#a murder at the end of the world spoilers

[phantomoftheorpheum]

School Spirits Season 2 (episodes 1-3) liveblog/thoughts

**Spoilers for School Spirits Seasons 1 and 2x01-2x03

note: so last season I wrote up a lot of really detailed timeline stuff as I watched, and I don't think I'm going to do that this season, because 1. it's not a murder mystery anymore and 2. since a lot of the "mystery" elements of last season didn't tie back to Maddie at all, I can't expect all the little details to necessarily come together for the main plot. There are a couple of loose threads from that which I will keep an eye out for (honestly, I think they're just accidental loose threads), but my approach this season is more just ~vibes~

2x01

ROFL I completely forget Xavier got hit by a car at the end of season 1, like it completely slipped my mind. I possibly should have done a rewatch leading up to this, but I didn't and I'm here now, so I'm gonna go with it. I am watching the recap, though.

First question remains the same- what does Mr. Martin want? He tells Janet "the only way out is to go back in" and tells her that she needs to "go in deeper" which she does not want to do. He later tells Maddie that he wishes he had never pursued "this," though we know we can't trust him, so who knows if he actually has regrets or not. However, the fact that he runs from Maddie (and vanishes to who knows where?) suggests to me that he is genuinely afraid of something. If he were completely in control, I don't see why he would run away, what are the ghosts going to do him? Kill him?

Okay, Simon, my boy, please think clearly. Maddie literally gave you information that would have been impossible for you to have otherwise. The only reason you even found out Claire was involved in the blackmail was because of this stuff.

Lots of setup, some refreshers for the start of the season, fairly standard for a season opener. The budget feels higher already.

Unsurprisingly, it looks like Janet's past is going to play a big role in the season. Her dad seems like he sucks. I guess my immediate question is- are we getting all this backstory because it's emotionally relevant to Janet's storyline, or are we getting all this backstory because there's going to be a big plot element around it? When Janet goes to the graveyard, we see her grandmother's and her father's grave. Are those characters still in play as ghosts?

So far it does seem like the ghost characters are going to get the majority of the emotional weight. Rhonda, Charley, and Wally all already feel like they've been set up for some character development, while Nicole, Claire, and Xavier (until the end) don't have particularly clear set up for anything. Simon and Maddie have always been central, so no surprises there.

Okay, tbh, I did not think the car hitting Xavier looked that bad, but I'm going to assume he suffered a head injury or like that thing where if you get hit really hard at just the wrong moment it stops your heart, or something like that until told otherwise, because otherwise I can't figure out why he literally died for a minute.

So, my big question for the end of episode 1 is- how will this tie Xavier to the ghost world? Will he be able to see ghosts now? (I can see them not wanting to do this because Simon being the only person who can see Maddie is portrayed so heavily as a special bond, but also linking Xavier to the supernatural seems like the obvious reason they would kill him briefly, so....) Maybe it's just to get him onboard with everything because Claire is clearly not going to buy this story and Nicole seems pretty skeptical, too. I guess I'll just have to keep watching to find out.

Also seems important to mention that Janet is clearly pretty messed up from both what she's been through (and possibly her life before her death) and she appears to have been locked in a basement for like a year and I didn't miss all of that, I just don't have much commentary for it other than- I can't blame her.

2x02

Okay, so far it does feel like Xavier's brush with death is mainly to get him to be more open to everything, but I think it would be cool if he has some sort of lingering supernatural effects of the experience. Having a character die and then be brought back feels like the sort of thing that majorly changes them. If this weren't a supernatural story, I would assume that would be emotional/metaphorical change, but this show is about ghosts, so I'm kind of expecting something more than that.

I hate to say it, because I adore Wally and I hate love triangles, but it's making me itchy to watch all the Simon/Maddie/Wally scenes where Wally very clearly feels threatened. It's not there for no reason.

New additions to the cast, Yuri and Quinn. I wonder why Yuri never thought it was odd that Janet could make permanent stuff? Does he also have that skill? Because if not, surely he would notice that his stuff resets and (at least some) hers doesn't? I do like Yuri so far, though. I'm about halfway through the ep, don't feel like I know much about Quinn yet.

So we now know Janet's dad definitely sucked a lot. With that confirmed, and with the scene of Janet hiding under the stairs (as Maddie) with the person going up and down, do we think that's her father's ghost? (It wouldn't surprise me at all if Janet sees ghosts even though she's technically alive now). And... How did he die? did she (or her grandmother) kill him?

Xavier, my dude, I know I was tough on you last season, but cheating on Maddie does not mean you deserved to be hit and killed by a car.

Mr. Martin is engaged? (well, was) Interesting.

I hope someone realizes how triggering the Mr. Martin & Janet stuff clearly is for Rhonda. Obviously (so far) in the flashbacks we aren't getting the impression that it's an exact reflection of Rhonda's experiences, but close enough.

Okay, I wasn't expecting the Wally conflict to directly come up so soon, but I hope this at least means that we'll get some happy-go-lucky glimpses of him this season because it's one of my favorite elements of his character and (as Maddie basically called out) it's been very lowkey recently. I understand why he's upset/struggling, I like the layers, I just hope that's not the only side we see of him this season.

Alright, they just said Xaiver has a concussion. I'm no MD, but I did do some sports medicine training (unfortunately saw my fair share of concussions, including a couple that required ambulances, paramedics, and a trip to the hospital) and I do not think if you actually almost died of a head injury that anyone would let you back in school like the next day, even if you aren't expected in class. The lights alone would be problematic. But that's probably just me nitpicking.

So what you're telling me is Yuri saw a ghost with extra abilities and he was just like "eh 🤷‍♂️"? honestly, kinda valid. I'm glad Charley is addressing that.

I just had a thought that probably won't happen, but could be interesting, since Simon & Xavier are headed to the house that Janet is burning down, is it possible that Xavier will see Janet (Maddie) as Janet and not as Maddie? That would be an interesting effect of his death that's different from Simon's ability to talk to Maddie's ghost. I don't know how it would be helpful, but it could be cool.

Also was I right and Janet's father's ghost was actually there, or was she just imagining/remembering him? Clearly we don't know the extent of her abilities, or how the other ghosts factor in, but considering Janet's love of science and all the documentation, it would follow that she was running different experiments and she needed a bunch of different test subjects to do so. The big question being- what negative effects did she know/assume this had on them, because if it didn't have any, there would be no reason to hide it and they might do it voluntarily (they have very little to lose). Is it just that she was actively keeping them from crossing over? It seems like it would be something worse than that.

Mr. Martin is afraid of something "bigger," so clocked that. I do have an idea of what the red light means from the trailer, so not going to pretend to be super confused or speculate a lot, but not gonna explicitly say here because in case people haven't seen the trailer that addresses this.

2x03

So... do we think Claire is going to get an actual storyline, or?

Ah, there's some Wally lightness I was looking for.

Just got to the scene with Nicole's brother who I do not believe existed last season & I could be wrong, but he very much feels like a character that's been introduced to provide Claire with a new love interest and I am questioning if this would have absolutely anything to do with the central plot.

Janet's quite possibly a genius, but also she managed to leave her bag in a bathroom and lose all the money she stole, so brains aren't everything. I can't even laugh at her because I left my purse in a public bathroom a few months ago and didn't realize until I had driven an hour and half away and then had to drive an hour and half back (luckily it had been turned in) and then an hour and half the other way again.

I didn't realize I wanted more Xavier & Simon detective squad scenes until just now, but I do. I think they're really funny together, the actors bounce really well off of each other.

Okay, wait, wait, I immediately take back what I said about Nicole's brother because Janet's just been offered a ride to a college, and they just told us five minutes ago that Diego is in college, so what are the odds on "Diego sees his sister's missing best friend"? High, I'm guessing.

Well. That happened a lot faster than I was expecting it to, but okay. lol.

Can someone explain to me how the hell is Mr. Anderson is not in jail?? Stealing that much money is definitely a felony.

I can't tell if we're setting Nicole and Xavier up for a legit romance or just absolute horror and hilarity, like right now I could honestly see it going either way.

I just had to pause for like ten minutes from the secondhand embarrassment of the Wally/Janet scene. I know that's not the important part of that, but omg.

I don't understand how everyone else thought what Rhonda relayed about the party made Janet look bad instead of Mr. Martin. She literally says "no more experiments" and it seems like she wanted to give back the objects taken from the other ghosts, and I don't really get why Rhonda had to spell that out for everyone, like exercise some common sense my guys. I'm not saying that I fully buy that Mr. Martin is the ultimate evil (the man is scared of something) or that Janet is the ultimate good (setting aside the whole "stealing Maddie's body" thing, she was willing to kill Xavier with a car, so not a paragon of good morals, but still), just that I don't get what they missed about Rhonda's story to see Janet as the bad guy there.

I'm back to "Diego exists as a character solely for Claire" even though they technically used him for the plot briefly.

How did five of you lose Janet? She was literally right there.

So is it (the "hellscapes" so to speak) like a "you have to confront your death before you can move past it" kinda thing, or??

Unexpected MVP dynamic Simon & Xavier! But also Xavier should not be driving either and the girls really should have dropped both him and Simon off.

I'm not sure where Janet falls on a morality scale, but approaching Maddie's mom is rough if she doesn't intend to try to give Maddie's body back, because she has been through enough and like... oof.

It took me several hours to get through these episodes because this show has the misfortune of being on the most buggy streaming platform of all time, so my brain is tired at this point. I'll start a new post if I have any additional thoughts.

[shiny-jr]

I know "FROM: Diasomnia" is kinda old now but the line "I am your most beloved and loyalest of companions (in the world?)" something like that? But that line is something I come back to sometimes. It's such an intriguing thing for him to say, especially after what he did/said in the impostor AU "This... this cannot be my player!"

It's alright if not but I was hoping you'd comment on the kinds of mindsets they have as they're writing? Unless it's spoilers!! But it's just so? ?? Like where are they coming from with this? Is it just sheer delusion/desperation to appeal at this point or is there motivation behind it? I ask because of Silver's comments about the two older fae possibly knowing something he doesn't.

I also wanted to say that your imposter series totally inspired me to get back into writing fanfiction! I just gotta get my head in the game 💪(ò_óˇ) And I totally relate to that other anon!! It's all just so interesting!! I love self-aware/meta stuff like that, it's totally itched a scratch I barely knew I had!

SECOND ASK: "Add on to FROM diasomnia ask BUT is it possibly that Malleus and Lilia believe the player will forgive them (before the rest, at least since they went from murder to guarding the ramshackle dorm unasked) because they knew about it for the least amount of time and they think it'll give them more leeway?

(Which, for me, it just might give them more leeway depending on how everyone else is behaving. Aaugh!!! What a nightmare to be stuck in!! It's so fun to think about all the different motivations/desires that the characters are acting on and how they might've all interacted with each other over it"

MY RESPONSE: I'm honestly surprised that people still read that series, and it has been a hot minute since I updated it, haha... Don't worry, I've been working on drafts for it again. Not much, but something, if that's any sort of comfort for those that somehow do remember and enjoy that series.

Anyways, I usually don't like to comment too much on my own work. Sometimes I will, but it's not often, as I don't like to state "no, some of y'all are wrong, this is actually what I meant" because, well, it's boring in a sense? It ruins the fun, in a way.

I like others to have their own opinions and thoughts, which is why I don't often elaborate on stuff and leave it open ended for that purpose. I will say though, that the imposter AU/letters have the characters acting more "delusional" or "unstable" compared to my other AUs.

[problematic-yuri-poll]

Problematic Femslash Ship Tournament - Round 3

Mafuyu Asahina x Her Mom (Project Sekai: Colorful Stage) VS. DB - D-ne x B-ko (Shuuen no Shiori)

Info and propaganda under cut! This will not be spoiler-free.

Problematic elements for Mafuyu x Her Mom:

The ship is between Mafuyu and her mother who is abusive towards her

Problematic elements for DB:

yandere, toxic, dependency, murder

--

Propaganda for Mafuyu x Her Mom:

While Mafuyu's mother is very strict and controlling, it is clear that she does very much care about Mafuyu. (mod note: no she does not) Because of Mafuyu's mother being very controlling over Mafuyu, Mafuyu will do almost anything her mother tells her to. Anything.

Propaganda for DB:

d-ne is a lesbian who lacks any sense of identity for herself and struggles to get close to anyone. she falls deeply in love with b-ko, who she deems to be perfect. when she finds out b-ko's "perfect" act is just a mask she puts on, she just falls for her even more. she doesn't care about anyone other than b-ko or what anyone but b-ko thinks of her. she puts b-ko on a pedestal and devalues herself, believing she could never be on b-ko's level. when the group finds the "bookmark of demise" and strange deaths begin occurring, b-ko gets scared and d-ne wants her to be scared so she can be the one to comfort her. d-ne then steals b-ko's first kiss! when the "demise game" starts, d-ne is given the monkey's paw which allows her to wish for anything, but at the cost of taking that thing away from someone else. she immediately starts making wishes that would allow her to "become more like b-ko". when she wishes to have eyes like b-ko's, a random girl who had earlier pointed out that her eyes match b-ko's gets in an accident where her eyes get taken away and magically transferred to d-ne, and d-ne just laughs and blushes over this. d-ne goes to visit b-ko, who won't open her door because she's so scared over the demise game, and when d-ne finally gets in, she hears b-ko calling out to a-ya (another character) for help. in a fit of delusion, d-ne decides the b-ko in front of her, who called a-ya's name, "isn't b-ko" and murders her, in the end, deciding to fully become and replace b-ko, believing she's "protecting b-ko" by doing this. then d-ne wishes for all her misfortune to disappear, which works, but since she's b-ko now, she dies at the hands of b-ko's doppelganger (the misfortune that b-ko had been dealing with during the demise game). honestly we need more girls like d-ne in the world

[bl-bracket]

Deserved Better Round 2: Black (Not Me) vs White (Dead Friend Forever)

[Submitted Reasons Under Cut]

Black: "He got beat into a coma (his former bffs fault), his twin brother took over his life, none of the people in his little revolutionary group seem to like him (fair enough I guess but still), and when he wakes up from the coma and everything is settled his twin brother basicly still takes his place and he's just told to find his place. Somewhere else."

"Black was put in a coma by one of the people most important to him and when he came out of it, he'd been replaced in his own life by his twin brother who everyone liked better than him. Black wasn't the most likable guy in the world but at the end he's just like "well I guess I don't have friends anymore". The gang didn't seem to care about him even after he saved their asses from getting arrested. He should've been part of that group hug and I'll die mad about it."

"He gets torn away from the twin he loves and has a litteral psychic link with as a child and left with an apparently emotionally neglectful, if not abusive, mother and his dad just decides he’s dead to him now. He was an litteral 10 year old kid at the time no less. Then as an adult he’s betrayed by his life long best friend/maybe ex boyfriend if the very not straight way they interacted is anything to go by and ends up beaten into a coma by his thugs and nearly killed. His friend straight up don’t notice he’s not himself when his brother steals his identity and when he finally wakes up and takes his life back they all decide they like White more and tell him white is actually better at their work than him, his ex moves on with one of his friends and even when everything works out in the end he doesn’t get his life back cause it’s all essentially white’s now. He haunts the narrative even when he’s alive because he’s lost everything and yet he’s not even mad at his brother cause he loves him so much. Yeah he’s absolutely a dick, but OUCH that sucks to experience."

White: "he literally didn't do anything wrong 😭 he died to punish tee, whom white didn't know the truth about. not only did he DIE to punish tee, he got murdered BY tee to punish TEE. white just wanted to chill with his boyfriend guys"

"Literally was just minding his own business. Absolutely did not deserve to be collateral damage in [spoiler]'s revenge plan. If anyone should've been able to get out of that house alive, it's White"

[emmanelson]

BILL FARRAH and DARBY HART in A MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD S01 E06 "Crime Seen" (2023)

#aka darbill touches that have rewired my brain chemistry

[det-loki]

they're so cute

[billfarrah]

Something about Bill asking Darby what she wants, being so careful with her, and asking for her consent before they have sex and Bill being so aware and providing Darby with gentle intimacy in a world full of violence toward women. The show refusing to show violence toward women on screen and instead showing Darby being loved and cared for on this journey, the emphasis on the warmth of their human connection in the warmly lit motel rooms and Midwest landscape contrasting with the icy, technology and AI-ridden atmosphere of the retreat.

[slinkpinkiller]

[libraryleopard]

three episodes into a murder at the end of the world and i am now fairly convinced that

zoomer is actually bill's kid, not andy's

my evidence is thus:

zoomer is blonder than his father, more like lee and bill

that moment in the first episode where bill plays along with zoomer pretending to be a doctor feels significant–why show them interacting so much, you know?

episode four is called "family secrets"

bill found something out he wasn't willing to tell rohan–maybe that he's zoomer's dad?

lee's story about bill and her only having hooked up once and him losing his hard-on feels like when people put too much specific detail in a lie to make it sound real

zoomer is five, just the right age to have been conceived when andy and lee were in the "off" portion of their on-again off-again relationship

bill getting dumped by his hacker gf and then fathering a kid with her idol would be very dramatic

[notsoyoungblood]

Knowing that Bill's call to David's room lasted 27 seconds, I wonder if Rohan's call to Darby's room was the same length (whether it was truly them or a AI)

[onceuponathreetwoone]

I am loving A Murder at the End of the World but I have two bones to pick after episode 4:

Are we really supposed to be believe that Darby and Rohan walked the distance it took them to snowmobile, drive and trek, there and back?

Was that cliffhanger actually a surprise to anyone? I’d worked it out as soon as Bill interacted with that character in the first episode…it was super obvious, no?

[hotch-girl]

i wish i had watched fargo instead of amateotw. i get what they were trying to do but no

if u want to make it ab the characters then actually develop the characters!!!!!!

[rhera]

A Murder at the End of the World - Chapter 4: Family Secrets

[ominous-horse-noises]

main takeaway from certain fan reactions to the finale is this:

the final scene with ankarna was so meaningful to the bad kids' arcs and how they made peace with being wronged by people they loved, and if all you can focus on is that the rat grinders didn't get much screentime, then you don't love dimension20 and you don't love this world: you want to be playing your own hs themed dnd campaign and you're mad the oc versions of the rat grinders you made up in your head acted ooc. these are not your characters and this is not their story.

[mikaeled]

It is original thought, more than money, oil, or even water, that will determine if there is a future to be had. ⇁ A Murder at the End of the World Chapter 1: Homme Fatale

[emmanelson]

BTS vs Actual Scene