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bixisarusher · 4 years ago

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Bix Reviews: Call Me Kat (Season 1, FOX 2021)

I thought a lot about how I feel about this show, and there are lots of words, so it’s gonna go under the cut.

In summary: I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I hoped to, and i discuss why I think that was. BUT there are great things in this remake, and I want to name them as well!

There are two ways to look at Call Me Kat: As it’s own thing, and as a Miranda remake. As a Miranda Hart stan, I’ll have a lot more to say about the latter, so let’s start with the show itself.

On It’s Own

That felt appropriate, nvm me

It’s a cute show. It’s not a groundbreaking concept, and it’s not re-inventing the genre, but it has some really good things going for it:

Kat is happy and confident in her quirks, but doesn’t have it all together - so she has room to grow and is very sympathetic, all the while encouraging the viewer to celebrate their own quirks. Lovely! Also Mayim is a treasure and it’s great to watch her perform.

The show openly discusses “taboo” topics, like using anti-depressants and their side-effects, freezing your eggs, comparing yourself to a hallucinated version of your crush’s ex... The show isn’t a trailblazer, (partly because there have been many great shows in the last couple years) but I thinks it’s awesome to see them further treading out the ground and normalizing these topics.

It has a nice set of characters that go through their indepent stories, I found myself excited for any new episode and enjoying the varying storylines. (Most of them Randi.)

And, although the last episode dragged it right back into the romantic territory, Kat has a genuine friendship with Max and I value that a lot. Neither of them harbours secret feelings, instead they are open and honest about it. The only thing they overdid here was to have an exchange of “Do you remember, when we were in college together and [blank] happened?” in at least every other episode.

Another thing on the down side: Neither the writers nor Mayim seem to fully know what to do with the fourth wall breaks. I don’t mind the thing, it just doesn’t feel fully rounded out - like how much they want to use it, what purpose it really has, ...

I think it’s due to the circumstances of the filming (pandemic restrictions and all), but more on that later. So much for the show itself.

As a remake

First of all: Do I love Jim Parsons for looking at this absurd british gem of a TV show and deciding “the world needs more stuff like this”? Absolutely! Because I agree! There were two or three moments that leaned on Miranda a little too much for their own good, but overall: it is content inspired by Miranda, but neither correcting, it nor copying it. More power to this concept.

More power to celebrating the silly joys in this live, to celebrate not being normal, more power to amazing friendships and women who find their own path. Call Me Kat does all of these things.

However, it doesn’t quite live up to it’s Mothership. Let me elaborate.

There is a myriad of reasons why Miranda works and I will not attempt to list them. However there’s one thing that does stand out to me in the original, and that I really miss in the adaptation: Miranda didn’t just write “a plot” and salt it with “a few jokes”. She carefully built tensions and different storylines to culminate together. Sometimes it’s a funny word that the character hears in the first act, and later nervously blurts out in the wrong moment. Sometimes it’s a parade of characters she met through the episode that all meet in one spot at the end. Or there is a throw away comment in the beginning of an episode that sets up a revelation toward the end.

I could swarm you with examples, a good one is in 1x03 Job: trying to impress Tilly, trying to deny waitressing, and then: the multiple “You weed in a ball pool?” and Gary in uniform walking in right on time to sell the lie about being an undercover commander. Another one of my personal favorites is in 2x04 A New Low, when Miranda in the end tells Gary that he lost her trust, and he’ll “never get to see her naked sweep” - and then he find’s the portrait Tamara did of Miranda’s “naked sweep”. Just hit’s right.

That is a testament to how well crafted the episodes are. In Call Me Kat? All Nighter and Gym had moments like that, and Double Date very early on set up Kat’s dream to use the sound system, but it just never reached that same level of mastermind.

But, in defense of CMK: Miranda was crafted over ten years with a full of 20 episodes airing (21 if you count the radio series) and the cast worked together a good year before they filmed the first series of 6 episodes. Compared to that, work on Call me Kat started around 2018, the cast was assembled in the first half of 2020 and started shooting in late October. They then shot 13 episodes in their first season. (which is more than half of the total episodes of Miranda, just saying) Sources: english wikipedia articles for Miranda and Call Me Kat, as well as Mayim’s Youtube. (Jep I did research for this.)

Also the CMK episodes were written and directed by a variety of people, while the Miranda episodes have all been at least co-written by Miranda Hart and all except for the last two were directed by Juliet May.

These are - as much as I as a humble consumer with a bit of wikipedia knowledge know - basic differences about how shows are made in the UK vs. in the US, and neither formula is any way of guarantee for the quality of the final product. However I think somewhere in those facts is the reason why the Miranda ship feels a lot more in shape and ... coherent. The pilot that we know and love is the fourth time they recorded the script, and I don’t even want to know how many times the script had been edited in between. The cast knew each other well, the material had been tested in front of multiple audiences. Call Me Kat had neither of these luxuries. On the contrary, CMK has been put together under restrictions due to the pandemic.

So on the one hand, I am majorly grateful that this show even got to see the light of day! That means that a full cast and crew had jobs in these trying times, and it means that we were provided with good entertainement.

On the other hand, the circumstances are showing in the final product. The cast had an awkward chemistry with each other, and the comedic timing, though not horrible, could have been a lot better.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I think studio audiences can be a blessing. There is something about the actors having a genuine connection to real time observers that helps me as a screen audience connect to it. And for this staged multicam show that includes glances at the camera? I think a real audience would have grounded the concept. And it would have given the team a direct feedback as to which moments were working comedically and which weren’t.

What I’m trying to say is: they had big shoes to fill, and the odds were not really in their favor, and so it doesn’t really hold up in comparison.

That’s sad. But that doesn’t mean that it’s a horrible show. As I said in the beginning, I love that this show is done in the spirit of Miranda, even if it��s not just as good.

I have no idea how the show’s chances are to get a second season. If they do get renewed - I’ll keep watching.

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Now, let me finish with a few gifs that I feel like they can be applied to the whole “they remade Miranda and it went both ok and less then ok but at least the word is being spread, right?”-situation.

because Kat/Max is good but could anything ever be Miranda/Gary?

Not really...

ok that one’s a bit rude. but you thought it, too.

Jim turning in bed at night overthinking if Mayim was the right choice. But she was. Much like Stevie was for Miranda.

Honestly a very good part of the remake is Mayim and Cheyenne performing together! I personally think this moment above is responsible.

Trying to match the CMK characters to the Miranda characters like: I thought Phil is supposed to be the Customer but turns out Phil originally was supposed to a Phillys? So Phil is Stevie, but then who is Randi? Tilly? So many questions.

And with that, dear Caller, back to you.

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what-a-treat-nz · 4 years ago

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World Book Challenge: China

Officially, the People's Republic of China (PRC). It is the world's most populous country, with a population of around 1.4 billion. It covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometers, and is officially divided into 23 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

The areas in dark green are under direct Chinese control; the areas in light green (Tibet and Taiwan) are contested. For the purposes of this challenge, I’m treating China, Tibet and Taiwan as three separate countries. Because I can.

Number of Chinese people in New Zealand: As of the 2013 Census, there were 163,104 people of “Chinese (not further defined)” ethnicity in New Zealand - 10,008 of those were in Wellington City.

Have I been there? Yes! I visited Shanghai with my Dad in December 2011. I bought a really nice coat, had tea that tasted like warm Fanta (it was oddly addictive), and got hugged by Dave Grohl. So, the usual Chinese experiences, really.

I also had Peking Duck for the first time in my life, and holy hell I didn’t know what I was missing. I’ve tried to make up for it by eating copious amounts of it since.

The books

For “China” on my reading challenge, I read three fantasy novels - Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, and the final two books of the Poppy War trilogy (The Dragon Republic and The Burning God) by R. F. Kuang, a Chinese-American author.

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (魔道祖师 / Mó Dào Zǔ Shī)

(Book 30 of 2021)

Given the fact that I have an entire subsection of my blog about how much I love the live-action TV show based on this book, it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that I had Mó Dào Zǔ Shī at the top of my list of Chinese books to read.

Mó Dào Zǔ Shī tells the story of Wei Wuxian, a loathed cultivator of dark and demonic arts who resurrects 16 years after his tragic death. His return to the world brings him to reunite with the people in his first life, including his soulmate, the honored Lan Wangji (who mourned him for 16 years, during which he branded himself with the same mark as Wei Wuxian and kept his memory alive and I’m okay, I promise). Wei Wuxian then begins to remember his time before his demise 16 years ago, from his beginnings as a young cultivator to his descent to dark magic. Together, they solve a mystery linked to a dark tragedy from Wei Wuxian’s first life, then live happily ever after.

This novel was originally published on the Chinese web novel site JJWXC from October 31, 2015 - March 1, 2016, with additional side stories that continue to be released sporadically. The revised version of the main story was later published online until September 7, 2016. A paperback version was released on December 12, 2016, with a total of four volumes in traditional Chinese. The first of three planned volumes in simplified Chinese, titled Wuji, was released in 2018, but release of the following installments has stalled after the locking of the novel on JJWXC since January 2019.

Mó Dào Zǔ Shī isn’t officially available in English, and given that it depicts an explicit danmei relationship between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, I don’t think we’ll ever see an official version. Though there are official translations into Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Russian, Japanese, and Burmese, and the tour for the TV traveled to Toronto, Los Angeles and New York, so maybe one day there will be an official translation.

For now though, you can read the entire novel for free at Exiled Rebels Scanlations, where it has been translated in full by a then-highschooler called “K-san”. It’s hard to actually judge the merits of the writing of the original novel, given I was reading an unofficial translation, but that was actually half of the sweetness of it. It was kinda rough - K-san tweaked the terms they used as they gained more confidence with the translation, and I enjoyed reading the translator and editor notes that accompanied most chapters - especially notes such as “we’re translating as fast as we can, stop asking for faster updates!”. It felt really organic and friendly, and the story is good (though much gorier than the TV show and good god boys, learn what lube is, it’ll make your lives better I promise).

I read the book more as a companion to the TV show though, rather than a novel on it’s own merits, so I’m not sure I can judge it as a novel on it’s own merits. Though the book did teach me one very important piece of information: Lan Wangji canonically smells of sandalwood.

Would I read it again? If an official English translation comes out, I’d probably read that. I’m more likely to watch the TV show again, or dive into one of the sesquillion Untamed fanfics on AO3 ( Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn was the most popular ship on AO3 in 2020, with 12,878 new works about these characters being published that year).

The Dragon Republic and The Burning God

(Books 34 and 35 of 2021)

I read The Poppy War and The Dragon Republic back in September 2019 (when I wasn’t counting how many books I was reading, but I did have a record of them), and I decided to re-read The Dragon Republic because I couldn’t exactly remember where the story was up to.

And it’s a good thing I did, as something I thought happened at the end of The Dragon Republic actually happened at the end of The Poppy War, so oops?

The Poppy War trilogy is a grimdark fantasy novel set in fantasy China, with a Chinese protagonist and written by a Chinese-American author. It’s spectacular. The trilogy draws its plot and politics from mid-20th-century China, though it’s atmosphere is more inspired by the Song dynasty. The conflict in the first book is based on the Second Sino-Japanese War (though this time, it’s the Chinese empire against the Japanese empire), in the second on the start of the Chinese civil war (Chinese empire against nascent Republican movement), and in the third on the end of Chinese civil war (Republicans versus not-Republicans).

It’s a massive trilogy. It’s incredibly complex, with a huge scale and massive numbers of characters, though the fact it’s all seen through Rin’s eyes (with the occasional first and last chapter from the point of view of other characters) helps.

The story follows that of Fang Runin, better known as Rin, a poor war orphan in southern Nikara who trains in secret to test into the elite Sinegard Academy. Throughout the trilogy she deals with racism, sexism, elitism...most of the isms, really. Author R.F. Kuang said that Rin's life is meant to parallel the trajectory of Mao Zedong, and I had fun trying to match events in Chinese history to the events in the book (the easiest ones to spot are the Rape of Nanjing, the nuclear bombing of Japan and the Long March).

I don’t remember Mao Zedong having the power to call on a fire god, however. It’s probably a good thing that’s not something that happened in real life China, as Mao’s policies killed enough people without him literally being able to spit fire.

I described the first book as “If Kvothe from The Name of the Wind was female, Chinese, and allowed to say fuck.” Those two books felt really similar to me - they’re very much your “outsider is accepted to elite academy, winds up pissing off most of their classmates and chooses an obscure major to specialise in before being thrown into a conflict they are key to winning.” But honestly, I preferred the Poppy War trilogy, even if the final book did get super dark.

Rin is a really refreshing character, and the world seen through her eyes is a very different place to one I’m used to reading about. Kuang said that she "chose to write a fantasy reinterpretation of China's twentieth century, because that was the kind of story I wasn't finding on bookshelves", and I’m so glad she did. The world needs more books like this. I’m as pasty and as white as they come, and I loved reading a book where the heroine was authentically Chinese. This isn’t a pakeha author trying to fit themselves into someone else’s shoes - this is someone with a deep understanding of Chinese military history and collective trauma using that understanding and pain to build a new fantasy world.

I loved it, and if you can stomach war scenes, I recommend this trilogy.

Will I read the Poppy War trilogy again? I might do. It’s a bit darker and more desperate than I usually read - particularly The Burning God - but I did enjoy them. So that’s a firm “never say never”.

Bonus book!

These Violent Delights

I read NZ-Chinese author Chloe Gong’s These Violent Delights earlier this year (book number 20 of 2021), before I set myself this challenge, so it doesn’t technically count as an entry for “China” in my book challenge. But it is amazing, and I love it, so I wanted to give it a quick shout out here (because if we’re talking fantasy reimaginings of Chinese 20th century history by Chinese diaspora authors...).

These Violent Delights relocates the story of Romeo and Juliet to 1920s Shanghai, casting the two leads as the heirs to rival gangs. It’s brilliant, it’s beautiful, there were sentences that made me stop and gasp for the sheer delight of having read them, and there’s a monster made of bugs driving the citizens of Shanghai insane. The way Gong has woven the characters from the play into their 1920s counterparts is delightful (I say this as someone who’s never actually read the play, though I think I saw the Leonardo DiCaprio movie because it was difficult to be a tween in the late 90s and not be exposed to his films).

15/10, would definitely read it again, it’s been on the New York Times bestseller list for weeks for a very, very good reason. Stop reading this blog and go get a copy. Now.

The feast

I admit, using China as my first country may have been a bit of a cop out, given my familiarity with Chinese food - though, living in a Western country, I’ve probably eaten more Westernised Chinese food than authentic Chinese food.

Which is why I was chuffed to learn that spring rolls are, actually, authentic Chinese food. I always thought they were a Westernisation, like sweet and sour pork or fortune cookies.

For my Chinese feast, I turned to The Woks of Life, a delightful Chinese cooking blog that I can’t open without being inspired to cook like 9 million things.

When I started this project, I originally was only going to cook one dish from each country. I figured I’d go easy on myself for China, and make 花生酥 (hua sheng su), a traditional sesame peanut brittle.

It’s something I’ve made before - I make little bags of it for my colleagues each lunar new year.

I don’t follow the Woks of Life recipe exactly - for example, I’ve never once roasted and shelled my own peanuts. I tend to use a mix of blanched and pre-roasted peanuts in my 花生酥, and I think it comes out okay. Next time I’m going to increase the amount of sugar I use - I find that 270g of rock sugar is not quite enough to cover the peanuts totally. Which is a pain. Next time I think I’ll use 300g, and turn the heating on in my kitchen so it’s warmer, to stop the brittle from hardening before I can properly get it into the tray to cool.

But then I changed my mind, and decided to throw a full on feast.

For the feast I threw, I made two more dishes from the Woks of Life - Easy Peking Duck with Mandarin Pancakes, and 年糕 (nian gao), or stir-fried rice cakes (though I did them with chicken, not pork, as that’s what I had in my freezer). I also cooked up some spring rolls, as I had them leftover in my freezer from my housewarming (for which I over catered, because I cannot do anything but over cater any event I throw). I should have marinated the duck longer. That one was on me.

I also made some 核桃酥 (he tao su), walnut cookies, which were delicious and I definitely want to make again. I think I’ll add some hazelnuts in as well for additional crunch, and make them slightly smaller - they were 12 very big cookies.

But delicious cookies.

Kisu was most distressed that we did not feed her anything from this feast.

The Playlist

I ended up finding this “Chinese Indie & Rock” playlist on Spotify, which I really enjoyed. I could understand none of the songs, but I enjoyed the heck out of a lot of them. I’ll probably keep listening to this playlist - they were definitely my sort of jams.

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smallersocksx · 3 years ago

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Why the Wallace Cup Arc is one of the best returning character arcs

Introduction:

For those who have been following the Pokémon Journeys anime, know that Dawn was one of the latest former cast members to return the series for a two-episode arc. As I admitted in my episode 74 review (I’m contemplating reviewing episode 75 as well), should know I hadn’t really been keeping up with the anime up to that point as I felt all the issues, I had mentioned in one of my previous posts all culminated and I needed to take a break as I wasn’t enjoying the series. It felt more like a chore to watch the Journeys series rather than a pleasure and I felt horrible feeling this way about a series that I had loved for such a long time. However, if you’re enjoying the series, that’s great and I’m glad you find some enjoyment watching it.

Nevertheless, those that have read my posts or know me personally know DP is one of my favourite Pokémon series and I absolutely love Dawn, her Pokémon and Contests to pieces. So, when they announced she would be appearing for two episodes, I knew I had to watch. However, after sitting on these thoughts for a couple of weeks, I had to admit overall I was a little disappointed. This is a shame because I absolutely love Dawn but the reasons, I felt disappointed were:

The pacing/length – in both episodes, I felt like some areas were really slow and could have easily been cut out which in turn caused the areas that should have been slower and more fleshed out to feel incredibly rushed such as the battle with Matori Matrix. I felt like another area that could have been sped up was the exposition/discovery of Darkrai and Cresselia’s symbiotic relationship, don’t get me wrong it was interesting but I feel like it could have been handled better. I think if this DP arc had been four episodes long like the Sword and Shield arc, the pacing could have been better, we could have explored Ash and Goh’s side of the story more and we could have actually seen some Contest action. Additionally, it would give us a break from the episodic and slightly disjointed nature of the Journeys series and engage more with the story.

Chloe’s development – Now for those that have read my previous posts, should know that I like Chloe and I’m interested to see where they go with her development. Especially considering she’s meant to meeting an Espeon and Umbreon trainer in the upcoming episode. However, it kind of felt like the only reason they brought Dawn back was to help Chloe develop. It would have been nice to allow Dawn and her other Pokémon to shine more. Also, as I mentioned in my episode 74 review, the argument between Chloe and Dawn felt completely unnecessary to me. In my opinion, one of the ways Chloe had subtly developed under Eevee’s influence was that she learnt to relax a little bit and not take things so seriously. This is why I was finding her behaviour in episode 74 to be a little annoying.

Also, it would have been nice to at least see Chloe attempt to participate in a Contest and at least try something out once even if it's not for her. Considering, Pokémon is an anime tailored towards children, it's better to send out the message of at least trying something even if it's not something for you in the end. This was something I would have liked to have seen with Serena, as before discovering Pokémon Showcases, she didn’t really try to find her goal/path. However, judging by the preview, at least the writers are acting on the idea of Chloe meeting other Eevee and Eeveelution trainers.

Dawn and her Pokémon – As I mentioned previously, it kind of felt like the only reason Dawn was brought back was to contribute to Chloe’s development. Whilst, it was nice to see Dawn and her Piplup again it would have been nice to have seen Dawn’s other Pokémon outside of a flashback. We did have that brief scene where Dawn gave Chloe a demonstration of a Contest Performance but outside of that we hardly saw anything else to do with contests. They could have done something similar to the Darkrai film and show the contest in the end credits as a one-off/special ED. Or if the arc had been longer, they could have devoted more time to the contest aspect and we could have seen Chloe and Dawn participating in the Eterna City contest. It just would have given Dawn a better opportunity to shine and show off her skills as a Coordinator.

They could have featured the rest of Dawn’s Pokémon in the beach scene at the end of Episode 75. I just wanted a Buneary and Pikachu reunion ToT

Apologies, for turning this into a critique of episode 75/this mini-arc. However, it brought me back to this point and I’ve seen people always make this comment or have made videos on it when critiquing Journeys. The problem Journeys has is that any returning characters have basically been treated as fan service that the older fans including myself have eaten up. But when you think about it, it's honestly doing these characters a disservice, and they deserve so much better. Take Korrina and Iris, Iris, in particular, they had hyped up their returns to the series and it ends kind of falling flat as they both lose to Ash to help him to further his goal (which contributes to Journeys pacing issue). Nevertheless, their losses end up diminishing all the development they built up to that point, particularly with Iris’ Haxorus, this was a Pokémon I would have loved to have seen develop more on-screen and when we see him fully evolved as he has always dreamed it was sad to see him lose.

This brings me to this point that I’ve made and so have others, that the Wallace Cup arc has arguably been one of the best arcs/methods of utilising a former main cast member. And it’s due to the reasons, I had listed were the latest DP arc fell short:

The pacing/length

May and her Pokémon

Dawn’s development

The setting

I feel like the setting, in particular, was one of the main reasons why the Wallace Cup arc was so successful. If you’re still reading this, thank you and sorry for the incredibly long introduction.

The pacing/length:

I feel like these two aspects go hand-in-hand so I decided to place them under the same bracket. Now I don’t know whether some count the Wallace Cup arc as five episodes rather than four as May does briefly appear in Our Cup Runneth Over! But I count it from A Full Course Tag Battle! Nevertheless, whether it be four or five episodes, this arc didn’t feel like it dragged on or rushed, it was the perfect length in my opinion. A Full Course Tag Battle! Was a great way to re-introduce us to May and her character, to learn of her progress/struggles in Johto and to see some of her Pokémon again. This episode had helped integrate May back into the main cast perfectly as we learn she keeps in contact with Ash and they both still have their halves of the Terracotta Ribbon and we see that May and Dawn develop a fast friendship through their shared interests and current hardships. In addition to this, I like the call-back to May’s Kanto Journey, with her fire-water combination in the Tag battle as well as the food-loving aspect of her personality (same May same).

The following episode, Staging a Heroes Welcome! Showed off one of my favourite aspects of Contests in the anime, the Performance Stage. In addition to this, it allowed us to see May’s new skills and style in a Contest setting. I really enjoyed May’s performance, as we learnt her timid Squirtle had evolved into a confident Wartortle (one of my favourite starter Middle Stage evolutions) and I loved their simple performance, it reminded me of a pebble/stone skipping across the water and you couldn’t take your eyes off Wartortle. I really enjoyed Ash’s performance, it’s not the first time he’s competed in a Contest but I love the fact he competed with Buizel, who wasn’t that interested in Contests under Dawn’s ownership. Additionally, I love the fact Ash used Dawn’s feedback to help with the performance but it honestly felt like an Ash performance, just showing off his and Buizel’s love of battle.

Finally, it’s getting closer to Dawn’s turn and naturally, she starts to have doubts, causing Piplup to launch a Bubble Beam at her face. It was a short but cute display of Dawn and Piplup’s relationship and how they support one another especially as Piplup tried to gently encourage Dawn throughout her slump. In this case, he decided to be a little more forceful. Despite a little stumble, Dawn and Ambipom ultimately delivered a simple and clean performance taking on Zoey’s advice. Ultimately being rewarded with a place in the Battle Stage. Overall, this episode was a brilliant way to introduce to the Wallace Cup, the beginning of Dawn re-gaining her confidence and seeing the Hoenn cast of characters.

Pruning Passel of Pals! Personally, this is the weakest episode of the arc, just for the fact it has the least amount of battling but we expand on DP’s main plot with the Lake Trio as Ash catches sight of Azelf and we expand on the Sinnoh lore. We also get a cute Team Rocket moment, where James and Meowth arrange for Jessie to act as a TV commentator for the competition, their sense of comradery is so cute (also if Jessie’s happy they’re happy). I liked the fact we got to see Dawn’s first battle of the competition after renewing her confidence and I did enjoy the battle, as we hadn’t seen Buneary in a Contest battle for a while. Up to the Quarter Finals, we mostly got still-shots or brief cuts of the other battles which is what makes this episode weaker in comparison to the others. However, it allowed us to see May’s Skitty and that her Bulbasaur evolved all the way to a Venusaur.

Once, we reach the Quarter Finals, we see Ash battle against a Coordinator named Kyle. Sadly, Ash ultimately loses the battle and is eliminated he didn’t entirely lose out as he and Buizel are more in sync and the Ice Aqua Jet that Dawn couldn’t perfect with Buizel under her ownership was finally successful. However, Kyle brought up an interesting point during his battle with Ash that stuck with me, that in these types of contests such as the Wallace Cup and the Grand Festival, varying your Pokémon is vital so your opponents can’t figure out all of your strategies. This was what led to Solidad defeating May in the Kanto Grand Festival as observed May’s tactics and battle style. I just found this observation interesting and it was something that stuck with me.

Finally, my favourite episode of the arc and probably one of my favourite Contest episodes ever, Strategy with a Smile! Now, this is how you conclude a Contest arc! There was plenty of action, the first Semi-Final Battle we have is between Kyle and Dawn, what I loved with this episode and subsequent battles was seeing Dawn confident once again and having faith in her skills re-using the spin tactic, she developed in Oreburgh City and combining it with Bide causing Piplup to glow purple and turn his opponent’s attacks against them.

Then we have May vs Zoey, which allowed us to see May’s new skills and battle style on full display. We also get to see May’s Beautifly again! One of my favourite Pokémon. Once again, we got to see, why Zoey is one of Dawn’s toughest rivals utilising the pool to electrocute Beautifly. However, I liked the way May turned the tables on her, something I don’t think we saw too often with her in previous Contests. But she didn’t give Zoey the chance to counterattack either. I just really enjoyed seeing this new fierce style, May had developed during her time in Johto.

However, the next battle had to be one of my favourite Contest battles of all time. What better way to conclude the Wallace Cup arc? Then having our two main Coordinators go head-to-head, DP was the series when the visuals for Pokémon began to increase in quality and I really loved the visuals throughout this battle. Not to mention we got to May’s newly evolved Glaceon shine in a Contest Battle as we hardly got to see it in action as an Eevee.

Some fans were upset at the fact, May the more experienced Coordinator had lost to Dawn and I’ll explore factors and reasons why this could have happened. But I felt the need to hammer this point, Dawn only won by half a point and Contests aren’t about strength, the winner is the Coordinator who best displays their Pokémon’s traits in a Performance and Battle. And say if May won, either way, both Coordinators would have had a positive experience, it would have been similar to the conclusion of Dawn’s battle with Maylene. Despite the loss, Dawn still would have regained her confidence but I think her winning the Aqua Ribbon gave her that extra sense of affirmation, as Dawn won a Contest that attracts competitors from all over the globe. I can’t think of a better way of renewing a character’s sense of self-confidence than in a setting such as this. All in all, it was a great way to conclude the Wallace Cup arc.

It felt like every episode set out to fulfill the job it was meant to do and succeeded. Naturally, they couldn’t show off every battle in the competition and it’s the same in other Contest episodes, utilising still-shots. But I generally enjoyed every battle they chose to focus on and the way the pool battlefield was utilised throughout the competition. In addition to the character development featured throughout this arc, we had some progression to the overarching plot of DP. This section ended up being an episode-by-episode review of the arc but I hope it gets the point across!

May and her Pokémon:

The issue I’ve been having as of late is that it kind of felt like the only reason former main cast members were returning was to help develop a current main cast member and that just doesn’t feel right. These characters deserve to shine and we want to see how they developed. This is why one of my favourite aspects of the Wallace Cup arc is that we truly got to see May shine and see the progress she’s made from the naïve beginner trainer she was in AG to the fearless Coordinator she is now. In addition to May, we got to see all of her Pokémon shine in their own way at least once (yes, I’m including still shots). Which is why I’m glad we had the Full Course Tag Battle! The episode gave us the chance to see her Blaziken, as using a fire-type in a contest that celebrates water-types in a battlefield with a pool probably wouldn’t be a good idea.

One of my main reasons, May split off from Ash, was because she felt like she was imitating his battle style and she wanted to develop her own. And we got to see that in the Semi-finals and the Finals of the Wallace Cup, where May defeated Dawn’s toughest rival, Zoey by utilising her own tactics against her in a very Ash/Drew-like style.

Nevertheless, we also saw that old habits die hard, as to some extent as May still relies on luck-based moves as shown in the final where May had Glaceon use Secret Power which worked the first time and paralysed Piplup however, the second time it backfired and ended up making Piplup shine more in comparison to Glaceon.

All in all, we also learnt of May’s progress in Johto we essentially got to see it for ourselves, which is something fans who have followed May’s journey appreciate all the more.

Dawn’s Development:

As I mentioned in the previous section, it felt like as of late former main cast members was being brought back to help develop members of the main cast. What I love about the Wallace Cup arc, was that even though May was the more experienced Coordinator, at the time they were going through a similar experience and were both on losing streaks. In Dawn’s case, she needed to regain her confidence after two consecutive failures in the Performance Stage, the second time in which she over-compensated for the previous loss.

However, from this experience, Dawn didn’t just regain her confidence, she learnt that simplicity is best and can allow her Pokémon to shine and be the focus. This can be seen in her later Contest performances and in Arriving in Style! In which her Pokémon do something as simple as spinning or jumping whilst uniquely utilising their moves and remaining the focus of the audience.

Moreover, many fans were upset that May, the more experienced Coordinator had lost to Dawn in the Finals. All things considered, Dawn only beat May by half a point, Dawn could have edged May out at several points in the battle as Contests aren’t about strength, the victor is who best displays their Pokémon strengths. With May, having relied on luck-based moves too much, to Dawn utilising previously used tactics such as Piplup riding his Whirlpool (from Dawn’s second Contest) to using May’s water curtain tactic from the Semi-Finals against her.

To this day, this is still one of my favourite battles from the Pokémon anime, not only because I love Contests, seeing our two main Coordinators going up against one another but seeing Dawn having the confidence in her own tactics but being influenced by those around her as well.

The setting:

As I mentioned in the introduction, I believe the setting is one of the core reasons why the Wallace Cup arc was so successful. Having May’s return be featured in a Contest setting just makes so much sense. Not only that, but it allowed us to see May’s growth alongside Dawn. However, we also got to see Ash and Buizel’s relationship develop and to see Ash successfully execute one of his best strategies for the first time with the Ice Aqua Jet.

Conclusion:

Overall, in my opinion, the Wallace Cup arc is one of the best narrative uses of a former main character. As it not only allowed our current cast to develop but it allowed us to see first-hand, May’s growth and aggressive battle style that she’s developed in Johto, especially those who had been following May’s journey from a naïve beginner trainer to the fierce Coordinator she is today.

Dawn’s growth was great from re-gaining her confidence and not allowing it to become over-confidence. Learning simple is best, and that tactic allowed her Pokémon to shine the most. Ash developing new strategies and bonding with his Pokémon. And some slight plot progression to the overarching narrative/story of DP.

The pacing and length of this arc, was just right, as it didn’t feel too long or too short and every episode fulfilled the job it had set out to do. It's nice to experience short story arcs, as it gives the audience a chance to be gripped to a story/narrative and I enjoy having that sense of focus in a story.

Honestly, I think the writers had hit the nail on the head, with this arc and it's sad they couldn’t really replicate the success of the Wallace Cup arc with future character returns. I have seen over the years that the Pokémon anime is capable of some great story-telling and amazing character arcs as shown by this entire post. This is why, I’m finding some aspects of Journeys frustrating, that they set up some amazing plot lines or potential development and fall flat on the delivery or don’t even act on it.

I don’t know if it’s just me setting my expectations too high or I’m being overly critical. I would like to think it's healthy to have some criticisms of a series rather than to just blindly love it. Initially, I did enjoy Journeys but after the episode 60 mark, my enjoyment began to wear thin which makes me sad as I genuinely love to watch the anime alongside playing the games. Anyways, I feel better getting this off my chest and if anyone actually read the entirety of this post thank you! I’m thinking of making another post possibly focusing on why I’m not enjoying the episodic formula of Journeys but that might be another day!

#pokemon #pokeani #analysis #may (pokemon)#dawn (pokemon)#ash ketchum

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bleedinghearthalstead · 5 years ago

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SWAT!Jay / Upstead AU

A/N: Part 7! Crossposted on AO3. Can’t believe I’ve already written 15,000+ words for this AU. Thanks again for all your comments, they keep me motivated.

"Surprise!" Mouse's grin slightly falters when Jay continues gaping at him.

Once his still somewhat sleep-muddled brain catches up, the biggest grin forms on his face and Jay pulls his best friend in for a hug. He pulls back to punch Mouse in the arm. "What the hell, man? I thought you weren't supposed to be stateside until next week!"

Jay startles awake at his phone buzzing on his nightstand. The room is pitch dark except for the blinking screen of his cell, somebody calling him. He checks the alarm clock next to him and lowly grumbles, seeing that it is 1.44 a.m. Grabbing the offending and still vibrating object, he squints at the screen. When he sees the caller ID, his heart skips a beat.

He throws the blanket off of him and gets up off the bed, quickly pressing the green icon. "Hey man, just give me a sec," he whispers and tiptoes out of his bedroom, careful not to disturb Hailey who is still asleep. She stirs only for a second, then turns around to her other side and is fast asleep again. Quietly closing the bedroom door behind him, Jay goes back to the call. "Buddy, everything alright?" He doesn't usually get calls from the other person at this time of night unless it's urgent.

"Jay, I need you to do me a favor-" And Jay immediately starts going through a list in his head which DOD or Army Intelligence contacts he is still friendly with. "-and open your door."

His mental rundown comes to a grinding halt. "What?"

"Open your door?" He can hear the other man chuckling on the other end.

Jay quickly walks to his apartment door and pulls it open, revealing Mouse in his army fatigues and tan beret, green duffle bag slung over his shoulder. Jay can only stare.

"Surprise!" Mouse's grin slightly falters when Jay continues gaping at him.

"We achieved our mission objective early and then I kept bugging Captain Morello about moving up my leave until he got fed up with me and put me on the next cargo transport to Germany. And then it was another 20 plus hours to get from Germany to JFK and from JFK to O'Hare."

Jay takes a good look at his friend – Mouse looks a little tired but happy. Happier than he was a year ago, before he decided to re-enlist. Jay had gotten him a job as a CPD tech, but after a couple of years it was clear that Mouse wanted (and needed) to move on to something else. Although Jay still doesn’t like the fact that Mouse went back to the Army considering what it did to both of them, he is glad to see that his friend has been doing well for himself.

"Welcome home, man." They grin at each other and Jay ushers Mouse inside the apartment. Jay closes the door and when he turns, he bumps into Mouse, who hasn't moved more than two steps into the place, and Jay gets a face full of stinky, dusty Army canvas. He scrunches up his nose in disgust. "Dude-" Before he can say another word, Jay spots Hailey standing by the bedroom door, not even six feet away from them. He must've not heard her get up. "Oh hey, babe. Sorry, did we wake you?"

Hailey only raises an eyebrow at her boyfriend. Jay's place is tiny and the walls are paper-thin, you can hear his next-door neighbor's TV through the wall. When she woke up to find Jay not in bed with her and heard voices coming from the other side of the bedroom door, she decided to investigate. Having heard their conversation, she deduces that the man in uniform standing in front of her is Jay's ranger friend who he had mentioned was supposed to come home next week and stay with Jay for a couple of days. Seems like he got into the city a little earlier than expected. She turns to Mouse with a warm smile and sticks out her hand. "Hi, I'm Hailey. You must be Greg."

Surprised to hear his given name – these days it's only coming from his mother or Jay if they're having a really serious talk –, Mouse drops his duffle to shake her hand enthusiastically. "Hi! Greg, yes, Greg. Everyone calls me Mouse though." Only when he sees that Hailey is just wearing an oversized shirt, her legs bare, and she looks like she just woke up – because she did, and looking at Jay, he looks like he just woke up too – does Mouse realize the time, his body clock still in another time zone. "Oh fuck, what time is it?"

"It's almost 2 a.m., buddy," Jay chuckles.

"Oh fuck, shit, I'm so sorry." He fumbles with the buttons on his watch. "I forgot to change the time on this thing."

"It's fine, man." Jay pats his friend on the back. "You want a beer?" When Hailey tilts her head at him in question, he shrugs at her. He won't be able to fall asleep now anyways, too hyped up by his friend's surprise appearance. When he sees Mouse fidgeting and glancing between Hailey and him, he says, "Why don't you go in the kitchen and get us a couple of pilsners?"

Mouse lets out the breath he was holding, glad for the distraction. "Sure, I'll be right back."

As soon as Mouse is out of sight, Jay moves closer to Hailey and leans in to give her a kiss. "Sorry we woke you up."

"That's alright. You weren't expecting him either, I take it?"

Jay sighs. "Like I said, I thought he was coming home next week. I didn't think he was gonna drop by like this." He scratches his head. "Listen, we're just gonna have a couple of beers, get Mouse settled in-"

"It's okay, I'll get the spare blanket and pillow from the closet."

Hailey is about to walk off, but he grabs her hand to stop her and smiles at her gratefully. "Thanks, babe."

"No problem."

When she disappears into the bedroom, Jay goes into the kitchen, finding Mouse already sitting at the small dining table, three open beer bottles in front of him. Mouse hands him one of the beers, taking the other one. They clink the bottles together. Jay sits down with a sigh, taking a large gulp of the beer.

"Hailey's not joining us?" Mouse nods at the third beer.

The other man shakes his head. "She's making up your bed for tonight."

Mouse grimaces. "Oh man, she doesn't have to, and again, I'm really sorry to barge in unannounced… especially if I had known that she was living here-"

Jay laughs. "She doesn't live here. If anything, I'd move into her place, it's much bigger and nicer."

His girlfriend comes up behind him at that moment and puts her hands on his shoulders, smirking. "The only reason we're here so much is because he lives closer to my district."

"So you're just using me?" Hailey slaps his arm as Jay laughs.

"I'll leave you two to it." She leans down to kiss Jay. "Don't stay up too late." She then smiles at Mouse. "Nice to meet you, Mouse. I'll see you tomorrow." With that, she exits the kitchen.

"Hey, you didn't answer my question," Jay calls after her, but only receives a giggle and a "goodnight, boys" in return before he hears the bedroom door close. He shakes his head, but has a dopey smile on his face.

"So that's Hailey, huh?" Mouse smirks at his best friend.

"Yep, that's Hailey." Jay takes another pull of the beer.

When Jay doesn't say anything else, Mouse rolls his eyes. His friend can be really reticent if he wants to. "When you talked about her, I didn't think you guys were that serious…"

Jay looks at him indignantly. "We've been dating for like six months!"

"Yeah, but whenever you mention her, you just say that you're hanging out and it's hard finding the time to be with her, what with work – she's police too, right? It just sounded more casual, is all." Mouse raises an eyebrow at him. "And even if you're saying she's not living here, I'm pretty sure that she spends more time here than you think." At Jay's frown, he points at the tea kettle. "You don't drink tea, buddy."

"So what? That's like one thing," Jay says, somehow irked.

"There were at least three pairs of shoes and a couple of jackets at the door that are definitely not yours." Mouse starts ticking things off on his fingers. "There was folded laundry from the both of you in the living room, you've got decorative pillows and a really nice throw blanket on the couch, there was a bottle of nail polish and a box of hair ties on the coffee table, it smells really nice in here and-" He points at the three little potted plants sitting on the window sill. "-the Halstead I know is a stone-cold plant killer."

Jay can only stare at his best friend, the beer bottle stopped mid-raise to his mouth. He's somewhat shocked at what Mouse could glean of their relationship in the few minutes he's been here. Surprised, not really. Mouse is one of the smartest people he knows – he always wonders how the CIA or NSA haven't poached him from the Army yet – and he wouldn't call him his best friend for nothing.

Mouse can read him like an open book. "Look, this isn't a bad thing, I'm happy for you." He shrugs. "I don't know why you felt like you had to hide it. Like, do other people even know you're dating?"

Frowning, Jay thinks about what his friend just said and it's kind of true. Hailey has met his team guys and they've gone out drinking before, and he's also met a couple of Hailey's friends, but except for the occasional night out, it's usually just the two of them. A lot of the time, they just hang out at his or Hailey's place. They did establish quite early on that they were exclusively dating, but how much of that have they shown to the outside world? Jay doesn't know. And it's been half a year. Half a year of them unintentionally playing down their relationship? They're both not that big on PDA, but he loves Hailey, he's pretty damn sure Hailey loves him too and they're very happy together. So why are they hiding?

Mouse thankfully changes the subject when he realizes he's hit a nerve and fills Jay in on the happenings in the battalion and how much the forward operating base in Afghanistan has changed from the time they were there in 2008 because of the troop drawdown. They spend another hour or so catching up until Jay starts yawning every couple of minutes. Mouse absolves him from having to stay up with him just so he has some company, citing that he'll be fine reading the magazine he bought at the airport, so Jay heads back to bed.

Lying down next to Hailey mindful not to wake her again, he cuddles up to her back, draping his arm over her waist. Sighing contently, he is ready to drift off to sleep.

"All good?" He hears her whisper sleepily. When she pulls his arm tighter around her, he smiles and kisses the back of her head.

"Yeah, all good." Jay falls asleep to the sound of Hailey's breathing.

* * * * *

Mouse insists on inviting them out for drinks the next night, still feeling guilty about his impromptu visit in the middle of the night. They agree on meeting in a pub not far from Jay's apartment, so a police detective, a SWAT sniper and an Army Ranger walk into a bar… The place is packed since it's a Friday night, people squeezing into the place to celebrate the end of their work week. Irish-inspired rock music and loud talking fills the air. They were just barely able to snag a tiny table with only one bar stool that Hailey gets to sit on, Jay standing next to her and Mouse on the other side of the table.

"The last time we were on leave together," Mouse almost has to shout over the loud din in the pub, "We were in a club and Jay got so wasted that he tripped and poured his beer all over a group of girls and almost started a fight-"

"I didn't start a fight!"

"You almost did and me and our buddies had to drag Jay outside and-"

"I would've been fine walking out on my own, thank you very much."

Mouse laughs. "You could barely get off the floor, man. I had to pay a taxi driver an extra 50 bucks before he agreed to take us home."

"I paid you back!"

"And in the taxi, he puk-"

"Let me stop you right there." Jay playfully glares at his friend. "You know I have just as much dirt on you, buddy."

Hailey is laughing at their banter, excited to hear stories of Jay's past. They have been together for a few months now, but a lot of Jay's military days are still somewhat of a mystery to her. He's let her in on a few select things, but usually only when he startled awake from a nightmare and woke up Hailey in the process, and even then he's very sparse with the details. So it's good to have someone like Mouse there to bring back positive memories from that time, even if they're somewhat disgusting.

A few times during the evening, Hailey thinks she might be imagining it, but Jay is a little more touchy-feely than usual. When they go out with other people, they of course stay close to each other, but Jay normally wouldn't be standing behind her, hugging her, or kiss her randomly. It's not like they're full-on making out in front of Mouse, although it does seem to have something to do with him. Maybe Jay just doesn't like showing his affection in front of other people or he's just more comfortable with his best friend. Hailey doesn't know what to think when Mouse smirks at them like he knows something they don't.

More than a few rounds later, they are surprised when last call is announced by the bartender and looking around they realize that they are some of the last patrons left. Mouse heads over to the bar to get a last round of drinks for them even when Hailey tells him no and Jay excuses himself to go to the restroom, leaving Hailey at their table. She pulls out her phone to check the time, sighing when she sees that it's already 2 a.m. Even though the evening has been fun, she'll be glad to head home. Mouse's late arrival combined with the man hunt for a murderer earlier today, she feels the need for sleep pulling at her.

"Hey beautiful," a voice comes from behind her, "You here all alone? Why don't you hang out with us?" She turns around and is confronted by two big bald guys dressed in all black, looking like a set of Humpty Dumpty twins on steroids.

Convinced that this is some kind of a joke, Hailey laughs. "No thanks, guys, I'm good."

"Come on now, we'll show you a good time. We know where to party all night long."

Before she has a chance to reply, Jay sidles up next to her, effectively putting himself between her and the two other men. "Sorry guys, she's with me."

They look Jay up and down and scoff. This is one instance where Hailey has to curse Jay's baby face. If you were looking at them as a bystander, it would look like her boyfriend didn't stand a chance. Jay isn't short, but the other men are at least a couple of inches taller than him and about twice his body size. And for whatever reason Jay decided today was a good day to wear a polo shirt and khakis, it makes him look like a preppy college kid facing off against two angry thugs.

"Listen, Lake Forest," Thug #1 says, looking down at Jay, "why don't you get out of my way so I can show her what it's like to be with a real man."

"I said she's with me," Jay growls and if his tone is more possessive than he intended, he's blaming it on the alcohol. "Now get out of here."

"Or what?" Thug #1 chuckles. "I'll lay you out right where you stand."

"Jay, no," Hailey tries to hold him back, but he's already moving towards Thug #1.

Jay gives him a condescending look. "I'd like to see you try."

And then it pops off. Thug #1 swings a fist at Jay's face, but Jay saw that move coming a mile away and ducks, hitting the other guy with two swift and surgical punches in the solar plexus. Watching his friend fall to the floor gasping, Thug #2 charges at Jay, but before he can take a step towards him, Mouse is already on his back, his arms going around his neck in a chokehold. The guy tries to shake the ranger off to no avail, his face turning beet red. He starts wildly tapping Mouse's arm, but Mouse only lets him go once he drops to his knees, heavily coughing.

Thug #1 decides to go for another round and roaring, he jumps up and pulls a knife out of his boot. The blade slices the air in front of Jay's face as Jay quickly pulls back. When he goes in for another stab, Jay slaps the guy's wrist with both hands, easily disarming him. Then yanking the other man towards him by the arm with one hand, his other hand at the back of the other man's neck, Jay pulls him down and knees him first in the stomach and then in the head, leaving the guy writhing on the floor. He kicks the knife away to a safe distance.

Alerted to the commotion, the thugs' four friends – all looking like they stepped straight out of a damn Eastern European gangster movie, either in track suits or leather jackets – rush over to help their downed comrades, poised and ready to get in the fight, one of them also drawing a knife.

Hailey has seen enough. She pulls out her badge and service weapon, holding them up in warning, then yells as loudly as she can, "Police! Don't move!" She points her gun directly at the man with the knife. "You, drop the knife!" He complies easily enough and the knife hits the floor with a clank. Hailey turns to the rest of the bar. "Everyone who doesn't want to get arrested tonight, get out of here, NOW!"

When Thug #1 tries to crawl away, Jay rolls his eyes and stops him with a boot on his back. "Not you, you moron." He turns to Hailey. "You got cuffs on you?"

Hailey shakes her head no, then grimaces. If they arrest the two, they have to call the police and go down to the district, do all the paperwork, give witness statements, which is going to take hours and Hailey is tired.

With the pub now empty except for them, Humpty and Dumpty and the bartender, Hailey turns to the latter. "You wanna press charges?"

The bartender shrugs. There's a couple of broken glasses on the floor and stools thrown over, but the damage is minimal. "Not if you don't."

"Alright then." Hailey orders the offenders to hand over their wallets, photographing their IDs with her phone, then takes out a couple of bills and leaves the money on the bar top. She sends off the pair with a warning to never show their faces in the bar again.

Walking home, Jay has his arm draped over Hailey's shoulder while she has her arm around his back. Mouse is walking next to them, jumping up and down excitedly. "That was fun!"

"Oh my God," Hailey groans and Jay smacks him upside the head.

Mouse just laughs. "We need to go clubbing tomorrow!"

#upstead #jay halstead #hailey upton #greg gerwitz #chicago pd #not the swat guys but even better!#bhhfic #swat!jay au

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h2ojustaddmako · 5 years ago

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My Thoughts After Re-Watching Season 2

Hiya everybody. Sorry for the long times between posts. Working two jobs and keeping a social life, while also trying to sleep, eat healthy and get hydrated is taking a toll on this account. Bright side is, that because of the whole Corona situation, I might spend a lot of time home soon. So head-up, another headcanon/theory is coming this week, but just to break the hiatus, I decided to write today.

Every now and then, I decide to re-watch one of the three seasons of the show, just so I could have something to fill my time. So, recently I decided to watch season 2 again, and, as I like, pick up on some details, ideas or thoughts I didn’t get during previous binges. I’ve watched this season, like the others, around four or five times now since release, maybe more - and yet I’m still genuinely surprised at the things I notice or realize every time. So I figured I might turn it into a list of the good, the bad, and the plain interesting.

This list is in no particular order, I just write my thoughts as they go.

1. I am still BLOWN AWAY by how good the writing is on this show. It may not be an Oscar-winning script, but for a teen show of the early 2000′s it’s amazingly deep and well thought of, from every angle. That what makes my theories so fun to make, because they planted so much information throughout the shows that I genuinely enjoy picking out details and information from it.

2. To go into more depth, I really enjoyed all the different storylines they brought in throughout the 26 episodes. Look, twenty-six episodes is a lot for a TV series. Most shows release around 10, since long storylines are hard to follow and are easy to get messy. But while they added so many side stories (Max and the original mermaids, Ash and Emma, Cleo and Lewis’ breakup and Charlotte getting in between),. each of these stories merged with the main plot so well, and actually added depth to the story, making it more complicated for the characters, and more interactive for the viewer.

3. While the main focus for the season was the Cleo-Lewis-Charlotte relationship, both Emma and Rikki had their romantic paths taken as well. But unlike season 1, where the couples fought for screen time, this time those relationships were put to the side in favour of the main plot, which made them more slow-paced and interesting to watch. I enjoyed the fact that Emma and Ash stayed in the dark throughout the entire season, and that Zane only appeared when he was needed. Both are good characters, but not needed every time.

4. On the other hand, Cleo and Lewis’ relationship was handled very maturely all through the season. From when they dated, through the post-breakup, and all the way to managing being friends, the relationship was very well looked into and explored.

5. Might be a side thing, but I loved that Ash was actually figuring out something was off about Emma. One of my favourite lines by him was, “You realize none of this is natural. But you already knew that.” (Ep. 26) Mostly in shows like these, the character either never questions the weird occurrences around them, or the curiosity fuel the storyline (like Zane in season 1). The writer really wrote out of pure logic and not out of plot requirements, and I dig that little detail.

6. This one is felt throughout the entire show, but was most dominant during this one. The show is not about mermaids at all. This is written as a show about three girls and their coming of age process, and the things they have to deal with, one of them being turned into mermaids. But it’s far from being the only problem these girls have, and it’s showing when some episodes really struggle to squeeze in scenes of the girls in their tails for pure rating, even when the plot is not in need of any mermaid action. The girls have a very full and normal lifestyle aside from being mermaids. They go out, go shopping, have other friends, work, study and fail, deal with personal issues at home or with partners. The tails are just another part of their lives and I love it.

7. Episode 23 is a turning point for Charlotte’s character arch. I’ve spoken greatly before about how I feel like Charlotte is seen in our minds as the “bad guy” while she was a nice character most of her time on the show. And she was! Up until episode 23 when was never trying to hurt the girls. She may have acted out of jealousy before towards Cleo, but she was insecure and worried about her boyfriend. What should she think when her boyfriend spends a whole lot of time with his ex and fails to explain to her exactly why? The show did a great job showing the point of both sides in the argument between the girls and Charlotte, and showed the entire process of how their relationship turned into what it was. A lot of ego, assumptions, and false worries, and a lot of unfortunate events. Episode 23 was really a turning point because that’s where both sides of the fight were really right in different ways, things that led Charlotte to want to go on her own, and the girls to stay away from her. Charlotte acted the way she did because she felt like the girls were treating her badly (which she was wrong about sometimes, but they too hold the blame, mostly Rikki). From episode 24 and on, she started acting as the “bad guy” the show built her to be, and even then I can see her side. But enough on that.

8. Lewis is hot. Idk what’s up with Charlotte’s eyebrows.

9. One thing that feels off every time is how quickly Lewis started dating Charlotte. I don’t blame a guy for moving on quickly, I do find it weird that during the post-breakup from Cleo, he not only protected Cleo’s respect and jealousy by not flirting with any other girl, but also didn’t really seem like he was into Charlotte at all. She was a good friend at the beginning, then Cleo got in the middle, and for some reason, Charlotte did her best to rub it in Cleo’s face that she wants Lewis. But he never, for once, showed interest back until Cleo gave him permission to move on, and all of a sudden they’re dating. What I'm saying is that Lewis never seemed to like Charlotte romantically, like she liked him. So that was weird, they just never felt right together.

10. The reason Charlotte mastered her powers so quickly, at least in my eyes, is because that a) she had the girls to explain her at least the basics, and b) she didn’t put herself into a box of ‘this is what I was given’, bc she wanted to be better than Cleo at every cost. Her will power helped her master her powers. While the girls dealt with learning their boundaries and abilities and adjusting into the new life they got, Charlotte learned about mermaids before her transformation and knew what she was getting into.

11. The show never shied away from real-life issues, that may be considered inappropriate or harsh to the audiences the show is targeted at. Handling with divorce (and the outcomes of it!) and parents starting dating again (true story, Cleo’s way to handle with Sam’s introduction into her father’s life helped me cope when my mother started dating men a couple of years ago), while also showing signs of LGBT references (Nate mentioned people think Lewis is gay, in other words) or even sexual harassment and consent (both when Rikki was mad at Zane for kissing her against her will, and when Ash’s apology to Emma when he believed Lewis thought he was trying to have sex with her/spy on her showering, which to remind y’all, she was 16 while he was 18). It’s so brief I never noticed it before, but once I did, it was hard to miss.

12. And lastly, I just love how this show treats science. So much real life and true scientific information is included in the lines of the story, mainly by Lewis, but also by other characters like Will, Cleo, Lowrey, Max and Dr. Denman. When they wrote the entire base to what mermaids are and how they exist, they didn’t care it was a show for goddamn 9-year-olds, and that what makes it so interesting. If you’re not into science, let me tell you that every scientific blurb or word you hear on the show is 100%% real and makes sense within its context. From talking about marine biology, to referring to mermaids groups ‘pods’ (which is a group of marine mammals in scientific terms), to the science of “magic” and mermaids as a whole, the show knows what it’s doing is within the realms of possibility from a scientific point of view, meaning none of it is real, but it could be, in another life.

Anyways, if you have anything else to add, feel free! This is your list as it is mine. I just really love this show and I wish people appreciated it the same way we do. When I tell people I like this show they remember it as just another kids TV show, and it’s so much more than that.

Hope you’re having a great day, be safe, and wash your hands (just not in front fo people, keep the secret safe!)

Until next time, maybe not as far as you think. xx

#h2o just add water #lewis mccartney #cleo sertori #emma gilbert #rikki chadwick #Charlotte Watsford #zane bennett #Ash

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f1chronicle · 4 years ago

Text

Best Formula 1 Books

When you’re looking for the best Formula 1 books to buy and read, one of the biggest problems you come across is that all the reviews are the same – copied and pasted from Amazon. Also, how do you know if the books you like are what the reviewer likes?

The Formula 1 books below have been read by me, not just copied and pasted from other listings. I like books that share stories, that get into the emotion of the subject and leave you feeling something. I’m not a facts and figures guys, so a book full of dates, cold facts, and specifications will have me putting the book back on the shelf half-read.

I like my books like I like my F1 – fast-paced and dramatic.

So if you’re like me, the below Formula 1 books will be for you…

The Best Formula 1 Books

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Life to the Limit: My Autobiography by Jenson Button

This is actually my favourite Formula 1 book, which is why it is at the top of the list. When you read it, you can’t help but have the voice of Jenson Button in your head, which makes his jokes funnier (and this is a very funny book). While there is a lot of humour, often self-deprecating, the tone definitely takes a turn and you can’t help but be moved when Jenson talks about losing his father.

Some of the chapters are super short too, as in a handful of pages, so if you’re someone who likes to read before bed and has to finish at the end of a chapter, this book will make sure you get to bed at a reasonable hour.

Read my full review on Life to the Limit: My Autobiography by Jenson Button

Jenson Button: Life to the Limit: My Autobiography

Amazon Kindle Edition

Button, Jenson (Author)

English (Publication Language)

361 Pages - 10/19/2017 (Publication Date) - Blink Publishing (Publisher)

$7.49

Buy on Amazon

Senna versus Prost

Before I read Jenson’s book, Senna versus Prost was my favourite.

Malcolm Folley has done a cracking job of creating a space for people to share their stories of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in a way that instantly transports the reader back to those great battles of the 80s and 90s.

What’s even better is Folley speaks with a lot of team personnel, people in the background who we’ve not really heard of, and lets us know what it was really like to be on the ground as the battles took place out on the track.

So much has been made of Ayrton Senna over the years, that Prost’s version of events was somewhat overlooked – until now. And although he could have used the book as an opportunity to lay the boots into his rival, Prost does a brilliant job of relaying events as he saw them.

Le Professeur off the track as well as on it.

Read my full review on Senna versus Prost

Sale

Senna Versus Prost: The Story of the Most Deadly Rivalry in Formula One

Arrow Books

Folley, Malcolm (Author)

English (Publication Language)

410 Pages - 05/26/2010 (Publication Date) - Random House UK (Publisher)

$16.49

Buy on Amazon

Murray Walker: Unless I’m Very Much Mistaken

Murray Walker is the voice of Formula 1. He has one of those voices that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you’re watching an old race and his enthusiasm for F1 jumps through the speakers.

Some artists use paints, some use pencils, Murray Walker used a microphone.

Walker is a quintessential storyteller, so once again this is a book that you will most likely read in his voice. He tells vivid stories about growing up, his time in the war, all the way through to the Murray Walker we know from our TV screens commentating on Formula 1.

Known for the odd gaff in the commentary box, Walker isn’t shy about having a laugh with it, and understands it helped endear him to fans over the years.

Unless I’m very much mistaken, this is a must-read book that you will thoroughly enjoy.

Unless I'm Very Much Mistaken: My Autobiography by Murray Walker (2003-06-01)

Walker, Murray (Author)

06/02/2003 (Publication Date) - Willow (Publisher)

$25.32

Buy on Amazon

Niki Lauda – The Biography

If a book about a man who had a horrific crash at the wheel of a Formula 1 racing car, was given the last rights, then was back on the grid a month later doesn’t move you, then nothing will.

Niki Lauda was a man of little fuss or sentiment, and Maurice Hamilton has written this book in much the same vein. Starting from Lauda’s early days growing up in a proper family who felt motor racing was beneath their station, to his racing years, to flying, and much more.

If there is to be one criticism of this book, it’s that it doesn’t go into a great deal of detail on his time with Mercedes. However, the vivid recollections of his racing days from people who witnessed it definitely make up for this.

Niki Lauda

Hardcover Book

English (Publication Language)

Simon & Schuster UK (Publisher)

$19.06

Buy on Amazon

The Unknown Kimi Räikkönen

The Unknown Kimi Räikkönen gives great insights into Kimi’s path to F1, his upbringing, and now the importance of time with his growing family.

If you’re looking for a book of anecdotes from Kimi’s time in the paddock, this book isn’t it.

But if you want to learn more about Kimi’s path to F1, his motivation for quitting the sport, and his motivation for coming back to it.

The photos he shares are excellent too.

Read my full review on The Unknown Kimi Räikkönen

The Unknown Kimi Raikkonen

Hotakainen, Kari (Author)

English (Publication Language)

336 Pages - 08/22/2019 (Publication Date) - Simon & Schuster UK (Publisher)

$13.25

Buy on Amazon

Aussie Grit: My Formula One Journey

This is one that most Australian’s will love, as the Aussie legend shares anecdotes or ‘yarns’ from his time in F1 racing against some of the best drivers on the planet.

Those who remember the ‘Multi 21’ saga and breakdown in the relationship with Sebastian Vettel will like this book, as Webber gives his version of the events that unfolded in front of our eyes on race days.

A highlight of this book is Webber walking us through his personal struggles, as it’s not something often associated with the stoic Australian. This book is brutally honest in parts, and will give you a deeper appreciation of the man, not just the driver.

Aussie Grit: My Formula One Journey

PAN

Webber, Mark (Author)

English (Publication Language)

320 Pages - 09/28/2016 (Publication Date) - Macmillan UK (Publisher)

$16.30

Buy on Amazon

The Mechanic: The Secret World of the F1 Pitlane

Marc ‘Elvis’ Priestley was one the number one mechanic at McLaren, who as well as this book has an incredible YouTube channel where he shares his insights and analysis of Formula 1 regularly.

Simply put, his book needs to be on the bookshelf of every Formula 1 fan, it’s that good.

I’ll admit I’d never really thought about the pit crew. We see them for a few seconds each race, maybe more if something dramatic happens to one of their drivers.

This book takes us well and truly behind the scenes, into the life of partying and fast-living away from the track.

Priestley also shares a lot of secrets about the rivalries he was part of during his time in F1, which may make him a little unpopular with a few people…

Sale

The Mechanic: The Secret World of the F1 Pitlane

Priestley, Marc 'Elvis' (Author)

English (Publication Language)

256 Pages - 11/01/2018 (Publication Date) - Yellow Jersey (Publisher)

$8.49

Buy on Amazon

Chequered Conflict: The Inside Story on Two Explosive F1 World Championships

You could be forgiven for thinking this book by Maurice Hamilton is the work of a family member of Lewis Hamilton, but it’s not. Maurice Hamilton is the author of amazing F1 history books on the likes of James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Jackie Stewart, Frank Williams, and more.

Grand Prix racing in 2007 and 2008 was an explosive affair between Ferrari and McLaren, and this book captures all the drama perfectly.

2007 was the first time since 1986 that three drivers had a chance of winning the title going into the final race, and this book puts you back on the edge of your seat again as you re-live this piece of F1 history.

Chequered Conflict: The Inside Story on Two Explosive F1 World Championships

Amazon Kindle Edition

Hamilton, Maurice (Author)

English (Publication Language)

320 Pages - 09/04/2008 (Publication Date) - Simon & Schuster UK (Publisher)

$16.99

Buy on Amazon

The Mechanic’s Tale

This book by Steve Matchett is quite different to The Mechanic: The Secret World of the F1 Pitlane in that it is more about the author’s life, from trying desperately to break into the world of Formula 1. Although he’s not a racing driver, the struggles he faced are on par with some of the drivers mentioned in the books above.

Steve Matchett also shares a lot of his own eye-witness accounts of some of the greats such as Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna, and Michael Schumacher. Plus there is a lot on his time with Benetton which is great reading.

The Mechanic's Tale

Matchett, Steve (Author)

English (Publication Language)

240 Pages - 02/03/2000 (Publication Date) - Orion (Publisher)

$13.19

Buy on Amazon

Flat Out Flat Broke: The Original Stig

When you think of Formula 1, names like Lewis Hamilton, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill and Jackie Stewart come to mind straight away, but what about Perry McCarthy? No? Didn’t think so.

McCarthy spent the 1992 Formula 1 season ‘racing’ for the Andrea Moda Formula team, but unfortunately, never qualified for a Grand Prix.

That hasn’t stopped him from writing a hilarious autobiography that has already become a motorsport best seller.

While he didn’t have much luck in F1, or in a lot of other things, McCarthy bounced back to become the first ‘Stig’ on TopGear.

If you want to share a story with someone you care about that will inspire them to chase their dreams and never give up, then this is the one to give them. They don’t even need to be a Formula 1 fan to enjoy this one.

Sale

Flat Out, Flat Broke 3rd Edition: The Original Stig

McCarthy, Perry (Author)

English (Publication Language)

256 Pages - 05/01/2013 (Publication Date) - Haynes Publishing (Publisher)

$11.95

Buy on Amazon

Bestselling Formula 1 Books

Below you will find a list of bestselling Formula 1 books, many of which you would have seen listed above.

As I purchase and read more from the below list, I will add them to our Formula 1 Reviews section.

SaleBestseller No. 1

Formula One: The Champions: 70 years of legendary F1 drivers

Hardcover Book

Hamilton, Maurice (Author)

English (Publication Language)

240 Pages - 03/03/2020 (Publication Date) - White Lion Publishing (Publisher)

$28.49

Buy on Amazon

SaleBestseller No. 2

Formula One 2020

Jones, Bruce (Author)

English (Publication Language)

128 Pages - 05/12/2020 (Publication Date) - Welbeck (Publisher)

$17.99

Buy on Amazon

SaleBestseller No. 3

Formula One: The Pursuit of Speed: A Photographic Celebration of F1's Greatest Moments

Hardcover Book

Hamilton, Maurice (Author)

English (Publication Language)

272 Pages - 09/14/2017 (Publication Date) - Aurum Press (Publisher)

$27.49

Buy on Amazon

Bestseller No. 4

The Fastest Show on Earth: The Mammoth Book of Formula One

Chicane (Author)

English (Publication Language)

416 Pages - 06/11/2019 (Publication Date) - Robinson (Publisher)

$19.99

Buy on Amazon

SaleBestseller No. 5

F1 Mavericks: The Men and Machines that Revolutionized Formula 1 Racing

Hardcover Book

Biro, Pete (Author)

English (Publication Language)

240 Pages - 08/06/2019 (Publication Date) - Motorbooks (Publisher)

$33.04

Buy on Amazon

Bestseller No. 6

Formula 1: The Official History

Hardcover Book

The Hague, Maurice (Author)

English (Publication Language)

272 Pages - 10/20/2020 (Publication Date) - Welbeck Publishing (Publisher)

$33.96

Buy on Amazon

SaleBestseller No. 7

Speed Read F1: The Technology, Rules, History and Concepts Key to the Sport (Speed Read (1))

Codling, Stuart (Author)

English (Publication Language)

160 Pages - 10/10/2017 (Publication Date) - Motorbooks (Publisher)

$15.77

Buy on Amazon

SaleBestseller No. 8

Formula 1 2019: Technical Insights (Preview 2020)

Filisetti, Paolo (Author)

English (Publication Language)

192 Pages - 12/01/2020 (Publication Date) - Giorgio Nada Editore Srl (Publisher)

$68.26

Buy on Amazon

Bestseller No. 9

Formula One Circuits from Above: 28 Legendary Tracks in High-Definition Satellite Photography

Hardcover Book

Jones, Bruce (Author)

English (Publication Language)

224 Pages - 09/03/2019 (Publication Date) - Carlton Books (Publisher)

$76.91

Buy on Amazon

Bestseller No. 10

How To Build A Car

Hardcover Book

Newey, Adrian (Author)

English (Publication Language)

09/16/2020 (Publication Date) - Harper Collins (Publisher)

$29.43

Buy on Amazon

Bestseller No. 11

Formula One Circuits From Above: 28 Legendary Tracks in High-Definition Satellite Photography

Hardcover Book

Jones, Bruce (Author)

English (Publication Language)

224 Pages - 10/06/2020 (Publication Date) - Welbeck Publishing (Publisher)

$34.95

Buy on Amazon

SaleBestseller No. 12

Formula 1 Technical Analysis 2016-2018 (Formula 1 World Championship Yearbook)

Hardcover Book

Piola, Giorgio (Author)

English (Publication Language)

208 Pages - 09/03/2019 (Publication Date) - Giorgio Nada Editore Srl (Publisher)

$52.11

Buy on Amazon

Bestseller No. 13

The Mechanic's Tale

Matchett, Steve (Author)

English (Publication Language)

240 Pages - 02/03/2000 (Publication Date) - Orion (Publisher)

$13.19

Buy on Amazon

Bestseller No. 14

The Unknown Kimi Raikkonen

Hotakainen, Kari (Author)

English (Publication Language)

336 Pages - 08/22/2019 (Publication Date) - Simon & Schuster UK (Publisher)

$13.25

Buy on Amazon

SaleBestseller No. 15

Monaco: Inside F1's Greatest Race

Folley, Malcolm (Author)

English (Publication Language)

320 Pages - 08/01/2018 (Publication Date) - Random House UK (Publisher)

$9.47

Buy on Amazon

Bestseller No. 16

How Do Formula One Race Cars Work? (Lightning Bolt Books ® ― How Vehicles Work)

Silverman, Buffy (Author)

English (Publication Language)

32 Pages - 01/01/2016 (Publication Date) - LernerClassroom (Publisher)

$8.99

Buy on Amazon

SaleBestseller No. 17

Formula 1: Car by Car 1950-59: 1950-59 (Formula 1 CBC)

Hardcover Book

Higham, Peter (Author)

English (Publication Language)

304 Pages - 07/14/2020 (Publication Date) - Evro Publishing Limited (Publisher)

$52.96

Buy on Amazon

SaleBestseller No. 18

Senna Versus Prost: The Story of the Most Deadly Rivalry in Formula One

Arrow Books

Folley, Malcolm (Author)

English (Publication Language)

410 Pages - 05/26/2010 (Publication Date) - Random House UK (Publisher)

$16.49

Buy on Amazon

SaleBestseller No. 19

Formula 1: Car by Car 1970-79: Formula 1: Car by Car (Formula 1 CBC)

Hardcover Book

Higham, Peter (Author)

English (Publication Language)

304 Pages - 03/20/2018 (Publication Date) - Evro Publishing Limited (Publisher)

$58.24

Buy on Amazon

Bestseller No. 20

Self-Discipline: 4 Books in 1: To do List Formula, Stop Procrastinating, Stop Overthinking,Stoicism. How to Build your Self-Confidence, Improve your Time Management and your Emotional Intelligence

Amazon Kindle Edition

Trust, Stephen (Author)

English (Publication Language)

417 Pages - 07/20/2020 (Publication Date)

$9.99

Buy on Amazon

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#Formula 1 news

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atsixesandcevans · 5 years ago

Text

you keep me holding on

Summary: The nights were always the hardest.

Pairing: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago

Word count: 2.8k

Warnings: angst, fluff, mentions of suicide, Jake having a hard time in prison and literally the most cliché ending ever

A/N: so I originally posted this to AO3 like 2 years ago and honestly I completely forgot about it until today when i went to cross-post my past works here... it starts off canon-divergent and then becomes convergent bc s5e2 came out so. Title comes from Holding On by Simple Plan. Hope you enjoy :)

Read on AO3

The nights were always the hardest.

During the day, he could distract himself – with books, basketball, increasingly disturbing conversations with Caleb – but during the night, all he had were his thoughts, disturbed only by the echoed screams of another inmate’s nightmare, the uneasy squeak of the mattress springs underneath him, the rhythmic thud-thud-thud of the guard’s boots on concrete as he patrols the cells.

And nights like these, the nights after visiting day, were the worst of all.

Prolonged periods – three weeks to be exact – without Amy here meant that Jake could develop coping strategies; the pictures on his cell wall, the endless lists of what he’ll do when he finally gets out of here, but on visiting day…

Jake had thought that those days would be a relief, a sort of respite from his invasive thoughts, and they are – until Amy leaves. Because when she leaves, the deep-set sense of longing he feels is increased tenfold, and the twenty-second touching time allowed is suddenly nowhere near enough, and instead of thinking about the endless possibilities of what he could do when he gets out, he thinks about the endless things he can no longer do, didn’t get the chance – and now may not ever get the chance – to do.

His longing is helped by the recent addition of Jake’s illegal phone, but even with that, one of them has to end the conversation; whether it’s Amy being called away for a case, or Jake being summoned for mealtimes, their conversations are never enough and always disjointed and sporadic and tainted with certain tenseness and apprehension stemming from the overarching fear – fear of being caught, fear of being targeted by the countless prisoners that Jake himself had put away, fear of never catching Hawkins and having to spend a full fifteen years apart with only hour-long visits once every three weeks.

It’s these fears that Jake finds invading his thoughts late every night, on visiting days in particular, but it’s also everything Jake misses. Trivial things, mostly, like Die Hard and orange soda and Sal’s Pizza, but it’s the other things that dominate his mind. The way Amy’s skin feels against his, how safe he felt in her arms, even down to just how much he loves her, in ways he’s never loved anyone else before, and the way he’s so sure of how much she loves him, despite everything. Despite the separations, the difficulties and the differences they’ve managed to overcome, there’s also the milestones they’ve reached and things they’ve achieved, that they’ve achieved together.

What he wouldn’t do just to be together with her again, just to be near her, to feel her warmth radiating beside him as they watch Friends and Grey’s Anatomy reruns on TV late into the night, or to be sat at his desk at the precinct and glance up at her sat opposite him, the brand-new ‘Sgt. Amy Santiago’ name plaque sat pride of place next to the phone, only to find her already looking at him, an almost shy smile gracing her lips, one he returns, cheeks remaining warm with absolute contentedness even as he goes back to doing his work, safe in the knowledge that he has her, and she has him, and that that was all he needed to keep him grounded.

Sometime around his fourth month in prison, the night before Amy’s sixth visit, Jake had had a Bad Night.

He doesn’t use the mental capital letters lightly – after all, as far as he’s concerned, every night in prison is a bad night. But this particular night was Bad. Everything that could happen during a nine-hour period in a prison did happen, each event seemingly worse than the one before including, but not limited to, his phone being found, confiscated and destroyed by the guard on duty, another inmate hanging himself, and a fight in the cafeteria which the cop in Jake had tried to break up, but ended up being dragged into.

He tried to be happy and cheerful as he usually was when visiting time rolled around, but he just couldn’t muster the energy, and the bruised cheek and split lip made it hard to form any kind of convincing smile.

Amy noticed this change in him – of course she noticed, she’s an amazing detective-slash-genius, not even detective RightAllTheTime can fool her into thinking everything is just hunky dory and exactly how they ought to be. In any case, Amy tried her best to keep the conversation light and away from heavy topics like death and the overarching, boundless topics of Guilty On All Charges and Fifteen Years In Prison, and Jake loved her even more for it – if that was even possible at this point – but Jake just didn’t have it in him.

The visiting period ended just the same as it had every other time; they hugged for as long as the guard would allow, gave each other watery smiles full of longing, and reluctantly parted ways; Jake back to his cell or the yard or the library or whatever he was doing before going to see Amy, and Amy back to her car, where she would sit for five, ten, sometimes fifteen minutes, trying not to cry, and traying even harder to make her muscles move in the way she needed them to in order to leave the prison car park and drive away. Away from him, back to her – their, it was still theirs, she refused to believe otherwise – empty apartment, that was once just as empty, but was suddenly full of life and love and happiness but has now returned to its original state, except she has another person’s things there now, another life living there with her. There were still sneakers and shirts and hoodies strewn everywhere but without him there, it all seemed pointless.

And so, she did what she does when she needs to channel her emotions; she wrote them down. More specifically, she wrote them down in a letter – to Jake. Unlike other occasions, though, she didn’t go back and re-read and edit it to make it as concise and elevated as she could possibly make it. No, she wrote it, folded the paper and sealed it immediately in an envelope which she left on the side table next to the front door, telling herself she’d give it to Jake the next time she visited.

Two days later, they caught Hawkins.

She – and apparently the rest of the squad – had absolutely no idea how Captain Holt knew all that stuff about the pig-rearing but she had to admit, it was a damn smart plan.

Amy could see how she would have idolised Hawkins, just as Rosa had. You know, if she hadn’t framed her boyfriend and her best friend for crimes they didn’t commit and left them with a 15-year prison sentence and become the one person Amy hated more than anyone else on the entire planet.

The Welcome Back celebration at Shaw’s lasted well into the night and when they stumbled home to their apartment in the early hours of the morning, the letter sat forgotten on top of the table, despite them bumping into it and each other repeatedly, refusing to let go of each other out of… what? Relief, at being able to finally touch each other again? Or fear, that they’ll only be ripped apart again, perhaps in a manner even worse than six months undercover, an indefinite amount of time in WitSec, or the prospected fifteen years of only being able to see each other for an hour every three weeks, watched carefully by guards making sure they don’t exceed their touching time?

They remained touching for the entirety of the next day, made infinitely easier by the fact that they had been given the day off and hardly left their bed. They did everything they had both been craving for the months he had been away; they hugged, they kissed, they talked, they loved, and left the world of jail and cells and gangs far beyond the walls of their bedroom.

It was around midday when Jake found the letter.

Amy was dozing, and he felt his stomach rumble, so had gotten up, pulling on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and wandering into the kitchen, praying that Amy had kept hold of some orange soda and gummy bears, pleased when he found both in the cupboard that was kept exclusively for Jake’s junk food. He was stood in the kitchen, munching and drinking, enjoying the feeling of just being there, being home, when he spotted the creamy white envelope against the deep brown of the dresser. Overcome with curiosity, he went over to see what it was, stopping short when he saw his own name on the front. With a quick glance over his shoulder to check Amy wasn’t up yet, he carefully peeled the flap open and removed the letter from inside to find Amy’s handwriting covering the neatly-folded paper.

Dear Jake,

I’m not sure what the purpose of this is. I guess I’m just feeling so much, and this is the best way I know how to unload all of that feeling.

One of the things that I hoped and prayed prison wouldn’t take away from you was your liveliness and optimism of life. It was fine for the first few months, then something… changed. Something happened. I don’t know what it was, or why it was, but one visiting day you were your usual self – more tired and run-down, sure, but still you – then the next, you weren’t. You were exhausted, you were banged up… you were struggling. And that made me sad, to see that Jake, my Jake, had had his light taken from him.

Jake felt a small pang of guilt. No one has the right to make her sad. Especially him, who made a silent promise to himself that he would never do that.

Now, before you try to tell me that you’re sorry, that you didn’t mean to make me sad, that you should’ve tried harder to seem normal that day… don’t. Because it’s not your fault. It’s Hawkins’. It’s prison’s. It’s whoever’s fight you were trying to break up.

He could still feel the dull ache in his ribs where they’d kicked him, the sting of his lip that had nearly completely healed now. Yet that fight feels like a distant memory now.

That’s why I’m writing this. To tell you that none of it is your fault, that we’re going to get you out, that we’ve been working tirelessly to get you home and back to us. Back to me.

And it worked, they did it, they brought him and Rosa home. He knew they could do it, but still felt shocked when the warden came and told him they’d caught Hawkins. That he could go home.

Just, hang on in there, okay? Just hold on. We’ll get you out, and we can get things back on track.

I love you. So, so much.

Amy xx

His mind wandered to the small, seemingly insignificant velvet-covered box hidden away in the toe of one of his sneakers, somewhere Amy wouldn’t find it, and thought about that their life would be like now if he hadn’t been sent to prison, if they hadn’t have been split apart once again.

Get things back on track.

He knew exactly how to do just that.

Almost two weeks later, everything was finalised.

He and Amy had both managed to get the day off work after spending several days and nights at the precinct working on a particularly tough case that they had finally managed to crack, bringing down a small drug cartel with it.

Jake convinced Amy to agree to go out for dinner, as a ‘celebration’ for solving the case, but refused to tell her where, claiming it to be a surprise.

At exactly 6:55, five minutes before their reservation, they pulled up outside the restaurant, and recognition washed over Amy at the sight of the red awning lit by warm lights; Bouche Manger. AKA the location of their undercover date that ended in two undercover kisses and, eventually, the for realz one the day after.

“Jake, why did you bring us here?” Amy asked, slightly disbelieving, slightly nostalgic.

“Well, I figured that last time we were here, we didn’t exactly get to enjoy it… being undercover and all. Also we gotta get accustomed to French cuisine if we’re gonna take that trip to Paris,” Jake replied with a smile and a wink, before hopping out of the car and running round to the passenger side to open the door for Amy.

They waited at the hostess stand, just as they had before, but this time, the way Amy held Jake’s arm and kissed him on the cheek were for real. They weren’t acting anymore.

They were seated at a two-person table in a different part of the restaurant than before, in a slightly more secluded corner with candles and champagne sat waiting for them on the table.

Conversation and mood remained light throughout the meal, and once they had washed everything down with the last of the champagne and were leaving the restaurant, Jake suggested that they take a walk; the night air was cool but not cold, and the sky was clear, showing various constellations.

They wandered at a comfortable pace for around half an hour, and Amy was about to suggest that they start to head back towards the restaurant when they rounded a corner to another area that was vaguely familiar; a park, at the centre of which was the tree they had hid behind to spy on Augustine when he made the drop. Except, ow the bushes and trees surrounding it were dotted with slowly twinkling fairy lights and lanterns, the grassy floor sprinkled with rose petals.

Amy stared in wonderment at the scene, but when she turned to question Jake, he was on one knee at the base of the tree, something small and cube-like grasped in his hand, rendering Amy frozen.

“Amy Santiago,” Jake started, with a nervous smile. “Ames. I’ve never been good with words or emotions, you know that, but… there are so many things I want to tell you, things I’ve wanted to tell you for god knows how long. Things I thought I wouldn’t ever get the chance to tell you. You are the most… incredible woman, smart, beautiful, and so much better than me that I still constantly ask myself what the hell you’re still doing with me, what you see in me, and I’ve never been able to figure it out, so I began thinking of all the reasons I’m with you.

You make me a better person, both in terms of how I act but also in the things you’ve taught me. Like all that useless grammar stuff you’ve taught me?” they both laughed at this, and Amy’s eyes began to water.

“Do you know what kept me going when I was undercover, in Florida, and in jail?” Amy shook her head slightly and Jake gave her a watery smile full to the brim with adoration. “It was you. The thought of you was what got me through each day in hell, the thought of coming home to you, even when we were just friends. You kept me holding on.

“We’ve been separated more than our fair share of times, and I don’t want to risk that happening again. All I’ve wanted since I got out was to do what I’ve wanted to do for months now.” He finally tore his eyes away from Amy’s and looked down at the box in his hands, opening it to reveal a delicate silver band with in-set jewels that glittered in the warm flickering light of the lanterns. Amy couldn’t help the small gasp that escaped her lips at the sight of it, one hand going to her mouth in a futile attempt to stifle it.

“Amy Santiago,” Jake’s voice cracked a little with emotion and the strength it was taking not to cry. “I love you more than I have ever loved anything or anyone in my life, and I want to spend the rest of my life loving you. Will you marry me?”

All Amy could do was nod, pulling Jake to his feet so she could kiss him, hug him, both finally letting their emotions run free down their faces. Amy felt Jake smiling into the kiss and they pulled away, laughing, while Jake slid the ring over Amy’s knuckle; a perfect fit.

Their lives were finally back on track, and neither could be happier that they’d held on to each other through everything.

The fact was, they made each other better. And even after all this time, he was hers and she was his, and they kept each other holding on.

#jake x amy #jake peralta x amy santiago #jake/amy #jake peralta/amy santiago #peraltiago #peraltiago fanfiction #brooklyn nine nine #b99 #brooklyn nine nine fanfic #peraltiago fanfic #you keep me holding on #beth writes #my fic

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blodreina-noumou · 5 years ago

Note

Hello can you rec some good Octavia episodes? (apart from s6) i want to re watch but not the whole thing hahah

I would love to! Let me build you a complete Octavia episode list - what I consider the best and most important in her arc. (Under a cut, since it’s long.)

Season 1:

(I tend to skip the first four episodes, because I find them really cringeworthy, and Octavia is barely in episode 1x05. But if you wanna see her chase some butterflies, that scene is in 1x02.)

1x06 - “My Sister’s Keeper” - An obvious classic, where we get to dive deep into the Blake siblings’ history and how Octavia was exposed as an illegal child. Shows how simple mistakes can have lifelong impact, and really illustrates how complicated Bellamy and Octavia’s relationship is. Plus, this is where we get all of the first interactions between Lincoln and Octavia, and where Octavia’s rebellion against Bellamy’s rules takes a more righteous shape - from here, her goals shift from “do whatever the fuck I want because I finally can” to “do whatever the fuck I want because I need to protect this strange, new person, who is an outsider like me.”

1x07 - “Contents Under Pressure” - This is where Octavia’s stubbornness really takes shape, and we see her compassion and kindness in full bloom. She refuses to stay away from Lincoln, even though Bellamy keeps threatening her when she goes to the captive Grounder. She poisons herself to get Lincoln to give up the antidote, so Raven will stop torturing him. In a camp starting to go mad with power, Octavia is one of the few who tries to stop the brutality. The first time she talks to Lincoln, and he speaks back, and her face fills with joy and wonder - ugh, it gets me every time.

1x08 - “Day Trip” - Octavia’s role in this episode is smaller, but I really love the scenes she has. Realizing that everyone in the camp is tripping balls, she cleverly distributes the jobi nuts and uses the chaos to help Lincoln escape. I love her offering Jasper an “anti-grounder stick.” It shows her ingenuity, chaotic-good methodology, and her quick thinking, and I love all of her scenes in this episode.

Season 2:

2x02 - “Inclement Weather” - I think 2x01 is worth watching as well, if only to see Lincoln lug Octavia around like a sack of potatoes, and to see the first Trigedasleng lines spoken on-screen. But 2x02 is where Octavia really begins to shine again. After being given the antidote to the poison she was attacked with in the s1 finale, Octavia recovers quickly and is pissed. She takes Nyko captive, and attempts to use him to trade for Lincoln’s release from his people, who want to kill him (brutally) for being a traitor. When she stomps into their camp, holding a knife to Nyko’s throat and shouts, “I laik Oktevia kom Skaikru…and you have something I want!” - I fall in love. Ferocity in a tiny package.

2x10 - “Survival of the Fittest” - Octavia’s fight with Fio, which is one of my favorite scenes of hers. Everyone - from her own people to the Grounders - wants to stop her from getting herself hurt, from putting herself in danger. No one thinks she can handle it. No one trusts her to weather the storm, despite the fact that she’s been dodging lightning bolts her entire life. When she rises, again and again, refusing to go down, we really get to see her almost manic determination to prove that she’s a fighter, a warrior, and she won’t give up just because she’s in pain, or scared, or angry. Then, Indra offers her the chance to become her Second, and Octavia’s life changes forever.

2x13 - “Resurrection” - As one of the few to escape the bombing of Tondc unscathed, the pressure to save those trapped in the rubble falls on Octavia. She struggles to earn the respect of the other Seconds, but ends up saving everyone with her ingenious “let’s chuck this bottle of alcohol at this burning pile of debris and use the smoke as cover” plan. She’s able to keep everyone moving and takes charge, even while people continue to doubt her. By the end, she’s earned a respected and admired place among the other Grounders.

2x16 - “Blood Must Have Blood, Pt 2″ - Betrayed by Lexa, abandoned by Indra and the other Seconds, and knowing Lincoln is trapped and branded, yet again, as a traitor to his people, Octavia desperately tries to find a way to rescue the remaining delinquents inside of Mount Weather. She teams up with Bellamy, Clarke, and Maya to devise a plan, and ends up playing an instrumental role in protecting everyone - right up until Clarke is forced to pull the lever that irradiates Level 5. In many ways, this is Peak Octavia - she’s an excellent soldier, a badass, stoic warrior, and a surprisingly soft and understanding friend towards Jasper and Maya.

Season 3:

3x01 - “Wanheda, Pt 1″ - My primary reasons for loving this episode are aesthetic and pretty shallow. We get to see how far Octavia has come in learning Trig - she’s basically fluent at this point, and manages to act as translator between the Azgedans and the scouting squad. She’s in full Grounder gear, but is also clean and uninjured - a rarity for her. She saves Jasper’s life with a super slick knife toss, rides around on Helios like a pro, and shares some wonderful banter with Raven and Bellamy. It’s a fun one.

3x05 - “Bitter Harvest” - Octavia is doing her absolute best to protect both sides of her identity - the Grounders and the Sky People - but they’re making it very, very difficult for her. She has a bunch of amazing scenes. Saving the little boy named Gabriel, trying to warn the Grounders about the incoming attack, letting Gabriel pet Helios. Unfortunately, in trying to protect both sides, she betrays both sides instead, and Zoe Monroe ends up dead. It’s an underrated Octavia episode, because it really shows her true nature, and how even when she has the best intentions, she just can’t get things to go the way she needs them to.

3x09 - “Stealing Fire” - A really, really tough one, but essential to Octavia’s arc. The death of Lincoln kom Trikru, her savior, her soulmate, her true love. The building energy and tension of Octavia being born for this role, of using subterfuge and misdirection to sneak everyone out, of hiding under the floor with everyone, and of nearly escaping with Lincoln safely in tow…only for it all to go horribly, horribly wrong, at the last minute… it’s good TV, even though it’s heartbreaking. I’ll never forgive them for killing Lincoln. But Marie’s performance is stunning, and this is the beginning of Octavia’s downfall - which makes for some great television.

3x12 - “Demons” - I think this is one of the weirdest episodes of this show, but it’s also a really good one for Octavia. She’s pushed down all of her grief for Lincoln, focusing solely on getting the mission done, and on figuring out how to save everyone from ALIE. When she finds his book, and his jacket, and has that moment where she breaks down and shoves everything off the desk - my heart breaks for her. It includes some good Blake sibling moments, as well. Bellamy going from “don’t surrender, no matter what” to “here let me put these cuffs on myself for you” in a matter of 0.3 seconds because Emerson threatens Octavia is a top Blake sibling moment.

3x16 - “Perverse Instantiation” - Octavia reunites with Indra, and receives some pertinent and salient advice - don’t kill Pike until the fight is over, because they need him. Octavia fights with herself, coming close to ruining everything, but manages to swallow her rage long enough to fight alongside the man who executed her soulmate. But once it’s done, she does not hesitate - I was immensely satisfied, seeing her run him through with her sword, although it absolutely signals the start of Octavia’s descent into darkness.

Season 4:

4x01 - “Echoes” - Octavia begins her role as Skaikru’s assassin, taking out the men guarding Roan and allowing Abby to swoop in and save his life, saving all of their asses in the process. Again her role is limited, but she takes out the guards with a spear chuck and a badass knee-slide. It’s a cool moment. We begin to see the cracks in the surface as she starts spiraling more and more.

4x06 - “We Will Rise” - Tensions are very, very high in camp, as Ilian is being held as a prisoner for destroying the Ark, and pretty much everyone but Kane wants him dead. Octavia is still healing from Echo’s failed attempt to capture her, and has clearly gone even deeper into the darkness as a result of being pushed away by Kane and Indra. She allows the crowd to rush Ilian, then lets them drag him outside. She very nearly executes Ilian, in the same place Lincoln died, and in the same manner. Kane talks her down, and we get a very emotional and well-done flashback sequence of Octavia remembering Lincoln’s death. When she flees camp at the end, we can’t help but see her as a wounded, grieving kid, who took on way too much violence and brutality way too quickly.

4x07 - “Gimme Shelter” - Black rain strands multiple characters inside and forces them all to wait out the storm, dealing with rising resentments and anger. Octavia and Ilian find themselves sheltering in a cave together. Pushed to her limit by Ilian’s questions, Octavia very nearly walks out into the black rain, in an attempt to kill herself. Ilian rushes to pull her back in, and they consummate their brief, sweet relationship in a moment of mutual need.

4x09 - “DNR” - Octavia and Ilian try out peace for a while, to disastrous results. Her scenes are brief, but one of my favorite Octavia moments happens when she’s left to her own devices in the garden plot, moodily whacking at the soil, trying her best but clearly begrudging this peaceful lifestyle. Although the scene where she kills the other Grounders is brutal, it’s very effective. Octavia can’t escape the violence of her past, can’t pretend that she is able to go back to being an innocent girl. She still needs more time to see how much damage it’s caused her. Unfortunately, s4 kind of twists this arc and tosses it on its head, because she ends up being greatly rewarded and venerated for her ability to use violence to win the Conclave.

4x10 - “Die All, Die Merrily” - Even still, I can’t help but be enthralled by Octavia’s struggle in the Conclave. She uses her lifelong skills of hiding and making herself small to survive most of the battle. Then she teams up with Roan, showing that she’s willing to make allies out of enemies, if it ensures their survival. I’m still really sad at the way Luna’s arc ended, and that Octavia was the one who killed her - but it’s still a great episode for O, and one that really underlines her entire arc and character progression.

4x12 - “The Chosen” - Heda Octavia rises, though she’s never explicitly referred to as such, of course. Watching Octavia take the lead with uncertainty but steadfastness is so compelling. She takes on the entire human race as her people in 4x10, and then, she puts her money where her mouth is, forcing Skaikru to make the choice over who will be allowed to survive in the bunker, and who will be forced out into Praimfaya. It’s the beginning of Blodreina, in so many ways, and really sets her up well for her s5 arc.

Season 5:

5x02 - “The Red Queen” - Another classic. We get to dive deep into what happened during the six years that Octavia and the rest of humanity were trapped underground. Octavia chooses her new mantra, her new armor, and her new identity. She fights viciously, without mercy, and ends up triggering the start of an entirely new, but still very brutal, tribal culture. It’s a fun one!

5x04 - “Pandora’s Box” - My favorite parts of the Blodreina arc are where we get to see the cracks in the surface. When Bellamy breaks through the bunker to free Wonkru, Blodreina disappears and Octavia comes back, for the briefest of moments. She manages to look so small and vulnerable when she throws herself into his arms, despite her warpaint and armor. Her first interactions with Diyoza are so good, and the building tension of the other characters realizing just how much things have changed is palpable.

(For what it’s worth, I think most of the episodes between 4 and 10 are worth watching - but for the sake of keeping this as short as possible, I’m gonna skip those synopses. Octavia does a lot of posturing and power struggling with Bellamy and Clarke.)

5x10 - “The Warrior’s Will” - Blodreina is finally knocked down by her former friends. After throwing Gaia, Indra, and Bellamy into the fighting pits, she is thwarted by Monty’s dramatic entrance, with his miraculous flowering plant. Octavia, deep in her spiral, recognizes that the people around her do not understand that remaining in the bunker is untenable, impossible, and not something she can accept. She burns the farm. It’s the first time I was ever really mad at her, but it’s a very important part of her arc.

5x11 - “The Dark Year” - After an entire season of teases and hints, we finally, finally get the long overdue explanation of what exactly happened in the bunker during the infamous “Dark Year”. Although the cannibalism thing was pretty obvious at that point, and almost everyone in fandom had figured it out, there was still something very shocking and unsettling about seeing the way it played out. I think the true twist comes from two places - that is was all Abby’s idea in the first place, and that Octavia is forced to execute her own people in cold blood for refusing to take part. They’re epic, emotional, difficult scenes, and Marie knocks her performance out of the park.

5x13 - “Damocles, Pt 2″ - It takes losing nearly all of her people, and almost losing her adoptive sister/close advisor, but Octavia finally comes to see the error of her ways. They gave her about fifteen different, gloriously perfect lines to go out on. She marches into the light, shooting like a madwoman, screaming her mantra - and then she drops to her knees, ready to give herself up to save her family. In some ways, I wish she had died, but really, I can’t lie - I cheered and felt overwhelming relief when Emori, Echo, and Murphy bust in with the rover, saving the day. In the later half of the episode, we get some excellent Blake sibling moments, as well as a great conversation between Diyoza and Octavia.

Those are for you, anon, since you only wanted the first five seasons! For the rest, who might’ve followed along this far, and want to know where to go from here:

Season 6:

6x02 - “Red Sun Rising” - While everyone else goes crazy from eclipse toxin, Octavia just goes crazy. Seeing her struggle, wanting the surviving members of Skaikru to beat her up, is so heartbreaking. I think this is the episode where I really started to resent Abby and the way she treated Octavia. Lots of great little Niytavia moments, as well as a deeply frustrating but compelling Blake sibling reunion.

6x04 - “The Face Behind the Glass” - Giving Octavia a scared little girl to look after was one of the best things this show has ever done with her. Octavia thrives best with a clear goal, defined mission, and identifiable enemy. She has all of those things in this episode, but tragically, she cannot prevent the Children of Gabriel from killing Rose. It’s a surprisingly emotional arc in the midst of a lot of sassy angst.

6x05 - “The Gospel of Josephine” - The Octavia/Diyoza team-up this season was everything I wanted, and so much more. The scenes of them talking in the weird quicksand stuff are so interesting. It’s great to see Diyoza give her version of a pep talk to Octavia, and I love the banter between them and Gabriel. Also, the little nod she gives Diyoza after coming up out of the muck - “guess you want to live after all” - it means goddamn everything to me, okay? Don’t touch me, I’m emotional.

6x09 - “What You Take With You” - Our babygirl pops out of that anomaly lookin’ fresh and clean and younger than she did at the beginning of s5. We still don’t know what happened to her in there, but we do get a certain visualization of the emotional and spiritual journey she’s gone on, which has resulted in her dramatic transformation. I really loved her mindscape scenes, the return of the butterflies, and even Pike’s return, as much as he makes my blood boil.

6x12 - “Adjustment Protocol” - Bellamy and Octavia can finally work together again without going at each other’s throats. Seeing this improved, peaceful version of Octavia is so satisfying, especially after two solid seasons of her unquenchable bloodthirst.

6x13 - “The Blood of Sanctum” - At the end of reliving her arc in my head, via writing this, I have only one thing left to say: Octavia Blake is a badass mothafuckin’ bitch and there is no way in HELL that she is dead.

Thanks for reading! If anyone actually decides to use this as an actual watch guide, lmk. If you think there are any really important ones that I missed, give me a shout!

#octavia blake #stephspeaks #asks #anons #the 100 meta

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adangerousbond · 5 years ago

Text

Quiet times

Just a quick, small tag to episode 1x10 of Blood and Treasure

I’ve loved this show since it first aired (and so glad it’s already been picked up for S2), just never gotten around to writing anything for it. Wrote this out in an afternoon, so sorry in advance for any mistakes!

Hoping to have some more fics, however have about a third left to type out for a post S4 Blindspot fic that I need to finish.

Enjoy!!

Read below or at AO3 or at ff.net (Will link to it once they add the show for me to upload to!)

The sun was rising by the time they arrived at the airport in Russia, having gotten the okay for Danny to travel, as long as he agreed to get another set of bloods done in 24 hours, and having passed the scene off to the team on site, they had left the moment they could. The black SUV they were in pulled to a stop a safe distance away from Reese's plane, or second home as it was starting to feel.

Stepping out onto the hanger floor, Lexi slid on her sunglasses and followed quietly behind Danny, so quietly that had it not been for the sound of her boots on the concrete, he probably would have turned back to ensure she was following. Gwen, who had tagged along for the trip home, took longer to make her way to the plane, having to collect the stack of files she had gotten from her team in Russia and had figured the flight home would be a good time to start going over them all.

By the time she entered the small plane, Danny and Lexi were already sitting in their usual seats across from each other, the former pulling out his laptop to get to work also, whereas the later was staring out the window absentmindedly. Gwen had expected a bit of resistance from the thief when she had asked for the lift back to Rome, but she was quickly realising that there was more than just Farouk's death on the two's mind.

The plane ride had mostly been silent, had it been pretty much any other time, Danny would have been worried about his partner's lack of speaking, she was after all a naturally fidgety and questionative person, it was rare for her to go so long without moving or speaking, but he knew after everything she had gone through and found out the past few days, she was in desperate need of a moment to process it all.

"Do you need a lift home or to the Carabinieri?" Danny asked, as the plane landed and made its way to its hanger.

"Home thanks, I think we all could do with some rest before we look deeper into any of this." Gwen stated, collecting her things back into a neat pile.

"That's the plan, unless you're sending more agents to a Priest's apartment?" Danny responded lightly, gaining only an annoyed look and audible sigh in response.

"After we get you to the hospital for at the very least another blood test." Lexi spoke for the first time for the entire flight, drawing the attention of the other two passengers instantly, her tone even and determined.

"I'm fine, the doctor just said that as a precaution, plus he said 24 hours later." He tried to reason but the fire in the gaze he was met with told him she was not going to take no for an answer, and it would be easier to just agree, a part of him knowing if the situation was reversed, he would be pushing the same angle.

"I guess we will drop you off on the way to the hospital." Danny sighed, catching the small smirk on the brunette standing up across from him, glad to be getting her way but also happy that he would be getting checked out again.

"Thank-you." The Interpol agent said as she led the way off the plane, still slightly surprised at how easily he had given in to the other woman's demands, but pleased non the less that he had, she had wanted to agree that it was a good idea, but felt it better to stay out of it.

The hospital had already received all the information from the team in Russia regarding what had happened, which had made it much quicker than they had expected. Danny couldn't help but smile at Lexi's smug look when the doctors stated they were glad he had come in earlier so they could do a full work up and make sure to get a head of anything that might come up.

They were both exhausted by the time they managed to get back to Chuck's apartment, Lexi settling on the couch as Danny grabbed them some beers out of the fridge. He placed hers on the coffee table when she made no move to take it off him and sat on the couch, flicking through the tv channels before coming across a soccer match to watch and when she made no sort of complaint to his choosing, he placed the remote back on the side table and crossed his legs, resting his feet up on the table in front of them.

Collecting the throw rug that was on the back of the couch, Lexi wrapped it around herself, before nestling down into Danny's side, his arm wrapping around her to bring her closer. For the first time in the last few days she actually felt safe and almost content, with the soft drone from the tv and the warmth he was sharing with her, she quickly drifted into a light sleep.

The sound of keys at the door drew Danny's attention away from the TV, even though he knew that the most likely answer was that it was in fact his friend, a small part of him readied in the chance it wasn't. Picking up the sound of his friend's voice greeting on of the neighbours quickly putting him back as ease.

"Well, isn't this quite the domestic scene." Father Chuck stated as he entered his apartment and took in his two friends.

"How was your day?" Danny asked, keeping his voice low as he took a drink from his beer.

"That's all you have to say, after your pal at Interpol arrested me?" Chuck responded in a similar tone, having realised that he was trying not to wake Lexi, as he placed his stuff on the table.

"Sorry about that, all worked out though, you giving her permission to do some B & E really helped us out." A soft chuckled from Danny, answering the other question of if they were still on the agents list of suspects.

"I don't believe that's what I said." The priest sighed, getting his own beer from the fridge and sitting on the armchair across from his friends, "So what's new?"

"Farouk is dead." The blonde stated calmly, turning his attention back to the TV screen as he gave his friend a chance to take in the sentence.

"What?! You didn't think to maybe lead with that?" The fathers voice suddenly a lot louder than before as the information sunk in.

"Shh..." Danny scolded, glancing at Lexi to see if she had been disturbed by the noise, her lack of reaction making him think she mustn't have but he also knew she was only half asleep, making her more likely not to have reacted because she knew he was there already.

"Sorry, sorry, did she…?" Chuck apologised, his voice lowering once more as he asked the next question the new information brought.

"No, Hardwick." Danny offered quickly, his hand running up and down Lexi's arm soothingly, on the off chance she was in fact listening to the conversation.

"Still, it's a lot for her to take in." The confessional tone taking over, as he looked to the woman he had once deemed the devil with concern.

"It's not even the half of it." Danny deadpanned after a mouthful of beer, he was still trying to run over everything for himself, but he knew it was a whole lot more for her.

"Is she doing okay?" Chuck questioned, respecting her privacy to question his statement further, and knowing that even if he did, his friend didn't seem like he would share anything further, as if the information was more a part of her story than his.

"She's processing a lot." He felt as she turned her head slightly, telling him that she was in fact listening and had been close to cutting him off, she wasn't someone who was good with accepting concern.

"Probably a too wishful question, but does this mean it's over?" Chuck asked, changing the subject at his friend's lack of sharing, his tone depicting that he was already fairly certain of the answer but still needed to hear it out loud.

"I don't think his plan ends with him, he has too many followers for that, but we at least have Antony know, so they can't use him to fund anything." Danny just then realising he hadn't mentioned finding Antony until now, when the priest was lost for words for a moment as he mulled over the statement.

"If that's what they wanted him for." Lexi spoke, breaking the moment of silence and giving up just being a bystander to the conversation, as she turned just enough that she could see Chuck as well, but not enough to lose her spot tucked next to Danny.

"How are you going with it all?" The father asked, choosing to drop the subject so that he could instead check on her.

"Okay, I guess." Lexi chuckled, as if her response was a surprise to her as well, but she did actually feel like she was starting to get a handle on the information she had been presented with.

"Lex." Danny spoke as almost a warning, an undertone to his voice that the other man almost couldn't place, until he saw the glance between the two on his couch, he was worried she was shutting him out.

"No really, my mother was in a secret society protecting the tomb of a way back relative, which turns out is the reason she died, and the man I've wanted dead for years, now is, but I think I'm okay." She ran through it all, her tone carrying a hint of rawness to it that made her switch her attention to the TV for a moment as she ran her hand through her hair, all to collect herself once more.

"Wait, you're saying your mother was a member of Serapis, and that you're a descendant of Cleopatra?" Chuck's mind taking a few seconds to piece everything thing just said together, his friends exhausted state slowly getting clearer to him as he realised just how much they had been through in the past few days.

"Hmm, so if you have any other bits of crazy information you think we should know, can we maybe just hold off a couple days to hear it? At least until we know Danny isn't going to die from whatever it was that he stupidly touched." Lexi joked, her eyebrow high as she put forth her request, turning her head upward to catch the smirk from the blonde she was referring to.

"That's a lot to process, even for me and I'm only hearing about it." The priest's tone going back to concern and understanding that he had mastered over the years, one that she knew by now made it easy for him to get people to open up too, his eyes flying to the man's next to her once the end part of her statement registered in his mind, "Why might Danny die?"

"I'm fine, multiple doctors have given me the okay." The man in question stated after giving his friend the run down of what had happened to him.

"They still want to do more tests; they haven't given you the all clear yet." Lexi countered, not quite ready to believe that he wouldn't have any repercussions.

"They let me leave, they wouldn't have done that if they thought I wasn't okay." He tried to reason with her once again and once again he knew it was a pointless battle.

"Only because I promised to make you come back." Lexi near growled, a threat in her words as much as concern, and with all the loss she had been reminded of recently, no-one in the room questioned her motives.

"I think I need some dinner, what's everyone feel like?" Chuck brought the tone of the room down a few notches as he asked them both, keeping his glaze on Lexi, figuring she would have the most input in the topic.

"I don't mind, I don't think I'm hungry." Lexi shrugged the question off, gaining both men's attention instantly at her response.

"Well, now I am worried, you're always hungry." Chuck stated, placing his beer on the side table before standing and heading towards the kitchen.

"Come on Lex, we haven't eaten in ages." Danny reminded her, ducking his head to talk directly to her, his tone softer than it had been as his concern set in.

"There's a little pizzeria down the road, does the best comfort food in the city." The priest told them from his kitchen, having made the decision for them all.

"I don't really feel like going out." Lexi informed the group, reaching forward to the long-discarded beer that Danny had brought in for her, sitting back into the couch after she opened it.

"That's why they invented take away." Chuck responded without pause, handing over a takeaway menu with a small smile.

"How about I head down and get us some food?" Danny asked, skimming over the menu as he spoke, having gain some energy sitting there.

"I can go." Chuck cut in quickly, before giving Lexi a chance to make any comment on the plan.

"We've been cramped in planes and cars; a walk will do me some good." Danny explained, folding the menu back up, as he dropped his feet from the table and sat up straighter.

"Are you sure?" The father asked, concerned about his friend now that he knew about his brush with an unknown biological weapon.

"Yes, I'll be fine." The blonde told the two, leaning down and gently giving Lexi a quick kiss before the action even registered in his mind, ignoring his friends look from across the room, Danny stood and made his way to collect his coat and phone.

-----------------------------------------------

"I'm going to say something and I want you to listen, okay?" Chuck broke the silence that had taken over the apartment since Danny had left.

"I'm not sure I like where this is going." Lexi deadpanned, turning to his direction with a raised eyebrow and a hint of a threat.

"I know a lot of us have been quite harsh on you, myself included-" He started, without much pause to her words.

"-you mean calling me the devil." The thief interrupted, an amused smirk now covering her face as she kept the conversation light.

"Yes, that, but it was just because we care about Danny, which I guess is my point, after it all he had us to turn to, but you, you don't seem to really have anyone in your corner, well other than Danny." The priest continued on, using his low confession voice that she wasn't sure if she loved or hated.

"Gee, thanks." She snapped back, a slight irritation seeping into her tone as she took a drink from her beer.

"What I'm getting at, is it must have been hard for you to get through it all and none of us really thought about that side, about your side, so for that I am sorry." He spoke softly, the apology coming across as heartfelt and serious, two things she disliked in a conversation about herself.

"You care about Danny, I get it, it's fine." Lexi told him, brushing some stray strands of hair from her face, and putting a physical barrier between them in doing so.

"But, so do you, and that did surprise me." He caught the question in her raised eyebrow and pressed on, "I always thought you were just using him, that he was another person you were using to get something you wanted, but, you do actually genuinely care about him, probably even love him."

"Careful now, your saying I'm not the devil and that you believe I am capable of love, people might start to think you think I'm actually a half decent person." She chose to pick at the points of his sentence she could to try to bring the topic back to something she was more comfortable with.

"I do think that, and so does Danny, you're the one who has trouble accepting that, and I know it's just a part of your many defence mechanisms, just as being closed off is, but I will say this, I have a lot of married people come into my confession, and most of them are lucky to have a small amount of the love, respect and concern that you and Danny have for each." Chuck pushed his luck, watching the woman across from him closely as she hesitated a moment.

"Are you saying I'm not an open book?" Lexi joked, once again taking what she could from his words to keep some control in the room, to keep some small aspect light.

"You're definitely not, and neither is Danny, but somehow you two do actually seem to open up to each other, it's actually good for him too." He allowed her to choose the humour side of his words, knowing that it would be the only way she would continue letting him go down the line of conversation he had started.

"So, I've gone from being the devil to being good for him?" She questioned with a tilt of the head, evidently getting close to putting an end to the topic, one she wasn't entirely sure why she had let go on for so long already.

"At least as long as you stick around, which as much as I believe you need him too, I'm still not sure if you love yourself enough to stay with him and let yourself be happy." He stated, the blank stare he was getting telling him that he had pushed too far, that the conversation would be over even without the sounds of the front door being opened.

"What were you two talking about?" Danny walked into the apartment, sensing the tension between the two as he did.

"Father Chuck was just giving permission for us to get married; I think." Lexi explained in a tone much lighter than her previous glare had been, any hint of anger or annoyance that she had had in the conversation prior, appearing gone.

"What?" Danny asked, brows furrowed at her response, placing the food on the dinning table as the other two made their way over to join him.

"I just said," the father paused, flicking his eyes back and forth between the two, "You know what, never mind, let's just eat."

"Tell me later?" Danny spoke softly, and for a moment Chuck thought the question was directed at him, until he saw his friend was bent towards the woman next to him, who gave him a small smile and a quiet yes in response, and something told the priest she would actually tell him everything later.

#blood & treasure #blood and treasure #lexi vaziri #danny mcnamara #lexi x danny #blood & treasure cbs #myfics #what better way to spend a rainy tuesday

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guylty · 6 years ago

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How quickly time flies. If Besotted hadn’t reminded me in the comments, I would’ve completely forgotten that I had a last episode of The Impressionists to catch up with. Forgetting the Re-Watch is symptomatic. I may have enjoyed the show, and the wide smiles that Armitage was allowed to brighten the screen with were certainly welcome, but somehow this mini-series was never – and never will be – my favourite of Richard’s works.

It’s not *all* because of the wig and look of Claude Monet. *That* is easily balanced out by the wide smiles! My lukewarm feelings about this mini-series has more to do with my general lack of enthusiasm for impressionism. I fully appreciate the importance of this arts movement for the development of painting and art in general, and I understand the impressionists’ value. In many case I actually do find their paintings particularly evocative, beautiful and touching. I guess, my problem with them is that they have become too popular – which usually makes me turn away from something. That’s unfair – but unfortunately true. But I totally concede that – particularly Monet’s – Impressionist paintings are incredibly beautiful.

Quick Summary

We pick up again in episode 3 of TI with the group celebrating Edouard Manet’s formal recognition as an artist after he has been awarded the Légion d’Honneur. However, Manet is suffering from syphilis and his health deteriorates. He dies in 1883. Monet, OTOH, is living with Alice Hochedé after his wife’s death. The two of them become a couple, marry and eventually settle in Giverny. Monet develops his serial painting technique, always following the changing light.

A large part of this episode is taken up with the life and travails of Paul Cézanne who is seen as a revolutionary new painter by the impressionists. Despite an affluent background, he lives in poverty with his working class wife and illegitimate son. First shunned by the art world, Cézanne’s genius is eventually recognised and he joins the Impressionists as the most celebrated painters in the world. They overcame all the obstacles and changed painting – and art – forever. So much for the summary of episode 3.

Beards and Hair

I was quite amused in this episode about the changing hairstyles of Claude Monet. Starting out with short hair and a pipe, the next scene in a café he had long hair again. Continuity was a bit lax there, I thought 😂. But at least we could see that RA really knew how to smoke. Yep, as an ex-smoker (almost 6 months to the day) I notice such things. – Eventually the episode settled into short hair for Claude. And I couldn’t help but feel reminded of my personal hero Leon Trotzky…

Tenuous. I know. But fun. Right down to the left eyebrow.

However, let’s stay quickly with the look – ok, I am a not a fan of facial shrubbery at all, and particularly not these kind of standalone shrubs on upper lip and chin. If there has to be facial hair, give me a full blown meadow that covers all (beard) or stay with the manicured lawn aka stubble. Looking at the overgrown goatee on Richard’s chin, however, I am wondering whether it is actually his own. Not only because he has always been so proud of his fast growth and thus the conclusion lies near. No, but also because of the tell-tale triangle underneath his lower lip. Mr Armitage has, indeed, a rather pretty beard-growth pattern (see evidence on right).

Elder statesman or ill-fitting wig?

I was quite taken with the elder statesman look he was given in the latter part of the episode, once Monet had settled down with Alice and concentrated on creating Giverny as his inspirational garden. (I don’t really think that Richard has an old man’s face, yet, though, so I finally was reconciled with Julian Glover playing Monet senior in the framework plot.) In fact, I found myself fascinated by the grey temples and the short hair, and I kept screen-shooting.

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I also enjoyed that his eye crinkles came into play…

Things I Loved

As always, Richard – even considerably younger and less experienced than today – was a pleasure to watch. I loved the scenes where he glowed with enthusiasm, happiness and lust for life, smiling widely with glowing teeth. But I especially liked the scenes where you could hear him laugh. It really doesn’t happen very often at all that you can hear Richard Armitage laugh in one of his roles. He is the go-to man for scowling (Guy of Gisborne, John Thornton), growling (Francis Dolarhyde, Thorin Oakenshield) and frowning (John Porter, Daniel Miller). And yet his laugh is an absolute joy. In German we call his kind of laugh “gurgling” – but that doesn’t quite hit it in English. What I like about it is not what it looks like (although I believe that *every* laugh looks beautiful), but what it sounds like. Reminder:

youtube

That’s what he laughed like in his younger years. (I think his laugh now has become slightly deeper, more baritone, whereas it sounded more tenor way back in the early 2000s.) And it is infectious. Bookmark and keep near for any rainy day. It definitely works.

Ok, moving on. The old fogey in me also quite enjoyed the mature-lovestory-section of this episode. We were discussing it somewhere in the comments, I believe, and the series didn’t really get into it, but there are suspicions that Monet and Alice Hoschedé started their relationship even before she split with her husband and moved in with the Monets. Her youngest child may even have been by Monet. In that sense, it was lovely that the series spent a little time with Monet’s and Alice’s relationship. I wasn’t quite convinced by Richard’s choice to play Monet as out of breath as if he had just raced a marathon when he catches Alice in the garden and proposes. But this completely balanced everything out:

Why yes, Mr Thornton, I am coming home with you.

Not to mention this:

Gorgeous crinkles, like arrows pointing at happy eyes.

Ok, bonus for the romantics among you:

Yeah, man, this was such a clean show, it almost seemed as if it was made for school TV. You know what I mean? Your history/art/literature teacher wheeling in the big TV and the VCR, and then you’d sit through an hour of veritable and highly educational but mindnumbingly clean-and-boring docudrama? Well, to be suitable for teenagers, no tit may be shown, no mention of sex may be made and no tongue may be used. 😂

And Where It Went Wrong For Me

And maybe that is what ultimately irked me about this show, or what prevented me from saying ” I love Love LOVE The Impressionists!!” It’s not that I need sex in every TV show to keep me engaged. And I am a big fan of contextualising history and presenting it in a way that the viewers can relate to. In that sense it was great that this mini-series made an attempt at showing the personal sacrifices all those pioneering painters had to make in order to succeed with their art. From losing Bazille in the war, via Manet’s syphilis, Degas’ eye illness and declining fortunes, to the overwhelming poverty of Monet and Cézanne, TÍ is not simply a list of artistic milestones in the painters’ lives, but a look at how they progress as painters as well as men. And herein may also be the problem for me – I never fully committed to the show, and maybe so because of the lack of women in the narrative. Don’t get me wrong – of course I “saw” Camille and Alice, and Mme Manet, Mme Cézanne and various models. But that’s exactly it, “various models”. Sure, you don’t have to explain to me that the 19th century was still a time dominated by men. But that doesn’t mean that in their private lives, men were uninfluenced (and untouched) by women. Or that women artists did not exist or not contribute to the development of art. Berthe Morisot and Eva Gonzalez were part of the impressionist set – they don’t even turn up in passing in this series. The wives and women remain in their traditional role as nurturer, house-keeper and mothers.

Women. Reduced to nurturers and parasol-bearers?

(Left-field thought: Maybe it is also because this show was made in 2006 that women aren’t represented more prominently?) And all that may also be due to the limited amount of time available (3 hours) for a group of painters. In fairness, it would’ve been impossible to depict the lives and times of the impressionists in detail, and hence also a number of *male* protagonists of the movement (Pissarro? Gauguin? Sisley? Matisse?) had to be left out in order to contain the show. However, for me the whole show remained somewhat one-dimensional.

The Disclaimer

For fans of Richard Armitage, however, TI is definitely a worth-while show to watch. The smiles, the laugh, and the mannerisms that are just delightful to recognise. From Richard’s insistent innovative use of his teeth, to delicate hand movements and holding his head at *that* characteristic angle, there are certain “trademarks” in his acting repertoire that superfans such as us have no trouble identifying.

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And Richard convincingly acts emotions and draws the audience into the emotional world of the sensitive artist.

Lastly I want to commend the mini series for producing beautiful images. I loved the wide shots especially because they illustrated so clearly what the impressionists were after.

These shots play with the impressionists’ emphasis of depicting the *moment*, pinpointing the changeability of art, and the transience of life. The impressionists’ penchant for working plein air is ideally illustrated here. And the series is obviously also conscious of depicting movement rather than static subjects, and the different qualities of light – during the day, the seasons, inside and outside, in rain, sun or locomotive steam – as these are impressionist characteristics that are often also attributed to film (and photography). In that sense the series puts the theory into practice.

Last note: Just as I was watching episode 3 of TI, the news came through that a Monet painting has set a new record price for works by the artist. From the “haystack” series of paintings, the picture was sold for $110m in New York. An indication of how *right* the impressionists were.

I finish with a quote by Berthe Morisot, of all people.

It is important to express oneself… provided the feelings are real and are taken from your own experience.

The impressionist painters did that beautifully, and showed us that it can be done and *should* be done. No one better to portray “real” feelings than Richard. And I am always happy to see how he expresses them.

Re-Watching The Impressionists [part 3] – Finale How quickly time flies. If Besotted hadn't reminded me in the comments, I would've completely forgotten that I had a last episode of

#Claude Monet #Re-Watch #Richard Armitage

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lia-nikiforov · 6 years ago

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Spring 2018 Anime Final Review

So, uh, this is six months late. I’ve had half of this post in my drafts forever. To make it short, as I’ve mentioned previously, mom lost her job, which has not only been a heavy hit to my sense of stability for the last six months, but also means my time to watch anime was seriously reduced and even now a slight change of plans fucks up my whole schedule and sets me back for a full week. Anyway, nobody cares about any of these shows anymore so let’s get straight to it? I’m gonna ommit the two-cours that continued into the Summer - hopefully I’ll be able to make that post soonish? idk. Worst to best, same as usual

The crappy gender politics pit of shame

Darling in the FRANXX: I think everyone has ripped this show to threads at this point and there isn’t much I could add to that. It is quite funny to me to see how many people flipped out when the show went completely bananas in its last few episodes. Feels a bit like KADO, I’ve been telling y’all this was a ton of empty crap since episode 2, it just took the writing to completely self-destruct for everyone else to notice. A part of me feels tempted to do a long post breaking down just how badly the show collapsed in its final shebang, specifically how every single twist and turn completely nulled any remote kind of message or central thesis the show may have had, but at the same time it doesn’t seem worth the time. In the end, I may have given What is Internal Consistency, The anime way too much credit. It’s not hateful antigay propaganda, it’s just dumb as shits, with a writer and creators who didn’t think for half a second of the implications of what they were doing, and who were so incompetent they couldn’t even conserve the minimal plot and character coherency within a single episode, let alone 24. In other words, Darling isn’t saying “gays shouldn’t exist” but “I have no idea of anything regarding gay people”. What makes it egregious is that the show spent so much time acting like it was “meaningful” and “important” and yet it ended saying absolutely fucking nothing. Except mayb “have babies”. Down to oblivion you go, along with the likes of KADO, to the void of shows that couldn’t even be offensively bad and no one will remember a year from now. Bonus garbage points for the half-assed “bury your gays”.

Nil of Libra Admirari or whatever this show was called: I’m not trying to diss on the show, I just genuinely never remember the title because I have the JP and EN all mixed up. Not that it matters much, as far as I could tell, the show could call Shalabalabatuna and it would have the same significance in regard to the content. But the title isn’t important. In fact, it may be a bit unfair to have this show in this section. For the most part, Main Girl is very self-determined and has an active role in the story.... but then the last two episodes heavily featured a lot of rape threats or rape themes and forced pregnancy (real and threat) and I don’t really understand why they’d go there all of a sudden. One of them was treated relatively well, even empowering the victim in the process, but when the ikemen bad guy was rambling endlessly about how he wanted to impregnate the protagonist it really turned me off :/ I’m also not a fan of “main boy was her secret fiancé all along”, but at least they also handled that somewhat decently. It’s a very disposable series, but since I watched all of Amnesia, I think I owe every otoge adaptation at least the smallest chance to clear that very low bar, and Libra of Nil does it, more competently than most other stuff in the same genre.

Hisone to Masotan: I really, really wanted to love this show. Even now, as I put it in the pit of shame category, I’m pained. There was a good show in this, and a lot of it made it to the screen: an adorable, charming little story about a woman finding her place in the world, making new friends, finding her calling and bonding with an adorable dragon. Unfortunately, it got buried down under this opressing, horrendous gender politics that tried to do something with bringing attention to sexism in the military only to cancel it out making the one dude that embodied that sexism getting rewarded with the affections of a girl he explicitly tried to crush. It also called back on the virgin or whore fallacy and even managed to shove in a “bury your gays” trope. Even though Hisone challenges the ritual bullshit, it’s too little, too late, and she does end up carrying it out anyway, so the defiance to the status quo is of little importance in terms of problematizing the ritual itself. Sorry BONES, it wasn’t meant to be this time.

The ni fu ni fa section

Ni fu ni fa is a Mexican colloquialism for “It was okay but it didn’t change my life.”

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu HAPPY KISS: This soft reboot of the franchise had some really great episodes and did an actually good job of developping its characters. For the most part, it achieved what its predecessor did in terms of satirical comedy and I enjoyed it quite a bit. However, what bunked it down so low in the list was the final episode. At some point, the writers forgot they were doing a parody and made the show somewhat self-serious, way closer in tone to the magical girl anime it was supposed to be making fun of, rather than the satire its predecessor was. Whereas S1 ended with the whole Magical boy stuff being revealed as a crappy space reality TV show, this one ended with a real cheesy conflict about happiness and family and blablabla. Which is not bad by itself if this were a Precure show, but that kind of self-serious plot development just didn’t work for this series. I still enjoyed it, and the fanservice episode is one of the best of the whole franchise, but I’m a bit sad the finale missed the mark so badly.

Hinamatsuri: Hinamatsuri was very hit-or-miss for me. There were some truly brilliant episodes, a lot of funny vignettes and heart-warming stories, and then there was some stuff that made me uncomfortable -like every single Hitomi story- or felt unnecessary and dry. It also threw me off that the superpower dynamic completely disappeared in the second half of the show, especially in Anzu’s part of the story. It was okay but I feel like I needed something that felt like a closing, and choosing to end it with Mao who featured very minimally in the show overall didn’t cut it. It’s a fun show, I’d reccommend people check it out, but it felt a bit too disjointed for me

Persona 5: The Animation: This is a hard show to place because I love the looks of it and I think the concept is interesting and pretty cool, but there is something that’s keeping me from connecting emotionally to the story. The part where changing the villains’ heart makes them repent from their sins and become “good” feels very artificial and very tasteless when you’re dealing with rapists and abusers. I ended dropping it at episode 16, I just couldn’t find the motivation to catch up with the 6 episodes i’d fallen behind on because my schedule is a tragedy

Tokyo Ghoul: Re: I guess it’s fair to say I’ve kind of outgrown Tokyo Ghoul. There’s something messy and confusing about how this season panned out, and there comes a point in which misery porn just doesn’t cut it anymore. I still watch because Ishida has a way to make every single goddamn character extremely sympathetic, which makes for an emotionally engaging viewing even when you’re not sure of what the plot is supposed to be or who you should be rooting for. I tried picking up the new season that just started airing and immediately found I had no idea of what was going on, who was on who’s side and in general, who the fuck were 90% of the characters, so I dropped it.

Nanatsu no Taizai: Imashime no Fukkatsu: I’ve mentioned it before, this second season had the opposite problem than the first one: the pace was too slow. It took more than half of it to get to Escanor, and then the season ends at a kind of random spot. I really thought we’d get further along on the story, since Gowther’s backstory was hinted at in the openings, but no such thing happened. They did manage to give us a variety of cool moments and fights, and I love Ban so his scenes with Zhivago and Elaine made me quite happy, though I really wish the romance between Elizabeth and Meliodas wasn’t su dubious and cringy. In light of some revelations that take place further along the manga, going out of their way to emphasize that Meliodas was a sort of mentor figure for Elizabeth when she was a toddler seems unncessary and just very squeamish. I do hope we get a third season though, and an OVA of the Vampires of whatever side story would be great too.

Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori: I was pleasantly surprised by this show, and it’s closer to being one of my top of the season than it is to “meh”. It had some weaker, cheesier segments, but it also managed great whacky moments and a genuine soothing atmosphere. What surprised me most is that the vanilla looking cast of moderately handsome dudes managed to develop into interesting, funny individuals with a dynamic that made every episode enjoyable. A solid reccommendation for anyone wanting to see delicious looking food and moderately handsome dudes being ridiculous. Also, the cat episode is the best episode of anime ever produced.

The I’m probably the only person alive who enjoys these shows

Mahou Shoujo Ore: This is a difficult show to place because it wasn’t quite as great as I wanted it to be and its parodic nature took me by surprise, but somehow I was still seriously entertained more often than not. The twists in the final quarter and the absolutely bonkers finale was a total riot, but I definitely advise caution before going in, given that some of the jokes may seem insensitive or in poor taste in regards to gender presentation, sexuality and there are even some mild harrassment jokes that certainly made me roll my eyes.

Yowamushi Pedal: Glory Line: I don’t know if anyone’s noticed, but I think through half of the show’s 25 episode run, I was convinced the title was actually Glory Road. It’s kind of anticlimactic that it’s called Glory Line if they don’t actually reach the final Goal btw. Anyway, I feel I say this a lot, but really, if you didn’t like the previous Yowapeda seasons, there’s nothing here for you, and if you did, you’re probably not gonna hop off this late in the game. This season does suffer from the same dragging than its predecessors, with the added issue of being quite pessimistic for no reason in about half the episodes, and a diminished presence for Onoda. I really wish they hadn’t dragged the Day 2 goal so long, I really hoped we’d see the end of the race, but no such luck I guess. Still love most of it and hope we get one more season or a movie to complete the story.

The favorites of the season

Golden Kamuy: In spite of its pacing issues, terrible animation and general clunkiness, I can’t help but love this show. When season 1 ended my feelings for it had mellowed quite a bit, but as soon as I picked up season 2 this Fall I just fell in love all over again. It’s fun, unique, over-the-top in some ways, incredibly grounded in others, and the dynamics between the characters are incredibly charming.

Hozuki no Reitetsu: It’s hard to talk about this one because it feels repetitive, given how tonally the show remains just the same across its three seasons. It could’ve very well been a one-season, 36 episode show, for how little it changes in spite of the time that transpired between the first season and the second. But in short, the comedy continues to be as spot on as always, the Zashikiwarashi twins are the best addition to the cast. It’s definitely a show I could watch endless episodes off, and the rare case of an episodic series with no overarching plot that I can enjoy wholeheartedly.

Card Captor Sakura: Clear Card arc: Over the course of the series, I’ve expressed a few concerns and misgivings about how the story of this 20th anniversary sequel was playing out. The final episode was particularly troublesome in that it left the story unfinished in spite of deviating from the manga. In spite of this, more than anything I’m very happy that this continuation still retains what made the original so special, that they captured the magic behind Sakura’s “everything will be alright” spell and gave us the chance to spend more time with these beloved characters and see their stories continue. The slow but sweet development of Sakura and Syaoran’s puppy love is a definite highlight. Needs more Touya/Yukito and Yue in general.

Piano no Mori: This show got heavily overlooked because it was kidnapped by Netflix (pls stop immediately), and then when it was finally unceremoniously dumped a month or two ago, it came under fire for the wonky CGI during the piano scenes -and it is indeed very wonky-. But beyond that, I found the story very engaging, especially because Kai is such a fascinating protagonist, his intense rivalry-friendship with Megane-kun (sorry, it’s been six months, i can’t remember names) is exactly the type I can’t help but root for. Kai’s participation in the final episode gave me goosebumps. I’m very happy we’re getting a continuation, can’t wait to see how the Chopin competition develops.

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii: Sweet, funny and absolutely delightful from start to finish, Wotakoi was easily one of the highlights of the season. Although there were some aspects about Cosplayer-senpai and Yuri Otaku-senpai’s (I’m really trying to remember the names, I’m sorry!! ;---;) that didn’t work for me -namely the izakaya segment- Narumi and Hirotaka more than made up for it with their clumsy yet adorable romance. I spent the entirety of the amusement park episode screeching. I really hope we get a continuation -and get a chance to see more of Hirotaka’s brother and his gamer friend too- and that in general we can get more anime about adult stories

Megalobox: Who would’ve thought that a show that wasn’t even in my radar before the season started would’ve end as one of my favorites, possibly of the year? Even as someone who’s only marginally acquainted with Ashita no Joe and has no interst in the sport of boxing, I was completely enthralled by the style and passion of this production. As I said a bit above, intense rivalries are very appealing to me, and the build up in the tension between Joe and Yuri was almost palpable, their mutual respect gave me chills. Definitely the surprise of the season, made even better by its optimistic happy ending to contrast with its predecessor’s tragedy. Megalobox is a unique anniversary project that is closer to an homage and it works perfectly. Definitely check it out.

That’s it for the Spring season! I hope i can do the summer season this weekend and maaaybe even my watchlist for the Fall season. Fingers crossed i won’t get swallowed up in other stuff :’D

#anime final impressions #spring anime #god i've forgotten 95% of my tags #darling in the franxx #megalobox #wotaku ni koi wa muzukashii #piano no mori #card captor sakura clear card arc #hozuki no reitetsu #golden kamuy #yowapeda #mahou shoujo ore #rokuhoudou yotsuiro biyori #nanatsu no taizai #persona 5 #tokyo ghoul: re #hinamatsuri #hisone to masotan #binan koukou chikyuu boueibu

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sophygurl · 5 years ago

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Okay, time for me to try and remember all the stuff I wanted to make sure and say about my lovely time at WisCon 43 this past weekend.

Generally, I was just so pleased to once again get to extrovert all over the place in a space filled with amazing people. I got to hang out in my adjoining room full of my pals where we got to touch base with one another between running off to do other things and download our days to one another each evening. I got to enjoy several nice meals with friends I rarely get to see and acquaintances that I admire and respect. I got to have fascinating conversations with combinations of friends, acquaintances, and strangers in the lobby and at parties and in the hot tub. I got to sit on panels with intelligent and creative people with all different perspectives. I got to show off fun outfits and feast my eyes on everyone else’s cool shit and do the smile-and-wave at people I only see once a year even if we never got the chance to actually sit down and talk. I got to meet lots of new people and have adding frenzies on twitter and just generally delight to my heart’s content in awesome smart nerdy people who are also feminists with intersectional leanings - many of whom were also disabled and/or queer in a variety of ways. This is all what I just adore about WisCon so much. And it did not disappoint.

Being my 10th WisCon, I have stopped being utterly shocked that people might know/remember me. But I’m still a little bit amazed and delighted by it - especially when it comes from folks who I admire a lot and also have not spoken to more than once or twice. I know some people are just better at remembering and recognizing people than I am? But it still never fails to impress me!

I was a little less schedule-y with myself this year than usual. Which is not to say that I didn’t have full written schedules of all the things I wanted to do (planning is my favorite of my OCD symptoms so...). But I was a lot more flexible about doing things like walking in late to a panel because I got excited to sit outside and talk to someone I ran into in the halls beforehand or leaving a panel early if I felt like I wanted to take my time getting to the next thing. I may have still written down all of the things I wanted to be doing in any given time slot and prioritized them in order - BUT I played it by ear at each time and often did a totally different thing. lol

I still did lots of panels! In fact, I find I get to so many panels that I don’t spend as much time just doing hang-out activities as much as I’d like because there is only so much time in a day. I once again never made it to the trans/genderqueer/non-binary space and only went to the disability space the one time for the organized dinner. Ah, maybe next year!

I also still took notes during the panels I went to, but not as copiously as usual, and my handwriting is getting worse all the time so we’ll see how/if my panel write-ups go this year.

Getting my new walker the day before the con made a huge difference! It’s been two years since my previous walker broke down and I for sure noticed the difference in how much easier it was for me to get around to have one again.

On the other end of things, I have really gotten used to my hospital bed and having to sort out how to sleep in a regular bed again was an adventure in positioning various cushions and pillows and blankets around and requiring more lidocaine for nerves that got bungled up. But it worked(ish).

I also broke the toilet in our room. As in, neither plunging nor snaking did the trick and the maintenance guy had to take our toilet apart and cart it off and put a different one in it’s place. The replacement toilet was not currently in use for reasons that soon became obvious - lots of gurgling noises and self-flushing going on. But at least it flushed!

A few more specific things:

I found a pair of hot pink denim capri’s at the clothing swap that I’m excited to try out!

I discovered that my habit of suggesting lots of panel descriptions is more of a thing than I realized. Like, I knew I wrote a lot - I just didn’t realize how much more than the other average con-goer that was. I can’t decide if I should be more embarrassed or pleased/proud of this? But either way, it’s not going to stop me and I already have a huge list of ideas to write up for next year, so.

Only made it to one party, but glad I got to that one. I find I don’t have the physical energy for dance parties anymore and have never been a huge fan of the sit around and make small talk parties, but the Secret Superhero party that Alexandra Erin and co. throw every year is a good one because 1) they give people Stuff To Do which helps cover for all manner of social awkwardness and 2) there’s already built-in a few people I know and can reliably socialize with a little bit so I have less of that tendency to walk in - peek around - see no one I know (or only see ppl I know already talking to other people) - get intimidated - and leave.

Had planned to go to a lunch meeting for people to yell about The Magicians (of which I have a feeling my opinions would have largely been contradictory), but accidentally wandered off to lunch with other people without realizing I’d done so! Hopefully the 3 people I wandered off with did not feel as though I’d tagged along uninvited, but I certainly enjoyed the chance to get to know them all a little better.

Once again did not make it to the Vid Party, but DID make it to the Vid Deep Dive panel, which was great. And have watched a bunch of the vids on the list now and am super excited about vids in general again and am hopeful that this will lead me to actually using my YouTube and AO3 accounts to specifically watch and fangirl over vids more. Vids are like magic to me and vidders like wizards - I am so in awe of their talent I cannot.

Had some really interesting conversations about religion and fandom throughout the con - starting with my panel on the use of religion in SFF TV shows, dovetailing into a fascinating conversation down at the pool, and ending with some thinky thoughts coming out of the Antisemitism at WisCon panel. Possibly more on that later. Also possibly some more panels on the subject for next year?

Lots of panel topics and conversations this year ended up being about the combination of two subjects very close to my heart: 1) hope and/or redemption, and 2) community. Again, possibly more later and certainly some intriguing panel ideas for the coming year.

I did buy two books this year! Budget does not always allow for book buying, but I did good on the food budget, so I allowed myself two during the sign-out. They were both from people I like to presume to call friends, which is always a nice plus - to buy directly from someone you want to support financially as well as personally. I got First Dates, Last Calls by Alexandra Erin which I’m excited to read and The Apocalypse coloring and activity book by Theo Nicole Lorenz which I’m excited to color!

I had wanted to get Laurie Mark’s final book in the Elemental Logic series Air Logic, along with the 3rd book (since a friend is planning to gift me the first 2 in the series), because Air Logic has just come out and the author and/or publisher were going to be at-con but by the time I got the Dealer’s room they were not there and by the time I left the sign-out they had not gotten there so it was not meant to be. But I still plan to get those books because I ADORE the series so far and am excited about the 4th. (I actually asked my library to purchase the book and am on the first on the holds list to get it once it’s in, so at least I’ll be able to read it soon if not actually own a copy)

As evidenced by my post the other day, I was thinking a lot about conversations being held about making sure more diverse voices are being heard during panels. I don’t have a lot of advice re: making sure more folks from more marginalized groups show up. But I find I did have a lot to say about making sure the panels folks are on end up being inclusive of many voices whether or not those ppl show up to be on the programming itself. And - I suspect - doing the latter well enough will help to foster more of the former as people will feel safer to come and share their perspectives as well as not feel like they have to always BE The Diversity Voice on every panel they choose to attend/be on. But I am a cis white chick, and I feel like it was mostly trans and poc folks these conversations were about, so I am eager to hear what other people have to say about all of this as and if they’re willing to share.

I tend not to make it to GoH speeches or the Tiptree Auction because I have trouble with sitting still in a large room crowded with people type events. But as expected, even reading the text of Charlie Jane Anders’ speech made me weep with hope and joy and I hope G. Willow Wilson shares hers at some point so that I might also weep at hers. Those GoH speeches are always so inspiring and thrilling. I love this community. I am so grateful I became a part of it. I hope we can just always always keep growing and doing better to and for one another.

Panels that I may or may not end up writing up a little about in the days to come:

(the tail end of) Capitalism is Fueled by Anxiety

Favorite Queer Depictions in Fiction

Polyamory and Alternative Relationships

(the first half-ish of) New Pop Culture for Old Farts

Learning to Hear the Dog Whistle

Mental Illness in SFF

Vid Discussion Deep Dive

Antisemitism at WisCon

(parts of) The 116th Congress

Plus the five panels I was on, which will be less notes and more impressions: Killing Eve, Use of Religion in SFF TV, How to Write a Panel, Found Family, and Speculative Fiction on TV [also the spontaneous The Umbrella Academy panel which was small and informal but still really cool!]

#wiscon #wiscon 43 #wc43 #i don't have a tag for this #extroversion #life with chronic illness

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gdwessel · 6 years ago

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Wrestle Kingdom 13 - 1/4/2019; Ibushi Concussed; G1 Climax 29 Begins in Dallas, WK14 Will Be 2 Nights

Today is The Day. Wrestle Kingdom 13. You can watch it on NJPWWorld in Japanese or English. You can pay $35 on FITE TV for the same. You can wait until later tonight and watch a 2-hour version (continued the next 2 weeks) on AXS TV. Whatever the case, you can see it.

Wrestle Kingdom 13 - January 4, 2019, Tokyo Dome (NJPWWorld, FITE TV, AXS TV on tape delay)

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship #1 Contenders Gauntlet Match: Togi Makabe, Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Ryusuke Taguchi d. Yuji Nagata, Jeff Cobb [FREE] & David Finlay Jr. and Hirooki Goto, Trent Beretta & Chuck Taylor [CHAOS] and Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. [SZKG] and Adam Page, Yujiro Takahashi & Marty Scurll [The Elite] Order of Eliminations - Finlay > Yujiro, Schoolboy, 4:39 - Finlay > Taylor, Schoolboy, 7:30 - KES > Finlay, Killer Bomb, 2:44 - Yano > Smith, Schoolboy, 8:09

NEVER Openweight Championship: Will Ospreay [CHAOS] d. Kota Ibushi [FREE] © (Stormbreaker, 18:13) - Ibushi fails his 1st defense - Ospreay is the 23rd champion

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship 3-Way Match: BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] d. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado [SZKG] © and SHO & YOH [CHAOS] (Takagi > SHO, Last of the Dragon, 6:50) - Kanemaru/Desperado fail their 5th defense - BUSHI/Takagi are the 58th champions

RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. [SZKG] d. Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS] © (Hurrah! Another Year, Surely This One Will Be Better Than The Last; The Inexorable March Of Progress Will Lead Us All To Happiness, 11:53) - Ishii fails his ? defense - Sabre is the 21st champion

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship 3-Way Match: EVIL & SANADA [Los Ingobernables] d. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa [Bullet Club] © and Matt & Nick Jackson [The Elite] (SANADA > Matt, Rounding Body Press, 10:15) - GOD fail their 1st defense - EVIL/SANADA are the 82nd champions

IWGP US Heavyweight Championship: Juice Robinson d. Cody Rhodes [The Elite] © (Pulp Friction, 9:02) - Cody fails his 1st defense - Juice is the 5th champion

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] d. KUSHIDA © (Bloody Cross, 11:17) - KUSHIDA fails his 1st defense - Ishimori is the 83rd champion

Jay White [Bullet Club] d. Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] (Blade Runner, 14:18)

IWGP Intercontinental Championship No-DQ Match: Tetsuya Naito [Los Ingobernables] d. Chris Jericho [FREE] © (Destino, 22:35) - Jericho fails his 2nd defense - Naito is the 20th champion

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi d. Kenny Omega [The Elite] © (High Fly Flow, 39:13) - Omega fails his 4th defense - Tanahashi is the 67th champion

Hoo boy, a lot to break down here.

Every single title changed hands during this show, including the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The last time that belt changed hands at a January 4 Tokyo Dome show was Wrestle Kingdom V on 1/4/2011, by, how about that, Hiroshi Tanahashi, beating Satoshi Kojima. Eight years since then, including last year's controversial retaining by Kazuchika Okada over Tetsuya Naito that some people are still salty about. So, essentially, the entire Bushiroad era. The (frankly piss-poor) reign of Kenny Omega as IWGP champion is at an end, and the rest of the Elite (including Kota Ibushi) are title-less as well. So let the speculation about Omega and All Elite Wrestling begin in full force. It will be interesting to see which direction he goes in either way. For his part, Tanahashi is now an 8-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, cementing himself with the record number of reigns. (The next closest is Tatsumi Fujinami at 6.)

Los Ingobernables all hold titles now as well, barring Hiromu, of course, being out injured and all. CHAOS holds one title, as does Bullet Club, who lost one and gained one. The Seikigun hold two, after Tanahashi and Juice won their matches, however lost one with KUSHIDA.

Tetsuya Naito regains the title he hates over Jericho in a brutal brawl, taking full advantage of the No-DQ stipulation,and with it, begins his redemption story, having to come to terms with the IC belt to finally truly move beyond it. Really interested in seeing how his 2019 will go.

Jay White winning over Okada is interesting. It redeems White for having a poor re-debut at WK12 last year, and sets up a continuing feud with the two. Kazuchika Okada having his redemption arc is going to be a major part of 2019 creatively, I think, as will Naito as stated above, and eventually the two will collide. Okada does not take a hit here. It only sets him up to be stronger in the end. And hey, the Longboys are gone, so we have the Rainmaker back!

Shock of shocks, neither of the three-way tag matches ended with the reigning champions being pinned. The junior tag match was REAL short. (So were many of the matches today) Three-ways are stupid and are there to a) not make the champions do the job b) cover up for a bloated roster. Perhaps with the Elite moving away from NJPW this will be minimized in future. But let's face it, now we'll get rematches with the previous champions v. the current ones coming up real soon.

Juice regains the US belt, and writes Cody Rhodes out of NJPW. Trent Beretta challenged Juice post-show. That'll be good. Hopefully they can do right by Juice this time. They made him look like an absolute star at G1 Special in San Francisco, and then proceeded to squander and ruin that the rest of 2018. ZSJ regaining the RevPro title is about what I expected. Now he can take the belt home to England. Yes, that is the na.me of that finisher

That... was a nasty looking elbow Kota took. Ibushi has been reported as being concussed, and that stretcher job was legit. NJPW says the concussion is not severe. Will Ospreay is trying to be in characer gloating about it, because he is a dipshit. Who knows what Ibushi's future is in this AEW era. He's been a freelancer this entire time, so if he too were to leave NJPW (again) so be it. I really think he has the potential to be a drawing IWGP champion, but that's up to him. He did decline a WWE contract after all (as did Sabre). His is the bigger question mark looming than Omega's, if I'm honest.

The mixed Seikigun/CHAOS team of Makabe/Yano/Taguchi won the pre-show gauntlet match, so will most likely challenge for the NEVER Openweight Comedy 6-Man Tag Team titles tomorrow at New Year Dash!!. Yuji Nagata filled in for the injured *spits* Michael Elgin, and made the match actually watchable now, because fuck Michael Elgin. The Most Violent Players still being a thing makes me think there really is going to be a unit shakeup coming soon. We already saw it with Jay White and Gedo earlier in 2018, and the continued CHAOS/Seikigun teamups point that way too.

All in all, a really good show that was weak on paper but in practice did really well. The attendance was announced as 38,162, up from 34,995 for last year's, but not as much of a jump (Nearly +10K last year from WK11). It's also the highest attendance listed since Bushiroad started using actual numbers rather than papered, which was 36,000 in 2015 for WK9. So as critical as I've been of Kenny Omega as champion, using the Meltzer Standard for attendance, it looks like Kenny was, in fact, a decent draw as champion, even if creative and match quality was the shits. Online, it seems that there were some issues during the show on NJPWWorld, for which apologies have been doled out.

The attendance is an interesting issue. Bushiroad owner Takaaki Kidani has said for years that he wanted Wrestle Kingdom 14 to be the sell-out show at the Dome, as it falls on a Saturday...

As part of today's show, upcoming big events were announced for the coming year, and the biggest one of these was the announcement that WK14 will be, in fact, a 2-day event, on 1/4 and 1/5/2020, both Saturday and Sunday. Not sure how that is going to work out for selling out the Dome in 2020. In fact it might dilute the attendance by splitting it. It's an interesting conundrum, and we'll see if NJPW has the momentum to sell out just one, if not both, of those dates this time next year.

Other major show dates were announced, some we already knew (if you look at the Upcoming NJPW Events post from 2 days ago). There is a mega-card announced for 4/20/2019 at Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, without a name given, but no word on Sakura Genesis, so I'm wondering if there will even be one this year. Wrestling Dontaku 2019 is a two-day event in Fukuoka, much like last year's edition.

This year's Best of the Super Juniors 26 Final will be held on 6/5/2019 at Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, which is great, finally giving the Final the prestige it deserves with such a massive venue to hold it in. A mere 4 days later, we go back to Osaka-Jo Hall for Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-Jo Hall on, oddly enough, 6/9/2019.

G1 Climax 29 will begin and end in interesting fashion. This year's tournament will actually begin in the USA, on 7/6/2019 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX, making this the only time G1 Climax matches have been held outside of Japan. As for the ending, following the success of last year's Finals at Tokyo Nippon Budokan, which was due to necessity of renovations happening at Ryogoku, they are going back this year from 8/10 - 8/12/2019 for this year's G1 Finals as well.

The last one to be announced is a solo date in London, on 8/31/2019 at The Copper Box, located in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Hackney Wick. This is the place where feuding YouTubers Joe Weller and KSI held a boxing match. I am sure there will be RevPro involvement in this show.

That's it. That's all I got. New Year Dash!! is tomorrow but they never announce the card for it ahead of time. Hope everyone enjoyed WK13, and we start a good year in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

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douxreviews · 6 years ago

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The Very Best of Supernatural

Supernatural was just renewed for a fifteenth season. Which is insane. Even more disturbing is the fact that I've been reviewing this show for fourteen years, and it just... won't... end. Looking back over my earliest reviews, it's funny that I kept fretting about cancellation. Who knew?

The 300th episode will air this Thursday, February 7. In observance of this major event, six Agents of Doux compiled lists of their favorite Supernatural episodes, and I tallied our choices and made a final top ten. Okay, eleven, because there was a tie in there, but it was really hard to bring it down to eleven, let me tell you. Our list of honorable mentions went from here and out the door.

So here they are. Please note that if you haven't seen all or most of the series, there will inevitably be spoilers.

11. "A Very Supernatural Christmas" (season 3, episode 8)

Christmas arrives smack dab in the middle of Dean’s last year on Earth, or so we believed at the time. Sam, knowing he will soon be left to carry on after his brother’s death, has no desire to celebrate which is at odds with Dean’s intention to collect as many happy memories as he can before the end.

This marks Supernatural’s first holiday episode with a marriage of gruesomeness, absurdity, and bittersweetness we'd already grown to love – from a blood-soaked Santa dragging a father up the chimney in front of his son, to bridge-playing pagan gods threatening Dean with the swear jar while preparing him and Sam for ritual sacrifice, all ending with the brother’s exchanging heartfelt gifts from a neighborhood Gas Mart as Baby looks on. The pièce de résistance – learning Dean’s amulet was a Christmas gift from a young Sam in unsaid acknowledgment that Dean was often more of a parent to Sam than John was. And no, I’m still not over Dean throwing it away. – Shari

10. "In the Beginning" (season 4, episode 3)

A remarkably funny but ultimately tragic tribute to Back to the Future, Dean is sent back in time by Castiel and interacts with his young parents. He discovers that his mother and grandparents were hunters, and that Mary essentially sold as-yet-unborn Sam's future to the Yellow-Eyed Demon in exchange for John's life.

"In the Beginning" is a perfect example of the attention the Supernatural writers pay to continuity and series mythology, since it explained Mary's actions in the pilot episode on the night that she died. Plus it features, in my opinion, one of the most touching moments in the entire series. It's when young Mary tells Dean, not knowing that he is her son, "You know the worst thing I can think of? The very worst thing? It's for my children to be raised into this, like I was." It choked me up when it first aired. It still does. – Billie Doux

9. "Baby" (season 11, episode 4)

The longevity of this series has allowed the writers to experiment and take chances, which often gives us exceptional episodes. This is one of them.

The Impala is home for the Winchesters, a legacy from their father. That car is not just in nearly every episode; it's also the setting of many of the most important brother scenes in the series. "Baby" gave us an entire episode from the car's point of view. I'm going to crib from my initial review: "This episode was such a love letter to the fans. It was the world of the Winchesters, but not what we usually see on the show. It was what happens in between and around what we usually see." The camera angles, the head in the cooler, the windshield wipers, the valet parking, Castiel on the cell phone, the brothers singing "Night Moves" together, it was different from all the others but a practically perfect episode. – Billie Doux

8. "Fan Fiction" (season 10, episode 5)

Supernatural's 100th episode ("Point of No Return") was good, but arc-plot heavy. Coming in the middle of a very serious storyline, it's dramatic and moves the plot along. But its 200th, "Fan Fiction," is a complete contrast and a sheer joy from start to finish. An episode centred around a girls' school putting on a musical they wrote themselves, based on the first five years of Supernatural, sounds like a terrible idea. And yet, writer Robbie Thompson makes it work. The episode also features great performances from the young actresses, but it's the numerous call backs in jokes and the way the episode revisits old favourites with a twist that make it one of the show's most re-watchable episodes. – Juliette

7. "Swan Song" (season 5, episode 22)

Endings are hard, as Chuck would say. You have to balance expectation with payoff, death and survival and a resolution that feels satisfying. For Supernatural, this was supposed to be it, the show's literal swan song, as planned out by Kripke. It was sad and painful. If this had been the ending, it would’ve left us with Dean trying to live on after losing his brother to spend eternity with the Devil in hell, and that’s pretty brutal. Of course, framing the story around Baby, and making the car one of the most important things in the universe, was perfect. The only reason we didn’t end with Sam in the box is because of season renewal, leaving us with more questions than answers. Including what happened to Chuck. – J.D. Balthazar

6. “Dark Side of the Moon” (season 5, episode 16)

This episode has always been a huge favorite of mine. The opening scene where Dean and younger Sam set off fireworks to "Knock Knock Knocking on Heaven's Door" was so gorgeous that it gave me goosebumps.

How many shows would dare to send their two main characters to Heaven? And show that Heaven as somewhat creepy? What I found poignant was that the brothers' choice of happy memories mostly don't include each other. I've often thought that a perfect end to the series would be the two of them in a Heaven that finally included each other, with everything that ever divided them fully resolved. – Billie Doux

5. "Wishful Thinking" (season 4, episode 8)

Absolutely one of their best comical episodes, from the "deep woods Duchovny" line to the suicidal teddy bear. Although, of course, what makes funny Supernatural episodes work is that there is always an element of underlying seriousness or tragedy. Here, it was the acknowledgement that using magic to make someone love you is evil. This was also the episode where Dean told Sam the truth about his experiences in Hell. – Billie Doux

4. "Don't Call Me Shurley" (season 11, episode 20)

Supernatural has a warm heart and it's often hilarious, but it's not often happy. Usually, the joy of watching Supernatural comes at least partly from knowing that whatever's going on in your own life, Sam and Dean surely have it worse. But "Don't Call Me Shurley" is different. The ending of "Don't Call Me Shurley" is miraculous – and we mean that literally. The rest of the episode is a delight anyway, offering a witty back and forth between God and His Voice – and finally confirming what "Swan Song" had only suggested. But that ending, when, temporarily at least, we get a real miracle and a moment of salvation, is what makes this episode really special – eleven years of storytelling reaching a thrilling moment of clarity. – Juliette

3. "The Monster at the End of This Book" (season 4, episode 18)

Oh, how I love this one. "Monster" is the introduction to the meta episodes where the Winchesters discover that they are main characters in a series of novels called "Supernatural," written by hack writer Chuck Shurley. As I said in my write-up of "Baby," it's taking radical chances with the narrative while continuing to stick closely to the show's mythology that makes Supernatural special.

And wow, this episode is special. Clever and funny and full of geeky in-jokes (especially the boys' disgusted discovery of the existence of Winchester slash), there is also that foundation of tragedy that makes it all work. The brothers cannot escape their fate. It's in the Winchester Gospels. – Billie Doux

2. "Changing Channels" (season 5, episode 8)

Take a beloved character, mix in playful jabs at some of the most popular TV shows while both expanding the narrative and laying the fate of the world on the interpersonal relationship of our favorite brothers. No wonder it’s one of the show’s creator, Eric Kripke’s favorite episodes. We discover the Trickster we’ve grown to know and love is none other than the Archangel Gabriel, little brother to Michael and Lucifer. Now that the Winchester’s have given Michael and Luci the Earth on which to wage their civil war, Gabriel is eager to see it end no matter the cost.

This doesn’t mean he can’t have fun doing it. Between the sitcom Supernatural’s opening credits, Dean fangirling over Dr. Sexy, Sam and the literal nutcracker, and the meta nod to Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s portrayal of a ghost on certain Seattle based medical show that shall remain nameless, we are treated to a host of laugh out loud moments. My personal favorite was Sam’s less than ecstatic performance in a genital herpes commercial. – Shari

"Nutcracker!!!!"

1. "Mystery Spot" (season 3, episode 11)

There’s something both twisted and poignant about watching Dean die again and again. Funny in a macabre way, for sure but also a touch tragic because in the Supernatural verse, those deaths were real. Well, real in that each was recorded, and each time he went to heaven briefly. No wonder Death finds Dean fascinating and frustrating.

Of course, it was really Sam’s episode, dealing with the pain of watching his brother die again and again, and the numbness that came with it was palpable. To this day, in season fourteen this episode has been referenced. Pretty good impact for a generally comedic episode. – J.D. Balthazar

Conclusion (by Billie Doux)

Putting this list together made me want to rewatch the entire series, although with so many seasons, that's turned into a major commitment. You know, we could probably put together lists of our top ten best comic episodes, the ten most tragic, ten scariest, ten best angel episodes, ten best ghost episodes, and so on because with so many seasons, there's so much to choose from.

It's interesting that the Groundhog Day episode "Mystery Spot" turned out to be our number one, simply because most of us put it on our list. Is it yours? Is your favorite even on this list? Post it in the comments!

Billie Doux has been reviewing Supernatural for so long that Dean and Sam Winchester feel like old friends. Courageous, adventurous, gorgeous old friends.

#Supernatural #Dean Winchester #Sam Winchester #Castiel #Bobby Singer #Mary Wincchester #John Winchester #SPN #SPN300 #Doux Reviews

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shireness-says · 6 years ago

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Playing the Part ch. 8: Before the Parade Passes By

Summary: As a stage manager who’s clawed her way up from bottom, Emma Swan can handle just about anything thrown her way. But does that include handsome lead actor Killian Jones? A CS Broadway AU. Rated T. Also on AO3. Prologue Ch. 1 Ch. 2 Ch. 3Ch. 4 Ch. 5 Ch. 6 Ch. 7

A/N: Thanksgiving has come early! For the readers, at least. I definitely don’t know anything about parade set-up, so take this with many grains of salt, please.

Chapter title taken from “Hello, Dolly!”

Just to reiterate, this is a Slow Burn. I know we’re all anxious for Emma and Killian to get together, but Emma’s still hesitant since they work together - and especially since she holds a position of some power over him. Plus, her ex keeps reminding her how men are dicks. Hang in there, guys - there is a plan, and the plan is for 20 chapters (unless I accidentally add more again) with a happy ending. We will get there.

Special thanks to @snidgetsafan, always the best beta ever, as well as to @distant-rose for telling me all about New York bowling alleys so I could add in a tiny reference. You guys are my favorites, don’t tell anyone.

Tags: @kmomof4, @winterbaby89, @thejollyroger-writer, @mythologicalmango, @onceuponaprincessworld, @idristardis, @teamhook, @courtorderedcake, @aerica13, @revanmeetra87, @snowbellewells, @searchingwardrobes. If you want to be tagged going forward (or taken off this list - I won’t be insulted!), shoot me a message, and I’ll make it happen.

Enjoy! Let me know what you think. :)

Henry’s birthday this year falls conveniently three days before Thanksgiving, on a dark Monday when there’s no show to pull Emma away from her kid. Well, that’s not strictly true; she has to go in for a few hours so everyone can rehearse their parade performance, but that should start after he goes to school and wrap up before he gets out. It’s not like they’re doing new choreography or anything, just making sure everything is as polished as possible. Regardless, work won’t be keeping her from her kid on his birthday, and she’s grateful for that.

Henry’s birthday party was yesterday, Sunday - 6 boys and 2 girls at the Lucky Strike for bowling, a perennial hit - but Granny’s hosting a family birthday dinner at the diner with Ruby, Mary Margaret and Elsa. It’s a long-standing tradition, and every year Granny makes all of Henry’s favorite foods and a big, gooey chocolate cake as everyone showers the birthday boy with more love than he can handle. Honestly, Neal can stick his bullshit about “real family dinners” up his ass - Henry’s got the best aunts imaginable and Granny’s been there since he was born. If you ask Emma, that’s all the family the two of them need.

It’s so hard to believe that it’s been eleven years since Henry was born. She still remembers his tiny, wrinkly red face like it was yesterday - this little, precious baby, the first thing that was truly hers. Now he’s half grown, his own person, smart as hell and sweet to boot. He’s growing so fast, she can’t help but think as she watches him practically inhale a stack of chocolate chip pancakes, his requested birthday breakfast, and talking a mile a minute in a recap of his party yesterday. Where has the time gone?

Emma remains in an introspective mood much of the day, thinking back on when her little boy was younger. God, he was so cute - not that he isn’t now, but there’s something about that gap-toothed look that was especially endearing. It keeps her distracted at work, but thankfully, there’s not much that requires her undivided attention. Her cast is just running their choreography for Thursday - the opening number, “In Want of a Wife”, should be a hit, Emma thinks - so she takes the opportunity to re-pencil some of the cues in her script that have gotten smudged over weeks of opening and closing the pages. If she has trouble focusing on that, it’s not such a big deal.

The hours fly by, much to Emma’s surprise, and before she knows it, they’re packing up to leave. Emma just needs to send out a detailed itinerary for Thursday, probably print out a stack for good measure, but then she’s free for the rest of the day and can actually pick her kid up from school for once. That’ll be a nice change of pace. Just as she’s making the final edits to her email, she’s startled by Killian’s sudden appearance.

“Fuck, you scared me,” she mutters, eliciting an embarrassed chuckle from Killian to match his suddenly pink-tinged cheeks and the signature scratching behind his ear.

“My apologies, love,” he smiles. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just hoping you might give this to Henry,” he explains further, thrusting a carefully gift-wrapped package in Emma’s direction.

Emma raises an eyebrow in question. It’s sweet of him, and certainly generous, but also a little weird that one of her coworkers is sending gifts home for her kid - even if he and said kid are, admittedly, friends-ish. “Should I be concerned about this?”

“Oh no! I don’t think so, at least. It’s just a notebook. For him to write in? I’ve heard so much about how he likes writing and wants to be a playwright, I just thought this would be a nice place to write all those thoughts down,” he babbles. Emma thinks she can detect a thread of nerves in his voice. “Of course, if you think I’m overstepping, that’s completely fine, it was just an idea, the lad had mentioned that it was his birthday and I just thought — ”

“No, that’s fine,” Emma replies, suddenly resolute despite her earlier confusion. Killian means well, and honestly, that is kind of the perfect gift for Henry. “I’m sure he’ll love it. Thanks.”

“Ah, well, it wasn’t a bother in the least,” he deflects, the pink cheeks making a reappearance in a sudden attack of bashfulness.

“Killian. You got a gift for my son. Let me say thank you. Now, what do you say when someone thanks you?”

“You’re welcome,” he parrots back.

“Well done.” While her words could have been taken in a patronizing manner, Jones still grins at her, seemingly pleased with their banter (despite the fact that it isn’t the first time they’ve had this kind of back and forth - or at least Emma doesn’t think so). “Ok, well, I’ve got to meet the birthday boy at school,” she concludes, jerking a thumb towards the general not-here, “but I’ll make sure he gets your gift and knows it’s from you.”

“Thank you, Swan. And a happy birthday to Henry!”

———

Henry loves the notebook, of course, telling Emma all about all the stories he intends to write in it. She suspects that Killian will receive the same treatment the next time Henry sees him as well.

The days between Monday and Thursday pass faster than Emma ever thought possible, so fast she wonders in passing whether they ever happened at all - though if her notepads are any indication, they certainly did. Thanksgiving dawns bright and clear but cold, pulling Emma out of her bed earlier than she wants. That’s fine, though; she didn’t really sleep much the night before, too busy running through lists in her head of everything that could go right and especially everything that could go wrong. It doesn’t help that she’d had a late night before she climbed into bed either, having trekked from the theater to Macy’s with the stuff they’ll need for the parade. There’s just a chair and a couple of hedges - not to mention the racks of costumes and boxes of wigs carefully supervised by the costume department - but this gives her a chance as well to check out the space set aside for the cast to get ready. Not to mention, Emma would much rather deal with transport the night before than fighting through the madness Thanksgiving morning. It’s going to be enough of a pain getting to Macy’s this morning with all the crowds milling about; there’s no way in hell she would willingly add bulky equipment to that mix.

The good news is that Henry’s so excited about the whole affair that he all but flies out of bed without needing to be nagged like she’d have to on a regular school day. It’s probably a mistake to give him a pack of pop-tarts for breakfast - lord knows he doesn’t need the extra sugar rush on top of his already excessive energy level. But they’re in a rush today, and she doesn’t have time for much else, not even a bowl of cereal. Robin doesn’t have to work today - performing outdoors for tv crews doesn’t leave much need for a lighting technician and designer - but he’s there with Roland anyways in the section set aside for production members if they want it, and he agreed previously to keep an eye on Henry while Emma works. Hopefully he doesn’t come to regret that.

Emma figures she’ll get to Macy’s before anyone else, but Belle’s already inside, practically vibrating with nervous excitement, and Emma spots Ruby helping a few of the chorus members with their wigs. Though Belle’s still in her street clothes, her hair and makeup are already done, leaving Emma to wonder exactly how long the brunette has been here.

“You alright?” she asks, more in amusement than genuine concern. Belle’s a trooper; Emma has full confidence that whatever nerves are playing through Belle’s head right now, she’ll power through like the pro she is. Still, it feels like the thing to ask when you find a key player in your production bouncing on the balls of her feet like an Easter rabbit who showed up for the wrong holiday.

Belle whips around, eyes blown wide with surprise at Emma’s little interruption. Too late, Emma realizes that their Elizabeth must have been lost in her own little world, and was likely given quite a shock. As Emma pulls a contrite face, Belle’s own visage softens into a slightly embarrassed smile.

“Yes, I’m fine, thank you,” Belle assures. “This is mostly excitement, I promise.”

Emma throws her hands up in the universal sign for backing off. “I can understand that. Just wanted to make sure. Walking in you looked at little…”

“On edge?” Belle offers. “There’s a hint of that as well.”

Emma laughs. “Well that’s fine too.”

“It really struck me last night what an institution this is,” Belle elaborates, hastily adding “And I’m thrilled to be a part of it! But it was a little… daunting, remembering that legacy. And we’re going to be part of that, after today,” she concludes, voice echoing with traces of awe.

“Oh, don’t I know it,” Emma replies, before making an attempt to lighten the conversation. “You should see Henry outside, he’s ecstatic. It’s been helping my nerves a bit, honestly,” she admits, “seeing how excited he is, his conviction that we’re going to be the stars of the whole thing.”

“He’s a good kid,” Belle smiles back. “You’ve raised him well.”

Even if it’s true, even if it fills her with a glowing pride that’s reserved especially for Henry, Emma never knows how to respond to such a compliment, so she deflects. “Yeah, well, he’s right outside with Robin and Roland and a disgusting amount of bagels if you want to borrow him. Steal a little bit of that confidence for yourself, if you need it.”

Belle laughs, seemingly accepting the words as they were intended - an emotional de-escalator. “I just might have to. At the very least, I should go say hi. Right outside, you said?”

“Yep, to the left near the heaters. He’ll be the one talking a million miles a minute.”

“Should be easy enough to find,” Belle twinkles back, offering a final wave as she heads to presumedly find her coat before setting foot beyond the doors.

From there, it’s a blur of preparations and quieting mini-crises that turn out not to be the end of the world. Honestly, her file box is filled with so many random odds and ends at this point, but it’s days like today, where everyone’s common sense and operational memory is clouded by nerves, that those things pay off. Even if it’s her first time at the parade, this isn’t her first rodeo; she’s learned a few things over the years, and how to prepare for so-called disasters is one of them.

Truthfully, she had expected to be talking Jones down from another breakdown the whole while, but he’s surprisingly cool as a cucumber, acting like none of it affects him in the least. Someone ought to be, at least, because Emma is internally freaking out a little bit - not over the actual mechanics of the performance, but over the knowledge of what a cultural institution they’re about to be a part of. It adds a certain amount of pressure, and even if Emma is confident that they can shoulder it with ease, she still feels the weight on all their shoulders.

Miraculously, the performance actually goes well. In fact, if Emma were to borrow a few of Killian’s fancy words, she might say that they pulled it off with aplomb. “In Want of a Wife” isn’t Emma’s favorite number - she prefers the ballroom scenes with their intricate whirling that shows off the costuming so well - but it’s a great introductory bit, and gives a great peek of the characters the audience will come to love, hate, and everything in between. The cast is in particularly fine form this morning; Emma can see Killian shift into Darcy’s uptight persona the moment the makeshift stage is in sight, and Belle exudes the perfect believable combination of curiosity and exasperation at the scheming of Mrs. Bennet and the Meryton neighborhood as a whole. Yes, there’s a few pitch issues - nothing major or particularly egregious, just the normal effects you’d find in temperatures barely above freezing - but overall, she’s quite pleased with their efforts.

Without cues to call or crew members to direct, Emma’s left without much to do during the performance itself. She’s already seen the show countless times, and will likely do so countless times more, so she instead takes the opportunity to find Henry in the crowd to watch his reactions to the action in front of him. In short, Henry looks enthralled, pointing out things to Roland as the four-year-old bounces with an energy only preschoolers can maintain. Emma longingly thinks in passing that she’d love to hear what Henry is saying, but reassures herself with the knowledge that she’ll likely get the full replay when she meets up with him afterwards.

In the meantime, she’ll turn her mind to the work still to come.

———

Well done, little brother! his phone reads when Killian retrieves his street clothes, accompanied by an array of celebratory emojis. Killian’s heart swells with pride at his brother's words, even if he does slightly regret introducing the old man to emojis. Lord knows he’ll never get a plain normal text message again.

There had been a general awareness, in the middle of the singing and choreography and concentrating on being as impressive as possible while also frowning ferociously, of the spectacle of the whole thing. Killian had been aware that the roaring sound was the crowd, not just the blood rushing through his ears, though he hadn’t focused on it at the time, too concerned with hitting his marks to allow himself to process much else.

Now though, as he goes to exit the department store and is faced with the full force of the crowd, it’s astounding. It seems the citizens of New York - and likely half the country to boot - have turned out in force, forming a mass of people exuding an almost palpable energy of excitement. It stops him in his tracks for a moment, right outside the revolving door with little awareness of the chill biting his ears.

He’s no idea how long he stands there, really, before he’s suddenly startled out of his shocked trance by a shockingly close voice, jaw snapping shut with a clack.

“Hey, Earth to Killian,” Emma grins. “Did you get lost in there?”

“Aye, maybe a little,” Killian admits with a chuckle. “I didn’t hear you come up.”

“Sorry if I scared you, I’ve been doing that today without meaning it.”

“It’s fine, Swan,” he waves her off. “Did you need something?”

“Oh, no, not at all,” she says, shaking her head in a hasty denial. “You just looked stuck there. Stuck and struck, if you want to play with words.”

“Oh, I think we both know how I feel about playing with words,” he winks.

Emma rolls her eyes, but also bumps into his side companionably, so the expression is rather negated. “Anyway,” she continues pointedly, “I thought I’d come see if you wanted to come watch the rest of the parade with me and Henry. I’m sure he’s got plenty of commentary about the performance.” The last bit is hastily added, as if in justification, but Killian doesn’t need any further convincing.

“I’d love to,” he smiles, attempting to muster every ounce of sincerity he possesses. “Lead on, Swan.”

As promised, Henry is ready with a full recap, stretching longer than the actual performance lasted. Killian catches Robin’s eye over Henry’s wild gesticulating, the lighting designer clearly struggling to hold back laughter as his shoulders shake with the effort.

“If you couldn’t tell, Henry very much enjoyed your performance,” Robin relates in as serious a tone as he can muster, causing Killian to suppress his own snort.

“We’ve got the best spot, you’re going to love it,” Henry assures, completely ignoring Robin’s comment as he grabs Killian’s hand to forcibly force him into a seat. “Have you seen the parade before? I mean, probably not in person - even Mom and I have only done it once when I was, like, five or six, and we missed half of it because we couldn’t get close enough. But we watch it on TV every year! Do you?”

It’s a lot to keep up with, but Killian does his best. “I’ve only seen a little, so this will be like my first time watching it. They don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in England, so Liam and I usually just enjoy the day off and don’t do much.” Honestly, he thinks Liam might sleep through the parade most years, but Henry doesn’t need to know that. Such blatant lack of festivity might break the lad’s heart, he suspects, if the current level of enthusiasm is anything to go on.

“We’ll just have to show you then,” Henry replies decisively, nodding to seal his declaration.

Indeed.

Henry proves to be quite the narrator, providing commentary on seemingly every float or balloon that passes by. Killian is particularly impressed by the balloons, floating far above the street in an almost otherworldly spectacle.

“Spiderman’s my favorite,” Henry offers, “but Mom likes Snoopy best.”

Killian turns just in time to see the woman in question shrug. “What can I say, I like the classics,” she explains. “Except the pilgrims. Those inflated heads are friggin’ creepy, and always look like they’re about to tip over.”

(She’s got a point.)

In the meantime, Henry’s mind finally catches up with some of Killian’s earlier words. “Wait,” he says, “you and your brother don’t celebrate Thanksgiving?”

“No?”

“So you’re not having a Thanksgiving dinner?”

“Not everyone does, Henry,” Emma reminds her son.

“Yeah, but he’s alone on Thanksgiving. That just seems wrong.”

“I don’t know, lad, I wouldn’t call this big crowd alone,” Killian reasons.

“Yeah, but what are you doing after this?”

The lad’s got him there. “Ah… well, I was planning on going home and heating up a bit to eat. Maybe order some Chinese takeout, if I can find a place that’s open.”

Henry stares at him at those words, wearing an expression Killian can only describe as being one of pure horror. “You can’t!”

“I’ll see if I have the makings for a deli turkey sandwich, if that makes you feel any better,” Killian offers to a stunned silence.

“Or you could just come to dinner with us,” Emma offers.

Killian’s head snaps around to meet her eyes. “Oh no, Swan, I couldn’t possibly intrude,” he protests, but Emma’s already waving off his attempts.

“Really, it wouldn’t be a hassle. Granny usually makes enough to feed 20,” she explains. “I mean, let me give her a call to make sure, but I don’t think she’d have a problem with it. If you want to come, that is, I don’t want to pressure you into anything,” she hastens to add, but there’s no need for that.

“I’d be honored,” he smiles.

———

God, what was she thinking, inviting Killian to Thanksgiving dinner?

Well, she knows what she was thinking, totally focused on making her kid happy and wiping that horrified look off his face. Plus, you know, it wouldn’t exactly be a hardship, inviting Jones to dinner. He’s pleasant company, and chatty enough to fit in with all the rest of the maniacs crammed into Granny’s. Plus, he’d already know everyone, Ruby and Mary Margaret from the show and Granny from Emma’s birthday party. It certainly wouldn’t be the fiasco she’s currently inflating it into.

Granny had been more than agreeable to Killian joining them. “Of course he can come,” she said. “He’s a sweet boy. Hell, invite some of the other Thanksgiving orphans in the show if you want, Lord knows we’ve got enough to feed them all. As long as they bring booze to share.”

With Granny’s blessing, Belle had graciously accepted the extended invitation along with Killian, and Emma suspects that if Scarlet ever checks his phone and sees that his little crush is coming, he’ll join in too. Robin already has plans, taking Roland to Thanksgiving with his maternal family - “It’s the least I can do, now that his mother’s gone” - but there’s tentative plans to swing by later for pie, if timing permits.

The plan is to serve the meal at three, so all attending have been sternly instructed by the lady of the kitchen to arrive between two and two-thirty, drinks in hand. Of course, all attending just means their unexpected guests - Ruby and Emma are both expected earlier to help with the meal as needed, though in Emma’s case that mostly means putting stuff other people made into the oven and setting the table. When Granny runs out of things for Emma to stir - seriously, even Henry is trusted to do more in the kitchen - she’s banished to the dining room to act as a welcome committee for whenever their guests arrive.

Honestly, it’s a little too much time spent with her own thoughts. Emma invited Killian for the same reason she invited everyone else - she didn’t want him to have to be alone on for the holiday. That’s it. She doesn’t need to be worried for this, like it’s some date; it’s just a bunch of friends having dinner together. As friends.

That doesn’t keep her heart from jumping into her throat for a moment when Killian shows up at precisely 2:04 in the afternoon with a full bottle of red wine under one arm and an already opened bottle of rum under the other.

“I hope that’s alright,” he says. “The wine was a gift, so I’m not sure how good it is, but the rum is my own so I knew that would be palatable.”

“Yeah, that’s great. We can put those behind the counter if you want. Or back in the fridge, though I don’t really think either needs it, but hey, what do I know? Though they’re probably pretty cold already from the trip here — ”

“I promise, the counter is fine, Swan,” Killian laughs. As he moves to leave them on the laminate top, he leans in to whisper in her ear. “Relax, love. Don’t overthink it.”

“Easy for you to say,” Emma mutters, but Killian doesn’t hear her, already moving to greet Granny where she’s poked her head out of the kitchen.

“Thank you for permitting me to join your undoubtedly spectacular Thanksgiving feast, Mrs. Lucas,” he says with seemingly every ounce of formality he possesses. It’s funny to watch, Emma has to admit, especially knowing Granny and Ruby will disabuse him of that notion shortly.

“Enough of that,” she tells him briskly. “Now set down those bottles and come help, we need an extra set of hands.”

Emma can breathe easier with Killian in the kitchen as she turns back to setting the table. It doesn’t hurt, either, that the rest of the afternoon’s guests start trickling in not long after. Belle manages to arrive not ten minutes after Killian, cheeks pink from the chill, and Scarlet shortly after 2:30 with a case of cheap beer in hand.

Shockingly, it’s Mary Margaret who leaves them waiting the longest, everything but the bird itself already having been set on the table before she finally shows up. Her delay is easily excused, though, as she arrives hand-in-hand with David Nolan and red, chapped lips.

“I knew it!” Ruby crows from the table before smacking Henry in the arm. “Pay up.”

“Are you teaching my kid to bet, Ruby?” Emma calls, trying to infuse her voice with disappointed incredulity.

“Please, it’s five bucks,” she dismisses. “And it was his idea, for the record.”

“Hey Mom, do you have five bucks?” Henry grins across the table, causing a loud guffaw from Scarlet and what Emma thinks was a muffled snort from Killian. Figures.

“Hey, you got yourself into this mess, kid, you can get yourself out of it. This is what you get for betting that Co-Captains Obvious weren’t dating.”

“Oh, I still thought they were dating,” Henry clarifies. “I just thought that they’d hide it until New Year’s.”

That gets the whole table laughing, even Emma, as Mary Margaret tries to sit down with as much dignity as she can muster and a barely suppressed smile on her face. “If you all are quite done,” she says primly, “then yes, David and I have been seeing each other for the last couple of weeks. And I’m very happy about it.” She takes the moment to smile at her paramour, the picture of lovesick serenity. “And he is too. Now, can we start dinner before everything gets cold?”

“Don’t think you’re getting off that easy, girlie,” Granny warns, the affection clear in her voice. “But we’ll put it aside for the moment. Serve yourself, everyone, I’m the cook not the waiter.”

As the room dissolves into laughter and conversation, everyone attempting to grab for their favorites, Emma leans over to whisper in Mary Margaret’s ear. “I am happy for you, you know, all bets aside.”

“Thanks, Emma,” the pixie-haired brunette beams back. “I’m happy too.”

Emma probably shouldn’t be surprised, but despite all the last minute additions, it still feels like a proper family dinner, not the hodge-podge of people it technically is. Of course, Killian is right in the middle of it all, trading innuendos with Ruby, patiently listening to Henry tell about seemingly every past Thanksgiving he’s ever celebrated, and gently ribbing David and Mary Margaret - but mostly David - about their budding relationship. Honestly, she could picture another holiday spent in his company, would welcome it in fact.

(With everyone else too, of course. Purely as friends. Because when you stumble across a good thing, why mess with it?)

———

Killian misses Liam’s first call that night, too busy trying to wrestle the mountain of Thanksgiving leftovers Granny sent him home with into the fridge, and almost misses the second, the device buzzing precariously close to the edge before he executes an impressive dive to snatch the phone off the counter in time.

“Hello?” he manages to gasp out, slightly out of breath from his dramatic grab.

“Am I interrupting something?” Liam asks, amusement coloring his voice. “I just wanted to call and congratulate you on the parade again, but do I need to call back later? Or tomorrow perhaps?”

“No, no, not really. It’s fine. What’s up?”

“‘Not really’? Not to pry, but I thought you were set up for a quiet day in after the parade. Did you have plans I didn’t know about?”

“Not that you knew about, no,” Killian hedges, “but I ended up having a late lunch with some people from the show.”

“Oh? Anyone I know?” Liam asks, a little too genuinely. The bastard probably already knows exactly what happened without even being told. Some days, Killian wonders if there’s some kind of psychic power associated with being a big brother.

“Oh, you know. Belle. David and Mary Margaret - they’re dating now, as it turns out. No one is particularly shocked. Will Scarlet put in an appearance - he’s the one who’s got his sights set on Belle. A few others. Anyhow, did you have an eventful day?” Killian attempts to breeze right over the fact that he spent his holiday with Emma’s family, essentially, but doubts it was very effective an effort.

“Oh no no no, little brother,” Liam redirects, laughing right over Killian’s muttered protest of younger, Liam, younger. “I see what you’re doing. A few others? One of those ‘few others’ wouldn’t happen to be your lady and her boy, would they?”

“Still not my lady,” Killian reminds Liam. Honestly, it’s getting a little old - especially since Liam was one of the voices telling him that maybe it wouldn’t be such a brilliant idea to ask Emma out in the first place. “But yes, they might have been there.”

“Might have been?”

“Ok, they were there. In fact, Emma was the one that invited me. They always spend Thanksgiving, and most holidays I think, with one of the costume assistants and her grandmother. Happy?”

“Quite.” It’s impossible to miss the smug note in Liam’s voice. “So, tell me,” he continues, “how was Thanksgiving dinner?” It’s so easy in Killian’s mind’s eye to picture Liam leaning forward with his chin propped in his hands, the universal sign for sarcastic attention. Wanker.

“No. I’m not telling you if you’re going to be a horse’s arse about it.”

“Oh c’mon, Killy,” Liam wheedles, but Killian’s having none of it.

“No, I’m serious. I appreciate your advice when I need it, but not when I have to deal with your relentless teasing the rest of the time! It makes me not want to tell you things, honestly.”

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry,” Liam concedes. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I’m sorry, younger brother,” he emphasizes, as if to underline just how genuine he’s being. “Would you like to talk about your day - or at least the dinner part of it? I’m a willing ear if you want it. Otherwise, I’d love to hear about the parade.”

Killian considers telling Liam no, flat-out, but the truth is he kind of does want to rehash the day, share his excitement and enthusiasm over his first real Thanksgiving (not the vaguely British facsimile he and his brother half-assed, to borrow a phrase, their first few years on this side of the pond). That doesn’t mean he’s going to make it easy on his brother; no, after the teasing he’s been subjected to, he deserves a little taunting of his own - at least by way of leaving Liam in suspense for a while.

“The parade was amazing, Liam, every minute of it. Watching it on TV doesn’t give you any idea of the sheer spectacle of it all,” Killian says, gushing a little bit despite any intentions he might have had about acting like an adult on the phone. It’s far too late for that; the grin stretching his face at the mere memory of the day’s festivities is proof positive of that. “I must have looked like a fool in the crowd afterwards, just grinning like a madman, but Gods, Liam, I’ve never seen anything like it. Even for New York standards, the crowds were huge, and everyone was just buzzing with excitement. I swear, I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

“Well you were amazing, Killian,” Liam replies warmly. “I’m so proud of you. I’m tempted to go find a YouTube video of the performance and email it to everyone I know, like some kind of obnoxious parent.”

“Well, that seems a bit excessive,” he comments dryly, “but I take your point. It really felt like we were one organism today, you know? All moving as once to execute the best performance we could.”

“Trust me, Killian, it showed. I’ll be shocked if that appearance doesn’t exponentially increase the buzz around the show.”

Killian could drag this out, describe each balloon in detail, exactly where and how they prepared inside of Macy’s, precisely how cold it was to the tenth of a degree with excruciating attention to which specific fingers and toes felt the chill, but he takes pity on Liam instead. He’s behaved, even though Killian knows he’s dying to hear about dinner. “Somehow, the Swans found out that I was planning to go back and microwave a meal in my apartment - Henry insisted we watch the parade together - so they invited me along to their own plans. Which kind of spiraled out into inviting several of the other Brits without plans. It was truly lovely, Liam,” he exudes, really getting into the recounting. “I swear, Mrs. Lucas cooked enough food to feed half of Manhattan. Henry swears she does this every year, and likely didn’t even have to cook any extra when Swan called about extra seats at the table. Though I doubt that last part.”

“Sounds like a regular feast,” Liam comments, chuckling.

“Oh, you have no idea. I missed your first call, and nearly the second, because I was trying to stack all the tupperware I was sent home with into the fridge. What do they call it? Fridge tetris?”

Liam barks out a laugh at that. “Aye, I think that’s the technical term. That much food?”

“That much. And Mrs. Lucas was sending it home with everyone, I wasn’t a special charity case. The whole affair was so lovely, really, I’ve never seen — ” Killian stops abruptly. “No teasing, you promise? Even if you think me some kind of ridiculous lovestruck fool?”

“No teasing,” Liam swears. “Even if you’re carrying on like a lovestruck fool. I’ll sit here and listen attentively and supportively, I promise.”

If they were having this conversation in person, Killian would toss his brother a skeptical look, but since that’s not an option, he plows on ahead. “I really understood the whole thing first-hand for the first time, you know? I mean, you can hear about how this is a holiday for families as much as you want, or see it on television or in the movies, but it doesn’t really sink in until you’re sitting in the middle of it. There was so much sheer affection at that table, Liam. And I’ve never seen Emma so at ease.” He pauses for breath, taking the opportunity to collect his thoughts. “I’m aware that that doesn’t really mean much, considering our relatively short acquaintance, but still. She was comfortable, in a casual way I haven’t previously associated with her. Like that was her place, in some kind of deep and emotional and cliche way. Does that make sense?”

“She looked at home,” Liam supplies, putting the words right in Killian’s mouth.

“Yes! Exactly. I know I must sound silly - this is where the lovestruck fool bit comes in, so please, contain yourself - but it’s nice, being able to discover these new sides to Swan that I don’t see every day. Charming. Wonderful. Some other word more expressive than nice.” Killian stops himself before he gets too far. “I’m babbling.”

“A little bit.”

“Kind of you to downplay it.”

“Anytime.”

They both laugh at that. Technically, the comments break Liam’s vow not to tease him, but their spirit certainly doesn’t, so Killian lets it pass.

“So you had a great day?” Liam asks.

“The best. Enough about me, though, what about you, how was your Thanksgiving? Sorry I didn’t call earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it, brother. My day was much more low-key than yours. Dropped by to have a few beers with a couple other ex-pats from the film, but that’s about it. Honestly, watching you in the parade was the highlight.”

Killian blushes at the words. “You don’t have to say that,” he mumbles, but Liam can probably hear the smile in his voice anyway.

“I only say it because it’s true,” his elder brother promises.

“Thanks, Liam.”

Conversation turns towards more general topics eventually, not that Killian minds. He loves these calls with his brother, even if he was a bit late to this particular one.

“Christ, it must be getting late for you,” Liam finally says. He’s not wrong - they’ve been on the phone for almost an hour, and in that time it’s gotten quite dark outside. “I’ll let you go - I’ll have to be up early tomorrow anyways.” It’s a half-assed excuse and they both know it, especially since Killian is pretty sure he’s the only one who has to work tomorrow.

“Are you sure?” he asks, even though he’s sure of the answer. Big Brother Liam, still trying to make sure little Killy goes to bed on time and brushes his teeth.

“Go on. We’ll talk later,” Liam replies, absolutely certain. Who is Killian to argue with that?

“Alright, well, Happy Thanksgiving, Liam.”

“Happy Thanksgiving, little - younger brother.”

#my writing #cs ff #cs au #Playing the Part #Before the Parade Passes By #Broadway AU #stage manager!Emma #actor!Killian #happy thanksgiving #a month early

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