#S8 is meh

[jessieren]

I like to think in the third picture he’s reading a print out of tumblr posts 😂😂

“Umm they’re saying what now????”

Happy Sunday to everyone. Let's hope the upcoming week doesn't completely suck hahaha

Smiling/laughing Shaun to keep cleansing the brain from UIKY (will I ever watch it? Who knows!)

Also, tonight will air season eight's first episode of endeavour (of course hahaha) here in Italy. I've already watched it (cannot say how, though 🤫👀) but who am I to not watch it for the umpteenth time??

[willkimurashat]

Friends, are you feeling any of the islanders so far?😕 are we all kinda burnt out cuz we had so many seasons at this point and none of the islanders feel new/original/unique anymore, it’s just the social butterfly girl and the himbo boy who loves his nan, or is it just me and you lovelies are actually super excited for any these?👀

[antigonewinchester]

thanks @judasvibe for the tag!

tagging @samspartyhat @setyourfireonme @juststartingtobebrothersagain and whoever else wants to do it :) tier maker here!

[dandelionjack]

running down tunnels from killer robots. classic. okay this isn’t completely boring. i guess

[nounpolycule]

My toxic trait is like I mean Blink is good but I can't wrap my head around it being the highest rated episode of Doctor Who on IMDb. Top 30 fine but #1?

[coldflasher]

i really need to catch up on season 8 bc i actually wanna watch s9 properly as it airs and have the ~experience~ but also. i really can’t be bothered watching season 8

[transfemgeorgecostanza]

Have to say I didn’t feel episode 1 but that might be my mood and the eps functionality coming first

[tessarionbestgirl]

Hotd 2x08 Finale

Oh well, I am gone from all stages with this episode, to highly anticipating, to hating deeply and now after watching it, I am don't know totally to feel about it. Is definitely made me feel anticipated for next season as much as I hate it Alicent final scene.

Alicent scene as full with the context of the episode is truly horrible and is completely character assassination. What she will become next is what will define this moment more. But for now utterly S8 level of writing.

But Heleana was saved. I think this episode make her more interesting because it put her character in a new context.

I liked how they painted Aemond acts as a desperation and fear more than him being cruel for no reason. He is to pragmatic what make him a good warrior but a bad ruler.

Aegon set up plot for next season equally for all the greens is excellent.

Criston and Tyland have the best scene of the episode by far. And they saved this episode for the greens.

The blacks they finale get the pay off for their set ups. But it felt underwhelming. All of them. Unfortunately even, Daemon that I loved this season felt meh. Alyn is the closest to hit something on me but mostly because of the acting was really amazing , whatever this scene it felt to late. The momentum was lost.

[sammygender]

Honestly I would’ve 100% agreed with your s8 ranking a month ago lol, ‘cause while I adore the trials arc I was meh on the earlier season conflicts. BUT I recently rewatched for a fic I’m writing and the whole season is so thematically consistent from start to finish. Sam standing up for himself and asserting his desire for a normal life, however short-lived? So good. The season is almost a catharsis for s5, to me. Because with the trials you have Sam again trying to atone by sacrificing his life, but the stakes feels so much lower, closing the gates of hell don’t compare to the impending doom of the apocalypse, so it puts so much more weight on Sam’s decision to sacrifice himself, exposes just how little his life means to him and what tragedy that is in a way that s5 didn’t since it was too busy having everyone not believe in Sam or vilify him 24/7. And for Dean, who spent the whole first half of s8 claiming that Sam has a duty, that giving up hunting was betraying that duty, now has a brother, in his own words, “more devoted to the cause than ever” and he can’t stomach it, because it was never about the cause, it was about wanting Sam devoted to him. Idk the comeuppance for Dean is so juicy for me personally and s9 never satisfactorily followed up on that because the conclusion to the Gadreel arc was immediately overshadowed by the Mark of Cain. Also, the parallels of Kevin and s1!Sam in this season?? Hurts me, physically. Sorry to be a s8 apologist but they did get me I fear lol

i do actually totally agree with u especially re catharsis to s5!!! like u said the way it reframes so much of that season is so good. sam jumping into the cage in s5 is framed totally as a heroic act of repentance ignoring the fact that it’s after a season of him being constantly beat down and blamed by dean for something that wasn’t his fault.….. vs in s8 when sam’s also being constantly beat down and blamed by dean for something and again ends up essentially suicidal, willing/ready to die to close the gates of hell, viewing his life as worth barely anything, except in s8 like u said that’s portrayed as actually…. worrying. a tragedy. love that sm makes me feel insane.

so i like it as a season in retrospect and i like what it does for the narrative i just didn’t enjoy it at all when i watched it😔. the critic in me likes it but the viewer found a lot of it (or at least the beginning stretch <3) mindnumbingly boring. have not rewatched though (currently at s7 in rewatch) so i’m excited to see if i’ll end up appreciating it more. i do also LOVE kevin. in the running for favourite side character of all time which is impressive cause he’s there for less than 2 seasons iirc…. and he’s in s8 a lot. so. <3

[lover-of-mine]

tbh with you anna i think tommy shares more similarities to ana then taylor, cringe jokes in their as well. either way they're bones and honestly buddie is a when not an if, this season was laying the groundwork that they are each others person before s8 takes it to the next level with buck consistently being there for eddie at his lowest just like he was in s5.

Oh, baby, I definitely agree with you, plot wise he parallels Ana the same way Natalia paralleled Ana, and this is definitely a editor take, but visually, then have a lot of parallel with bucktaylor, pre s5 bucktaylor to be specific and it's too many to not be on purpose yk? And there's the TK of it all, the helicopter bringing them to Buck's life (even the way Buck is starstruck by Taylor being the voice who helped him and never managing to move on from that and the way Buck is starstruck by T for helping them), the kiss because Eddie got hurt, I think even the dry sense of humor and the unwillingness to go along with Buck's antics, but Taylor was way better developed at this point of the relationship because the show tried to establish a friendship before they got together and since I believe Buck needs a friends to lovers arc, I'm kinda meh about the way bt just jumped to dating, but that's me. But yeah, it does seem like the show is laying some groundwork for us to get some callbacks to Buck's speech about what love is and Eddie and Bobby's conversation at the hardware store when buddie finally look at each other and see what they could be, but I guess we need to wait and see.

[mazzystar24]

exactly! i wanted to like tommy tbh i liked him in 703 and 704. 705 was meh to me. i couldnt really find it in myself to care because the entire episode was about buck freaking out about telling eddie. 706 just made me ???? because of the bachelor party scenes. like why are we having the new bf dismiss buck at every turn while eddie is all in if they want us to root for this man. he wouldve had to change at work anyway so why didnt he dress up. then again in 709 he’s just shooting down bucks joy with the “enjoy it while it lasts” thing and then we already discussed 710. like sure buck made it a bit jokey but then tommy sounded completely serious when he said “no i dont. i hope you do though!” im someone who’s very sarcastic in her own humor and i couldnt tell he was joking. like i get that they want tommy to be snarky or whatever but something about it just falls flat for me. some of the comments he makes feel like stuff he shouldn’t feel comfortable saying yet to someone he’s only started seeing in the past couple months.

also the evan thing confuses me because lou said on cameo the script supervisor told him he isnt allowed to call buck ‘buck’. i wonder if thatll ever be addressed in s8 because that feels weird to me. especially since buck has insisted people call him buck in the past but idk if thats even anything to actually think about. like im not sure if the writers just dont know what to do with this man or if they’re actually writing him to be a short term thing. its so easy to add depth to their relationship and open up a chance to be vulnerable but they either choose not to entirely or give those moments to eddie -birthmark anon

NO SAME LIKE I AM DOWN FOR RIVAL LOVE INTERESTS TO MY SHIPS IF THEYRE WRITTEN WELL

I WAS MID TYPING I HOPE YOU DONT SEE THIS YET

Like I made a whole post about how the show bones had Hannah and she was the best and the way they wrote her made her GENUINELY likeable

And 911 couldve pulled that off so easily with Tommy but just keep choosing not to??? Like they are making (imo) very intentional writing choices that just don’t develop him or bucktommy very well when they could literally just NOT make those choices like they’re fully in control so while these things are realistic and can have good explanations the writers are intentionally choosing to include them and write them a specific way

Like idk about you but if I wanted people to aim for my couple I would go about it VERY differently

[daenysthedreamer101]

TVD S7 Thoughts

Ok so I binge-watched S7 in like three days and I have thoughts, I wanna talk about it

Lily OMG ughhhh, just...did not like her. Imagine being Damon and Stefan - you think your mom dies, oops she's actually a vampire. She becomes a ripper, goes on a ripper binge through Europe and in the meantime finds a whole new family.

I too would be pissed if my mom abandoned me and then had other children and never looked for me again. I know she did visit them once in the beginning and the bloodlust scared her away but like, she could've tried again some time after that or something.

The Heretics annoyed the hell out of me. Most of them were useless and died quickly (Malcolm, Oscar). Beau does nothing really. It's mostly the female Heretics who have the spotlight.

Valerie was sooo...idk weird to me? Her being Stefan's first and getting pregnant and then Julian beating her until she lost the baby was wild I did not see that coming. And I think she was fine as a long-lost love, but her relationship with Stefan in the present timeline did nothing for me.

She was obviously insecure about Caroline and Stefan. She was stuck in the prison world for over a century but did she really think she and Stefan would just be able to get back together? Idk. She did help with birthing the twins so that was nice of her.

Mary Lou and Nora annoyed me so much in the beginning but I grew to like them by the end and I did feel bad for them when that exploded in that car

The time skips and flash-forwards were confusing and annoying and I didn't like them at all idk why they did them

Enzo my love! I like him better this season. Love the new hair lol.

He and Bonnie were cute. I like the progress Bonnie made through the show of her hating vampires and now she's dating one lol

Reyna Cruz, where do I begin? No offense to the actress but I feel like they should've gotten someone a bit more muscular? A bit taller or bigger? I know she has superhuman strength and all but she was not scary whatsoever. But apparently, even Klaus was afraid of her so what do I know?

Caroline and Alaric....uhmmm yeah...that was a thing that happened. Did he really need to propose to her? I know it makes raising the kids easier but like c'mon. Ric falling in love with Caroline was just yucky!

Matt suddenly being so anti-vampire makes no sense but also makes total sense? On one hand, it's like, dude you've been helping them and have been friends with them for years, and now all of a sudden you are against them.

On the other hand, I guess you can say it was boiling inside Matt for a while and it all came to the surface. Also, did the writers really need to have him kill his own fiance? That was so cruel like damn!

Another thing on Enzo, his thing with Lily was soooo...like why? I just- I- NO! I can't put it into words how much it weirded me out.

Julian, hmmm. It seemed like he actually did care for the heretics so that was nice. Also, I have to say, wonderful acting. Idk who played him but I really enjoyed his performance.

I did enjoy seeing Klaus even if for a few minutes. I also watched the crossover ep of TO where Stefan is in New Orleans. Did I know what was going on? No, not really, but I like that Stefan did a little side quest lol. Not Hayley remembering she snapped Caroline's neck once lmao

Love that Stefan got to meet Freya and Marcel that was so cool.

I just remembered the Armory, I don't know what to say. I know the Sirens were in that vault, so I guess that's in the next season? I wonder how ridiculous s8 will be?

Overall, felt very meh about it. I still think that S 1-3 are superior and everything after that went downhill. But it was still better than S5.

[serpercival]

Finally watched some new to me MASH tonight (the existential horror of No More New MASH and my general preference for the farcical early seasons over the serious later seasons has kept me firmly in S1-5 territory for a while despite the fact that I left off in S8) and, as always, went to talk to my parents about the episodes afterwards because sometimes its nice to get out of the gaymash echo chamber.

Anyway. Nice to know that neither of them liked a beloved-by-mashblr episode I felt very meh about. I feel less insane now

[longbobmckenzie]

Okay, I have some thoughts.

If you enjoyed Season 7, that's cool, I'm happy for you. If you intend to play Season 8, that's cool, I hope you find some enjoyment from it.

But holy hell, Fusebox. Maybe S8 will be good - people keep saying it's all the even seasons that are better (although I still maintain S1 is one of the best as far as the writing, though it does lack in other ways - but first try gets a pass), at least as far as enjoyment and good characters.

But here's the thing. Season 6 had its issues for sure, and we loved to complain about certain aspects of it, but the characters were generally great and a lot of us enjoyed it for that.

But no sooner was it over than S7 was announced. We didn't have time to soak in what S6 was, to let the characters live in our heads rent free, to start missing the game and thinking about what we wanted from the next season. I remember between S2 and S3 there was so much hype because people couldn't wait for more content, every day there were memes on the Fusebox sub from people dying for information. Releasing S7 so quickly on the heels of S6 made it less exciting because people didn't have a chance to yearn for it.

And now they're doing the same thing with S8, because with AI they can just pump out content. We all know it's to get as much money as possible (whether from the few suckers paying for gems or from ad revenue), but it's a great way to actually kill people's interest in the game. Hardly anyone talked about S7 after awhile, partly because the season was boring, but partly because of oversaturation of content. Sometimes you can have too much.

It's just like the show. When it's once a year, everyone gets excited for it. The winter seasons? Meh. So then the ratings for the winter season were low, and then the people who watched the winter season were burnt out and didn't watch the summer season. They're diluting their fanbase and killing their own ratings by making too much content while also not finding ways to make it fresh and exciting (being a CA girl was an attempt, but it ultimately fell flat).

Do yourselves a favour and stop rushing to put out new content every few months that's AI-generated, and take your time to create something good written by actual humans. Please.

Personally, I deleted the app the moment I'd finished today's episodes. Unless something at Fusebox changes, I have no intention of downloading it again.

[thefudge]

YES! That anon said it perfectly! HotD is not the same and exited as it was. It’s good I’ve read the books, but for those who didn’t this storytelling is absolute disaster. They washed rhaenyra of her ‘cruel characteristic, the plot is rushing in unclear direction, they cut important characters. And what a bad approach they took, like we only observe these two sides of a story - greens and blacks, imagine they doing whole 7kingdoms and different stories like in GoT. I was glad to know Daeron exists in show but like for others it’s like WHo??????? It’s like they are not even trying and just milking Asoiaf while people still remember about it. I cant even say this season is the same as s8 of GoT, bc while GoT was rushed asf it was visually pleasing, had epic and iconic scenes but with HotD it’s just?????meh? Characters are dull, lack of colour,almost pastel.

BUT I’m all for your ff, they are incredible!

thank you!

yeah, i literally laughed out loud when i saw clips of daeron being mentioned....because how would the casual viewer put this into context...like, one of the princes was raised away from king's landing and we only now hear that he even exists....it's just constant stuff like this, sloppy, rushed, making no sense, very meh.

[ambersock]

tagged by @adihildilid <3 to make a supernatural seasons tier list

The primary driver for my rankings is largely Sam arcs and memorable Sam moments. Sorry this is really long-winded, I'll put the tags first and my rant below the cut.

(trying to not repeat those who have already been tagged): @ruinedsam @small-scale-majestic @sounknownvoid @supernaturalconvert @acesammy @adaav @supamerchant @glowingsamulet

S2 is my all-time favorite with Sam's powers, the Special Children, episode after episode with writing and acting that just knocked it out of the park, and one of the very few seasons where Dean is actually likeable. S4 would be up there for When the Levee Breaks alone, plus we get multiple BAMF!Powers!Sam episodes. S6 gives us more awesome Jared acting with Soulless!Sam plus gems like 6x09, 6x15, 6x20, and finally Sam's wall breaking in 6x22. And it's got my favorite Dean-worried-about-Sam moment at the end of 6x13.

The next tier down, most of them have a mix of hits and misses. S1 got me hooked but was still finding its footing, S3 had some clunkers but also a few of my favorites, S7 had Sam's hell trauma and (unpopular opinion) the Leviathan which I actually enjoyed (especially long-suffering George the Leviathan from 7x16), plus 7x17 which was my second all-time favorite episode. S11 I loved for the Sam and Lucifer arc, Baby, the fact that the Big Bad wasn't actually evil, the briliant performance by Curtis Armstrong in 11x20, and finally the end of the insufferable MoC arc. Oh yeah, and there's Red Meat, which is the ultimate combination of my two favorite things: BAMF!Sam and Hurt!Sam. The only thing that drags S11 down is the cringeworthy, forced, and completely purposeless thing between Dean and Amara.

Not much to say about seasons 9, 12, 13, and 15. There are a few decent arcs (Sam + Gadreel and Crowley in s9, Mary coming back, Sam and Lucifer again) but also some snoozers (MoC, BMoL which had potential until they were turned into mustachio twirling villains, Dean once again being a complete asshole and his cringe man-pain in s13). With the exception of the series finale, S15 was just meh. And they somehow managed to screw up Sam's magnificent hair.

Oh, and regarding S13 having the worst wire work ever put to film: I view it as pure karma for them not letting Sam be the one to kill Lucifer.

Most of S10 was almost unwatchable to me for the laughable attempt at forcing Dean into "dark" role but then chickening out and turning him into a slobbering drunk frat boy instead (MoC), the bratty and arrogant Claire, and the one-dimensional writing for Rowena (that goodness they added depth to the character later). The only things that save this season are the two attempted fratricides and the episodes that focused on Sam's attempts to save Dean. S14 only has a few memorable scenes, let alone episodes: Sam declaring that there will be no new King of Hell in 14x1, Sam talking Dean off the ledge in 14x12, and Sam shooting Chuck. The rest of the season is nothing but poorly redone recycled Sam arcs handed out to other characters. And no offense to Jack, I think the character was extremely well-acted, but he just didn't add anything to the story once they took Sam's role of being his Dad away.

Finally for S8: I have a love-hate relationship with that one. The front half of S8 has Dean being a complete asshole and the narrative focuses only his POV, leaving us with several missing months from Sam's POV. They just skip right over showing us Sam's utter devastation at losing everyone he loves in an obvious attempt to force the sympathy all towards Dean, but the more thoughtful viewers didn't buy into it. Fortunately, the Trials!Sam arc counters the hideous PoOr dEan bias from earlier on. Plus I'm an angst junkie, and we get angst galore and an attempted fratricide to boot. The back half of the season does finally show Dean being appropriately appreciative of Sam's capabilities, even if he can't express that to Sam's face, and we get yet another outstanding Jared performance in the finale. Unfortunately, what we don't get is any growth whatsoever from Dean who, even as he's watching his brother die, is still in complete denial of his shitty treatment of Sam being the cause of his breakdown. I desperately needed Dean to understand just how much of an impact his constant criticism and mistrust of Sam had, and for him to go through that epiphany and change for the better. Instead, what we get is yet another flippant denial ("Hell, I know I've said some junk that set you back on your heels. But, Sammy…come on.") as if it's Sam's fault for "misinterpreting" the deliberate emotional abuse Dean heaped on him earlier in the season (and really, for much of Sam's life before that).