#also not my best work but this entire episode was in like. two different scenes that were dark

[kolomo]

TOKYO REVENGERS: TENJIKU ARC EP4 | COME BACK TO LIFE

“There’s no way in hell I’ll let you bastards have one of my men!”

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Since you've mentioned Scarlet Lady in one of your posts, what's your opinion on it?

I've mentioned before that I'm a big Scarlet Lady fan, which is the only reason that I'm comfortable answering asks like this one. I don't publicly criticize the content of hobby creators. That's wildly inappropriate! Punch up, not down.

The linked post was a general discussion of the adaptation process and how @zoe-oneesama did a fantastic job, so for this one, I'm just going to do some general gushing because I do actually like praising and enjoying things!

Scarlet Lady's chosen format (comic) allows it to have this wonderful conversation with canon where it can rely on the framework of canon to tell it's own story while also using canon for jokes and meta commentary. This means that Scarlet Lady is about as close as fan content can get to a direct reboot because it's able to have moments like this one from the comic's first post:

[Image description: Adrien standing in his room after transforming into Chat Noir for the first time. He is beaming and his eyes are shining with excitement as he exclaims, "This is gonna be awesome!"]

A single picture that communicates everything we need to know about Adrien getting his miraculous. When I've done this same thing in fanfic, I had to write out the full scene because that's how novels work. You have to give the full picture. With a comic, you can just quickly acknowledge this thing that we all already know and then move on to the new stuff. A picture really is worth a thousand words! (Or, in my case, more like two thousand...)

This allows Zoe to keep the same akumas that we get in canon without her story feeling like a boring rehash because she can focus on what's different in her version. A novelization of the same content would have to show both the stuff that stays the same and the stuff that changes for it to be coherent. That's a lot less fun to read and write. It's why I basically never revisit canon akumas in my own stuff. It's just too derivative for the written word.

This is one of the big reasons that I loved Scarlet Lady. Because it was able to have that more directly conversation with canon, it was able to take canon and say, "hey, why don't we embrace the tone that you established in season one and retell the story with that vibe?" That's something that I desperately wanted to see, but that is totally unsuited to my chosen artistic form. It couldn't be a novel. It had to be a comic.

If you want to know what a true formula show version of Miraculous would look like, Scarlet Lady is it. It does everything that Miraculous should have done:

Sticks to a lighthearted tone where nothing is ever super serious

Keeps Gabriel entirely unsympathetic

Has slow character development and background hints at a bigger plot as the only serial elements, allowing the individual episodes to be their own story while never feeling incomplete or rushed

Allows characters other than Marinette to shine while keeping Marinette as the clear main character

Makes Adrien narratively important

MAKES THE LOVE SQUARE CUTE SO I CAN ACTUALLY SHIP IT

Understands that Lila and Chloe can't coexist as antagonists

Reverses the love square, which is the best way to tell their story. Yes, I will die on my "love diamond" hill. It's a good hill. Come join me. I'll bring cookies.

I could keep going, but you hopefully get my point. While Scarlet Lady is certainly not the only way to do a formula version of canon, it's proof that a formula version does work! You don't have to go the serious route for Miraculous to be successful.

I want to take some time to gush about the ending, but I don't want to spoil it, so I'll put that gushing under a "read more" in case anyone hasn't seen it. I'll finish out this less spoilerish section with this:

I feel like some people are surprised when they learn that I love Scarlet Lady because - as some of you have probably picked up - it is quite different from my ideal version of canon. I'm not sure why that would stop me from enjoying a thing, though. It's important to remember that our personal ideals are not the only way to tell a good story. There are lots of ways to take what canon gave us and make something wonderful! It's part of the reason that I enjoy being in a fandom.

If I only wanted to see my ideal take on canon, then I'd stick to writing/imagining my own stories. But I don't want that! I like seeing alternate takes, too. Scarlet Lady is one of my personal favorites. It's completely different from anything that I'd ever think to write and that's why I'm so glad that it exists! I like being entertained just as much as I like creating my own entertainment and I don't want to only read stories that look like something I'd write. That's boring!

Spoilers below:

I've mentioned before that there are many, many ways to properly handle Chloe's character and Zoe did such a good job with her take on that! Chloe isn't absolved of all the things she did wrong, but she's also treated as a young woman with the ability to change.

While the comic bares the name of Chloe's alter ego, she was the never the main character. She never went on a journey. The story kept her to her shallow season-one self: a petty brat who just wanted attention. It did this because that's who Chloe was in canon and who Chloe needed to be for the comic to work.

The first time we see any complexity from Chloe is in the comic's final few episodes, which was absolutely the right call for Zoe to make! In a recent post, I talked about how the end of a formula show is the only time when you can break the formula in catastrophic ways and that's what Zoe did. She kept Chloe static until it was time to end the story and that's when the formula breaks. That's when Chloe gets depth because, once she has depth, the formula doesn't work.

That depth is not used to redeem Chloe, but to show us that there's hope for Chloe. That this petty brat who we've been dealing with has some serious issues and needs help. Help that she's going to get far away from the people that she's hurt because her issues aren't an excuse for what she's done. They don't erase the harm that she caused. At the same time, understanding her issues makes us hope that she can be better now and Scarlet Lady took a moment to give us that hope. To show us the START of Chloe's true story.

That is the kind of ending that I have wanted to see in so many properties!!! It was so wonderful to finally get one that did this right. A story that understood that full redemption to the team and damnation to death/suffering are extremes on a scale of possibilities. You don't have to go to extremes! You can fall in the middle and the middle is a perfect, natural place for Chloe to land in this kind of story. Fully redeeming or even fully damning Chloe simply doesn't work in lighthearted formula content. It's too big a lift as canon has already demonstrated.

I also loved Zoe's take on Emilie. I've mentioned that I don't like evil Emilie in part because it makes her revival feel like the start of a new story. She's back and she'd bad, so we have to take her down now! But I don't want that. I want the story to end when Gabriel is stopped. Zoe does this by giving us an Emilie that is another perfect middle ground. She matches canon's uncomfortable implications without feeling like a true villain who is a threat to society.

[deadbeat-motel]

ᑕᕼEᖇᖇIᗷOᗰᗷ ᗩᑎᗪ ᔕIᖇᑭEᑎTIOᑌᔕ ᖇEᗪEᔕIGᑎ

The last two designs for the main cast. With these two done, I can finally work on miscellaneous characters that I've been eyeing the most.

Again, thoughts below the cut:

My issues with their Original designs:

Sir Pentious:

I thought I would only have one thing to say about him (the unnecessary eyes) since he was my favorite in the entire original cast but having taken a closer look at him for this, I saw a lot of things that bothers me.

Too many eyes. specifically the lower half of his body has too many eyes and it seems detrimental to him. It's kind of painful to think about it since I do not think we ever see those eyes close. Is he just slithering on the ground with those exposed eyes? That's got to be irritating at best and damaged at worst as he continuously slithers on them.

There are eyes on the bowtie and the hat? There are already 4 extra eyes on his hood, so why have even more? I get that the original Pentious design was basically a monsterous amalgamation of eyes but the eye thing could have been scrapped altogether.

While his palette was the least red out of the cast (More so composed of yellows), it still blends in with the rest of the reds.

The claws are an unnecessary repeating design trait (Alastor and Vox notably have them too). I don't think it would've been too big of a difference to just keep his fingers fully black.

The stripes on his suit are too thick. It's called pinstripes for a reason.

I don't like how the hat is shaped to fit the head, It's awkward.

not a point, but I just wanted to say how the blue color palette works really well with him in that last episode.

CherriBomb:

She's not that bad of a design (She's sort of bland in my opinion) but it's the little small details about her that makes her so simple and also so complicated at the same time. There are so many batches of freckles scattered everywhere, little explosion lines on her skirt as well as the X on her chest, the tattoos are a jamble of random loops and bombs, and her tattering doesn't have an easy shape to consistently draw.

The thought process for these two:

Mx. Pentious:

Pentious goes by both Sir/Miss/Mx. but uses she/they pronouns.

Minimized the actual amount of eyes on her, I kept it only to her actual eyes and those on her hood.

Gave her a butterfly-shaped hood. It's nothing deep since it stems from the fact the notches in Sir Pentious' hood almost looked like one to my bad eyesight. I decided to play more into that idea.

I read some posts where people talk about how Sir Pentious should have a snout and while I understand why and fully support people giving him one, I really didn't want to add the snout to this design. It drove me crazy since I'm not a big fan of it. I tried a compromise where her head was shaped more like Phineas.

Kept the tophat but removed its eye and mouth. If I remember correctly, Viv took that from one of her co-workers from the pilot. I decided to just have it as a regular tophat.

It doesn't have all the colors, but her design does have the Neptunic flag.

I'm not sure if this even is a real snake but I based Mx. Pentious' design on this:

CherriBomb:

Scraped most of her features in exchange for a sukeban theme. I personally have zero knowledge about the punk scene in Australia.

A majority of the suggestions I received for her rough draft had something to do with the skirt. I elongated it and gave it a slit in which the magenta from the inside is able to pop out.

Thought it would be a cute detail to have her hair explode if she's angry.

----

Apologies this took too long to be posted, Life got in the way as well as the fact I was feeling shitty about Pentious' first draft. Her skin was an awkward and ugly shade of green and seeing some posts critical of Pentious' design got me to think a little bit more about what direction I'd like to move her redesign.

You could see this in the earlier rough sketches but this was how Pentious' first redesign looked like

[thestupidhelmet]

Is there a reason why season 1 is and feels so different from the rest of the show? Usually just pilots look and feel slightly different because they are the "prototypes" but here the entire show is different in a good way. The theme song and intro and the transitions are different, this is the only season where they announce what date it is at the beginning of each episode and arguably the only season where the 70s setting is apparent and relevant. While there are some inconsistencies, this is the only season that seems like a year before the timeline becomes a Jeremy Bearimy (The Good Place reference sorry). Also there are changed in the characters' personalities- you said you feel like Laurie was smarter but the biggest change is with Kelso, while he has always been a jerk in season 1 he was good at math and technology and a bit of a geek. Fez seemed more innocent and Donna more feminine and styled better. Their families were somehow different too- Donna had two sisters and Jackie's mom was actually working and played by a different actress. I was wondering, is there a reason they changed so many things in season 2 onwards?

Quite a few reasons. 😅

After season 1, the creators/showrunners decided to tone down the 1970s sociopolitical aspect of the show. This aspect fades more each season until That '70s Show is essentially That Show.

Simply a creative decision for season 2 to change the theme song to sound more like the characters are singing along.

Mostly same with the bumpers (transitions), but money was also a factor. Season 1's first batch of bumpers had the characters speaking and showing a bit about who they are. But to keep on doing that would've been costly and disruptive to the show, especially once the characters are established. Having the actors in front of a green screen and performing actions silently allowed for many combinations of characters, depending on who was in the scene preceding or after the bumper.

Donna's sisters disappeared because of money and screentime. More characters means more actors, which means a bigger budget and less screentime for the main cast.

Jackie's father was supposed to be a recurring character, too. Not in every episode but more than three. Paul Kreppel (who played Jack Burkhart) was in a few of T7S's original press release photos with the rest of the main cast. He got cut, too -- likely after Fox's first order for more episodes in season 1.

Eve Plumb, most famously known for portraying Jan in The Brady Bunch, was likely intended as a one-off as Jackie's mom. Unlike Paul Kreppel, she wasn't in the original T7S press release or "That '70s Pilot" (1x01).

The show did great casting in season 1 for '70s nostalgia. Marion Ross, mostly known for playing Mrs. Cunningham on Happy Days -- a show set in the '50s but made in the '70s, a parallel to T7S being set in the '70s but made in the (late) '90s -- portrayed Red's mother in a recurring role. Her death episode ("Grandma's Dead") was the original season 1 finale. It was moved much further in the airing order after Fox gave the show a full season of episodes.

As for the changes to characters' personalities ...

Some of the changes can be attributed to season 1 getting not one but two orders for more episodes. The original amount was twelve or thirteen. Hyde's characterization in "Grandma's Dead" fits his original characterization from "That '70s Pilot" through the episodes produced during the first extension. In the original, shorter season 1, the non-triangle triangle is left as a non-cliffhanger in "The Best Christmas Ever," which I think could've been the original season finale. But in my research, I read that "Grandma's Dead" was intended to be the season finale.

Moving forward, the non-triangle triangle is resolved during the first extension of season 1 episodes. Hyde's role as Eric's romantic foil is over. "A New Hope" was meant to be (and marketed as) season 1's finale -- with the cliffhanger of whether or not Donna and Eric were going to be together after the events if the episode.

Then Fox ordered more episodes. I have no idea who was in charge of shuffling the episode airing order, but it was shuffled significantly. When looking at the production order and airing order, the focus of T7S post-"ANH" is clearly on Hyde and rebuilding his character -- to lead to what ultimately became the season finale: "The Good Son".

"Career Day" (1x18) was produced for the original thirteen episode order from Fox. It was moved much later in the airing order to start focusing on who Hyde is and why -- and the who changed in the final episodes that were written and produced. Hyde needed a character overhaul since his antagonist role was over. T7S's creators confessed on camera that they had no idea who Hyde was when the show first started. Outside of being the conspiracy theorist and Eric's romantic non-rival, they hadn't developed him.

But with "Career Day" in its new airing spot as episode eighteen, we then get "Prom Night" (1x19) that rewrites Hyde from the inside-out. It establishes his moral center, his instinct to protect the vulnerable, and his self-sacrificing nature.

"A New Hope" airs after "Prom Night" and was produced right after "Prom Night," too. Other reasons for producing episodes out of airing order exist besides trying to create a cohesive narrative from unexpectedly getting double the episodes to produce. For example, guest stars might not be available certain weeks (a common reason). But this is generally not the case for T7S season 1.

Upon getting a full season of episodes to produce, "A New Hope" was no longer the finale. The Eric/Donna cliffhanger was subsequently ignored. But the original plan was for Eric and Donna to be broken up during season 2.

After "A New Hope," every episode that follows depicts new!Hyde except "Grandma's Dead" (which, as explained earlier, was moved far later in the airing order). "Water Tower" and "Punk Chick" were inexplicably aired in the reverse order. If Hyde hadn't stayed in Point Place in "Punk Chick," he wouldn't have been present to paint a pot leaf on the water tower -- as Eric directly states in "Punk Chick".

Laurie's character shift in season 1 is also due to T7S getting twenty-five episodes after the initial thirteen episode order.

Kelso losing his math and tech prodigy characterization is likely due to the writers not wanting to work as hard. I'm not being facetious. Kelso in season one is very interesting because he lacks common sense, yet he's a genius in two sophisticated fields. But continuing with that dichotomy would have complicated his story arc in season 2. The writers went with a simpler characterization for him to make their jobs easier.

As for Donna, she wears less makeup after season 1 because it fits her character better. (A real-world explanation might also exist. I have a vague memory of it, but it's so vague that I'd have to find proof to substantiate it. So I'll leave you all with that mystifying nugget. 😅)

Last bit before I end this very long explanation-exploration: "Eric's Buddy" was not produced during the original thirteen-episode season. It was the first episode produced after Fox originally ordered more episodes. "Career Day" was going to air as the eleventh episode in the thirteenth episode season 1.

[s10127470]

X-Men '97 Rewrite (Part 1)

@a-roguish-gambit, @cheesecakeluvrs

Hey there guys!

As I’m sure many of you know, it’s been almost an entire year since X-Men '97 premiered.

And ever since it’s first season wrapped up back in May, the reception towards has notably shifted.

While the common consensus being that while the show is good, it does have a lot of glaring flaws.

And a lot of this has to do with the show's creator, former showrunner and head writer: Beau DeMayo.

It was revealed right before the show premiered that he was fired from the show.

Though the reasons why were still unclear.

However, once the first season was completed, we would find out why DeMayo was fired.

That being he allegedly made the work environment incredibly toxic and was guilty of committing acts of sexual harassment.

And with people finding out more about him over the ensuing months, it made a lot of the flaws of this series a lot more apparent and gave a reason why they were there in the first place.

So, in honor of the upcoming 1 year anniversary of the show, I've decided that I wanted to do a rewrite of the first season.

I'm not sure if anyone else has done this yet, but if so, let me know.

Anyway, for this rewrite, there will be major changes.

Also, I will be highlight of the flaws of the series throughout this series.

And to start this off, we'll be looking at the first two episodes of the series, as they premiered on the same day.

So without further ado, let's get this started!

Episode 1: To Me, My X-Men (March 20th, 2024)

Overall, this is episode is largely the same, but there are a few key differences.

First, there’s the roster.

It’s essentially the same, but there’d two things to here.

First off, there’s Bishop.

It was really cool to see him become a full-time member of the team, given how he was a recurring guest character in the original animated series.

For only three episodes……

But here, he will be sticking around.

Next, the team actually has another new addition.

And that new addition is Colossus, who like Bishop in the original series, was also a recurring guest character.

As you would expect, he would be sporting his classic outfit now.

As for his voice, he would be now voiced by Stefan Kapičić, reprising his role as the character from the Deadpool films.

We would see this in the opening scene, where Cyclops, Storm and Bishop infiltrate the hideout of The Friends of Humanity.

We’d see Colossus tanking blasts, hurling massive objects at them, and destroying their machinery.

Next we come to the X-Men’s status.

In the past year since Xavier left, things have been looking up for them.

Human-mutant relations have greatly improved, and mutants are now being integrated into society.

The Xavier School for the Gifted has become an actual school again and are now teaching both young mutants and humans.

This would be revealed during the breakfast scene.

Plus, it would be pretty cute to see these students absolutely gawking over having their teachers be The X-Men.

And The X-Men themselves being pretty flattered about the whole thing.

One thing to note that a lot of people mentioned was that it seemed like the show was planning to go to audience surrogate route with Roberto.

But after this episode, they basically threw that out.

But in this version, they’ll actually keep that route….but it wouldn’t be with Roberto.

Instead, it would be done with Kitty Pryde.

Just about every X-Men fan reading this:

Yep, Kitty would be the audience surrogate for this series!

And this is just the best of both worlds!

Not only because Kitty has experience with this kind of thing, but also because just about everyone who watched the original series all wished she would’ve made an appearance.

Hell, some even wished she was the audience surrogate rather than Jubilee.

Side Note: Does anyone else keep forgetting that Roberto was even in '97? He got side-lined pretty hard. Not helped with the fact that he was kind of a dweeb.

But yeah, Kitty would be taking Roberto’s spot as the hostage of The Friends of Humanity.

And as you would expect, over the course of this episode, Kitty would promptly get to meet each of The X-Men.

While on the topic of Kitty, let’s talk about her voice.

For this series, Kitty would be voiced by voice acting legend, Kath Soucie.

Now, this choice I have for Kitty may seem strange to many of you.

Like, Kath is incredibly talented and despite being 72 now, she still sounds great!

But most of you are probably wonder why an actress that old is voicing a character who, in this series, is 16 years old.

Well first off, we’ve had plenty of teenage characters being voiced by actors much older than them.

Hell, Holly Chou, Jubilee’s new actor in this series, is like, 51.

And second off, this is would essentially serve as a major Easter egg.

As I’m sure most of you know, back in 1989, there was Pryde of the X-Men.

It was an animated tv special, serving as a pilot for a potential X-Men cartoon.

It focused on Kitty joining The X-Men, which consisted of Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Dazzler.

However, the pilot didn’t really take off and the proposed series never got made. 

Though it did serve as the basis for the X-Men arcade game produced by Konami.

But in weird way, without this special, we wouldn’t have X-Men: The Animated Series.

So Kitty’s casting is basically a tribute to the special and everything finally coming full circle.

Hell, her outfit here would even be pulled from Pryde of the X-Men.

Anyway, the scene at the club would instead replace with a somber scene in the inner city

Just like Roberto did, Kitty ran away, feeling like that even among fellow mutants, she doesn’t belong and is trying to get a ride back home to Chicago.

We would get a really tender scene of The X-Men comforting Kitty, all relating to her struggles and ever sharing some of their origins, showing that they understand how it feels dealing with mutant powers for the first time.

Plus this would serve as the reveal of Kitty’s phasing ability.

The highlights would definitely be from Storm, Colossus, and Wolverine, with this essentially serving as the beginning of Kitty’s famous friendships with them.

And before you ask, no, Kitty and Colossus will not be a couple her.

Also, as they’re looking for Kitty, we’ll also be getting some good ol’ shipping fuel.

We would find out that Rogue and Gambit had officially become a couple since the original series.

And there’s some hints about something going on between Wolverine and Morph.

And I’ll touch on why around the end of all this.

Anyway, the episode plays out the largely the same.

And since Colossus is here, you’ll know he’ll be tossing Sentinels arounds and smashing them into each other.

And yes, we’ll even see him and Wolverine performing the iconic fastball special!

However, the scene between Roberto and Jubilee would be replaced by one between her and Kitty.

But it’s still the same, with Jubilee assuring Kitty that she does belong here and that The X-Men are not just a team, they’re a family.

Kitty would reveal that while she does want to go home, she’s kinda afraid to because she fears that her parents would disown her for being a mutant.

Though she would also state that’s not the only reason she fears her parents would disown her.

Yeah, this version of the series is going there.

Also, this what Colossus’ ballin’ outfit will look like.

Episode 2: Mutant Liberation Begins (March 20th, 2024)

Once again, this episode is largely the same.

But there are still some massive changes.

To start this off, this version will be getting rid of perhaps the two biggest flaws of the series.

1. Magneto being the focal character. This doesn't really hit you at first, but as the series goes on, it does become much more apparent. Especially now with the fact that DeMayo is famously a huge Magneto stan, and more or less made him both a writer's pet and a kind of a self-insert. As a result, this lead to a good chunk of The X-Men being sidelined and even his character....kinda getting ruined, which I'll touch more on when we get to the second point. But one of the strangest things is that in spite of famously being a Holocaust survivor and Jewish, that's never mention in this entire series. Which you think DeMayo would do since he's a huge Magento fan, given how important that is to his character. But no. Once again, it kinda feels like he purposely erased those just so he could self-insert himself! Also, we already had one X-Men series with this whole focal character problem, we didn't need another one.

This isn't helped by the fact that Magneto was already the focal character of the later X-Men films, but one thing that's consistent with that franchise is their inability to actually focus on the goddamn X-Men.

Plus, it's made the show unfortunately fall into a major trapping of the comics over the last 20+ years.

I mentioned in my X-Men Hot Takes post that I couldn't stand how Magneto has been treated.

Being that everyone constantly portrays him as the true hero of X-Men.

Saying that Xavier and The X-Men were wrong and that their goal was dumb and meaningless.

Saying that he's justified in EVERYTHING he does!

And most famously of all....

That he was right.

And once again, I have to say to that.....

Here's the thing.

Magneto does have some good points, like how mutants should rise up and stand up for themselves against human bigots.

But he's not exactly right, and that's largely thanks to his execution and actions, which I'll touch a little more on later.

There's also the fact that in spite of the many horrible things he's done and his multitude of negative traits, fans and even the writers never seem like they want to actually have him face the consequences of his actions or ever confront any of those negative traits.

The best way I can describe this is that he has the inverse of the problem Peter Parker has with his fans.

I mentioned this before in my Flanderization of Peter Parker post, but the Spider-Man fandom has developed an obsession with emphasizing and gassing up Peter's negative traits and flaws, largely thanks to how much of a pushover the character has been portrayed as in recent years.

So much so that many of their ideal versions of Peter is basically him being a raging asshole who just hates everyone and everything.

Hell, it's gotten so bad, that I've even seen fans believing that Peter would/should actually be a FUCKING BIGOT!

Seriously, what the hell happened to this fanbase?!

But for Magneto, fans and writers seem like they want to portray him as never being capable of doing anything wrong.

Or if he does, he's always justified in doing it!

Look, I get that he is a very sympathetic character.

But I feel like people need to know that just because you're sympathetic, it doesn't excuse any horrible things you may do.

It could explain it, but not justify it.

I swear, Magneto could dead-ass murder these people's entire families and they would still find a way to justify it.

2. The Magneto, Rogue and Gambit love triangle.

Oh good lord this thing......

I said it before, and I'll say it again.

LOVE TRIANGLES ARE THE WORST.

They are rarely ever done and more often than not, are used as a cheap way of causing easy drama.

Not to mention it's one of the most overused writing cliches in general, alongside the third-act break-up and the liar reveal.

And The X-Men are unfortunately, famously guilty of this.

However, it in the original animated series, while the infamous Cyclops/Jean/Wolverine love triangle was there, it at least had the decency of being very one-sided.

Wolverine had a crush on Jean.

Jean wasn't interested and kept having to gently let him down.

And Cyclops was mentally holding back in the urge to blast the hairy manlet all the way to the next county.

However, '97 decided it wanted everyone to suffer by giving us an even worse love triangle.

Just about everyone has more or less have been about their vocal about their disdain towards it.

And it's not hard to see why.

This love triangle is the worst kind one can be.

One that screws over EVERYONE involved.

First there's Magneto.

I already mentioned that '97 kinda screwed over his characterization, and this love triangle was the main reason for it.

His past relationship with Rogue and his desire to get back with her generally makes Magneto look like a total creep and a scumbag.

There's the age difference between these two, which wouldn't have been that much of a problem if it wasn't for the blatantly retconned history between them.

Even though Rogue was of age when she and Magneto got together, this whole thing still gives off major predatory vibes, largely thanks to how young and naive she clearly was.

Also, I have to credit @cheesecakeluvrs for pointing this out, because I never picked it up myself.

The whole ordeal between them has this manipulative undertone.

Like, it's very clear that Magneto knows about Rogue's whole situation and her craving for physical intimacy.

And it's clear that he is kinda tempting her with the fact that he can bypass that with his powers.

This is made even worse when you remember that Magneto has a history of manipulating others for his own gain.

And how romantically immature Rogue is when compared to Magento.

Remember, that motherfucker was married once!

This especially comes to play in Episode 5.

Where although subtle, there is this sense that Magneto is pressuring Rogue and even lowkey forcing her to be with him.

Like when he said that she should be the leading lady of all Genosha.

I'm not sure if that's exactly what he said, but it was something similar to that.

And the thing is.....this could've worked if.....

A. They rightfully called out how creepy and manipulative this all is.

And B. Explain why he's doing all this. Like, why does he want to get back together with Rogue?

And what makes this relationship even worse is when you factor in the fact that DeMayo made Magento his self insert.

And the fact that one of the major reasons for his firing was sexual harassment allegations.

Well.......I think this clip speaks for itself.

Though I do wonder why he did this? Especially since he's an openly gay man.

Next we come to Gambit.

He definitely got the least bad (in spite of the fact that he got killed off halfway through the season), but still.

They kinda turned him into a Cuck Berry for the sake of the Magneto and Rogue relationship that was so obviously pulled out of this show's ass.

And finally we come to Rogue.

I think she may've been been done the DIRTIEST out of all three of them.

Like, apart from the fact that she's still hung on the whole not being able to touch people thing (which like, is anyone else starting to get kind of tired of that), that fact that her whole arc is largely revolved around her relationship with two men comes off as....kinda misogynistic.

Which seems to be for the course with DeMayo, as he apparently doesn't care or like just about any of the other female X-Men characters except for Jean.

Especially Emma Frost.

And apart from the retconned relationship, there's also the fact that in the original series, Rogue was pretty open about how see hated Magneto.

Like, during that period of time when everyone thought he was dead.

During his funeral (if you could even call it that), Rogue basically said "good riddance".

If I remember correctly, when DeMayo was asked about this continuity error, he revealed that the reason why Rogue hated Magneto was because she was still hurt from how their relationship fall apart all those years ago.

Yeah!

It wasn't the fact that he was a megalomaniacal terrorist who basically wanted to conquer the world and subjugate or/and destroy the entire human race.

Or that he frequently terrorized and actively tried to kill her FAMILY because they were the only ones who the balls to stand up to him.

No! It was all because of a dead relationship......

You know, I'm starting to think that DeMayo may not be a good person.

But now that we got that out of the way, let's talk about a few more changes.

-Since the relationship retcon has been rightfully sent to The Shadow Realm, Rogue doesn't sympathize with Magneto's struggles and, along with the rest of the team, is pretty open about her hatred towards him.

-We would get a few scenes of Magneto and Kitty interacting. Particularly of their shared Jewish background, and we even get the two talking to each other in Hebrew.

-During the trial scene, instead of there being anti-mutant protesters, it would be anti-Magneto protestors. I mean it's MAGNETO, who doesn't hate him?!

-In fact, Magneto's trial would see several humans who affected by him some way by his actions over the years testifying against him. This scene would really highlight perhaps the greatest of Magneto's many flaws. He's kind of a idiot. In the sense that he usually lets his emotions get the better of him and cloud his common sense and better judgement. As a result, whenever he does something drastic or insane, he never really considers the consequences this could have. Whereas Xavier relies more on reason and logic, Magneto relies on brute force. And that's often been his downfall. This would really be eye-opening for Magneto, seeing the lives he's either taken or ruined because of his actions. And for once in his life, Magneto would actually show genuine shame and remorse. This would led to him actual giving a heartfelt apology to all the people he's harmed over the years. Not only would this scene show that Magneto can actually feel ashamed of himself, but this would also make The X-Cutioner feel a little more understandable in his actions.

-The fight with The X-Cutioner and The Friends of Humanity would involve Cyclops, Storm, Bishop, Colossus, Morph, Gambit, Rogue and Beast.

-After helping Jean give birth, we would see Wolverine and Rogue actually looking happy, since the former had FINALLY moved on from her and the latter is happy with Gambit.

-Magneto would actually be saved, not by Storm, but by Kitty, who would use ger powers to make him intangible. So yeah, Storm isn't gonna be de-powered here and actually gets to stay with the main cast.

-We would get a tender scene after the trial, with Magento genuinely thanking Kitty for saving him.

-After that, we would get a montage of Magento walking around the mansion, seeing the other X-Men bonding with each other. The first scene would show Cyclops and Jean bonding with the newborn Nathan. The second scene would show Storm, Rogue and Bishop posing for a painting being done by Colossus. The third scene would show Gambit and Jubilee competing with each other at some video games. And the fourth and final scene would show Wolverine and Morph sharing some beers with each other outside......right before sharing a kiss. And throughout this montage, we would see Magneto looking......genuinely saddened.

Well that's all for now!

Well that’s all I have for now.Let me know what you guys think about this rewrite. And if you could, give me some ideas on how the rest of the season should play out!

The rest of this rewrite will be officially continuing in March, when the show officially turns 1!

So stay tune.

Also, I know some people are gonna mentioned that I didn't explain why Magneto looked so saddened during the montage I mentioned earlier.

Well that's because I want to know from you guys why he looked so saddened.

I know why, but I wanna see who's able to guess it correctly.

And the person who's able to make the correct guess will get a special shout-out from me in Part 2!

But until then.....

Happy New Year!

[littlegaybean1]

HOLY HGCTSHFJCGS

OK

OK

OK

I AM NOT OKAY.

So I'm watching 9-1-1. The wonderful, silly, light-hearted gay firefighter show. So silly. So light-hearted.

I just watched Season 6, Episode 10: In A Flash.

HOLY FREAKING GOD. WHY MUST THEY DO THIS TO ME.

THERE'S SO MUCH TO SAY

IT WAS SO FREAKING GOOD OMG

I'M GOING MAD SO I'M GOING TO RANT ABOUT ALL THE COOL THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN THE FINAL SCENE.

First things first, you should know that my favourite character is one Mr Evan Buck Buckley. So naturally this is the most invested I've been in an episode since Survivors.

I love the decision to make Buck take Chimney's place so much. The idea that Buck wasn't originally going to be there, but ended up in harm's way in another's place just makes so much sense. Plus, I'm really excited to see what this means for Chimney and any potential survivor's guilt he might face because of it.

I love how it had such a short build up directly before the incident, but still felt like it had been perfectly foreshadowed. It reminded me a little of Suspicion, but that could easily be because I love that episode so much. The space between Buck getting on the ladder and actually getting struck is quite short, but also gives you just enough warning that something is Very Wrong. It focuses on the banter between Buck and Chim, it gives shots of the sky and then the final indicator - Buck himself tells you that things are going south quickly.

Then there's the actual strike. It's so beautiful. It's over and done so quickly, which makes everything much more realistic. There's nothing that anyone could have done, no way for anyone to predict it or prevent it. It just comes all of a sudden, striking quickly then disappearing but leaving behind so much damage. I love that you see it from below, as if you're actually on the ground watching it happen. It's so shocking and you think "Oh my god - did that actually just happen!?" because it was over in the blink of an eye.

A really amazing cinematic moment is the mirroring. Two falls, both falling a similar distance. Buck and Eddie. Best friends. Two sides of the same coin. Two people that would absolutely fall apart without the other. Again, I am reminded of the ending of Suspicion, where Eddie gets shot and falls to the ground then Buck is shot at and saved by being thrown to the floor. Except this time the roles are reversed. Eddie is the one who is fine after the fall and Buck is the one whose life is in danger. Eddie is the one screaming his name and Buck is the one who cannot answer.

This might be my favourite bit of the entire scene: the hanging. Lightning cannot be seen for more than a second, but its aftereffects are so much longer. He's just hanging there. It was almost reminiscent of Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spiderman 2 (sorry if you haven't seen it, but it is a very old movie and a common pop culture reference), although the spinal curve was obviously less unnatural. It was so sickening and impactful, him not moving at all but his body still swaying slightly. It's a little bit gruesome, not because there's anything graphic shown, but because of the implications and where the mind goes.

Eddie's screaming there was freaking guttural. I have to give a massive amount of applause to Ryan Guzman because the acting there was phenomenal. You couldn't see his expression clearly because of the angles and lighting, but the emotion was still perfectly conveyed. I also have to mention Aisha Hinds, because even though most of the focus was on Eddie, her line and the tone in which she delivered it really set the scene and the panic that everyone was feeling. I also loved the different reactions - Eddie ran straight to Buck's side (or as close as he could get), which would tell anyone, even a first time viewer, that he is Buck's closest friend; Hen keeps the people moving, clears the scene and lets everyone work and removes all the potential obstacles she can; Chimney goes straight to work and lets Buck down, being the calm one because he knows that Eddie can't be and that he needs someone else to take on some responsibility; and finally Bobby, completely professional, calling ahead, doing his job first and organising everything possible but also showing how afraid he is and the care he has when he holds Buck as he reaches the ground, saying "Come here kid, I've got you". It's all beautifully written and acted, such an emotionally charged scene.

Another thing that I'm going crazy about is Eddie trying to physically pull Buck up with his bare hands. When he reaches the top of the ladder, he tries to pull Buck up by the rope himself, before telling Chimney to lower it. It's impossible, it's irrational and it's desperate. It wasn't something that anyone thinking logically would even bother to try. Eddie tends to be a clear headed character during emergencies, with Buck generally being the more reckless of the two. But this situation is so horrible panic-inducing that he forgets logic and acts completely on instinct - to get Buck close to him, to help him, to keep him safe. Their relationship is one of my favourite elements of the show, they have so much chemistry and I have been waiting for them to get together since the moment they laid eyes on each other (I'm being genuine here, I shipped it the second the jealousy hit).

And Oh. My. Goodness. Buck is actually dead. His heart literally stopped beating. I know he's not going to stay that way, but for now, as of the end of this episode, Buck is dead. He's in the back of the vehicle, surrounded by firefighters, with a stopped heart. It's madness. I cannot imagine how people watching it live must have felt, to have to wait an entire week before finding out what happened. Luckily for me, I will be watching the conclusion as soon as I post this, but it's such an evil, insane decision to make - and it's perfect.

The final, final thing I want to talk about is the very last image. The helmet. They decided to reveal that Buck's heart had stopped, drive away and then leave you with nothing but his fallen helmet, lying in the rain, with a flash of lightning illuminating the scene. Cinematically alone, it's an incredible shot. But speaking purely about its emotional impact on the viewer, it's such a powerful decision. It really drives the stake deeper into the heart. The person who directed and planned that shot is an evil genius and should be recognised as such.

This ended up being much longer than I intended, but I want to add on my final thoughts, even though I doubt anyone will read them.

I absolutely loved this. The episode before the ending had been good, but nothing special and I didn't exactly love the attempted redemption of the Han and Buckley parents (I despise them both for what they did to my beloved characters). But the ending sequence immediately shot it from a 7/10 episode to a 9/10. I enjoyed it so much, both as a fan of the show and as a fan of cinematography in general. I also mentioned before that Buck is my favourite character. Whenever Buck is in pain - whether physical, mental or emotional - it always has the greatest impact on me. So of course, the scenes where he is in pain are my favourites! That might be why I love Survivors so much, because it goes really in depth into his self worth issues and self sacrificial tendencies. So I will be needing many more episodes with scenes like this, please and thank you. Happening to literally any character.

[bekolxeram]

I know we've been manifesting S8 Air Ops since that photo of a hangar was posted by a member of the scouting team. And I know the other side has been mocking us for being delusional when other bts photos of an aircraft came out. So here I am, taking my shipper's goggles off, and diving into the aviation side of things. I have to admit, it left me with more questions than answers.

They already have a hangar for Air Ops in S7, they don't need another one

No. The 911!Air Ops we see in S7 is the Helinet hangar at Van Nuys Airport. Helinet is a company that rents and operates helicopters for news stations, film crews, medivac service or regular charter flights. You can compare images from 7x02 and 7x03 with Google Street Views of the Helinet Hangar.

You can also see N67TV and N29HD here.

Helinet is where ABC usually rents its news helicopters from, so it's cheaper and more convenient to film a couple scenes there when helicopters are needed. It can't be used for regular filming though, because Helinet has a business to run, and when a helicopter takes off, it's so noisy that you can't even hear each other talking, let alone shooting a scene. (I recommend watching the whole video, if you're interested in accuracy when it comes to writing fics.)

It's a plane related emergency so it must be related to Tommy

Also no. Again, I've written a piece about how Tommy was not the air tanker pilot in 2x14 before, and if he was not qualified for that, he's not qualified to fly an airliner either. It's not impossible that he flies a small turboprop aircraft like a Cessna 172, but he would never have the time to get certified as a commercial airliner pilot while working as an active firefighter since 2005.

And this is a prop for an Airbus airliner.

It's actually pretty easy to tell an Airbus aircraft from a Boeing one, as the shape of the rear cockpit windows is pretty different between the two. It's just a matter of which Airbus model it is. I believe it's a narrow body single aisle aircraft from the A320 family.

Wide body Airbus aircrafts, like this A300, have their side cockpit windows more tapered to the top. It also applies to other Airbus twin aisle aircrafts, like the A330 and the A340.

On the A320 though, the side windows are flat on the top.

So it's a pretty safe bet that the aircraft we see in that bts photo is one from the A320 family. I can't pinpoint which one it exactly is, because again, I can just see a tiny section of the cockpit, not the rest of the aircraft.

So the hangar must be for the airplane then?

The hangar itself is a former Air National Guard maintenance hangar at Ontario International Airport (ONT/KONT). It's especially used for filming. There are bigger hangars at the same airport for filming, but this one looks the best on camera.

They don't need a hangar for scenes inside of the plane, they have cockpit and cabin mock-ups at the studio for them.

You can clearly see the cabin door right here from recent bts footage. It looks just like a training facility for flight attendants.

They only film on location if they want shots of the entire aircraft from the outside. Like in 1x04, the scenes of Athena responding to an alleged unruly passenger were filmed in a set. The plane crash rescue parts of the episode though, were filmed in an actual retired 757 in a tub of water.

(Lone Star worked with this exact company for 3x08. Though, that plane was a 737 I believe.)

I can't think of any disastrous scenario happening in a maintenance hangar, where the aircraft is powered off with only maintenance staff present, no passengers or crew. Well, there have been cases of planes crashing into a hangar, but even then I don't see the need for the 118 to be there. Every major airport has at least one fire station on site with dedicated foam and crash units. In fact, there is a fire station right next to this hangar IRL.

Another problem, although I'm not sure because I don't have the actual measurements, is that the celling of the hangar looks quite low. (Refer to page 44 of this document) It was originally built in 1955 to house fighter jets. The F-102, the type of aircraft operated there in the 60s and 70s, has a total height of 6.5 meters. The tail of an A320 on the other hand can reach 11.76 m from the ground. (The shortest variant of the A320 family is actually even taller, 12.51 m.) So there could be some tail bumping action if you try to tow an A320 into this hangar.

So Air Ops is still a possibility?

Yes. This hangar is quite a bit larger than the Helinet hangar, but still not as big as the actual Air Ops facility. A helicopter is obviously much smaller than a passenger airliner that can seat over 180, you can easily fit multiple helicopters in there with plenty of space left for other set props. But the problem is, they don't have enough helicopters.

They have that one replica of N211FN that they used to film the search and rescue in 7x03, that's it. All the other helicopters you see on screen, including the real N211FN that actually flies, belong to Helinet. Sure, they can get some more fake helicopters that are empty inside just for looks, but I don't see the need to spend so much extra money just to show Tommy's place of work unless it's related to some major plot points. For now, I don't see how that would fit into the story.

There is also the possibility that the hangar has nothing to do with anything aviation related. I mean, they've filmed countless ads, music videos and movies, including Ford vs Ferrari there. Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe that's why that crew member eventually got the green light to confirm the hangar is indeed for 9-1-1, it tells us absolutely nothing.

[aroaceleovaldez]

So, in your last post about the Percy Jackson TV show, I felt you lacked a few pieces of information/points. While it is true that the CGI in the film is pore and not constructed well, please note that while they have a large budget Disney has made a lot of restrictions to the show. In the original scrips there was a significantly larger amount of violence that would have needed more CGI. This was latter edited out of the script due to both restrictions and budget cuts for other parts in the show(sadly). Also to bring into prospective Sea of monsters the movie was made 10 years ago. Inflation has juristically affected the way money is used in films. Another thing to note is typically movie budgets are less than TV shows because they only are filming for one larger block of time. TV however they can take years meaning the acters need to be paid even for the time off set. This is not to say movies cannot take years, but it is to show that TV shows are filmed longer. I would also like to say I am genuinely not trying to be rude or unkind about your opinion and thoughts on the subject. I am just someone who has a different insight into the topic because of the things I know about the topic (I myself, am an actor and for the most part I think this is why the CGI was not the best as well as some of the script work). 

I did actually calculate inflation for Sea of Monsters versus the PJO TV show. We know the PJO TV show allegedly had a budget of $12-15 million per episode. For comparison, this is the type of budget Disney+ usually uses for stuff like The Mandalorian. I was doing a generous underestimate for the entire season which comes out to $96mil (12mil per episode x 8 episodes). Sea of Monsters' budget was 90mil. Here's that inflation:

So lil over $120mil. Going for a top estimate for s1 of the show (15x8) that's $120mil. And as far as I'd heard that may also not include stuff like budget for casting for the show. They are still roughly in similar ballparks.

Regardless of this - as an animator, i can tell you there is no excuse for that wonky CGI trident other than it being extremely quickly done. That's literally a transform error, like ctrl+t type stuff. That is a lazy and cheap trident, probably because Disney notoriously overworks and cheaps out with their CGI. The CGI problems in the show are majority because Disney's being cheap about it. This shows in nearly all the CGI in every episode.

If they had to remove violence from the script and so remove CGI scenes with it, then theoretically they should have more room in the budget for more or better CGI where it already is in the show. That money doesn't just vanish. Changing that in the script gives them less of an excuse, actually.

Also, as i mentioned in my previous post - if you don't want to CGI hydrokinesis, don't pick the franchise where the main character's defining power is hydrokinesis. If you can't have much violence, DON'T PICK THE GREEK MYTHOLOGY SERIES WHERE THE MAIN CHARACTER BEHEADS TWO PEOPLE IN THE FIRST BOOK AND IT ONLY GETS BLOODIER FROM THERE. You cannot have PJO without some level of violence. It's kind of very inherent to the series. Rick actually talks in his original Teaching Guide for The Lightning Thief about how, in argument against attempts to ban TLT (in this specific instance for "being too violent"), that monsters in the books poof into golden dust for a reason, because then they haven't "died." There is no blood. They can and will come back. Because it's fantasy. That is the excuse for all the violence. Of which there otherwise technically is a lot of.

If you are doing live action PJO you are going to have to have some amount of violence (and there is absolutely a level that is perfectly suitable for a PG13 audience. The show right now is leagues below that level. PG13 just means parental guidance for under 13 - this majority has to do with concerns about children under 13 replicating behavior on-screen. Past 13 kids know better than to do that, which is why that rating is a thing. There are plenty of film/media/etc that are way more gory and violent and are still PG13). You are going to have to CGI monsters/creatures to some degree regularly (alongside demigod powers like Percy's hydrokinesis even more regularly). And between those two things, characters are going to have to look like they're physically interacting with the CGI at times. Disney is capable of doing this. Disney does have the budget for this for the show. They're not doing it because they're being cheap. Disney has done this before and does it regularly. This is not anything new. It entirely has to do with CGI not having as many unions. They have no excuses. If they didn't expect to run into these problems then they clearly did no planning for what adapting the series would entail and didn't think at all of what the series actually featured before diving into it. And they have no excuse for that! That is step one!

[halliescomut]

Boy Next World, post- ep 3

So... I've watched the first 3 episodes, I didn't really feel like I had much to say really about the first two episodes, so I didn't post anything. Now that things have started gearing up, I feel like I actually have some things to talk about. I will try to go kind of chronologically, but inevitably this will probably become a mishmash of all three eps so far.

To start with episode one, it's very much direct from the novel, I feel like. There might be some parts that are new, it's been a year since I read the novel, but it felt very much that. It's a good and intriguing introduction, but also, you're not overly invested in the story. I was more focused and excited to see Boss and Noeul working together again, and because of the premise of the story we don't have to wait to see them be soft and adorable with each other, we're given that immediately with alternate reality CirPhu. That being said, while the first episode I think does a good idea of introducing Phu, we're not getting much from Cir.

I made a short tiktok about episode one, where I mentioned that there is potentially a bit of a Edward Cullen Syndrome happening with Cir. He's characterized as cold, and so he feels very distant, in an almost too extreme way. I think this is intentional on the part of Boss acting-wise, and the director, but it does make it difficult for me to really be invested. It's not really until episode 2 that I start to soften towards Cir.

I think a lot of the confusion I feel in this first episode comes from the perspective from which we are offered the story. Phu has just basically stumbled into all of this, he has no idea what's happening, so there's no insight to be gained from him yet. Cir is at best an unreliable narrator as he's recently suffered a head injury, and so we truly don't know exactly what is happening. I'm not entirely sure how much of this confusion is fully intentional, and how much is accidental.

Moving into episode 2, our story is chugging along, but we're not really offered a lot more information overall, just little glimpses that bring more questions than answers. I am a person that already struggles with mystery stories, I've never been good at picking up clues or solving things, even when dealing with mysteries from masters of the craft. So truly, I'm not really trying to figure out exactly what is happening, but I am trying to be observant of what is going on. The issue is that the little oddnesses I notice lead to different conclusions.

For example- Jin; his reactions to Cirrus and specifically the things he says are very cryptic and weird. But they make me kind of think that it is exactly what happens int he novel, but that Jin has been noticing Cir, and is saying these things to express and almost give warning that he knows even if Phugun doesn't.

What we've seen these first couple of episodes, the final clip in the trailer; those two things combined almost feed into the idea of something like a Butterfly Effect situation. If you're not familiar with that film, guy figures out he can change his past, he basically inhabits his past self, and the new choices he makes change his future and those around him in ways he can't predict. With the sort of opening scene of the car thieves trying to bust into Phu's car and the revisit to that scene repeatedly, combined with Cir's 'lack of interest' in attempting to get home, kind of makes me think that the Phu in the other world is gone. And so what we're seeing is the Cir figuring out some way to come to this other world and now have the Phu that is here.

There's also the odd nightmare situations we've seen in episode three (and maybe episode two, I'm not 100% sure) which kind of lead one to think it might be a head injury- coma dream scenario. Like the nightmares are him becoming lucid perhaps. I don't know. Everything is pretty open-ended right now, and nothing combines into an idea that really solidifies.

If you haven't read any of my other posts about TBNW, I did read the novel, and recently read the special chapters as well, so I do know what the original story is, but they've added a lot, specifically a lot that might alter where the story actually goes. Also for transparency, I think Mame SHOULD (and hopefully has, since it's already been filmed) change the story. The original conclusion is at this point out-dated and is pretty problematic, which is saying a lot when we're talking about Mame.

Episode two has Phu kind of confronting this idea of Cir/the parallel universe, and is more Phu-centric than our first episode. We're given more insight into who he his as a person, his superstition, and his daily life, while we see how Cir fit into that life in the alternate reality. We get more glimpses of their life together there, and are shown very directly how much that loss is affecting Cir. I talked a bit about it in my novel breakdown, but episode two really brings home this idea that providing support to Phu is almost a compulsion for Cir. It's existentially concerning to him to simply let Phu deal with the consequences of his 'flighty-ness'.

I will say my favorite thing about the second episode is seeing the point of divergence, that is the decision that was made that split the timeline (see graphic below) which is the cup/string phone incident in high school. Phu drops the cup out of the classroom window and Cir, on the floor below picks it up. Cir either answers or doesn't, and it eventually becomes Cir either directly meeting Phu or not. I think it gives a lot of insight into how both people became who they are. In both realities Phu makes a choice to be bold, to tell the joke into the cup-phone, but in one it's rewarded, and in another it's not. So we see a Phugun now who doesn't really take chances. He has his small band of friends, people he has an easy time getting along with, but he's not really putting himself out there in any significant way. It's the same for Cir, that moment where he could choose to be brave and literally answer the call or not, and in one he does and he finds a relationship and a life full of warmth, and in another he hides and as a result is never really seen by the person he want to see him.

Episode three feels focused of Cir, but so much of my focus is on Phu, because we see him choosing to help Cir. He decides that he must help Cir get back to his Phu, and I believe does his best to help, but it's not really a problem you can look up a wiki-how for.

But this now spending time with a handsome man who treats you like the most precious thing in the world, it's hard not to fall for that. It makes sense why Phu is so reluctant to be close to Cir, because in his mind Cir is taken, and he's softhearted enough to worry about how a lone Phu would feel with a now-ignorant Cir. Again, this is what kind of makes Cir's lack of desire to get back to his Phu even more suspicious. We really start to see Phu falling for Cir, understandably, even in the face of concern over his 'taken' status, which has me as a viewer very concerned. I don't want his heart broken.

We do also see the official introduction of Cir's mother...who is a raggedy bitch and can get bent. It really feels like Cir is grasping at any semblance of control or agency he has, given that it's made pretty clear that his mother does not plan for him to be making any choices.

I have some things to say about Phu's isolation, and how it relates to his grief over his father, his mother leaving, and how that's kind of made him do the opposite thing to Cir. He had someone he loved deary and lost abruptly, which dominoed into him losing his mother. I know she's not dead, just absent, but for a grieving teen it might as well be the same thing, because he's fully separated himself and makes no effort to really build relationships. Cir has never even had the freedom to want anything, all choices were made for him, and so when he finds a person that sees him as more than a token, he cleaves to that person disregarding all else, which while it seems sweet, is not healthy behavior and can have very detrimental consequences.

Lastly I will say the cinematography continues to be absolutely beautiful. I'm so glad Mame brought directors back in, because it really does up the visual impact of her stories, and I truly hope she keeps this guy on the books, because he's so talented.

I joke, but truly there are some really beautiful shots throughout the first few episodes.

My Mame BL Masterpost if you're looking for more TBNW content, or stuff I've written about other Mame shows.

[cleabellanov]

Jet-Skiing through identity: a deep dive into Mobius M. Mobius (part 2) 🛥️

Even the kindest of hearts have a trigger point, a spot that can catch a bullet without bleeding; making it part of the heart's anatomy.

I'm only saying that because I associate Loki as Mobius's soft spot("I know you have a soft spot for broken things"), and Loki turning his back to that in s1e2 as the trigger point. Imagine you have that courage, to do something everyone around you thinks is wrong. Then, just as you were going to prove the opposite,our efforts turn to be in vain.

For Mobius's character, this means he has to turn around at 360, to where he came from; with inovative ideas not working, it all comes to accepting defeat.

He manages that excellently in front of Ravonna: caring more about reassuring her everything will work out rather than focusing on himself. Another example of how much Mobius cares about others, even when he should care more about himself.

Episode 4, season 1, is crucial for where Mobius's story is going.

We can see so many interesting things in his conversation with Loki, like the way he handles stress through amusement. Asif this emotion isn't worthy enough, but to be laughed at:

"You like her! Does she like you?"

After all, let's not forget Mobius was already (and even earlier than this episode) catching feelings for Loki. His own words put this straightforward: "Just kind of an asshole. And a bad friend". Notice how he doesn't use any word similr to "traitor". He still considers him a friend, albeit a bad one, after everything he's done. Mobius might do his best to hide it, but he's still forgiving deep down. And it's not even Loki's departure in time and space that matters the most to the analyst. It's his alliance with Sylvie, hinting once again at the jelaousy of his character I talked about in part 1. "It's ruining my reality right now!" in Mobius's words.

But when he is told by Loki that they're all variants, Mobius doesn't simply dissmiss the idea. He could, and should, given the position he is in. But the brightness of his mind, and that little flicker of hope he still has in his Loki makes the difference. After all, hope is what makes us believe: it's the desire of having something to believe in.

Watch his reaction when he is told all this:

He is masking it flawlessly in front of Loki and the hunters, but that raising hope makes him search: is the trickster out of tricks for once? What if, all this time, that feeling he had inside himself but hid away is actually a sign, gently whispering to him there is more he should know about? That is a bravery so different from live action, and battling with superheroes: the bravery of discovery. Loki telling the truth means Mobius living a lie - a scary thought of course, but not scary enough to stop him.

This all drives Mobius to finding out what actually happened with hunter C-20. And the rest is history.

There is a certain honour in telling Loki he was right from the beginning. This new approach, this insight Mobius now gains over everything give him not only a rush of adrenaline, but also the confidence he didn't allow himself before. Therefore, he wasn't just working half a measure. The limits that were set were not part of his perimeter, but of the TVA's. Now that he sees that, he can also break those limits.

He is also free to speak his mind. And Loki is so deserving of these words that this scene right here is one of the most precious in the entire series. Their wonderful dinamc certainnly gives extra points to that.

Now Mobius isn't just an analyst anymore. He is a rebel, betraying the only thing he believes in, the one institution that shaped his entire existence. This rebellion isn't just external, but internal as well. Ultimately, only one part of the internal conflict won, but the other still exist, like two sides of the same coin, spinning and spinning. But he still has the hope that he'll find something better on the other side, and doesn't stop just because it's a hard thing to do.

If it was easy, everyone would do it. (Loki in Thor The Dark World)

I wanted to write more but this is already getting too long (like damn I'm fangirling hard) so see you for part 3!

[absent-o-minded]

Tiny YR S3 Analysis

Just wanted to compare the parallels between these two hand holds in 3x05 and 3x06:

(Please ignore the shitty screencaps, I tried my best)

In terms of composition, these shots are identical. A hand-hold centre to the frame, in a car with the camera placed in the middle. However, they're underpinned by different narrative contexts.

Here, the first shot from 3x05 is drenched in darkness. The actual lighting inside of the car is dim enough to obscure both of their suits, which almost blend them into the seats and so it becomes hard to distinguish between the two of them - The only focussed light is on their conjoined hands. Notably, the actual touch itself is tentative, almost like the bridging of an awkward divide on the way to the palace. Neither of them are sure what the touch actually means. Even their sleeves fall over their wrists and interfere with the actual act, so we only see the bottom half of their hands. Simon reaches out first and places his hand in the open sliver between the two seats before Wille accepts and laces their fingers together. It's an assured squeeze that reads as: "I'm not sure what will happen. I'm nervous." "I am too."

This scene has garnered a lot of analysis for its parallel to the Kristina x Wille car scene in S1 where people have commented on the reversal of blocking - Wille now assumes Kristina's position and Simon equally assumed Wille's. We now know that this arrives before the birthday explosion, and so it's also a touch that signifies confronting the inner workings of an oppressive environment (the palace). It's nerve-wracking and cautious and consolidating, but it's also doubtful. We, as spectators, pick up on visual and physical cues and so we begin to see the hand-hold as an visual indicator that the unity between the two characters is about to be disrupted.

~~~~~

However, the shot in 3x06 reads entirely differently. The first thing is that the shot is bathed in light. It's a bit like an embrace, contrasting the previous presentation of a cold backseat, Simon and Wille are literally basking in the sun. Most importantly, there is a light flashing on Wille as it seeps in from the windows, illuminating his spot as a person who is newly free. Simon sits to the left with the natural light (no abundance of light) because Simon has always strived to be free. He has never turned away from the light. As he said earlier in the episode: "I never gave up on us. I gave up on the royal court." For Simon, the issue was never the fear of being free, but the constraint of not being free. For Wille, fear hung over his shoulders just like a King's robe would. Being free was an aspiration, never a reality.

But that has all changed. The light is let in. It stands similar to a spot-light, where Wille finally lets the sun hit his body and not have it scorch him, but rather enlighten him.

The actual act of holding hands is no longer bridging an uncomfortable space; It's an assured togetherness. It is the two of them acknowledging everything that has happened and knowing that a future for the two of them is no longer a "possibility", but a truth. It's giddy and confident and safe.

It's also the final touch of the season, and so it had to speak louder than dialogue ever could - Which I think that it does. Throughout S1 and S2, we understood that physical touch was always done in private, or if not, it was done discreetly with the knowledge that it was fleeting. S3 saw the transition from private to public, but not without the fight to touch and not have it be seen as a revolution. To just let it be what it is. And THIS is what the show has been working towards for 3 years. It can all be summarised with this simple, final hand hold in a sunny car that's racing towards a future that finally, finally resembles their dreams. It's not overtly revolutionary, it's not a grand gesture; It's just theirs.

[samthetrekkie]

I feel like I've abundantly established that I don't think the tos movies are the best ones ever made and this one was especially wild to me, but I still do have a soft spot for all of them. I never leave thinking "oh, I didn't like that", even if there were entire scenes were I was like ??? and/or second hand embarrassed. (think, uhura dancing naked, them thinking the alien on the planet is literally god). but then sybok asking when the pain began and spock goes "this is the scene of my birth" was way too funny to me (sorry spock). and the turbo boots scene in the jeffries tube was also really entertaining in a slapsticky way.

the general plot was a bit strange, but it actually reminded me of og tos episodes. at the same time, that's not necessarily a good thing… I liked the shore leave scenes, even though they were a bit long considering how short the movie was. it also reminded me of those old, unauthorized tos books (even though I've never actually read any of those) where they recycle typical tos episodes, but make it a little larger and filled with some non-canon info, like the random pairings. I do think scotty and uhura are kind of cute though! it came out of nowhere, but it kind of makes sense to me. (why do they call each other by their last names though?) and then cut to chekov and sulu in the woods bickering like a couple. makes sense as well. but why are these people serving on the same ship in the same positions again after they've become really high ranking officers? I think it actually made a lot of sense in wrath of khan that e.g. chekov was a first officer on a different ship and spock captain. but considering this, it makes a lot of sense that some (all) of them are bound to date each other at some point. it's like going to class with the same people for 8 years.

I surprisingly liked spock leaning more into his human side and being emotional than usual. it makes sense in my head that, after he was reborn, he kind of saw how short life was and that there was no need to keep up a facade at all times, but still not lose his identity. similar to seven in picard, I am always worried about autistic-coded characters changing their personality heavily after a while, but with spock it feels quite natural and it even worked with seven in the later picard seasons. I just think it's all about the balance. like I enjoy those characters being more comfortable, especially around friends and loved ones, but they shouldn't change entirely how they are and still seem "reserved". and I think leonard nimoy especially did well in that, even if this script gave him some out of character lines I think (like the "damn you, sir!"). have I already mentioned I think leonard nimoy is the best actor in tos…?

speaking of spock's rebirth and rethinking, I do see him being more open with kirk (I almost wrote jim, but that feels weird) and they had very much a married couple vibe in this movie. even the little maritial crisis in the brig was there. so I'd like to think kirk finally made a commitment :) and while there were not too many one on one scenes with these two, the next to last scene was more than one could wish for, spirk-wise. their intense eye contact and "please captain, not in front of the klingons" while standing extremely close to one another and kirk grabbing spock. like I've seen so many posts that shatner denies there was anything between kirk and spock, but the way he played kirk, I mean come on. I'm sure there wasn't a direction in the script that said "kirk stares lovingly up at spock". but he fully did in this scene! we have proof! and kirk holding on for dear life to spock as he rescues him with the turbo boots in the jeffries tube was also something. I mean of course you need to hold on, but kirk was embracing spock with a closeness different than mccoy did. (but then there is this strange thing with mccoy, where I keep thinking: is he third wheeling or is this a three way relationship? I somehow can't see mccoy fitting in with kirk and spock's romantic vibe and I don't see him in an erotic way in general but… tumblr is giving me ideas...)

a very long winded post to say: superfluous, but overall enjoyable movie. while watching, I also suddenly had flashbacks that this was the first (!) piece of star trek that I had ever (consciously) watched. it was on tv when I was like 10 and I kept zapping away and was surprised when it was still going and was like: isn't this supposed to be a tv show? and my dad, who grew up watching tos, had no memory of there ever being star trek movies in the 80s. he also had never heard of pretty much any star trek shows after tos at that point, so he was living under a rock, apparently. anyway, some of the scenes of this movie were really etched into my mind and I honestly think one of the subconscious reasons I wanted to watch tos was to get context to these scenes! (of course besides me wanting to watch all of star trek from the beginning.)

[physalian]

Narrative Framing Devices

This is a long one…

A story need not be told chronologically, nor does it have to be only one layer deep. There’s a ton of different ways to frame your narrative, I’m just picking a couple today, some I thought worked and some I thought didn’t, and my personal favorite.

Most people think of framing devices in terms of time travel stories or fairytales, where it may start in the present or the future and work backwards, giving up the ending before telling how we all got here. Or by chopping up the chronology and letting the audience try to puzzle out the order.

There are also those that break the fourth wall, with the narrator beginning the story directly addressing the audience but never doing so again, or the narrator opening the story telling their own story to a present audience, so we’re the audience behind the fictional audience.

The other obligatory framing device is the time-skip, a la “6 years later” or “8 months later”. I’ve already talked about those. Or the preface/preamble/prologue that may spoil some important event later in the story, or is simply an important moment or montage of moments to catch the reader up on “how did we get here”. Shoutout to Castlevania for the most efficient pilot episode I have ever seen, with a 1 year timeskip.

Also honorable mention to the “A Life in the Day” montage from Magicians, speedrunning decades of a life together between two characters stuck in a Situation, maybe 60 years? Key moments between the two having a whole romance, with a kid and grandkids, over the course of one beautiful bit of soundtrack. One of the best episodes in the show, for a sequence that only lasted a little over 5 minutes.

—

Story within a Story | Princess Bride, "Ember Island Players"

Best example I can think of, specifically the film, which is based on a book that already incepts itself. The movie opens with a regular kid being read the book The Princess Bride by his grandfather, and occasionally cutting between the kid’s reactions and the fantasy story with the actors.

There’s several moments where the grandfather either loses his place and rereads a scene that replays the same dialogue, or skips a scene in the “kissing book” because his grandson gets squirmy, and moments where the grandfather narrates over a couple montages.

Princess Bride is one of those movies that knows exactly what it is and isn’t trying to be something it’s not. It’s self-aware and loudly and proudly sincere, with one of the best revenge arcs ever put to film.

Recap episodes can either be clipshows or get really creative like ATLA, telling the series recap through the medium of a propagandized play about the Avatar's journey, performed by actors of the Fire Nation. The Gaang sits there in vague states of discomfort, horror, or in Toph and Sokka's case, thrilling enjoyment, watching their hardships and heartbreaks played for laughs. That it's the story we know, but also with the added filter of it being enemy propaganda takes what could have been just a clipshow and still told multiple layers of a story with it.

The Fourth-Wall Break | Riordan-verse, Deadpool

“Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood” defined a generation. It’s one of those fourth wall breaks that opens up the story and never appears again, though occasionally Percy will get slightly self-aware, saying things like “I didn’t know it then, but I’d never come back here”. But for PJO it almost doesn’t count.

Kane Chronicles on the other hand chose a bizarre framing device, having the two leads pretend to host a radio show, or a podcast—something where they were recording themselves and I don’t think it worked very well whenever it popped up and stopped the plot.

Shoutout to Tangled, too, for having a fairytale style fourth-wall break at the end, much like KC, where Flynn reveals that Rapunzel has been listening to him tell their story the entire time. Many fairytale stories open up with the physical book flipping open to the story, like Shrek and Shrek 2, but I don’t think those are translatable to the written medium very well.

The big one, though, is of course Deadpool. Have not seen the second one, and while ‘breaking the fourth wall’ isn’t by itself a framing device, DP & Wolverine absolutely makes it one, fast forwarding and jumbling up the sequence of events to deliver a “how did we get here?” during the opening credits.

Chronology Salad | Memento, Predestination

Have not actually seen Memento but I know the premise, working backwards as the protagonist recovers his memory of “how did we get here?” Predestination is a batshit insane time travel story that I don’t think most people have even heard of and detailing the plot at all is giving spoilers but it is the most “how the fuck did we get here??” movie I have ever seen.

Then you have stories like Twilight that open with “I’ve never given much thought to how I would die” that spoils (kind of) the ending, with the goal of the story not detailing if something bad will happen, but how. Twilight’s prologue reminds me of The Bachelor, where they’ll tease the audience with *shocking* moments completely out of context from later in the season that are way less cool when they actually come to pass (from the one time I watched with relatives out of morbid curiosity).

The point of these chronological mixups is how all the random puzzle pieces fit together, despite essentially spoiling themselves constantly, they’re so random, so out of place, meant to keep you constantly guessing until the big reveal of the picture on the box—and are extremely tricky to do well without completely losing your audience. You’d have to have a very thorough outline to not confuse yourself while trying to write it.

Honorary mention here for Inception, one of my favorite sci-fi movies, because the plot is crazy, but still told chronologically, just across different dream levels. However, the movie does open with the ending scene (though you don’t know that on your first watch). And Tenet, but I don’t know anyone who likes or cares about that movie.

Dual Timelines | Outlander

There are others I just cannot think of them at this moment. Dual timelines tell two stories simultaneously across two different eras, either decades apart or mere hours, with some relation between the two. Sometimes one timeline’s protagonist is the ancestor of the present timeline, for example.

Dual Timelines happen in sequential order, making them distinct from a flashback arc (more below) essentially two chronological plots running in tandem squished into the same book, episode, or film. They carry equal weight and try not to overshadow each other in flair or importance.

In Outlander, Protagonist Claire is already a time traveler, in a time travel story whose rules are “whatever happened, happened, and you end up causing whatever you tried to prevent”. Season 2 opens with her returning to the present, leaving the entire rest of the season with a foreboding sense of dread, wondering what will get her back to that moment.

Season 3 dangles the carrot on the stick, randomly cutting between Claire in the 60s and trying to move on with her life for… I think 20 years, while Jaime, her love interest from the past, just keeps getting kicked while he’s down. It takes forever to get these two back on screen together. And the dual timelines continue taking up screen time when Claire and Jaime’s adult daughter also eventually makes a trip to the past. Points off for being blatantly manipulative storytelling with its cliffhangers, but season 1 is still worth the watch.

Flashbacks, Flash-Forwards, and Flash-Sideways | Lost

This show’s earlier seasons were heavily framed with this device. In The first 3 seasons (up to the last episode) the framing device was exclusively flashbacks, focusing on one of the main 13 heroes for an episode, particularly in season 1.

They didn’t always answer “how did we get here” but told some story relevant to the character in the present, either a challenge they had to face or parallel relationship drama or ghosts come back to haunt them. Usually, these little flashbacks were told in sequential order, but they could hop months or years ahead at a time depending on the episode.

The flash-forwards began in season 4 and closed the gap between the “Oceanic 6” escaping the island and all the missing time while they were gone, before the infamous “We have to go back” line.

The show also had flash-sideways, which featured the main cast, many of whom had been dead for a few seasons, reprising their roles to show what could have been their lives if they never crashed. To… mixed reception.

The show also also had a time-traveling character who in-universe experienced flashes of the future and got mentally temporally displaced between two timelines for a hot minute.

Lost was… a show that demanded a dedicated following. I still love it.

Flashback Arcs | My own personal soapbox

This right here is the whole reason for this post. First you have flashback episodes and I can name a lot of those—ATLA has a couple, “The Storm” & “The Avatar and the Firelord” but both are technically “stories within a story” with characters either around a campfire telling it or reading about it. The alternate timeline takes up a majority of the runtime, only occasionally cutting back to the present characters for a reaction.

In TFP there’s an offbeat flashback episode “Out of the Past”, framed, again, as a character telling this backstory stuff to another character. Many, many vampire stories will have flashbacks to some degree, since their characters live for so long. Vampire Diaries, especially in the earlier seasons, had dozens of them filling in all the blanks back during the Civil War when the two leads, Stefan and Damon, were competing for the affections of the main villain, all leading up to how they were turned, and how she allegedly died. Once the Originals were introduced, the show then had flashbacks to a thousand years ago, when they were human, and various eras in between.

True flashback episodes don’t waste precious minutes setting up a framing device, they just dump the audience in an alternate timeline and let them figure it out on their own that something isn’t right.

But none of that comes close to the full-on Flashback Arc. I. Love. This. Trope.

I actually first saw it when Arrow was good in its earliest seasons, cutting fairly equally between a present-day Oliver back home and starting his hero journey, and him learning combat back in the past, over several episodes like a series within the series.

What you end up with is a happy medium between a full dual timeline and a random grab-bag of flashbacks as they become necessary to the plot. A flashback arc relies entirely on the existence of the A-plot to make sense, as opposed to a dual timeline where it’s essentially two self-sufficient stories rolled into one big narrative. This arc is substantially shorter than the rest of the plot, cutting the story it’s telling down to the absolute need-to-know moments and cutting all transitions between the two. These arcs tend to cover weeks, at minimum, and decades of a long life at most.

I think they're best implimented after the first book, film, or season. Not something you want to throw at your audience who barely knows or cares about these characters, so if you're stuck with ideas for a sequel, consider the Flashback Arc.

My favorite thing that I have ever written (sans ENNS) was for my sci-fi WIP, a C-plot flashback arc in 13 parts. They started out as in-universe nightmares to give credibility to when these flasbacks started occuring, framed around the character's reaction to the scene, but then took off independently to avoid redundancy.

This arc covered his time as a POW, telling the reader how he came to be the living weapon he was, and the first detail it opened with was the reveal that he wasn’t the only one of his kind, he’d lied and shouldered the blame of every atrocity to protect the others, as their numbers dwindled and it all fell into place. A truth he wouldn't tell with a gun to his head.

Because you already knew he lived, because he’s right there in the present A-plot, the arc wasn’t telling you if he’d survive the war, but what he’d do to survive, and how it all fell apart. Because it was framed up with the existing narrative, I had a lot more leeway in omitting details and dropping the reader weeks or months ahead as opposed to this being a completely fresh story with new characters. You knew immediately based on the tone that this POV was the C-plot flashback POV, and you knew the only person who could narrate it was my poor character.

Over 13 POVS, 34k words (of a total whopping 202k), I told a whole love story, established and killed off 10 characters, and gave heaps of worldbuilding lore and exposition to fill in all the blanks in the present and answer questions that this character would never, and revealed just how much he lied about and why.

All of this tied in with the A-plot, staggering the physical placement of POVS within the book to hit at the right moments tonally and as the character’s condition kept deteriorating because he refused to talk about What Happened. His reason was that he’d done all of this and suffered so much to keep their legacies pure. If he gave it up now, he would have done all this for nothing.

And this was some heavy shit. There was murder, suicide, death by giant alien super robots fond of ripping people apart, assault, mercy killing, torture, gaslighting, and psychological horror. One of my magic systems let magicians regrow limbs alchemically, which meant they could endure a shit ton of pain and just get reset to do it all over again.

It was a lot.

But because it was just in flashbacks, I gave you just enough dark shit before cutting back to something marginally lighter, not just one long slog of misery. There was also the unknown of how quickly it would end. The book would end when you hit the last page, but you had no idea which flashback POV would be the last.

And also.

I got to flex my writing skills to the fullest, writing this character’s flashback POV in a completely different tone and style to make it that much more distinct from the rest of the present book.

ENNS’ sequel is very much under construction, but the one thing already polished is a flashback episode packed into one chapter for one of my characters. It’s perfectly knife-twisty and I can't wait for people to read it.

—

There’s dozens of framing devices out there. Most important thing, I think, is not sacrificing audience understanding for the sake of something ‘cool’. Doesn’t matter how amazing the story is if your audience gets completely lost and confused trying to keep up with what’s going on.

If you'd like to check out my book, Eternal Night of the Northern Sky is available now!

[buthowboutno]

ONE YEAR OF "AND THEY WERE LAB PARTNERS" ✨✨✨

Thank you to everyone who participated in the one year anniversary poll!! I still maintain that it would be funny as /fuck/ to just delete “And They Were Lab Partners” in a memento mori fashion, but alas; Only one person voted for it.

Cowards /j

In any case, the majority voted for the behind the scenes stuff, so here we are! The tidbits of how ATWLP turned into the fucking beast it is.

I would like to personally blame @morning-sun-brah , @hitechlatte, and @ordin-arily for being such big inspirations in this corner of the fandom. You guys are amazing and I probably wouldn't be where I am today without your works.

Shout out to all my losers in the backrooms for keeping me going and being such terrible influences. You are all responsible for the horrors that have been unleashed. A solid third of my content exists because of your sins /aff. 

@beckerboopin is the best beta anyone could ask for and has only brought this story up to the next level. I would die for you becks <3

Also @betyoudidntcthatcoming-blog is the love of my life that I only met ‘cause of this fic or whatever. They’re pretty neat. I guess. :p

ANYWAYS, /CONTENT/

(Major Spoilers Ahead Pre-Chapter 23)

—

I would like to remind everyone that ATWLP was only supposed to be 50k words. You can still witness my naivety in the notes of “Pudge ‘Preciation.” 

How… simple those times were. 

How I so firmly believed the idiots would be kissing by chapter 16. How a projected word count of 150k words seemed unfathomable for a single work, much less a work with multiple published and planned companion pieces.

Crazy. (I was crazy once.)

There was a lot of ATWLP that ended up getting scrapped as I got further into the story. The idiots had a lot of opinions and tugged at me a few different ways as I got to know them better. (aka they wouldn’t listen to me when I told them to fucking kiss already.)

Anyways, some of the few major structural changes:

Casey was originally supposed to reveal that he knew Sweet’s in the bad timeline during the “Intro to Sparring” chapter. That chapter was also originally slotted to happen /before/ the kidnapping debacle, but it just so happened to fit in better later

The stage kiss from “Hit the Club” was going to be in the Nerd Prom chapter. It felt too corny at the time (and lowkey still feels corny) so I put that in my pocket for later. For as much as y’all yelled at me for it, it barely made the final cut lmao.

The way the idiots are going to confess to each other is a COMPLETE 180 from how I planned the story from the beginning, which was already entirely different from the first idea for this fic. I wrote a whole ass chapter about an accidental kiss being the tipping point of them positively macking on each other, which I did end up cutting into convenient pieces for other stuff. (I PUT A PART OF IT DOWN BELOW)

Sweets was going to be kidnapped twice and the whole Purple Dragons debacle was going to be drawn out more. There was a lot more action planned than slice of life content at ATWLP’s conception. For better or for worse, this is where the story led us.

Donnie’s mating season wasn’t going to be as involved in the story, if in it at all. I grew to be hornier and less ashamed. You’re welcome.

The first title for this fic was “Lab Rat: a Story of Nerds Falling in Love.” For the life of me I cannot remember what compelled me to change it, but holy shit am I glad I did.

I was going to use (y/n) in this fic. No hate to those who do, but stylistically I’m pretty happy with not doing that.

And because I have no control over the idiots, quick rundown of the chapters that weren’t supposed to happen.

Kart Conflict

The Christmas Issue

The Recovery: Day Two 

Valentine’s Day Episode

Hit the Club

Aquarium? Hardly Know ‘Em

****Pool Excursion

****Beach Episodes

****honestly just like the entire endgame of this fic

All the ficlets/ alternate POV’s

All the smut! I still have it written down in my original notes that ATWLP was gonna be completely PG lmao. Once again y’all have @morning-sun-brah and her fucking fabulous fics to blame for that

The Valentines’ and aquarium chapters are COMPLETELY different than how I had originally planned, even with being forced to include them in my chart. The Valentine’s day plans that the brothers had “ditched” with Sweets was the og plot for the chapter. The aquarium chapter was supposed to be a rooftop picnic with feels~~, no aquarium even fucking mentioned in my outline.

I don’t have much control over what happens tbh. I am praying that the 37 planned chapters will be the final chapters. 

We’ll…. we’ll just have to see how that turns out.

The scrapped plots as a little treat for y’all <3 ~~~

Cut Stage Kiss (after the lift in Nerd Prom)

You leaned closer to Donnie’s face, intent on screeching in his ear for pulling that stunt.

“Kiss them already!” May yelled from the inner edge of the crowd. You turned bright red, blinking at her. You shook your head at her, but the crowd started to catch onto the idea. 

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

Donnie laughed, a little incredulous. He leaned in close to your ear, whispering, “Theatre kid protocol?”

You nodded in agreement, allowing him to put a hand to your face. He leans into your mouth, making the crowd go wild. You giggle against the thumb separating your lips, smiling against it. Donnie pulled away from you with a dramatic ‘mwah’. You threw your head back, fully laughing as Donnie lifted you up from the dip. 

First Valentine’s Day Outline

The final four move to the living room

Sweets: “We’re making friendship bracelets while we watch the most romantic movie of all time.”

Raph: “Shrek 2!”

Donnie: “This is ridiculous”

Sweets: “This holiday is ridiculous, now pick out your five favourite colors of embroidery floss”

Donnie: “....Fine."

Donnie is actually terrible at making bracelets lmao while mikey has wristfuls of them

Donnie: “I don’t understand! I’m following the blueprints exactly!”

Mikey: “The... instructions?”

Donnie: “Whatever! How are you making those so fast? You don’t even have that many friends!”

Mikey: “Physical therapy is a hell of a time, my brother.”

Sweets: “Is Donnie being ableist again?”

Mikey: “I do believe he is.”

Donnie: “I am autistic!”

Sweets: “Bless you.”

ORIGINAL CONFESSION

And it all starts like most things in your life do: a silly mistake.

“Donnie,” you whined. You were working on your physics homework at his desk while he was soldering a new motherboard for the Turtle Tank’s controls.

“Little pest,” he mimicked your tone without looking up. He kept on soldering as you stared at him, not a care in the world. 

“Would you be so kind as to look over my work for this problem? I’m following the steps but I’m not getting the right answer.”

“Mmm,” Donnie said. At that moment, a spark flew from his project and caught his exposed cheek. He flinched back, dropping his wire and soldering rod on the table and rubbing his face. You batted your eyes at him while he scowled. 

“I don’t know how, but I blame you for that.”

“I would *never*,” you teased. You pushed your chair to the side a bit so Donnie could stand next to you. 

He moved his goggles to his head and put his left arm over the back of your chair, leaning over you. He parsed through your work for a minute and tilted his head down to tell you what you needed to fix.

It just so happened that you tilted your head up to ask him a question at the same time, the two of you meeting in the middle with a kiss. 

Well, it wasn’t so much of a kiss as it was the two of you accidentally brushing your lips together for a moment. Seconds, almost nothing at all. 

But the way that Donnie looked at you when the two of you jumped apart…

That…that wasn’t nothing. 

You could almost laugh at the ridiculousness of this situation. You could’ve cracked a joke, played up your ridiculous game of pet names and intellectual bravado. 

(To be honest, you almost did.)

But then you thought about the way Donnie’s lips felt against yours. You thought about the way you’d dream of that moment and then proceed to do everything in your power to banish those thoughts away. Your mouth hung open slightly as you looked up at him, trying to will yourself to do anything, anything at all.

Donnie ended up making that decision for you. That oh, so familiar churring started emanating from his chest. He took your face in his hands, looking into your eyes for just a hint of confirmation before leaning in for a real kiss.

Oh.

*Oh*.

(Yeah, you could get used to this.)

There was nothing more you could do than press yourself against him, against his touch. You felt him smiling into the kiss, pressing you down into the chair. 

Donnie was *everywhere*, like he was trying to encompass you. His hand moved to your hair, the other to your hip. You smiled when you remembered his adoration for your love-handles all that time ago. You traced along his plastron, making nonsense shapes and mapping out every scar.

He was so responsive. The chirring increased tenfold for every touch to his chest, every soft bite you gave his lips. You recalled all the times he would make noises from you touching along his shell. You pressed your hands fully against him, doing your best to draw out more and more of those sounds.

What Donnie lacked in experience he made up for in enthusiasm. He followed your lead, matching your pace every step of the way. You licked along the seam of his lips, gasping as his mouth opened for you. Donnie’s tongue against yours was tentative, shy even. You did everything in your power to ease Donnie into deepening the kiss. 

When he moved from your lips and started kissing down your throat, your soul could have left your body right there. He was so…*gentle*. 

Donnie always has been. From when he was slinging his arms around you to kicking your ass in sparring, Donnie has never failed to treat you with care and reverence. 

You feel it now, with every soft bite he gives you, every gentle peck behind your ear.

Donnie pulled away from you after what felt like decades. (Never enough, it would never be enough.) You leaned forward after him, trying to close the space he was creating. He looked bashful.

“This might be the proper time to tell you that I have a massive crush on you,” Donnie said. His face was fraught with nervous determination. 

“Yeah, no fucking shit,” you said. You stood up from the chair and used your body to push Donnie against the desk. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, pulling him down to your height.

“I’ve been wanting to kiss you for forever, can we get on with it?” you said, looking into his eyes. Donnie turned bright red.

“But– you? Do you?” Donnie stammered a bit.

“Donnie,” you deadpanned, crowding into his space, “I’ve had a crush on you for a year, thanks for noticing. Will you *please* lean your face down a bit so I can reach it?” 

Donnie looked at you a bit incredulously, like you were a problem he didn’t know how to solve yet. He made quite a picture, all red faced and calculating with a dumb half-smile while he looked at you. But, giving in, he put his arms around you and leaned in to kiss you again.

“Aye, aye, captain.”

You smiled into the kiss, humming with contentment.

He likes you.

He likes you.

—

Aaaaand some random headcanons because I love you guys and I am truly so thankful to this kickass community <3 I truly do not know where I would be without the support y’all have given me.

Donnie has a hella oral fixation

NOT IN A KINKY WAY (most of the time) But as an autist, Donnie do be biting

One of his biggest shows of trust if he bites you while just chilling

Like if donnie is big spoon, he just nom on a shoulder and stay there chillin

Or if reader is body pillow, he’ll lean around and bite their bicep

Good sensations

Donnie draws on eyebrows every day, he for sure would be very good at doing intricate makeup on reader

Gently holds their chin up, concentrated as hell while reader blushes like mad

Donnie keeps getting banned off of roblox

Didn’t matter tbh, he knew how to hack into it to get his account reinstated

Also makes money off of roblox??

never explains to Sweets, very suspicious

Sweets likes to kiss along donnie’s neck/where his battle shell usually sits

The word here is reverence

Donnie is egotistical, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have insecurities about being a mutant turtle and you being a human

Lots of tracing along his arms, his face, his shell

Donnie likes his coffee to be half coffee, half milk to cut down on bitterness. Sweets is a tea drinker normally, but opts for coffee when they can’t focus (which ends up being most of the semester).

Sweets drinks black coffee when they’re on the struggle bus

To quote them, “Black coffee can’t hurt me more than Calc II already has”

But they prefer two creamers and two sugars when they have it in their dorm.

That’s all, congrats on making it to the bottom of this long ass post lmao <3

[humbledragon669]

S1E5 – The Doomsday Option Write Up P1 - Saturday (The last day of the World) up to "the wiggle on"

Let’s just get stuck straight in with this episode, shall we? Because that’s exactly what the episode itself does – we’re not really given any clues to remember where it is we’re picking up from (and given the way the previous episode’s events were stitched together, that’s a little surprising). So what do we have? Crowley, looking stony faced, driving in his usual fashion. Oh, and the Bentley has chosen to play Queen’s “You’re My Best Friend” as he speeds around London’s crowded roads. Maybe there is a little clue there after all. And when things are made more explicit for us, we’re shown that Crowley is trying to reach Aziraphale:

Aside from the fact that the number has been labelled as Aziraphale’s “work” number (which makes me wonder if there’s also a “home” contact somewhere in Crowley’s phone), the picture in the background is one of flames. I’m pretty sure Crowley wouldn’t have done that himself – it’s my thinking that this is foreshadowing for him, so it’s no wonder he’s driving as fast as he possibly can to get to the book shop.

Moving on, to Crowley’s entrance into the bookshop. There are two things I’d like to pick up on from his actual entrance. The first is that we see him miracle the door both open and closed, but for the first time there is no accompanying miracle noise, of any variety. There’s the noise of the bell on the door ringing, but no miracle sound effect. This is perhaps simply because there’s a lot of other noise and music going on at the same time, but it just struck me as odd because it’s different. The other thing I want to pick up on, which is still to do with the soundtrack, is that the Bentley’s choice of music follows Crowley into the bookshop, now playing in an off-kilter way via a warped record on Aziraphale’s gramophone. I think this opens up a really interesting can of worms about the reason behind pieces of music transforming into something else, but I want to give it some proper thought and time so I think I’ll write a dedicated post about it.

Now, the collective heart of the fandom breaks more than a little bit when Crowley storms into the bookshop screaming Aziraphale’s name without considering his own safety, right? How about when, for the first time in the season, refers to Aziraphale as his best friend in an angry tirade of abuse once he realises he’s not there in the shop anymore? The fact that he somehow senses that Aziraphale isn’t there is one thing, but have a little think about this: if it hasn’t already occurred to you, this will be the first time in 6000 years that Crowley has rushed to Aziraphale’s rescue and been too late. That particular gem of understanding came to me as I was writing this, and honestly it destroyed me more than a little bit. Crowley’s ability to sense Aziraphale’s absence however allows him to move straight from denial to anger in the stages of grief, and boy is he pissed.

Right before we go into the opening credits for this episode (is this the shortest opening sequence for the series? It’s less than 2 minutes long!), we see Adam again, and there is no doubt that the Hellish powers that reside within him are taking control. If the glowing red eyes weren’t enough (I’m sure his eyes would have matched Dog’s if he hadn’t already eroded all the evil away from the Hellhound), the colour has all been washed out of this scene. It feels really grey and quite lifeless, in contrast to the bright and natural tones from previous scenes in the same place.

Now, Crowley’s exit from the book shop. As with his entrance, there’s no miracle sound as the doors open or close. Perhaps more importantly, it doesn’t actually look like Crowley does anything to close the doors as he leaves the shop. There’s no clicking of the fingers as we’re used to seeing – those doors close entirely on their own. Forcefully. There’s maybe a slightly forceful shoulder movement that coincides with the doors slamming, but that could just be Crowley’s signature swagger. Food for thought I think, it might be something I’ll look into in a bit more detail when I explore the music stuff I mentioned earlier. And speaking of music, how truly appropriate it is that we’re now treated to Queen’s “Somebody To Love”? Because with Aziraphale gone, Crowley has nobody to love anymore does he? And he is devastated about it. So devastated he takes his glasses off in public (which I think is the only time we ever see this happen).

As an aside, I noticed a couple of frames during this rewatch where the sign above the door of the bookshop is slightly obscured, and you can only really make out the “C” of the “Co”.

I’ve known the sign says “A.Z. Fell and Co” for a while, and wondered what the purpose of the “and Co” part of the title was (because of course we know that there are no other business partners involved in the running of the book shop), but it was only on this rewatch that the penny dropped. Having an “and Co” at the end, if you shorten the title to its component parts, gives you “A and C”. And didn’t I feel like a dumbass when I realised that one. It’s been staring us in the face the whole time, written above the bookshop entrance – a declaration of the partnership. I do not believe it to be a coincidence that the name written on the sheet for the telemarketer later in the episode is Cowwley, providing a further connection to the “and Co” reference. And did you notice the response Crowley gave the firefighter when asked he was the owner of the bookshop?

Do I look like I run a bookshop?

Oh Crowley. He didn’t ask you if you ran it, he asked you if you owned it. More food for thought.

I don’t have a lot to say about the next scene with Shadwell and Madame Tracy, other than to point out that we have another instance of the episode title being referred to within the scene itself – Shadwell refers to himself as “the Doomsday Option”. And although we have a direct reference to the lurid pink whip that he finds buried within the mountain of soft toys (and you have to love the whipcrack sound we hear on exiting this scene to go with this discovery), nothing is ever said about the fluffy pink handcuffs equally hidden in plain sight:

Quick question about Aziraphale’s arrival in Heaven. What’s the issue with his leg? As soon as he tries to walk on it, he calls attention to it in what appears to be pain. Not only did we not see anything happen to his leg in his discorporation scene, but technically he no longer possesses a body and in theory shouldn’t feel pain at all.

Do you remember all the way back in episode 3 when I mentioned that Aziraphale was the only one of the angels to be wearing any sort of colour or pattern, indicating that it was perhaps his own personal touch rather than part of a Heavenly uniform? No? Well, let me refresh your memory:

Well, now that he has arrived in Heaven without his human body or clothing and somewhat against his will, his trademark tartan touches have disappeared. His clothes are all varying shades or white and cream, with no colours or patterns, further strengthening the point I made when I brought it up previously. And regardless of how unwillingly he arrived in Heaven, it appears that his superiors were always adamant that he was going to be turning up – they’ve allocated him a platoon. As much as I know that Aziraphale can be an absolute kickass when he needs to be, the idea of him being in charge of soldiers at war at this point just feels laughable to me. And his confused expression would suggest he feels the same way.

And perhaps the reason Aziraphale was limping towards the dispensing table after his arrival was because he doesn’t seem to know he is no longer in possession of an actual human body?

We’re about to get something we’ve been waiting for for quite a while. Aziraphale has finally come to terms with the fact that he isn’t on one particular side just because that’s where other beings expect him to be.

These couple of lines say so much to me about where Aziraphale’s morality lies at this moment in the timeline. He cannot renounce his angelic nature – it’s what he is after all – but he can reject what other beings believe that nature should consist of. It must hurt him to declare himself a pathetic example of what he is, particularly when he has always prided himself in actually being a very good example of a Heavenly being, of being “Good”. And we as the audience know that his nature is more in keeping with what we would like to believe Heavenly beings would be like – compassionate, caring, and kind. But really it’s Aziraphale’s free will that makes him all of these things – the one thing he told the archangels in the previous episode was something that wasn’t for angels, only for humans.

One last thing about this scene, and I’m sorry (not sorry), but it’s sound related again. There’s a little harp glissando and accompanying noise (two in fact) in the soundtrack to signify that Aziraphale has had an idea. It’s not dissimilar to the noise we hear when he does a miracle. I don’t think there’s anything important about it, I just like to draw attention to the little details sometimes.

What I do think is important is that Aziraphale’s realisation is that the powers of angels and demons are not actually very dissimilar, and may even be the same. It’s not really highlighted too much, but ultimately I think the main difference between the powers that angels and demons have isn’t capability but intent.

I’m going to skip quickly over the next scene in the woods because… well, see, here’s the thing. I don’t like it when things… don’t look right. I know, I know, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Let me try and phrase it a bit better. The shots of The Them when they either don’t have a mouth or where their smiles are stretched too far for their faces FREAK ME THE FUCK OUT. Like, remember when people had those filters for Snapchat where they switched faces? That was a dreadful time for me. They didn’t look right. So I don’t like this scene in the woods. Let’s move on. Quickly.

Now we all know how much love birds get in this series. Ducks, swans, nightingales, even the occasional lark. Which is why my attention was drawn to the singular bird singing in the background during the scene in Anathema’s bedroom. It stood out to me because it wasn’t that long ago that a tornado was blowing right outside the window, and now you can hear a bird singing (if you listen really carefully). I am no birdsong expert, and I can barely hear it as it is, but if anybody can figure out what kind of bird it is, I’d be interested to know. It might be nothing, just some ambient noise from filming, but birds offer such prominent subtextual meaning in this series I’m not sure. Birdsong aside, the discussion between Anathema and Newt raises an interesting point for discussion around Aziraphale’s perception of humans having free will because it would appear that Anathema doesn’t have any – her entire life is lived by writings put down by a descendant hundreds of years previously. I suppose we could argue that she has free will in her choice to follow her pre-destined destiny instead of fighting it and making her own decisions, but I think it’s pretty clear that Anathema doesn’t feel like she has a choice, and that’s really what’s important.

Alright, let’s go find what Crowley’s up to, shall we? Well first off, he’s just ordering his third bottle of Talisker. Not glass; bottle. Which the landlord appears to be very happy to serve him despite the fact that he is absolutely shitfaced. And that he’s ordering it by the bottle. We see Crowley at his most vulnerable in this scene, only really equalled in the Final 15, but at least here his vulnerability is cushioned with a big cloud of drunkenness. We do learn a few things about Crowley’s fall in his drunken ramblings, not least that he was bored in Heaven. The way he sees it, he just joined up with a couple of the cool kids to ask some questions about his job. There’s actually a little bit of extra dialogue in the script book about this:

They say, hey, Crowley, my man, we’re just on our way to discuss the whole job conditions and career advancements thing.

That’s not quite how Heaven tells their side of the story – according to them it was a rebellion with an accompanying war. I’d quite like to know which side has a more accurate memory of the events. Either way, Crowley’s verbal spewing at this point shows us how genuinely destroyed he is at what happened to him as a result of his questioning. Hearing his voice crack during “sulphur” tears me to pieces every time – it’s genuinely devastating. And the way he says Aziraphale’s name when he sees him “sitting” right across the table from him (his arrival announced with one of those stock miracle noises you’ll notice)? How much joy and hope (and love)? Something you can see mirrored in Aziraphale’s expression in the reflection in Crowley’s glasses.

It's pretty obvious that Aziraphale can’t see Crowley in this scene, which just makes the angst run that little bit higher. But at least they can hear each other, and the first thing the angel says sounds almost like an apology:

I’m afraid I’ve rather made a mess of things.

His next thought, despite being extremely short on time to avert Armageddon at this point, is to determine whether Crowley has left without him or not. It’s pretty clear he doesn’t really want to ask the question, fearful of the answer I suspect, and what it would mean for them. Crowley’s got this handled though: a bit of nonchalance to try to cancel out the grief he’s really feeling.

Good job Aziraphale can’t see his face crumple at that point isn’t it? Can’t do much about the voice thick with tears though. I’m not ashamed to say that I misheard Crowley’s line the first time I watched this scene, and when I listened back I’m not surprised I misheard, because to me “lost” in this line doesn’t sound a million miles away from “love”. Deliberately contentious or not, Aziraphale definitely clocks the use of the phrase “best friend”, and you can see (and hear) how touched he is, because Crowley really can only be talking about him.

The angel deals with this revelation in the only way we Brits know how – by putting on a stiff upper lip, ignoring the sentimentality, and getting down to business (well, he is trying to prevent the end of the World I suppose). Poor Crowley is having a genuinely terrible day at this point isn’t he? First his attempt to rescue Aziraphale failed for the first time in 6000 years and now he has to tell the angel that his beloved book shop is burned down. The expression on his face shows how sorry he is to have give Aziraphale the bad news:

Oh, it’s genuinely awful watching Crowley trying to avoid saying the words that he knows Aziraphale will be destroyed by. Hardly surprising when you consider the look of utter devastation on Aziraphale’s face when he asks if it’s all gone.

Crowley tries to find a positive to balance the negative out with, desperate to satisfy Aziraphale’s pleading, but knows there isn’t one. It takes him three attempts to give a simple “yes” answer. And just as we’re all about to start sobbing uncontrollably at this uncharacteristic display of emotional availability from both the angel and demon, spurred on by the horrible injustice of it all that Aziraphale can’t see Crowley and the world being about to end, the mood is lifted at exactly the right moment by the demon’s uncontrollable joy that he, somewhat miraculously, took the one book that he needed as a “souvenir”.

Happy as Aziraphale is that Crowley has the book, it’s pretty obvious that he wants Crowley to be proud of him for working everything out, but Crowley is so desperate to get to the angel that he misses his prompt. It’s very reassuring for us to see that they settle back into their old dynamic of not really listening to each other, and feeling mutually very comfortable with that, regardless of the pressing circumstances and the painful encounters that they’ve been through together in the last 24 hours.

Can we just take a moment to appreciate that Crowley doesn’t wait to be asked to help Aziraphale, or hesitate to pick up his mantle as knight in shining armour? He tells the angel that “wherever” he is, he’ll go to him. That is one devoted demon right there.

And so we arrive at what I think is probably my favourite exchange in the whole of this season. I’m actually not going to delve deep into this interaction because I don’t really think anybody needs me to spell out the double entendres screaming from the subtext here. I tried, multiple times, to put into writing what exactly it was about this little handful of lines that I love so much, and every time I tried I just felt like I was devaluing the whole thing, so I’m just going to put a GIF here instead and you can watch it on a loop as many times as you like (I certainly have). Obviously, there’s no sound, but if you’re anything like me, you can probably hear the soundtrack in your head anyway.

That feels like a pretty good place to stop for this part to me. As always, questions, comments, discussion, all welcome. See you next time 😊

[mann-walter]

Thomas Cromwell’s Lack of Wife Problem

I just finished episodes 2 and 3 and was going back and forth on whether to make the reviews joint or not. Eventually, I opted to not combine the reviews because I wanted to focus on different things. Matter of fact, I think I will not be writing strictly about the whole of each episode, but rather zooming in on things I find interesting in each. For example, the aftermath of Cromwell’s wife's, Liz, death in episode two.

I will say without shame that to me, episode 2 is entirely about two things: the increasing hopelessness of Wolsey’s case and Cromwell’s lack of a wife. The latter took so much room it felt funny at times. This was of course where we get first glimpses of Jane Seymour and that one grey velvet stroking scene with Mary Boleyn, but also that funny conversation he had with Alice who just asked bluntly why he doesn’t remarry, and with Gardiner about the latter’s love-life.

I see now what y’all have been saying about their chemistry. Sometimes it’s so… comically tense.

But of course, this is also the episode where we get the Cromwell-Johanne arc. There had been hints of it in episode 1 but the tension was much heightened here. Whenever they are together there’s always an air of “would they, won’t they”. It’s sweet, it’s sad, and to an extent, it’s awkward (‘cause, you know, she’s his sister-in-law). That is why, and also because the episode does a good job making us empathetic toward Cromwell—his frustration, his discomfort, his sadness—that the kiss was glorious.

I do not kid when I write I nearly did a victory slide in my room when that came up (I ended up only pausing the episode and blasted “Samba de Janeiro”). It has now entered my book of “Most Glorious and Best Anticipated Kiss Scenes”, standing a little bit lower than that kiss scene at the end of The Rise of Skywalker—I mean, by quality, it should be ranked equally if not higher, but hey, I waited for that damn kiss scene for four years.

A theory though. I think it wasn’t simply put at the end of the episode just to conclude the romantic crescendo. I think it parallels Henry’s dream about his dead brother. Henry was afraid he had done wrong marrying Catherine and being king, he felt like taking what was supposed to be his brother’s. Cromwell later calmed him down and convinced him that Arthur was there to strengthen him in his rule, not convict him. I think that interpretation also works at Cromwell’s home afterward.

There are a couple of things I noticed about this relationship. Both of them obviously had had feelings for one another for some time, Johanne more open about it than Thomas with her halfway kiss on the cheek. But, that one line about her feeling insecure about their wealth (she fears that the prosperous life now will be taken suddenly away, that there will be a “reckoning”), she said “…the things we have now”, made me feel they already had a thing for some time. Maybe I misread it, maybe it was just her depicting how her family’s life is now much better in general and not a specific sense of joint entitlement to wealth and property as in a marriage.

Another thing I’ve noticed about the relationship is how Thomas seems to refer to his sister-in-law as “Liz” later in episode 3 where they’ve kind of settled. Maybe I misheard, it was a very brief moment after all. I doubt people on the production made a mistake. I haven’t read the books so maybe it means something or makes sense because of something, but to me, watching the show, it was kind of strange. Maybe it was to say Thomas hasn’t been over his wife’s death (obviously) and has now picked up this weird coping mechanism.