#Journey to Love ep 3 spoilers

[bean-in-dice]

Journey to Love Thoughts

Ep 2

1. The opening theme song starts out giving CLJ and LY7T opening theme vibes.

2. Ooh here comes the didi-shaped sidekick in poor health issues with fluffy bangs and sass for days.

3. I'm like so confused isn't returning home from army when your freaking leader the King is held hostage and stuff considered deserting? In ep 1 I thought he's going to live a runaway life in hiding from now on! But he's here out in the open and rocking babygirl hair and white night robes? I guess he's really that privileged.

4. I like how the characters with so much confidence and presence a second ago just drop off dead in the very next in this show. Yeah, death in brutal and absolutely unexpected like that I guess.

5. Mmmm the An kingdom's Marquis Changqing is a tsundere

6. Here comes the lil meimei character whom all the characters AND the viewers swear on protecting! Goodness she holds so much raw willpower but is going to get put through absolute wringer isn’t she

Ep 3

7. Hell yeah she is. Prayer circle for her starts now 🙏

8. FL, ML and ML's didi guy's dynamic feels like MJTY's SGQ, GSJ and GYZ dynamic but made more reasonable, grounded, leaning comparatively more towards bite side in bite/bark spectrum AND with less bling blings. (Also I have to say I'm more biased towards Yuanzhi didi regardless 😂 The only person I could tolerate the over-the-top ness in that show)

Really, Journey to Love keeps giving me feels like it's the show I wanted MJTY be, which was all surface level glamor and barely anything underneath.

If Journey to Love could have some of MJTY's sleek production values it would've looked really good (seriously it bothers me why JTL isn't on movie-scale screen, the full screen scale doesn't seem to bring out that extra *something* that needs to be the there. It seems awfully cramped? Especially with all the action scenes and TaLL that's going on?

9. I have never seen a more honest antagonist Prime minister character. I support him. Very cool. (Granted he keeps his principles)

10. Ning ge (lol I'm loving we can legit keep calling him that, as his character is also Ning) has started winking for every minor thing and I'm not sure if I like that. I sense a major off-balancing of the tone of the show!

11. Didi flies a drone!!!

12. Ey what was that look in Shisan's eyes when he saw Ning ge lol. I'm loving Shisan already!! All the badass teams in the world need their laidback heartthrob boy.

SO many actors I already know and love are in this show! 😍😍😍

13. Errr the tone has shifted from Serious historical vibe political detective adventure to Wuxie team-travel adventure with Politics like in Sword Snow Stride and I'm starting to feel this role is more like Zhang Ruoyun's forte..... it's not the easiest to sell if you keep jumping among personalities and not stick with one... stop winking and crossing arms like you own the place! You were different just one ep ago!

14. OK it has officially gone off the rails.

What the heck was that. It's giving the polar opposite genre of what I thought you were going to be, show!!!

I'm officially confused. Dreading clicking on ep 4 now.

[melodious-tear]

I came here under Minister Zhang's and Her Highness's request. I came here for my nation's sake and for my brother's sake. I didn't come here for your sake.

[color-beyond-lines]

I’m so happy this post is still relevant at the end of the series!

Qian’s physical and mental state was impacted by the physical and mental trauma he experienced throughout the course of the series to the point where he needed brain surgery to remove a life-threatening blood clot. And the surgery wasn’t a dramatic “life-or-death, rush to the hospital, beeping monitors, is he gonna make it” moment. The conversations surrounding the surgery were about Qian’s fears of becoming a burden to his family. The surgery and recovery happened off-screen because the surgery functioned as a trigger to force Qian to rely on his family. It was not used as a shock/scare tactic on the audience.

The series did an excellent job building up Qian’s walls so that when he finally opens up and lets the truth of his feelings out, it’s impactful, it’s meaningful, and we know what a huge step it is for him.

The Qian we meet at the beginning of the series is isolated, guarded, trapped by his past, and still in survival mode. The Qian we know at the end of the series still carries a lot of baggage, emotionally and physically, but he’s no longer trying to carry it alone. His past still affects him, but it haunts him less and less.

Shout out to Unknown for demonstrating that serious injuries do have long-term affects on your body and your mind.

There isn’t an episode that goes by where we aren’t reminded of everything Qian has gone through to get to where he is. And it’s not just from flashbacks. It’s in the scars that remain on his body. The nightmares that haunt his sleep. In his interactions with women. His fierce protectiveness of his family. Qian’s triggers and responses to them make sense and don’t just appear out of the blue for dramatic effect.

So much of the emotional and physical trauma that Qian has experienced continues to impact his daily life in a way that makes him feel less like a character with a tragic backstory and more like an actual person with lived experience.

[clairedaring]

if you're hoping for joe 2.0 to get his 'revenge' in the second half of the series...

warning: mild novel spoilers (but also not really because i'm just discussing things that have been shown in the trailer)

i really think you should either drop the series or give up the hopes of a satisfying makjang revenge storyline in my stand-in instead of setting yourself up for disappointment. because that simply isn't the story that my stand-in is trying to tell.

so what is my stand-in about really?

well, for me i think its a romance tragicomedy drama about an idiotic scum male lead losing the person he loves most because of his own arrogance and refusal to listen to his heart and the series of unfortunate events that happened consequently for our protagonist who was living a peaceful and quiet life as a stunt actor before the scum male lead entered his life.

joe 2.0 and his approach to life

i've mentioned it twice now that one of my favorite traits of joe/zhou xiang is that kindness in his strength where even if he can be choose to be mean or cruel, he simply doesn't because he has such a soft heart and he's weak to see others in pain (joe is my fellow enfp people pleaser okay) (⁠っ⁠˘̩⁠╭⁠╮⁠˘̩⁠)⁠っ which is why even in his 2.0 life, you won't get to see joe turning 180 degree and going around to hurt everyone who's ever hurt him like it's some makjang kdrama.

and while that seems like it could be fun, i think the reason why i loved professional body double (my stand-in novel) so much in the first place is because that very distinction between joe and other rebirth/second chance at life protagonists that you often see in revenge kdramas/cdramas/thai lakorns.

logically, if my stand-in was a 24-episode one31 lakorn/thai soap opera, joe would be full of hatred and burning rage after his rebirth and started his intricated revenge plot while still falling in love with ming whom he should hate the most.

and yet he isn't (or at least it seems to me so far).

if you read the lyrics 'Die For You' - the opening ost of my stand-in, i think you can have a good guess of what the second half of the story will be like.

Even running away to death can't help. If my heart had chosen to stop at you I'll have to surrender with the confusion I feel. To come back to the same old place. Even if I have to die, disappear and then be reborn But the love is still buried deep inside, even if it's been shattered into pieces Even if my life ends, I can't stop my heart from calling out to you Because this whole body, life, spirit It is yours only, for all eternity.

and even from the trailer of my stand-in, you can tell that joe 2.0 has a lot of internal conflicting feelings about whether he could trust ming again after the betrayal he faced in his 1.0 life. and i feel like essentially the journey of ming proving to joe 2.0 that he really does love joe is very much the central plot in the second half part of the story.

so i'd like to take this part to note how well the series has done to adapt the novel so far. i think a good adapted change they've made is this early realization of feelings for ming in the joe 1.0 timeline. i do think the novel made him realized his feelings a little bit later but my stand-in did well to show within ep.3 what happiness could have looked like for joe 1.0 and ming and i think it rationalizes a bit more more for why joe 2.0 would still have feelings for ming 'buried deep inside' even when he's been badly hurt the first time around. and reading the story i've always found it interesting that they took this route to focus on the re-entangled complex relationship between mingjoe rather than going for a joe-centric revenge makjang plot (i swear if this was your typical thai lakorn, joe would seduce ming while planning to take down his whole family or something).

of course, that's not to dismiss that there's a lot of character growth for joe in the second half of the story, especially in his building of self-confidence, self-worth, the ability to put himself first and the fight for his own happiness above all. but like i've mentioned above, his growth journey is not at the expense of a drastic personality change in regards to the kind hearted joe we saw in his 1.0 life. instead, we get kind hearted joe 2.0 who quickly adapts to his new life and attempts to start anew while conflicted feelings resurface for him as he is pulled back into the relationships he once had.

all in all, my stand-in is still at the heart of it, a love story. perhaps, a dark romance as my friend @dragonsandphoenix would call it, but a romance nonetheless. i think that is what also makes professional body double such a compelling read too, because the progression in the feelings and complex emotions of these characters are so tightly written that it's convincing enough for me (maybe not for others though) to believe that yan ming xiu has/will always love zhou xiang (to the point ymx would probably eliminate anyone else who dared to steal zx from him). obsessive love? yes. do they both need therapy? probably. yet i still believe in their happy ending? of course.

final note/disclaimer: then again, this is just my PERSONAL opinions based on the novel and up til 3 episodes of my stand-in (which seems to be very faithful to the novel so far), who knows maybe they can anger novel fans and adapt it completely differently later on (something i sure hope they don't but we'll seeeee) ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ

[guwix]

All information about

EPISODE 3

Episode 3 will be related to a journey in a haunted house.

And according to Gooseworx 3, the series is definitely one of her favorites.

And apparently from her delight, the series will be very storylined, or more informative.

Perhaps it will be the exact opposite of the 2nd series, if the 3rd series is in the horror genre, then the 2nd series was on the contrary all colorful.

Or, for sure, it will touch on deeper and more difficult topics for discussion. I mean, the tape recorder will appear exactly in the next series, or closer to the visual design.

The ghost that came out of the door will be a guide for the team, or will play another role.

Also, Pomni's sharp teeth will return, either she gets mental stress once again, there is also an option that, it will be her puppet. As shown in the trailer, Kinger beats Pomni with a shotgun, either she is possessed by a ghost, or it's not Pomni at all. A haunted house, a place where "fear" can be instilled. Perhaps the enemies took advantage of the fears of the heroes. As one of the suggestions.

Replica of Jax in 3 episodes:

[one-chaotic-neautral]

There's a whole bunch of things I gotta say Abt act 3 that I don't have time to, but my god the SYMBOLISM, so I'm just gonna do the couple of obvious ones that stuck out to me.

Spoiler warning ofc.

In ep7 when jayce was in the pit, he broke his leg and used the design for viktors leg brace (which he knew well enough to recreate, the two likely worked on it together in the past which I love) and then painstakingly climbs out. He's in the undercity at the time.

The whole sequence, due to him wearing the leg brace, is very unsubtly a parallel to Viktors journey of metaphorically crawling his way up out of Zaun and into Piltover. Which is to be assumed as his backstory before meeting Jayce, and was probably still something he felt like he was doing his whole life.

(Also hallucinating both Mel and Viktor in the same place is very bisexual behavior Jayce. and adds to the parallels between Mel and Viktor, they're both mages that go through physical transformation this season, and whole bunch of other scene parallels)

In ep 9, during their little gay transcendence scene he basically tells Viktor he's perfect, that he admired everything about him and that his leg and his illness were never flaws etc. Last season also ended with Silco telling Jinx she's perfect.

Which I think its neat we got that happening at the end of both seasons, in a show where identity is so important, (and toward two of the main physically and mentally disabled characters specifically). Personally I loved Jayce including Viktors leg as being a part of him and therefore something he loved as well, that he never needed to feel ashamed about

Again in ep 9 at the end, when Vi is holding Jinx and Warwick over the ledge. This kinda parallels s1 act 1. (With the obvious first scene of teen and tween Vi and powder on the roof in piltover, where Powder falls but Vi is there to pull her back up)

Vi wanting to save Vander, Jinx trying to save Vi when that goes wrong. Now Jinx is hanging there with the literal weight of her dead family weighing her down, as Vi holds onto her trying to pull her up, despite the baggage being to heavy but being unable to let go. Vander so well representing the guilt and trauma she carries with her.

In the end she knows she'll pull Vi down with her too, so she forces her to let go. By stealing the hex crystal, which is what started this whole mess, but is such a jinx moment of quick thinking.

God I bawled at the end there I kept thinking they've gotta have another scene that shows maybe she didn't die, or Ekko came to save her again, but no.

I'd go into more detail cause there's just SO much about this season but I've gotta go and I'm sure someone else will cover everything. The show was just phenomenal.

[asianwhumpgalore]

Secrets of the Shadow Sect (皎月流火) | Cdrama | Whump List

Genre: Historical, Romance, Wuxia, Action

Synopsis: The young lady Ling Xuan of the morally ambiguous Spiritual Heaven Sect must disguise herself as a useless fool in order to protect herself from her father. At this very moment, Ying Shi is sent by the Shadow Pavilion to approach Ling Xuan in search of the Wanxin Technique. Through suspicions, testing, and dangers during their journey, they eventually build complete trust in each other. However, just as they have fallen for each other, Ling Xuan discovers the secret of Ying Shi's birth.

Length: 24 eps

Whump meter: ▲▲◭△△ 

✨ Everything I love wrapped in a pretty packag. If you liked Zhang Gong Zhu Zai Shang, you'll love this. Also quite some whump ✨

⚠️Trigger Content: Usual historical cdrama content warnings. ⚠️⚠️Some SPOILERS might be found, proceed with caution⚠️⚠️

Whumpee: Ying Shi/Bai Chen/Tang Yan portrayed by Lin Ze Hui

Ep 1 - Covers scar | Scar reveal, scar touched, scar opened, winces, bleeding, made to taste his own blood.

Ep 2 - Wipes blood off mouth | Cut on the forehead with a shard

Ep 3 - Cut on the forehead with a shard, blood trailing down the side of his face (10/10), grabbed by the chin, head pushed away, scolded, made to kneel and strip to receive punishment, scars on his back, whipped | still being whipped, pale, winces, sweating, several large cuts on his back, bleeding, belittled | Blood staining white clothes.

Ep 4 - Shirt removed to reveal the cuts on his back, made to lie down, wound treated, winces.

Ep 5 - none.

Ep 6 - Fought | Takes drug that binds him to his master.

Ep 7 - Weak, loosening collar of his clothes, blurry vision, leaning against table | Fought, blurry vision, struggling to focus, protected, sword to the chest then to the neck, chin tilted up with blade, weak.

Ep 8 - None.

Ep 9 - Restless, can't sleep | Blade to his neck.

Ep 10 - None.

Ep 11 - Stabbed in the back of his neck with three needles, trembling.

Ep 12 - Struggling to walk, weak, in pain, leaning over table, clutches chest, meditates to ease the pain | Sweating, injury reveal (three needles visible under his skin).

Ep 13 - Fought, kicked in the back, spits blood, falls to the ground, struggling to get up, scratches on his face, kicked in the chest, falls to the ground again, spits blood, cut on the cheek, blood on his face and neck | steps in front of loved one and gets stabbed in his right shoulder, blade removed abruptly, bleeding, clutches wound, falls onto his knees.

Ep 14 - Protected, concerned for loved one | Treated, needles removed from his skin, spits blood, pale, blood dripping from his lips.

Ep 15-19 - None.

Ep 20 - (in past) rescued (off screen), scratches and cuts on his face, talks about his unwillingness to live | (in past) watches his friend die, crying.

Ep 21 - (in past) x mark cut onto his left shoulder, crying.

Ep 22 - Force™ pushed away | Imprisoned by loved one | Gets up abruptly, sudden pain, winces, forced to sit back down, in pain, clutching chest, feeling withdrawals from drug, meditates to ease the pain.

Ep 23 - Fought, jumps off cliff after lover, saves lover by pushing her to safety but falls off cliff.

Ep 24 - Limping | Can't stand too long and has to sit, concern for him.

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

Will add gifsets once I get around to making some

[fujosh1dreamer]

Tdp spoilers of course: this is gonna have snippets of the notes I took while watching and maybe a quick recording from s6 ep 7.

Book 6 of the dragon prince was amazing. Very reminiscent of book 3 while also managing to be unique and interesting. There were beautiful and traumatic scene and it all worked well together.

The best part of the season were the parallels between janaya, clauderry, and rayllum. Each showed aspects of different relationships where the foundation was trust and it worked beautifully.

The journey to the starscrapper did a great job of showing that callum and rayla still in love and trusting each other despite being separated for two years. It does a great job of displaying their strengths and weaknesses, and how they are both those things to each other.

A few of my crazed notes from episode 3 the frozen ship

It also showed what was going on with Claudia and Terry. When their relationship was first introduced back in season 4 I wasn't sure I would like them. I loved Terry but I didn't feel the chemistry but after this season they are very cute together.

There was a very cute scene in episode 4 of Terry taking care of Claudia after she attempts to run off alone and comes back. He bathes her and brushes her hair and it's all really sweet you can tell just how devoted he is to her.

More crazy notes lol.

Then there's janai and Amaya

As we know they've been prepping for their wedding and while it was special and made me tear up, they had a moment in the episodes before the red wedding where they talk about being dedicated and truthful to each other after janai got a little paranoid after her brother's betrayal.

All of these relationships have a theme of truth, light and loyalty. Which is interesting.

Lmao only did a quick recording for episodes seven and eight. I forgot how dorky I sound out loud lol also it's vertically recorded don't hurt me.

[where-dreams-dwell]

There are so many missed opportunities in Part 1 of Bridgerton Season 3 its frustrating to behold.

As one half of the season is out it’s possible that some of these will be fixed in the second half however having to wait until then (not just in terms of release date but also narratively) is not good planning. Having to wait for Part 2 to have most of the interesting things happen with our supposed 'main characters' makes the structure of the season feel unbalanced, and annoys the audience trying to root for the main couple. And a lack of attention to our romantic leads leaves the audience feeling uninvested and unconvinced in their love.

Spoilers below.

....................................................................

1. No flashbacks: by the end of Episode 4 in S1 we knew all of Simons backstory, why he didn’t want children or marriage, and his key character motivations. This helped us understand why Antony was so against the match (he knew of Simon’s vow), why Simon duelling him instead of agreeing to marry Daphne was actually a sign of love, and helped the audience understand his struggle to accept love. Similarly by Ep 4 of S2 we have had Anthony’s tragic past with his father revealed, explaining his fear of love impacting on those around him and explaining why he is fighting the clear feelings he has for Kate. For both of these romantic leads we (the audience) now know why they are refusing their clear and obvious feelings for the heroine, what internal struggles they are going to need to overcome this season, and by proxy have been reassured that they must truly love the heroine otherwise they wouldn’t be tormented.

This explanation and fleshing out of key character-beats reveals the internal motivations which are governing these characters; this knowledge is essential for future scenes where their actions will appear dismissive or unloving and the audience needs to know that they are operating under their own internal world view in which those actions make perfect sense.

Simon rejecting Daphne's hand? He’s not being cruel, he doesn’t want to deprive her of children as he has foresworn having them. Anthony rejecting his feelings for Kate and continuing to pursue her sister? He’s not unfeeling, he’s actually feeling too much and trying to run from it. This knowledge helps us forgive actions that could make us doubt their ‘true feelings’ and is essential to the audience rooting for the couple. When the romantic lead is being an ass it helps for us to know what may be making them act that way.

No Colin flashbacks means we have no idea what motivates him, what his internal journey for this season is, or any reassurance that his love to Penelope is true. What might have been motivating Colin to act like an ass, not just to Penelope but to other people, and what m ight be be grappling with now which is impacting him either realizing his feelings or coming to terms with them? We have no idea, so his journey to love is a little less compelling.

2. Colin didn’t get humbled: through season 1 + 2 we’ve seen Penelope pine after Colin while he bumbles happily along seeing her as a cherished friend but ignoring her for other romantic options. We finished season 2 with a Colin deeply hurting Penelope and implying to the audience that he actually doesn’t respect her even as a friend - what friend would imply their fiend is unattractive or unmarriable to others, especially in that time and society?

As the audience has been following this one sided romance from Penelope’s perspective we’re predisposed to be on ‘her side’, hence wanting Colon to be humbled and have to properly apologise. We want to see Colin chasing Penelope (in a role reversal from the previous two seasons) and be made to eat his own worlds.

Instead we get one scene of Penelope revealing her hurt over Colin’s actions, and then their next scene together Colin is all but forgiven. He apologises but immediately move the conversation on, asking to atone for his actions by offering help and then bam! For all intents and purposes it’s business as usual between the two again. Penelope is happy to chat and banter with him, smile at him lovingly, and agree to a secret (and scandalous) partnership.

Whats even more concerning is that they’ve set up Colin to property hate Lady Whistledown so when Penelope reveals herself she may even have to humble herself before Colin for his forgiveness. Having started the season (with two years to dwell on Colin’s actions) wanting Colin to have to beg Penelope for forgiveness, it feels disappointing that not only do we not get that but we may get significantly more scenes of her begging for his.

3. Penelope and Colin together: this may be more personal preference but I’m not feeling the same for this couple as I did for Daphne+Simon or Kate+Anthony, or even Charlotte+George. Some of it is line delivery (Anthony felt like Brooding Fuckboy, or Fuckboy who’s fighting their inner demons, whereas Colin just feels sleezy), some of it is script (Colin hasn’t been given nearly as much dialogue and little of it is noteworthy), and some is just preference in that this lead doesn’t feel mysterious or challenging or interesting. He’s really just there.

Simon and Daphne, Kate and Anthony, Charlotte and George they all had this tension when they were on screen together that you could feel through the screen. Maybe it’s the lack of anger or hatred or antagonism between the two of them and due to them being a friends to lovers storyline but the tension just doesn’t feel like it’s there.

4. Time with the main couple: It doesn't feel like the 'main couple' this season has had as much time or scenes to help us understand why they are meant to be together.

This is an ensemble show and as season continue and characters develop or are added this will become a bigger issue; there are more named characters and players than S1 to juggle, plus some characters need time this season to set themselves up for future plot lines.

But Season 1 felt like Daphne and Simons season. Season two felt like Kate and Anthony's season. This doesn't feel like Colin and Penelope's season. Its more like this is a drama-filled season, and one aspect of it is Colin and Penelope.

5. Colin's Character: This is actually a much bigger problem so lets break it down further

5.1 Why Colin? In a friends to lovers plot (a childhood friends to lovers plot too) we really need to see why our heroine is fixated on this man; why is he better than all her other options, why did she originally fall and then remain in love with them for all these years, and why should we want him to realise his own feelings? Crucially what is so special about him?

As Colin hasn't yet been fleshed out, really at all, we don't know why he is this great love for Penelope and why we should root for him to fall in love with her in turn. So Penelope's pining for him comes across as less understandable and more 'I don't get what you see in him but okay'. And that's bad, especially for a show which wants you to go feral over their central couple; fewer members of the audience falling in love with the lead means fewer people understanding Penelope maintaining this crush (especially when its detrimental to her future) which means fewer people rooting for the main couple.

5.2 Colin’s character dissonance: this is kind of a show don’t tell issue but we keep being told all these things about Colin’s character, instead of seeing examples of this behavior ourselves, and on top of that what we are told doesn’t match with what we are shown.

Violet tells Colin he’s ’always putting others first’ but we have never seen this in 2 1/2 seasons of this show. Colin has left to travel in every off season, a very self centred action focused solely on what he wants to do and not what others may want. We’ve seen Benedict put people first more than Colin (being the shoulder for Eloise, helping her out in ballrooms, being Anthony’s second for his duel and his sounding board with Sharma issues) so that character assessment feels untrue.

Violet also calls Colin her ‘most sensitive child’ but we have not one scene of Colin showing this sensitive side. There’s no scene of him comforting Daphne about her failed season or Anthony about his problem with the Sharmas; no moment showing him helping out anyone outlet out of the kindness of his heart, or reacting to another’s pain or worry or problems so again this feels like Violet is describing a totally different character.

Penelope says Colin’s eyes are more beautiful ‘when you’re being kind’ but we haven’t seen Colin be overly kind to anyone. He told Marina in S1 he would have still married her if she had told him of her pregnancy, but this is stated when he’s angry so he’s probably not feeling or looking very kind right then, and it isn’t him actually doing this action, it’s just him claiming what he would have done. When he’s goes to visit Marina in S2 his actions come off more desperate and clingy than anything close to kind. If you argue that his tutoring if Penelope is kind, it’s actually self serving as he offered to do this to atone for him being decidedly not kind at the end of last season. He’s helping her out but he offered this to make up for hurting her before so I don’t think you can view this as a selfless act.

When he reveals Jacks scheme in S2 and demands he pay back money while preserving the Featherington Ladies good name he is undoubtably doing a good act but ‘kind’ isn’t the way he’s portrayed: he’s shown as decisive, protective, angry, courageous, bold, etc.. all very good things but still not that ‘kind’ Penelope talks about.

The last time Colin did something entirely kind may have been Season 1 asking Penelope to dance after Cressida ruined her dress. If that's it, that's very little to go on and a very long time ago.

It feels like people are trying to tell us that Colin is a good guy, without showing us moments where he actually is good. It comes off as clunky and doesn’t match the character we have seen, so these claims have little impact on our assessment of him as a person and as a lead.

5.3 Colins Writing; Stop trying to make Colin's Great Writing happen. Its not going to happen.

At least not when the only snippet you give us is basically porn.

I haven't read the books but I've heard that Colins writing snippet that Penelope finds, while starting as porn, eventually turns into a rumination on how unfulfilled and alone these actions make Colin feel and how he feels lost. That would have been an amazing moment to have in the show, giving us honesty and a secret from the romantic lead and adding depth to Colins actions (which are a little jarring to watch while we actively want him to be falling for Penelope).

If Colin is this great writer then have him writing more. In the back of conversations at breakfast, have him reading his travel journals or scribbling in a notebook. In the hot air balloon scene have Colin seek out an adventure novelist to talk about his experiences. Maybe he gets a letter from Sir Phillip asking about his travels since they enjoyed speaking so much last season, and Colin sends long and detailed responses people joke are like novels (also great for future seasons).

Right now it feels like window dressing and a throw away comment that he's 'an incredibly talented writer' and doesn't match what we've seen of him.

(Side note: it is objectively hilarious that Penelope reads one page of smut about a naked woman the author is sleeping with, then later describes this page of writing as 'incredible' while claiming she 'would love to read more'. You sure you're 100% interested in Colin there Penelope...?)

5.4 How is Colin a Tragic Hero?: This figure always works best for romatic stories and all other Bridgerton Seasons have followed the formula. Simon had a negligent and abusive father and no good examples of marriage or family, Anthony had traumatically had his beloved father die in front of him and been parentified at a young age, and George had the weight of the crown destroying his mental health. All of these leads had a demon they were wrestling with and it gave them intrigue and interest.

Colin has no demons; at least none we've been made aware of.

There's a vague allusion (from Eloise, Lady Whistedown and Violet) that Colin is in some way 'putting on a front' this season. What would have been amazing for the audience would have been a scene or two showing Colin struggling to fit in (in his family, in the Ton, etc) and him feeling alone or isolated because of it. Maybe traveling was his attempt to have interesting stories to tell, or something to distinguish himself with but upon his return (Season 2) no one had an interest in listening and groaned when he tried to share his stories, and so he turned to writing them down instead and decided to shut himself off from trying to relate to everyone as 'himself' and instead to become 'The Traveler' character and pretend so he can fit in.

This would not only give Colin a Secret or a Demon that he needed to work through, but offer us (the audience) a way in which he would be able to understand and support Penelope; another person feeling isolated and unheard who turned to writing to express themself.

While there are the bones of a great love story here the little work put in to flesh out Colin as an individual, giving us no idea of what experiences made him and what he is currently grappling with, means the audience doesn't have much to go on when Penelope professes to love him. Who is this man, as descriptions of him don't match his actions and those actions he does have are both seemingly self serving (travel) and not fully fleshed out (writing); and both annoyingly happen largely off screen. And as the current structure pits Penelope as likely the one needing to beg forgiveness by the end of the season, while we entered it expecting Colin to begging for her forgiveness, their current relationship doesn't feel as salifying or as earned as we could have hoped.

Here's to Part 2 doing some very heavy lifting.

[gizkasparadise]

final leg of a journey to love thoughts!! (eps 35-40). this got so gd long so under a cut it goes. spoilers, of course:

PLOT STUFF/PACING

pacing for the plot definitely got shredded in the last chunk, which is a damn shame because otherwise i've been finding the pacing pretty much perfect. eps 35-37 in particular felt like they could have been like a 10 episode arc. ep 38, which mostly dealt with wu palace politics, should have been cut or streamlined imo and more time given to the characters we've actually been riding along with the whole story. by the time we get back to the pregnant empress, prince danyang, the first prince whose name i dont even remember, and the prime minister, i do not care about any of them and i think this subplot was simply just trying to fit too much shit into one bag

that said, this show still let the emotional moments hit and breathe and linger. i love the grief for the fallen liudao comrades as we go, as well as the less heavy but still emotionally important moments like yang ying and tongguan bonding over their upbringing. and we got a wedding /;3;/!!! for this show, the relationships and characters matter more than the storyline so im not mad about anything at all

side note: it's so gd millennial to have a story about a bunch of 30 something year olds who want to fake their deaths and retire into obscurity but instead they go and die for a boss they hate

CHARACTER STUFF

this show consistently brought a lot of depth to its side characters (and side side characters!!). i said it in an earlier post, but it bears repeating that even someone like deng hui i didnt expect anything from, but he got such good development and writing that he became a stealth fave. his dying words essentially being "dude, quit fucking around" ? iconic.

i didnt like tongguan as much as everyone else, so im pretty meh about everything regarding him. the attempt to force-wed ruyi was tonally really weird and didnt make sense (i assume there was some cuts made surrounding it). but LOL at him reusing all the outfits and decor immediately for his wedding to yang ying. baby duke, you tacky motherfucker. i ultimately think yang ying deserves better than him, but the good thing is that she knows this, so she'll be able to hold her own and then some entering into this partnership

shisan really was the heart in a lot of ways--the mom to yuanzhou's dad for the liudao. i was not expecting him to break my heart the way he did, but the fact that he held both qian zhao and sun lang as they died and then tried his best to remove yuan lu from harm and saved chu yue and was just very much a nurturer all the way through got me. his character couldve been cheap comic relief but the writing + performance really elevated him into one of the (imo) most memorable wuxia characters. his line wondering who would get to behead his beautiful skull!!! and how his mantra was always that he was going to drink the best wine, see the most beautiful women, and make the best of friends and he dies having lost the ability to see and having just had wine in memory of qian zhao, yuan lu, and sun lang. like. shut up!!

ruyi and yuanzhou were both so great and they're gonna be the drama OTP to beat forever. i loved the gender reversals, that they both were so respectful of each other, and that they also felt very mature in how they handled things and communicated. they were really interesting characters both together and apart and that's always a win-win. they had a schroedinger's ending where it's not super clear if they're alive or dead (i interpreted it as the latter), but what's kind of beautiful is that either option is satisfying to me. if they both died, they're reunited and with their comrades and the story is truly about the journey and the meaningful short connections we have. if they both survived, it's a bookend with the beginning where they each faked their deaths to escape. A+

COSTUMING

i gotta just separately mention the costuming for this show because it was 15/10. the textures, shisan's accessories, the way red became integrated with yuanzhou's wardrobe and blue with ruyi's. the details on the liudao name amulets!! SO GOOD. i love when characters' clothes tell a story on their own

overall i just really loved this drama it is probably my favorite wuxia ive seen so far! it's gonna be in my brain for awhile lol feel free to send fic prompts if you've made it this far :'D

[simply-whump]

My Journey to You (云之羽) - Whump List

Whumpees : Gong Zi Yu played by Zhang Ling He, Gong Shang Jue played by Ryan Cheng and Gong Yuan Zhi played by Tian Jia Rui

Synopsis : The series tells the story of Yun Wei Shan, a spy longing for freedom, who infiltrates the Gong residence to complete a mission. In the eerie and treacherous Gong residence, she encounters love and friendship, embarks on a journey of self-discovery, and finds the determination to move forward. Together with the rebellious nobleman Gong Zi Yu, they grow and mature through their shared experiences. (MDL)

Genres : Romance, Wuxia, Fantasy, Mystery

Note : In Chinese dramas, my attention is usually focused on the male lead but here it was the other characters that caught my eyes! The fights were also beautiful.

Warning! Possible spoilers below!

Gong Zi Yu

Didn't like him at first but he grew on me, especially towards the end

Ep 1 : None

Ep 2 : Fighting, hit, grabbed by the neck — Called a failure, teary-eyed, upset

Ep 3 : Crying, grieving — Crying

Ep 4 : Slapped

Ep 5 : Crying

Ep 6-7 : None

Ep 8 : Crying — In an ice bath, cold

Ep 9 : In bed, sleeping, agitated, wakes up

Ep 10 : Dives into icy water, almost drowns, saved

Ep 11-14 : None

Ep 15 : Takes poison willingly, in pain, passes out — Coughing blood, in bed, looked after

Ep 16 : Worried for someone, crying

Ep 17 : None (But damn I nearly cried at the end of this episode )

Ep 18 : Crying

Ep 19 : None

Ep 20 : Crying

Ep 21 : Crying (you may think he cries a lot seeing this list but… there is a lot of sad stuff)

Ep 22 : The plot twist was so satisfying — Fighting, face scratched, hit, spitting blood, poisoned?, helped to walk, collapses — Energy transferred to him

Ep 23 : Crying — Suddenly in pain after standing up, coughing blood

Ep 24 : None (If you want a satisfying ending, don't watch the last 5 min)

Gong Shang Jue

The charisma of this man was off the charts, I was rooting for him for the whole drama

Ep 1-10 : None

Ep 11 : Teary-eyed

Ep 12 : None

Ep 13 : Crying — Worried for Yuan Zhi

Ep 14-17 : None

Ep 18 : Cool fight

Ep 19 : Cool fight (3 vs 1, so unfair) —Unconscious, blood at his mouth, concern for him —Unconscious in bed — (Flashback) Injured by Zi Yu — (Present) In a lot of pain (Too complicated to explain why)

Ep 20-22 : None

Ep 23 : Fighting, hit, spitting blood, hit again, unconscious, concern for him

Ep 24 : Teary-eyed

Gong Yuan Zhi

Great Whump! Also I loved his brotherly relationship with Shang Jue.

Ep 1-3 : None

Ep 4 : Slapped

Ep 5 : Teary-eyed

Ep 6-8 : None

Ep 9 : Fighting — Bruises on his back treated

Ep 10 : None

Ep 11 : Crying

Ep 12 : Crying — Teary-eyed 

Ep 13 : Stabbed by a piece of glass in the chest, collapses, put to bed, piece of glass painfully removed from his body, in a lot of pain, bleeding from the mouth, passes out (almost killed accidentally by his beloved brother) — (Flashback) Crying — (Present) Unconscious in bed, looked after, inner energy transferred to him, wakes up briefly 

Ep 14 : In bed, given medicine 

Ep 15-17 : None

Ep 18 : Fighting, sword at his neck, restrained, gagged, paralysed, bites himself on purpose, bleeding, released 

Ep 19 : Fighting — Treating bruises on his back — Teary-eyed

Ep 20-22 : None

Ep 23 : Fighting, hit, spitting blood, grabbing a blade with his bare hands, collapses, bleeding from the mouth, worried for Shang Jue, groaning in pain, crawling towards him, crying, screaming — (Flashback) Poisons himself to know the effect of a poison — (Present) Hit 

Ep 24 : None

>> Another Whump List with Tian Jia Rui

>> More Whump Lists

[thatrandomlemononyourcounter1]

~Welcome to Wally's World~

Nah I'm just playing.

I'm CJ :DD (she/her :))

CURRENT HYPERFIXATION: Outer Banks but I can feel the kotlc one slowly starting to creep back in

I'm a minor so no being weird in the chat

I'm also a special flavor of aroace, and I have undiagnosed ADHD

I collect fandoms like Infinity Stones, and here's some of my favorites: {COLORED MEANS THAT I POST MORE ABOUT THEM}

My Fandoms:

Keepers of the Lost Cities, TMNT (Mostly ROTTMNT, TMNT2012, Bayverse, and Mutant Mayhem/TOTTMNT but I'm going to start watching 2003), The Marvel Cinematic Universe (One of my slumbering hyperfixations), The Inheritance Games (I have read TGG so :D), Final Fantasy (IX, XII, XIII, VII, WOFF, Tactics WOTL), Legend of Zelda BotW/TotK, HTTYD (All the movies and Race to the Edge), Chronicles of Narnia (The movies/a little of the books), The Hunger Games (Books and movies), Divergent, Pirates of the Caribbean,  Pokemon (both anime and games), AGGGTM, One of Us is Lying series, The Folk of the Air series, Outer Banks (Only up to Season 3 Ep 5 so no spoilers :P)

I am a self-proclaimed writer :) I love making headcanons for characters, especially my children, which you can find linked here

Come here me yap about my original work, The Collector, on this blog: @the-collector-series

I'm cognates with @nowjumpinthewater so you'll probably see us talking on here a lot (ILY RANIA <33)

I'm a proud beta reader for @justmossyall 's original work (IT'S SO GOOD I'M WAITING FOR THE DAY IT RELEASES)

A few disclaimers:

I am a Christian which means I love Jesus so if you have any questions about that, please direct them to my inbox

I don't tolerate any sort of hate on my blog. Take that stuff somewhere else. (Like a therapist.)

I can't use emojis >.< unless I'm on my phone on the rare occasion

I type in caps when I'm happy/excited so if that bothers you please lmkkkkk

I will probably refer to you as bro and/or dude at least once cause I call everyone that

My DMs and inbox are literally always open like I love talking to new people :)

I'm a certified yapper, but I can be a good listener I swear

Anyway, here's some cute banners I found/made that I feel the explicit need to put.

I'll probably add more to this post as I progress on my tumblr journey ngl

[friday-answers]

HI first of all the last excerpt???? EXCUSE ME THIS WHOLE PLOT IS SO FUNNNN I absolutely love Solus already!!!! Can’t wait to know more about the agency and the sinkholes… Lots of love and thank you again for sharing this beautiful piece of your mind with us 🫶🫶

Secondly I’m here to discuss s3! Spoilers incoming:

What are your thoughts on Imogen and Sahar? I am actually really happy with the whole thing (even if my soft romantic heart is still kind of hoping they end up together haha, I am full of contradictions okay?)

And Tori and Micheal? I literally cried every time they appeared on screen I love them SO much, I was just a little disappointed Tori did´t get to say she’s asexual like she does in the comic… hoping it will be there if there’s a fourth season

And Isaac? My baby was going through it this season, that whole journey was so beautiful and refreshing imo

ALSO Darcy this season!!!! Aaahh I love them so much, as a lesbian who’s only recently started to question my own gender seeing them discover themself like that was so so lovely

I also really loved how Charlie’s relationship to his parents was showed, I thought it was done really well! And Nick starting to realise he needs to figure out who he is without his boyfriend 🥺

Anyway I’ve yapped enough haha, feel free to answer this with as short or long of an answer as you want, and just give general comments on what you thought of the season, I just enjoyed getting to scream about this hehehehe 🥰🤓

omg first of all thank you for the hype 🤭... i'm also very excited about it too... while i have a plan for the most part, i pretty much have no clue about how i'm going to get to each point either so... y'know makes it fun and mysterious for me too!

i love yapping about season 3 i'm HYPED

imogen and sahar, obviously not a surprise. lesbian imogen also i fear we knew from season 1 but having that comphet representation is HUGE!!! i'm really excited about that.

i keep joking that imogen and sahar are finally the situationship representation in heartstopper but it is just not a joke anymore. 'better off as friends' my ass SAHAR U WROTE A SONG ABOUT HER

i fell to my knees every time michael holden appeared on screen. his appearance at the nye party GAGGED. ON THE FLOOR. they were so insane for that it was GORGEOUS.

i was genuinely so confused when tori didn't correct charlie on calling them a straight couple. i think i shouted at the screen for them to stay on the wheel because they weren't done LMAO... BUT BUT it totally means a more fleshed out sprolden sexuality arc which i am HYPED about. their relationship is so important to me im so excited for that representation to be more blatant.

everything with isaac happened so fast i got WHIPLASH him coming out to everyone at the zoo i was sobbing that representation is so important to me and just so so nice to see..... argrhfhf. though i almost just blanked out the whole tao isaac thing omg WHAT HAPPENED TO JAMES THEN??? INSANE. that was insane. glad they got past that one quickly god

no because mullet darcy HELLO kizzy looked amazing... non-binary lesbian representation ALSO huge like. GOD THIS SEASON WAS HUGE

no because episode 4 was DEVASTATING. but it was one of my fave episode of television i've ever watched. nick at the halloween party like. oh my god i feel like i still haven't digested it all yet.... charlie's talk with his parents too since they cut away in the comic me and my friend were SCREAMING through tears to cut away like my GOD. but joe did it beautifully and u could tell he really cared :,]

i also yapped incredibly hard. i could really do this for hours, honestly... i'm just so so excited fr. the way the cast was like this season is HOT its STEAMY its SEXY even though. like i've been a comic reader since about 2019. guys i fucken know we gotta get through volume 4 first SIT DOWWWNNN

so funny honestly imagine going into s3 with just THAT info then being hit with the emotional devastation which was eps 1-5. 6-8 were lit though

ok shutting up now. thank u for letting me yap you are the realest mf ever

thank u for all the love once again!!!!!

[sunflower73498]

My early thoughts on Season 3 Ep 1-5

mostly unprocessed ramblings but things I want to keep thinking about

(1) I think most importantly, Wille and Simon (and the rest of the characters, really) act like actual teenagers - teens don’t have it all together and don’t always communicate their feelings well and sometimes struggle to see things from other perspectives, especially when they are traumatized and grieving. I love that they show what a complicated phase of growing up adolescence is, in a very realistic way. Many teens struggle with lack of control in their own lives and can act out because of it, and in Wille’s case this is majorly amplified by having even less control because of the monarchy.

(2) fandom has idolized Erik, but I’ve never thought he was that great. As the viewer we get him more from Wille’s perspective so an idealized version of him until now, but there are definitely words and actions in s1e1 that were major red flags.

(3) I feel so bad for Wilhelm and his lack of support or interest from his parents. His outburst was deserved. Extreme, and scary, but what he said to them was a long time coming.

(4) I’ve seen people on Twitter saying that this season takes back some of Wilhelm’s character growth in season 2, which I disagree with. A handful of therapy sessions doesn’t fix his grief, the impact of being in the spotlight, his lifelong anxiety, or his parents neglecting him. I’m Season 2 he began a long journey of figuring out what matters to him, but that was just the first step, and I think s3 does a good job of showing how that is very much still a work in progress for him. He is trying, but often missteps and doesn’t communicate well.

(5) really loving getting to explore Simons emotions and reactions more. He’s also a work in progress just from a different starting point. He has his own family trauma, but having the support of his mom and his friends definitely makes a difference in how he approaches problems, even if his mom isn’t always the most attentive either. It’s also a realistic family dynamic with a history of domestic trauma/violence.

(6) I appreciated the hazing plot line. I went to a big public university in the US with very active Greek life, and our sororities and fraternities always had lots of hazing problems. The fraternities much more so, including a kid dying due to the hazing process while I was there, but some of my friends who rushed sororities also had some bad stories to tell.

(7) the acting is phenomenal

there are so many ups and downs for Wilmon and I’m glad the characters are complex and imperfect enough that I feel so deeply for them, even when it hurts as a fan of the ship and the individual characters. It hurts so much at times because it matters and it’s so real. Yeah, not everyone is a rich prince, but the emotions, the struggle for control and identity, is very universal.

(I really hope I’ve tagged this for spoilers appropriately. I’ve been on tumblr for 13+ years but mostly just lurk)

[barananduen-blog]

About Yu Shisan - "A Journey to Love" ep.39 SPOILERS

"One day you'll find your match" "Impossible! I'd rather die. … But if I really did that, then I'd have been together with her for the rest of my life."

Yushisan! Look, I edited out the blood in these (to avoid the content flag); are you happy?😂

But this scene. "Yu Shisan, the most beautiful man in the world," who felt up his face after battles to check for cuts, after finding out he's lost his eyes and his face was covered in blood and cuts... If he hadn't already been prepared to die, can you imagine his emotional loss then?

1 - He couldn't bear to die, as he probably thought his wounds left him: "ugly," so he prettied himself up, even in the middle of the battlefield, the best he could. He was going to go down, but dangit he would look good at it! (and he did😭 LBR, that scene was COOL!)

2 - But he was also "Yu Shisan, who enjoys looking at the prettiest women," and I think artists can relate to this sentiment, this particular feeling of loss, that would be not only not being able to see in general, but not being able to see beauty anymore.

3 - He's the only one (aside from Ruyi) whose dead body we do not see. This is very in-character of the narrative. I don't think he would have wanted anyone to see him like that. He'd have liked people to remember him looking good, unmarred. So it fits that Chu Yue, being temporarily blinded by the explosion, never even saw him wounded.

Why do I keep feeling the need to write posts about Alen Fang's characters? 🤔 This show-stealer... 😂 *goes to watch another of his dramas*

[lukecastellanshandholder]

Ok, I’ve been seeing a lot of opinions on the last episode and especially about the betrayal scene, so I just wanna share how I interpreted it. (And this is not me trying to be disrespectful of people’s opinions at all, I’m just sharing how I feel about the whole scene).

⚠️Obviously spoiler warning for episode 8⚠️

I really think that the changes made to this scene alone were perfect and actually builds upon what will happen in the books. Luke not immediately wanting to kill Percy makes much more sense considering that first and foremost, the entire base of Luke’s reason for wanting to dismantle Olympus, and take the gods out of power, is because he is tired of seeing demigods being treated poorly by their parents. He’s tired of seeing demigods dying left and right just because their parents are too selfish to think about anything other than what they want. He’s tired of the gods (to use the words of Medusa in ep.3) being bullies who believe that they can do no wrong, and who will punish even their own children when they feel threatened or they feel like their pride has been wounded.

Remember Hal? In The Diary of Luke? The first demigod that Luke had to see die because of the way his father punished him unfairly, simply for using his powers to save a friend? The first demigod of whom soon would be many that Luke is unable to save?

If Luke’s whole original meaning behind wanting to bring down the gods was to save demigods like himself, Hal and Thalia; then why would he automatically be trying to kill Percy? It makes much more sense that he originally just wanted to recruit Percy to his side! Besides, why kill Percy when he could potentially have the most powerful demigod alive (that anyone knows of) on his side? He would be absolutely stupid to not take that opportunity and Luke isn’t stupid, he’s actually pretty smart.

So yeah, I’m pretty ok with them leaving out the whole scorpion thing (no matter how much I liked it for joke purposes).

Then we have the fact that this Percy who obviously thinks and feels the same as Luke, still didn’t join Luke in the end.

Yes, Percy feels the same way about the gods. He still doesn’t care for them even after what Poseidon did. However, the main reason that Percy in the show doesn’t join Luke, even when he’s not actively trying to kill him, is because of his up bringing. Because of Sally. They make it a big point in episode 5 and 7 to point out that Sally had been keeping Percy from the world of the gods because she didn’t want them to make him into someone he’s not. She didn’t want to expose him to that world without him first knowing who he truly is and showing him unconditional love. How a family is really supposed to treat each other.

Then, we have Luke. Luke didn’t have any of that. He was only 9 months old before being thrust into the mythical world. All his life he had been exposed to the world of the gods. He never had a mother who was all the way there to show him how family is supposed to behave. He didn’t have any sort of strong pillar there for him. He didn’t have any chance to just take the time to find who he truly was without any influence from the gods. So, Luke fell into the trap of repeating history again.

Percy is able to see this. He’s able to see what Luke is talking about and he’s able to sympathize with him.

But, there is one main difference between them both. Luke knows exactly how the gods are. Having been exposed to their world for so long, he knows how things truly go and the lengths that they would have to go to for any real change to be made. Percy on the other hand, may have been taught a lot by Sally, but he is still naïve when it comes to the gods and how they really work.

Percy still thinks that change can be made without going to such lengths. He still has hope. He’s stubborn and willful to a fault. But most importantly, he’s still a young kid who has just began his journey and who unfortunately hasn’t even seen or felt a fraction of the horrors that this new world has to offer. He still feels like he can be this hero who saves everyone and make everything ok. He still thinks that he can save Luke.

However, as the prophecy says, "you will fail to save what matters most in the end". And if that thing that "matters most" is Luke, then he is technically the first person that Percy can not save. It is the start of Percy’s journey as a hero.

So, yes. Percy still deciding not to join Luke makes sense. Besides, Percy now has Sally back and he has his friends. He still has so much to lose and he knows that he would lose them if he joined Luke. With Percy’s fatal flaw being loyalty, even if it meant that the world would be 100 times better, he would still choose the people he cares about over anything. This is something that we see become more apparent about Percy as the series goes on so it’s cool to see that already being a factor more early on in the story.

And lastly, we have the inclusion of Annabeth being there to hear everything.

I personally don’t know why people are saying that it throws off how she’s supposed to feel about Luke as we go further into the story?

I mean, in the book Annabeth hears about what happened from Percy. When she first hears about it she’s in shock obviously, but when she takes a minute to think about it and get over that initial shock, she still believes Percy. After their first quest, Annabeth has grown to trust Percy so there’s no reason why she would doubt what he says. Yet, throughout the series she still knows deep down that there is a legitimate reason why Luke is doing what he’s doing. She also knows that most of this is caused by Kronos and that Luke is just being used as a puppet.

So, just because she heard everything that was said, doesn’t mean that she can’t still have the same kind of feelings. It doesn’t mean that she can’t feel sympathy for the person who she looked at as a big brother. It doesn’t mean that she can’t understand Luke and what he’s doing. I’d even argue that her hearing what he said would cause her to understand even more. And since they removed the whole thing about Annabeth having a crush on Luke, I feel like her being able to understand what’s truly going on is even more important since we won’t have her blindly following him because of her crush on him.

So my overall verdict? I personally feel that every change made in this specific scene actually makes more sense and flows into what will happen throughout the rest of the story even more.