#also interesting that this episode is so far called international break

[gottagobackintime]

That’s the exact same run time as Sunflowers… I don’t know what’s going to happen next episode but I’m excited.

[bengiyo]

Ben's Big BL Blurb

I was traveling for a few weeks, and there's no way I'm doing individual posts for every show I've been watching, so here's my thoughts on all of the shows I'm currently enjoying, in the order I'm most enjoying them.

Twilight Out of Focus

This show is fucking excellent. I'm not that keen on taking a break from our leads to see other couples, but I do like that BL continues to be the way that these guys are figuring out they're attracted to each other. Mao moving so smoothly into his boyfriend era, and knowing how he's feeling, has been excellent. I also really loved Hisashi knowing they needed to not be together all the time.

The Trainee

Jane is so attractive, and I'm so happy for Off. This latest episode was a lot of fun to watch for Ryan, because it's nice seeing him be more actively engaged in things happening around him. Pai seems far more settled now that she knows she has a place. Pah is clearly still a mess. Tae seems like he's good at what he does. Ba-Mhee falling for Judy is NOT IDEAL, and Judy is over the line.

Overall, I'm actually interested in seeing them mirror interns crushing on their mentors with two different pairings as a point of comparison. I also like how every week feels like the work goals make sense.

The Miracle of Teddy Bear

Besties, so much is happening in this show. There is daddy drama, wife drama, dead son drama, and so much more! These episodes are so long, but I'm really engaged with everything happening on this show. Job and Inn are really fucking good in this.

I Hear the Sunspot

I'm so glad that Kohei made his feelings clear, and I'm enjoying seeing Taichi figure out how to respond to them. We once again had a camping trip that did not give me what I wanted, but I did like Kohei being clear that he's still interested in Taichi. Finally, I liked the little confirmations that Kohei is taking to sign, and that Taichi is interested in that journey.

Knock Knock, Boys!

I'm so proud of Best! He has played Peak in this restrained way for so long, and it paid off in this most recent episode. I love that this story started with a gay man running from himself and his feelings, who then realizes that he can't run away from people who care about him anymore because they won't let him. I love that everyone being patient with him gave him what he needed to finally accept himself and say what he needed. I've really loved the way Thanwa tries to support Peak.

I'm also overjoyed for Almond and Latte, and I need them to fuck nasty before this show ends or I will be so disappointed. Latte is quietly one of my blorbos of the year with the way he is always clear about who he is and what he wants even as he is okay with where Almond is in the moment. They're an excellent pair.

Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko

RISA IS OFF THE BESTIE LIST FOREVER! I will never forgive her for outing Hiroko to Ayaka just so she could ask Ayaka to choose her instead. Also, fuck those Bettys at the bar, who definitely know Hiroko's business, and that she's not out at work. Why talk about her to a stranger who called her senpai?? I'm relieved that Hiroko knows that Ayaka likes women now, and am curious how we move forward at this point.

I also need to know who this woman was who hurt Hiroko, because nothing makes me sadder than when we have to hide from other queers.

Mr. Mitsuya's Planned Feeding

Thanks to @isaksbestpillow I was actually able to start this on my trip. I didn't want to start a show on a trip, but I could not resist. I really love that Ishida is in his late 20s and struggling with direction and purpose after his initial plan blew up in his face. I love that he's recognized so quickly that he's developed feelings for Mitsuya-sensei, and I love that Mitsuya-sensei is open about who he is. It's about goddamned time that we saw an age gap story of this kind, because so many meaningful relationships I've had are with gay men older than me.

Takara's Treasure

This quiet little show makes me so happy every week. I just desperately need for Taishin to figure out what he's feeling, and for people to help him realize what he's feeling. Takara's my favorite kind of pretty boy: the ones who are obviously and poorly masking incredibly turmoil. I love that Taishin sees through this and wants to help Takara. Excited for him to get to take care of him when Takara gets sick.

Century of Love

I've been having a lot of fun with this show, but episode 8 felt like a huge wobble. I love that San was so committed to Vee the whole time, but the back and forth about the stone was tedious. San giving up the stone as a way to signify that he was over the memory of Vad was nice, but we didn't reconcile Vee's theft and the emotional cost of that.

Love Sea

MAHASAMUT!! WE FINALLY BEAT THAT NASTY OLD MAN'S ASS!! Mut trampling over a bullshit breakup and kicking Rak's dad's ass instead was so satisfying that it almost makes up for Mut having little identity outside of his relationship to Rake, or the terrible arc that Mook and Vie are having, over the last few weeks. I have been playing Stomp for the last few hours because I needed them to kick that man. Mut did not hit him enough.

New Shows

There's a bunch of stuff I have to sort out over the next few days. I'm not going back to My Love Mix Up TH, but I do plan to start 4 Minutes. There's also another J-BL in the grey I got some help finding called Sugar Dog Life.

Shout out to @lurkingshan for helping me watch a few things while I was gone, and also @twig-tea for keeping me apprised of which new shows I probably need to pick up.

[moonlitlex]

thinking about it again. 73 yards did NOTHING for me. it's such a nothing episode. you keeping thinking something interesting MIGHT happen and then it never does. there's no payoff but not even in an interesting or satisfying way where that's the point. it has no impact on ruby because it's an erased timeline. it doesn't have any impact on the doctor because he vanishes first thing.

do we learn anything about ruby? no, not really. she doesn't really do anything. she just becomes sort of listless and accepting of her new life, which is probably what most people would do in her position. and then she decides she's there to take down roger ap gwilliam. and then she does. and then the episode just fucking ends. and there aren't really any answers to anything.

that part where kate said the doctor is gone was so ridiculous too. girl no he's not. he lives in donna's house. just go and check. knock on his door. like are we supposed to believe 13.5 and all the other versions of the doctor disappeared too or that he's an asshole and prioritizing his vacation over everything else?

and like, ruby took down roger ap gwilliam and also got like revenge or whatever for that other intern girl who he assaulted but like... that entire timeline was erased. it never happened. and what are we supposed to do with that? in the regular timeline roger ap gwilliam still does nuclear war because ruby isn't there to stop him with her creepy eldritch horror self. yay?

and like. rtd has been hyping this up as the best thing he's ever written? it's quite literally not even fucking close. it's not even close to the best doctor who episode he's ever written, let alone everything else.

but we're promised a welsh folk horror and/or a political drama because of the premise and it literally doesn't deliver on either of them. it abandons the horror premise partway through and it never even gets started on the political drama aspects of the story. it could have just been a character study but this is easily the most boring and flat episode for ruby so far.

and like also i'm sooooooo fucking sorry but everyone talking this episode up for how deep and complex it is and sucking rtd's dick about it is fucking ridiculous. if moffat wrote this episode yall would have rightly called him out for it being all setup and no payoff. but when russell does it its fine? russell is allowed to do all setup and absolutely 0 fucking payoff?? because he's rtd? i swear to god if this episode was written by ANYONE ELSE yall would have torn it to shreds but if nothing happens in an rtd episode it's ok? give me a break

[clonerightsagenda]

HDM 3 & 4!

Episode 3:

me watching Mrs. Coulter ransack a university library while demanding "find me something heretical or illegal" wow haha it's just like being at work

"tired old men talking about tired old things" How much of breaking Jordan's scholastic sanctuary is revenge for the fact that they won't let women like her in? If you can't beat them, tear them down.

Tony's mumbled excuses about how he found Lyra are so on point for 'kid who does not want his mom finding out about his vigilante justice escapades'

Loving the running gag of Boreal going to our world and finding his car ticketed/booted. He doesn't even know what the boot is

Oh wow, we're getting our first look at Will now? As well as backstory on why his family is getting harassed, and we dropped the bomb of John Parry = Grumman already, even though that's a late book 2 reveal. Interesting choice. My guess would be that they want to spend less time in season 2 on stringing that mystery along and more on developing Will and Lyra's dynamic, since they shift into bffsies mode pretty abruptly.

Mrs. Coulter thinking about falling off high places again... I don't recall the implication of this self-destructive impulse in the books (haven't reread the third yet) but this is certainly setting up her death, huh? Whose idea was it, I don't remember....

Also, her calling Benjamin "boy" multiple times even though he's clearly a grown man - does that have the same racist implications in the UK as it does in America? It certainly shocked me. We hadn't really seen a racial undertone in how she's dealt with Boreal, the Master, or the reporter...

Episode 4

Of course they added Lee singing a song lol. If you paid all the money for LMM...

They took away Farder Coram's disability? He's older, sure, but seems perfectly hale and hearty. I'd make a joke about Lyra just thinking someone is tragically disabled due to being 60+ but the books say his health got wrecked after getting hit by a poison arrow. There is that other gyptian with the limb differences, I suppose.

Iorek is pronounced Yorick??? Oh wow I've been doing Eye-or-eck (like neck) for years.

I can't identify the accent Iorek has, but I'd be curious as to what accent the showrunners decided bears should have. I'd assume something Northern European since we're in Fantasy Scandinavia.

Mrs. Coulter has been violent toward her daemon a few times, which I also don't recall from the books, although it comes up with that one guy in the prequels. It emphasizes her internal conflict that they're setting up super hard.

Lee's far more comic relief in the show, and they've padded out the Iorek armor quest quite a bit. Guess they decided they needed to get their money's worth out of having Lin Manuel Miranda around before he dies and gets eaten.

They didn't make Serafina's daemon a goose??? Slander!!!

Lord Boreal homophobia moment... These have been the Bigotry Episodes

So I get why they have Lyra speak up to convince the gyptians in the previous episode and take the initiative re: Lee and Iorek - it makes the MC a more active rather than reactive protagonist, etc. - but I said while liveblogging the books that I appreciated the gyptians clearly have their own plans and aren't just convenient brown people who exist to ferry the protag on her journey, and this undercuts it a little bit. Also being a kid getting helplessly buffeted around by the machinations of adults is part of what Lyra has to deal with.

I'm still reading it as Eye-or-eck in my head as I type this. Sorry. It's too late for me.

[always-outlander]

Outlander 7x01 Thoughts & Easter Eggs

Feel free to look below the cut, spoilers ahead!

First episodes are always interesting in that they have so much hype because the fans are starved for new episodes, but they rarely do more than set the table for the rest of the season. A hard thing to juggle and be able to hold peoples attention while also jamming a lot of context clues in there. I think overall this one served its purpose and I felt like it was a wise decision for there to not be a time jump between the last episode of season 6.

That said, we all need to keep in mind the parameters of season 7 going into the rest of the episodes of this first half. The first 4 episodes of season 7 were supposed to be a part of season 6. Then the rest of season 7 was filmed with the creators not knowing if they would be given a season 8, so they jammed 3 books worth of content into it. I don’t know about everyone else, but I certainly felt that pacing and quicker speed in this first episode. With a show and book series which historically takes forever for storylines and payoffs to come to fruition, it’s hard not to feel that change.

Opening scene and “vision” (? Or is it just a thought Jamie has?) of Claire being sentenced was impactful, excellent acting once again by Caitriona. I thought the internal monologue of Jamie knowing she’s not dead was lovely and a smart way to call back their vows. He does so twice in this episode.

Bree & Roger

Bree and Roger are such dweebs and their endless use of puns and 20th century references cracks me up. That said, if they keep it up I’ll get annoyed, sometimes it feels like a cop out for better dialogue and gives the impression that these two never share serious conversations between them. I understand their dynamic is different than Jamie and Claire’s, but there is a fear that the writers are solely using their conversations as the comedic relief points in the show.

Rogers preaching leads him to Indigo Donner (the actor is perfect, he’s a sneaky snake). The fact that Roger may likely have something to do with his escape is the ultimate irony. Especially given the time taken to find the date of the house burning in the future, and that he and Bree came back to try and avoid it.

Claire

Claire’s scenes in the jail cell are great, and the women in the jail were excellent character actors, especially Sadie. When Jamie and Young Ian finally reach the jail we see our first glimpse of vengeful Jamie and while I do sometimes get frustrated with Sam’s use of a furrowed brow, his anger and reactionary body langue is still in line with young Jamie. The continuity of the character has always been impressive to me, right down to his little finger movements and facial twitches.

Claire being a healer in action was so nice to see again, I feel like it’s been a while since she’s been actively healing others. Just like the books, her skills have granted her a literal get out of jail free card.

It may just be me, but I do feel like Claire is now capable of doing some bad things and has a bit more mischief in her eyes in her old age. Jamie is still a hot head willing to break every rule to protect Claire, and her moral compass is the only thing that keeps him in line. But the older she gets, the more Jamie’s willingness to bend the rules is rubbing off on her, and I really love that we don’t always know exactly how Claire is going to react anymore. She’s got a poker face now, and it makes her far more interesting to watch.

Major McDonald on board the ship is from the books but it’s also a great scene to help move the plot along. Governor Martin was a real historical figure and the actor who plays him is another great character actor. Forcing Jamie to gather men for the revolution and pick a side has been the trend of the last 3 seasons so it comes as no surprise that he’s once again being forced to swear loyalties to the crown (and finding a way out of it).

Tom Christie

Mark Lewis Jones as Tom Christie is a wonderful casting. He’s such a strong actor and his portrayal of Tom’s (very unfortunate) unrequited love is perfectly done. The scene where Tom tells Jamie his plan to free Claire was not shown in the books, just implied. Seeing that conversation was a perfect spot for Sam and Mark to wrap a bow around Tom Christie’s character and his relationship with Jamie. The callback of Jamie’s vow to Claire on their wedding night was also a very sweet bit of added dialogue. There are many moments where the show is able to add scenes and dialogue that seamlessly fit into the story, and this is one of them.

The way in which Tom was willing to lay his life aside for Claire was a beautiful thing. Jamie putting aside his pride to allow it was a big moment for him. I also loved the eulogy moment. Jamie giving Tom the eulogy he would have wanted and deserved was such a perfect way to close out their storyline.

The scene between Claire and Tom had so many lovely call backs to the books, and majority of the dialogue was straight from the text. The scene shed light on Tom’s brother, his wife, and the reasons Tom became the man he did. It also shed light on Malva’s upbringing and how that informed Tom’s shaping of his own motive.

Claire seeing through his lies actually reinforces why he fell in love with her. When he tells her that he loves her my heart broke for him, and for Claire. It’s not like she can do anything to persuade him, and she will never reciprocate. His life for hers is the ultimate sacrifice, and a debt she knows she cannot repay to him. I thought the acting of both Cait and Mark shined brightly in this scene.

Jamie

Jamie and Claire’s second reunion is cute, but this goes back to the timing issue I highlighted above. It feels off with all the abruptly cut scenes. In their first reunion, the two share a kiss and the scene immediately cuts to Jamie standing alone in the cabin with governor Martin. Then the second reunion, they meet on the docks and it immediately cuts to them laying in bed. You mean to tell me this man who just traveled for days and moved mountains to find his wife is given a literal peck of a reunion, then we skip their entire conversation and cut to them in bed hours later? It felt like they removed dialogue for the sake of run time and personally, I’d always prefer small talk with Claire and Jamie and a full two minutes of them staring into each others eyes than any B-Roll.

Third strange pacing and editing choice was when Jamie tells Claire to rest and she’s IMMEDIATELY asleep. It’s not even a minute later and he’s able to sneak out on her. At the very least they could have dimmed the lights and implied it has been an hour or so before he left.

But they redeemed themselves with the last scene between Jamie and Mr. Brown, that was great. Now that Jamie’s older and has greater responsibilities we see less of a fire in him. While his love for Claire is still strong, he’s not as reckless. But this scene shows the viewers that the fire is still very much alive in Jamie, along with his tactical mind. Having Ian go back to the ridge to implement his revenge was a great callback to young Jamie and his strengths. One of the best lines of dialogue in YEARS was:

“I’m also a violent man, any goodness that prevails in me is because of my wife. You tried to take her from me.”

THIS is what I hope we get loads of this season.

I’m optimistic after this first episode. Visually it was stunning as always, there was a lot of acting highlights for numerous characters, and the storyline and dialogue stayed true to the books when it needed to, and added more depth and context when necessary.

[variousqueerthings]

Time can be rewritten...

Angels In Manhattan, Amy and Rory goodbye. this is a... difficult one to rank. it may or may not make sense. Amy and Rory work better or worse depending on whether you've excised parts of previous seasons. it's kind of a... simple way to go in a sense, but is that good? (and yes, in classic!who sometimes companions would be written out between seasons, but I always assumed M*ffat would try to outdo everyone by being more tragic than anything before)

also this interesting post by @brilliantfantasticgeronimo that at the end talks about laws of time and how and when and why they're broken or upheld in terms of timestreams. things to think about going into this one, but luckily there's a handy-dandy ratings system

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 6/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored): 5/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 3/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 3/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 3/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 7/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 6/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 6/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 2/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 47/100 (if I can count….)

not the lowest a M*ffat episode's gotten. I think mainly it's just a bit... there. and I cannot help compare it to The God Complex, which is one of the two highest rated episodes of this era and manages much the same thing in a more cohesive way

OBJECTIFICATION: on the whooole considering River Song is in this one, it's mostly okay after the first few minutes

we do get some shit in the beginning: "My lipstick was combat ready and I was packing cleavage that could fell an ox at twenty feet" which the Doctor is... into? as a description? he doesn't even know it's River Song at this point, he just likes the description for some reason

but yeah, mostly it's okay. River is a femme fatale in a detective novel called "melody malone" but it's fine on the whole

PLOT-POINT: there's this bit where Amy reads a bit from the book River wrote in the past, and the Doctor is like "Now that you've read this it has to happen," and it turns out that the line (why do you have to break that) is a reference to River's wrist as she tries to get free from an angel

and it's this sort of theme of the episode, it's been read, it must happen, buuuut the Doctor could have just... not broken her wrist, according to this logic, right? it didn't say "and then River Song's wrist was broken" it just said that bit of line (and then "because Amy read it in a book...")

my point here is that then the Doctor gets really pissed off because it means something bad will definitely happen. he reads a chapter title called "Amy's Last Farewell" and it sends him into a rage -- (sidenote, Matt Smith's Doctor is the only Doctor I've seen so far where his kind of anger makes me very uncomfortable, that's subjective, but he comes across as An Angry Man sometimes and I'm not a fan of that) and instead of helping River out of the angel he tells her to figure it out herself in a way that doesn't break her wrist

she pretends she manages it and the Doctor is happy, until he realises she lied, and her wrist is broken and then he fixes it using time energy and she slaps him (we'll get to that in a minute) and Amy treats it as a "you just don't understand Womens" moment and then goes out to comfort River, asking why she lied

TO WHICH River replies: never let him see the damage, and never let him see you age

and this is just. peak River in the grand narrative once again. walking on eggshells around this rather petulant child in terms of the writing, and I'm meant to understand her feelings as anything other than "I was brainwashed as a kid to be obsessed with this guy and now I cannot break out of the programming" (which to be fair could be interesting, if it was done on purpose and not... by M*ffat)

and this also plays into Amy, who has since gotten reading glasses and "lines around her eyes," and it's this thing that's come up a lot in this iteration, that the Doctor has serious Peter Pan syndrome, but it's never been more textual than in this era

point being, Amy is the recipient of this line, but Amy isn't really narratively engaging with this. Amy could have let go of the Doctor ages ago, and in fact in the last episode the Doctor is saying that it's clear he needs her a lot more than the other way around... so why are we bringing this up now? what is it doing here? what is it saying about Amy or even River tbh, who's been in the form of a middle-aged woman most of the time we've known her and also at the end of the episode flat out refuses the Doctor's offer to travel with him for... no real reason

there's just a lot of quite uneven writing here that feels like it's trying to put together last-minute connections that don't belong there, and they're not in service of River or Amy, but to further hammer home that The Doctor Is Basically An Eternal Child Who Feels Bad

also this: When one’s in love with an ageless god who insists on the face of a twelve year old one does ones best to minimise the damage (at the Doctor, before he heels her wrist)... fascinating lampshading of all the seemingly very sexy flirting (including in this episode) River and The Doctor do... it's almost enough to make them interesting, in the sense that yeah, sometimes loving the Doctor means a different gender, different skin colour, different external-looking age, short, tall, thin, fat, etcetc

of course it's not really doing much with that, it's just another thrown out there line that feels like it's going "I know I know Matt Smith looks like a baby next to Alex Kingston and they have no chemistry, but stop complaining about it!!!" it's almost deep but not quite

COMPLEXITY: so the thing about the angels is that M*ffat invented them, right? and then he brought them back again, and now he's brought them back for a third time (feat. statue of liberty)

but way back in the very first episode of them a few things were established

. the angels feed on temporal energy -- sending someone back in time to live out their days . Martha and the Doctor are sent back in time, but with the Tardis aren't stuck there . they can be defeated by making them look at each other (or, I imagine but have never seen confirmed, with a sledge-hammer)

I think that's it pretty much. (sidenote, I heard that M*ffat didn't come up with "make them look at each other" and had no idea how to finish the episode, but that it's Gatiss idea? would have to search to confirm, but ooh, not-even-a-conspiracy -- would explain why M*ffat didn't ever bring it back, although he's not brought back his own Stuff on occasion as well)

so does M*ffat continue on the throughline of the angels? well, we know he doesn't because in s5 we saw them moving, which was a shame, considering the fun filmic idea that the camera in s3 functioned as another eye.

ah well, does the apartment make sense?

soooort of? I'm confused about logistics like... food. which may seem pedantic, but I feel like it's one of the many things that makes it hard to suspend my disbelief

I also realised that it sort of hinted that this whole set-up was very bad no good and was making time all squiggly, because of so many temporal mishaps, but it didn't go into it enough for it to feel like it was anything but a quick handwavy explanation for why you should keep suspending your disbelief no matter what happens, and still doesn't explain... the statue of liberty

almost had me with it, thinking this was why the statue of liberty was there because it was meant to be wrong, but actually no it doesn't make sense and worse, it doesn't need to be there, so that's... that

mmm, angel in a graveyard, I guess, but the thing that is a thing. The Thing. is yes, the angels are scary in a sense (so scary to Amy that she thought one of the spooky rooms in The God Complex with angels in them was for her), but arguably (subjectively) they were good villains because of their one-off appearance. do something kinda spooky and never try to explain more, leave it there as a little ooooh

bring it back over and over and you have to start getting into proper lore and you're Thing has to be strong enough to be able to hold that pressure, and to be honest. the angels aren't a good choice for that. they're very unwieldy when you get too close to them as concepts, especially when you start to pile a whole bunch of them into one tower block

New York, city that never sleeps, I get it, single line going "it's because everyone is secretly afraid of spooky things and so an eye has to be open at all times" eh but it's not quite enough

lot of sets for no reason, we could have cut the evil rich guy, he's not important to the story

and of course, the crux... why can't the Doctor just pick up Amy and Rory from the past? written in stone? my guy, you were declared dead for the whole of last season! again, I kind of get what's happening here, but it's kind of "inventing new rules for the plot" rather than established story rules informing the plot

the more you think about this episode, the more it doesn't quite fit together, and the more it feels like one big, overly complicated way of writing Amy out of the story, when she could have been out of the story at any point between here and The God Complex

not every companion leaving has to be a big tragedy, sometimes it's just the sadness of knowing peoples lives are going in a different direction from you, and that's exactly how The God Complex ends

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: so technically yes, this is the last episode of the Ponds so there's a whole bunch of stuff, however I would argue that not much changes one way or another from season 6

Amy and Rory still love each other (The Dalek Asylum was stupid and offered us nothing else on them that actually mattered), they're still planning to leave at some point, and they live a life

moreover that life is no more tragic than, again, The God Complex, because one doesn't really have a sense of the things they've left behind -- yes, Rory has a dad now (seen in two episodes) and he's honestly not a bad character, but he's not really firmly established in any way and might as well not exist, but for a bit of "oh that's nice"

Amy never had parents or family really (fight me M*ffat), and they left Leadworth with all its non-characters and live in London with a further bunch of non-characters

them leaving to live their life in the past is no more ungrounded than the life that was written for them in the present, in all its "I'm a Kissogram no a Model no a... Travel Log Reporter..." undefined lack of glory

also River Song doesn't travel with the Doctor because Alex Kingston can't commit to a whole season and so River Song just flat out turns him down, which is very funny in a sort of "does this make sense for the characters apparent inherent tragedy of not having enough time," kind of way -- should've just not said anything (especially not "one psychopath per Tardis is enough don't you think" SERIOUSLY M*ffat????)

and I think that's the problem in the end. post-God Complex has tried to justify Amy's and Rory continued meaning in this story but it's just not managed to do it. it feels like an overextended coda, with one relatively fun entry (The Power Of Three), and five stories that don't need to be there and give us scraps of things that might be important at some point in the future (such as the Doctor shouldn't travel alone for extended periods of time, but we already know this!)

also Brian... does the Doctor ever tell Brian, whom he had this seemingly deep conversation with about not losing Amy and Rory and bringing them back, that he will never see his son again?

COMPANIONS MATTER: yeah, I guess. I mean the whole book is written by River Song who's semi a companion, Amy and Rory jump off a roof which creates a paradox, which breaks the angels hold on the block (do they wink out of existence or are they still there or???)

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: this episode is more about the Doctor than the Ponds really, although he doesn't do much, just runs around, so...

in some ways we're anti-godlike-doctor in that there's a whole bunch of laws the Doctor suddenly can't break, despite... doing so... previously... notably in fact in the preceding season

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh got nothing. it's about the angels and it does weird shit their lore, but it's a surprisingly small episode on the whole, considering it's a companion's final setpiece -- not that it has to be massive (The God Complex, my preferred final episode for Amy and Rory is also in many ways a simple episode), but it's interesting for M*ffat

“SEXINESS”: so we've got the Doctor being into book!River, an ongoing joke with the word "yowza," a flirting scene when River and the Doctor first reunite (again, fascinatingly undercut by River later saying he "has the face of a twelve year old")

and an early scene where Amy asks Rory if she has lines around her eyes and him being "afraid" of telling her yes

it's not so bad on the whole, shockingly chill considering this is written by M*ffat

INTERNAL WORLD: one of M*ffat's biggest consistent weaknesses is that he eschews the "boring" details of making a place seem real, in favour of a plot just going at breakneck speeds without waiting around to see if it makes sense -- if you keep going very fast, nobody can see behind the curtain (unless you're actually breaking down the episode in which case... ah)

but yeah, they're in New York I guess, that's about it

POLITICS: there's not much in the way of overt politics once again, and honestly not much of anything else either. I guess one can pick up on a lack of things, but tbh there's so much else to pick at in this episode, a lack of interest in pre-WWII New York would have required an interest in world building at the minimum, and obviously that's not a thing in this episode, so much as it's a series of vibes (and you cannot coast on vibes alone forever)

FULL RATING: 47/100 (if I can count….)

So how do we leave the Ponds on the whole? it's got a few arresting scenes, Rory and Amy jumping off a roof together, the Doctor making a sad face while reaching for Amy

the rest of the episode is kind of there. neither the worst M*ffat has written, nor thaaat good. some good concepts that are under-written, a bit of shoddy lore-continuation and world-building

a big question for me at this point is where to end the Amy & Rory plot so that it fits going into the next stage of events (Clara). because The Power Of Three is quite fun, and might function as a coda (acknowledging they have a couple more adventures and then they drift out of the Doctor's life). but definitely, The God Complex is the ending for me

[sageandred]

In depth wtFOCK Season Three Thoughts (Part 2 Through the Seasons Review)

The other girl (Noor) storyline was questionable. (Having it take 3 episodes before Sander is introduced was a choice).

-and it's not like I'm closed off to changes, but I feel like they still could've introduced Sander in a different way without taking a 3rd of the season to do so (but I do like the little Where's Waldo of Sander in background scenes)

-I really thought there would be more significance/fallout to the Robbe-Noor graffiti. (I get it shows she's artistic like Sander, but) I thought that scene would contribute more to the entire storyline rather than just Robbe/Sander (first sighting).

I get the intended Robbe internalized homophobia. I don't hate it; should be interesting what changes it brings in the story. This is a much darker feel than the other evaks where "Isak" is concerned.

-the little things like the music he listens to as he walks up to his friends gives me the perception that he's always performing;

-and how his voice changes from when he's talking with the boys to when he answers a call from his mom

I'm a bit upset we didn't see more Robbe-Yasmina moments (he didn't leave the weed with her in this version, which is fine). [I know they spent some time during summer doing retakes, but I needed to see the friendship development or some bigger moments between them].

A change I like is that the season doesn't start off with "Isak" automatically living with "Eskild" (Milan).

Forgot to say this with the other seasons-this Skam might have the best cinematography and clear direction-but this season it's heightened

Love, love the apartment crew with Milan, Zoe, Senne, and Robbe!

Top tier first meet scene

-also grocery shopping was a nice change (plus music choices are great this version)

This "Isak" has some guilt immediately after during what would be the morning after the pool kiss scene; also it's kind of a change I like due to the obvious direction with the music suddenly coming to a halt as he blocks Sander.

Actually the use of Bowie in scenes is chilling (and RUDE-the Robbe-Noor sex scene); it's a good storytelling choice.

I like the changes, but the pacing and lack of a resolution with talking things out/really addressing things make them generally unimpactful so far [Robbe internalized homophobia (& projected homophobia)]

-I actually feel like Noor could've been used more strategically to display the intensified shutting out of his sexuality had they taken the time to properly flesh them out (it definitely showed), but again the pacing, because in some ways I think they needed deeper scenes to develop them, but I wouldn't want too much time dedicated to them that would ultimately take away from the actual love story of the season.

The reimagined convo with Milan worked, because their relationship is different here and it would've been unrealistic had they copied the og dialogue verbatim; also I'm glad they didn't have a copy and paste of "Isak" talking about how he couldn't be "gay" in the world while offending "Eskild"-the advice was a nice change and good the convo didn't end on a bad note.

-edit: I spoke too soon on the offending part. hurts (every time). [also: Milan's "maybe you should look at yourself" and then the clip ends with Robbe looking in the mirror. ok wtFOCK direction]

Glad Robbe broke up with Noor before things got even more complicated and it was actually a pretty well received exchange [up until her obvious shouting in the club scene] compared to other versions in which she gets immediately angry and the "Isaks" don't really break up with her properly face-to-face.

Again with the lack of resolution-srry, but there was no point to the attack in the street on Robbe & Sander. On one hand, it could be useful to be informative, having a purpose in the plot of the season, but it was barely talked about in the aftermath or hinted at being deeper addressed later. I kind of feel like they are just trying to tackle too much with this and there's just not enough time to really address it in an already storyline heavy season. The only good thing that came from it was how caring the apartment crew showed to be w/Zoe, Senne, & Milan (but that's not a shock).

(Skam season with the most trigger warnings award goes to).

I do think the coming out scene to Jens was cute. Very different version with the best friend having a non-reaction that just makes sense with him

May I shove Robbe's friends (minus Jens) into the pool that Robbe & Sander made out in. (God, they are painful to watch)

I like how Sander's manic episode was filmed. It was very pov heavy from Robbe's perspective with flashes of Sander and I feel like the characteristics were a bit different to what you normally see in tv all the time, even by Skam standards, which I found refreshing.

I really don't get why the change of Sander and his gf only dating 6 months if they were still going to have her overstep and be so controlling. It feels unbelievable that his mom and Robbe's friends (Zoe, Jana..) are so receptive to her knowledge on Sander and his illness. And I hate that they're all being so dramatic about Sander's abilities.

They actually resolved things pretty nicely in the last ep-his friends, Sander, Noor (and the additions with his dad the whole season were really sweet; minor note: his poor dad tho when Robbe suddenly left the restaurant with no explanation).

All in all: this season is great in terms of acting, chemistry, production, and direction. However the writing is pretty awful; aside from the obvious missteps, the season messes up when they make changes and fail to follow through (almost undoing the change in the first place) by rerouting back to the original and doing the same just at a different timestamp (It's frustrating to watch and I do really wish they would just commit to those choices, while handling topics with care; I think I would have a very different opinion on the overall season and how it fares next to other remakes in the long run). I suppose, overall that wtFOCK is fun, even with some wrong choices, though the story suffers with a lack of cohesiveness, development sometimes, or focus on what's important (that sounds like everything that matters, lol, but it was enjoyable).

[damelucyjo]

Possibly my favourite episode of the season. But could that be because it feels like they just remembered this show is really about Rebecca Welton and is just named after her boyfriend?? Not at all!!

Let’s go!!

Episode 10 - International Break

Woah! What a way for reveal Nate left West Ham! 🫢

Shut up, George!! You’re just bitter you were shut at your job and it’s showing now

Ted! We want to spend every weekend with you! Please never leave

Is this really how they find out who got chosen?? Seems like something they’d personally get told first. I think the boys knew, but the coaches didn’t!! Hmm

‘Wait, hold on. Bumbercatch, you’re Swiss?’ ‘Yeah. Look at me’ this boy really is a man of mystery!! 😂

Poor Sam 🙁

But God love Jamie though! He’s come so far!! 🥰🥰

‘I am not your bro. We are now enemies, and soon, you will be my bitch’ woah, Mexico Dani is a whole other breed of dog, huh!! I’ll stick with Richmond puppy Dani, thanks 😂

YYEEEAAAHHHH!!

We love a convo that sounds like it’s about periods but is actually about wine 🫡

MADELINE KAHN REFERENCE!!! 😍😍 this alone could make this episode my favourite!!

Totally tracks though that Ted doesn’t like gossip

As much as I always want scenes of Ted & Rebecca alone, that reveal to Trent was brilliant. And of course he’s good at girl talk 😂

Please, they way Rebecca reacts to Ted is such married behaviour. AND TRENT IS SEEING IT ALL FIRST HAND!! I’m so excited

Oh, Ted. You’re cute. You knew exactly what they meant. You just wanted to make your wife smile. It’s okay, we get it 🥰

AND AGAIN WITH THE DEVIL BIT. Boy…

I’ll continue to say it; Nate & Jade are cute!

Fully expected her to flip them all off, not gonna lie

Omg I totally saw this coming, and yet it’s still heartbreaking 🥺

Keeley’s not stupid. She knows it’s not the board, Barbra

JUNO TEMPLE!!! 😢😢😢 (first time I got teary this episode)

Scary Mexico Dani 🤘🏼 You just know Cristo had a blast with this episode!! (Peep the guy in the back with the huge smile😂)

Slutty Ted in red with his arms out 🥵

‘It’s hard to see the ball when your eyes are full if tears’ fucking savage 😂

The Wunder Turd. Nice

Fuck Jane though

I think Trent’s next book should just be about Beard. That is an interesting man, for sure! Like, why do you need so many axes, my guy?!

Well that was awkward… but also a little sweet 🫣

‘The creepy old man that lives in the sewers’ Renee, you’ll always be famous to us

Okay, I could go on and on about this, but I think this is a great, subtle way to begin showing Rupert falling apart.

‘When they used to play by candlelight’ YES, REBECCA! FUCK THAT OLD MAN UP!! 😂

‘Some people just are t ready when they get their shot’ That is not at all what happened, Rupert

Oop she knows that’s bullshit, too

HAPPY UNCLE DAY, ROY!! 🎉🎉

Okay, I love Roy’s sister. And also the subtle call back to her actually being the doctor that treated Sharon last season 👍🏼 Nice

Of course that’s the order of Phoebe’s favourite holidays. Uncle Roy is number 1! (&2😉)

Uh oh, secrets out boys! 😂😂

How fucking cute though that Jamie gets a call (probably from Phoebe herself) inviting him to this party and he actually turns up with a really thoughtful gift 🥹 THE GROWTH IN THIS BOY IS GORGEOUS!!

Omg Eloide’s face journey in this scene is perfection. Phoebe has been grossly underused this show!

Also the cutest fucking present. She’s knows your inside is so bright and colourful, Roy! You shouldn’t hide it!

‘Your sister is fit’ ‘I will cut your eyes out’ 😂 okay, but like… I would 100% be behind these two being brother-in-laws, just saying 😂

SAM RICHARDSON!!! 😍 always a blast when he shows up!

And you just know from Toheeb himself that these scenes are a struggle to get through once Sam gets on a roll

But poor Sam, though. Edwin is such a dick

Poor Nate, too. He’s so lost right now 🥺

Yeah, Lloyd, shut up (which is what she meant to say)

Seeing her signs blocked off 🥺🥺 heartbreaking

Since when does her lady ship enter a room like that?? 😂 but I’m glad it means we get to see more physical comedy from Jeremy 👍🏼 Always a bonus!

So her order is Keeley, Ted, Sassy, Leslie and never her mother 😂 I love that actually

‘I hate to break it to you, Rebecca, but those children are dead’ made me laugh just as much as it did the first time! 😂

We love a protective Papa Higgins in this house 🥰 but boy seems traumatised by that story 😂

Oh don’t suck your tie, Leslie 🤦🏻‍♀️

So that photo has shown up on both Keeley & Ted’s phone, but whose did she take it on?? 🤔

That is a bullshit text, Jack. Absolutely no excuse. I knew I was right to not trust you from the start! 😡

‘Everything? Fuck no’ another great call back

Also hell yeah to a Keeley & Mae scene!! (Do have some thoughts about what I’ve seen some people say about this scene, though…)

Whether she’s drunk or making a joke, Keeley actually going with Mae’s full name being Maybe is genius!😂

I really need a Mae in my life. I feel like I could actually get my life in order after a conversation with this woman

Everyone not knowing what to do or how to react to him wearing this t-shirt is brilliant

(Also Red Right Hand playing over this is maybe the last little push I need to finally start Peaky Blinders once this show is done)

Beard trying to get Ted’s attention- amazing. But what was he doing on his phone that he was so focused on??

‘Okay, now I’m worried. Are you alive? Text ‘no’ if dead’ living for silly, real Rebecca! 🥰

The boys all getting together to watch all the games is beautiful 🥹 they’re all so supportive!!

Also genius work casting Colin & Ryan as the commentators for this match 👌🏼

Savage Dani!!

What are you decorating, Rebecca, that you have a ‘decorating made easy’ pdf on your laptop?? 🤔

📢 THE ARMY MAN IS BACK!! 📢

Yo, Rupert is really struggling atm, huh!

Yes I gasped when he threw it on the floor, but had no doubt he’d bake back for it!

Rebecca is a gif sender. Of course she is

Rebecca has anxiety confirmed?? 🤔

Okay this scene with little Rebecca is absolutely gorgeous!! And did make me tear up a little, not gonna lie.

(As I’ve also said, I choose to believe Paul taught her to do that when she was little)

That is going to become his new favourite t-shirt, I can see it already. Something will eventually happen to it and he’s going to be devastated!!

Again, who the fuck is Leann?! Your name is Ruth, woman! 😂 it’s times like this that fanfic really screws with you 😂

‘I teach kids. I don’t mind cleaning up a mess’ tell him like it is, RuthLeann 😂

Aannndd it’s all falling into place finally. Took your time, Roy!!

‘I like clothes that tell the truth’ BARBARA!! You juicy minx 😂 I love you, please never leave!!

I’ve absolutely loved watching these two together 🥹

She’s so awkward, maybe a little bit autistic 🤷🏻‍♀️ makes sense!

Rupert’s being nice. Makes me feel weird…

‘How could I resist the chance of having a bunch of old men speak directly to my chest?’ Don’t try so hard, man. She’s not that funny!!

His assistant is called Bread. A play on Beard perhaps?? 🤔

Okay, what has he said about Rebecca to get a reaction from her like that??

Also this is deliciously awkward. I hope it comes out that Nathan told everyone he was sleeping with his assistant, as well as others, and that’s why he left. And that Bex left him too. You must suffer

Your ex-wife is also not stupid. She knows exactly what happened with your old assistant.

He introduced her as an owner, not his ex. HE’S TRYING SO HARD!!

I’ve had this exact exchange with many an older gentleman in my time. This is too real 🤢

This man and his obsession with Chicago-style hot dogs knows no bounds! 😂

Okay, these baby pictures are cute

Sam pulling the most out of a tiny little thing is wonderful 😂 wonder how long that actually went on for??

‘An untried dream’. Eww.

So Keeley does know how to text back! 🫢

I love how they bring things in from the actors themselves, assuming this really is Nick playing

‘Is this a fucking joke?’ FUCK THEM UP, GIRLIE!!

And Sam’s face 😂

They really just said let’s surround Hannah with kids this episode, huh 😂

Love her talking to a bunch of old men like they’re children, too

Jamie wearing 24 for Sam 🥹🥹🥹 yes, I have to pause until the tears go away

Roy, your handwriting is atrocious

How dare this show make me have a feeling towards Rupert 😡

I agree with you, Edwin, what a lovely speech indeed. Rebecca, you have come so far from the bitter ex-wife who just wanted to destroy something your ex-husband loved. You truly care and love the sport and your boys now and it’s delicious to witness 🥰🥰🥰

Omg that reveal with amazing!! (Although I will say, on my first watch I though initially the food on Tony’s head was because he’d been punched 🫣😂)

Those giggles were purely Hannah & Tony

Nick is absolutely killing in this season. This scene is a great showcase of exactly how these types of families are. It’s beautiful to witness

Also shoutout to the actor playing his dad. He’s done an amazing job too!!

I’m feeling so many emotions watching this scene. Tony is showcasing beautifully exactly how charming Rupert can be. Reminiscing about old times, getting food out of her hair. Doing his ‘Rupert act’ that likely always works for him. But not with her. Not anymore. She’s the strong one now and he’s lost 🥹 Good for you, Rebecca!

She has to look now, Roy, because nobody can read your handwriting 😂

Brett & Juno kill me. His letter is just beautiful and made me tear up every time I’ve listened to it 🥹 AND HE TOLD HER HE STILL LOVES HER!! 🥰

‘Sincerely yours, Roy Kent. XOXO’ 😂😂 never change, please

They really are beautiful and I can’t wait to see them coming back together!

Keeley opening that door and screaming at Rebecca was *chefs kiss* 😂 Juno Temple, comedy queen!

And I want what they have!! I love how she can share her good news, ask for a hug, then tell her she’s cross with her friend. And her friend completely understands. It’s wonderful

Again, being accountable for you actions. Rebecca doesn’t even have to say anything to her

I’ve seen people against Rebecca funding KJPR, but I think it makes perfect sense. Rebecca has the money and she wants to do something within her means to help her friend reach her full potential. Why wouldn’t she help?!

Keely’s disgust is all of us 😂

Baby girl is finally at the top of her mountain! Now just needs her lightening 😉

I love that the salute has become Rebecca & Roy’s thing 🥰

Wilk is shocked! Bit what a beautiful gesture!

Barbara left Jack and wants to stay with Keeley, as she should! I’ve said from the beginning she knew what Jack was like, but I think the difference is she actually likes Keeley…

I THINK THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP 🩷🎉🥰

Puppy Dani is back!!

Roy wears a colour other than black (or charcoal heather grey) and Beard learns he can share bits of himself with people. Yes, we’re coming to an end, guys…

She didn’t get rid of the painting!!

Also doesn’t need saying, but how fucking gorgeous is Hannah in this scene! That dress & colour on her are delightful. She’s so fucking soft now!!

She didn’t open the biscuits right away! 👀 and she shuffled closer to Ted 👀 is this it, girls? Is it happening?? I’m not ready! What do I do?!! 🫠

The little smile after she says so no longer cares about beating Rupert 🫣 He’s so proud of her!!

The heart eyes 😍 Ted, she is still your boss! She’s not your wife yet!!

OMFG!! 😂😂 how many times do you think she had to do that before she could do it without laughing?? 😂

‘As long as none of that tree piss gets in my mouth, I’m actually okay with it’ Okay, Ted. We get it!!

Well that episode was absolutely beautiful! On so many fronts!!

I do have more thoughts about a few points which I may elaborate on at some point, but I do feel like it’s showing we’re on the home stretch now 😢

Looks like we’re getting Mumma Lasso next episode, too!! 🫣 Kinda vibrating with excitement, but at the same time telling myself not to expect too much! But she’s in Richmond so it’s only right to assume there’d be a scene between her & Rebecca, right??

Only 2 more left babes!! 🫡

[twistedtummies2]

Sasaki & Miyano Discovery

So, recently, @belliesandburps​ informed me of a little anime called “Sasaki & Miyano.” He actually didn’t know much about it at the time other than a.) it looked adorable, and b.) it featured some voice actors we were both fans of, on both sides of the globe. I decided to check it out yesterday, on a whim, and ended up bingeing through all 12 episodes of the original subtitled version. I also watched the first couple episodes of the dubbed version. On that note, before anybody asks, I personally prefer the Dub over the Sub for this one, at least so far. The performances just seem more natural to me (possibly because it’s in my own native language), and the humor strikes me as more amusing. However, the Sub features Professor Moriarty as an absolute cinnamon bun, so it’s still worth checking out. ;) ANYWAY...for those who don’t know, “Sasaki & Miyano” is a romance story about two students of an all-boys school named...well...Sasaki & Miyano. Sasaki is friendly, but also impulsive, slightly jockish, teasing, and surprisingly enigmatic. Miyano is a somewhat geeky little guy who has trouble expressing his feelings, and is a self-confessed otaku with a particular interest in yaoi manga and fanfiction. This particular trait turns out to be ironic, as Miyano discovers he is bisexual at the same time Sasaki discovers he is apparently homosexual, and each develops a crush on the other. The twelve episodes of the anime pattern out their relationship as it develops, going from simple acquaintances, to friends who share some secrets, and finally to outright lovers and boyfriends. This is a different kind of show for me: while, if it hasn’t been made clear yet, I have nothing AGAINST romance, usually the romance isn’t the only thing I’m looking into. With otome games like “Alice in the Country of Hearts” or “A Villain’s Twisted Heart,” for example, I’m honestly more interested in the classic characters involved and how they are represented. The romance angle just comes with the territory. There’s usually an element of fantasy or adventure, as well, that keeps me engaged. “Sasaki & Miyano” is really JUST a romance. There’s no great quest, no journey into another world, no magical or superhuman powers involved, no deep mystery to be figured out...it’s really just a simple, sweet, wholesome little story of two people falling in love, and that’s about it. Having said that...that is really all it needs to be, and I think it’s pretty darn cute. The two main characters are really what sell the show: both are interesting and seeing them fall in love and come to accept their feelings for each other through their own internal issues is genuinely heartwarming. I can’t say this is a new favorite anime for me, because it isn’t my usual brand...but it definitely has some merit, and I do recommend checking it out, if you haven’t already. And of course, I must address this matter...kinks. While there isn’t that much overtly or canonically “kink-teasing” about this show, my trashy little garbage dump of a mind IMMEDIATELY latched onto the idea of playing with these two with my kinks. Now, mind you, I’m not entirely sure how to manage outright vore yet (not without breaking the rules of realism this show has set up, mind you), but when it comes to other elements of my kinks, including some vorish teasing if nothing else? It’s surprisingly easy for me to imagine stuff with these two, given their personalities and the way they interact. SO BEWARE, YE FELLOW LUNATICS; THERE MAY BE SKULLDUGGERY OF THE KINKY VARIETY ON THE HORIZON BETWEEN ME AND THIS SERIES. MUA HA HA HA HA...ha ha...haaa, I’m such a ham...kind of wonder if I taste like one, too... ...Um...d-disregard that last bit. >////>

[whatsafelony]

WELCOME HOME SPOILERS AND ANALYSIS !!!

Yes. absolutely, i absolutely agree with this analysis. what i’m about to do is a simple “yes, and”.

because here’s the thing. the ending of this analysis is Extremely interesting when placed alongside a long running analysis on each of the neighbors. it fits so strangely alongside my little thought that home is… by far is the most outcasted and lonely neighbor. to the point that whether or not it Is a neighbor is questionable.

rarely in any group photos, not given its own title sheet in the neighborhood, “only in one solo” on the not all that good record… it’s only evidence that it’s a neighbor is the “it is Regarded as a ninth neighbor, but” in wally’s description, and the fact that on the original websites guest book, on the bottom paper with everyone’s names, wally wrote homes name on it too. even with the 1-14 hidden audios, home is only on the very last one, while everyone else get their chances to shine several times over. home is othered. and for obvious reasons.

or, in short. home is home, and a very well loved home at that. but home is not, and never will be, a neighbor like eddie is

and that makes your analysis even more interesting, because you’re Right… but i think there’s more. eddie lacks a home in this community, meanwhile home lacks a community in its home.

wally is the closest thing home has to community, wally is its number one supporter and the person who tries to involve it in neighborhood activities. we also see barnaby talking to home in 14-bh, which means they’re at the very least acquaintances (thank god, and no doubt a friendship crafted out of an almost necessity for barnaby. if you’re best friends with a guy in a living house, you’re gonna wanna befriend the house 🤨)

but wally is… sighs. wally is homes bridge into the neighborhood, he’s trying to close that gap. but, how is he supposed to close a gap he’s never seen the other side of? wally has a lot of trouble fitting into the neighborhood himself, especially the socializing aspects. he relies on internal scripts (ex: the homewarming episode audio where for every neighbor he says the exact same explanation for what’s going on), he has to ask a ton of questions (to the point that it’s acknowledged as a dynamic between him and barnaby), he practices tone to try and break through his otherwise monotone cadence (phone call on the Awayfrompryingeyes where he’s trying to teach himself to sing). he’s trying to help home with something he hasn’t mastered himself.

(ik that image isn’t very convincing on its own but in context it makes sense)

home is just as much a lone pea on a plate as eddie is. the plate just has a different meaning for each party

so where does that leave this final commercial scene? i wouldn’t say that home and eddie are looking at each other with Understanding, it’s without a doubt in the world that the tension felt Dangerous. the entire ambiance of that scene reflected the genuine terror eddie was going through, and that is clear as day. (i can’t read homes emotion… but that’s par for the course).

i think that the symbolism for the pea on the plate is completely correct. it may not be the Only symbolism, but this one is really really good and makes a lot of sense. as for what is happening in that scene? … i’ve been reading all the analysis’s. i have one i’m cooking up that’s drawing from many ideas. but for now? who knows.

i might post later.. but also, i’m a finicky type. i might not.

The Pea

I'm very hung up on the symbolism of this dish, particularly with how it pertains to Eddie and his episode of severe emotional distress.

Eddie was all alone in his post office when we found him. Although he refused to state this outright, it was clear he was feeling excluded and forgotten by his neighbors. We have often seen him pushed to the margins of the community, only sought out for his utility to the others.

Barnaby openly delights in scaring and tormenting him, Howdy overworks him without sparing a second thought to his needs, Julie only calls upon him when she someone who's easy to drag into a game, Sally refuses to address him by name and treats his attempts at social connection with disdain, Wally and Poppy only have fleeting interactions with him, and Frank hides his burgeoning fondness behind a facade of cordial indifference.

The pea is alone, too, isolated on the stark white backdrop of the plate.

"Take care not to place them too close together." Even if there are more "peas" at this party, Eddie sits alone in Home's chair, denied the basic creature comforts of intimacy as he watches the others mingle.

The pea is also a pittance to Eddie. It is presented to him right after Sally's single, small attempt to show him goodwill, which she only bothers to do because it's a holiday.

She still does not address him by his name. The gesture, the pea, and the seat are all mere crumbs – too little, too late for a neglected outsider who struggles to make sense of the lonely, awful torment of his life in this Neighborhood, one which he cannot properly articulate for fear of sounding ungrateful.

Home stares him down from his lonely seat. Its presence is monolithic and ominous, a towering figure that only makes him feel more small and alone.

Is it intruding on his mind on purpose, trying to hurt him? Personally, I don't think so, though it still remains to be seen. His words to Frank at the end are telling, though. "I want to go home."

Whether it means to or not, Home torments him with its very being. It's both the elephant and the room. Eddie is an outsider. Eddie can't remember where he's from. Eddie sleeps in a post office after thanklessly running himself ragged every day. Home is the very reason for this holiday, and Eddie is homeless. It's staring him down because it's a symbol of everything he aches for, but cannot have.

Eddie is the single pea on Home's plate. Take care not to place him too close to anyone else.

[castle-dominion]

4x12 m for mayor

Loving death. Oh gosh that coat? I recognize.

Martha??? Just like my little bro, finished all his credits & just doing advanced physics. I on the other hand took an extra year of high school. I wanted to go busking in europe for a year after high school before going to college but that didn't pan out. Oh an internship? seriously? She's such a boring goody two shoes which is actually really good for her & I'm proud ig...

hyoid! new york ofc she doesn't have her license. nice coat on castle, becks, espt, & lanie too. Everyone is so pretty today. (oh & ryan also looks great & has that pretty pink shirt with no tie, they keep dressing him in pink right after his marriage, I think that's on purpose. No tie tho which is interesting & brings back s1 vibes but it's rly rly cute) lmao amish. I mean yeah the hutterites mennonites & amish are, well... As a folk catholic myself I should keep my mouth shut. kept the purse? & dumped it? Why not just leave it with the vic? or take the cash just as a bonus?

BIG CHEESE? NO

New actor for the mayor? RW: This is one of New York’s finest, huh, Ricky? RC, fondly: She’s the best. I like him I think. KB: I’ll do my best to keep the nature of your business private. RW: Thanks. I hoped you’d be there, Rick. RC: Fondue night with Alexis, but I did send a cheque. [this one is a cheque not a check] who calls them staffER rather than just staff?

I like how jordan the intern (alexis?) leaves & then the mayor takes rick to talk about the library stuff. RW: You know, I’ll—I’ll leave you guys to work through this unless, Rick, you want to take a look at our new library initiative. It wouldn’t hurt us to have your endorsement on that. RC: For the New York Public Library, my first love? Anything.

BS: I’ve already done your legwork, Detective. The car was checked out by Elizabeth Watson, Senior Director of Communication here at the office. When she left last night’s event around midnight, she discovered that it was missing. [that's really good of him!] *Shay pulls out a piece of paper.* BS: Here’s her statement. [that's taking it a bit far] KB: With all due respect, Mr. Shay, police investigations are usually conducted by the police. [she's right] BS: Yeah, well, unfortunately the 24-hour news cycle moves a hell of a lot faster than you do [yeah lol] and I have to get all my ducks in a row before this thing breaks. It’s my job. [he's right] KB: And my job is to find Laura’s murderer. So, if you don’t mind, and even if you do, [you can still accept the statement & thank him] I’m gonna get my own statement from Ms. Watson about that car, and I’m also gonna need statements from all of your staff as to whether they recognize our victim. [as you should] BS: Knock yourself out. But trust me, you’re wasting your time. [bro] KB: It’s my time to waste. Now, I got a job to do. [she's right] BS: So do I. Let me be clear. Mayor Weldon is my priority, and I’m not about to let this thing embolden his opponents and ruin everything that we’ve built. [he's right]

RC: Step back? These are politicians. They can’t order at a restaurant without two compromises and an ultimatum. Ooh gates is rly pretty Use castle's closeness to your advantage? Oh no castle you ARE biased

KR: No phone calls at all, because Laura Cambridge didn’t own a cell phone. Her credit cards haven’t been used in six months. RC: No cell phone and no credit cards? It’s like she’s from another century. JE: Amish theory’s looking pretty good, bro. Oh, I remember now. This is the phone sex episode. Good will hunting but in reverse. markiplier is the matt damon of poop. Rape or smth? death of a loved one?

Chuckleheads? like that time rysposito kept saying names for suspects & almost f*cked right then & there? Officer & gentleman? lmao. John watson? Mr Harvey: Bunch of deadbeat tenants in here. You ever get bored? I’m sure I could fill up a couple of holding cells for you. Caucasian is actually specific, not just white.

Ooh I love the pattern on the vest, I love esposito's shirt, looks not necessarily ironed but has some good breast pockets, I feel like the pink might contrast with his eyes. I'm a blue-eyed-indian but dang my eyes aren't that blue.

"No Please" really makes me think bad stuff & then Phone sex, babes!!! "yeah I'm still here babey" XD RC: I’d say it’s about $4.99 a minute. It’s not a sweatshop. *points to wall saying dial a goddess* It’s a sex shop.

Good gracious this is... well... I like how the office has dial-a-goddess art on the walls. Makes it feel more like an office. Tho they could work from home. But then they would have to set up secure phoning in their homes & it would just be easier & safer (safety of SWs is important) to route the office for payment & safety & anonymity. RC: Well, being the Chief… *reads the manager's nameplate* ...Sexecutive Officer did you notice any conflicts with her and her colleagues? [lmao sexecutive] MK: Maybe she liked it. We get all types here, Detective: students, actresses, moms. I know an accountant who did it because she liked the challenge…and it turned her on. It's a powerful thing to make a client lust for you.

Lil bro played the minecraft chicken sound & I was so confused for a sec bc I thought it was from-- (I almost called it sherlock)-- (I almost called it murdoch)-- Castle.

So true. You need fellowship & company & sometimes people, esp men, need the intimacy of sex to be able to have that emotional intimacy. Don't tell my mom but I've spoken to my priest about this, when I was in school & really stressed, I would have adult fun a lot, but after school was over (& I increased my testosterone dose too!) I stopped doing so much adult fun. It is a stress reliever. RC: It's therapy. Or…so I've been told. Castle nobody would doubt that you have called a place like this before. Plus you could say "or so I theorize" or smth. I mean remember that plastic surgery case when ryaposito were like "I can't believe the doctor doesn't have porn on his work computer" & the nanny case when castle saw rysposito & the captain standing around a computer & he said "that better not be porn & if it is I want in" like what? Ah well such is life. (Question for all you real adults out there, I'm technically an adult & I'm sort of a man but I'm trans & young & sheltered: do men really jerk off together? Do they sit around & watch porn together? Seems kind of gay tbh, jerking off around other men, comfy with or wanting them to see you jack it? sus. also gross.)

*picks up his phone & immediately has the number up*

WHEN was the door opened tho? Ah gas company. Fake af. Six foot, white, dark hair again.

Hm, usually drinks for actors are just coloured water but this wine has a foam on it, it looks very much like real wine imo.

RC: but that's going to be like looking for a needle in a needle stack. OH HO HO THIS IS A PLOT HEAVY EPISODE? I THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE WHEN I FIRST STARTED PLAYING IT BUT THEN I THOUGHT TO MYSELF IT CAN'T BE BUT HERE IT IS IT IS INDEED A PLOT HEAVY EPISODE. HOO HOO HOO. but how so they always seem to be able to catch the murderer after being told not to in these episodes?

Greater forces at play? There is way too much, so much more than just beckett than just beckett's mom, with all the killing & death I think it is not worth it to look the other way for the safety of just one person. What if you DON'T know when it is time? RC: Tell her what? "Hey, Kate, I've been taking calls from a shadowy figure who wants to keep you off your mother's murder case so they don't kill you, too"?

KB on the phone: No, I'm not eating *while eating* RC: Brown cashmere. So, we narrow our suspects down to rich men with impeccable taste. KB: Are you saying you're a suspect? LOTS of phone calls dang. copious is a good word. RC: Are there any calls in there from the Mayor's office? KB: I thought you said you were confident that he wasn't involved? RC: I'm…just trying to be thorough…and impartial. KR: Not yet. But the private sector is well represented. I got calls from The Met, banks, several high profile brokerage houses. No wonder the economy collapsed, huh? btw ryan outfit, no tie, striped shirt (not a fan of stripes), & vest plus jacket with lapel pin. Typical Ryan wear. I prefer castle's stripes, they are a pattern in the weave of the fabric to make it catch the light differently, they are not actually different colours. Nice dark navy blue jacket.

Rystle protecting beckett they both love her so much. RC: A television station! RC: ya idk The way espt says navarro <3 beckett's jacket <3

my brother helped me get ship names for just the main four. 0: nobody 1: castle, beckett, ryan, esposito 2: caskett, rystle, Castlesito castito casposito espostle estle (he actually didn't help me choose), ryckett, especkett, rysposito 3: ryspeckett, ryspostle, caspeckett, Rycaskett 4: rycaspockett caskeitan (I chose rycaspockett but lil bro chose caskeitan which is three syllables but four ppl)

Man had a nice tie I am not the smartest person but here: Polemic = a speech or piece of writing expressing a strongly critical attack on or controversial opinion about someone or something.

Oh no not the mayor! & then the coat nooo

Remember what happened last time castle? with damien? Tho if he DID do it then he ruined his own career.

It's the backgrounds that make the show. I'm noticing this while gates is getter her leftovers for lunch. They have cereal tupperwares on top of the fridge, including fruit loops (froot loops?) & images on the fridge.

RC: You know what I think? I think she's hoping it's him, because if he's gone, I'm gone. She's right, she can't have him with her.

Find a nice private space to talk, you don't need to do it in public you don't need to do it in the interrogation room.

Lol I forgot that this was before castle & gates started to make some leeway.

VG: We are tasked by the City of New York to protect its people. Sometimes that task comes with a cost. I know what they call me, Detective. "Iron Gates." I hear the whispers. "She's from I.A., she must hate cops." Well, the truth is I love cops. My daddy was a cop, my uncles were cops. But the sergeant who assaulted my patrol partner under color of authority, who holds him accountable? We do. Go to the mayor, get him to voluntarily surrender his coat for fiber testing without a warrant. Tell him it's the only way to keep it out of the media. But if he refuses, you get that warrant and you do your job, whatever the cost. This is why I respect gates. I'm anti-cop so I respect her here. Protect the people, keep the cops in line.

He DOES play poker with him lol.

It's going to be the kid right? The intern? I respect that, I'd believe that. Once you are given the context you remember but you don't remember before that. The way castle nods at him. "it is in your best interest" Oh no he killed her? Who is "they"? Ah "they" probably planted his coat. She still needs to get the coat but again they could have planted the evidence. Yeah castle! She totally should have told him that she needed the coat & was going to get it either way. Withholding the coat & then getting it with a court order looks guilty but it looks even guiltier if they find it matches, but then it supports the conspiracy thing if he turns it over bc he believes it is normal. Here's a question tho, what if two coats were made of the same alpaca fur or whatever? What if someone spilled hot sauce on their coat & so the part on the body has hot sauce residue but the part of the coat they test has no hot sauce residue so they don't match? idk how forensics work(s).

Sus parking garage. Does he see the guy's face? not right but not wrong? Man just disappears like that? So cool & sexy bestie.

Ryan not wearing his gun rn. Rly cute tho, nice sweater, he also seems almost to be walking like a girl rn which is weird. Not a hip-problem way like he often does.

woah who's that wearing the unicorn onesie? "I had an epiphany" he says Fellow had a rubik's cube in her office while she was doing phone sex lol

Sarah! Heck yes!

lmao poor greta gramma I remembered it! It was indeed the boy I remembered! tho I feel bad that it was jordan More dangerous than you know though, so like here, why did smith help the investigation if he knew that beckett would get closer to The Big Bad Guy? Wouldn't he try to steer her away to protect her? suspense suspense suspense just spit it out BILL MOSS I KNOW THAT NAME FROM FUTURE SEASONS he has a nice coat btw.

KB: Jordan Norris is a pawn. I want the people controlling him. VG: Oh, it’s a long game, Kate. Play it piece by piece. (sus?) Feel bad for big cheese

RW: There are people out there. I realize it now, people who control what goes on in this city and beyond. I wouldn’t play ball, so they took me out of the game. It’s been decided: this is as far as I get. Like watts the autistic jewish man can't get better than detective, murdoch the catholic autistic man who can't get better than detective, george crabtree the adhd ex-con (innocent) who was raised by prostitutes who can't get better than constable.

RC: I’d be gone from the Twelfth Precinct. Me: not everything is abt you Smith: nono he's right. Smith: You play chess, Mr. Castle? There are times when a well-placed pawn is more powerful than a king. casually says he's a pawn. But good, he reaveals that castle's job is to protect kate, keep her in check.

Like yeah the case wasn't quite resolved but he had to prevent it from going any further, that's what's going on. I see

Oof so yeah that was a good episode.

[themeatlife]

Marvel Pitstop: A Look Back at the MCU’s Phase Four - Television

A continued look at the MCU Phase Four.  Unlike previous phases, this latest phase has television series included.  There seems to be an over-saturation of content with these television series popping up between the feature film releases.  I think that part of the reason for talk of middling quality of releases in the discourse is probably because of the sheer amount of content in a short amount of time to varying success as far as storytelling and quality.

Here’s a look at the television offerings.

TELEVISION

It is a bit of a mixed ride with the television series Marvel featured on Disney+.  The highs were certainly very high, while the valleys were at least entertaining but left a bit wanting.

WandaVision - Released January-March 2021 the Meat Life Rating - 8/10

Very interesting concept.  Much of the episodes in the series a small New Jersey town are trapped in sitcom life, going through the different sitcom decades set forth by Wanda’s powers but ultimately influenced by Agatha Harkness.  The series deals with Wanda’s struggle with losing her love Vision in the events of Avengers: Infinity War.  The series felt was strong.  Upon initial watch, I thought the finale was weak compared to the rest of the series.  On the rewatch, though, I felt like the finale held up pretty well.

Best Performance - Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness This was a tough call because I always enjoy Randall Park in anything, it was cool to see Kat Dennings back in the MCU, we see Teyonah Parris as a grown up Monica Rambeau, and we see strong performances from the leads Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany.  Also the surprise appearance of Evan Peters as the sitcom version of Pietro was also good.  But in most scenes she’s in Hahn steals the show.

Best Episode - “Previously On” Throughout the episode Agatha forces Wanda through her past to find out how she was able to harness her powers.  We see the history of trauma and loss that Wanda goes through over the years and how her family would watch old sitcoms in their house in Sokovia.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - Released March-April 2021 the Meat Life Rating - 8/10

This is probably my favorite MCU series so far and is a more conventional approach to television series and the Marvel storytelling.  The series is the journey Sam Wilson takes as he grapples with whether or not to take on the mantle of Captain America, dealing with race and what it is to be a Black man in America.  While Sam grapples with this, a soldier named John Walker takes on the mantle, given the shield by the US government...and to disastrous results.  We also see Bucky dealing with his Winter Soldier past.  Both of these occurring while the duo learns to work as a team together to topple the Flag Smashers, an anti-national group looking break up international efforts to reestablish pre-Blip conditions.  The Flag Smasher storyline might have been very different, with rumors of a virus or bioweapon storyline edited out due to COVID-19.  You can see remnants of this when the Flag Smashers are stealing vaccines and the Smashers leader Karli Morgenthau mourns the death of her mentor due to “an illness,” later identified as tuberculosis.

Best Performance - Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley Daniel Bruhl’s Zemo was great and even had meme-able moments, Danny Ramirez’s Torres had moments, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s surprise cameo was great.  Some of the other guest stars were good and the leads Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan’s chemistry was palpable.  But Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley was the best performance.  You could really feel the pain in his voice and the performance really added depth to the Falcon storyline as he grappled with whether to take the Captain America mantle.

Best Episode - “The Whole World Is Watching” In my opinion, the first five episodes are all really close, particularly 2-Star Spangled Man, 3-Power Broker, and 5-Truth.  But the fourth episode The Whole World Is Watching is the best.  The episode has the best buildup, a look at John Walker’s struggle to live up to the Captain America mantle, the charm of Zemo, the teamwork of Sam and Bucky, and the badass Dora Milaje fight in the apartment.  And it has a clear juxtaposition with the redeeming un-brainwashing of Bucky in a flashback at the beginning of the episode and then the shocking killing of a Flag Smasher by Cap Walker with the Captain America shield after a fight with the Flag Smashers leads to the death of Walker’s partner Lemar Hoskins.

Loki - Released June-July 2021 the Meat Life Rating - 8.5/10

In much the same vein as the approach taken with WandaVision, Loki is different.  Different in a great way.  Falcon may be my favorite show, but Loki as far as quality is probably the best MCU Disney+ series.  Following the events of Avengers: Endgame where 2012 Loki steals the Tesseract and disappears, we follow Loki after he is captured by the Time Variance Authority.  The TVA is responsible for keeping the Sacred Timeline in tact and eliminate time variants that disrupt it.  TVA agent Mobius recruits Loki to hunt down a dangerous variant - a female Loki variant named Sylvie.  Loki, in tandem with Spider-Man: No Way Home, serve as MCU primer for multiversal storytelling.

Best Performance - Jonathan Majors as He Who Remains The chemistry between Owen Wilson’s Mobius and Tom Hiddleston’s Loki is great and is rivaled only by the chemistry between Hiddleston and Sophia Di Martino’s Sylvie.  Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ravonna Renslayer and Wunmi Mosaku as B-15 are strong performances as well.  But in the season finale (Loki announced it was renewed for a second season at the end of the first season), Majors stole the show.  He Who Remains is a variant of Kang the Conquerer who we will see in the next Ant-Man/Wasp movie.  Even with only screen time in the finale, Majors’ performance and execution drive not just the series into another direction, but possibly change the course of the entire MCU.

Best Episode - “For All Time. Always.” All the episodes are solid and of similar quality, so this was a hard decision.  But I think the season finale “For All Time. Always.” changes the direction of the MCU on the level Captain America: The Winter Soldier did.  It opens up the concept of the multiverse when Sylvie decides to kill He Who Remains, wrecking the end of the Sacred Timeline and stopping the control over time variants.  We have yet to truly see how this may impact the rest of the MCU.  There were other things that disrupt things and open up the multiverse, so we may see the culmination of all these things in one of the upcoming releases.

What If...? - Released August-October 2021 the Meat Life Rating - 6.5/10

A cool concept: what if your favorite Marvel hero’s journey was different?  What would that look like?  While there were several episodes that were spectacular, a lot of the episodes, while entertaining, just felt like something was missing.  I’m not too into animation, I didn’t really get into the Star Wars Clone Wars or Star Wars Rebels animated series, so maybe that’s why I wasn’t too into this (although nowadays with all the CGI in things, the “live action” films are also heavily animated).  It also felt incomplete, for example with a Thanos-like Gamora featured on the promo art but only appearing in the finale (her episode was scrapped because of production issues due to COVID).

Best Performance - Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa Man, what a loss the entertainment world endured with the untimely passing of Chadwick Boseman in the summer of 2020.  Boseman’s voice acting in What If was the last project he worked on before his death and was featured through out the series - four out of the nine episodes, in fact.  He even had his own episode - “What If...T’Challa Became a Star Lord,” which was tons of fun.

Best Episode - “What If...Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?” Although I felt this show was the weakest of the Marvel Disney+ releases, there were a few strong episodes.  “What If...T’Challa Became a Star Lord?,” “What If...Zombies!,” and “What If...Thor Were an Only Child?” were all wildly fun.  But the strongest episode was the darkest.  In the Doctor Strange episode, the death of Dr Christine Palmer leads Strange down a dark path to gain more power in an attempt to go back in time to save her life.

Hawkeye - Released November-December 2021 the Meat Life Rating - 7/10

Based heavily on the Matt Fraction comic run, Hawkeye is a fun, holiday-themed look at the aftermath of Clint Barton’s reign as Ronin in the post-Endgame world as well as mentoring a new Hawkeye in Kate Bishop.  We get Echo and the Tracksuit Mafia run by Kingpin as the main villains as well as a look at Yelena Belova looking to avenge Natasha Romanov’s death as she believes Barton responsible.  There are some serious moments in Barton dealing with the Ronin spree as well as Bishop looking at her development and at her mother Eleanor Bishop’s possible involvement in criminal activity.  There are some weak areas (the Larpers were a bit of an odd addition) but this is largely a good.

Best Performance - Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova/Black Widow There are many strong performances.  Jeremy Renner is good, Hailee Steinfeld is great.  The surprise appearance of Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin was great as well.  But Pugh steals the show with her charm and line execution.  Her banter with Steinfeld as well as her fight with Renner in the finale were excellent performances.  She kept grabbing up the screen with her performance.

Best Episode - “Echoes” We see the origin story of Echo and the relationship she has with Kazi, the head of the Tracksuits.  There is a great break out fight scene in the toy store headquarters of the Tracksuits as well as the subsequent car chase scene.  The continuous shot during the car chase from inside the car is top-notch.  And the episode ends on a cliffhanger inside the Bishop apartment as Kate tries to break into her mother’s company’s system.

Moon Knight - Released March-May 2022 the Meat Life Rating - 6/10

The 2022 Disney+ show releases are a bit of a letdown.  Moon Knight had some very high highs, but I think this show and many of the Marvel shows suffer from is a rushed plot.  I feel like this could have benefitted greatly from another few episodes to flesh things out, maybe 10 episodes rather than six.  Moon Knight the show follows a man Marc Spector as he reckons with other personalities/alter egos within himself.  Marc’s biggest conflict within himself is with personality Steven Grant.  Marc also embodies Moon Knight to do the bidding of Khonshu the Egyptian god of Moon and the night sky and battles Egyptian goddess Ammit.  It was a revealing look at a character with DID or Dissociative Identity Disorder and what those people may deal with.  It was also nice to see representation of Egyptian characters by Egyptian actors and directors.  But those storylines seem to fall apart or appear rushed.  Also, some of the action sequences were plagued by CGI issues (many times you can tell the difference between a person in costume and a CGI rendering of a person in a costume) and subpar fight choreography (not on the same level as some other Marvel projects).

Best Performance - Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector, Steven Grant, Moon Knight, and Jake Lockley For all the issues with the series, Oscar Isaac was acting his ass off.  Isaac jumping back and forth from Marc and Steven was spectacular.  Ethan Hawke was a decent villain as Arthur Harrow, a David Koresh-like cult leader who professes the wishes of Ammit.  May Calamawy was also solid as Layla El-Faouly, Marc Spector’s ex who helps Marc/Steven navigate to fight against Harrow/Ammit.  But Isaac kills it.  The British accent may be off a bit (they even joke about it in the series) but outside of that, some great work from Oscar.

Best Episode - “Asylum” In the tradition of the other Marvel Disney+ series, the fifth episode is the strongest.  Asylum is kind of the Christmas Carol type episode, in the same vein of WandaVision episode Previously On.  We see Marc after Marc/Steven dies and has to resolve the issues in their life before they can cross over to the after life.  We get Marc as a child and the origins of how the Steven personality came about.  A rough but touching episode that stretches Oscar Isaac’s acting muscles.  A great episode of television in general from a very middling series.

Ms Marvel - Released June-July 2022 the Meat Life Rating - 6/10

Ms Marvel follows Pakistani-American teen and Captain Marvel superfan Kamala Khan as she discovers hidden superpowers and her family history.  While discovering this, she has to stop the Clandestines, a people exiled on Earth trying to get back to the Noor dimension which may lead to the end of Earth. This is another series that would have benefited from a few more episodes, or perhaps separating the story out into another season.  I think, as with a lot of minority stories told in American entertainment, they were afraid this would be their only shot to get all of this done (the creators behind this - writers, producers, directors, are all of South Asian decent and were probably afraid this was their only chance to tell the story).  This feels like two different seasons smashed into one - the first part a teen comedy, the second an immigrant family backstory.  A lot of the plot feels rushed or compressed for time and could have benefited from letting the story breathe and stretch out.  The series suffers from too much going on all at once and doesn’t hit in the way say Everything Everywhere All At Once does.

Best Performance - Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan/Ms Marvel There are some strong performances from the supporting cast, particularly Matt Lintz as Kamala’s BFF Bruno, Yasmeen Fletcher as overachiever close friend of Kamala in Nakia, Zenobia Shroff and Mohan Kapur as Kamala’s parents, and Saagar Shaikh as Kamala’s brother Aamir.  But Vellani is so charming in her performance as Kamala Khan.  The naive teen discovering herself through her family’s history and her powers was really relatable and the best part of the series.

Best Episode - “Generation Why” The first episode is the strongest.  You see Kamala’s life as a regular teen in Jersey.  You also see her strong family life and her Pakistani/Muslim background.  Kamala’s strong artistic imagination is on display.  And the main conflict is the relationships she has with her friends and the contrast with the views of her family, the push and pull between American culture and Pakistani tradition.  It really encompasses the child of immigrants story very well, it is the biggest part of the story of Ms Marvel I relate to.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law - Released August-October 2022 the Meat Life Rating - 5.5/10

I want to preface this by saying that there were some moments that were really enjoyable.  But, I have to say by MCU standards, this has very diminished returns.  I know that the teams working the CGI industry-wide are shortstaffed and overworked from all the projects out, but the CGI of the She Hulk is rough.  The She Hulk effects in action scenes are decent, but the She Hulk scenes in regular interaction with actual people is very stiff and fake looking.  It’s hard going from the Endgame Hulk and the quality of that to the low quality of the She Hulk.  And that takes you out of it.  The show takes a more conventional trial-per-epidose approach and is very Ally McBeal in its vibe.  They took some swings and I’m glad they approached this show differently from the other MCU content (like the sex jokes were a welcomed change), but for the most part this series struck out for me.

Best Performance - Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky/Abomination Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters/She Hulk actually isn’t bad.  Benedict Wong is cooking in Phase Four altogether and is pretty solid straight man in this.  Mark Ruffalo is always great as Bruce Banner/Hulk.  It was nice to see Charlie Cox return as the MCU version of Matt Murdock/Daredevil, although I don’t know how I feel about that version yet.  But Tim Roth is hilarious in this.  Great performance and steals scenes.  I almost wish he was in this more.

Best Episode - Ribbit and Rip It Outside of the pilot episode A Normal Amount of Rage, I think Ribbit and Rip It is probably the most complete episode.  This is the episode She Hulk teams up with Daredevil to track down LeapFrog, who is fraudulently suing superhero suit designer Luke Jacobson.  Great chemistry between Maslany and Cox.

Originally I was going to go over the upcoming Marvel slate.  But the last couple years has seen that slate and timeline change multiple times.  So I’ll just conclude by saying that all these film and television projects might have benefited from some time between project releases.  It feels the MCU oversaturated and that the quality of the content has been down.  But if you kind of compare Phase Four with Phase One, they are very similar in how they are trying to feel out what works, what doesn’t, and where to go from there.  I will say that the movies were much stronger overall than the TV shows, particularly in 2022.

Let’s see what the MCU in 2023 and beyond will bring us.

[shinescape]

Sea and Sacrifices

Marine Officer Seonghwa x Merchant Reader x Pirate Hongjoong

tw: mentions of an injury, a drunk character, weapons, arguing.

note: in another episode of "why choose when you can have both." It has been in my head for the past week and thought why not post it as a celebration for another milestone (400+ followers). Also, this is very much self-indulgent. Enjoy the read!

It was just another working day. You were busy arranging the goods on the display table outside of the shop. The streets were packed with local sellers and even international traders that stopped by your homeland.

Once in a while, you lifted your head up to observe your surrounding. It was bustling with shouts and calls for customers alike. You were of course already accustomed to it. Working as a merchant's helper wasn’t the best job out there but it was enough to keep you alive and so you continued working at the shop.

As you counted the goods and made sure everything was in order, your ears caught murmurs of the passersby talking about a particular man. Apparently he’s a very intimidating person. A soft smile formed on your face as you went on with your task. Not only that, even the shop owner took his chance to gossip about him to you. He stepped closer to you and leaned over to get your attention.

Once he did so, his mouth went on about the man. “That officer, have you heard of him?” You hummed in response, half interested in what he wanted to say. “Never once smiled! A waste for such a beautiful face.” You stopped and turned to him with a raised brow.

He cleared his throat, clearly embarrassed of his own words. “Not only that, I’ve never heard him greet any of the merchants around here. Only talked with that rifle of his.” The old man scoffed as you bit back a laugh and nodded, indicating that you were indeed listening to him running his mouth about the admiral.

Not long after that, the man himself was in your vicinity. Without looking, you already knew he was there by the hushed whispers from the people around and the way they dispersed to make way for him. The stomping of his boots were in sync with your heartbeat and as it got louder, you raised your head and locked eyes with him.

The Admiral of the Marine Corps. Park Seonghwa.

The stare off lasted in mere seconds before he turned back to the front and marched off by himself. Despite being a high ranked officer, he preferred doing the rounds himself either work related or personal affairs.

You waited till the crowd went back to its usual state and stood up. “I’m taking my break now. See you in a bit, Grandpa.” You heard him complaining but was already far enough to not hear what he was saying. It’s not like he wouldn’t nag at you when you head back later.

Through the crowd, you spotted the dark haired man and went after him. Turning corners as he does. You watched him unlock a door to one of the buildings and went in quietly, very sure that no one was in sight. You tiptoed over and looked around as well, in case you were being followed. Not that you’re a wanted person or anything but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Seonghwa was seated at one of the empty tables in the abandoned tavern, his rifle resting neatly on the chipped table. You walked over to him and he looked up at you with that stoic face of his. You flash him a smile before sitting on his lap, arms circling his neck. He was used to it but the way he rolled his tongue in his inner cheek and looked away was enough to say that your action surprised him every time you did that.

“You look tired.”

“You say that every time we meet.” His expression remained the same which made you laugh. In a way he was right, you did say that every single time you got the chance to be alone with him.

“What’s taking him so long?” Seonghwa stared at the door with furrowed brows.

“He’s probably on his way already.”

“He better be, I don’t have time to be sitting around like this.” You blew a raspberry and poked his cheek. “Well, you’re not alone.”

As both of you were having a mini staring competition, the door burst open and both of you turned to the intruder in unison. Your other lover made his grand entrance, his laugh greeted you first as he sauntered in the dusty space and spread his arms wide. “Long time no see, dolls!” Seonghwa sat there in silence as he watched you run over to Hongjoong, embracing him tightly.

“I missed you, how was your-Joong! What happened to your face?” You gasped and eyes went wide at the sight of his covered eye. He nervously licked his lips as the other male strode over after hearing your loud gasps. “It’s nothing, doll. Just a scratch.”

Seonghwa was not buying it, he lightly push you aside and stood right in front Hongjoong. “Explain.” Even you knew better not to cross him when he glared so sternly all of a sudden. Hongjoong chuckled as he rubbed his nape. “You know that new recruit I told you about before, Mingi? We were celebrating our recent win.” You got in between them and Seonghwa stumbled back when you did that. “You acquired a treasure?” He grinned at you. “A motherload.”

You squealed at the revelation but Seonghwa was still glaring, waiting for him to finish. “As I was saying, the drunk boy was swaying around with a torch and accidentally hit my face with it.” He smiled right after as if it was no big deal. It seemed believable enough to you but not to the admiral.

Seonghwa gripped the front of the captain’s shirt and dragged him over to the bar top. Bending him down with an arm over his throat. Hongjoong smirked, unfazed by his actions. “Hwa, don’t be so harsh. He’s probably telling the truth.” You reasoned but the man wouldn’t listen. “Probably…” He hissed and with one swing of his free hand, the cloth covering Hongjoong’s eye left his face and flew over to the dust covered floor.

“Who did this to you?”

“Like I said, it was the new recruit.”

He saw you shaking your head vigorously behind Seonghwa and exhaled loudly. “Our ship was ambushed.” Hongjoong then quickly added, seeing a change in expression. “And before you ask, they’re most likely bandits or poor fishermen.”

Satisfied with his answer, Seonghwa’s face finally softened at the sight of the red speckles around Hongjoong’s eye. Lightly tracing his thumb over, the injured male winced a bit which made him stop and stepped away, heading back to his forgotten rifle.

You took the chance and went over to Hongjoong, fussing over his face. “Let’s get it treated then.”

“It’s not that bad. Besides, I’m a pirate…I shouldn’t even be seen right now with all the uproar going around.” You frowned and immediately turned to Seonghwa who only gave you a bored look. As if he could convince the captain about what’s best for him. “Let him be sweetheart. He doesn’t care about our concerns for him.”

Hongjoong walked over to the sulky male with an arm slung around you. “Don’t say that. I know you care a lot but your position does not allow you to associate with someone like me.” Seonghwa stood up, towering over with his dark demeanour. “If I were that loyal to the King, I would have blown your head off a long time ago. Get it treated and stop making us worried.”

A playful smile graced the captain's face at the sudden confession masking the fact that he was touched by Seonghwa’s words. You then took out a pouch from your pants pocket and handed it over to him with a smile.

“You’re not staying for long right? Take it and come back with more gold next time.” Why are you giving him that when you’re barely making it for yourself? Seonghwa questioned you with furrowed brows. “And you,” Hongjoong gulped at the tone. “Are you gambling as you sail?”

“I would never!”

“He would never, Hwa.”

“Why are you always taking his side?”

He was annoyed at the way both of you acted, as if his previous warnings didn’t matter. Due to all the military training he went through, knowing how things could end badly for the three of you had him on edge every single day. But then, you and Hongjoong were the most carefree people he had known and he felt the need to protect. Even if it cost his life. “It's fine hwa, besides this captain spoils his crew so much he doesn’t keep any for him.” You sling an arm over Hongjoong’s as you grinned over at the silent man.

“Speaking of spoiling, I’ve got gifts for both of you!” He broke the tense atmosphere by pushing Seonghwa back on the chair and carefully clipped a chain earring on the edge of his left ear. The admiral took a moment to realise what happened and brought his hand up to touch the new accessory on him. The chain felt cold on his fingers and the points at the end made him question the captain’s choice of gift.

“Why arrows?”

“Because for an admiral, you’re all over the place so this will help you find your way…hopefully.”

You couldn't help but laugh at his words as Seonghwa’s lip turned into an evident pout, upset by the accusations. No one has ever seen him in that expression before and you felt special that you got to witness it first hand. It was definitely a rare sight. And he didn’t realised he did that as well, too engrossed by the fact he received a gift.

“And I got this for my favourite doll." Hongjoong took out a necklace that had a small pendant and put it on for you. You held the pendant and remembered you’ve seen it before in books. It’s an hourglass.

“Is this made of real glass?” You were thrilled and couldn’t help turning the piece up and down to see the sparkling dust moving in the vessel. “Of course and those are the ashes of the dead.” He caught Seonghwa’s deathly glare again and chuckled. “Those are pearl dust, black pearls to be specific. Do you like it?”

“I love it!” Hugging him tight, you rewarded him with a kiss, giggling when he deepened it, taking note of how long you’ve been away from each other. Seonghwa rolled his eyes at the sight and pulled both of you apart, jealousy evident in his eyes. “Are you leaving right after?”

“That was the initial plan, but my ship’s getting patched up and it might take another day.”

“Aurora got hurt?” He patted your head when you furrowed your brows hearing about the condition of his ship. “She did but she’s a tough one so don’t worry.” Hongjoong then turned to Seonghwa and answered. “I’ll be resting at a guest house until then. This is goodbye I guess.” Both you and Seonghwa looked at him, eyes filled with sadness and the only thing he did was chuckled. “Don’t look at me like that. We’ll see each other soon enough.”

“Soon as in another six full moons.”

There was a short silence before you suddenly lit up. “How about this, you stay at my place for the night. We can even make sure no one is after you. Hwa will be there too.” Seonghwa was very much surprised at your proposal but listened. He was exceptionally busy himself but a night with both of you won’t harm anyone. “Then how about my crew?”

“They can stay at the guest house. I’ll have people report back to us if anything happens to them. What do you say?” You had a hopeful expression over your face.

“I know you’d try to get away again but just for a night. You’ve been travelling around for too long and came home with a bruised eye. We almost forgot what you look like if not for your cynical laugh.” Seonghwa added in with hopeful eyes.

Hongjoong wanted to retort as he doesn’t like being told what to do and Seonghwa was no different. Even if he wasn't a high ranked officer, he despised those who won’t listen to him the most and you were caught in between the two.

“A captain doesn’t part from his men.”

“I’m not asking for permission. I’m giving you an order.”

Sensing the tension getting worse and Seonghwa gripping tight on his weapon made you take a brave step and stood in between them. “Or we can all stay at the guest house.” The admiral was ready to protest.

For obvious reasons, he couldn’t be seen entering such places when he was given a proper house and you couldn’t blame him for that. He had a reputation to take care of but you didn’t want to miss this opportunity. A reunion like such was hard to come by, hence why you’re doing your best to get a hold on both of them.

“But sweetheart I-”

“I know what you’re going to say," Your lips instinctively curled up at seeing his worried face. "Come over to my place later in the evening. Don't comb your hair up and wear something casual. No combat boots, that will just give you away.” You then looked over to Hongjoong and glared. “And you, wait for us at the guesthouse. I’ll bring over my kit and clean your wounds for you, okay?”

None said a word and the silence was getting awkward. Two grown men who acted as commanders in their own field were speechless right in front of you. Heaving a sigh, you shook your head at them both. “Why do you have to resort to violence when you can talk it out first.”

Not wanting to waste more time, you turned over to Hongjoong and cupped his face. “You should leave first, we’ll go after. Don’t get caught alright?” He nodded at you with a soft smile. “I won’t.” After sharing another short kiss, he left quietly. Staring at the closed wooden door, you prayed that no trouble accompanied him.

“If things turned out for the worse, just know I’m protecting you first and not him.”

“You keep saying that but look at you pouting at the sight of him leaving us here.” You glanced over and true enough, he was frowning.

After what seemed like a good amount of time, he squeezed your shoulder pointing out that it was your turn to leave. Turning around, you peck his cheek and smile. “Be careful.” You whispered.

Seonghwa held on to you for a while longer. Tilting your chin upward, he kissed you properly. He pulled away when you bawled your fist on his shoulder strap and tenderly looked at you.

He then repeated your earlier words but in a more commanding way. “Don’t get caught.” Nodding at his words, you made your way to the creaky door and took one last glance at him. His dark crisp uniform contrasting to the surrounding made you stare at him longer than you should. And the new accessory adorning his ear just added more to it.

“Sweetheart, leave. Now.”

Blinking away, you lightly shut the door behind you, eyeing left and right of the narrow pathway before running back to your shop. You really couldn’t hide your excitement and very much look forward to seeing both of them later that night.

[sandraharissa]

So this ep has some things in it that are hard for me to describe, maybe it’s pacing or scene structure, but it feels slopy, more than any other ep before, and everything’s happening too fast. It also feels like a filler/breather ep, with us suddenly switching focus on Via and Loona and slamming the brakes on pressing character stuff. Although on the other hand if they focused heavily on stolitz this ep that would be a fourth ep in a row, which would be its own problem. Another thing that’s a problem for me and I bet for most viewers is the setting of LA, I know nothing about it so plenty of jokes in this ep were jokes without a set-up as far as I’m concerned. I generally think that episodes focused on humans and the living world are the weakest, they don’t take advantage of the unique setting of hell and they don’t feature plot relevant characters aka demons. In this way the ep at large is comparable to some of the weakest episodes like ep 1 and 4 but it’s full of these scenes that are on the level of the best that HB has to offer like events from s1e6-s2e1. So that leaves me very conflicted cos the ep simultaneously had some of the worst and some of the best that we’ve seen so far.

However there were plenty of things I really liked anyway and I wanna talk about them.

My fav part was the sitcom scene. It was perfect in the way HB can be perfect, but there are ep where this can be said about the whole ep and not just individual scenes. It almost feels like this is the scene they came up with first as a good character scene and then constructed the ep around it. Having Blitz reflect on his family life by acting out fake family life in a sitcom is a brilliant idea that the ep delivered on. It also builds up on whatever trauma he has connected to his past as a performer.

The whole ep theme is father-daughter relations, with the sitcom scene connecting Stolas worrying for his daughter cos she’s missing and they’re getting side-tracked to Blitz’s worry for Loona that starts with them having ‘the talk’ and then being expanded by Blitz having a meltdown on live TV, which leads to the conclusion of the scene ‘let’s find our daughters’, we see that this experience of fatherhood they share is immediately a more meaningful connection between them that they can both get behind than the sex. With such nuggets like Blitz seeing Stolas and Via hug and wanting to emulate that with Loona.

There’s minor and subtle development for stolitz, Stolas never calls Blitz ‘Blitzy’ and never tries to flirt with him/have sex, even ‘you’ll leave them breathless’ was a way of encouragement and not an attempt to solicit Blitz for sex. His interest in Blitz is purely conveyed by face-expression, he’s experiencing it internally and is essentially falling in love with Blitz again by reliving their first meeting when Stolas watched Blitz perform. This ep also has Blitz on his best behavior so far, with him never complaining about Stolas’ behavior, with a bunch of scenes that can be explained by other factors (like Blitz being in an unusually good mood after the audience starts laughing so he winks at Stolas, or Blitz being so stressed and vulnerable that Stolas’ comment gets to him or him being razer-focused on ‘finding their daughters’) and others when he’s ‘slipping’ in very simple ‘superficial’ ways (like his pupils dilating when seeing human!Stolas and seeing Stolas worried for Via) but that nonetheless move the relationship forward. Showing first signs of improvement after their time apart (it’s implied Stolas is putting off their meetings but so far this was not explicitly stated) especially including more explicit signs from Blitz could make it all more heart-breaking when shit hits the fan cos they actually solved none of their issues but now they got a taste of getting along and even having a family with their daughters getting along.

The Loona backstory is handled so well, they finally explicitly show how similar her and Blitz are and how she has the exact same intimacy and abandonment issues as him. It’s such a devastating scene where Blitz has this ptsd-esque flashback of seeing an extremely vulnerable and feral Loona, like we’ve never seen her before, and it really shows how Blitz saw her at her most hurt and so he grew to be this ridiculously overprotective of her, in a way she thinks she doesn’t need cos she doesn’t have an image of her crying burned into her brain. She’s likely unaware that this is how Blitz sees her since she only seems to experience the goofy and embarrassing and honestly patronizing side of Blitz.

Which brings me to what seems to be another theme of this ep which is regression/enabling of another’s bad behavior. This could be the flaw in the writing, we just have to wait and see but for now I’ll just describe it like I see it. All the characters regress under the guise of positive interactions:

Blitz seemed to try and be less enabling of Loona but then he has a flashback that reminds him how he can’t give up on her and so he goes back to tolerating her kicking him in the crotch

Loona shows that she understands Blitz is trying, and she did go after Via even tho she was tempted to ignore it and so she did behave more like a ‘people person’ but then she kicks Blitz in the crotch and stops his attempts to hug her twice

Via looses faith in Stolas again and goes back to assuming she’s not that important to him and needs to be convinced that that’s not true

Stolas goes back to neglecting Via cos of dealing with his own issues, with him trying to cope with his toxic marriage (whether through cheating or handling the divorce) always coming first, and also seemingly falling for Blitz again immediately after his realization that he doesn’t love him and that maybe he should let him go

Even Millie and Moxxie get a little arc where they perform the gig of being impossibly cute and wholesome for an audience but for the first time it’s shown that Millie can get annoyed with Moxxie overly romanticizing things and obsessing over art but she just puts up with it for the whole day even tho she was annoyed from the start and only snaps at the end of the ep, I actually thought it was very interesting detail to include, it’s the first time m&m wholesomeness is undermined as something superficial/annoying, even if it’s just treated as a gag in this ep Millie’s annoyance was real

The Loona and Via talk was nice but it didn’t hit me as hard as it seems to have for other ppl. I think I would have liked it better if they found each other earlier and spend some fun time together before having the talk, cos it was a very heavy talk for them to have and it was their first conversation ever. Also both of them at this point don’t have enough insight into their dads’ lives to actually understand what’s going on with them, the message of ‘they’re trying’ is therefore a very limited way of solving the conflict, which means the problems will inevitably resurface later in the story and hopefully will be followed by the gals actually learning stuff about themselves and their dads. However I’m glad it’s ep 2 and we already got the Loona and Via friendship, I wondered how long we’d have to wait to see it and I’m glad we already got started on developing their bond. How serious and emotional the scene was also makes me very happy that their relationship will be one that’s very relevant to the story.

This got long so I think I’ll stop now, I think those are all the major things that occurred to me.

[chainofclovers]

Ted Lasso 2x10 thoughts

GOOD GOD.

“No Weddings and a Funeral” is like being hungover but also coming out of a hangover. Having a terrible cold but also feeling better and appreciating every breath that comes through your nose. Embarking on an organizational project and accidentally falling into a photo album and crying about the pictures and organizing almost nothing tangible but making a few things more clear in your brain.

So much of this episode is about the AWFUL POINTLESSNESS OF DECORUM. How loud is too loud when you’re drinking stolen wine and shrieking about sex in a church right before your father’s funeral? How should you feel--thirty years later, as an accommodating, anger-averse person--about having been too angry to attend the funeral for your father who killed himself? What expression should you make when you show up really late to a different funeral? Why must you wear uncomfortable shoes just because someone died? What happens in your mind between standing up to give a eulogy for a man you’re still angry with and choosing to Rick Roll your mom and everyone else as an act of complicated love, humiliatingly incomplete until someone else starts to sing? Should you worry about your therapist seeing your normally tidy flat in a full-on state of depression mess? Is it okay to be offended that your boyfriend is so uncomfortable about death that he can’t stop making morbid jokes? Should you care about other people caring that you’re crunching an apple in church or squealing with joy to be reunited with a friend you’ve not seen in awhile? Are you obligated to explain your behavior if your kid doesn’t understand how you could stay with someone unfaithful? How far behind the counter should you sink when your [undefined relationship person]’s mother has just let you know she can see your dick through your underwear? Is a funeral reception an okay place to find a hookup? Is a funeral reception a decent spot for a break-up? Is a funeral reception a good time for a love confession when you know the person you’re confessing to is happy with someone else? And who do you make eye contact with when you can’t look directly at the person asking you if you’re okay when there’s so, so much about you she doesn’t know yet? Even if--for this tiny little moment within a vast swath of many okay and not-okay moments--you’re honest when you tell her that you are?

I fucking adored this episode because it answers all these questions very simply: Show up. Show up for yourself. Show up for your friends. Try not to harm yourself. Try not to harm your friends.

I love that this episode is about the messiness of adulthood and the things we bring with us from childhood and that it takes place partially in Rebecca’s childhood bedroom, and in Ted’s childhood memories. Dwelling in those places (whether physically or mentally) isn’t an automatic recipe for regression, but it does get everyone closer to the things that made them who they are, to the unresolved and half-buried parts of them that still make them tick today.

Forever obsessed with every single detail about Rebecca’s childhood bedroom.

Forever obsessed with Deborah’s decision to Rick Roll herself every single morning of her life.

Forever obsessed with Rebecca’s decision to Rick Roll her father’s funeral as a way to not have to make up a single word about her father and to do something very vulnerable and kind for herself and her mother and everyone.

Forever obsessed with Ted’s decision to Rick Roll Rebecca Rick Rolling her father’s funeral.

Forever obsessed with an entire found family backing it up.

I love that it is Isaac’s leadership that ensures every single member of the team attends the service for Paul.

I am very, very interested in Jamie’s love confession to Keeley because I do think it will spark some reflection in Keeley but I do not think it’ll go the cliched love triangle route.

Each scene with Rebecca and Sam struck (for me, a human being sharing a subjective perspective on the internet) the tender-awkward-beautiful-stressful chord I was hoping it would. I think it’s wonderful that Sam is honest with Rebecca about how difficult it is to keep their relationship a secret, and I love that Rebecca has a million mostly-unarticulated reasons for why she’d much prefer the secret to continue. I like that Sassy, Keeley, and Nora respond to the revelation as friends; they might be tempering their judgments in part because they’ve all gathered to bury Rebecca’s dad, but I don’t think their reactions would’ve been that different even on a happier occasion.

While there are a million and one different reasons why a continued relationship between Rebecca and Sam could cause serious ethical problems, I really love that when people share big news on this show, the people who care about them generally react by trying to see why the person is doing what they’re doing. Doesn’t mean they shouldn’t also hold each other accountable, but in my book it’s OK that Keeley’s first reaction was to feel happy that her friend is having some fun.

Also everyone has been making weird judgment calls this season, and this episode felt like a moment of real breakthroughs in terms of people telling the truth about things that happened to them and leaving themselves open to honest responses from others.

September 13, 1991. It’s so tenderly, beautifully, overwhelmingly meaningful that there’s still so much Ted and Rebecca don’t know about the things they have in common in these parallel lives they’re leading. The scene between Sarah Niles and Jason Sudeikis is so beautifully acted, and so is the scene between Hannah Waddingham and Harriet Walter. The way they intertwine to communicate that Ted and Rebecca basically lost the ability to trust their fathers simultaneously, from an ocean away? In the hands of lesser storytellers, it would feel too perfect a mirroring, but here it feels heartbreakingly imperfect. All the things they still don’t know. All the questions they try to ask each other. All the things they don’t dare ask yet. And then the storytellers are holding a candle up to all of it and letting the audience bask in the glow of this connection even if Ted and Rebecca can’t fully understand it yet.

I am so proud that Rebecca and Deborah were able to embark on the beginnings of a conversation about the ways Deborah and Paul’s relationship might have resembled or not resembled Rebecca and Rupert’s. It feels possible that they could get to a point where Rebecca truly internalizes her mother’s pride that she broke a cycle by leaving Rupert, and could maybe even understand why her mother made the choices she made. I love that in the final scene, they’re still relying on their old mother-daughter conversational patterns—the frustrations, the snippy shorthand, the passive-aggression. Mothers and daughters!

I am also proud that Ted—albeit via a joke about Sharon charging him for the house call—indicates that he understands the value of Sharon’s work. He’s changed a lot, all in realistic ways for someone who loves learning and really does want to meet people where they are and appreciate them. I’m very moved that instead of putting himself in a real harmful situation by showing up to the funeral on time at any cost, he did what he needed to do to take care of himself and accept care from someone else. And then Sharon’s suggestion that he think about things he loved about his father? And the way he’s able to share a positive memory of Rebecca’s own father at a time when she really needed it? Gosh.

Awkward, undecorous transition from 1991 to present-day incoming...but SASSY! She’s just, like, a whirling dervish of loyal friendship and not giving a fuck and penis size discussions and being casually, delightfully cruel to Rupert, who so deserves it. Rebecca was going on a real face journey when Sassy goes off with Ted at the end, and I’m sort of *eyes emoji* about all of that, but I continue to feel like Sassy is the most imperfectly wonderful friend-from-the-past kind of person and I love everything she and Nora get to do in this episode.

Keeley saying “That baby is whack” might be my favorite line in the episode? Maybe the whole show? Not really but really.

FUCK YOU, RUPERT. Bex and Diane, y’all are fine. And I truly feel for Nate...whatever scheme he’s getting suckered into. Whatever insecurity Rupert is preying on. I want Nate to go to therapy, too.

I feel like it was an unpopular opinion at the time, but I loved Rebecca’s 2x1 revelation about vulnerability and fear of getting hurt and needing to let someone love her. Sassy doesn’t always word things in the most nuanced way, but I think there’s a real possibility that she did ask Rebecca to really consider what it means to feel either safe or unsafe with a person but to know that in either circumstance, that person could end up causing her pain. Standing in that closet with Sam, managing to make it clear that she’s not asking for a break because she knows he will hurt her but because she has to figure out how to be with a wonderful person who could cause her pain...the growth, man. Makes me emotional.

I emerged from this episode feeling, of course, stunned by all the amazing parallels and revelations and beautiful acting and Rick Rolls and just, everything. I also emerged feeling sad/raw/tender because messiness and decorum and growth and coping mechanisms and death and dramatic irony and not knowing things about people and not knowing what you don’t know...it’s a sad, raw, tender place to be.

To quote a guy who got a whole sitcom (lol) named after him, life is real hard.

[terrainofheartfelt]

Just remembered your mysterious HIMYM/GG au 👀

ohhhhhh, you. bless you for holding me accountable for my au nonsense, S, I love you.

Alright then, by popular demand, and by popular I mean at least one (1) person asked for it:

The Gossip Girl HIMYM AU that I will never write

this is....this is SO long, but you know who I am, and I am not brief. and since the tags are still goofy I'm just warning you now. and putting the meat of the post under the cut.

For starters, there’s the building of the core 5, the friends who’ve known each other forever. Now, you may think the obvious choice for the lead, Ted, a professional grade-a sap who gets his heart put through the ringer before he meets the titular Mother would be Daniel Humphrey Professional Yearner, BUT the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do this:

Blair Waldorf as Ted. And Dan as Tracy, The One Blair finally meets on a Hamptons train platform.

And nobody dies or gets divorced, because...

Oh, and obviously everybody’s gay.

Here me out under the cut:

Blair and Vanessa Abrams were roommates at…I’ve thought NYU, but I also thought it would be interesting just to have them meet at Yale (plus like, Dan is at NYU, so). They clash at first, for obvious reasons, but after a battle at the Parents Weekend event, they bond over their fraught relationship with their parents, and then become best friends after getting caught in a snowstorm trying to drive back to the city on Thanksgiving Break. (Yale would obvi make the road trip make more sense). Nate meets the both of them in their freshman hall, and he and Vanessa fall hard for each other during orientation week and have been together ever since. Making the central Marshall/Lily relationship Natessa, which I think works the best, they would carry that same goofy energy, while also being Blair’s self-assigned emotional guardians. Vanessa has that mom-friend “I am the sole possessor of the brain cell” energy Lily has, plus the artistic passions and struggling to realize them, even at the cost of her relationship. And Nate has the shucksy-doodles bi-coded lovable goofball himboness of Marshall Eriksen, who’s internal conflict is often about balancing the practical and idealistic – but Nate’s has more to do with grappling with his family’s expectations, and Marshall’s is more about his own.

A Natessa plot of them getting engaged, then calling the first wedding off because Vanessa gets a fellowship far away sounds like a conflict that would be very in line with their characters, as would the fallout of not only Nate taking time to forgive Vanessa, but Blair would as well. That bit in the s2 xmas episode of “But you never apologized to me! You left me too.” – I could see that. Blairnessa bffs rights.

After graduation, V scrapes together a living as a contractual production assistant, her filmmaker dreams inching to the side for the service of the cash. Okay, I toyed with the idea of lawyer!Nate, but you know what I like better? Taking a page from both Lily Aldrin’s book AND our discourse about different career paths for Natie and making him: a schoolteacher. A softhearted himbo of a kindergarten teacher. He’s very good at it. When he and Vanessa get engaged he is also going for his masters in education (bc he loves teaching, but he wants to affect change at a higher level by being an administrator someday). (Nate would also “rescue” a goat after a farmer brought one to show-and-tell to his class.)

Blair trades her art history degrees for paying her dues at her mom’s atelier. Somewhere along the way, they pick up their group’s lovable ne’er-do-well, Carter Baizen. He, like Blair, is another disaster bisexual, but he, unlike Blair, is more of a scapegrace about it (but definitely not to Barney Stinson levels, because this is my au and I do what I want). (Have Blair and Carter ever hooked up? I think never knowing/always being vague about it would be a funny gag). Nate & Carter would also absolutely have that chaotic goober vaguely homoerotic best friendship that Marshall & Ted & Barney have.

And HERE. Here is why I wanted to have Ted!Blair, for the potential offered by our Robin character: Serena. A significant will-they-won’t-they romance arc for Blairena. They lock eyes across a crowded room, Carter urges his best friend Blair to introduce herself, cue the year of flirtation and back and forth.

(And honestly, Blair being so very Extra™ and telling Serena “I think I’m falling in love with you” on the first date seems on-brand for our girl)

Lots of Robin & Serena line up: privileged yet screwed up family background, effortlessly gorgeous, ambitious, it’s absolutely plausible that Serena could have been a teen pop sensation in Canada, on the record for not wanting to settle down too soon or be a mom, the last which ultimately leads to Blairena breaking up, because what they want out of life is too different. But it’s impossible for them to imagine life without each other, so after the dust of the breakup settles, they stay friends. They would also be dumb enough to make a “if we’re still single when we’re 40” marriage pact. They break up after their anniversary dinner, when a waiter brings a diamond ring-garnished glass of champagne to the wrong table and Serena says, “No, no, no, B, you cannot do this to me, no! No, no, no!” prompting a discussion about their conflicting goals for the future. It’s also a week before Vanessa and Nate’s wedding, so they keep it quiet until the couple is on their honeymoon to tell Carter.

[Robin also has a remarkably similar plot to Serena with her baby sibling and her issues with saying “I love you,” which is another surprising parallel.]

I would also like to present as evidence, your honor:

they're the same picture

If by this point, you’re wondering if I’ve given any thought to the Furniture Question, yes, it’s this: chip wiskers was Blair’s first bf that she was on-and-off with in college, and Nate and Vanessa thought he was The Worst, and made Blair into a worse person. Because aside from being a total douche, he also cheated every time Blair’s back was turned. They reconnect for a sec in their late 20s, and Vanessa schemes to break them up because chip absolutely fails her Front Porch Test. Chuck = Karen

While Blair is reeling from The Breakup, Carter convinces her to come out with him on St. Patrick’s Day, and they end up at some ridiculous nightclub. Also there? Dan Humphrey, having been dragged out of the house by his little sister Jenny. They don’t meet, but Blair swipes the umbrella he left at coat check when she leaves and it starts raining. She keeps it for a couple years.

The burn between Serena and Carter is low and slow, because Serena was Blair’s for so long, but they are oddly compatible, and eventually they fall into bed together, and Blair is furious when she finds out, nearly causing the friend group to fall apart, but it doesn’t. Serena and Carter both, of course, catch feelings, but they stay in denial for a long time.

Meanwhile, Blair meets Louis, and they start pretty serious, but rocky, and one day, in an effort to end a fight, Louis proposes, and Blair says yes. Then gang thinks they’re moving too fast, but Blair, being Blair, digs her heels in, even when Louis bitchy little sister’s (Beatrice’s) wedding falls through and Louis and Blair decide to take over her wedding, which is, to put it lightly, the antithesis of what Blair Waldorf’s wedding should be. Louis (ever jealous) and Blair clash over Serena being invited to the wedding, and in an effort to even the score, Blair invites Louis’ ex, Estee, to the wedding too. Estee shoots her shot, and she and Louis run off together before the wedding, leaving Blair at the altar.

And I can so see Serena giving Blair a speech similar to the one Robin gives Ted, “You’re just disappearing into someone else’s house, someone else’s life, and that isn’t the happy ending that you deserve.”

Blair moves on, and throws herself into her design work, but it keeps leading nowhere, leading to another Vanessa life lecture: “Fashion is killing you, Blair. And it’s killing us to watch it killing you.” Louis, wrought with self-flagellating guilt, orchestrates an adjunct professorship in art history for Blair at Columbia, and after Vanessa’s prompting and the rest of the gang’s encouragement, she takes it.

She’s so nervous and tense her first day of teaching that she refuses to take questions from the class during her first lecture, and accidentally teaches the first 20 mins of ENG-405. In that class? Dan Humphrey.

Speaking of, a few brief “How Your Father Met Me” things before we continue:

The night Nate and Vanessa get engaged is Dan’s birthday, he and Jenny and a few friends are meeting at a bar in Brooklyn. Dan’s partner is running late, but when Dan gets a phone call from them, it’s the news that they’ve been in an accident.

He holes himself up after that loss, until Jenny has enough of it, and pesters him into going to a club with her on St. Patrick’s Day. While there, they run into an old acquaintance of his from Steinhardt, Paul, who’s teaching orchestra. Dan insists that he donate his old cello to Paul’s school, and invites him over. Paul mistakes it as an invitation to hookup (The Naked Man!) but he and Dan end up having a good conversation.

“Even if it sounds crazy, what is it you want to do with your life?” / “I want to be a novelist.” / “Okay. Then everything you do from here on out is in service of that.”

Dan applies to grad school at Columbia for creative writing, and also plays guitar part-time in his sister’s band, playing weddings, bar-mitzvahs, etc. etc.

When Jenny gets a fashion design opportunity in London, she bequeaths the band unto Dan, and leaves an empty room in the loft, meaning that Dan goes to Columbia also in need of a roommate.

He sits next to a guy named Elliot in his class ENG-405, who just moved to the city and is looking for a place.

OMG in this scene Tracy makes a joke about serial killers…and…Joe Goldberg lololololol

“Just promise me there won’t be any naked people in the living room.” / “Don’t worry. I am on permanent hiatus in the love department. I know it sounds a little old fashioned, but I think you only get just one. And, I got mine already.”

Aaaaand we’re back!

So Blair is hitting her stride as an art history prof, and one day she runs into this cute guy in the hall, Elliot, who’s a PhD candidate with a focus on Contemporary Literature. He was in the English class she accidentally taught on her first day of work. She really likes him, he’s cute, intellectually stimulating, but he calls it off because of school’s policy for protecting students, even though they're the same age, are in different departments, and have the same amount of degrees. Blair even goes over to his place to talk to him about it “Blair Waldorf in Brooklyn? Are you lost?” / “It isn’t Brooklyn I’m here for.”

She tries to plead her case, but keeps getting sidelined by stuff of Elliot’s that she swears is proof of their compatibility—a poster of Godard, a vinyl of In Rainbows, a copy of Rosemary’s Baby (“don’t tell anyone, but it’s my Valentine’s movie”), a sweatshirt that says “What Would Dorothy Parker Do?” (“it was a christmas gift from my friend Vanessa, I had no idea more than one existed!”)—only for him to say “That’s my roommate’s actually.”

Blair leaves The Loft without laying eyes on Dan, but she thinks she might have glimpsed his foot, and out of sheer awkwardness, she leaves so quickly that she forgets her umbrella, unwittingly giving it back to Dan.

Elliot said that he had “a bit of a roommate complex” on their first date, which really means that he was ass backwards crushing on Dan Humphrey, his roommate that he met on his first day of classes at Columbia. (though he doesn’t really realize it until after he breaks things off with Blair, and kisses Dan when Dan tries to comfort him – “how could she not love you?...the way you fall asleep doing the crossword…” conking out while trying to solve the nyt crossword sounds like Pure Dan tbh).

Elliot’s romantic turmoil doesn’t last too long, because as he’s figuring out life as a bi guy, he meets, *drumroll* Serena’s little brother, Eric!

While Blair is doing this, Serena and Carter try dating, and implode after a few months. They’re just…not ready for each other, no matter how much love there actually is. They try to move on, see other people, and for a while make a pretty good show that they are actually over each other.

In the meantime, Vanessa and Nate start trying for kids (though arguably one could say they already have three) she accomplishes a few doc projects, he gets a job at a big-time prep school, and Blair throws herself into academia, gets herself published, and gets tapped to put together her first exhibition. It’s a major project, so it takes a fair amount of time to put together. And while it’s happening…so many backslides!

Serena and Carter hookup, cheating on their partners. Carter shoots his shot, saying that he wants to be with her, and breaks up with his girlfriend, Beth, to be with Serena. But Serena can’t bring herself to do the same, staying with…uh…let’s say Colin.

Vanessa gets pregnant, and Serena thinks she does too after her hookup with Carter, but she finds out that she’ll actually never have kids. She acts like she doesn’t care, but however she planned her life, she still needs to grieve, and Blair is there for her even though she doesn’t know the whole story. When Serena finally tells her, it’s after she and Colin break up, over the fact that Serena doesn’t want kids. Blair has a backslide of her own, telling Serena “I love you,” which will be the last time she says it to anyone (in that context) until Dan.

Blairena breakup (without ever really getting back together), Vanessa and Nate have a baby (named…maybe Arlo? If we’re following the name after the grandfather pattern of Lily & Marshall), and Carter is…Carter.

He’s being his usual scapegrace self, and spends a night playing a game with Vanessa and Blair about how he can collect people’s numbers with increasingly ridiculous parameters. The girls eventually get bored, and con him into running an errand for them by hitting the drugstore and picking up take-out. His chosen “target” at the drugstore turns out to be *drumroll* Dan. and I can totally see Dan looking this guy over and thinking “oh, he’s so sad :/” and the “I think you were in love and then you messed it up,” and them having a deep conversation out on a bus bench and Dan telling him to stop screwing around and go get the girl. That night, and that conversation is when Carter starts to plan how he’ll propose to Serena. He wasn’t ready for her then, but he is now, and he knows that Serena is ready for him, too.

(Dan, at this point, is seeing somebody--let's make it Olivia, bc why not?-- but when Carter asks, “Are you two gonna go the distance?” Dan answers, “I don’t know. I still think I haven’t met the right person yet.”)

(Carter delivering that “this woman has a hold on my heart” speech…yeah…)

Blair’s career is on the rise, but on the night her exhibition opens, when Serena offers to go as her date, Blair delivers her to Carter instead, deciding to let Serena go. She had a feeling she knew what was going to happen next, but during cocktails in the gallery, Carter sends a text to the group: “Serena and I are engaged!”

She’ll only let herself say that she’s happy for them, but inside, Blair is—conflicted, and (okay this scene was the beginning upon which this entire cursed idea came from so) Vanessa finally gets Blair to admit to it. It’s the “Admitting it would make you the most awful person in this room, so I’m going to give you an out. Sometimes, I wish I wasn’t a mom. Sometimes I want to pack a bag in the middle of the night, leave, and never come back.” The confession is enough to get Blair to say, “Serena shouldn’t be with Carter, she should be with me.”

Blair and Vanessa talk. And V loves her life, it’s just that she doesn’t feel like she ever got a chance to do the work that she set out to do. She wanted to be a filmmaker, remember? But all she does is gig after gig, only surviving, and a baby on top of that? It never lets up.

Vanessa convinces Blair to let Serena and Carter book a wedding band, and then she talks to Nate. Nothing’s solved really, but both women feel better having the truth out there.

While Serena and Carter plan their wedding, deal with Serena’s difficult mother Lily, and try to out-cute each other, Vanessa starts putting herself out there with her work, and she writes a grant proposal for a documentary that gets accepted. The only thing is, it requires her to live a year in Barcelona. She freaks, thinking that she shouldn’t take it, but Nate, who’s been feeling cornered by his own job, stuck in the same politics of NYC prep schools, which is like the van der bilt pipeline 2.0, encourages her to take it. (He’ll just be the malewife, taking care of the baby, learning to make paella, and watching Spanish The Price Is Right, and he LOVES that idea).

At the same time, Blair’s work and publications get her a job offer at the Getty in LA (or MOMA in San Fran? Or maybe just straight up Paris? idk), and she decides to take it, because she’s not sure she can hang around once Serena is married to Carter.

Speaking of job offers, Nate gets one, to be a principal at his dream school (to bring in another sitcom, think Jess Day’s job in New Girl), but it’s time sensitive, and he accepts, even though he and V already planned on moving their little family to Spain. There’s a biblical level fight, but Vanessa caves, only for Nate to insist that No, we’re moving to Spain.

Serena and Carter decide to get married in the Hamptons, in the "backyard" of Serena's grandmother's summer home (it's more like a fancy rich person garden, we all know this). It’s a big whole damn weekend, after which Vanessa & Nate & Arlo and Blair will be leaving New York – or will she?

The band Carter and Serena originally booked falls through, bails a week before the wedding, but luckily, the BOTB’s husband used to live with the guitarist of one of the best wedding bands in the tristate area. They just had brunch with him, and his gig for the coming weekend just fell through! Wedding saved!

Before the move to Spain, Nate and the baby go visit his mom down in Newport, leaving Vanessa on her own. She hangs around Blair, which is how she discovers Blair is moving.

Blair takes a car service up to Amagansett, but Vanessa refuses on principle, and takes the train instead, and ends up sitting across the aisle from a nice guy, who—when she gets riled up from yet another passive act of aggression by Anne, her mother-in-law—asks if she’s okay and listens to her rant. And that’s how Vanessa meets Dan.

Dan shares the cookies that his sister sent him in a care package, and after dissing Anne Archibald they pivot to discussing French cinema and Jean-Luc Godard and the genius of Sergei Eisenstein.

Despite having made a new friend, Dan has some interpersonal drama of his own. When Elliot fell in love with a man over the bridge and moved out, Dan looked for a new roommate, and who should find him but Georgina Sparks. She’d not needed a place, but was interested in his band, and Dan being the guileless lil duckling that he is, invited her in, and she promptly took over. Now, she was trying to shove Dan out, likely in retaliation for not hooking up with her. Righteously incensed, he tells Vanessa all about it when he finds out, and she offers up her own brand of personal justice: steal the bitch’s van. So Dan does.

Georgina Sparks is a total firestarter, and spends the evening of the rehearsal dinner trying to stir up shit between all the friends. She is ultimately unsuccessful.

While carrying out his own variation on Abrams Justice, Dan comes across some knucklehead walking on the side of the road hauling luggage and a baby. Nate & Arlo took the Jitney up, which then broke down, and Nate foolhardily decided “I can walk that far.” He couldn’t. But Dan offers him a lift, freaks him out because Vanessa told Dan all about her husband, but they become fast friends. “Your wife is cool.” / “The coolest.” Dan vents about total fire starter Georgina, and Nate offers up advice about standing up for himself and fighting for what he thinks is right: a lesson he recently learned in standing up to his mother about his life choices.

At the inn, Nate and Vanessa are reunited, but Dan’s head of steam wears off. “There’s no defeating the devil,” he says. And then there’s a commotion on the patio outside, and Georgina storms in, shrieking about how “the maid of honor just punched me in the face” (Georgie had broken the bottle of 95 Dom Blair had brought for a rehearsal toast with the gang, and Blair responded accordingly). Dan laughs, unable to help himself, and Georgie throws a fit and quits the band “I’m going back to the new Guns n’ Roses!” Dan asks the bartender to send a glass of champagne to the maid of honor, and that’s the first drink he ever buys his future wife.

Riding the high of finally having the toxic Georgina out of his life, he leaves the inn to go to his girlfriend’s family’s Hamptons house. While there, Olivia springs a marriage proposal on him, and Dan realizes: he’s been holding himself back, being with someone safe, which means he doesn’t have to face moving on from what he’s lost, or risk being hurt so deeply again. But he realizes he’s ready to move on, he’s ready for it to be real again. So he says no.

He goes back to the inn, and the night clerk says “You’re in luck, father of the bride never checked in.” (because WVDW is and always will be a piece of shit!!!). Dan doesn’t feel that lucky, but he takes the key (he just needs one) and heads to his room alone. Even though he knows he did the right thing, ending it, he still feels—well, shitty. So he grabs his acoustic and heads out to the balcony, and plays his go-to song for when he wants to make himself feel better: “Moon River,” not knowing that the biggest Breakfast at Tiffany’s fan in the whole world is on the other side of the balcony wall, listening.

The day of the wedding Carter and Serena each have their own crises of confidence. Lily Rhodes (who’s been married four times) really rocks her daughter’s boat, but Eric & Vanessa calm her down. The big crisis though, is when she freaks, and decides the Blair is the person she should be marrying, but here’s the thing, Blair doesn’t feel that way anymore. Blair has really let Serena go, and she is trying to see her best friend’s married and happy together, damnit, even if she has to hold the shotgun herself, this wedding is happening.

And Serena says. “Fine, you’re right, we can’t run away together. So I guess I’ll just have to run away alone!” She makes a mad dash down the halls of her grandma’s old Hamptons mansion, out into the garden where they’re setting up the reception, and runs smack into the band’s guitarist. And that’s how Serena meets Dan (oddly not that different from their first meeting in canon).

“To be honest I’m not sure if I can go through with getting married.” / “Oh. Wow.” / “That’s it? You’re not gonna try to talk me out of it?” / “Okay, during that fall, you did kind of get to second base with me and we’ll always share that, but – I don’t really know you.”

He doesn’t try to talk her out of it, but gives her some solid advice to take three deep breaths. She does, and when she opens her eyes, there’s Carter. And everything is fine again.

After a long crazy road, Serena and Carter finally get married (Eric walks her down the aisle), and then, there’s the reception.

A few dances and a few glasses of champagne in, Carter finally recognizes the frontman of his wedding band. “Guitar-guy! Hey, remember when you told me to stop messing around and get the girl? Check it: I got her! What about you: you still dating that girl?” Dan shakes his head, and then Carter is hit with a piphony. Thee-piphony.

He tries to convince Blair to let him set her up with the guitarist, but she’s moving tomorrow, remember? And she has a train to catch.

Said train, of course, is delayed. So she waits on a bench, sheltered from the rain, reading Colette for the hundredth time, patience thinning by the minute. And then, a flash of color catches her eye, it’s an umbrella, and underneath it, the guitarist.

It’s a stupid idea. She’s moving away in the morning. But she can’t shake it, this feeling that she’s only ever let things pass through her fingers, that she used to want to live like a film heroine. But heroines ultimately don’t just let the story happen to them, they act.

So she walks up, taps the guitarist on his (really nice) shoulder, and speaks. They talk, they banter, they flirt, and it feels…right.

“You’re Elliot’s ex-roommate, right?” / “Yeah. And you’re the professor. I took one of your classes.” / “Really? Which one?” / “ENG-405.” / “English? I never taught – oh no.” / “Oh, yeah.”

“Wait. This is my umbrella. You totally stole my umbrella, Humphrey.”

“What are you talking about? I bought this.”

“Mmm-mm. This is mine. That’s my monogram on the handle. See?”

“So you stole and defaced my umbrella?”

“It’s mine.”

“Nuh-uh. I have proof. Sure it was ten years ago that I bought this, but I hoard all my receipts. Though…I did lose it for a little while there. I went to this club –”

“On St. Patrick’s Day.”

“On St. Patrick’s Day.”

“And you left it there.”

“And I left it there.”

“And you never thought you'd see it again.”

“And I never thought I’d see it again. Funny how sometimes you just…find things.”

It’s both the most cinematic and most real Blair’s life has ever felt, and there’s only one thing to say. “Hi.”

“Hi.”