#Not in the top 15 but not a bad ep either!

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s4 episode 19 thoughts

very tired. brain empty. only mulder and scully in there

i am sat for the evening, reading the episode description. i'm curious as to if a “technology of the future” mentioned is still going to seem futuristic after 30 years have passed since it first hit TV…

(author's note: yes. we still don't have instant freeze potion. and the main takeaway from this episode is that we shouldn't have instant freeze potion)

i wasn't sure what to expect with this one, but i thought it was pretty interesting! it posed some philosophical questions i hadn't really considered in the real world re: time traveling. in the end though, it was left ambiguous as to what would really happen at the conclusion of the episode, like always, and i think there is enough going on in this universe that for my own sake and the sake of mulder and scully, i am going to assume that time travel was cancelled.

but i liked this episode- apart from the frequent needles! eugh...

we open at MIT, where a guy is running. it looks pretty late at night. 

two people are yelling about a guy named mcfarland while this older man watches. the kids are ignoring this guy telling them that the street is dangerous because they instead want to be loud and argue or whatever, idc. 

this kid in the red jacket (later revealed to be named lucas) seems like a massive douche, and when old man proclaims that he is going to die at exactly 11:46, i feel no deep sadness on the matter. this guy is trying to save your life and you’re gonna treat him like he’s trying to get money off of you??? and be mean to him????

omggg self righteous MIT kids…. yeah i’ll say it. shut tf up!

the campus security officer takes the old man away, but he tells jason not to let lucas cross the street, because he won’t see the bus coming… jason seems shocked that the old man knows his name.

see, if i were jason, i’d take this grouch of a kid and make him wait it out. maybe go to a restaurant or something. if there is one that doesn’t require crossing the street. no ma’am. i will NOT ignore a death prophecy.

lucas is shutting down jason, saying they have nothing to talk about. but the bus approaches!!!!

and sure enough, lucas drops his papers at the predicted time….. and thus concludes lucas.

the bus driver says it looks like jason pushed him in front of the bus! i didn’t see that. but okay. 

intro time woo woo woo woo woo wooooooo

(seriously, it didn’t look like jason pushed him?? am i tripping? i mean, i replayed the scene just to make sure. and it did not look like a pushing occurred)

scully is looking at the photos from the accident, and we learn that lucas was a post-doctoral fellow, which perhaps explains his intense arrogance. although i imagine that sort of thing only really happens if you were a douche BEFORE the phd. it just gets worse after it has been conferred.

OH the tea is: jason was his ACADEMIC ADVISOR!!!! and the bus driver said he pushed him!!!!

damn. can you imagine??? i’m imagining this happening to me. everyone would be shocked.

also, shocked that jason was not a fellow student because he looked to be of doctoral candidate age. but he is actually dr. jason nichols, academic advisor in addition to the other roles i'm sure he plays.

but that's not the point.

and jason wouldn’t tell the cops what they were arguing about!!! suspicious…

mulder sits next to scully on the edge of the desk and they watch jason’s alibi tape- i bet it was a pain to ship that around

(at this moment i got a text and paused to answer it and it froze on a frame of mulder looking at scully as she ponders the case and oh my gooooood. oh my gooood)

“well, he goes on to tell a pretty convincing narrative and to give a rather detailed description of the old man” “what was he wearing, a long black robe and carrying a scythe?” <- she is smirking at her own stupid joke and i love her soooo much

mulder has a pencil behind his ear…. yeah. i love him too. they’re a package deal <3

and a further plot twist: the campus security officer that picked the old man up ALSO died!!

i see that it is now boston autopsy time. and i just prepared myself a meal. okay. we must pause and eat before continuing.

mmm that was yummy.

RESUME!

there has been internal disagreement about if they should cut or saw the campus security guy's body? now what the hell does that mean 

he’s frozen!!! as if elsa got to him….

she says something was inserted in his ear, which was a thermometer. and he was found on campus.

well, boston is just like that. you don't get your dunkin one day and you freeze about it.

oooo, this officer would drink and drive on duty!!! this is not good. bad bad bad thing to do. but it was only 28 degrees last night! not cold enough for a guy to get drunk and freeze to death in such a dramatic fashion.

again. boston. it’s like that.

his body is getting colder somehow! that makes no sense.

i love when mulder asks for scully's medical opinion :) she thinks maybe he drank some chemicals!!

BLEAUGH mulder makes a joke about hoping he can keep the body frozen until thanksgiving... nasssssty 😭

this provides no answers on the jason situation. if anything, it only raises more questions. time to go ask him!!!!

jason seems to think that mulder is lying about the guy being frozen to death which is a presumptuous thing… what exactly would he gain from lying about that lmao

oh tea…. the reason the two of them were fighting that night was because lucas was going to say that jason’s research data was falsified!!! and they were competing for the same grant… for cryobiology!!!

OHHHH HE STUDIES FREEZING BODIES. this is not looking great for him.

(we also see jason's girlfriend very briefly which becomes important later. her name is lisa. i did not write it down in my original notes because i did not know she would become a major character in the episode)

scully calls while mulder is doing the questioning, and says she found jason’s thumbprint on the security guard’s uniform!!! oh man. again. not looking great for jason. but i don’t buy that the story is that straightforward.

scully is so pretty………….

cut to a hotel where a man named yonechi is trying to check in, but the receptionist is saying there is no reservation under that name!!! this is very unfortunate for dr. yonechi.

and who comes in but OLD MAN FROM BEFORE!!!!!!! he is giving yonechi a key and says he came on behalf of dr. jason nichols…..

who is this old man… and what does he want…? he looks sick!!!! 

yonechi invites old man in and he shuts the door to his hotel room…. omg something is gonna go down… 

he says he owes so much to yonechi. now what does that mean? did he use his research for something?

“you found a way to substitute water with a sugar- trehalose” (sobs in humanities) what does that MEAN???

HEY WHAT, OLD MAN PUT THAT NEEDLE AWAY. NOOOO NO AWAY. NOT INTO YONECHI. 

YONECHI IS FREEZING TO DEATH. 

(my original notes there were far less readable, just know that)

damn, that prop of frozen yonechi is crazy. scully is investigating and i’m contemplating how it was made!!!

she notices the injection mark… and mulder says he was at the hotel with a man in his 70’s when he arrived!!! the mythical old man that jason has spoken of proves to be real!

scully is showing mulder “a nuclear magnetic resident spectra” (YESSSS TALK THAT SCIENCE SCULLY 🔥 IDK WTF IT MEANS) 

yonechi was injected with… something. scully strongly suspects jason (AKA dr. nichols) did the killing, but mulder wants to talk to someone else….

the girlfriend, lisa!!! jason’s dating someone from his lab!!!??? that feels weird. is that unethical? is she his employee? hm.

scully shows her the nuclear magnetic resident spectra and she grows quiet. yeahhh they're onto youuuu!

“lisa, you can tell us now, or we can subpoena your testimony in court” <- DAMN scully said you will NOT be hiding evidence from me!

STOP SAYING SCIENCE WORDS I DON'T GET IT

okay, so the stuff that was shot in yonechi: it’s a rapid freezing agent. i get that. jason thinks that if you do it fast enough, you can unthaw whatever you freeze better. but he hasn’t been able to test it because it doesn’t exist yet!!! 

well. i think something changed.

oooooo look at the virtual chemical… so high tech… watch it rotate… yeah, baby that’s the stuff.

it would be impossible for him to engineer the non-existent chemical synthetically… BUT SOMEONE CLEARLY DID because they found it in that guy!!!

but!!!! lisa reveals that yonechi might not be dead!!! so they put him in a tub of slime and then try to revive him

scully announces that this will not work, because his body temperature was at 8 degrees, and the lowest body temperature a human ever survived was 70. i love that she knows that. it warms my heart. even if it doesn't warm dr. yonechi's.

blehhh, they put some stuff in his chest and then bring out the shocky machine…. and he starts to come back!!!! omg???

but he starts to fight the machine (what does that mean??), and his temperature gets WAYYYY too high, and he’s gasping and screaming and i feel myself growing faint….

(god that scene was NOT fun to watch. it was actually straight up horrible)

AND THEN HE CATCHES ON FIRE???????

wait, is this the episode where we get that one line…..

(sadly this was not the episode with the spontaneous combustion line i have seen in screenshots💔)

the only guess they have as to wtf made yonechi burn up is that whatever it was that was used to freeze him provoked an opposite reaction when they thawed him out

rip dr. yonechi :(

lisa goes to talk to jason…… what does he know!!!!!

old man is on the bus next to her. RUN GIRL. SPRINT. use your youth as an advantage. he’s going after her and i’m wondering how tf he knew that other guy was going to die?????

NO DON’T STOP TO LOOK AT TIE DYED SHIRTS. ahh she is seeing him follow her in the mirrors and not just merely shopping... very clever

lisa goes up a bunch of stairs, which is arguably the best move to escape an old man, but he is still pretty fast. 

she confronts him… and he says HE CAN KILL HER, TOO!!!

bro... i know grant money is hard to come by, but COME ON!! 

he busts out the freezy needle and says he came here to kill her… but he walks away. who tf is this guy??????

he bruised tf out of her arm when he grabbed her!!! rude!!!!

scully once again reminds lisa to STOP HIDING SHIT and she confesses to FALSIFYING THE DATA TO GET THE GRANT!!!! OHHH GIRL!!!!! this is not good. and jason is covering for her. 

and the people who could have figured that she did that out are now dead!!!

HOW BIG IS THIS FUCKING GRANT, BRO???

she swears that she doesn’t know the old guy and that jason wouldn’t either, but scully comes at her with “if he would lie for you, what makes you think he wouldn’t lie to you?” <- ohhh she ate her up there 

mulder does his thing where he says “scully?” and tilts his head a little, which means "we need to talk about this out of earshot of the person we're questioning" and i love it very much

ohhh, someone thinks they’ve spotted the old man!!!

(really hate that composite drawing of him they’re using as reference)

woahh, that shot descended from the ceiling as they arrived to his hotel room… it was really cool. but he is not here!!

“i’m not sure if ‘living’ is the word i’d use on this place” <- after that other line last episode i just KNOW she needs to be comfy and cozy, which i respect immensely. get scully a blanket right away. i need her in a mountain of pillows. STAT.

she finds yonechi’s flight written down in a notepad, and mulder finds a picture of yonechi, lisa, and jason!! they must have had an ice science groupchat or something

mulder seems to think this is a photo from the future??? and that if lucas hadn’t gotten hit by that bus, jason’s research being falsified would be exposed and he’d never get to work with dr. yonechi.

of course, this is baffling. and i have to rewatch the scene to get a better understanding on what he is saying

she has had enough of his shenanigans “and if your sister is your aunt and your mother married your uncle, you’d be your own grandpa” <- LMAO she said you NEED to start making sense!!

“okay, so this photo that was never taken, when was it never taken?” <- BAHAHA this has been added to my mental list of top scully one liners

he says it was taken at least 5 years in the future when the mystery substance was synthesized in the future…. and the old man came back from the future to fix the past!!

well. time travel isn’t something we have entertained on here before. so that’s new. not sure how i feel about it when there is already so much going on in this universe.

HE SAYS THE OLD MAN *IS* JASON?? and that is how he knew all of the things!!!

i guess it does make sense… if you think time travel could exist…

(she looks at him with great skepticism) “although common sense may rule out the possibility of time travel, the laws of quantum physics certainly do not. in case you forgot, that’s from your graduate thesis” <- she looks annoyed at this LMAOOOOOOOOOOO 

if someone quoted my thesis back to me in an argument we’d have to start kissing sloppy style right then and there.

so wait this complicates things. she did a graduate degree AND an MD?? bro, how many degrees was she collecting!!!!! how long did it take!!! HOW OLD IS SHE??? how can all of his have been accomplished??? 

you don’t write a thesis for an MD, and even if you did it wouldn’t be in physics… maybe she did like a 4+1 program? she was speedrunning grad school? can someone who knows what her degree history looks like PLEASE explain this to me.

ohhhh and she argues right back… “the limits of human endurance would prevent such a trip from ever happening” get his ass!!

(he can quote her thesis but not remember her birthday… what is with this man??)

he says to show the picture to lisa and ask where it was taken, which i suppose would answer that question as long as she doesn't frequently have people take her pictures, in which case it might be hard to recall

old man seems very sick as he stumbles back to his spartan hotel room…. perhaps time travel makes you ill? and that is the limit of human endurance she has described??

OAUGHHHHH HE IS INJECTING HIMSELF WITH SOMETHING OKAY HELLO. I DID NOT SEE THIS COMING.

it seems to make him feel better. it makes me feel worse. but i suppose that is irrelevant.

gag gag gag gag. so he keeps internally freezing himself to feel better?

lisa comes in and asks “jason?” <- OHHH SHE CLOCKED HIM!!!! he says she made it possible!!!!

is this how we explore the multiverse in this world??? never thought we'd see the day. i mean, i guess weirder plot points have gone on than there being an x files multiverse, but i thought we had enough to deal with just on this planet, what with the murderers and ghosts and ghouls and all that

jason says she’ll meet a guy in ten years that has discovered “tachyons” (which is a real word, i assume, because my autocorrect fixed it for me) which are particles that can go back in time!!! but only for a few seconds and only at a temperature of absolute 0. 

the temperature thing seems very specific.

and then she’ll realize…. 

and he came back to kill her but couldn’t do it!!!! her hand is in his hand...

OH HE LIED!!! HE GOT HER!!!!!!!!! lisa is now FROZEN!!

while that is deeply sad, i am kinda glad he prevented time travel from happening in this universe. that would be a little too much.

mulder arranged for (young) jason’s bail to go show him lisa at the lab, and he straight up says right there that the old man they’re looking for is him. which had to be hard to hear

jason is being a dick as mulder tries to explain what happened…. he proposes that maybe his compound would allow for time travel by making people very cold and allow them to survive the temperatures of a wormhole. sure. i don't know enough about wormholes to dispute that.

jason seems to sober up a bit when he realizes that what happened to lisa is his fault in a sort of cosmic way, and not even mulder can come up with a witty response to that 

ooooooh, jason had to use a fingerprint scanner thingy to get into the lab, and it said he was already there!! a showdown of the jasons!!!!

mulder says please get to scully NOW as they’re trying to revive lisa and blehhh more needles stop with needles no needles please i ask so politely. scully is watching this go down and ordering her to put lisa back in the slime tub now!!!

scully you are so pretty…….

mulder is off to track down old jason, and i wonder if showing his FBI badge would really get him into all sorts of places such as this one, or if anyone would wonder if he was lying. anyway, the research assistant says that no one has come in. 

breaking lisa news: THEY RESUSCITATED HER!!! but jason wasn’t there!!!!

oh it really is jason vs jason time… who will win? the younger, inexperienced, but more sprightly jason? or the older and wiser jason with the weapon of freezing???

in the computer, all the files about jason were erased!!!! he is really trying to destroy his own work. mulder is running running running…

but young jason has found old jason! who is frantically typing. 

older jason's explanation of a world with time travel does sound pretty fucked up. but then young jason is beating up older jason trying to get lisa back. mulder arrives to say lisa is actually okay, and older jason stabs younger jason!!!

while mulder is trying to break through, the two jasons…. CATCH ON FIRE!!!

damn. mulder probably did not like to see that. i still consider his fear of fire canon. because i like it. i think it’s interesting.

scully is explaining to lisa, who is on a stretcher, how they saved her

scully is so sweet trying to explain she doesn’t know what was going on….. and has to tell lisa that jason is dead, and she is very sorry, but she’ll see her in the hospital 

mulder arrives!! he says they won’t find the second corpse- i guess that makes sense. if you die, i guess your alternate timeline self has to go with it.

oh my goodness, he's quoting her thesis again: “although multidimensionality suggests infinite outcomes in an infinite number of universes, each universe can produce only one outcome”

HE MEMORIZED THAT SHIT???

“i was 23 when i wrote that” oh my GOD SHE REALLY WAS SPEEDRUNNING DEGREES HUH???

so she must have done either a 4+1 or graduated undergrad in 3 years, 2 years for a masters, and then (insert however many years it takes to get an MD here)

no wonder she is so smart... damn, i love her.

so what implications does her proclamation on each universe having but one solution have?? will his compound and time travel eventually be discovered as scully’s thesis seems to predict??

cut to lisa at the computer… and thus ends our tale.

NOW WHAT DOES THAT MEAN.

so do we get time travel or not???

i actually liked this episode!! not the needles. but it was a super interesting concept and proved why we should probably not have time travel. something i already believed and now find myself agreeing with even harder.

it's kinda rare that i like an episode based off of its content rather than just the mulder-scully time the situation creates, so i'll give credit where credit is due.

i like to see scully be a smartass so this was a good day for me. AND that he has so much of her thesis MEMORIZED??? word for word???!! that is AMAZING. it really is like that though- sometimes you can quote a person's thesis rewriting einstein, but you cannot remember their birthday.

and maybe it was implied before, but i'm so happy to learn that scully got her masters when she was 23, and THEN went on to med school. that is the sort of information a fan like me needs to know to properly analyze a character, and it is fascinating! so she probably graduated early- either in undergrad or high school. and she got her masters in physics, right?! or something along those lines??

we forget how fucking smart she is because the narrative is skewed in mulder's favor with the whole "werewolves are real in this world" thing, but goddamn. she is really a genius who can tell you exactly how someone is dying and fix it, OR administer the death herself via her sharpshooting skills, AND gets stuck dealing with the bestie babble alien nonsense while she tries to figure out how to rationalize all of the universe's inexplicable phenomena through the lens of a scientist. AND she paid attention in catechism.

is she not one of THE best characters of all time???

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Why so much on right now?

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

NOV 2024 Week 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

Your Sky (Sun iQIYI) ep 1 of 12 - Classic old school Thai BL. Of course I love it. Naïve sunshine freshman vs strict older protective boy (who already likes him but refuses to show it). Is he grumpy or just gay and tired of all of these women? We don’t know. We don’t care. We just want to see them fake a relationship. And that’s what we’re getting. I love it. I also love the friendship group, and that the younger brother is in it and he has some of the same magic BL-hottie superpowers as his older brother. It’s great.

Love Sick 2024 (Sun iQIYI) ep 10 of 15 - Phun actually turns into dangerous babygirl when he is flirting, who knew? (Dangerous Babygirl is a new archetype I have just invented by the way. Yes, I am pleased with myself.) Noh, who is a nice boy, doesn’t stand a chance. Neither does Jeed, since this new babygirl superpower gives Phun a damn near perfect “back off bitch” face.

The arm drape public claiming, it gets me every time. Has done since SOTUS. Nong Mick is hero-level in this version, hands-down my favorite character this time around (and a non-entity last time). I love him so much I can’t stand it. I haven’t updated my 1:1 comparison yet this week, didn’t have time to rewatch 2014, but I will later tonight.  I'm chronicling my experience with 2024 as compared to 2014 here. 

Kidnap (Fri Gaga) ep 12 end - What an absolutely excellent final episode. Smiley kisses! 

Conclusion 

A cute if patently absurd little show about a stuntman who is somehow convinced to kidnap a rich kid except they fall in love. It takes itself a little more seriously than it deserves for such a silly plot and some crappy stunts and contradictory content, but it was a pleasantly romantic experience all around, and I enjoyed myself. Extra credit for Q in that perfect blue color throughout. No complaints, a solid BL. 8/10 

The Heart Killers (Weds Gaga) ep 1 of 12 - Jojo directs FirstKhao & JoongDunk in an action romcom about assassin brothers (Khao & Joong) who meet a tattoo artist (First) and a cocky mechanic (Dunk). I'm highly amused that Joong plays the older brother to Khao and that we have a take on the Taming of the ShrewBL. This has all GMMTV's best chemistry in one BL and some fresh concepts that I've only seen tackled in m/m romance novels (check out Amy Lane's Racing for the Sun, thank me later). My only quibble is Jojo, I like his style but his characters can get unreliably messy so…... this gonna be interesting.

Buckle up buttercups I got thoughts:

Frankly, I haven’t decided if this is good or so bad and so camp that it’s good? The latter I suspect. Either way, I’m enjoying it very much, but I had very little doubt that I would. This falls into so many of my wheelhouses. Not just the premise but the casting and the approach and the script. They pretty much knocked it out of the park with the first episode: one night stand + safe sex + linguistic negotiation = I’m in! During the opening sequence I spent the entire time worried about how many fingerprints Bison was leaving everywhere. And then I realized this show is going to require DEMAND we turn our brains entirely off.

We are in KinnPorshce / The Sign territory people. Take emergency precautions! Do not engage brain meats!

Kiss Me Kate only gay and hitmen? Frankly, it sells itself. The music is extremely stupid though. (Brain, stop it!) I gotta say that FirstKhao are good because…… FirstKhao. But JoongDunk are absolutely perfectly cast. Like: couldn’t be a better pair in these roles. Dunk, in particular, is slaying. I did not have Dunk as Petruchio down on my “best casting choice of all time” BL bingo card, but apparently there he is. Awesome. 

Fourever You (Thurs YT) ep 8 of 16 - I’m warming up to the second couple a little bit. I actually don’t mind a bully romance the way some do. But this isn’t quite hitting the notes that I want from one. Still, I found this week more engaging than last week. 

Secret Love (? YT?) 1-12 of 81 eps - They dropped 12 eps at once randomly on YT totaling about 20 min. So of course, I watched it. Because I have no self-control and STEPBROTHERS! Adopted into a rich family, boy falls in love with heir. But when he is made the heir instead, everything goes wrong. Now enemies the two boys reunite and sparks! I hate this format but dammit I love this utter dross. It’s very early Chinese BL feeling but from Thailand. I don’t care. It’s so stupidly great. This is my kind of BL.

Caged Again (Fri Gaga) ep 3 of 10 - There is something sweetly innocent and earnest about this show. It reminds me of Takara and Amagi or even Light On Me but less stiff - this one is quintessentially quirky and casually Thai about it. It’s interesting that this has an 18+ rating, which means it’s either gonna go very violent or sexy or both. Right now I can’t imagine that, it doesn’t suit. But I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes. Junior with his Mean Girl crop top moment is the goddess of the week though. Fierce queen penguin.

Perfect 10 Liners (Sun YT?) ep 4 of 24 - I love the side couple so damn much. How are they so adorable? Still not wild about the mains, and not likely to get there anytime soon. That said, I did like seeing the “sleeping in your boyfriend‘s class while he gives you his jacket” trope drop. We haven’t had that one for a really long time. My Engineer maybe?

Every You Every Me (Mon Gaga) ep 7 of 8 - I did find this installment kind of boring. I just don’t like actors as main characters. Much as I’m enjoying this show and I think the actors are doing a good job, I really do wish it was more like what we had been sold on: Connected reborn characters fated to be together over and over again. Not this weird little mishmash of whatever. I’m now annoyed by a format I was initially charmed by. 

Jack & Joker (Mon IQIYI) ep 10-11 of 12 - still on hold until it ends or I can cope with the pain.  I just can’t go into darkness right now.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Our Youth AKA Miseinen: Mijukuna Oretachi wa Bukiyo ni Shinkochu (Japan Tues Gaga) ep 3 of 11 - SNIFF TEST! But done by Japan so it’s that much better and more kinky. The way H looks at M pretty much defines naked lust. “I got extra beat up so you’d take pity on me and then I admitted it to you” is so damn warped I can’t even with this boy. This feral kid is gonna drive me feral. The power and the control and the execution of this show is just spectacular. I keep thinking about it after its done and telling people IRL about it. (I rarely talk BL IRL.) It’s classy. I do love it when Japan does classy BL for us. 

See Your Love (Taiwan Weds Gaga) ep 6 of 13 - so completely and utterly adorable. The learning sign language thing! I loved it so much.

Love is Like a Poison AKA Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru (Japan Tues Netflix?) 10 of 12 eps - Possibly one of the best confessions of the year I have to say. Also a wonderful character growth arc for our lawyer. Exactly as one might hope. The plot twist was slightly predictable but still adds a delicious note of tension to our final episodes.

Blue Canvas of Youthful Days (China Sun iQIYI) eps 7-8 of 12 - You don’t want me but you won’t let anybody else have me either. The song of the repressed seme. I did like the irrational jealousy moment and a few other bits, of course the crying kiss. You know I love a crying kiss. Even if it’s a somewhat censored one. But this is also leaning a little bit darker than I want at the moment. This being China, I anticipate the darkness and doom getting worse not better.

Teenager Judge (Vietnam Sat YT) ep 9 of ? - The incredible migrating lip injury continues. Could we please get on with the BL aspect of this show? I’m getting frustrated as well as slightly bored at this juncture. Pacing darlings. Pacing.

Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan (Japan Sat Gaga) ep 4 of 10 - Still not sure. I think I like this better than the original, but I’m confused. I did make disgusted scoff noises and say “oh dear” a couple of times. Which makes me sound like a World War II grandpa (only the housemate's cat noticed), but is also classic me when profoundly disappointed by a piece of media. That’s said, the sex scene was pretty good. In the end, I wasn’t as frustrated by this version of these characters, but they didn’t have as many highs or lows as the original. So first half probably works out about the same in my all-purpose rating system. The true proof in the pudding is going to be couple number 2 tho......

It's airing but......

Winter Is Not The Death of Summer (Weds YT) ?? eps - Criminals who meet in prison fall in love. I did find it on YouTube, but I did not find any English subs for it. The first episode seems to be only six minutes long. It is very pulp. But it is intriguing. So I hope it gets some sort of international or something at some point. for now I’ll put it to the wayside.

Bad Guy My Boss (Thai Sun Gaga) 10 eps - I DNF'd at ep 7, I couldn't make it. I am weak. Life is hard enough right now, this show is making it harder. It’s not what I want from my entertainment.

Bad to Bed (Taiwan Sat YT) 10 eps - This is a little too low production value even for me + just very very odd. DNF

In Case You Missed it

Love for Loves Sake got some kind of special on 11/9. Not sure what, why, or where. Only the rumor that it...... is. I'll believe it when I see it...... literally. Let me know if you found it.

The Bangkok Podcast covered Marriage Equality in Thailand: More Complex Than it Seems. They missed some of the point and all of the queer perspective. But it's a local lawyer talking about it and how it was implemented, which is quite interesting.

Dominant Yakuza and Wimpy Corporate Slave AKA Ore-sama Yakuza to Hetare Shachiku: Kuni wo Koeta Jingi Naki Dekiai, Japan YT. A 30 min slice of ridiculousness. This mini walked out the back of one of my 1999 yaoi (you know those little shorts they always had along with the main story?) and randomly got cut together by some helpful malcontent, tumbled into my YT feed like a Taiwanese prat fall, and I couldn't be happier.

This is the Cliff's notes of a story that could have been amazing, but I adored it anyway. Basically what it says on the tin: office cutie from Taiwan working in Japan runs across hot AF mafia hit man beating up lesser thugs. Falls instantly in love, turns out so does the yakuza. They end up together for...... reasons? (one is cute and the other is cool?) That's it. It's dumb and I loved it. 7/10 because it really isn't good, but it lives on in a very warped corner of my shriveled old heart.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Still to come:

11/28 Spare Me Your Mercy (Thai Thurs iQIYI) 8 eps on OneD (no word on inter) - Increased rates of deaths in terminal patients has a police captain investigating the palliative care doctor with whom he's fallen in love. Their relationship deepens but the mystery persists, driven by mistrust. Adapted from the novel "Euthanasia" by Sammon (Triage, Manner of Death) stars some old guard BL actors: Tor Thanapob from Hormones as the doctor and (fuck me YES) Jaylerr from Great Men Academy and goddamn Grean Fictions as the captain!

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

We stan a smitten seme who's too reserved for his own good. Sunshine is gonna have this boy wrapped around his little finger in no time. (Well in 12 eps, but we know what we like!) Your Sky

King behavior.

Dangerous Babygirl behavior.

Both Love Sick 2024.

(last week)

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

[glompcat]

Following a heart attack during Memorial Day weekend (the weekend before last), my dad had a quadruple bypass on Tuesday. On Thursday my dad's heart stopped. He was fully conscious when it happened, and in fact only lost consciousness when his ICU nurse gave him drugs to knock him out and hopefully prevent him from remembering anything that was happening. He is hooked up to a respirator, so there was no oxygen lost to his brain during any of this. After 15 min. his heartbeat was stabilized and they took him to be examined, as the original thought was it could have been caused by either the cow valves or his new arteries not taking properly. A bad stitch was also proposed to us as a possible cause. None of those things were found, the surgery itself was a success.

Last night at 2:00 am my dad's heart stopped again. This time it took 12 minutes for him to be stabilized. Like the first time, he had come out of the sedation just the day before. He was fully conscious again as it happened, so the nurse gave him drugs to knock him out, and wow but I am hoping he really won't remember either of these incidents. I can not tell you how grateful I am that the state my parents live in has legistlation on the books mandating that ICU nurses never have more than two cases at a time.

Based on the second incident they are now saying it was probably down to an electrical misfire in his heart, and the EP (electrophysiologic) Cardiology team will be seeing him tomorrow to both figure out the exact cause and determine best next steps. As of now the options on the table as I understand them are further studies and/or numbing a faulty nerve and/or putting in a pacemaker and/or putting in an AICD device (implanted defibrillator).

My mother and I are currently trying to stay hopeful that the EP will be able to figure out what is going wrong with my dad's electrical impulses and fix whatever it is. All of that said, it is really hard to see him in the ICU day after day, especially since with the exception of Wednesday and late in the day yesterday he has been sedated and unconscious since the surgery. The toll this recovery is taking on my mother and I emotionally is far larger then I had expected it to before his surgery.

We are currently camped out in a hotel room near the hospital (Who opens a theme B&B across the street from a regional feeder hospital? You have a captive audience already, who don't want themeing at the expense of functionality. Based on conversations during breakfast EVERYONE is there because a smaller hospital sent a loved one to the place across the street when they determined the case was outside their capabilities) and talk of little else together. Spending every single day with her (during Pride! This is my Pride month!) freaking out about my dad's condition has been A LOT. A very banal example of what happens when you spend multiple days with your mother like this: yesterday she complained that I snore, and then followed that up by (in the literal exact tone she cooed at me as a baby) telling me that it is a "very cute" snore. This was even less amusing to me because my mother snores and her snore is just awful. This is of course to say nothing of us setting each other off when we are upset because we are on top of each other all day every day.

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

What would you say to people who think padawans are child soldiers trained for war ?

What other blogs (and I) have already said a bunch of times - that based on Lucas' canon (6 movies + TCW):

1) Jedi training was more focused on diplomacy and such before the war than it was on combat prowess, and you can see evidence of that in Ahsoka's ability to teach a course on politics to a bunch of Mandalorian kids who are her age or older and who are receiving what looks like top education (the Duchess' nephew/adopted son is one of them so it's clearly a good school) or in Obi-Wan's duties with Qui-Gon. Sure, they're ready to pull out the lightsabers at the drop of a hat, but they're both ambassadors, and they spend a lot of the movie trying to impress on people that they're really not meant to be soldiers. What they really do is protect Padmé and give her leverage with their involvement, but she's the one who has to ultimately confront the Trade Federation and force them to comply. There hadn't been a galactic-wide war in like a thousand year, ergo Jedi training was not tailored for war for about a thousand year. If anything, Geonosis showed the Padawans and the Knights and the Masters were absolutely not trained for war.

2) That even during the war, the grown-up Jedi are evidently doing their absolute best to take care of the Padawans. They pull Ahsoka from the front when she makes bad decisions (the Lightsaber Lost episode) and it's not like all the Masters we know about wouldn't immediately jump in front of a blaster bolt for their Padawans (which is what Depa or Jaro DO end up doing for their apprentices, btw). It's not like they could just leave all the teens at home (they likely would have all sneaked out to go fight along with the other Jedi anyway lmao) when there aren't enough Masters or Knights around in the Temple to protect them there either. It's not like they could just leave the Padawans in untrained limbo for the duration of the war - when training in the Force is crucial at formative ages. (Also, we actually do see younglings who are old enough to be Padawans but aren't fighting: the kids who got kidnapped and hunted for sport by Trandoshans. Meaning that a) the Padawans going to war really isn't a matter of the Jedi being happy to throw their kids at the enemy, or they'd have sent O-mer, Jinx and Kalifa too - it's a matter of students accompanying their teachers, because really what else are they gonna do? and b) that Force-sensitive kids are never safe from the perils of the war even if they don't fight in it - so again, might as well keep them within sight)

3) That if you make the argument that the Jedi use child soldiers, then Naboo and Alderaan are on the exact same level. But it's a really bad faith argument to pretend that Padmé's position in TPM was the movie wanting us to see the Naboo government as a messed up child soldier situation, or that Bail and Breha were irresponsible for allowing Leia to join the Rebellion at age 15. And if people agree to be consistent on that one (again, as silly as it is to condemn either the Organas or the Naberries) then the Jedi are by far the more responsible and healthy system. Padawans have the supernatural abilities to outsmart, outrun or outfight a lot of potential threats, including trained warriors or droids. They are not like kids from the rest of the Galaxy, nevermind like kids from the real world.

4) That Padawans fighting in the war wasn't really something we saw in the movies (except on Geonosis, but again they're woefully unprepared for it and they didn't expect that level of aggression on Dooku and the Seps' part). It was the product of the out-of-universe reasoning that if you're going to animate and produce shows for kids, they're going to wanna see kids. My younger brothers and cousins's favorite episodes are probably the younglings eps, because duh.

Ultimately, it all comes down to whether or not people are criticizing the worldbuilding (they can dismiss my first three arguments as not good enough and continue to think the Padawans' situation is messed up, it's totally fair) or are saying that the story itself was condemning the Jedi for 'using child soldiers', in which case I think it's completely unsupported by anything in the movies, shows, or behind-the-scene comments.

[writingforfun0714]

So I wanted to wait and let the new Bad Batch trailer sink in before posting about it.

Warnings: Spoilers, some thoughts/opinions will be critical

Alright so I don’t think it’s any secret that I don’t care for the Bad Batch. Even ignoring the horrible, incredibly RACIST clone model, the writing is mid/passable at best and not even watchable for me. Most of S1 and 2 combined is the typical ‘mission of the week’ type of story where only a few Empire-focused episodes stand out. There are also instances of ableism concerning Echo in particular (CF99 are also super dismissive of him in general—going along with that whole fucking ‘superiority over regs’ thing—seriously wtf).

Most episodes were very bland and predictable. S1 had no stakes despite its finale. By Mando/ST it’s clear that something has happened to Kamino. Didn’t really need to see a 2pt ep of the city getting wiped. Plus AZI should’ve been sacrificed. Even Ahsoka learns the lesson that you can’t save everyone in S1 when she disobeys Anakin and Admiral Yularen. TBB S2 had no character development from anyone besides a little bit for Omega (and Tech—but that was always speculated by fans since S1 and he’s dead now so it doesn’t really matter). A lot of the dialogue felt…basic. I think the only thing that TBB does well is the music. It’s really amazing and beautiful along with the smooth, crisp animation/scenery. Shame they ruined it with racist clone models, racist tones with the ‘reg’ dispute in both seasons, and being ableist and dismissive towards Echo.

Which brings me to the trailer. Oh boy. First, right off the bat I noticed how similar the trailer opening is compared to the S2 trailer. I do like that Phee is back. She did take time to grow on me but I do like her character and am curious to see where they will go with her.

It’s interesting we are seeing Crosshair back with the group so soon. Personally I do believe that is Crosshair and not just someone else wearing his armor like some think. I like the idea of Omega and Crosshair escaping early on but Omega gets recaptured/separated and taken back to Tantiss.

I’m interested in Hemlock and his backstory (is his gloved hand robotic?). I wish they’d create more interesting and unique characters like Phee and Fennec Shand instead of relying on cameos of established characters/fan-favorites like Ventress. I loved Dark Disciple and I thought it was a great ending for her.

I know it’s officially said that Ventress’ story will follow Dark Disciple but I don’t see how unless they retcon her death or pull a ‘somehow she survived’. Either way that sucks. Reminder!! DAVE FELONY DIDN’T EVEN FOLLOW REBELS FOR AHSOKA. SABINE IS NOT FORCE SENSITIVE IN REBELS. DAVE RETCONS THE SHIT OUT OF EVERYTHING. I have no faith that they will remain loyal to DD. Anything that will be ‘canon’ will be mid at best because even Crosshair’s arc has been messy (which is due to the weird S1 ‘reset’ the characters go through. Like they totally should’ve appreciated ‘regs’ by the end of TBB arc in TCW S7–there was no need for that awkward food fight scene in S1).

I hate that this show has to rely on cameos to get the viewing numbers. Here is a list of every character cameo we’ve seen so far:

—Rex*

—Tarkin*

—Palpatine*

—The Lawquane Family

—The Syndullas/Chopper

—Nala Se/Lama Su*

—Cad Bane

—Bail Organa

—Riyo Chuchi

—Gungi

—Gregor

—Wolffe

—Cody

—Scorch

—Saw Gerrera

—Martez Sisters

—Kanan/Depa*

—Muchi/Rancor from RotJ

—Taun We/Halle Burtoni

—Ventress

*I consider these important/relevant cameos and am not bothered by them like the others*

What a list right? I might even be missing one. These were just off the top of my head. Some are big players, others smaller and almost not-relevant to the plot. Not counting the one’s I asterisked, it’s 15 characters. There are original characters but a lot of them, especially in S1 felt like one off, not important characters. And I hate Cid so much—glad to see she was absent in the S3 trailer. I’m really starting to love Phee and I’ve always loved Fennec Shand, and Hemlock is definitely an intriguing villain and Emerie feels like a total mystery (though the reveal was not shocking due to the similar design and accent to Omega). Like why can’t they create more characters like these? The rest just feel forgettable. And it’s clear that characters like Saw, Gungi, Scorch, Cad Bane and even the Syndulla and Lawquane families just felt like fan service. The rest kind of make sense that they’d show up but it also feels a bit like fan service.

Moving on..

I know a lot of people think that new weird dark trooper at the 1:40 mark is Tech. While I’m inclined to agree as I think the ‘Winter Soldier’ story is an obvious choice to pick, I also think that Tech is dead. I’ve changed my mind and kind of hope that Tech isn’t brought back.

I hope this is someone new. I also wouldn’t mind if it was a bounty hunter we’ve seen before. Due to the frame and stature, I could almost think of Boba due to him being older than Omega but it’s definitely more likely to be Tech than either of these choices.

It’s interesting a lot of cameo characters from S2 do not make an appearance in the trailer. Bail, Riyo, Gungi, Gregor and Cody are all absent from the trailer. Trailers usually show action shots to avoid story spoilers, but with Gungi, Gregor, and Cody all being capable fighters, I’m surprised they didn’t appear (usually stuff with politics is a story spoiler).

Overall I’m skeptical of the trailer. I don’t like Ventress being alive/in TBB being a Dark Disciple lover. There’s a lot of mystery surrounding the story of S3 so I don’t feel like I can give an accurate take on that. I hate how Omega’s longer hair looks. Curly haired Omega is adorable!! The animation (everything but the clone model) is definitely getting better. However, based on how S2 was marketed as a ‘darker story compared to S1’ and was like 80% fetch quest I’m definitely skeptical.

Those of you that made it through this post, thank you for your time and I hope I gave you something to think about. If you wanna learn more about the racism and ableism portrayed in this show, check out @unwhitewashthebadbatch for more info.

[hughungrybear]

Me watching Only Friends Ep. 9:

1. For this ep, I just want Sand to run as far away as possible from Ray (although based on previous ep's preview, I know that wouldn't happen) 😔

2. I don't know, it's too unrealistic for Top to change that fast. I do think that he is just not used to losing anything, which is why he is trying hard to win Mew back. As for Mew, I guess it is also the first time that he was wrong about someone (although, I pretty much doubt that) especially when he prides himself of "knowing how to accurately read" people (see episodes 1 and 2). I still see these two people trying to prove to themselves that their sense of self is not entirely wrong.

3. I'm beginning to think that Sand is either a hopeless romantic or an effing masochist. Wtf. He already knows Ray is toxic. He KNOWS RAY WILL CONTINUE TO HURT HIM (and himself). If he has any self-respect, he will walk away.

4. <on videoing Ray making out with Sand) There's the Top I know.

5. I still don't know Atom's angle in this scene. I mean from being in a cis relationship then jumping straight to gay s*x. With Boston, of all people. Why? I don't think he is fuelled with plain ole curiosity. He practically seduced Boston (although let's face it, it doesn't take much to get Boston h*rny)

6. I think I can recognise Pisaeng's (BMF) campervan lol. Hurray, for Team Second Option! Get an effing move on, gods dammit. Well, at least Sand is aware he is a masochist lol 😅

7. Yo and Mew. Really, don't start relationships that you actually don't want. The fvck. 😑

8. I love Khaotung, but Ray. Ray is trash. At this point, he is using his pain as excuse to be a manipulative, little sh*t to everyone. Also, I guess Mew's brain has been addled badly with drugs and alcohol to believe that Ray's "the word love makes most sense with you" is anything but a confession of Ray's toxic dependency on him.

9. Frankly, I don't think these kids should have romantic relationships. Especially Ray. Ray should just stop dragging everyone to his personal hell.

10. Atom is acting like a possessive bf. AFTER AN EXPERIMENTAL ONE-NIGHT STAND. I can't believe I am siding with Boston in this argument 😂😂😂😂 but fvck, here we are.

11. Maybe Sand and Nick could try it as a couple. I mean, they are both decent people. Maybe they can work it out. 😅 <after 5 seconds> ooof, Nick read my mind lol. Too bad, the kiss started nothing 😅😅😅😅

12. I just want the mums to smack some sense into Mew. Maybe, it would also get rid some of his self-righteousness and feelings of moral superiority 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

13. No, Nick. You left Sand to be fed to a smug, manipulative wolf.

14. Can I push Ray in to that lake? Right now, I have a strong urge to drown Ray and leave his dead body in that mountain top. I mean, Ray is making Top looked good IN MY EYES. Pretty sure the mums prefer Top at this point too. The fvck.

15. Is it just me, or Dan just feels creepy? This show is triggering all my paranoid senses lol 😅😅😅 Also, Nick is not known for his good judgement, he lets his hormones lead the way.

16. Oh, Nick. You poor, crazy sod. Why are you still following Boston??? Your need for closure is driving me nuts. 😑

17. Waiiit. Is Boston actually regretful? Really? Boston? Or is the sight of Nick smiling with somebody else triggering him too?

18. Is this a premonition? Will Ray die at the end of this series? 🤔🤔🤔 I mean, Ray is perpertually high, drunk, and destructive. Pretty sure he is heading to an early death at this rate.

19. Ah, Sand. You really should stop sticking your d*ck in crazy.

20. Ray, Mew looks okay even though you technically cheated on him. Should be your cue to understanding that only you thought you were boyfriends. Mew just needed a rebound.

21. Ngl, I was expecting Mixx in that elevator, not Mond! What is he doing here anyway? Is he another one of Top's exes???

We are almost at the finish line and I'm undecided who needs a sharp smack in the head the most lol. I guess, with Mew and Ray 'breaking up', there's a chance that Sand will not be a sad boy anymore. Although, I still have a strong urge to m*rder Ray after all was said and done.

I still don't know what Atom's deal is. It just seems so sudden that he is in "love" with Boston. Looks like Boston will do some self-reflection but why is Nick still there? I guess, the man just loves the hurt. Also, looks like Mond will play the ex, Boeing. I always thought it was gonna be Mixx.

Well, one thing's for sure — the show is about to get messier. I think Im'ma need to go to church now 😂😂😂😂

[sepyana]

Jjba Stone Ocean Ep 13-22 Thoughts

50% Crying about F.F. %40 Sports Maxx arc %10 Making fun of Anasui. Also Pucci is there.

Ep 13-14

A lot happening this arc. I don't really know where to start. Let's talk Ermes first.

Turns out, Ermes ended up in prison to get revenge on her older sister's killer, who is getting out of prison in a year. Araki says Ermes's position in the story is like Polnareff's (in the stand commentaries iirc) though their arcs are handled very differently.

The most important one is that Ermes's revenge is framed as a good thing. Polnareff got Avdol "killed" in his pursuit. Much like Ermes, he didn't care what would happen to himself as long as he got his revenge. Kakyoin says Polnareff shouldn't go sacrifice himself. They both lack self preservation. They both run on their own and refuse to get help from others. Ermes straight up ran in for the kill and got severely injured for it.

What I'm trying to say is Ermes's revenge is framed as good (mostly) while Polnareff's is framed as bad. Her sister comes from the heaves to hug her when she kills Sports Maxx. She does it alone at the end too. If her arc was a counter-argument to part 3's in some way it would be one thing but it doesn't do that at all. If Polnareff's arc never happened I wouldn't have cared about the message of this arc but It's so hard to ignore it when part 6 is basically the direct sequel to part 3. It's looks like Ermes just got lucky that no one got gravely hurt or kicked the bucket.

I don't wanna be mean. Pol is one of my favourites and I already like Ermes a lot. I don't wanna make it sound like Pol's arc is great either. It has it's own issues.

There is still a lot of stuff I liked though. I liked the visuals and the music of this arc especially. The shot of Ermes landing the killing blow along with the music is obviously amazing, it's over the top but I adore that. The music playing is Dio's world iirc. It plays at the finale of both part 3 and part 4 when the main casts face off against the villain. It plays here because Sports Maxx is Ermes's main villain. I don't think Sports Maxx is cool enough to deserve this theme but I like the effect regardless. I appreciate it when music from part 3 plays every now and then.

This might just be me being an F.F. fanboy but I really liked the part when they shot the alligator straight in the mouth. Determination is one of my favourite tracks from part 6. I might like it a bit more than the main theme.

So she can use her strings to sense movement in the area around her. Ok. Okay.

(This bit is from later episodes but it fits better here)Talking to Sports Maxx, Pucci says "There is a fixed amount of souls in the universe". And then he talks about how if someone had thousands of souls at once. Now I know that this is referring to the green baby, I initially thought this was because there weren't enough souls. Since the number is is fixed souls would get divided in the afterlife maybe. It's sort of interesting to think about. If there are too many souls do they get destroyed? Or jjba has already reached the limit and souls are getting reincarnated. Reused, if you will.

Pucci does care about Dio but I do think their relationship was more transactional than he would like to admit. It's not as bad as Dio but Pucci does treat everyone around him like tools, and cannot trust others enough to connect with them. The concept of heaven is too vague for me to comment on it right now, though I do think it is not as different from Christian kind as you might think at first.

Ep 15-16

Anasui is a character that exists. I saw him way before I got into jjba. I liked his design back then and he still has one of my favourite designs now. I remember seeing a post saying "How can such a naked character have this many articles of clothing" and I think about it every day.

Personality wise... I'm sorry but he is just so fucking boring. He is a murdered that likes disassembling things and he loves Jolyne. That's it that's the whole thing. His specific obsession with "marrying" her could be interesting potentially. Then you could ask "Why does he care about marrying Jolyne so much? What is his view of marriage to begin with? Any personal history about that? Maybe his worldview might relate to it. etc. etc.

Another interesting thing is why he is with Weather and Emporio in the first place. Emporio says Weather is the only person who keeps him in check. I am interested in seeing them interact now.

It's a shame they changed Anasui's gender early on. I love problematic lesbians, if my adoration for Shiori and Homura means anything.

The survivor fight could have been shorter. That's all I'm gonna say I thought it was kinda boring tbh. Other than Jolyne flipping off the guard 4 different ways.

Ep 17-18

F.F. my best friend F.F.

I don't really have much to say about episodes 16 to 20 as it's mostly fighting. I think Dragon's Dream is a cool concept and it was executed pretty well. What can you do against an enemy when fate has their back? This arc also has the issue of being too long I think. Some of the bits drag on for too long.

Jolyne tunning to save F.F. despite all her injuries... My heart... I love them..

Ep 19-20

Jotaro not letting anyone take off his hat while in a coma, with no memories and half a soul. Jjba is pretty funny when it wants to be.

Jotaro injuring himself and it just happens to spell Jolyne. And the same cuts show up on Jolyne too. I get some families in jjba have psychic links but this is too much. My suspension of disbelief can only go so far. I can excuse the Dio bone plot but I draw the line at this.

Anasui actually tells F.F. to push Jolyne so he can hug her with zero shame. F.F. rightfully calls this sexual harassment. How does plankton who entered society like a few weeks ago has better morals than him. Get your shit together Anasui.

People loathe Yo Yo Ma. I don't think it is as bad as some say. Don't get me wrong though, it is bad. It's main problem is that it's really fucking boring. I shit you not I almost fell asleep while watching this which is absolutely huge for someone like me who takes an hour to fall asleep. It's not the worst part of jojo but it is up there.

Ep 21-22

Well after the pretty boring stretch we got the last few episodes we get this gem -> completely ignoring the green baby thing

Wow so much to talk about that Dio and Pucci interaction huh. I was initally iffy on what Dio's character was going but I'm loving it.

Do you remember Dio's whole peace of mind way back in part 3? I mentioned it while talking about Kira but I never thought it would be relevant again. Arakkiiiiii please more of this.

So firstly, this pretty much confirms peace of mind is what Dio seeks despite talking about humans. Dio from birth had absolutely zero time to chill, he couldn't trust anyone, he couldn't depend on anyone. Pucci is the person he is closest to but even then he cannot fully trust him.

This is just speculation from my part but maybe that's what heaven is? That serenity, the ease. For someone like Dio who has made so many fucking enemies by this point that peace of mind is not really possible for him outside of reaching heaven. Much to think about.

Also Leonardo Da Vinci is a stand user. This is the jjba equivalent of Joan of Arc being a magical girl in pmmm to me. Why would you tell me this.

Araki can't play with my heart like this. I thought F.F. might make it for a second.

F.F. started to have flashbacks and all I could think was "It's so over". The fight with White Snake was incredibly tense. Having a stand disc like that on hand was a good idea from Pucci.

The moment when Weather caused rain to help F.F. was so hype. It's a good comeback. I always love seeing White Snake suffer. He is annoying as shit.

Jolyne hugging "Weather" was really wholesome despite what we learn later. Despite what Anasui thinks I don't think there is gonna be a romance between the two. More like a positive male figure in her life (Which she seems to lack).

Then here is my least favourite insulting my fave and you already know what I'm gonna say. It would be one thing if Anasui talked shit about F.F. after Ep 22. But Anasui just keeps going on about how they don't deserve to live and that they are lesser because they aren't human and dude. F.F. hasn't even done anything. They only told you to stop being a immature baby about Jolyne hugging a guy when they've got Pale Snake to deal with, rightly so. I'm not even mad I just have no idea why he is reacting like this. All this shit talk over nothing and F.F. still decides to save Anasui instead of themselves.

I didn't see the reveal coming at all. It's was as much of a surprise to me as the characters because 1. I am dumb 2. I don't think Pale Snake has shape shifted up to this point.

Pucci's remarks about how much Jolyne has grown is definitely true. I thought she was just as immature as the other protags despite being older than most of em but that's definitely not the case anymore. My girl ate the musrooms growing on her bedframe in prison. Just to get a chance at saving her father. She has definitely grown... Stone Free grew with her too.

F.F. is not the most unique character. There are so many media that has handled "someone with a newly acquired consciousness learning what it means to be alive" trope way better. But I still found it heartwarming. They are just happy to be there and I appreciate that. They have memories and people dear to them. F.F. didn't have a life before meeting Jolyne. Living a life gave them a reason to sacrifice it for their loved ones. They have a soul now and here come the tears again

Love getting emotional about jjba because I will look at what I am actually crying at and it's the goofiest most nonsensical shit ever and I instantly stop

One thing that's weird is why F.F. without a body looks like Atroe instead of their normal design. Their soul too. I know why they did it and it was the better choice probably. To us Atroe look is F.F. Plus it's easier to make it emote than the Foo Fighters form.

[thesmithsbackyard]

TOP TEN: i m p o s s i b l e

Really though I’ve been sitting here marveling at the fact that, this show has been on since 2005, it has either 17 or 20 full seasons with two more on the way, (the episode counts are weird) I can pop in Season 2 or Season 16 still have a grand old time. They just do...whatever the hell they want, and it works!

I wracked my brain for several months, I made some painful cuts, here’s my top ten lol. In no particular order. Just barely managed to figure out what my fave ep of all time is

Spoilers!! Kind of. I don’t want to spoil these in case people wanna watch them. But who am I kidding; I’m screaming into a void over here. ANYWHO:

The Life and Times of Stan Smith 12-15

Okay. So one set up in this show is, Stan is against something. Turns out he can’t avoid that thing or it’s a Good Thing Actually. He gets waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too far into it. Shenanigans!! It’s great, I love it. My favorite example is this episode. He gets addicted to dying. Like...like actually dying.

Meanwhile, Steve goes to Arizona State University and does not have a good time

Daddy Queerest 4-19

This episode just warms my heart. Greg and Terry are a gay couple that live across the street. Terry’s dad is visiting for the weekend and doesn’t know Terry’s gay. Dramaaaa!! Oh my god, the ending of this one is so cute and good.

Meanwhile, Roger buys beer for Steve and his friends at a party. For $12 profit.

I feel like i should acknowledge something. *sigh* So yeah. Greg and Terry *are* that stereotypical gay couple where almost every joke with them is that They're Gay. But i dunno, I never got the sense of any malice behind it. They're never put down by other characters for it and there's never any theme or joke that it's bad to be gay and over the top like them?

I understand why it is annoying to only see that portrayal and that the joke being HAHA GAY is bad though so...Your Mileage May Vary

Hayley Smith, Seal Team 6 11-3

Eps like this one make me so happy this show got a second chance on another channel. Hayley ends up mentally regressing to age six. Jeff and Klaus try to get her back to normal. I love all the little bits they do that show how her relationship with her parents was like.

Meanwhile, a weird stranger convinces Steve and his friends to use a slow cooker while making pork. He’s not even a real pervert!

There’s this adorable part when she does patty-cake with Roger which shows they used to like each other too.

EXCEEEEEEPT!! [extra nerdy glasses on] In season 2, Roger sings a song about how he used to be close friends to Steve. And in that, when they first met, Roger is shown to be given to Steve as a birthday present.

While Hayley and Francine freak out, and the design they use for Hayley is her mid-puberty design in a later ep

THEREFORE they did not meet when she was six. Episode recalled

[i’m kidding it’s delightful and I’m just a freak about this show go watch it lol. it might not even be exactly how they were, just showing how they would be if they met back then]

Lost in Space 8-18

Jeff is trapped on the ship of Roger’s people. Pretty much every episode about Jeff going to, being in, or result of space is really good. I could shove them all into this...part of this non-numbered list

It's adorable! Like almost painfully so. Whenever I hear people say this show is too mean or gross I can think of several episodes where they're not lol

Haylias 3-5

This one was my top fave for the longest time. Hell it still might be. Turns out Hayley was trained to be a CIA sleeper agent. Stan re-activates her so she’ll be independent in the way he prefers...kind of. He actually feels a little guilty about it.

Meanwhile, this is also the ep when, the myths, the LEGENDS, Wheels and the Legman are born!! Fantastic [Steve and Roger pretend to be detectives and half the joke is they're making it up as they go along. it's one of my favorite plot threads ever in this show]

Flirting With Disaster 6-18

Soooo...Stan and Francine. I love them so much. They're insane. Ohhhh my god. In this one, it’s revealed that Stan flirts with other people at work. Nothing that leads to an affair or anything. Francine ends up working there and everything’s fine until something happens that renders her horrifically scarred. Now they gotta learn how to flirt with each other again.

It starts with an...homage? Parody? Of “The Office”, but with who Stan works with at the CIA. They keep with that parody in how the scenes are shot and the general humor, until the first commercial break. They also explain that in-universe in a funny way that isn’t too meta. (Oh man, I could go ON about how this show does meta humor) The humor they do isn’t too far off from how the show generally is, so when it goes back to how the show is normally shot it’s not too jarring.

Meanwhile, Steve builds birdhouses as a hobby and Roger starts a business with that. There’s this one part with birds that leaves me in shock and awe every time like jesus christ it’s just soo...the efforts they go to just for A Bit in this show. I need to make a separate post about that I just sfhdjsjfhsdklghdslkgds

Yule. Tide. Repeat. 15-22

The Christmas eps of this show. SHIT GETS WILD. Almost every one that’s come out has been in my top fave episodes. Stan wants to have a normal, “Norman Rockwell Christmas,” because every one they’ve ever had has been very bad and very weird. His words, not mine. Something goes terribly wrong, and Stan ends up caught in a time loop where he has to pick the right path to find his family.

There’s a part with gore, and honestly gore jokes are one of my least favorite parts of this show. BUT. It’s used effectively in this story. (and I will acknowledge that even though I don’t like gore jokes. at least when they happen on this show it’s actually a joke or part of the plot sooo whatever)

The Two Hundred 11-10

It’s the apocalypse for some reason. Stan wanders the earth with tattoos feeling real bad about how he treated his family. Greg is there too. He’s fun, I like Greg

West to Mexico 12-22

So every once in a while there will be an “au” episode, where the characters aren’t related to each other but still do a Thing. (I mean every once in a while; there’s only been like two or three over 300 eps and I’m not sure if one is even ‘canon’)

In this one, Stan’s an outlaw in the United States after the civil war. Wild west stuff happens. I think it's based on a movie. But when this show does movies they don’t just do a movie scene but it’s the characters and they’re meta about it, they’ll just do a scene or something similar to it. Like no one turns to the camera and says “heeey this is just like Djanjo Unchained!” or whatever it was. It’s based on something but it’s still done in the style and humor of the show, which is neat.

One Little Word 4-3

Oh god. THIS ONE. You know what, I’ve finally decided. This one is my favorite. This ep is like a culmination of everything I love about this show. The cringe AND the good shit. This was an ep that when it came on I’d feel like YEESSS IT’S THIS ONE. You know that feeling?? Like you know you’re gonna have an excellent time for the next half hour. I just...there’s so many little details and bits that are expanded upon later and little cute character moments and everything just builds to this hilarious payoff and AAAAAAH

There’s a couple jokes that are kinda...well not the worst thing ever but I can see why today people might be like...mmmm No. But mostly I just. Oh god. I just love I was able to fall in love with this one all over again. Christ I haven’t even said what it’s about yet.

So Stan wants to be Bullock’s number one at work. (there’s already Layers here) He goes so far to bring back his wife from being captured overseas. Meanwhile Francine wants to celebrate with Stan up alone at a lake. Unfortunately Bullock’s family ends up staying at Stan’s house…

(Lake Fraiser. I havent seen much of that show but recently I’ve been wondering if this episode is a parody of either an episode of it or just its style of writing in general?? I’ve wanted to watch Fraiser but never got around to it. The syndicated channel I watched reran this show, Two and a Half Men, and Friends instead. Baaarrff lmao)

Oh dear god I've done it. Kind of. See I’m looking at this list and there’s STILL sooooooo many I love where I’m like “what about this ep. And this one. And this one. Technically there’s infinite numbers between one and ten” There’s at least on ep per season in that top five list I did where I KNEW I’d be like “why isn’t This one on the list goddammit”

[boysplanetrecaps]

The Great Produce 48 Rewatch: Ep 4, High Tension (AKB48) Challenge

Welcome back to the thing I’m doing for some reason: The Great Produce48 Rewatch Recap-ma-jig! When we left off in the previous post, we saw team Mamma Mia sort of… generally disappoint, alas. But now we’re going to dive in to team High Tension, and get to see Yunjin from Le Sserafim, Dayeon from Kep1er, and Suyun from Rocket Punch!! Woot! It’s a pretty short segment so it’ll be a pretty short post. Let’s do it!

This whole segment is a little different from the segments for each of the other pairings, because we don’t spend time with each group individually. Instead, we sort of see both groups preparing, then each group right after each other performs, and then we get the results. It’s really short. 

So, let’s remember our two teams. This is the same screenshot I used for the previous post about it, but it’s appropriate for this circumstance as well. 

Top row, team 1, LTR:  Nakano Ikumi, Mogi Shinobu, Iwate Saho, Cho Yeoungin, Kim Dayeon, Yoon Haesol

Bottom row, team 2: Takeuchi Miyu, Cho Ahyoung, Huh Yunjin, Kim Suyun, Oda Erina

Team 1:

Cho Yeongin, 16, who auditioned alongside Lee Chaeyeong, moved from B to C and is ranked 62.

Iwatate Saho, 23, who auditioned with Miyu to Dancing Hero, moved from B to D and is ranked 24th.

Kim Dayeon,15, future Kep1er, B class mainstay and ranked 65

Mogi Shinobu, 21, the living meme, who moved up from F to D and is ranked 59

Nakano Ikumi, 17, “known for her dancing”, who moved up from D to B and is ranked 53rd.

Yoon Haesol, 20, who auditioned with Question Mark, moved down from B to D, and is ranked 50th.

Saho was the chooser for this team and was chosen to be the center, and Youngin is the leader. When we left off with this team, we were being reminded that Saho performs this song in her role as a member of AKB48, but she has never been chosen to be center, and she’s hoping that she can get people’s attention finally as center in this performance. 

Team 2:

Takeuchi Miyu, 22, the one who auditioned in the awesome orange bulls eye dress, fell from A to B but is still ranked pretty high at 11th place. 

Cho Ahyeong, 16, who auditioned with future Cherry Bullet Haeyoon, rose from C to B and is ranked 78th. 

Huh Yunjin, 16, future Le Sserafim, who somehow fell from C to F, was ranked 15th

Kim Suyun, 17, future Rocket Punch badass, has lived in class C and is ranked 51.

Oda Erina, 21, who was supposedly known for her singing, fell from C to F and was ranked 67th.

This group was formed 6th, and the chooser was Oda Erina. It was Erina who suggested that they should choose a Korean girl to be center, to create a new style of the song. Erina and Miyu talked it over and chose Huh Yunjin to be center, and I just have to reuse this picture as well because it’s just the best. 

When we pick up with the teams, they’re at dance practice with Psychopath. 

The narrative, as presented by the MNET editors, is that this isn’t really a group battle -- it’s a battle of the centers. 

Yunjin’s team goes first, and Psychopath begins yelling at them while they’re still dancing. When he’s done, he says “you wouldn’t be able to go on stage as you are now.” Yes, and you can’t eat eggs until you’ve cooked them. What is your point, sir? He goes on to talk about how centers are very important, with the suggestion being that Yunjin was a bad center, and seriously, fuck you very much. Yunjin begins to lose her confidence.

Saho’s team goes next, and she doesn’t understand Korean or his vague instructions as he tries to get her to move to a center position. They do their best, and then Psychopath absolutely tears Saho to shreds when they’re done. He says, “Saho, I think that you have a lot of shortcomings as the center. I don’t think you command the stage very much as a center, and I’m not even sure if giving you more time on this will allow you to improve.” He tells the team that they either have to replace Saho, or make her into a “super player” (English phrase). Her teammates promise to help her, and the Superman theme song plays as Saho considers: can she do it? 

(not my edit)

Meanwhile, Yunjin is asking her team if they want to put someone else in the center, and they all reassure her that they believe in her.  Suyun from future-Rocket-Punch tells her, “He’s just saying that you can become better by doing certain things.” IDK, he sounded like he was saying that they were all terrible and deserve to feel bad about it. But he should have told them to work on it, so let’s pretend he did! Suyun says, “Don’t lose your confidence over that.”

“Rather, I think it’d be better for you to show him the sharp end of a knife. He might get the idea then.”

Yunjin is touched by how much her chingu-duri believe in her. I wonder if Suyun and Yunjin are still friendly when they run into each other at music shows and stuff? 

Saho’s team is helping her as well. 

A few days later, the girls meet with Psychopath again, and this time they do a lot better. He tells Saho she’s like a totally different person, and tells Yunjin he didn’t think it was possible for her to improve that much. He says the teams are now neck and neck. 

Saho interviews that the two teams will just put on different styles of performance, and thinks that the song suits her group better. So who will reign supreme??

It’s time for the performances!

Unfortunately, that angel PD48 Edits didn’t do a blessed edit of this performance, so we’re stuck with yucky MNET. Sigh. 

Here’s the link.

Cho Youngin (stripes/purple), Nakano Ikumi (pink/polka dots), Kim Dayeon (red), Iwatate Saho, Yoon Haeseol (red skirt), Mogi Shinobu (green and purple)

I don’t know why the resolution has to be so terrible for the performances. I tried my best. 

Here’s Kim Dayeon, future Kep1er:

Here’s her fancam if you’re curious.

My thoughts: 

Overall, pretty good. It doesn’t seem like too hard of a song to sing, and the choreo is pretty easy, but it’s all so silly and high energy that you need a lot of energy and charisma to pull it off. I thought they more or less did, though it’s hard to imagine a debuted k-pop group performing a song like this. It’s just so obviously J-pop that my brain is kind of stuck. 

I couldn’t help but focus a bit on Dayeon, given her future destiny. She looked a little scared or something -- her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, and sometimes she looks down. But she throws herself right into the dancing and all the performing. 

For me the biggest discovery was main vocal Yoon Haesol. She sounded fantastic. 

Iwate Saho smiled and threw herself into her center position, but she didn’t stand out in particular, unfortunately. I feel for the girl. Charisma is so random -- you have it, or you don’t. I have a lot of charisma when I’m just standing around, for some reason, but when I get on stage it evaporates. Who knows why? 

Anyway, when the team is over, the other team goes up almost immediately. 

Team 2:

Here’s the MNET link.

LTR: Oda Erina, Kim Suyun, Yunjin, Takeuchi Miyu, Cho Ahyeong

Suyun

Fancam

Miyu

Yunjin (fancam)

My thoughts:

The groups were both pretty close, in that most of the members of most groups were pretty strong. I think this group pulls ahead of the other group partly because the formation just looks better with five girls than it does with six, and partly because they had Yunjin.

Yunjin looks like she was born to perform this. I think it was at about this point in my first watch that I became a Yunjin one-pick. She can sing really well, she dances well, she looks great on stage, she oozes charisma, and she also is just really pretty. She also seems nice and hard working. Saho sang just fine, but Yunjin sang well enough that you specifically notice her voice. In other words, this team had two members who were main vocal quality, and that gave them the edge.

Miyu does fantastic, but I knew even on my first watch that Miyu couldn’t possibly be that successful in Kpop despite her voice and talents, because she just doesn’t meet the Korean beauty standard. It’s a shame because she has a fantastic voice and also just generally does well on stage. Why should the bones underneath our facial skin matter this much? Life is weird. But I think she did great here and I am glad we can keep hearing her sing even in 2024.

Imagine if they had edited this to be about the battle of these two main vocals? Both main vocals really did great in this song. And Miyu was the leader of this team, too. She deserved better. She also deserved better than this unflattering outfit. 

I became a Suyun fan during Queendom Puzzle -- I had also noticed her in Rocket Punch videos but didn’t know she was the one I kept noticing because she looks so different when she does her hair differently. I think she’s great at just about everything, and she actually does really fantastic here too. She’s cute as hell, with a great smile and just looks like she’s having a great time. She sparkles -- what can I say? 

Erina’s singing voice got a lot better in the short time she was on the show, and she looks cute here, even if sometimes her smile looked a bit forced. 

Cho Ahyeong was maybe doing a bit too much with her facial expressions and it made her look a little manic on stage, but maybe that’s a good thing for this song? Hard to say. Her rapping seemed fine, with a good tone (Cheetah agrees with me!) but my Japanese isn’t strong enough to be sure of her pronunciation. She looked really cute, regardless. 

The MNET edit of both performances is relatively unobtrusive -- hardly any instant replays, and only a few reaction shots from the other trainees or judges. It’s as if they wanted to get this whole segment in under ten minutes or something. Maybe it’s just because they were worried the audience wouldn’t stick around for an AKB48 song? The first group seemed to be edited relatively fairly, but in the second group, I noticed that they showed Yunjin a lot, and we hardly ever get to see Miyu, even when she’s singing. 

After the second group, the judges comment to each other that they can hardly believe that Yunjin was in F-group. I mean, she probably just had a systems failure from not sleeping for two days and having to learn the song in Korean and Japanese when she’s most comfortable in English. 

When the groups are both done, the audience votes and then they go back to the men’s bathroom Results Zone.

They reveal the result of the center, and… 

…. Yunjin got 188 votes. Saho got only 56. Yunjin wonders if she’s dreaming, and Saho is heartbroken. 

Full voting results:

Team 1: Average: 46.3  Cho Yeongin 28 Iwatate Saho 56 Kim Dayeon 46 Mogi Shinobu 58 Nakano Ikumi 50 Yoon Haesol 40

Team 2: Average: 101.2 Cho Ahyeong 160 Huh Yunjin 188 Kim Suyun 12 Oda Erina 60 Takeuchi Miyu 84

It’s a blow out. Team 2’s average is more than double Team 1’s. 

On team one, no one really stood out, and the votes were distributed almost evenly. Meanwhile, in team two, I’m glad to see that Miyu got some love, surprised at how much love Ahyeong got, and sad on Suyun’s behalf. 

The two teams applaud for each other, and Yunjin sheds some tears of relief. She said that she lost confidence after falling to F class and she thanks her team for believing in her. 

And that's it for this post! Thanks as always for reading along -- you're a good egg. Hope you're warm and cozy and see you in the next one, when we come face to face with.... HELLBAYAH.

[vyvesvi]

wow okay last one before the finale...live reacting to the twitter thread

ep 10 -⚠️ ELIMINATION SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT ⚠️

as soon as i saw haruka 19...it's over isn't it

suzu 14...saw that coming oops

SAKAGUCHI RINO TWELVE WE ARE SOOOOO BACK OMG

keiko dropping to 11 ou was just getting used to her too

iida shizuku...10...people who are keeping up with japanese fans saw this coming but i for one did not! can i have justice for MY nugu picks pretty please?

kokoro 8...i must admit i giggled

kokona gets the award for most stable rank lol

praying it's ran & momona for 1&2 i think either of them would be great honestly (altho ran is my girlie ofc)

tsuzumi SAFE! (duh)

need tsukushi to sneak in real bad this is all so unfairr

ayane 5th queen we love you

actually holy shit rinon hasn't been called yet.......or joa (maybe her push was too obvious)......

it's time to say goodbye to sakura, serina, tsukushi, mena, kokona 1, probably yui............

woahhhhhh rinon top 4 😭 girlie is DEBUTING

i think 1 momona 2 ran 3 rinon 4 miu maybe

and ran & rinon are top 4 without benefits who else smiled 😁

ran 4th oh....but without benefits!

rinon 3rd slay

theyre 81,000 votes apart oh dear...ran centerism was fun while it lasted

i wonder if any keiko fans switched to rinon

exoecting suzu to rise in the finale but idk how high...her & kokoro fans r abt to panic vote especially hard i think

wait holy shit.

holy shit.

WHERE ARE NAGOMI AND HINA??????????

yui ill miss you so bad go to mdh queen

okay momona #1 as expected

wild

hina's not even a candidate for 20............

joa/serina/kagura/nagomi...this is terrible

dpmo. (they pissed me off)

this is fucked with my luck she'll be 11th in the finale good lord

i dont dislike all of the ppl im abt to mention but how do haruka kagura and rio keep sneaking in. haruka is cute and clearly has a crazy one pick but over hina & nagomi is CRAZY. rio literally hasn't said a word all season like i know absolutely nothing abt her even tho she's top 20 & i make it my business to learn abt every single contestant like

anyways this is current top 11

i have very few thoughts. im scared rino's one pick might not be strong enough but im praying for a sukai/keigo story. i wouldn't care if 2.5 people here dropped honestly. it's a shame nano had a scandal bc i would've liked a slightly more mature direction for this group and now it probably wont happen.

i expect shizuku to drop & maaaaybe rin too but we'll see. everyone else is pretty solid though.

ou the finale airs 9pm friday the 15th for me...expecting no ep on thursday or a recap ep maybe?

just waiting for the ranks of the other 15 and then ill finally go to sleep

oh the finale songs (sozo ijo & choppy choppy)

rino wanted subvocal 2 for sozo but rin moved her to rapper 2...dpmo

kokoro subvocal 2 for choppy...ik the top girls r afraid of angering kokoro stans but cmon this cant be...

momoka we love you but you didn't pick smart...but then again itd always be a what if if she didn't put her #1 choice

ran rap #1 on choppy is funny

wonder if someome will move ayane to main vocal

miu immediately did exactly that only for momona to make ayane sub vocal 6 on the other song..........oh uhm. girl you know you have to debut together right 😭

it doesn't matter anymore i suppose but ayane stans are gonna hold this grudge for a bit

rinon didn't have to move keiko imo but we move

well this was a mess. part of the reason rino has been struggling is bc she started out focusing on rap when she's a great vocalist. and now she's rapping in the finale. it doesn't matter that much at all but damn

thelma is very cute :( we needed sugai hidenori here too tho i miss his passion and unique vocal techniques

yumeki crying lmfao...

ranks finally out

SERINA 21??????? 21???????? SHE WAS SO CLOSE AND NEARLY DEFEATED THE EVIL OMG........

joa 22, nagomi 23, hina 26...no one saw that coming idc what anyone says

i think joa's push was too obvious with run run

ayano 24, sakura 28, yui 25, tsukushi 27...all such a shame

i think yoshida hana (30) will get scouted though 🙏

i was so convinced mena was gonna be big during preshow...all for 31.

the rest is pretty expected honestly, i think kokona's eye contact battle got her this far which is hilarious bc that's totally what made me pay attention to her

in conclusion im sick to my stomach goodnight everyone

pd 101 japan picks & commentary (3)

preshow & ep 1

ep 2 - ep 5

ep 6 general commentary

this ep was kind of lowkey. not really sure how i feel about the team selection being entirely determined by rank - pretty sad that karen & momoka, amongst others, probably wont get to show their actual main abilities

the teams that performed were hero, shine a light, wa da da, & run run. ranking: run run > hero ≥ wa da da > shine a light. i don't really like the song choices (songs that already have choreo for a dance round, only one non-idol dance song, plus the singers/producers for that song helped arrange all of the vocal performances? makes me wonder if the final group will be getting a LAS song) but at least theyre all in japanese this time (for the vocal & rap groups at least)

run run: good performance but i have a few gripes. 1 - why was it worth more points? they said that the choreo was harder but the whole mission was for the girls to create choreo so... i dont actually expect that the trainees on these shows are doing all the arranging and writing and choreography themselves (much less on pd japan where virtually no one has a trainee background) but the whole set up of the mission kind of says the quiet part loud, you know? 2 - the distribution was a complete mess. loved joa as the center but the rest were basically backup dancers...for a choreo that theyre ostensibly creating themselves the difference in screentime between each person just doesnt make sense. and that was reflected in all of the ranks apart from yuuki & yurara i think. storyline: i found the koto/yuki storyline pretty meh. joa did actually do better than both of them so...? still, in another series this wouldve had a massive conflict edit & im glad pdj doesn't really do that. sad mitsuki & serina didn't get much screentime, i think mitsuki should've gone for antifragile actually, she needed to be on a team where the styling would've worked with her & allowed her to show more of a charming side on stage (friend that i watched LOVED her in cheer up, made me pause to figure out who the "gorgeous regina george lookalike" was.)

hero: ando yui is my daughter but i have to admit that she has a tendency towards shouting some notes. still, i feel like she has a ton of potential and im glad that she got to redeem herself after the audition. tsuzumi is basically in and she 100% knows it, so it's interesting to see how she's dealing with it. more than anyone else in the top it seems to really be impacting her, but she also seems to have a lot of close friends on the show who understand & are supporting her. to be honest, i usually don't like contestants like mayu but...idk. i see a lot in her but im not sure why. it seems like voters are starting to get serious so her rank has dropped a lot but i i'll miss her when she's eliminated. i hope there's some opportunity for her beyond the show.

wa da da: kind of sick that no one chose wa da da 😭 the stage was pretty messy in my opinion but mana did great, she's such a performer. personally ranka isnt one of my picks but i like her intensity a lot & she definitely deserved her rank. i don't think this is her moment exactly but i could see her being recruited somewhere after this. she would suit a kind of dramatic vibe. karen is interesting to me because while she doesn't dance well i found that she really fit the stage. i also love her attitude. there's no way she won't rise but im not sure that itll be enough. last and least,

shine a light: im a big jo1 fan but i knew this wasn't gonna go great from the outset. the energy of the original song is part of what makes it so good so the fact that they removed that.....i also think it's kind of notable that hina said that she didn't want it to be a ballad and was kind of steamrolled........anyways. we saw the performance. i've always said that i wanted hazuki to get more screentime & establish herself and this was her chance but...rip. from the second her voice cracked it was over for the whole team. every single person messed up except for hina. i know that this wasn't a super strong vocal group but it's so sad that they did the worse they've ever done on stage. i expect hina's rank to continue to rise, and hazuki in particular will fall (not because she was the worse but because she has the smallest fanbase & isnt insulated from mistakes like some of the top contestants). curious about what will happen with chiharu because honestly...no one really expected her to sing super well and she was gorgeous so. we'll see

member commentary

change is always possible but this is my stable top 4. rino & ran's teams weren't in this episode but it's a very good sign that rino still got screentime singing well & being a good leader. not thrilled that her rank dropped (14 → 17) and there are a lot of strong contenders in the early teens right now. in truth, i think some of them would be a much better fit for a spin off project (which have much higher success rates than the ones from korean produce) & rino would make more sense in top 11 but that's neither here nor there.

mana, as i said earlier did sooooo well in wadada, although im curious as to what she would've picked had she been given a real choice. im hoping her rank will rise - she didn't get a push in this ep but she was significantly more visible than a lot of her teammates so fingers crossed.

serina is just a good [potential] idol. i was surprised that she went for dance since her vocals are what i noticed first but she pulled off run run well. i wouldve picked shine a light or even antifragile for her though. unfortunately she got very little screentime & storyline but i'm sure run run will win so maybe that 20k will help maintain her spot.

standouts in this ep

not gonna break it down again but yeah. love the girlies love the vibes

other thoughts

call me crazy but im so so sure that these three will be recruited by lapone for a gg after the show. with the top 11 having skewing less cute im hoping that this becomes a reality bc these three fit eachother more than they fit momona/nano/ran/rin/etc. oda aruha (and maybe moro anon) would be here too but alas.

people i'd like to have seen in this ep

rin is riding a wave right now and she needs momentum to stay top 11. looking at the ranks now, kokona dropped 10 places (19 → 29) 🙃 rinon & ayano are fine, but i wanted to see them keep momentum as well. i like akiyama ema for some reason but to survive she desperately needs screentime and a good performance. I'm even more worried about tsukushi - her dropping from 18th to 31st after doing incredibly well is kind of insane. what i've said about tsukushi needing a storyline in the past still stands. i can already tell that her part in bijin will be great but with rinon & keiko im not sure what her screentime potential is.

ep 6 voting list

no surprises here, although im not sure what the voting has been reduced to? if it's only 5 i'd have to go with mana, rino, rin, serina, and then alternate kokona, yui, and mayu. i know that the "this person is safe so i wont vote for them" logic is flawed but i can't help it. good thing intl fans cant vote so this isn't a real concern! 🤪 /s

ep 6 semi-realistic top 11

only change is that i replaced kokona with joa. i have to say, im not thrilled about how many "givens" there are this season. it's not that i dislike them but it makes for a kind of boring top 11, at least until we get to 1 & 2 pick voting. rin was a nice surprise but i think the production has been pretty mask off about their picks. interestingly, i think it might bite them in the butt that momona & kokoro in particular don't actually get that much screentime. for people who are seeing them through the show for the first time (and also dont keep up with twitter discourse) probably feel that their ranks came out of nowhere. ran has gotten good screentime but she's definitely also buoyed by her original fanbase. miu, joa, & tsuzumi have good screentime & storylines so when joa goes up to top 11 i won't be surprised. rin had a good storyline so she makes sense. ayane doesn't get very much screentime but her voice does the brunt of the work. nano is a (capable) visual pick but she doesn't have a storyline. suzu has had a fanbase since the theme song but i expect her to fall a little honestly. we'll see. keiko is new to the top 11 this ep, i hope they reveal the actual ranks this time because that will influence my thoughts. keiko has great screentime and a litle bit of storyline so her rising makes sense. kokona is interesting to me because her rank is so stable based on not very much honestly. i don't dislike her but her lack of expressiveness on stage is probably something they'll try to build a storyline out of later.

i have a lot of confidence that rino will debut elsewhere after this but in the interest of creating a group i would actually like...

[sortasirius]

What the Fuck Happened to the SPN Finale?

Okay so here it is, my Charlie Kelly style manifesto.

Before I get into it, I recognize that I will look like this to many of you, and that’s okay, I understand:

Secondly, your personal Takes about the writers don’t interest me, I don’t need to hear them. This, as I’ll explain, is going to remain a writer positive blog, and that’s the end of it.

Third, and most importantly: some of what I’m going to talk about is fact, and some is highly educated speculation. I will notate what is speculation, just so there’s no confusion or hot takes in my inbox that I’m a conspiracy theorist or stirring shit up for no reason.

A list of what I’ll be discussing

The episode in regards to the rest of the season

The episode issues: length, editing

Scene placement and speculation of scenes cut

The scrubbing of Jack, Cas, Eileen

Network involvement and general timeline of when things were cut

Misha: theories on where he was, official company line, why we can’t expect to hear anything directly

The silence of the cast post episode (in Misha’s case, mid episode) and what this might mean

Jensen speaking with Kripke about the ending: why it doesn’t mean what you might think (also why kripke remained positive on the ending)

Walker, and why this episode had a major shift

Why the network would do this or get involved

Why the writers of the show simply aren’t the bad guys here, and what I “want” out of this post, since I know it’ll get asked

This is very long and under a cut, but I hope you’ll give it a read.

The Episode In Regards to the Rest of the Season

So, I’ve discussed this already here, but it’s the most obvious thing to me, and that’s the way this episode simply doesn’t fit with the rest of the season.

These people in this room have, truly, been nothing but consistent when it comes to their arcs, especially this season, and the marked dropoff in quality for the finale episode is just too sus to discount to me.  Dabb’s whole focus has been character-based.  In his seasons, we’ve moved far away from MOTW and bro-codependency, the found family taking it’s place.  Does it really sit right to anyone that that was all thrown away in literally the last episode of the entire show?

This is speculation on my part, but as a writer myself, there is no way I would be happy or willing to stamp my name on something that I didn’t think would, at the very least, wrap up the season+ character arcs that I and my team had been crafting.

And before anyone comes in here saying, “well GOT did that!”  Bruh.  The writing was on the wall for GOT long before the final episode.  You could tell that the showrunners just wanted to be done (not only from the plot, but from the fact that they lobbied for a shorter season).  Miss me with that, it doesn’t apply here.  Andrew has, besides Singer and J2, been with the show longer than anyone.  He cares, he is meticulous and detailed, and this ending feels worse than anything Bucklemming has ever written, let alone Dabb.

Additionally, I’ve seen a lot of people say that Dabb was never behind Destiel, that it was all Bobo and Meredith and no one else.  That is reductive to the point of insult of the work Dabb has done to get this greenlit.  This man did not write the s13 Dean grief arc to be slandered like this.  That being said, YES, Bobo and Meredith were the leads on the DeanCas arc this season, but ANDREW IS THE SHOWRUNNER, TO GET EVEN THE CONFESSION APPROVED BY THE NETWORK HE WOULD HAVE TO HAVE THEIR BACKS.  AND HE DID.

Finale Issues

So, now that we’ve gotten the fact that this episode doesn’t hit on any of the major themes the show was barrelling towards all season, let’s discuss the fact that the episode is just...weird.

Not only is it shorter than any other episode (I think with the intro and the credits/crew thing at the end, it was around 38 mins), but it was also...idk, 90% filler?

One of the lovely humans in the POLOL server did the legwork here, and broke it down:

This is weird, y’all.  Most series finales are LONGER than normal (Lost, SOA, Longmire are the ones I can think of off the top of my head), and for the final episode to be this?  I saw more than one person point out that we only really needed 19 episodes, what was the point of 20?  AND THAT’S EXACTLY IT?  WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THIS FINAL EPISODE IF THIS WAS ALL WE WERE SUPPOSED TO GET?

It simply doesn’t make any sense, the first half of the episode was rushed, a final monster hunt gone wrong, but in the second half?  Nothing really happened?  Sam lived his entire life and Dean just drove around.  It doesn’t make sense to have all the emotional arcs left unaddressed in an episode that definitely needed some kind of spark.

Here’s the speculation I have: the episode seemingly went through a lot of changes between the initial inception of the final season and when we actually got it, but I think it would have been passable (as in, we wouldn’t be sitting here asking each other why each arc feels incomplete) until the editing room got ahold of it.  The only think that makes this episode make sense is network fuckery.  Truly, that is the only thing.  It explains the weird, cuts, the rushed pacing of the first half followed by nothing in the second half, the double montages of “Wayward Son” back to back, and Dean just...driving around for the last half of the episode.

Scene Placement and Speculation of Scenes Cut

Before I get into this section, the info of the shots in the episode I have come from a source that @occamshipper​ got a week or so before the finale.  She’s talked about this here.

So here’s what Min was given:

1-5: 1 INT MEN OF LETTERS – DEAN’S ROOM Dean is greeted by Miracle

6-10: 6 INT MEN OF LETTERS – HALLWAY/SAM’S ROOM Sam has his routine

D1 1 11-15: 15 EXT FARM HOUSE Establishing

N1 1/8 16-20: 19 Dad’s journal, marker, drawing of masked man in journal.

21-25: 23 INT IMPALA – PMP Driver picks the music

N2 1 3/8 1,2 26-30: 28pt2 INT BARN: A face from the past

28pt3 Sam and Dean say goodbye

28pt4 Shot early for technical reasons, presumably the overhead shot

N2 31-45: 41 INT MEN OF LETTERS – SAM’S ROOM Sam’s alarm goes off D4 1/8 1 46-60: 56 INT N7glasses for Sam, laptop.

So...it all fits right?  It all tracks with the actual episode, where it lands, etc.  The issue is between shots 29-40 which were apparently “too big to spoil.”  Uh.  Where are they?  And where’s 28 pt4?

After Dean dies, the next scene is Sam burning him, then shot 31, the shot of his alarm going off.

So.  Where are those 11ish shots?

PLUS we have the boards, which are scenes we KNOW were actually shot:

As well as scenes for 20 that were shot in 19.

It’s just...weird, it’s weird and again hits on the fact that the episode is so short and like 80% montage.

The Scrubbing of Jack, Cas, and Eileen

So now we have to reckon with the fact that Eileen was last mentioned by Sam after she got snapped by Chuck, Jack’s last mention is that he’s off being God somewhere, and Cas’ last mention is a ~knowing look~ between Dean and Bobby.

I’m sorry, make it make sense:

????????  That’s the end if it?  They don’t need to be discussed after this???  It’s just simply not something a writer would do, they would not introduce these characters, these arcs, without thinking there’s going to be some kind of follow through here.

So not only were three major characters (including two leads and both of the original characters’ love interests) completely wiped from the finale episode, it was as though Sam and Dean never even needed them, which just...ain’t it.

So why Eileen and Jack too?  Why not just take Cas out of it if they were afraid of the gay?  Because, ultimately, the episode went back to Kripke’s original story: just the bros, they only need each other and no one else.  They don’t want anyone else, they don’t need anyone else.  Easier to go back to something they knew was successful than trust the writers and their audience and take a big leap.

Alex even said he shot for 20 with “some of the guys” here.  What happened to that footage?

The complete 180 of it all still shocks me, I still cannot believe that we were essentially at the finish line, and the network just stopped short, and decided to go run another race, at the expense of the arc of this fifteen year legacy show.

Network Involvement and When Things Were Cut

Okay, now into the juicy stuff.

So I’ve pretty well established that network fuckery is clear, but how much did they get involved, what was the original intent?

Well again, we may never actually know what Andrew’s original script was, but I think, at the least, it would involve Dean speaking his truth to Cas and Sam living a life with Eileen.

Now, it seems today, that Misha said that Jimmy Novak was supposed to be in the finale in one iteration of the script, and while initially my brain was like “that truly makes no sense and he’s either straight up lying or telling a half truth,” I think what may be happening is Misha talking about as much as he can right now.

So Jimmy right.  Weird as fuck.  Why would he been in the Roadhouse and not Cas?  My current thought (this is about as reachy as I’ll get) is that Jimmy had no lines, could he have been in the Roadhouse as a red herring, like it said “Jimmy” in the script but it was just Cas in human clothes, a way to get around the network saying Cas couldn’t be in the final scene.  Also, you’ll notice that Misha didn’t say that Cas wasn’t supposed to be in the ep at all, just Jimmy in the last scene.

All this to say, there have clearly been multiple versions of the script, getting lighter and lighter with Cas and Eileen as the network pulled further and further back.  Remember, Dabb has to get things approved before they get shot, and if the network kept asking and asking and asking to cut Cas and Eileen, he had to find a way to work around it.  Granted, I still think that if we had been able to get a Dabb script that wasn’t torn to shreds in editing, it wouldn’t be so bad.  It may not be what a lot of us wanted (Dean speaking his truth to Cas and a reciprocation), but doing everything he could to give it to us in subtext or visual clues.

Plus, in all honesty, my man can’t keep his story straight anyway.  He said twice in his panel that the Empty and offscreen Heaven ending weren’t his original ending either.

In addition, remember that Jensen did ADR post episode 18, AND said in a meet and greet last weekend that Dean’s reaction to Cas’ confession was “cut down.” (Source here).  Many of us clowns got excited when we first heard about ADR, because we thought it would be upping the ante on Dean’s reaction, but I remember being a little sus when it was just crying.  My speculation on that is that they cut out Dean actually SAYING something, @winchestersingerautorepair​ spoke about that here.

The biggest sins were, in my opinion, committed during editing, where the network got too gun shy and sliced the episode until it was nothing but a heartless bro-fest of a finale, not mentioning anything about the other major characters that we all love, and letting the boys just suffer in separation until Sam died and finally joined Dean in Heaven.  The editing came by cutting all the major emotional beats between anyone other than Dean and Sam, leaving the skeleton of the story intact, just shorter and less...poignant than it was ever supposed to be.

Misha

We know Misha was in Vancouver, we know he quarantined, but we also know he wasn’t in the final scene, when he spoke about being in the last moment of the show months ago.  We were not crazy, he was there, he quarantined, and, in all likelihood (speculation but fitting with the timeline), he actually may have shot something (not much, but something).

I have sources here, here, here, and here showing where Misha was at that time.

Remember, the man was completely open about coming back until they finished shooting (look at this thread).  The switch happened, just like everything else, halfway through them shooting.

Please also remember Jake Abel posting his “Where’s Misha” video here.  Jake isn’t malicious, he isn’t being nasty here.  Misha was there, and everyone that’s trying to convince people he’s wasn’t just...isn’t telling the truth about it.

This is one of the things that makes me really mad, because they’re literally attempting to gaslight people into thinking, “oh we were totally wrong he was never supposed to be there” WHEN HE WAS THERE, WE KNOW HE WAS THERE.

So we’ve already heard from several people (Meghan Fitzmartin, Jay, a PA on the set of 19 (WHO WAS NOT WORKING FOR 20), Misha himself) that this was all down to Covid restrictions.  Ultimately, as this post says, we’ve heard FIVE versions of where Misha was.  None of it makes sense, but the Covid protocol seems to be the company line that others are repeating.

You may ask: why?  Why lie to all of us when we have questions?  Why, in Jay’s case, say that we’re all spreading false lies to stir up trouble, when we just have questions and things that do not make sense.  Simply?  Warner Brothers is absolutely massive.  These people have their careers to protect and are likely all under NDAs.  They want to work for WB again and don’t want to burn bridges, including Misha.  It sucks, but that’s why it’s unlikely that we’ll hear someone come out and say, “yeah we’re lying to you.”

Silence of the Cast Post Episode

So this is...probably the worst part of all this, at least in my opinion.

The guys had all been pretty excited about the end of the show (especially Jared, but Jensen’s panel last week was Jensen as happy and jokey and positive as I’ve ever seen him.  He was so excited about episode 18, about what it meant for Dean and for Cas, and I just cannot buy that he would have been that excited unless he thought there was something more in the episode.

Misha live-tweeted the episode, and was watching it with his kids.  It’s well known that Misha and the kids don’t watch the show because it’s too scary, and let’s ask ourselves, why would he have them watch an episode that he’s barely even mentioned in?

He also stopped live-tweeting at a very specific point in the episode (Dean’s death) and has not mentioned Supernatural since then. 

None of them, not Jared, Jensen, Misha, or even Alex, said anything about the episode for nearly 36 hours, when Jensen posted a salty photo on instagram.  It’s just...not what you’d expect for the end of a 15 year show, when the cast and crew are so close to the fans, so close to each other. 

My theory?  They didn’t know.  They thought Misha was, at least, going to be in the episode in some way, and when he wasn’t, they decided not to say anything.

You really think that Jensen “Heller” Ackles would have been so excited about the end of the show last week if he thought Cas wasn’t going to be in it at all?  Nah son, doesn’t make any sense.

Even today, in Jared and Misha’s panels, they seemed sad and...more than a little careful, both saying that there were things they couldn’t say, both talking around things that we all have questions on.

Jensen Speaking with Kripke

So this is where a lot of people are getting fodder to take shots at the writers, saying that Jensen hated it from the beginning, but I don’t think so.  I actually think I know what Jensen went to him about, and it wasn’t the lack of Cas or the weird pacing or the montages (which I don’t think were there when Jensen got the script); I think it was the manner of Dean’s death.

I know a lot of people were upset about that, upset with how...normal it was, coming off an episode where they literally beat God.  I actually didn’t mind it, I thought it was an interesting thematic take to be like: you can be a hero all your life, but sometimes shit happens, and you just die.

But imagine how hard that was for Jensen to read.  He would run to Kripke for that, because for him, Dean dying by being impaled by a piece of rebar had to be tough to swallow.

So, why didn’t Kripke say that?  Why didn’t he say, “oh well he had a problem with Dean’s death, none of that other stuff was in the script.”

Guys.  Why would he get involved?  He’s not going to burn bridges any more than anyone else is.  He said the ending was good because it’s the easy thing to do, it’s simple, will cause him no problems in his career, and he can just ignore the people trying to engage with him on it.

Walker

Something else to talk about is the major shift this episode had from the rest of the season: the shift from Dean to Sam.  I am NOT saying that Sam isn’t important, he definitely, absolutely is, but it was DEAN who really needed to wrap up his arc, Sam just needed to move on, get married to Eileen, become the leader he was always meant to.  So what changed?  What was with the shirtless scene, the Austin number and random case there, most of the episode being heavily Sam focused, going through his entire life in a montage?

Anyone else notice the 375 Walker promos, or Jared’s little spiel about Walker and how he hoped SPN fans would “come along for the ride.”

It’s...kinda obvious?  CW wanted to appeal to who they think the key demographic of SPN and Walker is: rural areas in the South.  It would explain a lot, why so much editing, why so Sam focused, the Austin number, the number of Walker promos, all of it.

I’m not saying this is fact, I don’t know that it is, but it is a little suspicious that even in Jared’s panel today, he talked A LOT about Walker and how he hopes SPN fans will watch it.

Why Would the Network Get Involved?

Simply put: $$$

If they think Walker can be the new SPN, and that those crazy SPN fans liked it originally, it’s a lot safer to go with the “original intent” of the show than do something risky (like making one of your two original leads queer).

And?  They don’t care.  They don’t care that the episode didn’t make sense, they don’t care that all the emotional arcs were left hanging, they don’t care by (potentially) smashing together two of Dean’s monologues (one to Sam, one to Cas) that it came of as...gross. ( @curioussubjects​ wrote a beautiful post showing how part of that death speech was likely meant for Dean here).  They don’t care, they never have, they just want to make their money and move on from the too-loud fandom that fought for representation too hard for too long.

It can’t help but feel insidious, which, honestly, it might be, but it really all comes down to the next cash cow, which, they think, is Walker, even at the cost of the fifteen year legacy show.

The Writers and What I Want

So here it is, all this weird, sus shit laid out on the line.  And you know what?  To me, there is no way to blame the writers, because they didn’t want this.

I don’t think Dabb and Bobo would have gone ahead with the confession in 18 without thinking that there would be some closure to that arc, they wouldn’t have done that not only to the fans, but for the sake of their own story as well: no writer wants to start something that they can’t finish. (And this applies to both Cas and Eileen).

Here’s a basic rundown of what I think happened: they had a clear arc from 18-20, ending in reciprocation at some level from Dean, Sam marrying Eileen, Hunter Sam as the new Bobby, Dean in heaven with Cas and big roadhouse reunion at the end. Covid prevented a good amount of that. Network had to stare at big gay 18 for six months, got cold feet. Thought about Walker, target audience and alienation of the rural areas if it went full gay. Misha quarantined and likely shot something (not much), he was then cut by execs and went home. They likely added in lines referencing Eileen and Cas to make it clear but more subtextual. They wrap, editing gets it and hacks it to pieces, so we get a shorter episode that’s mostly montages and jarringly bro-centric with nothing else. Arcs are left hanging. Dabb gets episode but it’s too late, there’s nothing he can do. Actors aren’t told so they can continue to do positive PR for the ending, they all found out at the same time we did: hence almost complete silence about the finale.

And you know what?  They warned us.  I talked about it here, but they’ve been telling us all season that Chuck wasn’t the writer, he’s the network.  I don’t think, still, that they thought it would be cut up like this, into something so unsalvageable that it’s been panned by almost everyone, even people who didn’t care much about Dean and Cas.

Finally, a masterpiece can be ruined by editing, and while I’m not sure even the script they ended up shooting on was a masterpiece (due to the network meddling already), but to me it’s blatantly obvious that it’s no one but the network that caused this, that took away closure for Dean, Cas, and even Sam.

So what do I want?  Nothing really, there’s nothing we can do, but I wrote this mostly to show people that the writers are not your enemy.   In fact, to the people trashing them?  You’re doing exactly what the CW wants you to: blame the obvious targets, blame Misha, blame Jensen and Jared, blame Dabb.  Scream and yell at them on Twitter and about how the show is ruined because of them.  The network keeps their engagement levels high, they don’t get as targeted for their behavior, and just keep moving along.

Just, please, think about who did this,  Mourn the show, be angry, but not at the people who fought tooth and nail for this for literal years, not the people who wanted it more than we did, not the people who cannot say anything because of their careers and the NDAs they’re bound by.

Someone is going to spill eventually, but until then, we just have to wait, and continue to be loud.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - I'm All Over the Place, and so are the shows

Organized, in each category, by ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Nov 2023 Wk 5

Ongoing Series - Thai

Last Twilight (Fri YT) ep 4 of 12 - The Jasmine flirting thing was so darn cute, I can’t. I love these two so much. 

The Sign (Sat YT) ep 2 of 10 - Oh it’s great. Flirting. Fighting. Fate. Murder. Eventually we’ll add fucking. A trifffecta. I could do with a bit less training but whatever. And we have learned our boys are laboring under a geis. NO SINGING. Otherwise this ep was actually pretty flipping great. 

My Dear Gangster Oppa (Thurs iQIYI) ep 6 of 8 - Ooo kidnapping and the sides are suffering betrayal. Also Tew kills again. I like that they don’t shy away from the fact that he’s a killer and Guy was genuinely scared.  And then Tew had to break up with Guy to protect him in Noble Sacrifice (tm). How Cdrama of him. Rough ep all round. 

For Him (Thurs iQIYI) ep 1 of 10 - It’s not exactly good, but it’s better than I was expecting, and I tend to cut pulps a lot of slack out the gate. The plot is more interesting, Him is a sweetie (I like that in a seme) and our uke has both game and pluck. He’s a femme bitch, I LOVE that in a boy + we never get it femme in the lead. The acting is not great, sound all over the place, but there are no terrible sound effects, the soundtrack is okay, and our high heat came with a side of BJ + condoms, and no one has sung (yet), so I think I like it. It’s giving me Big Dragon vibes.

Linguistic moment: 

Him used Him/ter for pronouns & ha. Very flirty. Nail used rao back a little bit of a challenge. (No pom and didn’t use his own name either.) Gauntlet thrown. Our baby ends up with rao/kao but I don’t think that’ll stick. Him is getting Phi out of him if it's the last thing he does.

Bake Me Please (Mon Gaga) ep 2 of 6 - The characters’ shared backstory is no surprise but I do like this show. Those little private smiles as they find family. Those lingering gazes as they find romance. Lovely. Also Shin wants to marry into Peach's family so bad, I’m reminded of Laurie in Little Women. All that said, it’s never the top of my list to watch for some reason. 

Cooking Crush (Sun YT) 1 of 12 - How could I have forgotten how stunning Off is? Meanwhile… I love Gun’s character, he's so cute. But this show is a bit too comedic for me. I wish GMMTV were taking this script seriously. Sorry Neo et al I’m not sold on the sides. In general? I don’t love it. I don’t hate it either. In other news, I think I'll go make toast.

Pit Babe (Fri iQIYI) ep 3 of 14 - I love the sides and unholy amount and in general it was fine this week probably because I decided to do a trash watch.

Twins the series (Fri GaGa) ep 5 of 10 - I’m getting fatigued. Also holy random sex Batman. Where did these extra sides come from? I’m confused. Tonal pingpong going on, and not just in the shower.  

Middleman’s Love (Fri YT & iQIYI ep 4 of 8 - Finally a direct confession Jade can’t avoid. Will things get a bit more serious?

Absolute Zero (Weds iQIYI) ep 10 of 12 - I don’t know why I watch this show, the acting is great, but it just makes me cry.

Playboyy (Thurs Gaga) 3 of 14 eps - What a bonkers thing this is. Very kinky and also just odd. I do keep thinking about the pinks with it. Similarly, there doesn’t seem much glue holding this thing together, dried cum of course but not glue. And despite what some kinksters say, the one cannot replace the other.

My Universe (Sun iQIYI) Fake Love ep 15 of 24 - This is a weird installment. Too stalker and random blackmail for me. But not as bad as abuse and death, I guess? 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

A Breeze of Love (Korea iQIYI) eps 7-8fin - Not much of a love triangle in the end (you just found out he is actually gay and broken hearted = an opportunity not a tragedy). Meanwhile I like that the high school break up was just mr insomniac's fault. He got jealous and angry and petty. No miscommunication just an asshole kid. I did find this show a little slow, even though it was your standard length KBL. Odd that. They are very cute boyfriends tho. 

All in all:

Tsundere insomniac grump reunited with his sunshine jock ex (human sleeping pill) who now hates him. Basketball is also involved. While the simplicity of a reunion plot makes this more cohesive than most KBLs, it is a tad stiff and slow, never managing to lift itself out of "pretty and pretty enjoyable" - I liked it but I don’t think I’m going to remember much about it. 8/10

VIP Only (Taiwan Fri Gaga) ep 3 of 10 - It has the feel of a one act, with such a limited cast and location, which reminds me of KBL. Still watching these two quietly fall in love and process affection through their own art forms is sweet. This is a very soft gentle show. 

Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun (Japan Fri Gaga) - Toki, a delinquent but pure-hearted kid falls in love with his handsome phys-ed teacher, Sahara. This is very much my trope but very manga campy, which I don’t love. I’m quite torn. Toki is an idiot but a lovable one. But do I like it?

It's Airing But...

The Whisperer (Sun ????) 10 eps - Thai horror BL that ALSO involves cheating (what joy is mine). He has dimples (My Ride) but I don't think even dimples can motivate me to watch. You can tell me how this goes if you can find it.

SHADOW (Thai Gaga) 14 eps - I'm not wild about Thai horror (or horror at all) even one featuring Singto and Fluke. I'm holding off. If told it's good, I'll binge.

7 Days Before Valentine (Weds WeTV) 10 eps - Giving me Luminous Solution vibes, so I'm waiting to binge if told it's safe.

Beyond The Star (Weds iQIYI) 8 eps - House of Stars meets Boyband. I was NOT impressed with ep 1. Waiting to be told if I should bother.

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - I find this series more fun to binge, so I'm waiting until it completes its run.

In case you missed it

One Room Angel (Japan Gaga) finished. Adaptation of Harada’s manga (which I did not like) about a clerk who (nearly) dies and ends up cohabitating with an angel. I was warned that the ending would not work for me so I decided not to bother.

My Biker BL short movie from Wayu supposedly premiered Nov 27 on their YouTube Channel for Members to watch. I couldn't find anything further. The MDL description makes me think it's not for me so I bother.

Next Week Looks Like This

Short list of the December offerings.

12/9 Cherry Magic (Thai remake) YouTube 10 eps

12/9 Behind the Shadows (Korea movie) ??

12/14 Dear Kitakyushu (Thai/Japan movie) ??

12/23 Dead Friend Forever (Thai horror) iQIYI

Original 2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED). With the end of the year upon us I'll do an "announced for 2023 but never happened list" soon.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

I love these dudes so much, and make no mistake they def dudes. On point banter, my dudes. (Sign)

Yes they are cute but so far that's all this show has going for it. (Middleman's Love)

I'm a simple human, I just like seeing Off kneeing. (Cooking Crush)

(Last week)

[jiminieloved]

Ultimate Jikook Timeline Pt 90

Love Yourself: Answer Era Pt 6

1. January 1, 2019:

a) Jimin Twitter post

b) Run Ep. 57

2:07 Jimin teases JK asking if he is going to eat pasta today

8:50 When Jimin spills the meringue on his hair, JK says “Jimin-ssi, go wash your face”

20:30 Jimin says he is not feeling confident about cooking, J-Hope tells him to just enjoy and JK says “you can’t beat those who enjoy”, Jin asks him what happens if everyone enjoys and JK says “everyone wins”

Behind

7:48 Jimin rubs JK’s arm

2. January 5, 2019:

Golden Disc Awards

a) BTS wins Digital Álbum Bonsang

1:41 JK was a bit away from the group, so Jimin looks at him fondly and touches his waist

b) Jimin running after JK after seeing he isn’t feeling well

c) Compilation of moments from that day

3. January 6, 2019:

Golden Disc Awards

a) Backstage Interview

3:00 Jimin sings “Promise” and JK looks fondly at him

3:58 JK makes a wordplay saying winning the award 2 years in a row is fate and Jimin says “ah Jungkook-ssi”

5:03 the interviewer ask them what are the plans for 2019, so Jimin tells JK “please tell us the plans”

10:42 JK picks a fortune cookie and reads it to Jimin saying “Jimin-ah, it’s ok even if you are not the no.1, you are always the best”

b) Compilation of moments from that day

4. January 8, 2019:

Run Ep. 58

22:29 Jimin makes fun of the name JK gave to his plate and JK tells him to interpret his own way

5. January 11, 2019:

BTS at Incheon Airport

6. January 12, 2019:

BTS World Tour “LOVE YOURSELF” in Nagoya – Japan

7. January 13, 2019:

a) BTS World Tour “LOVE YOURSELF” in Nagoya – Japan

3:57 JK was tired after the performance and Jimin asks him if he is ok

4:43 Jimin pats JK’s back

5:52 Jimin asks JK if he is ok again

b) Compilation of moments

8. January 15, 2019:

a) Seoul Music Awards

Compilation of moments from that day

b) BTS wins Daesang

6:34 Jimin looks at JK and rubs his neck

c) Ending

0:42 talking to each other

9. January 18, 2019:

BTS Twitter post

10. January 19, 2019:

a) BTS World Tour “LOVE YOURSELF” in Singapore

1:14 Stage moment

b) “LOVE YOURSELF” in Singapore Making Film

3:00 J-Hope lifts Jimin and JK asks “what are they doing?”, J-Hope says Jimin is very light and JK says ���then try lifting me”

7:55 JK cries and Jimin comforts him and then keeps looking at him and talking to him

9:48 Jimin sits by JK’s side, and then puts his legs on top of JK’s. Jimin and J-Hope give him advice for him not to overwork himself

c) Compilation of moments (beginning of the video)

11. January 20, 2019:

BTS arriving at Korea airport

1:02 Jimin goes to the same direction as JK after arriving Singapore

12. January 23, 2019:

a) JK Twitter post

Trans: Ending Scene #JK

b) Jimin Twitter post (reply to JK)

Trans: Cover Fairy JK 😁 #JIMIN

c) Jimin Twitter post (reply to JK)

Trans: Ending Kitty☺️ #JIMIN

(T/N: In reference to ‘Ending Scene/이런 엔딩’, the title of IU’s song which Jungkook just released covers of.)

13. January 29, 2019:

Run Ep. 61

8:30 Jimin and JK get the exact same score, JK asks “destiny?” and Jimin says “I told you, you are me, I’m you” while holding JK’s hand

11:26 when Jimin is about to play the game with his pinky he asks “small pepper is?” and JK says “spicier” along with J-Hope

15:12 doing the sauna challenge together

18:46 the question of the game is “what is Jimin good at?”, JK immediately says “acting cute”

21:33 JK says he should have let Jimin win because he is really bad at the game, then goes to the door and yells “fighting!”

14. January 31, 2019:

a) JK Twitter post

Trans: Also, Jimin-ssi can’t escape this either.

b) Jimin Twitter post (reply to JK)

Trans: Aye cutie kekekeke #JIMIN

Credits for the Run episode timestamps to @ladyc0312​​

Information compiled by @lagalaxiedemochi​​, please direct all questions to this account.

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[binktops]

i'm dying to hear your ending of the show after ep.13 if you ever want to share 💗

thank you for the ask (my first one <3) and sorry for how long it took to get back to you!

depending on where we stop and alter 2521, i have 5 different endings for them.

1. end of episode 13

there’s a running joke to watch 2521 but stop at the end of episode 13. it’s unsatisfactory because to build up a couple and get them together at the very end without anything afterwards is not my cup of tea, but is arguably better than the final 1 and a half episodes for an ending.

2. after the ladder+bridge scene / halfway through episode 15

the second possible watch option to skip the ending is to stop before the 9/11 plot-line starts. you could also end the show here and yes, it doesn’t have an 11th hour crisis and is a bit off story telling wise, i believe you could flash forward to future baekdo and say they lived happily ever after and i would take it over the “real” ending.

3. during / after new york

the best options with what we have from the canon episode 16 are either

1. heedo chases down yijin in nyc because she understands he’s going through a rough patch and stand with him through it or

2. they resolve and decide to move together forward as one at the bus stop / bridge goodbye. support each other through both the bad and the good (i forgot the specific quote but you get it)

either one has been explored more in fics and alternate endings but either route of these would show heedo choosing to step up as less stubborn and save yijin like he’s done for her and yijin opening his heart to keep the relationship healthy.

4. time skip obs hell

finally, this is my brain on obs brainrot but fine, say they split up due to their unwillingness to empathize and cooperate.

i find the idea they never meet again and never reconcile insulting. before lovers they were best friends *pulls hair out*. it doesn’t need to be believable but they meet either kdrama magic or the gang (yurim, jiwoong, and seungwan) meet up. none of them have that many friends — yes adulthood makes people busy but you can still meet with friends the funeral conversation was stupid.

clearly they aren’t happy with breaking up and losing one another. an interesting idea is having them reconcile to stay as friends. for endgame baekdo, they decide to give it another shot. you could make this a full new season and drag it out with new conflicts and growth or pace the one season we have better. (i always saw 16 episodes as too short for 2521 or they needed to get them together much earlier than episode 13 to break them up)

the important part of a break up—reconciliation is baekdo are still each other’s pillars of support by the end to not break this important theme of the show.

5. surprise rewrite the whole show option

the fifth option is create a better last episode crisis that still tests baekdo because i still do not and will not ever believe yijin would voluntarily go to nyc without telling heedo!

they could keep going with the jaekyung/yijin parallels (don’t switch him to local news) and fully complete the idea heedo has moved forward from her past trauma of her mother and loves unconditionally like yijin. ideally we include an arc where yijin understands being all sacrificing is not noble but selfish.

this one was just off the top of my head because there are tons of ideas you can explore to fully complete their arcs. it amazes me how awful the 2521 ending was to allow me to create this many alternate possibilities. i hope you enjoyed reading them and share any ideas you all have <3

[redrobin-detective]

So I’m actually taking the time to watch Ben 10 Alien Force and it’s, okay. I can admit it has a more cohesive long term plot process than Omniverse and some of the stories ARE good I just can’t really vibe with it. I’m still watching it but it’s not the same burning need I felt with OV and I’m not sure how much further I’ll get before I entirely lose interest. 

I know a lot of people like AF so I’m going to put my slightly critical thoughts under a read more so those who don’t want to see it can skip it.

The reason I can’t get into the series like I did OV, for me, is the characters are lacking in any true dimension making me not invest in the series. Ben in particular, the heart and soul of the series, feels like a cardboard cutout of a character without much defining personality to make me believe he’s Ben much less an actual person. Having watched both OG and OV I can describe, off the top of my head, what Ben is like. 

Ben of the original series was a horrible little gremlin child with a heart of gold in there somewhere. He was childish and reckless, sometimes acting out or going too far with his pranks. He has a variety of interests and things he doesn’t like but finally gets a handle of his abilities and learns that being a hero isn’t just about beating up bad guys, it’s about standing up and protecting others.

Likewise, OV Ben has been around the block as a teen superhero. While he is still a bit full of himself and reckless, a lot of it is a carefully constructed façade so people don’t see how stressed and nervous he is about the heavy burden on his shoulders. He’s desensitized to how weird his life has become and is good at adapting and thinking on his feet. Like his younger self, he has a variety of likes and dislikes, some the same and some different as he grew up.

15 eps in AF and I still can’t really think of how to describe Ben, he’s got the personality of a freezer burned low fat waffle. He’s just a very standard teen boy without any true defining traits. I haven’t seen him talk about any interests, express any real opinions on anything. Like he had to put on the Omnitrix again after taking it off for a normal life and it doesn’t seem to have any impact on him. AF Ben is also almost always in the right, always the calm one (esp compared to Kevin who’s his own mess of one track stereotypes) with a perfectly straight moral code. He’s quiet, polite, he makes a few quips but otherwise is just kind of there. When he’s not actively engaged in the plot, he’s just sitting there with a vacant expression and a half smile. In an attempt to make him “normal” and “relatable” they not only stripped the character of anything that makes him stand out but also anything that makes him Ben Tennyson. 

OS and OV Ben are always moving, either fiddling with the Omnitrix or bouncing their leg or lounged in a precarious position while mouthing off. He’s a very energetic sort, spirited in a way that’s as admirable as it is aggravating. To watch AF Ben sit passively in Kevin’s car, hands on his knees, back straight. It’s like looking at a stranger. 

I loved Ben because he was fiery lil shit, half feral and running into everything half cocked because he’s stupid but also has a big bleeding heart. He’s a good boy, theoretically and gets better as he matures but he struggles with his self image and decision making. Kid has also straight up, and knowingly murdered and will do so again. He is a one universe force of nature running around, causing and fixing problems in the same breath. God I love this disaster. AF Ben feels so far removed from this Ben and it frankly bores me.

I’ll keep going but I remember when I first watched AF years ago when it first aired, I watched at least the first 10 episodes before I quit. I recall thinking that it didn’t feel like Ben 10 anymore and it really doesn’t. Yes it has some interesting storylines, yes the worldbuilding and lore expansion is appreciated. But god I just can’t invest in these characters. For all of Omniverse’s faults, at least the character felt not only like an actual person but who Ben is supposed to be. Ben is not and never was your ‘boy next door good boy superhero’ he’s ‘local child menace gains infinite powers uses them to steal a golf cart’. 

[yukipri]

Bad Batch end of season thoughts/ramble, bc it's been a week and I just wanna get it all off my chest...

(end of season spoilers and very disorganized rambling)

First off, I do want to say that I enjoyed watching the show. It fulfilled its primary purpose: entertainment. It was nice having something to look forward to every week, and even though it wasn't quite what I was expecting, it was fun. The animation was gorgeous, I liked all the references and tie ins. I will likely watch it again, and will watch season 2. This is by no means meant to be a hate post.

That being said, it is critical so please just skip if you're not into that!

The thing is...it takes very, Very little for me to love a clone. He doesn't need lines, or a face, or even a name, and the default is that I will love him. He can even be a little bastard, like Slick, and it's fine. I always want to know more about them, and wish they had more screen time and time in general to develop their characters. So given that we were getting 16 (20 eps total if we count TCW S7 pilot arc) centered around these guys, I was expecting to absolutely adore them by the end.

And I wanted to love the Bad Batch, I wanted to love them so damn much, and I tried. But I think one of the reasons why they never fully clicked for me was that their thing seems to be "we're unique, we never fit in, we're outsiders in our own home, among the people who are supposed to be our own family, and so we've found our home with each other."

Which! That's usually a wonderful message, and not a particularly rare or unique one either for stories! I usually dig these kinds of stories!

The problem here is the extremely unique situation of the clones. They are literally created to be identical, brain washed to be uniform. They must conform, or are killed off by their creators, and their conformity isn't a choice in the slightest, but one of fear and necessity.

Their uniformity is something that they are also entirely aware of--it's unavoidable, they're clones. Once out in the real galaxy, they all strive to find and establish unique identities for themselves, struggling against a galaxy that just wants them to be faceless products. It's a shared struggle, and all they have are each other, and their brotherhood is sacred as a result. Shunning unique identity is the opposite of who a clone is--it's what they all want.

So on one hand, it's understandable that the Batch stuck out (when all others who would have also stuck out were culled, when individuality isn't allowed). It's understandable that they would have yearned for the brotherhood shared by the other clones, and when they couldn't have it, they stuck closer to each other. It's even understandable that they would feel bitter, having experienced bullying at the hands of the other clones (but isn't it also understandable that the other clones would feel bitter that the Batch gets special treatment, when their own brothers with less-than-beneficial mutations were taken by the Kaminoans to never return?).

And so we have this batch of clones, who the Kaminoans call "mutated," but also specify that their mutations are "desirable" (implying what happens to mutations that are undesirable...). They have their own unique unit, in which they're able to improvise and act freely with seemingly little to no oversight, so long as they complete their mission. No Jedi to obey, no nat-born officers who look down on them. In fact, they look so different from standard clone troopers that most of the galaxy probably don't even know they are clones. They have their own ship (personalized), they have their own possessions (which we don't really see any other clones have), they have their own barracks (probably also very unique), and they even have access to superior weapons and armor (most of the Batch, minus Echo, seem to be wearing modified Katarn-class armor which is supposed to be for Commandos. we KNOW it holds up better than standard trooper armor).

So I'm sure they had some unpleasant experiences growing up, and I do get it. But at least at "present" end of clone wars, they honestly seem to be living infinitely better than all other clones? They still need to follow orders but they have more freedom, and perhaps most importantly, they have clear uniqueness that is denied almost all other clones. And yes, some of the clones on Kamino bully them, but we've seen NONE of the "regular" clones that we know to be particularly nasty to them, and in fact it's Crosshair who starts it by calling them "Regs."

And how does the Batch respond to this situation? By acting superior. It's Crosshair who says and it believes this firmly, and I do feel that the others are likely mostly influenced by this, but it's also true that Hunter, Wrecker, and Tech don't really deny this either. They don't like the "regs," they do act like they're "better." Poor Echo, who they repeatedly seem to forget is in the room, and who they call "machine" and such...yikes yo

So I guess the point is, I just really struggled to feel sympathetic towards them, and was already on a kinda eh about their premise. They're marketed as "the special clone squad"--and yet they're not nice to the clones I love. I thought that wasn't great, but also hoped that the series would work towards them understanding the other clones better, and I love character development so that woulda been fine--but, nothing. A glance from Hunter at Howzer. Extended camaraderie from Gregor, who I feel they mostly just tolerate for the mission, other than Echo who genuinely cares.

And on top of feeling not feeling particularly sympathetic towards what I saw as a pretty privileged group of clones, the Batch seems to place primary blame of their woes on the "regs" themselves, who again, honestly seem far worse off! There isn't blame directed at the people who demanded the conformity from the other clones in the first place, that made it so the Batch couldn't fit in. The Batch was modified due to the Kaminoans (and implied specifically Nala Se). She's the reason why they don't fit in. And the Kaminoans are also why the other clones have to be so uniform, why they must fight to be people and not products.

Bitterness and pettiness can be fine in characters. But it's frustrating to see in a group supposed to be competent and elite, especially when those feelings have consequences. Sure, it sucks when someone throws a food tray at you. You can throw food back. It's not an equal reaction to feel no remorse when you shoot that guy dead in a blaster fight, when for all other clones, having to kill another clone is one of the most horrible, tragic things that one can do (thanks, Umbara).

Fives was the only clone to actually point a blaster at Nala Se.

We know Omega has deeply personal history with Nala Se. She was Nala Se's personal medical assistant. We see her cry when she takes off her head ornament that matches Nala Se. We know that being back in the lab gives Omega complicated, and probably not entirely positive feelings. But we barely learn more about this relationship, other than these glimpses.

And I get the feeling that to Omega at least, Nala Se wasn't all terrible. If Omega grew up with mostly only Nala Se for company, she had to have gotten her sheltered outlook on life, and her willingness to help others from somewhere. Nala Se intentionally let Omega go, to be "safe."

I think Omega's adorable, and I do like her. But I wasn't able to fully love her to the extent I wanted to, because there was always the fear that she was involved in the creation and implantation of the chips. She knows about them, she would have been positioned to do so. I want to think she would never, and I was hoping the show would reassure us of that, but it never did. We don't actually know how Omega feels about Nala Se, or even the chips and their presence in other clones. Instead, all we know is that Omega doesn't like "regs."

And again, "they call me lab scrubber," and "I helped put (or am complicit in putting) mind control devices in their heads," are kinda, unequal. Again I hope it's not the case. But it definitely kept me feeling uneasy throughout the show.

It really boils down to I don't trust or forgive Nala Se, and the Batch's lack of stance against her and the other Kaminoans, and clear distaste for their other clone brothers, really puts them in a situation that makes it difficult for me to take their side entirely.

And then gosh, Hunter. During Crosshair's whole "you never came back for me," spiel, I couldn't help but think he's kinda right. He had 15 episodes. Sure, it's difficult to get Crosshair back. But they could have done something. They could have done research. We could have had scenes of them wondering where Crosshair is, discussions on how best to find him, even if that discussion ended in, "but we can't risk it right now." They could have grilled Omega for information on the chips, which they really shoulda done either way, but especially since that knowledge is important to understanding what (they thought had) happened to Crosshair. Instead, they just ran every time Crosshair showed up. The show could have done better to show that they cared, and were trying, instead of just, y'know, doing chores for Cid. One, "I kinda miss him," doesn't really count as working on getting him back, at least in my books.

The sole exception to all of this, of course, is Echo. Who really, he works with the Batch fine, he's a former ARC and can more than keep up. Skillset-wise, he fits in well enough. But this season really made me wonder why he's with them at all. Crosshair's revelation and true feelings at the end of the season were no surprise to me, as they're consistent with what we've seen of him from TCW S7. But for Echo, a former "reg" to have to work with someone like Crosshair...even if Crosshair thought Echo was "different" enough to accept him, those are his brothers that Crosshair thinks he's so superior to, and has no issue speaking disdainfully about.

The increasing tension between Echo and Hunter, Echo's interest in helping Rex, in helping other clones, in doing something...I do hope they reach a point where Echo demands they go help, or he's leaving.

They gave Crosshair a chance, despite the fact that his choices were willing. I really hope Echo can convince the Batch to help save the other clones who don't have a choice. Because even if the Batch doesn't consider them their brothers, they're certainly Echo's. They matter just as much as Crosshair, and I really hope season 2 shows it narratively.

To conclude, again I'm interested in seeing what happens next, and I want answers about Omega and Nala Se. I find it interesting that they tied the facility where they took Nala Se in with the scientist dude collecting data on Grogu in the Mandalorian and those cloning labs. All of this is interesting, but at the same time I feel like it's trying to build up to Snoke/Palpatine stuff in the sequels which...I don't care nearly as much about, but who knows, could be neat ^ ^;

I'm okay with, and have made peace with the fact that the Bad Batch probably isn't the "clones-centric" show I wanted, and that they'll continue their own story, and probably continue to not care much about other clones in upcoming seasons. That's unfortunate, but alright. I'm interested enough in their story too.

But at the same time...I can't help but think man, if they have the time and budget to do a season 2, after seeing what was (or wasn't) accomplished in season 1...I wish they'd also make a Rex/Cody/Wolffe/"regular clones" show, because in the end, if you're going to do a "clones show"....that's who I want to see most.

If you got to the end, thank you for reading, and being an ear to my ranting ^ ^; Again this is literally just getting this off my chest. If this take isn't one you agree with, please just ignore. For people who did fall in love with the Batch, I'm happy for you, and regret that it just couldn't happen for me. But, I'm hoping that S2 will change my mind, but we'll just have to see! ^ ^;