halfway. The shocks that weve had—the Snowden issue and other things in the past—these are very real, and they need to be taken into account, but they can be surmounted. Thats why with the Defense Digital Service, for example, we let people give us a try. You can just come in for one project for a time and see whether you like it.

The experience is that the government is better than they thought it would be, and they are very excited by it, and they are able to make a big difference and they find that very satisfying. And they know that the issues are inherently essential to civilized life and to everything they believe, and they are able to make a contribution that’s consistent with their values. Thats pretty exciting.

Despite all the turbulence in our political system, things that have a strong logic behind them tend to prevail in the end.

We talked six months ago and you said: Counter-ISIL is going to be the first big test of Cyber Com. How would you evaluate it now?

This is the first time that we have used cyber as a weapon of war, and while theres no question that there was a learning curve, it has been very effective. One measure of that is that the way in which ISILs leaders have very clearly had to change their way of operating and their methods of command and control. They are not able any longer to have the centralized command and control logistics support of a complicated battlefield like Northern Iraq or Northern Syria, and they are resorting now to the old methods of messengers. They are very paranoid because they cant tell when we have penetrated or blacked them out, or when the local populace has turned against them or when their own fighters are disloyal, and that creates a lot of paranoia.

It has always been the case in attacking the enemys command and control that there are difficult choices that need to be made between listening to the enemys communications, if you are able to do that, and depriving them of those communications. And so we made that balance, working with the intelligence community, case by case. Sometimes we decided not to strike with cyber weapons because we preferred to listen than to black out. In other cases, we simply blacked them out.

If we are going into a particular place at a particular time to do a raid—grab a leader, kill a leader—we might black out that area at that time. We may do it selected by geography and by time. Its been very effective. But I should emphasize that its only one thing that we are doing across a wide swath of acceleration of the campaign that began a year and a quarter ago. You see us raiding and killing leaders, seizing leaders so that we can learn more about them. Seizing their laptops and cellphones and exploiting them. A lot of people dont realize that there is much, much more to this campaign than airstrikes. And cyber has been part of that.

This is the first time that the United States has used cyber as a weapon of war, and theres no question that we can be very effective with that.

Part of that depends on cooperation between the intelligence agencies and the White House. Reading the news there appears to be increasing tension between the intelligence agencies and the White House. How worried would you be about that?

Its too early to see where that will settle out. Its obviously essential for those waging the war on ISIL to be working closely together. That in my time as Secretary of Defense went extremely well. I always found that I could work with Jim Clapper and Jim Comey and Jonn Brennan.

‘Despite all the turbulence in our political system, things that have a strong logic behind them tend to prevail in the end.’Former Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter

Every time we make progress, we found new ways to make it go even faster. So when you capture someone you learn something about the organization that allows you to make more effective airstrikes. When you do effective airstrikes, ISIL fighters begin to relocate, and you are able to get them in the new location.

Success breeds success in a campaign like this, and we should be constantly be looking to turn over new opportunities and accelerate. I certainly hope, and I do expect, that the new team will keep looking within the same basic strategic framework that we had of destroying ISIL in Syria.

Ive heard defense officials say that they think autonomy is going to change warfare as much as nuclear weaponry did. Do you think thats correct?

I think it will change warfare in a fundamental way. Im not sure that anything that is done autonomously will compete with the raw physical destructive power of nuclear weapons. I also think that autonomy is a complicated concept. Lets not forget that when it comes to using force to protect civilization one of our principles ought to be that theres a human being involved in making critical decisions. I think thats an important principle, and as I said, consistent with full exploitation of this potential.

I think it will have a major effect on warfare. But its very hard to compare anything to nuclear weapons because of the simple physical awesome destructive power. Its been 70 years, and nothing has matched it.

I think if there is going to be something ever that rivals nuclear weapons in terms of the pure fearsomeness of their destructiveness its more likely to come from biotechnology than any other technology. Looking back decades from now, I do think the biological revelation could rival the atomic revolution for the fearsomeness of the potential. I think thats one reason we need to invest in it. And although biotechnology has not been a traditional area for Defense, the new bridges that they build shold not only be to the IT tech community but also to the biotech communities in the Valley.

At heart, youre a scientist. What is your advice to all the scientists concerned about the direction this White House is taking the country?

Again, its very early. Its very difficult to discern what the direction is. Id encourage people to keep heart and to remember that weve been around for 241 years and that protecting our people and making a better world is a very noble mission, and that science and technology are essential to its accomplishment, and that they ought to continue to try to advance that but stick to their principles and their values at the same time.

I was Secretary of Defense, and I believed and I still believe that its possible that technologists—and this has been something that I have dedicated my life to—can be true to the principals of science and innovation and also work toward protecting our people and making a better world.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Read more: http://ift.tt/2kMrM1w

from The Former Secretary of Defense Outlines the Future of Warfare

[ruffiorocks]

Supergirl Season 5 premiere review!

Ok!! So there's a lot to process here but first off WOW! Bravo! 👏👏 as season premieres go that was probably one of if not the best.

Ok... So opening scene, you could so tell that was a simulation from the way Kara talked. I should also like to give a big 🖕🖕 to all those that were dragging Lena saying she either:

1. Gave herself super powers

2. Used Kryptonite

3. Punched Kara in front of some school kids.

Is it just me, or does Hope the AI give off an "I'm going to become sentient and be a massive pain in the ass?" Vibe? 🤔🤔

My poor baby Lena, how awful must it be to believe that everyone you know has betrayed you, that you can't trust them and you have no one to talk to? So you create your own personal AI that won't (probably will ) betray you, oh and you bring someone (Andrea ) back into your life when clearly things haven't always been smooth sailing? Poor Lena!

Ugh..Must they throw out politics less that 3 minutes into the show? We have Kara talking about registering to vote?

Ok, so everyone is praising Kara, she's talking about having her work recognised, Baker and Lex being taken down, but yet again there is NO mention of the fact that it was Lena who figured out where Lex was, Lena who helped Kara/Supergirl etc. Oh that's right I forgot, the show doesn't like to acknowledge when things couldn't have been done without Lena 😤😤

Naww Alex and Kelly are so cute.

Kara suddenly has a dislike for technology?? Random and purely there for plot convenience.

Not going to lie but Jonn is kind of boring this episode.

Ok... So here we go again, Kara using stupid excuses to not tell Lena. Ugh.... this is getting so old and cliche to the point it isn't even funny anymore.

Yes!! They have Kara acknowledging that lying to Lena for so long while being all about 'truth' wasn't fair.

Yes Alex the voice of reason Danvers!! She can tell Kara off essentially while still praising her and letting her know she is good. I'm loving how it's ALEX who is saying Lena needs to know!

😂 Miranda Priestly, yes Brainy I quite agree! Id rather face Hannibal Lector than her. Oh bring back Cat Grant!!

😂😂 omg that handshake! I'm willing to bet that Alex's laugh was just Chyler not being able to keep a straight face and they kept it.

James is boring.

Strangely turned on by the way Andrea says her name 😅

James is boring.

Not going to lie, I know Lena wanted Andrea to keep the sale of Cat Co a secret, but I'm actually glad we got to see Kara's shock at not being kept in the loop. Humble pie much??

Ok the exhibit is funny.

Did they have a casting call for a creepy kid?

Dinosaur!!

Katie is so good at the whole pretending to be happy and friendly whilst plotting face 🤣. Morgana much?

Oh.... Kara is being indignant Lena did something without telling them all?? Another bite of pie Kara?

Hahahaha 🖕 to all those that said Lena didn't buy Cat Co for Kara. (I know she might be saying that to explain the sale away, but it's been said so it's canon!)

Oooh Lena is really making it obvious she knows 🤣🤣 awkward much lol

Dinosaur!!

Karas cape is more important than a bomb to Brainy 😂

Ooh here that's scene at Cat Co. I stand by my last post, James and Kara are incredibly rude to their new boss and have zero right to speak to her that way. James and Kara used all of the staff to gang up on Andrea and it's just not on! I love how Andrea roasted James though!!

Does anyone here ever read a contract before signing it?

Am I the only one thought Andrea was Lenas ex when she said "relationship"?? 😅😅 false alarm lol

Why is Kara still flying with a crap cape? She doesn't need one to fly.

trap!!

Midnight isn't all that exciting.

Oh so Jonn remembers Manchester Black, but i take it no one wants to acknowledge his blatant MURDER Of the disarmed non powered human? Ok writers you can forget it all you want, but I'm not going to!

😂 Brainy! It is great fun to watch Jonn shift into Kara!

Oh Alex you angel and voice of reason.

Yay Kelly!! Lovely advice, love how she's the one who convinced James to leave! Kelly just got a massive boost in my eyes!

William is hilariously obnoxious!!

Erm... Did Kara just FULL ON verbally attack her new boss? Threatening to fight her boss on everything? Dictating what Andrea can and can not do? Giving out demands? Jesus Christ, Andrea I know you said you're not going to fire her but man I would have on the spot!! Kara is waaaay out of order and getting way to big for her super boots!

I don't think William and Kara are going to be a couple, that's the exact same story as Mon El and Kara. No one wants to watch that again.

Ok so now Kara is bragging to Alex that she verbally attacked her new boss, telling her what SHE will and will not tolerate? Omg Kara get a grip!

Alex?? You're encouraging this? You were supposed to be the voice of reason!

Naww Alex and Kelly are cute!

Ooh Brainy is so funny! "To small to be perceived". He made her a new suit!

Holy s**t!! Kara just out right came out to Lena!! I really thought she would drag this out start rambling and not actually do it So Lena sees her change instead. But good for her, about bloody time!!

Lena genuinely looks shocked! She didn't expect Kara to come clean! Puts a spanner in Lena's revenge plot there lol

Jesus the acting of these two!! The facial expressions and the tears! Mel is really selling it! Bravo 👏👏

I'm loving how Kara is acknowledging all the things we've been saying, how her reasons for keeping the secret were dumb!

Oh I don't trust this Hope AI at all! She's encouraging Lena to hate on Kara.

Oh the speech, and Alex's awkward look!

No way was Lena going to immediately forgive Kara, I know we wanted to think it but Nooo! Far to soon lol

Omg!! It was Lena Kara activated her new suit infront of!! I'm living for that!

PANTS!!!

HOLY SH*T MUSE!!! Yesssss!!! What a sound track to use!!

Alex "how do you guys change so fast?!" 🤣🤣

Oh.. ... look...... Guardian is there.....Hopefully for his last appearance

Fight itself isn't all that exciting, and I feel like we didn't even get to know Midnight, that was way to quick.

James quit, good! Leave!! Seems a bit stupid he doesn't care about never being a journalist again though. But I won't dwell, because I genuinely don't care.

Alex and Kelly! Oh my heart!

Oh so Brainy has had A LOT of romantic experience then? 😏

Aww he loves her!!

I'm glad they had Brainy acknowledge his feeling at having been dark for that short time.

Nawwww a kiss!

That little girl is way creepy!

Oh so Jonn doesn't know he has a brother? 🤔 interesting.

Oh look Lena gets a super watch, ABOUT BLOODY TIME!! That could have prevented so many problems! Straight out of a fan fic lol

Oh yes, I don't trust this AI Hope!!

Lena no! You are NOT a Luthor!

Ok... so all in all a fab episode, nothing was dragged out thank RAO! I don't hate Lena for wanting to expose Kara, it makes sense from a comic point of view and from the pain she feels. The important thing is she didn't do it. People are allowed to feel like they are going to lash out when they are hurt.

I quite like Andrea, she's a breath of fresh air! Plus she isn't wrong in her ideas, just because it's something Kara, Nia and James don't like doesn't mean it's wrong. I think she was treated horribly and despicably by Kara and James though. Especially Kara! That was way to much and she should have been sacked. I'm really happy someone is at Cat Co now that is challenging her and not doing whatever she says, I think the days of Karaolsen magazine and Kara running out whatever she wants are done. But this is good!

Nia is adorable but didn't get to do much.

Jonn was pretty boring this ep considering the villain was out to get him.

James sucks!

Brainy is sooo cute and funny!

Alex and Kelly are the best!

Alex being the voice of reason is what I'm here for, now I want her to go see Lena.

Hahaha Kelly is the one to thank for ridding me of James.

The acting between Mel and Katie here was brilliant, the emotions the tears, the deception? Wonderfully done.

Lena didn't create any VR tech so take that haters!!

Kara's war on tech sounds like it's going to be for boring reasons.

I don't trust this Hope AI!

Lena isn't done for yet, "a fight for Lena's soul!" We can all find our way back to the light!

[ruffiorocks]

Supegirl season 5 ep 2 review

Little late to the game with episode! But here goes!

Opening scene..... ugh they really are trying hard with the 'tech is bad' trope aren't they?

Nawww Alex made brekkie and now she's sad she might have killed Kelly! Am I the only one who wants Danvers Blueberry Pancakes?

Nawww Brainy made brekkie!! 😂😂 Nia is hilarious and adorable!

Sooo James is going to be a senator? Oh for RAOs sake! He's a photographer who allied himself with Anti Alien Nazi's and is a bloody vigilante!! Not an ex vigilante a CURRENT out and proud vigilante. Correct me if I'm wrong but vigilantes aren't usually wanted in politics right? Oh but we need to send James off on a high note, so let's give him the worst idea since making him CEO of Cat Co!

I quite like the twist that if a green Martian attacks his brother he gets pain to.

Oh so Kelly is ahead of her time with her tech! Kew waves! Go Kelly!!

Sooo... I know Kara is worried about Jonn by she knew she had a meeting to go to but is taking advantage again?

Oh that little girl is good at acting creepy!

Awww Lena is talking to Hope like this is her best friend, it's the way she gets excited, like when she used to talk to Kara! It's so sad 😥

Hmm... Lena talks about how humans and aliens lie but it's not their fault it's just how they are programmed. I almost thought this was a suttle way of Lena saying she doesn't blame Kara for lying , like She's making an excuse for her.

Lena's idea is actually a noble one, it's what everyone dreams of. A world where people can't hurt eachother, but it's not a plausible reality. The writers really are trying to make Lena unstable, which to be fair after everything she's been through she probably is.

It's soooo out of character for Lena to want to use or basically steal someone else's tech since people have been using her tech for nefarious purposes since day one! This isn't Lena, she's done a complete 180 that makes zero sense.

Oh so Kara decided to show up to work ? Hang on a sec, Nia called Kara to say Andrea was on the war path because she won't start the meeting without everyone there, but Nia waited until Kara got there to go into it? Is she trying to get on Andrea's bad side? Go to the meeting Nia!!

Kara can't stop looking her nose down at Andrea can she? Oh she was given an assignment but it's apparently below her?? Oh she's trying to get another great story thought someone else she knows.. ugh. Like I know it's good to use for resources but Kara has such unfair advantages. How about going after a story you haven't had handed to you on a silver platter?

Oh so now Kara has been told she can do both stories but Nadrwa wants hers done first (fair) and wants it done by noon (fair) but apparently Kara doesnt have time for this? No!! This is getting silly now, Kara this is YOUR job! You can't decide when you want to do it or decide when it's convenient. If kara can't do the job because of Supergirl she shouldn't be doing it. Kara needs to learn she isn't working for Cat, Lena or James anymore. This is the real world now, no more Molly coddling.

I'm loving Kelly this episode! She's only been around 5 minutes and is already way more interesting than James has ever been.

Lena is frighteningly calm right now. Lena can monitor Eve's brain and Eve is telling her that 'they' are controlling her but this doesn't interest Lena at all? NO!! Lena Luthor would be beyond interested in this!

Oh so now Kara is pissed she has to be 'stuck at work' instead of doing her super stuff. THIS.....IS.....YOUR.....JOB!! She's not even subtle with her muttering when she walks past William. When did Kara get like this?

😂😂 the sushi scene was hilarious!

Oh Alex and Brainy discussing relationships is adorable! Her voice went up and then she deepened it 😂

Aww Kelly is amazing helping our Jonn! Although those contacts are creepy as heck!

I love how Kelly was automatically accepted into the group but I wish Lena had been given the same courtesy.

Oh so now Kara is just sneaking out of Cat Co without even bothering with real excuses now?

Kara a isn't trapped in a Tower Alex! Kara is choosing to be there and making life difficult for herself because she refuses to even try and get on with Andrea.

So clearly something is up with Williams wife?

This show really likes it's white Martians.

Ohhh so Jonns brother is the reason the Green Martians downfall.

Oh wow, his brother just killed a teenage Martian and were those mass graves? Supergirl isn't pulling it's punches at the moment.

Oh so that's yet another white martian that was killed when it could have been captured. So that whole "we don't kill rule" really has been thrown out the window. Not that they ever stuck by it anyway.

Hahaha they all stink! Brainy is hilarious

Alex in tech gear on a bike gives me life.

Sooo Nia's job now is to call Kara whenever she's about to get into trouble? Kara you're putting on Nia now and it isn't fair!

So Kara is back at Cat Co and Andrea is miffed (rightly so) that Kara couldn't do the one thing she was asked to do. Kara thinks by saying 'i was about to file it' which she absolutely wasn't at all about to do then Andrea should shug it off. William did it ans Kara is pissed, well Kara maybe you should have done the one small job you were given to do. I get she has super duties, but that is Kara's choice.

Andrea tells her to do some copy exciting, Kara is surprised and put out by this I'm not a copy editor ' Well Kara, you were given your job to do but apparently couldn't do it.

Kara is so miffed she isn't being Molly coddled anymore by her bosses. William was actually right, Kara should be doing that.

Oh so Kara just had an actual tantrum and dropped the work she was given on Williams desk and told him to do it. Sooo.... Kara once again is above doing the one thing her boss asked her to so! Seriously Kara should be sacked!! I would have sacked her by now.

Ooh Andrea and Lena show down. Hold the bloody phone!! Lena's assistant is Andrea's best friends girlfriend?!! This is another betrayal!! That assistant let Andrea in, and Lena was surprised she's there! Sooo other than Jess, is Lena allowed a freaking assistant that isn't going to double cross her or go behind her back?! Enough writers! Enough with the God Damn betrayals it's getting so old!!

Again, Lena isn't the type to try and mess with someone sense tech and steal it!! No!! This isn't her!

Oh so Lena is addicted to the lenses, Andrea even said she was 'cut off' sooo.. This tech is basically a drug??

Brainy is cute with the food 😅 'my heart also burns! 😂 Nia telling Brainy she likes lots of things is going to bite her in this ass

Oh so Kara has abandoned work again!! To have a brew with Jonn at her loft? Even Jonn says 'shouldn't you be working?" Yes Jonn she should be! But Kara says he's a welcome distraction, erm... a distraction from what Kara? You haven't actually done any work or really even been at Cat Co all day!! You were given one job!

Oh so another reference to Williams wife? Intriguing 🤔

I love how it only took a touch from Alex to know that wasn't Kelly! Nawww!!

Hang on!! All the Super watches are connected? Shouldn't Lena's have gone off to? I don't remember Lena being in on any of this?

Ahh so Alex did in fact kill the White Martian.

James says 'we' have to go to Kelly? 'we?!!'

Ok so Alex V Kara is awesome!! Chyler bravo!

Holy shit! James actually brought along is civilian unarmed sister to a massive dangerous super fight? What the hell was he thinking?!!

Awww Alex knows it IS Kelly though a touch.

That fight was epic!!

Flying Chyler!!

Alex knew it was the real Kelly!

Oh look Kelly could have fallen to her death because d**khead James who wants to be a senator brought his unarmed sister to a dangerous fight where neither she NOR He should have been anywhere near!

Hang on, James is supposed to not be allowed to be Guardian anymore! That was the whole point of Lena trading info to stop him going to.jail.... but now it's suddenly OK? Do the people who called him about being a senator know about this?!! This is just stupid now!

Oh so now Kara is back at work and decided she has time to do her job.

😂 Kara is accusing William of sabotaging her when she's actually doing a fine job of doing that all on her own.

Nawww Alex and Kelly are the best!! She really frikken likes her! She called her 'my kelly".

😂😂😂 omg Brainy in Nia's apartment! I'm dying 🤣

Oh what Lena did Eve isn't OK, I love Lena but this is NOT ok. Lena is seriously needed up right now, but she knows she shouldn't be doing this, you can see the tears in her eyes. That slow Girls Wanna Have Fun is actually really fitting.

The writers have moved Lena here to quickly. The Lena we know would never have dine that. That's like making Nia suddenly evil! It makes no sense!

See Kara, Andrea is good when you actually do the job she asked ya to do.

Nawww William isn't so bad!

I don't trust Hope, having a body just marks her more human and capable.

Sooo over all a good episode! Best parts were the Non Alex/Kara show down and the Alex and Kelly parts! Worst bits? Totally OOC Lena that makes zero sense, and Kara's 'I'm above this and can't be bothered' attitude towards her job.

Or her good bits include Kelly and Jonn working together and ALL of Brainy!

Minor worst bit? Everything they did with James.

[ruffiorocks]

Latest Supergirl Episode

. Loved the flash back scene with young Kara and Alex

. I think it's cute Kelly was just chilling on Alex's couch. Bad bit? We aren't even 2 minutes in and Alex is being psychoanalyzed by Kelly. As soon as she said she had a dream about Kara Kelly instantly jumped to the conclusion it was because Kara was adopted. I think this scene was a bit forced, it happened to quickly.

.Kara kicking the crap out of those guards while tied to a chair was hilarious. I was getting Black Widow vibes oh and Dylan from Charlie's Angels!

. Ooh Red daughter showed up! Looking awesome!

. So we aren't really getting any consistency to how Kryptonite or even manufactured Kryptonite effects Kara huh? Rather than have her act like her skin is burning off they just make her have green lines on her face? And really? Only last season she was telling Lena how badly it effects her and freaking out about it, but a few months later she can deal with it just fine because she has had 15 years to get used to it? More evidence her fight with Lena was pointless! (I know it's over and they made up, just making a point)

.Mel's accent is just awesome!

. 'you really should have led with that' 😂 oh Lena priorities!

. ' I will tell Dreamer I'm in love with her!" "I'll bring her with!"

. Alex who knows what Lena's been up to is absolutely sound with her just borrowing stuff from the DEO! More proof that Alex knows Lena is GOOD!

.Kara crying when she was talking to Jonn was EVERYTHING! That didn't look like fake crying at all, she had blotches on her face 😭

. Ok, so i forget, did Alex and Kara know Alex could never get her memories back when they did this? I mean like EVER?! Oh but MAYBE she could learn on her own? Plot convenience is convenient.

. Mama Luthor and Lena is EVERYTHING! Hahahaha Lena brought the prison for the weekend 😂

. Ooh the truth telling Alien is back! Why Haley never used this on James Olsen is still BEYOND me!

. Is anyone really surprised that Lillian loves Lena in her own way? She has shown it before. She nearly killed Morgan Edge for trying to hurt Lena, she went on a freaking Daxamite ship just to get Lena back!

. When I heard Lena had a middle school boyfriend I was just groaning at all the posts I'm going to see from haters saying this proves she's straight 😑

. Katie and Brenda could have and should have their own show!

. "Couldn't you just waterboard me like a normal person!"

. Lena employing Luthor tactics to save the day! Its what makes her awesome and it's why she usually get one up on Lillian.

. Also Lena in another three piece suit! 😍

. Lena and 'Benjamin". Ben crushes a bar trying to intimidate Lena and my girl doesn't even flinch! Please Mr Lockwood! She survived worse than you!

. Lena saying 'hench people" rather than "henchmen" feminist!

. Ben's reaction to being played was portrayed so well

. Ooh he's losing his hair!

. Not buzzing that Lena and James have scenes together (yawn) but I get why they are happening. He seems to be just there for muscle though.

. Soooo totally feeling Merlin with the girl on the unicorn

. Brainy is desperate to tell his feelings to Nia!

. The wookie Gambit! Absolutely NOT!!

. Brainy watch Star Wars! You and Lena could watch it together!

. Brainy, Dreamer and Jonn team up!

. Brainy as Lockwood 😂😂

. COL Haley!! Yesss!

. Holy s**t Jesse's acting of Brainy losing it was AWESOME!! That Emotion!

. Oh no! Brainy! Is he being set up as next seasons big bad?

. Eventually boxes get opened? This better not be foreshadowing for the wonderful angel who mentioned boxes to Brainy!!

. Otis Graves always makes me chuckle

. Ooh Red Daughter went after Eliza!

. Alex crying her heart out because she can't protect Kara

.I'm no Kalex shipper but in a sister way? Oh my God!

. Feeling disappointed they didn't stretch the budget for Mel to fight herself! It worked fine when she was talking to herself! Recycling the space suit? Ugh!

. So how far away is Midvale from National City? Alex got there almost as fast as Kara who is faster than a bullet!

. Ooh they brought up Mikyle!

. Ooh she's evolved!

. Kara's back flip in the air was awesome!

. Not sure how someone who can fly trips in mid air though 🤔

. Alex remembered!!! Thank RAO!

. Holy s**t that scene with Alex crying over Kara though? The feels! So desperate she puts grass in her hand! 😭 Wait... It worked? Really?

. Honestly thought maybe Rara would realise who Alex is and part the clouds and reveal the sun.

. Chyler crying? 😭

. James really is being stupid, he wants to keep the powers to be a hero. Yes his intentions are good but still stupid. Lena tells him she can't stabilizing him but thankfully Lillian can. What if she couldn't? Sure James, just let Lena and Everyone else watch you eventually die. That's really helping! When will he learn? I hope someone tells him that keeping these powers is stupid.

. Ooh 'you should drink it" you taught her to well Mama Luthor.

. Red daughter isn't dead, all that build up for THAT? NAH! Plus the episode ended with her emblem not Kara's.

All in all a good episode! Best parts were Alex and Kara and Lillian and Lena! James? Meh he just felt 'there' and i wish his powers were gone. I spent quite sometime worrying that Lena would profess love for James and I would have been beyond disappointed. I'm glad she didn't, just because she cares about him doesn't mean she's getting back together with him! She just isn't a sociopath who doesn't care for people. Dreamer didn't get to do much. Brainy was amazing!! Red daughter? Little disappointed but still good! Jonn didn't really get to do much either, he felt like an extra. But this was a good episode! I'm so glad I got my Danvers sisters back!!

[ruffiorocks]

Latest Supergirl Episode

Ok! First off I have got to stop sitting up until 4am to watch the episodes!

Now:

. I love that Lena and Kara are going to Kasnia together, go Team Supercorp!

. Downside? Alex the DEO agent who only a few episodes ago was absolutely against Kara her civilian sister getting involved in dangerous things KNOWS she's going to Kaznia to hunt down Lex Luthor with only Lena as back up? And she's OK with this?!

. Omg! I am living for Alex and Kelly! They've had more build up to a potential relationship in this one episode than GuardianCorp did their entire screen time together!

. So it sounds like James is going to keep these powers from the way Kelly was talking about how he won't crumble like them? Plus why bother training him if he's just going to lose them ? *Gigantic Sigh*

. Alex is was going to get a baby! My heart!

. Hang on a sec.... I LOVE Lena, but this is a lady who has expressed her fear of flying. Yet she builds self flying planes, is completely sound with having no pilot but can also apparently fly a plane and make emergency landings? Exactly when did Lena 'im afraid of flying' Luthor learn to do this?

.How exactly did Kara get out of that plane without Lena noticing? I mean I'm no expert but surely a door to a plane opening in mid flight would be noticed?

. Of course Lena didn't see past the lobsided glasses. Was pretty funny to see Kara like that though 😂

. Lena and that death stick! I would just tell her what she wanted to know!

. Dreamer wanting to hit James with a hammer! Ha same Nia! I got a real sense of satisfaction watching that.

. Brainy! He's to cute!

. Why on Earth was the Harun El so accessible to the COL agents? Brainy, Alex and Col Haley didnt think for one second "you what we should hide? That Harun El we've been working on! Dont want that landing in the wrong hands!' *eye roll*

. Ben Lockwood did you really just ditch your son at his own mother's funeral?

. I honestly thought Kara was going to find a file on Adam and have an awkward conversation with Lena there.

. Kara reacted a bit to that Kryptonite but not half as much as she normally does 🤔

. Oh for RAO's sake Kara! The more you try to protect Lena by not telling her who you are the more you put her in danger?

. Kara why the hell did you go back to burn a room Lena wasn't going to see and was about to blow up anyway?

. All the photos of Supercorp on the walls though?!

. Wait why did Kara give her tape recorder to Lena at all?

. I was going to question why on a mission like this Lena would still be wearing killer heels but I got my answer! So she can store a freaking sword on there!

. I feel like we were cheated out of a scene of watching Lena do hand to hand combat wile hobbling on one heel though

. So many Eve's! Love it!

. Lena freaking out because she thought Kara had been blown up!

. Oh so that's why Kara gave her tape recorder to Lena who had no reason at all to have it, so it would save her life!

. I legit held my breath and thought for one horrible moment they were going to kill Lena!

. OK I was about to shout at Kara for letting Lena believe that she could have been killed but then she said she wouldn't have been!

. My heart was pounding when Kara stood up, took off her glasses and posed!

. I screamed 'turn around Lena!'

. But what we got was another scene of Lena talking about being betrayed etc. Etc. Look I love Lena! But this is getting so repetitive that I'm not feeling it anymore .

. Of course Kara didn't tell her

. Kara made the wrong decision here. I get that she want to tell her afterwards. It makes sense because it's probably better to break Lena's heart AFTER the crisis. But Kara said herself to James that Lex knows. Eve also knows and so does Lillian. Again anyone one of those three people could tell Lena at any point and Kara is just ignoring this and hoping they won't? Eve could have told Lena there are then in that bloody bunker. It will hurt more if the tell her about before Kara does.

. OK so if you're a citizen of National City do NOT under any circumstances park your car on the side of the road. Because a super hero will use it as ammunition and you won't be reimbursed for it. Because apparently super heroes worth superpowers can't use said powers when needed.

. Look I'm no Ben Lockwood fan, but can we please stop having the 'heroes' throw things at the bad guys that could potentially kill them? James had no idea what that Harun El would do to Ben, they we're literally testing the effects a completely different dose had on him at the start of the episode. Same with throwing him into that truck. They had idea he wouldn't burn to death!

. Brainy had such wonderful moments on this episode. Being nice to Lockwood and understanding his grief. Standing up to him then getting the DEO agents to stand down .

. Jonn? He talked about how Manchester was the cause of his own destruction? Sooo it's been agreed on the show that Jonn's murder of a disarmed man because he got pissed off is being ignored and Manchester's death was entirely his own fault?

. Alex didn't get the baby! I had hoped for a second that they we're going to say it was twins.

. So they brought back Alex who has basically been ignored just to break her poor heart?

. Alex and Kelly have so much chemistry I didn't even realize it seemed Alex didn't know she was gay

. Poor Kelly! 😭

. Sooo there's a massive chunk of Kryptonite in the Oval Office and Kara is completely uneffected??

. Well the president betrayal is hardly a surprise

So in conclusion, this episode was good but not fantastic. I liked the Kara and Lena team up, but the rest was all over the place.