#Season 1 Episode 4a Father Time

[milolunde]

Timmy's Dad: I'm so mad I wish beams of heat could come out of MY eyes right now!

Wanda: No! Our's is the one with the silly pink hat!

[kodzuken]

this is gonna be kinda long and incomprehensible but hear me out: sth is really weird with buck, he is acting super ooc this season. first his relationship with taylor that seemed super weird in 5a but i brushed it off attributing it to me being negative abt it bc i don't like BT. but then with each passing episode he was acting weirder. he was once again focused on his own pain and making it abt himself. he tried to leave bc he felt unwanted. 1/3

2/2 then maddie left. and back in that episode when chim punched him and buck spent the entire episode telling chim how maddie just needs time and she's fine i didn't think much of it either. but now after boston, now that we know more? like buck is the caretaker. he loves his family. and maddie came to him, told him abt almost drowning jee and that she is leaving, she didn't tell him where and he just LET HER? he never would have before. 2/3

3/3 the buck we always knew would NEVER let maddie go if he suspected that it was THIS BAD. did he not even realize??? and then there is the cheating storyline. this was super ooc for the buck we know. and then the eddie thing? sth bad is happening to buck. i don't mean ooc in a 'this is bad writing' way. i think it's excellent writing. i think they're giving us subtle hints about how he is heading for sth Bad. i think once everyone else is "fixed" he is gonna go down. hard.

OKAY sorry i’ve been holding on to this since you sent it last night and i wanted to wait until i was off work so i could properly digest it and respond because i think you are actually the smartest anon that’s ever been in my inbox.

so my thing with buck is this: eddie hit the nail on the fucking head when he said in 504 “you’re the guy who likes to fix things”. he wasn’t just walking about buck’s relationship with maddie; he was stripping buck down to his very bones, the very root of his character -- beneath all of buck’s bravado, his flirting, his jokes and fun facts, he’s just a guy who wants to help, who wants to do the right thing, and most importantly, who wants to fix other people’s problems. it is of my personal opinion (but i’m right, actually) that buck wants to fix other people’s problems so he doesn’t have to fix his own. i could go on a mile long tangent about how buck compartmentalizes himself and his own issues (hello buck 1.0/2.0/3.0), and how everything we know about buck in canon goes to prove that he avoids dealing with his own problems by dealing with other people’s. he loves to be able to fix things, he hates when he can’t.

which brings us to season 5, and i think you’re literally so right, that buck is acting ooc, and it’s for a very good reason. as the audience, we’re SUPPOSED to be thinking, as my father said during 511, “what the fuck, buckley?”. we’re supposed to be wondering what’s going on in his head. and where with say, eddie, we very clearly know why he’s heading into the direction of a major breakdown, we don’t necessarily have that with buck. like obviously, we know he’s Been Through Shit (daniel, the shooting, the ladder truck, the tsunami, the blood clots, the lawsuit, jesus christ man), but we’ve also been made to believe that those things are things we’ve dealt with. personally i believe this is why dr. copeland was introduced in 4A -- to give viewers the impression that buck was dealing with his shit. but we very clearly see in season 5 that he hasn’t dealt with it, and with the huge fucking elephant in the room that is the shooting and the will, buck can’t deal with it.

so, he acts out of character. this is SO fucking pertinent to buck’s character, imo. he quite literally has a track record of making the wrong decision when he’s backed into a corner and doesn’t know what else to do; the lawsuit is a perfect example of this. so now, in season 5, we have a buck who has absolutely no direction as to how to move forward to healing, so he does what he does when he’s afraid -- he makes Decisions that aren’t necessarily the best for him in the long run. take taylor, for example -- he makes it clear that he’s tired of running after people, and yet he gets with taylor (not to MENTION everything that happens in past is prologue) anyway. he’s constantly making ooc decisions, and it isn’t bad writing. it’s fan-fucking-tastic writing, actually, because we’re slowly seeing buck break down in real time. this isn’t eddie clutching a back (with buck In The Room) because all of his trauma is hitting him at once; this is buck slowly but surely digging himself into a hole he won’t be able to get out of without serious help

and you’re right -- especially after everything that happened with doug, i don’t think buck normally would have let maddie go off by herself, especially if he feared she was in danger to herself. but this isn’t a buck who’s acting rationally; this isn’t a buck who’s head is on straight. this is a buck who’s grasping at the edge of a cliff, trying to hang on. this is a buck who can’t fix someone else’s problems, because his own are becoming suffocating.

so yeah, you’re right on the nose -- buck is going to put it away (hah) and help other people; he’s going to be there for maddie and chim, be there for eddie and chris, be there for bobby and may, and he’s not going to worry about himself. but as soon as he doesn’t have anything to fix, anything to focus on, the weight of everything is going to hit him at once, and he’s going to fucking break.

[simkjrs]

i would like to get into more saiki but i couldnt get past the inc*st joke part when watching on netflix.. is there like a post or directory for avoiding those episodes?

Non-Exhaustive Warnings Guide to Saiki K.

Currently with warnings for the anime but not the manga.

If I missed anything please feel free to say so in the replies -- I will update the post.

General characters to watch out for

Toritsuka: the token "pervert" character in the manga. I'm just noting the episodes where he shows up so you can ignore him if you want.

Saiki Kuusuke: Saiki’s older brother, often makes and features in incestuous jokes with regards to himself and Saiki.

Teruhashi Makoto: Teruhashi Kokomi’s older brother, whose entire personality is that he’s a “siscon” who is in love with his sister. Exists As An Incest Joke. Do Not Interact.

Saiki Kumogoro: Saiki’s “tsundere grandpa” who acts out tsundere tropes but as a grandfather to his grandchildren. Still gets really weird sometimes.

Mera Chisato: There’s nothing wrong with her but she often ends up as the “butt” of a joke -- the jokes being that she’s poor and starving, or that she’s like a wild beast (often depicted with anti-Native imagery). I like her but just be aware that the jokes she features in can be really tasteless at times.

Zolbe: A background character who only shows up a few times, but nonetheless is a racist caricature of Black people, from his non-fluent Japanese to the way the artist draws his lips. He’s such a non-presence that I can only remember one episode he’s in...

Takahashi: A character whose design is supposed to make him look “stupid.” What I don’t like about it is that the mangaka gave him an afro and thick lips in order to make him seem unattractive -- features that are pretty common with anti-Black stereotypes. Other than that, tolerable.

Anime Season 1 / TV version

Numbered according to the anime's season 1, but the TV version's episode numbers are in parentheses.

Episode 4a & 4b (18 & 19): Toritsuka

Episode 6d (29): Toritsuka

Episode 9a (41): Teruhashi Makoto (incest jokes)

Episode 10e (50): Toritsuka

Episode 12e/13a (60/61): Zolbe, the anti-Black caricature character, shows up for a little bit here.

Episode 13c (63): In this one Chiyo struggles with feeling insecure because the guys don't find her as attractive / objectifiable as Teruhashi or Mera. This one depends on your personal comfort levels. I didn't really like it.

Episode 14c (68): Accidental implied incest. Nendou's dead father confesses his love to Nendou's mother using Nendou's body, which is just all around kind of uncomfortable.

Episode 14d (69): A brief joke about a high school girl dressing up as a maid to attract customers to the cafe.

Episode 19a-d (91-94): Introduction of Saiki's grandfather, whose gimmick is that he is a "tsundere grandpa" who can't express his affections well. The jokes get very uncomfortable because of the way it draws from romantic tsundere tropes on occasion, so personally I would mark this on the "weirdly incestuous" spectrum.

Episode 20a-b (96-97): Toritsuka

Episode 20d (99): There is a throwaway joke about how even adult men are in Teruhashi's fan club even though she is a high school girl.

Episode 21d (104): In a surprise twist, it is revealed that Saiki's older brother, Kuusuke, doesnt just fall under the "mad scientist who wants to kill you" trope but the "masochist" trope. So since he has never once won against Saiki... Yeah. Anyways, implied incest joke here.

Episode 23c (113): Tsundere grandpa

Episode 24b (117): Incredibly fatphobic episode with some unfortunate sexual jokes at the end. Hard skip for me.

Anime Season 2

Episode 1d: Toritsuka

Episode 4e: Toritsuka

Episode 6-7: There are some anti-Native jokes about how Mera degenerates to becoming a "savage" when they are shipwrecked.

Episode 10b-c: Kuusuke appears in this one. Can't remember if any incest jokes appear here but there's a good chance they do.

Episode 15e: Episode whose jokes revolve around the idea of Mera being poor and therefore selfish/greedy for things that will sustain her and her family. A skip for me, because I didn't enjoy it.

Episode 16a-b: Teruhashi Makoto appears at the end of 16a, and features for all of 16b. All of 16b revolves around Makoto's incestuous behavior, so definitely skip that one.

Episode 16c: Toritsuka

Episode 17a: Kuusuke shows up in this one. Can't remember if there were any incest jokes in this one but Kuusuke definitely does other things to make Saiki unhappy and very uncomfortable.

Episode 21b: Toritsuka

Episode 23: While this episode gives some key insights into Saiki's childhood and why his personality became shaped the way it did, it also features some uncomfortable jokes about children's genitals that made me uncomfortable, so please be wary.

Saiki K: Conclusion

Episode 1: Features Kuusuke heavily and some unfortunate incestuous overtones. Kuusuke creates a perfect robot replica of Kusuo and makes some uncomfortable threats/comments about it. Later on, when Toritsuka possesses Saiki's body, Kuusuke jokes that Toritsuka should take off all of Saiki's clothes. During a fight between Saiki and Kuusuke, Kuusuke tries to make Saiki grab an important limiter device off of his crotch.

Saiki K: Reawakened

Episode 3: Introduces a new character, a teacher whose "suspicious face" makes everyone misinterpret him as some sort of sexual predator / pedophile even though he's a nice guy.

Episode 5a: Features that same teacher.

This is all I could remember off the top of my head while I was scrolling through the Wikipedia list of episodes. I'll update this post with other warnings and with a warning guide for the manga when I have more time.

[ginjointsintheworld]

There were all the conditions for a great season:

the comparison between Fuentes' pragmatism and Max's idealism,

a little drama between Lauren and Leyla over the bribe,

the confrontation between the American and British health systems + a story as a protagonist for Helen

Instead the writers made only bad choices, maybe just the relationship between Lauren and Leyla was interesting for the growth of their relationship (even if it was made unbearable by Lauren's haters)

Max vs Fuentes -> he must defeat her because she is bad

Leyren -> too much drama: first the story of the bribe, now the visa's one

American health system vs NHS -> they made the former looks better than the latter

Helen -> from boss to Max's girlfriend

Iggy -> a selfish idiot

Floyd -> an idiot

Many wasted opportunities. Not to mention that writers failed to be consistent and to write a story that makes sense (Helen healed in 1 episode, the one after already back to work, story of the fathers used for both Helen and Floyd, Floyd in the love triangle).

The show was saved only for the skill of the actors (see Freema, Shiva, Michelle, Janet, Ryan)

anon 2:

Thx for your great NA posts - your tags are unparalleled! The bounty of 4.21 made me go back and watch Leyren's S3 scenes, and I'm just struck by how much better their arc was then?! Like we got the (grumpy) meet-cute, and then a literal enemies (or combatants, anyway) to friends to roommates to lovers to "I love you" progression. + so many intimate moments that was Just Them, at work & at home. We got a bit of that in early S4, but everything has been choppier, and less emotionally coherent ...

i wish the writers stuck to their original plan of basically only having fuentes stick around for 4a and leaving the back half of the season to let the main characters focus on their season drama. in my opinion, them trying to do an overarching plot that impacts everyone took too much time and made everyone's personal story suffer as a result. they never did this in previous seasons and that was the ultimate detriment to s4. i know people didn't think s3 was great, i still enjoyed it and thought it had fairly strong character arcs. especially with iggy and chance, lauren and leyla and helen and mina. but this season with fuentes they should've either contained her to max's plot and took him out of the london part or they should've just kept london and scrapped fuentes. in fact, 4a was stronger than 4b because she was mostly contained to max's story and the other characters were left to continue to develop their own plots.

but the trickle down effect of fuentes took lauren out of the ED when she could've stayed and slowly reconciled with leyla through their proximity at work, diluted helen's london storyline and put max in this perpetual unimaginative 'good vs evil' fight. floyd is kind of odd because i think the writers struggle to balance his professional and personal life but adding in him having to be middle man negotiating with fuentes didn't help and iggy.... well tbh he was probably the least impacted by fuentes. they're doing i don't even know what with him. with iggy they should've continued to explore his issues with devoting too much to his patients and his struggle to balance that moving forward when he decided to treat again instead of randomly injecting relationship drama in.

p.s. anon 2, thank you for the kind words about my mindless tag feels ramblings :)

[hinasho]

finally finished S4 and ivar is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters in the entire show.

things have become..... different now that ragnar/travis flemmel is gone. for starters, i definitely liked 4b much more than 4a except for the NASTY love triangles and excessive s*x. i think there were more s*x scenes crammed into those few episodes than there were in season 1 - 3 all put together.

bjorn is still dear to me bc we’ve known him the longest and hes actually spent time with ragnar, BUT i think alexander ludwig is a little excessive on trying to copy ragnar’s movements. like okay, mirroring your father in subtle ways on occasion can be a really nice touch. but dont try to BECOME him?? it feels a little forced ngl. this is another reason why ivar has really risen in the ranks for me. he feels like a son of ragnar that ALSO still has his own personality.

but to be fair, bjorn mirroring their father can also just be chalked down to First Child Syndrome™️ where the eldest usually just becomes a spit image of their parent. it just feels a little forced is all im saying.

oh and i was going through fan responses and someone said it seemed like the show was trying to get rid of the old generation to make way for the new and i can definitely see that. helga, torvi, and ragnar are dead, floki’s leaving, the only one still here is lagertha and maybe rollo if he decides to rejoin them again. and honestly? im not even mad at the direction the show’s going in bc im already extremely invested in seeing where the sons of ragnar go (except for the weird fucking romances)

[twdmusicboxmystery]

FTWD 6x14: Mother - Analysis

Okay, how did everyone like the episode? It wasn't one of those hold grails of TD symbolism episodes, but it was still enjoyable to watch.

 ***As always, spoilers for 6x14 abound below. Don’t read until you’ve watched!***

We start out with Teddy in his cell. There are a lot of interesting Easter eggs in this scene. The fact that we see the inside of his cell at all kind of reminded me of best sale in 4x01. I'm not saying there are tons of parallels in the situation, but we didn't see inside the cells of very many people in detail while they were living at the prison. Beth's was one of the most detailed. 

We also see toilet paper (Toilet Paper theme) and we see Teddy writing in journals. Again, it's just a parallel to Beth writing in her journal in 4x01 when Daryl comes to see her.

We see Teddy escape from jail when the apocalypse hits. Then we switch to a school where he is holding Alicia captive. Once again, there are some interesting Easter eggs here. The fact that it's a school at all is important. We saw a school in Coda and around father Gabriel. It's the place where the Termites would camp and eat Bob's leg. We also see a school bus later in the episode.

These are just symbols we’ve seen a lot throughout the series, and they are usually are entangled with Beth symbolism. I noticed there was an American flag on the wall (above left). Not uncommon for school, but it's just reminded me of the American Revolutionary War theme. There is also a random, green tree picture behind Riley at one point (above right).

In the morning, Teddy and Riley come to see Alicia. He says they found a new home after she burned down The Holding. Riley wants to kill her, but Teddy won't let him.

There was also a death row mention here. The last time we heard about death row was in 4a when Glenn mentioned it. It's where they sent the patients who were sick with the virus. So, there's a link between death row, the A theme (because it was cell block A) and people who are sick with a fever and especially need water.

In this scene, we see a red and yellow gas can 

and a black and white truck. 

The school bus brings new recruits, including Dakota. We then learned that she didn't get there coincidentally. She's been looking for Alicia to help her. Teddy immediately likes Dakota when he hears she killed her mother. It will make sense why at the end of the episode. He brings Dakota with them.

He takes Alicia and Dakota out toward the stadium Madison died in. They don’t actually go there, but instead go to a cemetery where they pull the corpse of the woman out of a mausoleum. Again, just some interesting symbols sprinkled around in this part. There's the fact that there in the cemetery at all. And remember that in Dale's speech from S1, he talks about mausoleum of time. He defines time as “a mausoleum of all hope and desire.”

The corpse in the coffin is wearing a deep purple dress. Teddy says it's his mother, but they later revealed this to be a lie. But he tells Alicia near the end that morning glories grew on his mother's grave. Morning glories are also purple.

While in the car, I thought it interesting that Teddy calls Dakota “Sioux.” He says it's because Sioux Falls is favorite place in the Dakotas. Either way, this is a Native American reference and goes along with that theme.

 At this part, he also says, “There are no coincidences. The universe sends us signs. And it’s up to us to interpret them.” Sounds like a spin on, “The signs are all there. You just gotta know how to read them.”

They drive over some nails in the road which were purposely placed, and get flat tires. Then a man named Cole shows up. It's been a long time since I watched seasons 1-3 of Fear, so I couldn't remember exactly who Cole was. But it explains that he and a few others with him used to live in the stadium with the group before Madison died. He seems to be a friend to Alicia and to want to help them. He says he can take them to an auto parts store to look for new tires for the truck.

On the way, Dakota and Teddy talk. They’re instant buddies because they both have the same warped way of thinking. They don’t mind killing people and have no remorse.

When they get to the auto shop, Cole reveals himself as an enemy, and he and his group take Alicia, Teddy and Dakota hostage. Most of Cole’s group just want to take the truck and leave, but he's determined to find out where Teddy's community is so that they can live there and make use of the supplies.

I noticed that at one point, Doug says, "there's got to be a map." We don't actually see a map as Teddy says there isn't one, but anytime a map is mentioned, I always go back to the map Daryl used in 10x18.

Cole tries to get Teddy to talk by threatening the corpse of his mother, but it doesn't work. This is where Teddy reveals that it's not truly his mother. He was trying to make a point to Alicia about how everyone her mother helped was dead and that's why the world needed to die. But meeting Cole, who had clearly sold his soul at some point, just drove home his argument.

Cole puts the three of them on their knees in a lineup, Negan-style, and tries to kill them. But Alicia jumps in a fight ensues as more walkers show up. Eventually everyone is killed and Alicia shoots Cole.

We do get a really interesting symbol here. Alicia puts her arm through the stomach of a blond, female walker, holding a gun with the hand that’s protruding from the walker. And the walker is wearing bright yellow. It’s definitely a Beth walker. And to me, this shows that the “weapon” that will take down this end-of-days plan is Beth.

Then we get perhaps the most blatant parable of the episode. Teddy says to Alicia, "You let go of your past. You aren’t afraid to change." Could there be more Beth centric lines? But the thing is, even though he says the lines, they're not about him. They’re about Alicia. Keep that in mind and I’ll come back to it.

We also find out that Teddy's real mother thought he was disturbed and tried to have him committed. He killed her and buried her in the backyard. Model citizen, right?

He also finally tells Alicia that the key will launch a missile from the submarine in Galveston, which will destroy everything on the outside.

She tries to execute Teddy, but Dakota, who has found a friend in him, defends him. Alicia raises Strand on the walkie and tells him about the submarine before Riley shows up and Teddy's people take her hostage again.

They go to the Franklin Hotel which is apparently their new home. There are several, "Uncle Sam mentions in Teddy's dialogue. Uncle Sam is just a slang term for the USA, so I think this is probably part of the American Revolutionary war theme.

Ultimately, Teddy imprisons Alicia in the basement. The idea here is that he's going to set off the nukes. After he destroys everything, he wants her to rebuild the world.

It was at this part that I understood that Alicia is definitely a Beth proxy here. This actually reaches back to a few episodes ago when she first burned The Holding down. The embalming room was very reminiscent of Grady. Mostly it's because it had medical machines and supplies in it. But it also looked and felt very reminiscent of a room at Grady.

So, Alicia is kind of in a Grady situation with a questionable leader (Dawn, for Beth). And now she's been imprisoned by them with the idea that at some point, she’ll help rebuild the world. 

Sounds like it could be a loose description of Beth's arc. In this part, Teddy says Alicia will be the hope of people in the world needs to be rebuilt.

He even says, "good luck." (Luck Theory).

And given what he said to her earlier about how she left her past behind and was willing to change, clearly Alicia = Beth.

So, that was my main take away from this episode. Alicia's arc is a parallel to Beth’s and we have enough dialogue and parallels to prove it. Meanwhile, they finally admitted to the nuclear thing and we’re heading toward the season finale in just a couple of episodes. It will be a super exciting to see what happens.

What did everyone else think of the episode?

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

The Thief and the Samurai OCs [More Six Shot OCs, kind of]

Episode list here

In the world of Six Shots there is a TV show that is a joint animation project between British animators and Japanese animators. That show is The Thief and the Samurai, which tells the story of a young, blind wandering samurai girl and her unlikely friendship with a scarred, eyepatch-wearing middle aged thief. Together the two wander a bizarre Earth with elements of fantasy and science fiction thrown in, fighting evil and finding treasure as well as learning a great many things along the way.

Currently there are four seasons of 26 episodes each. Every other season is divided into two separate arcs, with seasons 1 and 3 being fully devoted to their stories while seasons 2 and 4 have two seperate storylines of 13 episodes each that come together for a grand conclusion.

The show is basically the equivalent of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure mixed with Samurai Jack in-universe, as neither show exists.

The show is filled with elements that would piss off the British regime, including positive portrayals of homosexuality and the Irish.

The time the show is set is very ambiguous, but it is similar to worlds such as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI in that there is technology such as guns and robots alongside more magical elements such as demons and witches.

The arcs are as follows:

Season 1 – The Adventure Begins

Season 2A – Strange Eons

Season 2B – Wrath of the Demon King

Season 3 – Sakura and Michelle’s World Tour

Season 4A – Ghosts of the Past

Season 4B – My Master’s Keeper (currently airing)

THE SHOW

Seasons 1, 2A, and 3 are the most popular seasons of the show so far.

Season 2B is the most reviled arc, as many fans found Camazotz to be a far inferior villain to Doboro and they did not find the demons who went after Sakura and Michelle to be particularly entertaining, with the exception of Thot.  Doboro’s return in the finale of season 2 was met with great praise.

Season 4A was not well-received until season 4B began to air, as season 4B has so far provided more context for Jet’s actions in the first half of season 4. 

While very popular in Japan, season 3 has more mixed reception in other parts of the world, as it is very monster-of-the-week. However, despite this it still manages to consistently progress the plot, so many are more forgiving.

The show is most popular in America, Japan, Ireland, and Portugal. 

The show is banned entirely in Britain.

MAIN CHARACTERS

Sakura Miror

The daughter of the British pirate queen Rhiannon Miror and the ninja Hiro Hayabusa, Sakura was fascinated from a young age by stories her father would tell her of brave samurai warriors. At the age of eight she was blinded in a freak accident aboard her mother’s ship, and fell into a depression, until her powers developed. After that, she found a teacher and trained for years so she could become a great samurai and travel forth to protect the innocent.

Sakura has abilities very similar to Daredevil, in that she has a sort of radar sense. Her remaining senses are also enhanced.

She is 21 years old, six feet tall, and has red hair. All of these are traits she gets from her mother.

She wears sunglasses all of the time.

Michelle Kitt

A mysterious thief who saved Sakurra’s life during an ambush. She is completely covered in scars and has an eyepatch from some accident she can’t recall; all she knows is that said accident cost her the life of her husband and child, and since then she has turned to a life of plundering and picking pockets. However, since meeting Sakura she has tried to turn over a new leaf, and has more actively tried to help people.

She is 41 years old, five foot six, has dark hair, and has an eyepatch over her right eye.

She prefers to be called a “treasure hunter” than a thief.

She doesn’t have any superhuman capabilities like Sakura; she is just really incredible at stealing, picking pockets, and breaking locks. She could steal a wallet right out of your pocket while looking right at her and you wouldn’t notice until later.

She feels a bit insecure about her looks as she feels her scars make her ugly.

Rhiannon Miror

Rhiannon “The Red” Miror was one of the most feared pirate queens to ever sail the seven seas, known for her ruthlessness towards her enemies as much as for her kindness and graciousness to those she considered a friend. She fell in love with Hiro Hayabusa after a failed assassination attempt, and together the two produced a child: Sakura. She became semi-retired due to a freak accident on her boat blinding her daughter; racked with guilt over it, she decided to retire from piracy for the time being.

She is six feet and six inches tall.

Hiro Hayabusa

Sakura’s father. A renowned ninja, the only failed assassination in his career was when he failed to kill Rhiannon, instead impressing her so much that she took him as a husband. He is a kind, noble, and soft spoken man who very much loves his daughter and feels nothing but pride for her.

He is five foot six inches tall.

ALLIES

Brother Moon

A mysterious priest who runs a church in the British countryside. He may or may not be an alien. He first appeared during the “Wrath of the Demon King” arc of season 2.

Lady Kali

A four-armed woman from India who is seen as a holy figure there, Lady Kali is a super-strong master of hand-to-hand combat who dedicated her life to protecting her  people from evil spirits. She first appeared in season 2, before getting a major part in the India section of season 3.

Master Ishida

Sakura’s master, who trained her as a child. He appeared early in season 1 and had scant appearances until his major role in season 4, which featured him heavily and greatly expanded his backstory, revealing many other students he had taught over the years.

Kurtwood Armstrong

An American tavern owner with insane physical strength. He is incredibly loud, brash, and patriotic, and does not take well to insensitive and cruel people. Michelle and Sakura aided him in freeing his town from the wiles of Cyrus Lovelace in season 3.

Kristopher Kross

A gay German man with the power of magnetism who Sakura and Michelle helped escort through a perilous mountain pass during the German portion of season 3.

Lesedi

An African villager with the ability to shoot blasts of light. Sakura and Michelle aided her in saving her village from the wicked powers of Morrigan Maro.

Talia Ishtar

A young Egyptian woman with the power to make sand duplicates of herself. Sakura and Michelle helped her plunder an ancient tomb and fight off an undead pharaoh while searching for information on Orochi Overlong during season 3.

Vinny Pagliacchi

An Italian man with dwarfism and a bad temper who has the power to phase through objects. He enlisted Sakura and Michelle to help him take out some criminals during season 3.

MAJOR ANTAGONISTS

Lord Horatio Blackmore

An evil British inventor and criminal mastermind, Horatio Blackmore sought revenge against Michelle for stealing from him. While he has no powers to speak of, he has a brilliant mind and a massive airship which he uses to travel the world.

He has an eyepatch and a monocle. He used to wear glasses before he lost his eye.

He is a snappy dresser and also has a curly mustache.

He is a redhead.

He has several specially made canes, though he favors his cane sword and cane rifle most of all.

He was the villain of season 1. While he was defeated, he was not killed and has appeared several more times in the series.

The Triad

Three mysterious women named Faith, Hope, and Serenity. They seek Michelle, and serve the Man in Black.

Serenity is very ditzy and is a brunette. Hope is short, blonde, and irritable. Faith is extremely tall and strong, and has dark hair; she also is rarely seen with her eyes  open and without a smile on her face.

The three seem to have a wide array of powers, from incredible strength, speed, and stamina. As the end of season 1 reveals, this is because they are supernatural beings who serve the Man in Black.

They are not outwardly malevolent, and ease up towards the heroes at the end of season 1. Since then, they have even occasionally aided them, though their work requires they never stick around long.

The Man in Black

A mysterious man who seeks out Michelle for one reason or another. At the end of season 1, it is revealed  he is Death himself, and he was seeking Michelle out because he believed she cheated him; as it turns out, she beat him fair and square, and her family’s killer used some power to distort the truth. He forgave Michelle and allowed her to live to seek vengeance on her family’s killer.

He dresses in an all-black cowboy getup and resembles an older gentleman.

Camazotz

A demon king who resembles a giant, monstrous vampire bat. He was accidentally summoned forth in Professor Doboro’s attempts to awaken the Old Ones, and when he was banished before he could fully materialize by Sakura and Michelle, he vowed vengeance upon them, sending demonic forces to attack them. He is the villain of season 2B.

Hojo Doboro

A mad scientist who was kicked out of the university he once taught at due to his illegal experiments on the dead. He vanished for years, eventually coming back with an army of reanimated dead to seek the five keystones so he could summon forth ancient beings known as the Old Ones to re-write reality as he saw fit. He was the main villain of season 2A.

He supposedly stole a lot of his best ideas from other researchers. However, he is still incredibly brilliant.

He is heavily based on Herbert West and the Cthulhu Mythos. He also gets his name from one of the antagonists of the game Final Fantasy VII.

Orochi Overlong

A strange, lizard-like man who is also a powerful sorcerer. As is revealed towards the end of the season, he is actually the Yamata no Orochi trapped in a physical, human-like form, and his ultimate goal is to reclaim his original form so that he may rule over Japan once again. Using his considerably powerful magic, he blasts Sakura and Michelle halfway across the world and makes them travel across the planet to get back to him, with them only having 44 days to return to Japan before his plans are realized. He is the main villain of season 3, and the leader behind all the villains they end up encountering on their journey.

Jet

A former love interest of Samus from when she was a teenage student of master Ishida, he seemingly died when he fell off of a cliff during an assassin attack on the monastery. However, in season 4 he returned, and he returned seeking revenge against Master Ishida for failing him. He was apparently trained by a master known as “The Black Phoenix,” and with his newfound dark strength Jet seeks to destroy Master Ishida and all who stand in his way.

Akuma Kokuho

The Black Phoenix, an evil martial artist who was said to have made pacts with ancient demons so that he could be unstoppable and unkillable. He is the main antagonist of season 4. particularly part 4B where the full extent of his plans became revealed as well as his connection to Master Ishida: he was a former pupil who was rejected for his inability to reign in his violent tendencies, and became a disgrace to his family, who abandoned him. It was revealed that much of the mythology surrounding Akuma was nothing more than urban legend, but as it turned out he did have the ability to enhance his strength with dark fire and he also had a knack for coming back from supposed death.

MINOR ANTAGONISTS

Gemini

A creation of Professor Doboro, she was created when he stitched the halves of two twins killed by a serial killer together and brought them back to life. She serves as his bodyguard for much of his arc, though she ends up turning on him at the end.

Their original names were Sunny and Luna. Sunny was a platinum blonde, while Luna had black hair.

There is a line of stitches going directly down the middle of her body, from her forehead down.

Her stitches bleed if she becomes too stressed out. They are incredibly durable otherwise.

She has the powers of both sisters due to having both of their brains, or parts of them at least. From Sunny, she has fire powers; from Luna, she has ice powers.

Freya Darke

A young French woman who was turned into a steampunk cyborg by Horatio Blackmore. She acts as his bodyguard and the muscle for him for much of season 1. She abandons him after his airship crashes and goes off on her own; she has appeared antagonizing and helping out the heroes in equal numbers since then.

Morrigan Maro

A cannibal witch from the heart of Africa. She was tormenting a village with her black magic during the events of season 3. Sakura and Michelle were able to take her out with help from Lesedi.

She had the ability to absorb the power from anyone she has consumed. She had amassed quite a lot of power over the years.

Thot

A horny incubus and one of the many demons sent by Camazotz to kill Sakura and Michelle. He acted more as a minor nuisance than anything, and was easily dispatched almost every time he appeared on his own. By the end of the season, he had become smitten with Michelle and vowed to make her love him. He has appeared on a few more occasions to be a nuisance.

Kirk the Killer

An assassin with regenerative abilities from Romania. In his home country he is considered incredibly deadly, but he seems to frequently be on the end of absurd levels of abuse whenever hee appears. Debuting late in season 1, him getting comically slaughtered became a running gag in each of his appearances, save for his starring role in the Romanian episodes of season 3.

Cyrus Lovelace

A racist, homophobic preacher from the South who appeared in season 3. He had the power of a compelling voice, and could command people to do his bidding even against their will. He was a short, fat, mustachioed man.

Rika Ainia

A young warrior woman who was cursed by a witch whose husband she accidentally killed while sparring. The curse causes her to need to fight to the death with an opponent or else she will have to harm herself to ease the pain a bit; as her innate ability causes her to enter into a berserker rage when fighting, she more often than not would emerge victorious, having ended an innocent life. She ended up running afoul of Sakura and Michelle during season 4; however, as of the current episode her role has not entirely been revealed.

Giorgio Fuso, Dee Comporre, and Mr. Viticcio

The three deadly criminals who Sakura and Michelle helped Vinny take down. Fuso had the ability to generate magma; Comporre had the ability to shoot corrosive acid out of her mouth; and Mr. Vitticio could transform his arms into extending, flexible tentacles. All three were extremely dangerous foes.

Chicken Wire

An odd, cowardly man who appeared alongside Jet in season 4. Apparently Jet saved the strange man from dying; he gets his name because his mouth is wired shut as well as due to his cowardly nature. He seems to have some degree  of control over wires wrapped around his body, but to what extent is unknown. To all the world he seems rather unassming and buffoonish.

[laresearchette]

Friday, December 17, 2021 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: SWAN SONG (Apple TV +) UNINTERRUPTED'S TOP CLASS: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE SIERRA CANYON TRAILBLAZERS  (IMDb TV) JOE BOB RUINS CHRISTMAS (Shudder) ROLLING LIKE THUNDER (Crave 3) 9:00pm CHILLIN ISLAND (HBO Canada) 10:30pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT MISTLETOE IN MONTANA (Premiering on December 19 on Lifetime Canada at 8:00pm) 89TH ANNUAL HOLLYWOOD CHRISTMAS PARADE (CW Feed)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME/CRAVE/NETFLIX CANADA/CBC GEM:

AMAZON PRIME CANADA CLARICE (Season 1) THE GRAND TOUR (Season 4) WITH LOVE

CBC GEM CALL THE MIDWIFE SEASON 9 CHRISTMAS SPECIAL ESCAPE TO THE COUNTRY (Season 26A) THANKS FOR EVERYTHING CRAVE TV CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED COMEDY CENTRAL’S A HOT HOLIDAY MESS COMING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS DIGIMON ADVENTURE TRI: COEXISTENCE DIGIMON ADVENTURE TRI: CONFESSION DIGIMON ADVENTURE TRI: DETERMINATION DIGIMON ADVENTURE TRI: FUTURE DIGIMON ADVENTURE TRI: LOSS DIGIMON ADVENTURE TRI: REUNION GEORDIE OGs (Season 4a) GREEN LANTERN AN ICE WINE CHRISTMAS LADYHAWKE THE LAND BEFORE TIME LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION MADAGASCAR THE MATRIX MTV UNPLUGGED: TONY BENNETT AND LADY GAGA NEEDLE IN A TIMESTACK ONE BIG HOLIDAY RECIPE PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND REBA MCENTIRE’S CHRISTMAS IN TUNE ROLLING LIKE THUNDER A SNOWY CHRISTMAS SPENCER’S HOLIDAY BBQ SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON TED 2 THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS

DISNEY + STAR ARENDELLE CASTLE YULE LOG: CUT PAPER EDITION PARIS TO PITTSBURGH

NETFLIX CANADA DECOUPLED FAST & FURIOUS SPY RACERS (season 6) THE WITCHER (season 2)

NHL HOCKEY (SN) 7:00pm: Sabres vs. Penguins (TSN2) 8:00pm: Capitals vs. Jets

NBA BASKETBALL (SN Now) 7:00pm: Heat vs. Magic (SN1) 7:30pm: Warriors vs. Celtics (TSN3) 8:00pm: Lakers vs. Timberwolves (SN1) 10:00pm: Hornets vs. Trailblazers

WHITE HOUSE CHRISTMAS 2021 (HGTV Canada) 7:00pm: Behind the scenes of the three-day project that brings spectacular trees, breathtaking decorations, and over-the-top gingerbread creations to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

HANSEL AND GRETEL: AFTER EVER AFTER (Family Channel) 7:00pm: Youngsters Hansel and Gretel escape from the witch's house in the woods. However, when they return to their village they learn that the villagers are being enticed by a mysterious stranger with sweets.

CANADIAN WOMEN’S HOCKEY (TSN/TSN5) 8:00pm: Canada vs. US

ANNE MURRAY: FULL CIRCLE (CBC) 8:00pm: A documentary exploring the extraordinary life of a Maritime girl who became an international superstar.

CELEBRATING GREATNESS: CANADA'S WALK OF FAME 2021 (CTV) 8:00pm:  Honoring exceptional Canadians with distinctive accomplishments in philanthropy, advocacy, and contributions towards the greater good.

MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MELODY (City TV) 8:00pm:  Once a promising singer-songwriter, Abby now finds herself writing uninspired jingles for commercials. As she heads home for the holidays, Abby soon rediscovers her voice as a local music teacher enlists her to help save a school arts program.

SUGAR PLUM TWIST (W Network) 8:00pm: After failing to get the coveted role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in "The Nutcracker," an aspiring ballerina joins forces with a retiree from the New York City Ballet to create her own dance spectacular -- with a Latin twist.

CHASING GHISLAINE (Investigation Discovery) 8:00pm/9:15pm/10:35pm (SERIES PREMIERE):  Vicky Ward profiles the life of media mogul Robert Maxwell; Maxwell's story helps to pull back the veil on his daughter Ghislaine's mysterious past. In Epsiode Two, Ghislaine Maxwell turns to Jeffrey Epstein for financial security after her father dies, and she introduces him to the rich and powerful; prosecutors say Macwell provided introductions of a very different nature. In Episode Three, Vicky Ward looks at the web of men around Jeffrey, even after he's a convicted sex offender; Ghislaine tries to escape his orbit, but she's drawn back by a revealing photo.

CHRISTMAS AT CASTLEBURY HALL (Super Channel Heart & Home) 8:00pm:  A woman (Katie McGrath) escorts her niece and nephew (Travis Turner) to spend the holidays with their grandfather (Roger Moore), an English duke.

THROWDOWN WITH MICHAEL SYMON (Food Network Canada) 9:30pm (SERIES PREMIERE): Michael Symon pulls out all the stops for a throwdown all about burgers and barbecue; slinging a burger piled high with juicy pulled pork, his mystery competitor is former fine dining chef Matt Abdoo, now at Brooklyn's canalside hot spot, Pig Beach.

THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS (Crave) 9:00pm: A handful of men search for rare, expensive and delicious white Alba truffles deep in the forests of Piedmont, Italy.

CRIME BEAT (Global) 10:00pm:  When Canadian boxing star Eddie "Hurricane" Melo is killed, investigators start digging into his connections to the Montreal Mafia; Mark Carcasole reports on the theories, the arrests and how Melo's daughter is keeping her father's memory alive.

[aion-rsa]

HBO Max New Releases: January 2021

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

It’s a new year and everyone wants to put the vile cesspool that was 2020 behind them. Thankfully, HBO Max is coming out swinging to make the transition out of the hellyear even easier. HBO Max’s list of new releases for January 2021 is positively packed with notable film releases and even a fun HBO Max Original or two.

For starters, Search Party season 4 will arrive to HBO Max on Jan. 14. This season of the show with a now-surprising lifespan finds Dory Sief in the thrall of a deranged stalker…right after getting off on murder charges. These Brooklynites lead such fascinating lives! The other major original or note is the HBO documentary Tiger, that premieres on Jan. 10 and will delve into the complicated history of golfing legend Tiger Woods.

The real story this month, however, are the movies. Perhaps emboldened by its success with Wonder Woman 1984, HBO Max is filling up its servers with as many Warner properties that it can find. The Dark Knight trilogy, Blade, Chinatown, The Exorcist, Mad Max: Fury Road, No Country for Old Men, and Pulp Fiction all arrive on Jan. 1. Poltergeist and Stephen King’s It (1990) make things spooky on Jan. 15. Then the month closes out with, quite simply, the greatest movie of all time: The Mummy (1999). The downside here is that some of these are limited engagements, with the aforementioned WW1984, Blade, Ocean’s Eleven, and more all leaving at month’s end.

Still, January 2021 will provide plenty of filmic fun on HBO Max. Here is the full list for your perusal.

HBO Max New Releases – January 2021

January 1 12 oz. Mouse, Seasons 1-2 42nd Street, 1933 All the President’s Men, 1976 Apple & Onion, Season 1B The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman, 1974 (HBO) Batman Begins, 2005 Batman Beyond Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker, 2000 Batman: Bad Blood, 2016 Batman: Death in the Family, 2020 Batman: Hush, 2019 Batman: The Animated Series Blade, 1998 A Better Life, 2011 (HBO) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 2005 Dog Day Afternoon, 1975 Check It Out! with Steve Brule Chinatown, 1974 Codename: Kids Next Door The Color Purple, 1985 The Conjuring, 2013 Courage the Cowardly Dog Craig of the Creek, Season 2 The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, 2002 (HBO) The Dark Knight, 2008 The Dark Knight Rises, 2012 Dim Sum Funeral, 2009 (HBO) Ed, Edd n Eddy El Amor No Puede Esperar (Aka Love Can’t Wait), 2021 (HBO) Happy Feet, 2006 The Electric Horseman, 1979 (HBO) Escape from New York, 1981 The Exorcist, 1973 Flashpoint, 1984 (HBO) The General’s Daughter, 1999 (HBO) Gossip Girl Green Lantern, 2011 Green Lantern: The Animated Series Gremlins, 1984 Gremlins 2: The New Batch, 1990 The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy Happily N’Ever After, 2007 (HBO) Happily N’Ever After 2: Snow White, 2009 (HBO) Happy-Go-Lucky, 2008 (HBO) He Said She Said, 1991 (HBO) Heaven Help Us, 1985 (HBO) The Infamous Future, 2018 Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, 2001 (HBO) The Jellies Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, 2020 Kong: Skull Island, 2017 Little Con Lili, 2021 (HBO) Loiter Squad Ma, 2019 (HBO) Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, 1983 Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015 Magic Mike, 2012 Mao Mao, Heroes of Pure Heart March of the Penguins, 2005 Margaret, 2011 (Extended Version) (HBO) Miracle On 34th Street, 1994 (HBO) Miss Firecracker, 1989 (HBO) Mulholland Dr., 2001 Mystic River, 2003 Nitro Circus: The Movie 3D, 2012 (HBO) No Country for Old Men, 2007 The Notebook, 2004 Ocean’s 8, 2018 Ocean’s Eleven, 2001 Ocean’s Thirteen, 2007 Ocean’s Twelve, 2004 Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, 1985 Piter, 2021 (HBO) The Producers, 1968 Pulp Fiction, 1994 Purple Rain, 1984 Ready Player One, 2018 Revenge Of The Nerds, 1984 (HBO) Revenge Of The Nerds II: Nerds In Paradise, 1987 (HBO) Revenge Of The Nerds IV: Nerds In Love, 2005 (HBO) Rollerball, 2002 (HBO) Se7en, 1995 Shallow Hal, 2001 (HBO) Snowpiercer, Season 1 A Star is Born, 2018 Superman: Doomsday, 2007 Superman: Man of Tomorrow, 2020 Superman Returns, 2006 Swimfan, 2002 (HBO) This Is Spinal Tap, 1984 The Three Stooges, 2012 (HBO) TMNT, 2007 Tom Goes to the Mayor The Trouble With Spies, 1987 (HBO) Underclassman, 2005 (HBO) V for Vendetta, 2005 Van Wilder: Freshman Year (Extended Version), 2009 (HBO) Walk Of Shame, 2014 (HBO) Warrior, Seasons 1-2 (HBO) Willard, 1971 (HBO) Worth Winning, 1989 (HBO) You Can Count On Me, 2000 (HBO)

January 2 The High Note, 2020 (HBO)

January 4 30 Coins, Series Premiere (HBO)

January 8 Patriot’s Day, 2016 Scream, 1996 Squish, Season 1

January 9 The Alienist: Angel of Darkness, Season 2 Ben 10, Season 4A The King Of Staten Island, 2020 (HBO)

January 10 Miracle Workers, Season 2 Tiger, Two-Part Documentary Premiere (HBO)

January 12 Against The Wild, 2014 Against the Wild 2: Survive the Serengeti, 2016 Alpha and Omega 5: Family Vacation, 2015 Alpha and Omega 6: Dino Digs, 2016 Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard Around the World, 2015 Blue Valentine, 2010 Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, 2000 Earth Girls Are Easy, 1989 An Elephant’s Journey, 2018 The Escape Artist, 1982 Get Carter, 1971 Hecho En Mexico, 2012 Hellboy: Blood and Iron, 2007 Hellboy: Sword of Storms, 2006 Hellboy: The Dark Below, 2010 Jennifer Lopez: Dance Again, 2016 The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, 1976 The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, 2013 La Mujer de Mi Hermano, 2005 Leapfrog Letter Factory Adventures: Amazing Word Explorers, 2015 Leapfrog Letter Factory Adventures: Counting on Lemonade, 2014 Leapfrog Letter Factory Adventures: The Letter Machine Rescue Team, 2014 Leapfrog: Numberland, 2012 Lost and Delirious, 2001 Love and Sex, 2000 Lovely & Amazing, 2002 The Man Who Would Be King, 1975 Meatballs, 1979 The Men Who Stare at Goats, 2009 A Mermaid’s Tale, 2017 Mistress, 1992 Mother’s Day, 2012 Mud, 2013 Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki, 2016 Night is Short, Walk on Girl, 2017 No Eres Tu Soy Yo, 2011 Norm of the North: King Sized Adventure, 2019 Ollie & Moon, Seasons 1-2 Other Parents, Seasons 1-2 Pinocchio, 2012 Promare, 2019 Reservoir Dogs, 1992 Ride Your Wave, 2019 Righteous Kill, 2008 Sprung, 1997 The Spy Next Door, 2010 Tender Mercies, 1983 Thanks for Sharing, 2013 Turtle Tale, 2018 The Visitor, 2008 Vixen, 2015

January 14 Search Party, Max Original Season 4 Premiere

January 15 Stephen King’s It, 1990 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975 Poltergeist, 1982 Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Director’s Cut, Season 1 dubbed (Crunchyroll Collection) Real Time With Bill Maher, Season 19 Premiere (HBO) Roots (Mini Series), 1977 Si Yo Fuera Rico (Aka If I Were Rich), 2021 (HBO) The Wayans Bros

January 16 Eve Kill Bill: Vol. 1, 2003 (HBO) Kill Bill: Vol. 2, 2004 (HBO)

January 19 Everwood

January 20 At Home with Amy Sedaris, Season 3 C.B. Strike, Season 1 (HBO) C.B. Strike: Lethal White, Limited Series Premiere (HBO)

January 21 Gomorrah, Max Original Season 3 Premiere Looney Tunes Cartoons, Season 1C

January 22 The New Adventures of Old Christine Painting with John, Series Premiere (HBO)

January 23 Don’t Let Go, 2019 (HBO) Person of Interest

January 24 Euphoria Special Episode Part 2: F*ck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob, Special Episode Premiere (HBO)

January 26 Babylon 5 Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (HBO)

January 29 ¡Animo Juventud! (Aka Go Youth!), 2021 (HBO) The Little Things What I Like About You

January 30 The Mummy, 1999 (HBO) The Mummy Returns, 2001 (HBO) Pushing Daisies The Scorpion King, 2002 (HBO)

January 31 Axios, Season 4 Premiere (HBO)

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Leaving HBO Max – January 2021

January 7 War Dogs, 2016

January 24 Wonder Woman 1984, 2020

January 31 Ad Astra, 2019 After Hours, 1985 Akeelah And The Bee, 2006 All Is Bright, 2013 America, America, 1964 Anchors Aweigh, 1945 The Arrangement, 1969 Bee Season, 2005 Before Sunrise, 1995 Before Sunset, 2004 Best Laid Plans, 1999 Bigger Than The Sky, 2005 Blade II, 2002 Blade, 1998 Blood Simple, 1984 Bridge To Terabithia, 2007 Bright Lights, Big City, 1988 The Change-Up, 2011 The Children, 2009 A Christmas Carol, 1938 Crash, 2005 (Director’s Cut) David Copperfield, 1935 Days After Your Departure, 2019 Enemy Of The State, 1998 Everybody’s All-American, 1988 Father’s Day, 1997 Friday Night Lights, 2004 Get On Up, 2014 Guys And Dolls, 1955 High Society, 1956 Jeepers Creepers 2, 2003 Jeepers Creepers, 2001 Leprechaun 2, 1994 Leprechaun, 1993 Magnolia, 1999 The Man With The Golden Arm, 1955 Mars Attacks!, 1996 Martha Marcy May Marlene, 2011 Martin Lawrence You So Crazy, 1994 New Year’s Eve, 2011 (HBO) Ocean’s Eleven, 2001 Ocean’s Thirteen, 2007 Ocean’s Twelve, 2004 On The Town, 1949 The Pelican Brief, 1993 Planet Of The Apes, 2001 Risky Business, 1983 Semi-Pro, 2008 Some Came Running, 1958 Something Borrowed, 2011 Splendor In The Grass, 1961 Walk The Line, 2005 (Extended Version) When Harry Met Sally, 1989

The post HBO Max New Releases: January 2021 appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3oepkCv

[ohifonlyx33]

Top 5 episodes of season 4

Like season 3. was so good in a lot of ways.season 4.... but flawed.This season started out decently. SHIELD was being reestablished, Daisy was AWOL and Ghost Rider was done nicely. Props to that. Really, all our favourite characters were in interesting places at the beginning, and I'm glad to know they had a bit of a break. I always hated how weird they made A.I.D.A. and the fact that Fitz kept her a secret from Simmons was such a dumb extra plot point. The momentum labs storyline was a bit slow, and Eli as the main villain didn't make a lot of sense to me. In 4A, the blatant lack of meaningful Fitzsimmons screen time (and especially the lack of kissing) was a disappointment considering there are only TWO Fitzsimmons kisses the entire episode and that’s not enough to sustain me through everything to come... The LMD arc was pretty great, as it worked to keep it short. The fact that no one knows May is replaced makes it a secret arc, almost. Until suddenly everything has gone crazy. Then there’s the set up for the framework, man... so much potential, but they took it about 3 steps past cruel and that was not okay. It's a great concept, but waaay too hard to watch. If Fitz had been even just half as evil (more Radcliffe, less Whitehall) and not a victim of A.I.D.A.’s gross sexual abuse, then maybe. But my word it’s TOO MUCH.

-Self-Control  (4x15) This is a masterpiece. Definitely one of the show's best. The acting and directing doesn't miss a single beat. The scenes between Fitz and Simmons are exceptionally painful. Iain is amazing at switching modus operandi and Liz is completely freaking out the whole time. Daisy and Jemma teaming up is beautiful and emotional. Oh my gosh I'm starting to tear up just thinking about this episode. It's so raw... Also, the fight scene with Daisy is so powerful, and the set up for the Framework was so exciting and full of potential (ahahaha).

-Deals With Our Devils (4x07) Coulson, Fitz, and Robbie disappear from the burst of energy in Momentum Labs and the team doesn't know what happened to them. Turns out they are stuck in an alternate dimension and safe to say, they're freaking out. The structure of this episode is really cool. There are a few places I felt the episode doesn't quite deliver the right beat. And although I love seeing her compassion, Simmons helping the inhuman feels rather easy and therefore a bit anticlimactic, and Fitz is really freaking out about nothing. Also the Darkhold is about to ruin everything.

-Uprising (4x03) The downside? Fitzsimmons do not interact... like at all. The upside? They're both amazing on their own. During an EMP attack Fitz is teamed up with Mack and Coulson and goes Old School with homemade magnets and maths and a healthy amount of intellectual superiority. Meanwhile an EMP hits Simmons in the middle of resuscitating May, and she almost loses her. Elena is also around and there's a classic Agents of SHIELD twist on who the real villain is. It’s just a cool episode I think.

-Hot Potato Soup (4x12) After 3 and a half seasons, we get in-depth Fitz backstory WHAT IS THIS. It's so good and character-driven that it almost feels out of character. And Jemma is by his side. I also love Mack defending Turbo to a Latin-chanting Robot, even if it is a bit random that Radcliffe knew his father. Unfortunately I'm not a big fan of the Koenigs being character jokes... even though they have some funny moments, I hate how the Koenigs are basically running gags instead of real people.

-The Return/World's End (4x21-22) I couldn't pick between the two since they both have serious strengths and flaws (#1 GET FITZ AWAY FROM HIS ABUSER). I wanted better conclusion from the horrors of the Framework Arc, but considering how deeply disturbing and profoundly traumatic the Framework actually turned out to be ("thanks, writers" she said sarcastically), the writers were in a corner to actually resolve it. Still, we've got some nice team moments as well as seeing Philinda skirting around why Phil drank the Haig, Fitz declaring his undying love for Simmons in an otherwise poorly written scene, Fitz crying in SImmons arms (and killing me), Mackelena in the Framework and talking about Hope, and seeing A.I.D.A. get shot repeatedly by SImmons and then burned alive by Ghost Rider in Coulson's body!

[sly2o]

Unlocking Season 4′s potential: a Riley story (I swear this isn’t crack)

TL;DR: I think Riley was supposed to be a LI for Clarke, and Monty + Harper filled a story-line that Bryan + Miller was supposed to have, and that Miller was supposed to go to space.

We know that when the actor who plays Bryan abruptly left the show to pursue another role, which resulted in the parts written for him being given to a new character named Riley. So with the information we have, what was Bryan supposed to be doing in 4A and 4B?

Well first let’s ask ourselves…

What was Riley supposed to be doing before this shift in plot line?

Answer: Clarke.

I call forward as evidence:

1. The awkward hug.

Clarke clearly recognizes Riley, and clearly has a history with him. This is never resolved (and evidently never will be). Why waste the audience’s time with this?

2. Niylah’s out of character return

When the actor who got cast as Riley had to shift into Bryan’s role in 4A, someone else had to shift into what had originally been carved out as the Riley role. Hence the return of Niylah.

Why on Earth would Niylah want to climb into bed (so to speak) with the very kru that killed her family? Why would she want to tend bar for the people who executed her father?  After the violent interaction she had with Skaikru in Season 3 where they stormed her home - which resulted in it being attacked by ALIE - why would she want to be anywhere near Skaikru ever again? 

Clarke’s magic ladybits can only explain so many of these questions without some very explicitly stated plot - and helping make rations is hardly good enough. 

How Niylah turned around to accepting Skaikru is 100% glossed over... almost as if it wasn’t planned for. 

3. Niylah’s extremely lacking season 4 character arc.

If Niylah’s presence in the Skaikru area was planned all along - why didn’t she play a role in helping free Bellamy in 4x11? Surely she’d want to help all the people she had traded with in the past survive the radiation blast.

If her presence was planned all along, why did she play a bizarrely helpless role in stopping Illian when he arrived at Arkadia to blow up the place? What happened to the capable Niylah who lied to the Prince of Azgeda in the premiere of Season 3?

98% of Niylah’s role is season 4 was to be a place of comfort for Clarke to go to, where Clarke could exposition her internal thought process. 

Because that was what Riley’s role was supposed to be - and it would make sense in the context of a new character whose role was crafted to serve this piece of plot.

4. Timing of Riley’s and Niylah’s appearances

Niylah doesn’t show up until episode 5, which is a few episodes after Riley is introduced. In theory, if Riley had stayed in his original role this would have been enough time for Clarke to catch up with Riley and do her usual grief bang move with her old love interest.

Furthermore, the fact that Riley gets a reaction, introduction, and hug - and Niylah just sort of shows up should raise some alarm bells about how she was not originally supposed to be in this season.

What was Nathan supposed to be doing this season?

Last year Jarod Joseph tweeted he would be back in Season 4 in a “big way”… and yet the season showed us otherwise. Aside from break up with Bryan,  sharing moon-eyes with Jackson, and being a guy with a gun when you need a guy with a gun.

So what was he supposed to be doing?

Answer: part of the Monty/Harper 4B plot.

Supporting evidence:

1. Riley being built up in 4A and then being sidelined in 4B just to die.

The writers had to dispose of Riley after he filled in the role of Bryan in 4A. As much as we all love Riley, let’s be real, he was never Spacekru material. There also wasn’t space to resolve his character in the finale (see below) because Niylah had taken his role so he just got... disposed of.

2. Bryan’s planned path of descent in 4A.

We know that the episode where Bellamy talks down Riley from assassinating Roan was supposed to be Bryan. We know that Bryan was headed to a darker place with respect to his mental health. The break up with Nathan (or what was at least going to be the start of a line of major fights) likely didn’t help either.  Season 3 had already established that there was strain in this relationship (Bryan and Miller taking different sides in the Pike/Kane leadership) so this also wasn’t coming out of nowhere. Speaking of which…

The scene where Harper accidentally is linked to an Arkadian dying was probably Bryan’s last straw. But for Harper it was... the only straw? How did she break so fast? Being cut from the list could have added to that... but it seems a bit like she was shoehorned into a role meant for someone else.

3. People arguing that they want to live in 4A and then deciding to die in 4B?????

Both Harper and Riley are a part of the mob that are pissed at Clarke for creating the list and excluding them. Now just a few weeks later they are OK with dying? That’s not right. How did their anger turn in that direction so quickly? 

4. Monty on double comfort duty at the DNR den

For me this one of the most compelling reasons for why Harper was supposed to be Bryan.

I believe Monty and Harper were still supposed to both be at Arkadia, but they were both supposed to be there because of Jasper’s importance to Monty. This would have been mirrored by Nathan and Bryan also being there and having a very similar fight to the one Harper and Monty had in the actual episode. By having these two pairs there (Monty + Jasper, Nathan + Bryan) it would have really drawn out the parallels between these journeys with respect to mental health.  

But instead we essentially had an understaffed Monty running back and forth between two people to comfort them which made for awkward pacing during the episode. 

The impacts of Bryan’s replacement on the finale.

Nathan and Bryan were supposed to go to space.

If the above scenarios had come to pass, then Nathan and Bryan would have been with the Arkadia group, meaning they would have been able to go to space. If this had happened, it would have really helped frame Octavia as alone again underground isolated from her peers.I also get the impression that Nathan + Dad Miller were filling in a storyline that someone else was meant to have, to echo back to Tor Lenkin and his kid and really emphasize that “are we really doing this again?” parallel. I think the kid everyone joked that Jaha adopted was supposed to be that kid. Instead that new Tor and his kid got sort of shuffled to the side as the writers scrambled to shoehorn in how they would save Nathan when he had been left off the list. 

Emori was supposed to be kicked out of the second dawn bunker.

The Arkadians pushing around and then kicking out Niylah didn’t make very much sense... Why would her [grounder] people abandon her? Because she spent 2 months hanging out over at Arkadia? That seems a little bit like an over-reaction. Are we supposed to believe she was so bad at trading that she had no favours she could use to get picked by her people? I hardly believe that. Again - what happened to the Niylah who could boldly lie in the face of the prince of Azgeda?

Now go back to the finale and imagine it was Emori who got kicked out by the Arkadians — this is a highly believable scenario because Emori has no people to speak for her since she was cast out for being different. John following his heart again because they are going to make it together in the bunker. Clarke giving her helmet to Emori would have meant so. much. more.  on the heels of Emori being thrown out of the second dawn bunker, combined with how Clarke used the nightblood on herself instead of Emori. And then Emori saying “can’t we wait a little longer?” for Clarke after all that? Ugh my emotions.

...And now the crack

(Look I have no self control - I can’t write meta without including crack)

Was Clarke supposed to be pregnant?

YEAH I KNOW, OK, BUT HEAR ME OUT.

1. Why has Jason insisted on calling Madi “Clarke’s child” as opposed to her little sister? Is it a hang-up from where the plot was supposed to go?

2. Consider this: what if for “science reasons” the nightblood only worked because of the child inside her? Quite frankly we had an entire episode around why nightblood can’t be made in a laboratory on Earth, and it was enraging to see it work in the end because that means more people could have survived. It would have been much more satisfactory to see that it was Clarke’s unique scenario that that saved her life. (Also explains the throw up in the finale). Plus it would help stress in season 5 that Clarke owes her very life to her child which is why she always puts the child first. It also explains why it was six years of time gap. A five year old (remember, we lose almost a year because pregnancy time) is old enough/big enough to get into trouble on their own. Four years old is kinda pushing it on the “this is way too young” spectrum. 

Some Last Thoughts

Something I hope I haven’t stirred up, but that I will mention in case I did, is that I hope this doesn’t come off as anti-niylah/niylarke. My complaints are really that Niylah and her relationship with Clarke could have been done way better in this season. Ultimately it was great relationship for Clarke to have (and honestly, probably a better pairing than Riley + Clarke would have been), but the execution was really off for all the reasons I named above.

I think a lot of the pacing problems with the season can be traced back to Bryan’s exit. It makes me ask - why didn’t they just recast? But I guess that’s not really something they do with this show (except for Madi?? IDK)

I’m sure there are other pieces to this puzzle I am missing, but I find this concept so easy to lock in with the season that I just can’t help but believe it was what was originally written. 

Either way it’s unprovable and not canon... but I thought I’d share my speculation for what might have been with you all. Hope you enjoyed. 

[optimisticcritique]

Gotham 4x05 - Re-watch Review

Preparing myself for Gotham’s return...while I am still watching 4x12 live, my reviews will probably not finish before it airs. We’ll see. 

More quality hard workers in Gotham. I should be surprised but I’m not.

This is so depressing...but yay to Grundy! 

More heated disagreements for Harvey and Jim. They should really just hug it out. 

Bruce feels guilty, angsty, emotional, and angry. Ready to make rash and impulsive decisions. All sounds like regular emotions, especially for his age.

That poor family. Wow, there were not a lot of people there. Were they late or was that all there was?

“Instead, you’ve been placing him in harm’s way”. I’m sorry Jim, have you met Bruce? If only you knew everything that was going on.

I’d love to see Jim try to take care of Bruce for a day (last episode doesn’t count) and watch him. It would be a lot harder than he thinks. Alfred can take the day off. Maybe go on a cruise, go hiking, visit someone in arkham, or beat up some thugs. You know, an average vacation.  

Wow, what lousy security. It is almost as if these guards were not legit and did not care that Babs had a weapon to break Ra’s out...

So, what’s the exact status of the Babs and Ra’s relationship? *Currently in love with a dusty corpse, possible resurrection still pending. I can see that being a great Facebook status to use one day. 

Yeah, Babs. I am still a bit unclear on Ra’s motivations too.

I feel Barbara is the type of person that always has something with her for any given situation. Need lipstick? Got it. Need booze? Got it. Need a way to escape an almost inescapable prison because you murdered a young boy? Got it. 

Some people believe Ra’s vibrated his sperm/a baby into Barbara to get her pregnant. Some believe it was his life force to bring him back to life. Try explaining that to a non-Gotham fan with no context. 

It’s alliiiive!

And Grundy has been born! Odd. It isn’t even Monday. 

His shirt is non-existent but most of his pants are in tact #familytelevision.

Born on a Monday, chr-crap. Am I the only one that always gets this song in my head every time I hear it? 

Imagine if Butch wasn’t the only one to be thrown in the swamp and was reborn. Gotham vs. zombie apocalypse for season 5!

 Mr. Penn has returned! <3 So wise, so patient. 

 I actually created a Mr. Penn fan club. So far I’m the only member but it’s really hitting it’s stride! 

I am surprised it took so many seasons to see Oswald actually icing his leg and showing genuine pain from it. I know it is Gotham and there are a lot of people that want him dead but he should really consider seeing a doctor.  

Oswald’s face when Sofia touches him says two things. One: What? Did you just touch me without physically trying to harm me? Two: Not having any of it. Not interested.

I forgot how many times “I’m a Falcone”, “Falcone name”, and “my father...” are mentioned by Sofia in 4A. I should start a drinking game. 

“Add a question mark, will you?” Savage. Also, let’s be real Oswald. You wouldn’t murder Carmine’s only daughter that easily. He’d be coming for you.

I wonder if things would have been better for Oswald if he just went along with Sofia’s game-knowing she is playing him-and just plays her back in return.

The real problems in life: Inability to think 3 steps ahead AND inability to solve riddles. Yes, there is a medication that fits those exact symptoms. 

Smartivia...Ed, come on, really?

Ed has a very big mouth. Dentists must love him.

I would call Ed a drama queen for reacting in that way but, to be honest, I would probably react the same if I was unexpectedly stabbed in the hand.

Fake gun lol I wish it was the same one he threatened Oswald with. Too bad I doubt it.

Hey, where did he get a fake gun anyway? How could he get a fake on in Gotham but not a real one? Did he just steal it from a child on the street? 

I was wrong. He is definitely a drama queen. 

That’s a lot of pills at once, Ed. What if they were real pills?

Sometimes I forget Ed was frozen on ice and didn’t know that Butch or Babs “died”.

Grundygma is born. 

“Man talk too much” - Edward Nygma/The Riddler in a nutshell. Yeah, he’s always been someone who never shuts up, whether his brain works or not. 

Alfred and Jim working together >>>>>> Jim criticizing Alfred’s parental  skills, which Jim knows nothing about because he is not a parent yet.

Does everyone just expect terrible security in Gotham? Is it common knowledge? I mean, Bruce seems to break in with such ease, not worrying about being caught. 

You really should of thought about whether you wanted to stab him or not  before walking inside his cell and breaking into the jail. And taking off your mask.

What was your exact plan Bruce?

Corrupt. Always corrupt workers in Gotham.

All the weapons gag. Alfred, you are truly amazing.

Jim making fun of Alfred for under crackers...we need more moments like this.

Alfred should really have more scenes with other people more often.  

I want to know how the hand grew exactly? Is he part lizard?

Grundy and Ed is the friendship I never knew I needed.

I love how Grundy assumed Ed was just hungry. He doesn’t want to be my friend? It’s just his empty stomach talking.

The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach... Ed isn’t secretly in love with Grundy is he? Will that be his next love interest after this season?

Sofia playing the long game.

Does Ed honestly think flailing is enough to get free? 

“I assure you, we are not friends” Grundy’s face says: Dude, I just gave you a hot dog! Really? Did that mean nothing to you?

Grundy/Ed hug <3 Oh yeah, I’ve given and gotten hugs like that before. You know, the ones where someone nearly suffocates you to death. Good times.

Only Oswald can be a sassy eater... and be strangely entertaining when eating.

I love the small details of having a guy test his food. It’s the little things.

Oswald’s thoughts as he takes bite: “Oof emotions creeping. Remembering happiness and sadness... Nooo! Must not feel! Must leave before emotions get me!” I feel like this is a relatable feeling for Nygmobblepot fans when watching old scenes. Or fans of any ship or character in this show in general.

Oswald seems either ashamed of his leg, protective from it hurting worse, or both. Probably both.

Sofia playing the mom card. You’d think Oswald would be paranoid, given a similar situation was happening with Carmine in Season 1.

Sofia likes to tell a lot of stories from her childhood.

Ra’s really does know how to hit the right points and push someone into murdering him.

I am still surprised Bruce stabbed him. I still think Ra’s will come back though... somehow. 

And emotionless Bruce is here. Not a fan of emotionless Bruce.

Cherry! 

How does Cory feel about being called things like “string bean” and “squirt”? Always wondered how actors feel when being called those things. 

And...here comes Lee! Drinking, of course. The trio is finally here.

Over all: Great episode. I did initially get disappointed over Ra’s death happening so soon and Bruce going full blown angst but, when binging episodes, it isn’t such a big deal. Not when you know Ra’s will likely be back and Bruce will grow. I enjoyed the pairings and interactions in this episode. Edward and Grundy bond. Sofia gets closer to Penguin. Jim and Alfred working together to get Bruce. Bruce and Ra’s being honest with each other, only for Bruce to stab him. Just going deeper into what is soon about to come...  

Previous Review: 4x04  Next: 4x06

[nonagaye]

What’s done in the dark...

@ladyandtheghost​ Tyrion: “I’m her hand, not her head.” Yes, you are, dear. You’re definitely one of the dragon’s heads…Interesting theory. Dolores will be betrayed at some point, we know that. Jon conspiring with Tyrion and Varys actually makes a bit more sense  than his going secret agent all by himself.

It would also be a parallel to the Sansa/Bran/Arya trio taking out LF in secret. It might also explain why Tyrion was there to witness Jon going for boatbang with Dolores - and his reaction. People say he looks upset because he’s jealous, and that might well be, but what if he feels guilty, because he knows what’s going on and contributed to Dolores letting Jon literally ‘in’ by suggesting to her that he is in love with her?

(This reply is just me trying to make sense of it all and connect dots)

Tyrion witnessed #PaddleBoatBang and the scene implies that Tyrion was already there in the shadows the entire time, we never see Tyrion’s door open; he’s just standing there (at least that’s how it’s been cut). Tyrion has as shadow over the face, same as Jon.

Reminds me of another episode, Season 4 Episode 10 “The children”. Tyrion kills his lover and father. That episode highlights Shae, Tyrion’s lover, betraying him as well as his father by trying to have him killed.

Game of Thrones: Season 4 Episode 10

Game of Thrones: Season 7 Episode 7

In my opinion Tyrion is due for some drama. He hasn’t been in it for a minute. His character arc has suffered under Danny Tanner, the only way the show can redeem him is if Tyrion betrays her. Now, Tyrion could easily betray her for Cersei, but how would he make sure that Danny does exactly as he wants--Jon.

Still betrayal could cut either way.

Tyrion betrays Danny for Cersei, but he later finds out from Jamie his scheming was all for nothing because Cersei don’t give a fuck

Tyrion, Varys, and Jon’s scheme is all for nothing, since J/D are related and actual hell will break loose in the North.

The shadow on Jon’s face

“[...] her lover was always younger and more comely, though his face remained a shifting shadow.”

We can take that shifting shadow as Danny not being able to make out who her lover is. But since Jon’s face is described as a shadow in the books...It’s more than likely him. Let’s define.

Shifting: changing, especially unpredictably.

Shadow: a dark area or shape produced by a body coming between rays of light and a surface. 2. used in reference to proximity, ominous oppressiveness, or sadness and gloom.

In Jungian psychology, the "shadow", "Id", or "shadow aspect/archetype" may refer to (1) an unconscious aspect of the personality which the conscious ego does not identify in itself. In short, the shadow is the "dark side". Because one tends to reject or remain ignorant of the least desirable aspects of one's personality, the shadow is largely negative, or (2) the entirety of the unconscious, i.e., everything of which a person is not fully conscious.

[There are so many damn definitions of shadow that I just chose these two because they sum up the other 10 meanings.]

Danny’s Dream Interpretation:

Jon is unpredictable; ominous face; source of gloom

Danny’s dream could also represent her own psyche and ego, she refuses to see the darker, oppressive side of herself; only the lover.

“Nothing Good”

“His long face floated before her, limned in tongues of red and orange, appearing and disappearing again, a shadow half-seen behind a fluttering curtain.” -Melisandre

Limned; 

1. draw or paint on a surface 

2:  to outline in clear sharp detail 

 Tongues; 

3a:  language; especially:  a spoken language

b:  manner or quality of utterance with respect to tone or sound, the sense of what is expressed, or the intention of the speaker 

c:  ecstatic, typically unintelligible utterance occurring especially in a moment of religious excitation 

5:  a tapering flame; tongues of fire

red/orange; fire

 Jon is described in the language of fire

Half-seen; partially seen

fluttering;

2a: to move with quick wavering or flapping motions 2b: to vibrate in irregular spasms 3: to move about or behave in an agitated aimless manner 

curtain;

2: a device or agency that conceals or acts as a barrier 4a: the movable screen separating the stage from the auditorium of a theater c: the final situation, line, or scene of an act or play d: the time at which a theatrical performance begins e: curtains plural : end; especially :  death (someone or something)

Melisandre’s flames:

Jon is a dark partially seen face, concealed behind a quick wavering barrier. Part of himself is hidden(Targ?)

The interpretation could also be Jon’s death

Melisandre sees Jon face behind a curtain. Using definition 4d, Jon could possibly be putting on an act.

“Don’t fight in the North or the South. Fight every battle everywhere, always, in your mind. Everyone is your enemy, everyone is your friend. Every possible series of events is happening all at once. Live that way and nothing will surprise you. Everything that happens will be something that you’ve seen before.” -Littlefinger

Littlefinger has always acted as the guy that tells the audience exactly what’s going on or he tells us what to do with what we’ve seen on screen. We’ve seen Jon “in love” before. We’ve seen betrayal before. We’ve seen Tyrion and Varys play the game. We see a Mad Queen.

Jonsa fam is not wrong for thinking of every possible outcome (besides the obvious) and seeing everyone as an enemy/friend of Sansa/The North. This is what were are told to do. 

[twdmusicboxmystery]

TWD 10x04: Silence the Whisperers - Analysis

How did everyone like the episode? As always, I thought it was really good. The first thing I’ll say is that there isn’t nearly as much symbolism in it as there has been in the past few episodes. Not that there isn’t any, but you know how the past few have just been ridiculously overflowing with it? This one just has less. It’s one of those episodes that’s more action-oriented and setting up for what comes next.

***As always, spoilers abound below for episode 10x04. Don’t read until you’ve watched!!!***

Opening Sequence:

So the song playing in this sequence whispers “1, 2, 3” over and over again, which I think it significant. I already talked in an Ask about the wheel decoration behind Daryl, and how I think it represents the death fake out arc, and may show that Beth’s arc is about to come back around. Beyond that, Ezekiel is sad, Magna is having some issues, and a tree comes through Hilltop’s wall.

Hilltop:

We learn that 9 people got trapped in a building when the tree hit the roof and it caved in. They got all the people out, but this could be part of the Hole in the Roof theory. As the episode proceeds, the noise from the tree brings walkers and they’re afraid the whole wall will collapse. It’s already been weakened by the tree and now all the walkers are pushing in on it.

This hearkens back to two things for me. The first is the fallen trees in Them, which I always saw as significant. The second is, of course, when the church fell in S6, bringing down Alexandria’s walls and letting walkers in in 6x08/09.

Why would that be significant? Well, I think it’s obvious why Them would be significant, yeah? I mean, it’s after the storm and the fallen trees that the music box woke up. So if you want to draw a direct parallel, you might argue Beth will arrive after the tree falls. Honestly, I don’t see this as a big enough event to herald that, but it might be one of many small events that lead to her. More on that in a minute.

And how about paralleling it to S6? The biggest thing for me there is that that was smack in the middle of Glenn’s death fake out. After the church fell and let the walkers in, Glenn showed up, miraculously alive, and reunited with Maggie. Just saying.

In terms of the plot, I’m wondering (and this is pure conjecture) if Hilltop will eventually fall too. The Kingdom has already gone down, and I wonder if HT will too, forcing the entire group together at Alexandria. I’m not at all positive that’s where they’re going, but it crossed my mind.

Because the wall actually does collapse, but Michonne’s group shows up to help fight the walkers, and they do talk about fixing it. So we’ll see.

Ezekiel:

Given all the messages and Asks I’ve gotten about this, I doubt I need to explain it in great detail. Zeke has always had heavy parallels with Beth. Just as Daryl and Carol are very similar, so Beth and Ezekiel are too. Here, we have him contemplating suicide, much as Beth did in S2. Much like her, he realized he wants to live. 

As I mentioned in an Ask, this happened on one side of the now-broken bridge Rick was blown off of. So that connects him to Rick. And he wore a green shirt (Beth). So I think that connects him to the death fake outs and this functions as a foreshadow of Zeke’s own coming death fake out.

He also rode a black horse. It ran by Michonne after he let it go. That made me realize something. It’s not anything groundbreaking, but just a detail I hadn’t really thought of before. We’ve always seen as white horse = Beth and black horse = Daryl. The white horse also = life or being alive. But I realized the black horse also = death, despair, lack of hope. That’s how Zeke felt here, and how Daryl felt around the time Buttons died. Again, nothing we didn’t already know, but I just hadn’t thought of it that way before.

When Michonne and Ezekiel talk, she says, “it never would have worked between us anyway. We’re both too stubborn.” He says, “maybe in another universe.” I laughed at that. As in, the comic book universe? It’s obviously the writers’ way of acknowledging that this is a nod to their comic book romance, but it’s not going to happen in the show. (Add that to the list of things TD has been correct about.)

Daryl/Lydia/Alexandria:

This was obviously the biggest story thread in the episode. And I gotta say, I loved it! Gauge and his friends are mean to Lydia and bully her. She talks to Negan about it more and more, which Daryl isn’t happy about.

I was laughing hysterically when Lydia butchered the squirrel in front of them. How much like Daryl is that? Like father, like daughter, I guess. She’s rebellious just like he is. Which isn’t surprising since they come from similar, abusive backgrounds.

Daryl is older and wiser now and advises her not to provoke them, but he himself would have done much the same only a few years ago.

The three bullies attack Lydia and Negan saves her. I gotta say, while I was one who thought it would have been more just for them to execute Negan at the end of AOW, it’s really hard to hate him when he’s being sweet to Lydia. While rescuing her, he accidentally kills the woman who used to be with the highwaymen.

So, remember in episode 1 when I talked about how Negan told FG he didn’t want people’s fear of the Whisperers to blow up in his face so that they blamed him and wanted to string him up? I said that was setting something up and this would happen eventually. So this episode is the fulfillment of that. It truly was an accident and he didn’t mean to kill her, but no way people are going to let it go, now. So Negan takes off.

In truth, I’ve been waiting for him to take off. I’m actually really excited about this story line. Remember last season when Negan escaped and left Alexandria for a while? Judith tried to stop him, and he took her compass? Well, he was only gone a short time, but during that time we saw tons of callbacks to Still, saw him run from dogs, and saw tons of other Beth-ish symbolism. We weren’t exactly sure what it meant at the time, but now I think we do.

That small excursion from Alexandria was a foreshadow of this one. He’ll probably be gone much longer this time and the arc will be much bigger. It’s important to note that we saw not only Beth symbolism, but also saw Negan drink bad water and throw it up. That hints at the radiation/helicopter group stuff.

So I’m not saying Negan will meet Beth in the woods next episode—obviously I’d be great with that, but I’m sure it will be much more complicated and protracted—but just that something about him leaving will lead to Beth. I’m excited to see how it all plays out.

When Daryl talks to Carol, she says all the drama in the communities—both the stuff with Negan and Lydia, as well as the tree situation at Hilltop—are distractions from the true enemy: Alpha. I know there are lots of theories floating around about Carol being the one to have let Negan out. 

While I don’t think we have much evidence of that either way, I certainly wouldn’t dismiss it. It would mirror her killing Karen and David at the prison in 4a. Not that the action is the same, but this wouldn’t be the first time Carol took it on herself to solve a problem in a less than ethical way, because she thinks it’s for the greater good. But no one knows for sure what happened yet. They didn’t tell us in this episode. So we’ll just have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, when Michonne and Daryl talk on the radio, she tells him to protect Lydia. She’s afraid that if anything happens to Lydia, or if she leaves Alexandria, Alpha will attack them. Yeah, once again, that’s a setup. Something along these lines will happen eventually and bring Alpha’s wrath.

Near the end, Michonne, Judith and Luke head back to Oceanside because Rachel radioed to say they thought they saw some Whisperers near where the mask washed up in 10x01. So Michonne is going to investigate. She takes Judith and Luke with her. Where Luke is concerned, I kinda feel like he might die. I hope not, but they sure focused a lot on him saying heartfelt goodbyes to his group (Magna, Connie, Kelly, and Yumiko). That struck me as suspicious. Like that group might not all be together again.

Details:

I won’t do a full details post because there were only a handful I saw worth mentioning.

When Lydia said Gauge and his pals deserved what she did (with the squirrel), Daryl said, “I get it.” Obvious Beth line.

When Siddiq had another freak out, he put his face in ice water. Not a huge deal, but another example of water helping to (temporarily at least) heal him.

When Lydia was in medical, talking to Daryl, we see a bunch of IV bags behind her. Just reminded me of Grady.

Oh, and Lydia played around with a worm when she was talking to Negan. (Worm Theory.)

When Michonne talked to Daryl on the radio, she told him to be her proxy for the vote. This really isn’t anything official, but that word caught my ear. It had nothing to do with Beth in the plot, but how often does TD, in our theories, talk about Beth proxies? And I don’t think I’ve ever heard them use that actual word on the show before. So it just got my attention. ;D

When Negan disappeared, FG said the guards reported that the keys were missing. Key Theory. And reminds me a lot of all the keys we saw at Grady.

When Daryl and Carol talked on the steps, Carol had an interesting line. She said, “it’s like time never moves.” I wondered if that might be a reference to the clocks without hands. She also mentions New Mexico yet again.

We see Michonne and Judith fighting walkers side by side. Just look at this. I think it might be a callback to when Rick and Carl fought walkers together (with guns in that case) at the prison in 4a.

Finally, this isn’t really a TD detail, but they’re definitely setting something up with Magna and Yumiko. Their relationship is in a rocky place, but I feel like it’s mostly because Magna is kind of spiraling. She seems angry and like she just wants to kill everything. I don’t know what they’re setting up there, but something.

When Lydia butchered the squirrel, which I already said was very Daryl-like, it specifically showed that Father Gabriel (embodiment of the Sirius symbolism/Beth) was watching her. I’m not entirely sure what to make of that, but I found it interesting.

I loved seeing Daddy Daryl taking care of Lydia. It’s really sweet and compelling. I’m enjoying his interactions with Lydia. I always feel like he’s on the verge of telling her about Beth. But alas, he doesn’t. At least, not in this episode.

Lydia said she let Negan out, though when Daryl confronted her, she admitted she didn’t. But she ultimately wanted to stay in Negan’s cell because she felt safer in there. It just occurred to me that she currently has a Morgan mindset (from 6x06) where she actually feels more comfortable in a cage. Just kind of interesting.

Ending:

At the end, they repeat the “1, 2, 3” song again. We see Luke saying goodbye to everyone, which I already talked about. Then we see Carol on the roof, looking at a map. (Maybe evidence that she’s systematically looking for Alpha?) Then we see Daryl scrubbing the graffiti off his front door.

Guess what? The vest is back! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

That’s super important, guys. We really haven’t seen his vest in a LONG time. It’s return now, with the missing wing on obvious display, feels really important. Like Beth’s return (the return of his missing wing, perhaps?) is just around the corner.

The camera pans around, showing all the graffiti (there was more than just the stuff on Daryl’s door). It stops on one particular instance of it. And, this might be hard to hear, but if you put on the subtitles, the song ends, followed by the sounds of walkers. Then the subtitles say that a Whisperer is saying, “Shhhhh.”

Yeah, that feels like a very significant setup. I feel like these first three episodes were really intros or setups for the season. Now we’re going to get into the meat and potatoes of things. You know, either really get into the Whisper War, or else something else huge is going to happen. And whatever it is, I think it will lead to Beth. I saw the last sequence of this episode as evidence that the arc where Beth returns is about to ensue. That makes me happy.

Okay. Gonna stop there for today. As I said, I won’t do a details post for this episode. Either tomorrow or Wednesday, I’ll do a post talking about where I’m thinking the events of this episode (such as Negan leaving, Michonne going to Oceanside, seeing Daryl smoke last episode, etc) might be heading. So it will mostly be a predictions post. Sort of. Stay tuned. ;D

[thebestplltheories]

LOCKING IN MY FINAL PREDICTIONS FOR THE FINALE

Here is everything I expect to happen in this finale. Some dot points are kind of vague... some things I literally have no idea what to expect! The main one I’m locking in is that A.D. is Twincer, the rest is extra fluffy commentary. 

There is no such thing as a filler scene. Even if we get a scene with Spencer and Alison frickn baking cookies talking about good books they’ve read lately. That is not a filler. Don't look at that scene literally, and say “I couldn't give a damn if they make chocolate chip cookies or raisin cookies”. Look at the symbolism behind every scene: it could be serving as that character’s farewell scene (the last time we’ll ever see them) or it could be serving as showing character development from the pilot to now; how the writers want this character to bow out. I repeat: NOTHING is a filler. Everything is important, if you look at the meaning behind the scene, rather than what it conveys literally. For this reason, I think every scene will have me emotional. 

Ezria, Haleb, Emison and Spoby will all be endgame.

The entire episode will be set in the future. “1 year later” will pop up at the beginning of the episode. And we find out our precious answers via flashbacks. We go from seeing Emison’s babies in the present, to flashing back to A.D.’s reveal, to going back to the present to see married Haleb, to flashing back to Ezria’s wedding, etc. Followed by another one year forward at the end of the finale.

A.D. is Spencer’s twin. A.D. stands for A_____ Drake, so Twincer is Mary’s third child. Twincer was never adopted by the Hastings, rather she grew up in Radley where she met her sister Charlotte. Mona came to Radley and told Charlotte and Twincer about the A-game, which the duo played together from season 3 onwards. Now that Charlotte is dead, Twincer is playing the game solo for once, trying to avenge the death of her only friend (and sister). On top of this, Twincer is angry at the Hastings for not adopting her, and is jealous of Spencer’s marvellous life. Twincer is harassing the other liars, because she wants to cause a divide in the group, ultimately to hurt Spencer. (Edit: but just like Mona thought CeCe was Ali... Mona had no idea it was Twincer, because she was on her meds. Unrealistic, I know, but they’ve done it before, they can do it again)

If A.D. is not Twincer, it will be another secret sibling. I get the vibes it will not be as simple as “the Ezra/Caleb/Wren/Melissa/Paige you’ve known this whole time is evil”. 

Something controversial will happen that will spark conversation in the media. If they made Big A be transgender, imagine what they’ll do to Uber A?

WHEN WE FIRST SEE WHO IS UNDER THE HOODIE... I WILL NOT BELIEVE THAT IS TRULY A.D UNTIL A MASK COMES OFF. I am not accepting that person as A.D. until a mask comes off. It won't be that easy.

A.D. has not been around since season 1. As elaborated above, I think A.D. was simply Charlotte’s team-mate, and this story only goes back to season 3. Seasons 1 and 2 will be completely irrelevant.

Mona will die. As we saw in the “1 day to go” promo by Freeform, Mona is still investigating who A.D. is. I think Mona will solve the game, and as she's on her way to tell the girls who A.D. is, A.D. will kill her. This will not only be a move to protect their identity, but also as revenge for killing Charlotte.

A.D. will die in the end.

The father of Emison’s baby will not be important. AD stole a random donor’s sperm. Lame, I know, but I feel like this will be a repeat of the barrel story from 5B, where Marlene said Charlotte stole a cadaver from medical school. 

Wren is Twincer’s helper. Twincer asked Wren to shoot him, so that when she goes over to Toby’s house and has sex with him, she’ll have that wound just like Spencer does. 

Jenna is another AD minion.

Bethany Young will be mentioned in a really important way. I can't pinpoint how, though. (x)

Charlotte was lying to the girls when explaining her story in 610. She never returned to Radley after Charles’ funeral. She was free to roam the streets of Rosewood. The only person who could verify Charlotte’s story is Jessica... and she’s dead. So, nothing Charlotte said in 610 can be proven as true. To fill the plot holes, they need to reveal that she lied.

They won't fix the plot hole of Marion Cavanaugh’s death :(

Addison and Jenna are connected in some way.

Shower Harvey will not be mentioned at all... even though we still need to find out why she helped Charlotte... we will never know.

The final scene will be Hanna announcing she is pregnant and one of the liars going away. Still using the formula from dot point #3 - it’ll be the final scene, but technically still a flashback. 

The ending has been described as “typical PLL” - I really think they’re setting up a spinoff with Addison. I pray not. If this isn't the ending, then I hope it’s a cinematic shot of Mona’s grave, Charlotte’s grave, and AD’s grave lined up next to each other, with the girls declaring “we won”.

We will not find out about Wren’s shady phone call in 4A “we have a problem, you take care of your end and I’ll take care of mine”

We will never hear of Eddie Lamb again

Archer took on the identity of Doctor Elliot Rollins so that he can be with Charlotte. 

Toby killed Yvonne by feeding her poisonous biscuits in 713, so he can be with Spencer. (Edit: but Spencer will never know this)

“That night” is 100% done and dusted and has no relevance to the finale. I hope I’m wrong though. 

[iloveredmorethanever]

The Mystery DNA Test

So I was watching The Blacklist Panel at C2E (via The Blacklist Exposed) on 04-22-17 and a fan asked Jon Bokenkamp a great question. “No one’s heard of a blood test?” And below is Jon’s answer (referring to Liz):

And then after some audience laughter he said this in the next gif (and watch Amir shaking his head yes):

Well now! This got me thinking. We know that the only thing the audience will accept as the true answer to the “Is he or isn’t he the father” question is a valid blood test. So who thinks what Jon is hinting at here is how they will do this reveal? It very well could come out on the show that Liz did indeed do a DNA test and knows the answer. I mean we were all annoyed about how could an FBI profiler not consider doing a blood test to confirm or eliminate Red as her bio father? Remember she seemed obsessed about learning about her past. It made no sense. 

But maybe she did after all. She could have gotten a sample of Red’s blood on a few occasions. The Anslo Garrick episode and the Leonard Caul episode are two possibilities where it would have been easy for Liz to get a sample. And remember, Liz is a woman who wanted to know if she had the Warrior gene in Season 2 and in Season 1 wanted to run a ballistics test on Tom’s gun so she shot the gun into a pile of phone-books to retrieve the bullet. She takes matters into her own hands. So yes, I bet she did run a test and knows the answer. And the results will be revealed to us, hopefully at the end of 4C.

Now let’s assume that Liz knows the answer. Is Red her father or not? Let’s look at her comments and see. Heck, we can just focus on Season 4 to make it easy.

1) In 4A Kirk tells Liz he is her father. And it gets to a point where she believes him. Obviously if Liz knew Red was her father she would have told Kirk he was wrong. Instead she seems devastated to find out Kirk wasn’t her father.

2) After Red survives the ordeal with Kirk he comes to see Liz. Now Liz knows Kirk is not her father and she knows (according to Katarina’s journal) that Raymond had an affair with her mother (and that Kirk had wondered if Raymond was the father). So it would only be logical for Liz to assume that Red is her father - or at least ask again! But she doesn’t (leaving many fans frustrated as this would have been the perfect time). In fact she goes right into letting Red know she finally accepts that her father died when she was a little girl.

So why didn’t she ask him? Because she already knows from the DNA test that Red is not her father! Now this seemingly head-scratching scene all makes perfect sense.

And of course, Red confirms it himself once again.

Oh and one other thing. If Red is not a DNA match for her father he is not a DNA match for her mother either so why don’t we just throw the Red is Katarina theory out the window too?

And BTW, I am getting to be a fan of the impostor theory where the real Raymond Reddington was Masha’s father and Red took his persona after Raymond was shot and killed by Masha.  Why? Stay tuned......

Thanks for reading.