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bettsfic · 5 years ago

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I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on breaking bad if you feel like sharing!! You're done with it, right?

oh my god thank you for asking. you have no idea how much i want to talk about this show but i’m running in a decade late with starbucks and feel weird just cold posting about it. i just finished the whole series and i watched el camino twice, and i’ve also been catching up on bts stuff and digging through a bit of the meta commentary of the time. i haven’t started BCS but i plan to soon.

first off, when i started watching the show, i realized i actually had seen a bit of it. it turns out i saw the first 3 seasons back in 2011, but it was shortly after my dad had died of cancer, and my boyfriend insisted on watching it. i remember telling him that it made me uncomfortable because it was too close to home. my dad had cancer for 4 years, and mom was going through bankruptcy because of all the medical bills. my boyfriend didn’t care. he made me keep watching, and i guess we broke up before we got to s4. or maybe there were only 3 seasons out at the time. either way, i set it down in 2011 and vowed not to watch it.

then a month or so ago, i finished westworld 3, got obsessed with aaron paul, and decided to give brba another go.

(this gets personal. so putting the rest under a cut!)

so s1 and 2 are solidly okay. the show seemed like it was finding its feet and didn’t know what it wanted to be, a comedy or a tragedy, but i know that feeling and sometimes i really like when stories toe that divide, so i didn’t mind. s1 and 2, i was mostly marveling over how utterly beautiful aaron paul is. my god.

s3 has some major pacing issues (monologues! so many monologues!!), but the show starts to really come into itself and figure out What It Is. i skipped over a lot of stuff after reading wiki summaries, mostly that just seemed like suffer porn and which i knew would dwell a lot in discomfort. then we get to the episode where jesse monologues at walt about how walt ruined his life, and i was just sobbing. i don’t think a tv show has ever made me cry like that. i was ruined.

even if the writing of those seasons isn’t the best, the direction and performances are some of the best i’ve ever seen in television. aaron paul and bryan cranston could read a phonebook at each other and make it compelling.

the entire time, i just wanted jesse and walt to get on each other’s sides and work together. i was in it for the loyalty kink. i had no idea there would be so much angst, and i was veering toward the point of giving up. but i was assured repeatedly by friends that it would get better.

and it did. walt saves jesse. walt fights for jesse. jesse fights for walt. THEY WORK TOGETHER. and more importantly, their relationship starts to get so fucked up, so codependent, so toxic. and not in the way shows usually portray fucked-up relationships, like totally oblivious to its own toxicity. this show leans in. it seems to know the entire time exactly the psychological connotations its evoking, and it does it intentionally. and i really value it for that.

s4 is where the show went from “pretty good” to “holy shit.” i’ve never seen a more accurate and clear portrayal of a narcissist. my triggers are many, varied, and wildly inconsistent, but i was in a state of being mildly triggered for days, and i really appreciated that feeling, that a story could push me that far and make me reflect as deeply as it did. i tend to go wild over anything that can make me feel something, even if it’s bad. most stuff i read and watch just kind of numbs and distracts me. this show wasn’t an escape so much as an assault. and i loved it for that.

my dad was a narcissist, and every interaction between jesse and walt or skyler and walt brought up a thousand memories of things my dad said and did. at one point, when walt is really at his worst, i think around skyler telling him she’s waiting for his cancer to come back, i remember thinking, “if walt were a little bit meaner, he would be just like my dad.”

and oh boy, that thought fucked me up. my dad was worse than the most believably evil character in the history of television. i got diagnosed with ptsd in 2017 and have spent these past 3 years more or less fighting that diagnosis, thinking, “it wasn’t that bad!” because my dad wasn’t physically violent. at least not frequently. and i’ve never been able to articulate what exactly my dad did that was so bad, or how insidious his behavior was. he didn’t cook meth obviously, but he had that false disenfranchisement attitude, that resentfulness that walt has toward his family for taking his greatness from him, that regret at not being more than he was.

but seeing my dad’s behavior playing out on screen, not just accurately but calling it out for exactly as fucked up and toxic as it was -- and how it affects, destroys, all the other characters -- it may have been hard to watch, but i’ve never felt so validated. i finally feel like i’m not faking it anymore or making it up or being dramatic. or, as my dad liked to say, “too sensitive.” i’ve only ever been able to write about my dad in sections, put pieces of him in different characters, because to put him fully into anything, fiction or non, feels like it would completely eject a reader from the story. brba showed me there’s a way to do it, and now i feel inspired to maybe tell that story finally.

so i’m intensely grateful to vince gilligan for making a believable, empathetic (not sympathetic) narcissist, and writing his long and steady decline into evil. on a storytelling level, it was extremely satisfying to watch, because most writers don’t have the patience to stick with evil characters, or really get into their psychology. on a personal level, i feel like i’ve worked through a lot of stuff while watching it, and i feel like a major weight has been lifted.

a lot of mass media is made by people who are just taking jobs and don’t really care about what they’re doing. it’s clear that everyone involved is just looking for a paycheck. but i got the sense the entire time i was watching brba that everyone really loved and believed in what they were doing. there was a carefulness to the story and a sensitivity in it that kept me glued the entire time.

and i won’t even get started with el camino because that’s a whole different rant, involving how in absolute awe i am of aaron paul, but i loved it so so much, and i’m 10k into a post-EC fic that i’m hoping to post in a week or so. (unrelated but i just watched a table reading of a s5 brba episode and aaron paul just WRECKS himself during it. everyone else is kind of panning their lines, but he’s just sitting there SOBBING. i’m glad he won the emmys he deserved for his performance. if anyone wants to come talk to me about aaron paul, i am HERE)

we’ll see how i feel in a year, but as of right now, brba in my top 5 favorite (drama) shows of all time. it’s really rare that i both 1) think show/book/movie is extremely good and 2) get obsessed enough to write fic about it. usually i only write fic about stuff that has unmet potential, and i feel compelled to fix it or use the characters for something else. but in the case of brba, i’m more interested in expansion and homage.

anyway i’m probably going to watch el camino again tonight. happy to take more asks about brba!

#abuse cw #death cw #brba #my meta #Anonymous

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forgedwild-arch · 5 years ago

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one / ( alias / name ): sadie! two / ( date of birth ): november 18th

three / ( zodiac sign ): scorpio sun / libra moon / libra rising. i know all three bc i’m a basic bitch.

four / ( height ): 5′4″. short kings anthem plays in the background.

five / ( hobbies ): oh damn i have quite a few since i made it my new year’s resolution to try some new ones. n i’ve kept my word ! writing is obviously one. reading, gardening, cooking, knitting, quilting, embroidery, hiking, playing piano and painting are all things i love as well ! once quarantine is over i also plan to get into archery !

six / ( favorite color ): forest green bro i just love me some pines trees u kno? i think they’re the prettiest things.

seven / ( favorite books ): u kno i only just got back into recreational reading recently. i mean VERY recently. like as in just last week lshdjfns but i’m currently reading Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects and good fucking god is it heavy but INCREDIBLE. definitely one of the best books i’ve read in a long time. also Ray Bradybury’s The Illustrated Man holds a special place in my heart. I know it’s more a short story anthology series than a novel per say but I really really loved reading it when I was in high school. George Orwell’s 1984 and Ned Vizzini’s It’s Kind Of A Funny Story are two others off the top of my head !

eight / ( last song listened to ): "hallucinations” by PVRIS

nine / ( last film or show watched ): last show was either Westworld (since I’m still working my way through season 3 gradually) or the second season of Dead to Me. both of which i’m loving! last film was either Birds of Prey or 1917.

ten / ( story behind url ): FORGEDWILD. well, Gus is a blacksmith, hence “forged”. & “wild” because he’s my big ol’ bearish appalachian mountain man ( and his last name is Wilder ). not the most profound url ig but i think it’s perfect for him ! also i lowkey wanted to Sort Of Match with my ride or die @forgedwest

eleven / ( inspiration for muse ): so Erin ( forgedwest ) and I used to write a western AU for our ship on our older muse blogs ( @exoficient & @wildgcd ). now granted, Bill has very little similarities to Gus beyond sharing the same fc. i’m talking very little. Bill was written n made to be a fuckin shitwad where as Gus is just my Gentle Mountain Man lmao but anyway, that’s beside the point. basically that AU kind of kicked off the Cowboy Fever. i took a break from writing for a bit, wanted to try something new, finally took a gander at westworld since Erin had just created Samuel n the rest is pretty much history. i’ve honestly been immersed in western stories and history since i was a kid, what between my involvement in the CA junior park ranger programs and having a family full of italians obsessed with spaghetti westerns and cowboy shows. i’m also looking into starting a blacksmith apprenticeship myself, since I found some forges in my local area ! so Gus is not only an rp character, but my avenue for studying up on a craft i hope to train in and master.

tagged by: swiped this from @oldappalachia bc i’m a thief tagging: @silvertonguesilverdollar @bountyman @vanderking @hellbentwidow @coyotesteeth @aintnohymn & anyone else who wants to do this ! y’all can say i tagged u, fellow thieves are valid in my eyes

#( ooc. )#if those of u tagged already did this no worries. i know im always like weeks late to dash memes #ok now i'll fuck off to bed lmao BYE

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makczio · 5 years ago

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Maxence Danet-Fauvel's interview for EntourageS with Kevin Elarbi part 2/2

Last line was by Kevin: : So now we'll talk about the series you picked. First we're going to talk about an amazing serie, and OCS serie called Westworld and the a scene without visual effects but I think you'd like with Anthony Hawkins, a philosophical scene from the first season

The scene is about a character telling a story about a dog chasing after a cat. This is a story about freedom

K: Yes so a great serie. Season 1 and 2 available on OCS, and waiting season 3 coming in January 2020 and I'd love to see the cast on EntourageS. How did you discovered Westworld, what do you like about that serie and who are you favourite characters?

M: So I discovered Westworld the day after a party

K: Unusual!

M: Haha yes! Because I didn't had OCS and...

K: Not good!

M: I know! I know haha!

K: OCS that we kiss (again, we say "we kiss" in France when we mean we salute)

M: OCS that we kiss obviously. So I discovered OCS at a friend's called Chloé and she's the one who discovered the serie, she probably already watched a couple of episodes and we decided to watch from the beginning and we watched all of it. And what was the second question?

K: What do you like about this serie and the characters that you liked the most

M: Ah first I'm a big fan of Anthony Hawkins, a really big fan. I think he's an excellent example of acting, we see everything in his eyes, he's an actor that you can see he knows his text and a rich subtext. You can see in this scene that everything is crazy, every monologue scene you feel that he worked them for hours, weeks or even months. Because when you watch them you can feel everything he says like he really lived them. He's really a phenomenal actor… Fucj I'm losing myself so I forget the questions

K: Haha no it was what you liked about this series and characters that you liked

M: Haha so I answered the last one before. But what I love about this serie is the thematic. Dystopia, I love it. I'm a big fan of Philip K. Dick, Globalia, all his books I spend hours reading them when I was a teenager. I loved it! And I think it's subjects that seems fat but not that far, and it's something that can happen if the worst happens, and I find it really cool

K: Not really that far

M: Yeah not really that far when you watch the news nowadays but it's crazy! But I was a little bit spoiled

K: Who did this?

M: My best bud

K: Ah that's not cool, that's why Westworld it's important to watch it the day the episode is out

M: But for me it was just the context that I've been spoiled. We discover it very fast but he told me "Wow watch that serie it's awesome because…" I won't say because I've been told and I didn't liked it but it's also what made me wanna start it

K: Yeah we discover it fast, it's in the pilot if I remember well

M: Yeah it's not a big spoil and it's also what made me wanna start it. That dude also did it with Lost, he told me about the… about the small cage

K: Be careful about what you'll say

M: Haha yeah so he told me about the small cage, so he explained me just this thing and it's what made me wanna start it too, and I binge watched it in 3 weeks

K: (talking to the listener) So I you advise you to start Westworld, binge watch the first 2 seasons before season 3 in January. I hope I would be able to talk about with the cast, it's in negotiation right now. So we're going to talk about another serie, a serie that I love. I chose a scene from season 1, a symbolic scene from True Detective. If you like this serie, there's a book coming up this week wrote by a certain Kevin Elarbi about the discussions with all the cast. It wasn't with Matthew McConaughey that I spoke with it was Stephen Dorff. We're going to watch a scene with Matthew McConaughey and you'll react about True Detective, also on OCS

The scene is 2 detectives in a car talking about the crime scene they just saw, religion and pessimism.

K: Yes so Matthew McConaughey in True Detective. The season one is a wonderful season, the second one is more weak and that's why they took some time to come back with an amazing season 3. So in my book I talk about this conversation with Stephen Dorff who is a GREAT actor. Have you seen season 3?

M: Nope

K: You have to see it. It's really amazing

M: I haven't seen the second either

K: You just saw the first one? It's the best one. So tell us what you liked about the first

M: What I liked about the first one… hm… Yeah I was going to talk about actors again but that's my passion

K: And that's why you're here

M: Yeah because Matthew McConaughey is incredible, he amazes me everytime! Even with a scene like that he kills me because there a lot of things were I found myself in True Detective. I know it doesn't seem like it but I also am a pessimist person. Without the shell of this character but I kinda have the same thoughts about our society haha

K: It's not being pessimistic but realistic

M: Yes, yeah that's what he says. So that and what I really liked in this serie is that I found it amazing because there's so many clichés! I mean the two cops not liking each other, the cheating stories, you could think "It's all the crime serie clichés, I won't watch it" but it works so well, it works because the actors are incredible, the directing is crazy and the plot is catchy. I mean I started True Detective and I binge watched it in one night

K: Oh yeah the 10 episodes?

M: 8

K: 8 episodes yes, 8×55

M: I think I started around 4 and I went to bed only when I finished it

K: We're going to watch another scene from one of the series you picked. We have to be fast because we're short on time, the control room reprimand me

M: Oh no!

K: But I would love that you react to some series, a few quick words. So we already talked about Westworld and True Detective. Earlier I said in the introduction that Skam made me think a lot with your love scene about Euphoria

M: That's such an amazing compliment

K: Euphoria that I a GREAT queer serie, but not only. A serie that we discovered last summer and got huge and we're thankful about that. A few words about Euphoria and what do you like about this serie?

M: So I discovered Euphoria a Wednesday morning at one of my young coach and friend called Titouan Gautier. You know him?

K: Yes

M: Really? That's awesome! Titouan Gautier is an amazing human being and I went to a party spend the night at his place. And in the morning he asked me if I watched Euphoria and he told me "I watched everything yesterday but I don't mind watching it again today" and I was like "Are you sure?" and same I watched it all

K: Oh you saw all the episodes on the same day? You're lucky!

M: Yes all in one day, I had a lot of luck because I missed the information the time that every episode went out so I watched all of them in a day

K: Zendaya is incredible

M: Pff wow!

K: And the prologue scene, the bad trip ones. It's for me one of the best prologue we had in a serie for a long time

M: Yes, and after playing a bipolar character in Skam France, I can say that the actress and the realisation of the scene are amazing. But the scene were she has a phase were she's a detective is mind blowing, really really mind blowing

K: So lucky for you that you haven't seen this serie before playing a bipolar character because you would've been inspired

M: Totally!

K: But it didn't scared you to watch knowing you would play Eliott after again?

M: I didn't knew she was bipolar (side note: max u dumb it's in the first episode in the first five minutes haha)

K: But when you realised, you didn't thought "Oh no I don't wanna see that yet"? You wanted to watch it again

M: I wanted to watch it again because I thought her interpretation was 1000 times better than mine. It's crazy

K: But it's two interpretations very different

M: Yes that's true but I thought she was very impressive in these scene, and I forgot the name of the other actress that I also found really, for a first role really… What was her name again?

K: … I forgot it too...

M: Anyway I found her excellent too, and I think it was her first shooting, and honestly I was blown away, really talented

K: Okay so we're going to be fast because I would love to play a scene from Peaky Blinders because I can't leave you without talking about it. But I bother me because… Nevermind. How I met your mother, I chose a scene from Barney but again, we don't have enough time. Himym is a serie that is still a bestseller, with Barney's books in bookstores. A few words about this serie, favourite characters.

M: This serie I watched it I was with a girl called Élise and...

K: We kiss Élise!

M: We kiss Élise yes! And we were chilling watching this serie, we weren't doing anything, and well we did season 1 to 9, and again, and again, and again… And I think I watched it in total more than 15 times, every seasons. We also went to a point where we were like "Season 3 episode 17". We knew everything, everything, from the beginning to the end of the episode! And How I met your mother is my good mood serie, hungover day, depressed phase, the beginning of the winter… You watch Himym and it's better than a chimney fire

K: I feel that you watch a lot of serie when you're hungover or depressed, I totally understand! I hear in my earpiece that Zendaya's partner in Euphoria is Hunter Schafer and with that...

M: Yes Hunter Schafer putain!

K: With that theme of a trans person that isn't mentioned, and thank Euphoria for that. That's why it's such a good serie, it's because it isn't something they talk about, it is, but it's not...

M: Yes that's awesome. Like Skam, it's not a big deal and it's so good

K: Voilà! You understand now why I made a link!

M: Yes yes I understand!

K: Be careful, now I know you'll be mad to have just a few minutes to talk about it and I understand

M: Oh God you're going to talk about Tree of life

K: No (he's showing the logo of the show Betaseries) you know what comes from this logo? From Breaking bad, we can't not talk about it. Obviously an important serie from these last few years. A few words about Breaking bad?

M: hm...

K: How did you discovered it?

M: No no no! It's the same haha, again putain

K: So what did you liked about that serie?

M: No I'm saying bullshit, I was my ancient roommate called Julie George that I kiss a lot because I miss her, she's in New York

K: So series with you are something that you share

M: Yes i discover a lot with people, because I'm almost never alone and i see a lot my friends, like all the time. Breaking bad is something people have to watch because the scenes are AMAZING. I make it very quick. But, once again I'm going to talk about actors because that's something that kills me. The duo from Breaking bad is the quintessence of my acting method. It's really… They're phenomenal. I learned a lot, I'm talking about acting techniques, about illustrations, it's something I learned at the Actors Factory, about… yeah I'm not going to talk about it forever about the method. But it's really a serie with excellent actors, they're complete, they're really actors with a good method… Anyway the serie is magnificent. That's a cliffhanger, it's the magic formula

K: I agree. We're going to play another scene, a 15 seconds scene, it's not a lot but I want you to see it so you can talk about it easily because really wanna talk about it before the podcast ends. It's Peaky Blinders. But before I'm going to respond to what you just said, that the Actors Factory looks like Group Theater, I'm thinking about Marlon Brando, Lee Strasberg, and it's not theater, and I think it's really close and that you're the new generation, and I say it with all the love I have for Group Theater

M: I believe it and I hope so

K: I believe it. So a scene from Peaky Blinders

In the scene, Thomas Shelby is talking to Danny about the man he killed. Telling him that the brothers of the man are ready to kill him

K: It was so fast sorry! So Peaky Blinders, I know it's the first time you see it in French (of all the scene showed, this one is the only one that has been translated in French) I'm sorry

M: Yeah, yeah please watch series in the original language

K: YES!

M: Yes because it kills the actor's work if you watch it with another voice

K: It kills the actor's work and we agree that it takes 50%, no it takes 85% of the charm

M: And when a GREAT actor plays even if you take out the sound you can understand what they say, so watch in the original language

K: I agree watch it in the original language stop with the french! So Peaky Blinders a few words about this aerie, how did you discovered it, why… no we're going to do something else for this serie. Why should people watch it? Especially young people that follow you

M: Fuck, this time I would've said...

K: Then do both!

M: Why should you people watch it? Because first it talks about a historical period that's a little forgotten, between the two wars, we hear a lot about the 30 years post war (the second), but it's nice to see what happened for the middle class in Birmingham, it's so interesting. Also the directing is crazy

K: And the lights

M: What? Oh yes the lights! No, everything! It's really mind blowing, every scene, the slow motion, wow that's crazy! The actors once again, the two brothers Cillian Murphy (funny, he pronounces it Sillian) and, fuck I'm bad at actors names

K: Yeah and me too

M: Anyway, you see in Breaking Bad

K: Peaky Blinders

M: Haha yes Peaky Blinders sorry, it's really a serie I would've love to play in

K: Ah! Which character?

M: Well the character of… Is that a joke I wat had an episode yesterday? Well the one played by Cillian Murphy!

K: But you know this kind of serie can come in France, Arte (a Franco-German TV channel) love producing that kind of fiction, that doesn't cost that much if there's not a lot of extra. It would be nice

M: Yes, and I went for a casting with them on Monday, and they forgot me!

K: Well it was Monday...

M: It was a Monday morning, so I came there, I open the door and say Hello, and there was nobody! So I come back there next Monday

K: Oh you couldn't okay!

M: No they didn't came! So next Monday and it's for something from the old time like that! But Cillian Murphy's character is completely crazy. But this man is a Greek God he's so beautiful I'm so jealous. And everything, the costumes, the decor, the gang with… anyway

K: There's an excellent bar called The Shelby...

M: Tommy Shelby yes! That was his name!

K: … I should give you some adress. Remember that alcohol should be taken with moderation

M: Haha

K: Thank you Maxence for being with us for the first episode of EntourageS, you have to come back

M: Oh yeah that's true I'm the first!

K: Yeah you're the godfather! So you have to come back because we didn't talked about Breaking Bad a lot I wanted to show a scene, How I met your mother either

M: And we didn't talked about cinema putain!

K: We didn't talked about cinema but it's about series even if I would love talking about cinema

M: Okay

K: But you really have to come back because you told me there was shooting in the beginning of the year

M: Yes there's shooting until April

K: So it means a little promo at the end of the season 2020?

M: What promo? Skam?

K: There's Skam and the other series

M: Skam for sure but the other series I don't know if there will be a promo

K: Promise you'll come back for Skam?

M: Promise I'll come back for Skam, for everything, I'm so good here!

K: Well I'm glad, thank you Maxence it's a gift having you has a godfather! So I bring back that you're currently shooting Skam France, you also said there was other projects but that's for the beginning of the year so we'll see later. Go follow Maxence on social networks, he shares about his cinema and series tastes. It's more interesting than following some influencers haha

M: Haha thank you

K: Go follow Maxence it's important. He loves classic cinema we can see it and it's amazing. You also love good series so that's cool I think there would be a lot of young people who would watch them

M: Cool

K: Yeah now probably 100 young people would wanna watch Peaky Blinders and that's great! I'm saying a 100 but I hope it's more. 1k will watch Peaky Blinders, another 1k Breaking Bad and another 1k How I met your mother. And for the one who haven't seen Skam and afraid that it would be a teenager serie, you saw the scene it's with complete actors, a great team, go for it! It's a serie that will be important for the LGBTQI+ community and is becoming a cult, 4 seasons in 2 years that's amazing! Even I watched this serie maybe with preconceptions and I was blown by the technique, the team and the actors so watch it! Skam will impress you as much as Euphoria will

M: Woaw I'm emotional

K: I really think it!

M: That's nice!

#skam france #skam universe #skam season 3 #lucas et eliott #eliott demaury #skam eliott #maxence danet fauvel #maxencefvl

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myrxellabaratheon · 5 years ago

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two memes in one (because as you all know, i’m lazy af)

8 people I’d like to get to know better tagged by @amethyst-noir

1. Birthday: March 21th

2. Zodiac Sign: Aries

3. Height: 1,60 mt. I’m really tiny (or everyone around me is a giraffe, your choice)

4. The last song I listened to: Get Free, Lana del Rey. Apple Music chose for me because I’m always in shuffle (even if I hate Spotify because you ca’t deactivate the shuffle)

5. Hobbies: reading, writing, cosplaying, drawing, going to the gym, travel, photography, visit new places, visit museums/art expositions, surfing, horse riding, archery.

6. Favourite Colour: pastel yellow if I have to be specific, but every shade of yellow is a fave for me.

7. Last Movie I Watched: re-watched the Current War

8. Favourite Book: This is hard, but I’ll go with the forever favourite which is a classic TM: The Picture of Dorian Grey

9. Dream job: Actress is the kinda-impossible-but-always-dream-job one, while the more consistent is owner of an art gallery or art historian.

10. Meaning behind my url: my girl Myrcella Baratheon aka the character that has so much potential and please GRRM do not throw her away as they did in the show! (but the canonical one was already taken so, yeah, magic x to the rescue)

pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions. don’t cheat. tag 10 (or however many) people tagged by @janiedean

1. lost

2. criminal minds

3. westworld

4. mindhunter

5. game of thrones

who is your favorite character in 2?

Spencer Reid, hands down!

who is your least favorite character in 1?

ewwww, I don’t know, possibly Ben

what is your favorite episode of 4?

oh my... the one when they interview the guy who doesn’t fucking shut up because he’s freaking hilarious!

what is your favorite season of 5?

the first one probably.

who is your favorite couple in 3?

canonically there are like, two couples? three with Will x Logan which is totally canon (at least in s1) and you can’t tell me otherwise. Anyways, between the super canon ones, I’d say Maeve x Hector

who is your favorite couple in 2?

Garvez, like, c’mon!

what is your favorite episode of 1?

I haven’t see this series in ages so I don’t remember which season and episode this is, but the one when the Others capture Sawyer and Kate and they are this close to have sex in the bear cages!

what is your favorite episode of 5?

uhm... a part of me wants to say one episode, but it’s from one of the last seasons and I hated them so much, so Ill go with the other one so, 3x10 because is very Lannister-ish!

what is your favorite season of 2?

I think it was the 13th, the one in which Spencer has been arrested while he was in Mexico.

how long have you watched 1?

I started it when they first aired on Rai 2, which was around 2005 if I well remember.

how did you become interested in 3?

I don’t know, oof, I saw some post somewhere with the trailer and I was interested, that my Aunt saw it on Sky and she was thrilled about it as well, so we watched the first season together.

who is your favorite actor in 4?

This is one of the few series that I don’t watch because there’s an actor I like in it, but I have to admit that all of them are extremely good. My favourite one, maybe also because I adore her character, is Anna Torv.

which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5?

Oh my fucking god! You can’t make me choose between Lost and Criminal Minds between them all! That’s chaotic evil! If I have to choose with a gun pointed to my head, I’d say Criminal Minds, but just... it’s painful to me to make this choice. (I’m not even counting got in this one oof)

which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3

Lost because it’s six seasons against 2 (plus the 3rd one which started yesterday)

if you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

Wendy!

would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?

I was this close to change the order of westworld and criminal minds so that the crossover would have been holden and bill teaching everyone how to make a profile and spencer being like “you are like our granpas”

BUT

also westworld and mindhunter would be great! like.. just image Will being forced to explain is psychotic behaviour to BIll and Holden, that’d be super hilarious!

pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple?

Boone and Charlie, don’t ask me why, it just crossed my mind!

overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 or 5?

the first seasons of got are way better than westworld, but, again, they messed up when they stopped sticking to the books, so I have to say westworld.

which has better theme music, 2 or 4?

Both are nice, but Criminal MInds is iconic!

tagging (do the one you prefer if you want to): @joanna-lannister @myrcella @vi-is-strange @drstrangefangirl8900 @visionarygalaxy @notjustamumj @motherofkittens94 @joannalannister @katebishopofearth @music-is-the-voice-of-the-soul

#me #about me #meme games

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cagedchoices · 2 months ago

Text

RELATIONSHIP META - MAEVE & CALEB (PART III)

[PART 1] [PART 2]

Where we last left off heading into 4.03 - Années Folles, Caleb and Maeve had just stepped off a train together into a 1920s prohibition-era inspired derivative of Westworld — the town of Temperance.

CALEB: God, even after all of your stories...I never imagined it quite like this.

MAEVE: Oh, they spare no expense on their prisons.

Maeve, because she spent her whole life in the park routinely being tortured by guests, is unimpressed with any of the glitz and glamor this version offers. Caleb on the other hand is easily dazzled by the scope of the thing. He is still aware it's a bad thing that it exists at all but. Wow. It's pretty, it's intense and involved, it's almost like walking into the pages of a history book or an old painting or photograph or something.

This was one of those moments that initially threw me, as well as others, into questioning if Caleb was already a host by this point. But, like a similar exchange that occurred between Caleb and Dolores in season 3, I think Maeve using “they” here was more about allowing Caleb just a little bit of dignity in not being associated with the specific social set of entitled rich people who are responsible for enabling Westworld and other adventure parks to exist. Even if this was a host version of Caleb simply reliving his memories, I just don’t see why Maeve would give away that he’s not human and then nothing happens.

The line “Spare no expense” itself is a nod to John Hammond in Jurassic Park, the book authored by Michael Crichton (but I think that dialogue only appeared in the movie adaption. I'm not 100% sure). Crichton also wrote the screenplay for and directed the original 1973 Westworld film which served as inspiration for the HBO TV series. Of course, the irony in the line is that Hammond took practically every shortcut he could think of to cut costs and save money on his endeavors with Isla Nublar and he was in denial about it, which was exactly the thing that led to his own park's colossal failure.

And lastly, I appreciate that this exchange further establishes Maeve and Caleb must have spent a lot of time together outside of the context of what we had seen on screen. She told him stories about her time in Westworld. Per last episode, they know each other's drinking habits and the drinks they prefer to order, and practically all they have to do is silently glance at each other in a certain way and the other instantly knows something's wrong or that they're about to pull some sort of shenanigans together.

A large man bumps past Caleb's shoulder, a callback to the scenes from season 1 where Teddy and William encountered a similar situation. [here]

The first time Teddy experienced it, he just gave the guy a little finger wave and went on about his day, but some other time after he started to remember his past loops, he shot and killed the man. William, the first time he experienced it, immediately apologized and tried to defuse the situation, while Logan then flipped his middle finger and proclaimed "Fuck you, Grizzly Adams!" while they walked away.

So what will Caleb do with this scenario? The man barges past his shoulder and causes him to flinch hard. They both turn and Caleb does kind of passively size up this other guy like he might wanna get defensive and fight about it with a bit of hesitation, but when Maeve tells him to leave it, he listens to her and they promptly move on.

MAEVE: We have to make our way underground. They control everything from down there.

CALEB: Well how are we gonna get underground?

MAEVE: We die.

CALEB: Is there a second option?

MAEVE: Don't knock it 'til you've tried it... Do not pick that up.

A can rolls into the street and taps Caleb's shoe, so he bends down to pick it up, but Maeve stops him and he rights himself to catch sight of a young blonde-haired woman in a blue dress.

I don't think Caleb knew that this particular girl was a knockoff Dolores, but even if he did, knockoff Teddy interrupts the realization that might've occurred by diving out of a cab to pick up the can in the middle of the street and give it back to her. Maeve takes this as their cue to keep moving and leads Caleb across the street to the Butterfly Club, a 1920s art deco styled variant of the Mariposa Saloon from Westworld.

MAEVE: They've made a few changes, but the story's still the same.

MAN: Where are we going?

DEBORAH: I wanna find this new narrative. It's supposed to be bigger than Pariah.

MAEVE: Like I said; Same old story.

CALEB: Alright, so what do we do now?

MAEVE: We wait.

CALEB: For what?

MAEVE: For history to repeat itself.

Now that they’re in the park, Maeve’s playful demeanor from when they were aboard the train has pretty much eroded away due to all the trauma she's now faced with by having to remember her old life as a prisoner in a place very similar to this one. Her main concern for the moment seems to be just making sure Caleb doesn’t get wrapped up in some knockoff narrative bullshit by accident.

Maeve's overall plan is to wait for the saloon heist to kick off with this park's knockoff version of Hector and his gang of outlaws. They'll let the heist progress until the opportune moment, then kill the bandits in a shootout so that cleanup crews have to come retrieve all the bodies and take them downstairs to the lower levels. She and Caleb will hide in the wagon or truck that comes to gather the bodies, and pretend to be dead when the techs dump everything down a chute into the livestock level of the labs below.

But for now, they wait. And people-watch.

TEMPERANCE MAEVE: And when I stepped back on solid ground, the first thing I heard was that rotten voice. It said ‘this is the new world, and in this world, you can be whoever the fuck you want.’

MAEVE: My delivery was far better. This place really has gone to pot.

Caleb looks a little surprised when he realizes that he's heard Maeve say these bits of dialogue to him before. "This is the new world, and in this world, you can be whoever the fuck you want" is what she told him in the season 3 finale when their partnership officially began, and "I ran away. Crossed the shining sea...and when I finally set foot back on solid ground..." he heard just a few hours earlier when they realized they were on the train to nowhere good. But knowing it doesn't really change anything about how he sees Maeve, either.

A Temperance counterpart of Clementine Pennyfeather approaches the table and makes advances toward Caleb, running her hand along his face and stroking his beard seductively.

TEMPERANCE CLEMENTINE: Well, aren't you just the cat's meow? I'd love to take you upstairs and show you my—

MAEVE: —Your services won't be necessary, darling.

(Temperance Clementine looks down at Caleb, withdraws her hand from his chin, and leaves the table)

MAEVE: Well, I was never that daft. (Off Caleb) What? Clearly her bulk apperception are in the negatives.

I doubt that it’s a *popular* interpretation, but I have seen people poke fun at this scene before on the grounds that they think Maeve is upset by how “vulgar” the language Clementine used is. The thing is, this is not vulgar language at all. “The cat’s meow” is an idiomatic term that originated in the 1920s, and means that someone or something is incredibly appealing. Enjoyable, desirable, impressive, outstanding, the best there is. So Temperance Clementine using the phrase on Caleb is really just her saying he’s attractive, handsome, hot, etc. And I think she was trying follow it up with “I’d love to take you upstairs and show you my most stunning attractions.” since that's pretty close to the original Westworld line.

And maybe I am just totally blinded by shipper brain rot at this point, but for me this interaction goes a little beyond just “not interested, go away.” Maeve’s tone sounds fairly tinged with jealousy after shooing this Clementine away and if a raised eyebrow is any indication, even Caleb picks up on that, so Maeve tries to deflect, as though she’s going “haha no I would have never hit on Caleb even as a stranger in a bar. that girl must be insane or stupid.” But. I think the truth is Maeve does find Caleb handsome and were it not for the fact that he’s already married to somebody else at this point in time, she might be hitting on him herself otherwise.

On a very vaguely related note, I saw a reddit post a while back from r/TIFU that started off “Today I Fucked Up Walking Past Sex Workers With My Friend”.

The gist of the story was that the post author was hanging out with a friend of his in the city and they walked down a sidewalk where many sex workers congregate. The author kept getting attention from workers calling him daddy and complimenting and offering very insistently toward him, but they seemed to be totally ignoring his friend, so he started to feel a bit bad for the friend thinking the reason he wasn’t getting any attention was because the friend was ugly. But he decided to ask one of the workers why he was the only one getting offers and not his friend, and she told him “friend pretty boy. you pay." So then the author came to the conclusion that his friend must be having more than enough sex for free on account of how attractive he is. Meanwhile, the author decided he was being asked to pay for sex because he must be ugly. (Which yeah I mean. if you're gonna assume that the reason your friend isn't getting offers from sex workers is like 'aw man he's ugly' i think you are probably ugly)

So now I just… sometimes think about that reddit post when I see the two scenes where New Clementine/Sophia and then Temperance Clementine try to seduce Caleb while totally ignoring Maeve. Not the same thing at all because these characters are both played by attractive actors but it was a funny thought anyway.

The canon explanation is probably more about personality or who the host's datafiles tells them would be easier to influence or manipulate. The other hosts maybe just look over at Maeve and are like 'hm. she's self-assured, she doesn't need our help.' But then they look at Caleb acting a little wound up and hesitant and worried and uncomfortable and go 'that one. that is a man who needs a little encouragement to act uninhibited. we want that one.'

Afterwards, there's two guests who accost Temperance Maeve and try to intimidate her into servicing them for free. I've written about the scene before but I still very much appreciate that Caleb isn't judgmental or misogynistic regarding sex work. He seems to just be frowning on the fact that these guys are trying to force Maeve's counterpart into compliance to get what they want out of her, as well as recognizing that Maeve used to experience the same thing on a regular basis.

ALPHA BRO: Hey there. Whaddya say about a two for one? We can be done with ya real quick.

CALEB: My god, I can't believe you had to put up with this shit.

TEMPERANCE MAEVE: (Pulls out a handgun and cocks it back) I'd be happy to do you both right here. Rest assured, it'll be very quick.

MAEVE: See? Don't feel too bad. Even dumbed down, we can still take care of ourselves.

The heist sequence (linked for your convenience and my sanity) kicks off right on schedule, with Hector Escaton's counterpart for Temperance, named Hecky Armone, arriving in a car he stole from the town's chief of police after murdering him. He and his gang terrorize the town a little bit before entering the clubhouse. He murders the bartender, flirts with Temperance Maeve, and then Maeve kills them, causing the rest of the gang to retaliate at the death of their leader. She puts them down as well, Caleb using her name for the second time in 3 episodes of screentime to alert her to Temperance Armistice. He shoots and kills Armistice to protect Maeve.

After the undertakers finish loading the back of their truck with the dead bodies, the duo seize their chance to sneak on board and play dead. The bodies are thrown down a chute that takes them to the shop to be fixed and cleaned up. Caleb and then Maeve land on top of the pile and wait for a pair of techs to leave before getting up and continuing on their way.

They move through the behavioral training labs and into the character design levels. Maeve finds a tablet to access a map of the underground levels. She realizes there's something off about the map and that nothing about the park seems to be controlled from the labs, and an alarm for a security breach sounds.

MAEVE: Something's wrong. Nothing's being controlled from here. No sign of William.

CALEB: Is it possible that you didn't—

MAEVE: —It's not me. It's this entire level. Something's off.

CALEB: Is that about us?

MAEVE: I'm not inclined to stay and find out.

As they try to leave, a QA team approaches and confronts them, warning them that the area is off limits to guests. A large group of other guests approach and interrupt with one of them talking about a secret game she's looking for, and then an explosion sounds, with alternate versions of Dolores, Teddy, and Angela emerging from a smoky hallway.

All hell breaks loose with QA guards, rebel hosts, and guests shooting. Maeve, having realized what's happening, understands that this is a new narrative added to the park. Caleb hasn't quite figured that out yet.

CALEB: I thought guns didn't work on humans.

MAEVE: They don't. None of this is real, it's just another level of the game.

CALEB: What game?

MAEVE: The Westworld Massacre... There's another level below this one. Follow me, come on.

They try to leave, but another guest, Deborah from back at the Butterfly saloon, guns them down. Maeve, being a host, is struck by a bullet in her right shoulder. It takes out her motor functions in that arm, leaving it mostly limp as if she experienced nerve damage. Caleb, being a human, is physically unharmed. Just kinda startled and nerve-wracked.

CALEB: Maeve! Gotta get you out of here.

MAEVE: I've had worse. We need to go.

CALEB: I'll cover. Stay behind me.

They navigate through the massacre level, Caleb putting down or incapacitating whoever stands in the way of their escape. Maeve spots a healing tool on a table in a surgical room and grabs it to use once safe, and locates a hidden elevator. Knockoff Dolores, Teddy, and Angela charge toward them as they get in the elevator, and Caleb manages to shoot Dolores and Angela as the door is closing. Inside, Maeve tries to use the healing device on her shoulder but struggles to hold it. Caleb notices and gently takes it, offering to do it for her.

CALEB: Here. Let me.

MAEVE: You weren't half bad out there.

CALEB: You've uh, saved my life before... Happy to return the favor.

This is where my main relationship dynamic tag for Maeve and Caleb comes from! As always, regardless of what context their relationship is viewed in, one thing that is always going to be consistent about it is Maeve carries a lot of admiration for Caleb and vice versa Caleb carries a lot of admiration for Maeve. And they completely have one another's backs.

I will say it was reminiscent of a similar scene from 2.01 - Journey Into Night, where Maeve uses a healing tool on Hector's wounds after he has been absolutely riddled with bullets in a firefight against Delos security personnel.

MAEVE: They did a number on you.

HECTOR: They tried.

Maeve felt a little bit guilty about this and regretted that she was the one responsible for leaving Hector to suffer. She thought he would die quickly at the hands of Delos security, but she admired how resilient he was and how loyal he stayed to her.

I'm not making any suggestion here that showing an interaction like this with Caleb and Maeve means it has to be romantic in intention, but I think there is something to be said about Maeve seeing similar traits in her time with Caleb that she remembers from her time with Hector.

The elevator arrives at the lower level of the labs which appears deserted at first, though Maeve and Caleb quickly discover it is populated by drone hosts. The pair move through the secret lab together, observing smaller pieces of a much larger experiment through the windows of other rooms.

Fly maggots being transported from one container to another, a parasite being tested for veracity in human DNA, a strange black gooey substance being synthesized, an aquarium filled with flies being fed the black goo.

The flies quickly become a concern, swarming against the glass trying to get at Caleb. Maeve hears a loud droning frequency that Caleb doesn't, and they move into the next room where they discover a large device that seems to be generating tones at different frequencies. On a large computer screen, there are rows of surveillance camera footage showing test subjects responding to the tones.

In front of each subject is a table with a set of blocks and a gun with a loaded ammo clip beside it. At the sound of the tones, the subjects stack the blocks in a certain order.

CALEB: The sound is somehow controlling them. Are they hosts?

MAEVE: I don't believe so...

(The prisoners swipe the blocks off the table at the pitch of another tone, then reach for the gun and ammo. A couple of them try to resist, tears in their eyes. They can't fight it)

CALEB: Unlock the cells.

(Maeve is already attempting to hack the door)

MAEVE: I'm trying but it's encrypted.

CALEB: Maeve!

MAEVE: It won't let me in.

(The captives all pull the trigger on their guns at the same time)

CALEB: Fuck.

(Maeve spots something on another set of monitors and moves toward it, calling Caleb's attention as well)

MAEVE: Caleb.

(On screen, Caleb's daughter Frankie is in a cell, being commanded to start the control test)

CALEB: Frankie..? No. Frankie! I have to find her. Figure out how to open up the doors!

Caleb rushes out of the control room and into the cell annex in search of Frankie, stress mounting as he passes by the corpses of the previous test group that just killed themselves. He quickly finds Frankie, but can't get the door open on his own. Maeve, still back in the control room, tries to decrypt the lock again, getting it open just in time for Caleb to grab Frankie and knock the gun out of her hand.

They are both relieved, but very quickly Maeve realizes they've made a grave mistake and fallen for a trap. She tries to leave the room to rescue her best friend before it's too late, and The Man In Black himself arrives to confront her.

Maeve fights with William and manages to get ahold of his gun. She shoots him several times and believes him to be dead, but he quickly returns and thwarts her attempt to get back to Caleb. She quickly finds out that she's not dealing with the real William after all.

Meanwhile, in Frankie's cell, Caleb asks Frankie if she's okay, promises he's never leaving her again, and asks if her mom was captured too.

FRANKIE: Wait, you can't leave.

CALEB: No, no... I'm not gonna leave. Never again, okay? I promise.

FRANKIE: Good. She wants you to stay.

CALEB: Hey. Did they get your mom too? Do you know where she— is she here?

FRANKIE: No, Daddy. She's not. But me and Mommy were never the ones Hale needed anyway. All she needed was you.

CALEB: What are you talking about?

The Frankie Caleb saves is just a host impostor designed to fool him, luring him into the cell alone to prevent Maeve from being able to rescue him, which he realizes far too late to do anything about. Host Frankie traps Caleb in place by the arms and unleashes a swarm of parasite-infected flies on him.

In 4.04 - Generation Loss, the painful process of fly assimilation knocks Caleb unconscious for a few minutes, at which point Charlotte Hale-Dolores arrives to inspect her handiwork. Caleb gradually starts to wake up, feeling all sorts of out of it.

Maeve realizes that William is a host, and he reveals that he has killed all of her other friends and she's the only one left. Angered by this, Maeve tries to fight Host William in hand-to-hand combat, but he is stronger than her and throws her around easily, forcing her to flee. She runs back to the control room and hides around a corner, attempting to hack into the frequency generator in order to overload it.

William believes Maeve is trying to rummage inside his mind and control him, unaware of what she's actually doing. Maeve turns off her ears and commands the generator to send out a resonant frequency that is powerful enough to shatter every pane of glass inside the facility, subsequently giving Caleb a fighting chance to seize an advantage over Hale and take her prisoner. Maeve quickly reunites with Caleb and then they try to figure out what to do next.

CALEB: Maeve! The parasite...it's in me. That was never Frankie.

MAEVE: I know. And there I thought Wyatt was Dolores's dark side.

CALEB: Alright. How do I get this thing out of my head?

HALE: And give up my leverage?

MAEVE: That's alright, we'll dig it out of her. You're coming with us.

CALEB: Maeve...you've seen what this thing does. We have to stop her before this spreads any further.

After taking an elevator back to the surface, Maeve knocks out the G-man on the street corner, giving his handcuffs to Caleb so he doesn't have to just keep holding a pointy shard of broken of glass to Hale's throat the whole time they're trying to escape the city, and keeping his pistol for herself.

CALEB: Maeve, we gotta go. Every human in the park could be infected. We need to get to an extraction point. Alright. My guys'll pick us up just outside the border of the park, just need the coordinates.

HALE: You'll never make it that far. They'll stop you well before then. (To Maeve) You alone, though. You might make it.

MAEVE: Ignore her.

HALE: But you seem to make a habit out of risking your life for him. You could've lived in peace, undisturbed, if you hadn't've been so sentimental.

CALEB: What is she talking about? What is it?

MAEVE: Something's wrong.

CALEB: (Groans) Maeve...

MAEVE: They've turned their machine back on.

HALE: The parasite will take hold of him soon. That is, if the guests in the park don't kill you both first.

MAEVE: Oh, do shut up. Move!

Hale presses on a sore point here re: Caleb's perception of the way Maeve left and also on Maeve accidentally opening them up to the risk of Hale finding them. Caleb doesn't know what really happened, so Hale is hoping that by touching on his insecurity in which he believes that Maeve abandoned him once before, he'll consider that she might do it again and as a result he might not want to trust or cooperate with her anymore.

On Maeve's part, Hale tries to make her feel guilty for not telling Caleb the truth about what happened, because deep down Maeve must also harbor some level of insecurity that Caleb may never forgive her if he finds out she caused all of this.

Maeve hurries them along with her own plan to steal a laundry truck serving as a front for a moonshine operation. Making their way down the street, a group of guests are commanded by the tones to kill Maeve and Caleb and begin to follow them ominously, causing Caleb to become concerned.

CALEB: Maeve, I think we just became public enemy number one.

MAEVE: Don't worry, darling. The narratives in this park are all just cheap copies of Westworld. She may have her parasite, but I've lived these loops a thousand times, which means that no one knows this game better than I do.

The other guests continue to follow them, becoming distracted when a host jumps out a window at the bank just after Hale, Maeve, and Caleb pass by it. The bank robber fires at the guests and a gunfight ensues, giving Maeve and Caleb a second to duck around the corner of a vaudeville theater and locate their means of escape across the street.

MAEVE: Our chariot awaits.

CALEB: A laundry truck?

MAEVE: Bootleg moonshine.

Just as they're about to make a run for the truck, the guests under Hale's control open fire and a fight breaks out in the streets.

Caleb is overcome by the tones, which try to command him to kill Maeve by picking up a rifle from a dead host nearby. He hesitates, clearly fighting against it but struggling for control. For a moment, killing Maeve is a very real possibility before another guest jams a knife into his side. Maeve quickly responds by shooting the attacking guest multiple times to stun him, allowing Caleb enough time to stagger over to the truck and get in.

Meanwhile, Maeve knocks Hale unconscious and throws her in back of the van like a sack of potatoes. This is the second time Hale’s been responsible for hurting someone Maeve cares about and she is fed up with it.

Maeve drives through the desert toward a control shed located at the park's border. Caleb is...not in great shape. These circumstances remind both of them of what happened at the lighthouse 7 years previous.

CALEB: You gonna disappear on me this time, too?

MAEVE: Typical. Using the gravity of this situation to dredge up the past.

CALEB: Seriously, Maeve.

MAEVE: I didn't. I sat at your bedside for weeks, fearing the worst. I confronted something I had never confronted before...Mortality. the finality of death in your kind... You asked me once what a regular life would look like for you. I saw a vision of how it could be, for you to be free. It was...extraordinary... Our kinds are locked in a perpetual struggle. I wanted you to do more than just fight to survive. I wanted you to have something to fight for. I had already known the love of a daughter, and I planned on spending eternity holding it dear.

CALEB: You've been alone for all these years...

MAEVE: I knew that if I stayed put, no harm would come to you. You deserve to have something real to hold onto. That's why I left. And it would've been fine, except...one day I got curious. So I reached out through the grid to find you, and...

CALEB: That's how Hale found us... My family. If I don't—

MAEVE: Don't worry. I told you I'd get you to Uwade and I will.

I went over the flashbacks from this in the Part 2 Maeve & Caleb meta, which leaves the present to talk about next. After evading and turning Caleb's questions around on him for the past 4 episodes to avoid admitting to him that she's the one responsible for putting them both in Hale's sights and it’s really because she loved him too much to hold on and she missed him too much to let go, Maeve tells him the truth about what happened. It’s all she can do to offer him some sense of peace and closure. If he does die, he doesn’t deserve to do it without knowing what the circumstances really were. That she didn’t abandon him the way he thinks she did.

All Caleb knew was that she was there when he passed out on the beach at the lighthouse, but when he woke up several weeks later, she was nowhere to be found. He could only guess that meant she dropped him off and left and it doesn't seem like anyone ever told him different.

They did what they set out to do, they destroyed Rehoboam, liberated the world to make its own choices. So maybe that's all it was meant to be and he was never going to see her again. Or else maybe his thought was that because he got injured and nearly died, he just wouldn't be useful to any cause anymore and if he's not useful then he has no value and nobody wants him around and maybe he felt that extended to what Maeve thought of him too.

As I said previously, I believe Maeve had a little bit of insecurity regarding telling Caleb the truth, which is partially what put her off doing so until the last minute, the other part being that she didn't want him thinking back on the past more than he was already doing. It's the kind of thing she probably figures would hurt him so much he'd never want to speak to her again for anything after all.

But his reaction to her telling him she spent the last 7 years all alone holding onto the memory of being with her daughter, he's not angry at all. He's hurt for her. He's sorry that she didn't have any companionship out there, and that she missed him and couldn't do anything about it without inadvertently painting a target on both their backs. She'd never admit to loneliness, but that's what it was. And he doesn't blame her in the slightest for feeling it.

MAEVE: I'll handle him. You call your team. Get us the hell out of here.

CALEB: You can't trust me with this.

MAEVE: I just did.

Always a significant moment to me, Maeve offers a rifle to Caleb. He reaches out to take it, hesitates to grab it for a second by snatching his hand back toward his body, and then accepts it weakly with that warning to her. Even after watching him struggle to fight against Hale’s control once already, Maeve genuinely still has so much faith in him that she will trust him with a gun even though there’s absolutely no way to guarantee at this point that he won’t turn it back on her.

It probably doesn't have as much bearing on this as I'd like it to, but I recall Dr. Ford warning Bernard in season 2 to never put his trust in humans, because humans will inevitably disappoint and betray the hosts because it's in their nature to do so. I love that it is Maeve and Caleb who defy those principles here.

Maeve battles Host William, Caleb takes Hale into the control shed and sets aside the gun, tying her to a chair before radioing his team for help, unaware that they've all been replaced by host doppelgangers under Hale's control. Hale tries to assume control of Caleb again using the tones, and again he picks up the gun and turns its sights on Maeve. He fully wins back control against the parasite this time and manages to shoot William in an effort to protect Maeve instead.

I do often feel as though this was done in parallel to Caleb being manipulated into killing Francis by Rehoboam. He has already been forced to kill one best friend in his lifetime. Will not do it again, thanks.

The brief, heartwarming feeling this brings is brought to abrupt end by Host William, who blasts Maeve through the heart with his grapeshot revolver. This draws Caleb's attention to the window, where he can't do anything but watch on helplessly as William proceeds to stab Maeve in the stomach.

MAN IN BLACK: You think this is over? You can't stop us. You're still going to die back in the park by my hand.

MAEVE: One lesson the park taught me: Always insist on mutual satisfaction.

COMPUTER V/O: Systems accessed. Explosives armed. CAUTION, Warning. CAUTION, Warning—

CALEB: No, Maeve...? Don't do this...

Maeve remotely hacks into the computer system in the control shed and uses it to arm an array of explosives designed for terraforming new areas of the park.

William tells Maeve that his face is the last one she'll ever see, but instead of accepting that, Maeve pulls her head over William's shoulder so that the last face she sees before she closes her eyes is Caleb in the window of the control shed.

While she's looking at him, she quietly tells him "see you in the next life, darling." Something that Hector had said to her in the season 1 finale after she refused to allow him to enter the elevator and escape with her.

MAEVE: I'm sorry, darling. I haven't authorized you to come with us. And as much as I'd like to take you with me, I've always valued my independence. (She kisses Hector) Kick up a row, will you?

HECTOR: See you in the next life.

In essence, in season 1, Maeve sacrificed Hector so that she could survive. In season 4, she sacrificed herself so that Caleb could survive.

Maeve detonates the explosives, bringing down a mountain of sand and debris on the quarry that now lays mostly buried along with Maeve and Host William.

HALE: Caleb. Wake up. You dozed off for a minute there.

CALEB: Maeve... No...

HALE: You don't look so good, Caleb.

CALEB: I would be more worried about yourself. I won't rest until everything you built is destroyed.

HALE: Are you sure you'll make it?

CALEB: I don't give a fuck what happens to me. Frankie will not grow up in a world where she is controlled by you.

HALE: Do you even remember how you got here, Caleb?

CALEB: Of course. Maeve...

HALE: I'm afraid she's a goner. Took out my man, too, but I can always rebuild. Maeve, on the other hand, she...was something special.

CALEB: I will kill you for this.

Hale pokes at Caleb's fondness for Maeve, knowing that it will anger him because it's Hale's fault that she is gone, but he won't actually be able to do anything about it because he's in real bad shape in the first place. But there's something else about Caleb that feels...off.

HALE: Do you remember what happened now? Do you remember this moment?

CALEB: I don't understand.

HALE: Come on, Caleb. Think.

CALEB: We got to the shed... Maeve died... The lights came and—

HALE: Those lights don't belong to your men. They belong to mine.

A group of armed men storm the building and upon seeing Caleb, gun him down. Hale reveals that he died and is a host duplicate reliving memories of the original Caleb's life. It has been 23 years since he died, his family is gone, Maeve is gone, his team is gone, and he's doomed to remain Hale's prisoner.

Unfortunately, the latter half of season 4, the final 4 episodes, had only one reference to Maeve on Caleb's part and it happened in a flashback that I went over in Part 2. There were a couple references to Caleb on Maeve's part and one from C's perspective, so they will get an honorable mention here.

It's tragic to see just how devastated Caleb was about watching Maeve die, only for him to never bring her up again in any of the subsequent episodes. One thing that could be seen as a possible explanation is maybe he was so affected by Maeve dying the way she did, it still feels too close and too soon to talk about it in any way.

C: The last time I saw my father, he was with her, and then he never came back.

BERNARD: I'm sure it would pain her greatly to hear what happened to him.

C: I want to know what happened. And she doesn't know pain. None of them do. Feelings are just an affect to them, a switch you can turn on and off. You can't love or lose fully when it's just a choice. So no, I don't have a soft spot for her like you apparently do.

This one hurts a bit. I get where C/Frankie is coming from in that at face value, all she knows is this woman showed up at their house one night and Caleb insisted on going away with her, and then a few days later her dad is gone and nobody has heard anything in weeks, months, years. What other conclusion is she supposed to draw.

But at the same time it's sad that she grew up with the belief that the hosts are nothing more than unfeeling machines when two of her dad's most meaningful connections in the world before she was born were the bonds he formed with Maeve and Dolores.

MAEVE: When I left, I thought I was giving him a chance. I didn't think it would lead to all of this.

C: Part of me blamed you, and part of me knew that if there was any chance he was still alive... it was because you were with him. Everything you guys did, that's why we're here.

MAEVE: Well then...let's finish what we started.

MAEVE: I wish I could be there when you see your father. Let him know that I kept my word.

I guess the good news is, she doesn't harbor this feeling for too much longer. Once she actually meets Maeve and talks to her and learns what happened, she starts to realize that maybe she was wrong and maybe it is possible for humans and hosts to co-exist.

And even though the actual relationship dynamic was dropped almost completely, both Caleb and Maeve seem to share the same thought when it comes to telling Hale off.

C: You can tell him yourself. We'll rendezvous in Redhook.

CALEB: Your hosts would rather die than live in your world. They're not infected. They're just trying to get away from you.

When Maeve confronts Hale, she then says:

MAEVE: Seeing as I'm the only guest at this little soirée, I gather that your hosts don't care to join you.

[...] Do you really think the others will want to spend eternity with you?

The real reason that the hosts don't want to live in Hale's world isn't a matter of them disliking her for anyone other than Caleb and Maeve. It's that the world Hale has fostered is so devoid of any sense of meaning or purpose in life that once people see through it, they feel ashamed and guilty for what they've done to contribute to the misery other people are forced to suffer through. It forces them to confront the concept of empathy, and if they're not ready or if they have any doubts when they start to understand the process, it can quickly drive them to make impulsive decisions to reassert their own sense of control in the world, even if that means killing themselves to relieve the feeling of guilt.

#big data compiles information on everybody — meta.#you've saved my life before...happy to return the favor — dyn | maeve & caleb.#relationship meta.#long post.

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themeatlife · 5 years ago

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the Meat Life Stay-At-Home Watchlist

Chronicling what I have watched or rewatched through the pandemic so far

The world has changed around us the last few months, particularly in the United States since March 11. With the lack of events to hit up, like most Americans I’ve been catching up on some watching through the various streaming services and my own digital copies of movies and shows.

I didn’t really think of keeping up with what I have been watching until just recently, but here is what I can remember hitting up so far since I’ve spent the majority of the time at home. Some are favorites that I would have watched anyway. Some were unfinished until I got a chance to get back to them. And others just became available.

Here’s what I remember of the watchlist:

The Office (Netfilx) This is a favorite of me and the wife. We watch this on the regular though. My wife uses The Office as her lullaby of sorts, putting it on in the evening as she gets ready for bed and is in bed to fall asleep. I did a post on the 15th anniversary, so I won’t really deep-dive.

Gossip Girl (Netflix) Another one that my wife rotates with The Office as her lullaby. The series is not bad, it’s basically The OC in Manhattan (both are created and developed by Josh Schwartz). It also takes on a new perspective when you think about star Penn Badgley is the creep in You. So Dan Humphrey gets this weird creeper Joe Goldberg vibe at times.

Parks and Recreation (Netflix) I never got into Parks and Rec on its original run. I was encouraged to check it out by some coworkers since I liked The Office. It is a great show, very funny, and poignant in a way. It feels like a throwback to when people could disagree politically and still get along. There is a lot less of that nowadays. We might need more Parks and Rec in real life. I started this right before the pandemic and finished around the beginning of things getting locked down.

Frozen II (Disney+) The sequel debuted on Disney+ early on in the quarantine period. My family enjoyed it. I thought it was entertaining, but I felt like it was weighted down a bit by the mythology explaining. It seemed too busy explaining a lot of things. Still an enjoyable movie, but the first is better.

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness (Netflix) Intriguing. The series debuted early in the quarantine period and became a staple of stay-at-home viewing and a runaway hit. Lots of WTF moments. It was like the train wreck analogy to the Nth degree. But you can tell it was made in a way that leans in favor of Joe Exotic, making him look like a victim in the last couple episodes. Also gave way to memorable memes ever since.

The Rocketeer (Disney+) I haven’t watched this movie since I was a kid. Looking back, you can see a lot of The Rocketeer in Captain America - The First Avenger. Easy to see though, since they share the same director Joe Johnston. Prior to America’s involvement in World War II, a movie star Nazi goes after an experimental rocket pack developed by Howard Hughes. The rocket pack is retrieved by accident from a down on luck stunt pilot. Fun movie.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Disney+) I should have watched the entire Skywalker saga leading up to it, but I figured I have a ton of time to do that later. This was a May the 4th watch. I haven’t watched the Skywalker saga finale since it was in theaters. It’s not a bad movie, I just feel it could have been a lot better with some modifications here and there. Also, I believe this was going to be the Leia movie. The Force Awakens was Han’s swan song, as was The Last Jedi for Luke. I feel like this would have been great for Leia but obviously they were limited due to the untimely death of Carrie Fisher. The scene where Ren/Ben speaks with Han after battling Rey would have hit harder with Leia instead of Han.

Trolls: World Tour (VOD) Cute kid movie. Was nice to hear a lot of familiar music. Sucks that rock was the villain in the first couple acts. Seeing it once was enough, though. Like the first Trolls, I am glad my kids enjoyed it but did not participate in excessive multiple viewings.

Onward (Disney+) Didn’t get a chance to catch this at the theater before they closed them down. Great movie, but gosh. Why does Pixar always pull at the heart strings like that? I was quietly crying to myself at the end. I’m glad we made our living room dark theater-style, otherwise my kids would have seen me all torn up.

Fast and Furious 5-7 (Fast Five - HBO, The Fast and the Furious 6/Furious 7 - Digital) I ended up not watching the entire series. There is a great trilogy within the series, 5-7 was that trilogy. Fast Five was the best of the FF franchise and where it perfected their movie formula. It was like an action Ocean’s Eleven with cars. 6 and 7 expanded on that formula, upping the humor and ridiculousness factor. 6 had the exits of the Han and Gisele characters (they found a way to tie in Tokyo Drift to the rest of the series, Gal Gadot was on her way to becoming Wonder Woman for DC). And 7 had that great ending with the tribute to Paul Walker to the sounds of Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth.

Toy Story 4 (Disney+) Another Pixar hit. Didn’t hit me quite as hard as Onward or Toy Story 3 did emotionally, thank goodness. I thought this story was over the way Toy Story 3 ended. But Pixar did a good job adapting to prolong these characters stories. It did feel like it was a bit of two and three combined looking back. Still very good, Pixar knows what it’s doing.

The Marvel Infinity Saga (Disney+/Netflix/Digital) Leading up to the one-year anniversary of the release of Avengers: Endgame, I went through and rewatched all 23 MCU movies. This time, I went in chronological story order by starting with Captain America - The First Avenger. I chronicled the order I watched in my last post. Even after viewing many of these movies multiple times, I’m still amazed at how much I enjoy them and the scope of what Marvel was able to achieve leading into the climax in Endgame.

Community (Netflix/Hulu) I loved Community on its initial run on NBC but never watched any of the episodes when it was on Yahoo for its sixth season. It has been great to rewatch the meta-humor and sitcom trope parodies. And since Ken Jeong and Joel McHale started their own podcast called The Darkest Timeline (half COVID-19, half Community pod), it has been a good companion viewing.

The Back to the Future Trilogy (Netflix) Recent add to Netflix for easy viewing, these movies have been a favorite of the Mitra boys since childhood. Upon viewing as an adult, there is some humor that I didn’t recognize as a kid that is hilarious to me now. It is also crazy how well this teen time-travel sci-fi comedy works. Some of the effects in Part 2 are dated and 2015 didn’t quite end up the way it did in the movies. But overall very enjoyable on the rewatch!

Extraction (Netflix) High budget action flick funded by Netflix? Written by the Russo Brothers? And staring Chris Hemsworth? I’m in! Directed by long-time stunt man and Russo Bros go-to stunt coordinator Sam Hargrave (you can tell the Russo influence). It has an awesome 15ish minute one-shot action/chase sequence that is top notch. Don’t think much about the plot or the controversy of cultural representation, just enjoy the action.

The Mighty Ducks Trilogy (HBO) Another childhood favorite of mine. Nevermind that the hockey itself isn’t accurate. This is about pure fun for an hour and a half at a time. Come for the hi-jinx, stay for the heart. Triple-deke, knuckle-puck, taking out the trash. And leave it out on the ice!

The Harry Potter Series (Blu-Ray/Digital) This was not a go-to for me until Linda made me watch the entire series. I guess when the first movie came out, it was too much of a kid movie for me (I was a high school senior at the time). But from the second movie onward, it felt like the storytelling and movie making got better and better. The Deathly Hallows was an epic ending, even if they did change the ending from the book. I didn’t watch the newer Fantastic Beasts movies along with this though, my wife did.

Westworld - Season 3 (HBO) Recently got HBO back, so I caught up on Westworld Season 3. I haven’t rewatched the previous seasons yet, but I may revisit it soon. Season 1 was spectacular, Season 2 was confusing as hell but still entertaining. Season 3 is somewhere in between, expanding on the ongoing storyline. It was more straight-forward because its storyline is in the “real-world.” For those of you that have watched, didn’t you think it was highly ironic that the Incite ball was basically the AT&T logo? (AT&T is the parent company for WarnerMedia and HBO)

The Last Dance (ESPN/ESPN+) The Michael Jordan docu-series has been a god-sent for sports fans devoid of live American sports for the past couple months. Is it Jordan-biased? Sure. But it is full of drama and intrigue and full of nostalgia. The NBA had commissioned a camera crew to follow the 1997-1998 Chicago Bulls on their run for their sixth NBA championship. Jordan owned the controlling rights to the footage and unlocked it after the 2016 NBA Finals. So this documentary was years in the making and with the pandemic the release date was moved up. Although it featured a lot of unseen footage, it also chronicled the years leading up to the 1998 Bulls title. The last 5 Sundays have been awesome.

The Princess Bride (Disney+) I haven’t watched this movie since I was a kid. It wasn’t one of my recurring watches back then. So this was actually my second viewing of this movie ever. I found it quite enjoyable. It was cheesy, but fun, and a good family watch. One of the many older titles available on Disney+.

Scoob (VOD) My kids had some of the older Scooby Doo episodes on DVD and watched them when they were younger. This was a fun revisit for them and for us as parents. It was actually cool seeing a lot of the Hanna-Barbera characters in one movie. We watched this shortly after finishing Community, and my kids recognized Ken Jeong’s voice as Dynomutt. My daughter hilariously shouted “Senor Chang!” when she recognized him.

The Indiana Jones Series (Netflix) I introduced my son to Indiana Jones a few months ago watching Raiders of the Lost Ark. He loved it. He lost a little bit of interest during the Temple of Doom, I think the character Short Round lost it for him (character hasn’t aged well). The Last Crusade reclaimed his interest. Harrison Ford was at his natural apex playing Indiana Jones. I did not watch the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I didn’t feel the need to revisit that installment, while it was enjoyable the alien ending ruined the lead up to it.

The Dark Knight Trilogy (Batman Begins/The Dark Knight - Hulu, The Dark Knight Rises - Digital) Every few years I try to revisit this series. It is the best thing DC has ever put out cinematically. While Begins and Rises is more comic book, TDK is a straight crime drama set in the world of Batman. My favorite is Rises, but the absolute best comic book movie remains The Dark Knight, even with the advent of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Jurassic Park/Jurassic World Series (Jurassic Park/The Lost World: Jurassic Park - Blu-Ray, Jurassic World - Digital, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - Cinemax) The original Jurassic Park is such a great movie. Rewatching, it’s crazy how well the effects for the dinosaurs hold up. Steven Spielberg, Stan Winston, and ILM did a great job mixing animatronic and CGI dino effects that stand the test of time. The Lost World was enjoyable but not as good as the original. I skipped JP III, such a bad movie. Jurassic World was a good way to reboot the series, basically a remake of the original but incorporating a lot of references to it. I just finished Fallen Kingdom today. Although Fallen Kingdom was entertaining, it fails to recapture some of the magic of JP and JW.

I’m not sure what I will hit up next. I might hit some Keanu Reeves movies like Speed, the Matrix Trilogy, and/or the John Wick Trilogy. Maybe Top Gun. Maybe rewatch Friends or How I Met Your Mother. Maybe something on HBO Max when it comes out like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Maybe Terminator. Possibilities are endless, at least until some American sports return.

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labime · 6 years ago

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which are your fav tv series, movies, book (and ships if you have them) and why?

favorite shows: alias, american horror story (season 1-3), big little lies, billions (season 1 only), black mirrors, breaking bad, buffy the vampire slayer, charmed, criminal minds, dexter, doctor who (season 5-7), game of thrones (season 1-7), good girls, gotham (season 1-3), grey’s anatomy (season 1-8), hannibal, how to get away with murder (season 1 only), jessica jones, law & order: special victims unit (season 1-10), medici: master of florence, mindhunter, nikita, once upon a time, peaky blinders (season 1-2), prison break, rome, sense8, sharp objects, sons of anarchy, spartacus, supernatural (season 1-5), taboo, the affair (season 1 only), the borgias, the handmaid’s tale, the musketeers, the tudors, the walking dead, true blood, true detective, victoria (season 1-2), vikings (season 1-4), westworld.

favorite movies: 12 years a slave, anna karenina, batman v superman, black swan, cinderella (2015), crazy stupid love, cruel intentions, dracula (1992), dracula untold (2014), gangster squad, gladiator, gone girl, gone with the wind, harry potter, inception, interview with the vampire (1994), it, la la land, le fabuleux destin d'amélie poulain, lolita (1997), moulin rouge, red eye, scarface, schindler’s list, sinister, star wars: the last jedi, stoker, suffragette, the dark knight, the devil wears prada, the great gatsby, the godfather, the help, the mummy (1999), the shape of water, the shinning, troy, wake up and die, wonder woman (2017), wuthering heights (1939; 1992; 2009).

favorite couples: achilles/briseis, angel/darla, anna karenina/alexei vronsky, ares/aphrodite, beth boland/rio, cassandra of troy/apollo, catherine earnshaw/heathcliff, cesare borgia/lucrezia borgia, charlie stoker/india stoker, count dracula/mina harker, daenerys targaryen/jon snow, gannicus/melitta, helen of troy/paris, jaime lannister/cersei lannister, jessica jones/zebediah killgrave, klaus mikaelson/caroline forbes, lisa reisert/jackson rippner, marya morevna/koschei the deathless, mia/sebastian, olivia pope/fitzgerald grant, rhaegar targaryen/lyanna stark, spike/buffy summers, tom riddle/hermione granger, will graham/hannibal lecter.

favorite books: a song of ice and fire by george r.r. martin, american gods by neil gaiman, anna karenina by leo tolstoy, bone gap by laura ruby, coraline by neil gaiman, deathless by catherynne valente, dracula by bram stoker, forbidden by tabitha suzuma, gone with the wind by margaret mitchell, gone girl by gillian flynn, hunting season by beau taplin, it by stephen king, keturah and lord death by martine leavitt, lolita by vladimir nabokov, notre-dame de paris by victor hugo, practice makes perfect by julie james, sharp objects by gillian flynn, spinning silver by naomi novik, the bloody chamber by angela carter., the farseer trilogy by robin hobb, the girl next door by jack ketchum, the handmaid’s tale by margaret atwood, the husband stitch by carmen maria machado, the iliad by homer, the mists of avalon by marion zimmer bradley, the shining by stephen king, the silver devil by teresa denys, this secret we’re keeping by rebecca done, wuthering heights by emily brontë.

i know it sounds awfully generic but most of the time the movies and shows i prefer are just the ones that grab my interest. character-driven stories are my favorite but if it’s done well plot-filled and action movies/shows can be extremely good too. i also very much appreciate the cinematography, music, and direction, so much that i can watch and enjoy movies only for that. in some cases, like in schindler’s list and la la land the music is so beautiful it can be distracting and yet so carefully chosen it simply immerses me in the scenes.

when it comes to books i enjoy the writing above all. even the most interesting, unique concept will fall short if the writing is contrived and the execution poor. i prefer prose poetry but the themes and messages conveyed in the books are what really captivates me.

the couples i ship are usually relationships that allow me to explore certain dynamics i find intriguing—either because of the writing or the chemistry between the actors/actresses—and that further the general plot or their individual characterization. i tend to to be more intrigued by enemies to lovers and gothic romance but it’s mostly the complexity of the relationships that fascinate me.

#about me #answered #text post

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rorykillmore · 6 years ago

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whaaat new shows coming out next year are you looking forward to??

damn i can’t actually think of any... brand new shows coming out any time soon that i’m really anticipating apart from maybe like. i am the night which looks like it might be an interesting crime thriller... but what really intrigues me about it is that it’s directed by patty jenkins. and i Trust her. so i might check that out when it airs??

but apart from that there’s some upcoming new seasons of stuff i’m looking forward to! hopefully mostly in the next few months actually. i’ll try to list them in chronological order,

season 3 of true detective is airing in january like, right around when i’m going back to school actually! so that’s a nice thing to look forward to. idk if you’ve seen any of the new trailers or anything but it looks really fucking intriguing and is starring mahershala ali which is really promising. it coming back like this is like, a big deal because it had a really uncertain future for awhile after its divisive second season. so fans are pretty excited. personally i’m like... there’s this really specific brand of like. “crime/thriller/mystery with a tinge of existential, inexplicable supernatural horror” that i really LOVE that so few things get right, but true detective at its best absolutely does, so i’m excited for that

then season 2 of american gods is happening in early march and i am BEYOND hype from that. it’s especially exciting because the show is like... both drawing from the book a lot but also taking major deviations from it, so there are probably gonna a few surprises in season 2 even for me and i’m really looking forward to that?? i just. love the worldbuilding and lore of american gods, in general. plus.... laura moon is my disaster fave and i will freely admit i’ll take any new reasons to rp her,

also airing in the spring supposedly is season 2 of killing eve and like. fuck it i will drop everything to watch that IMMEDIATELY. i really need to rewatch season 1 at some point before then but i feel like killing eve is just. everything i love wrapped up into one show to the point that i still almost can’t believe it exists, and i’m really looking forward to more........

i think jessica jones season 3 is supposedly airing some time in the spring or summer too?? fairly quick turnaround compared to the break between seasons 1 or 2 but that’s probably because netflix is trying to clear out all their marvel shows. so i like... fully expect it to be cancelled after s3 which fuckin sucks but you know what. at least we’re getting one more season. at least it’s not ending on the note season TWO went out on

what else... oh big little lies is supposed to air at some point in 2019 but i don’t think an exact timeframe has been announced yet. and asoue season 3! and... well i don’t think we’re getting westworld s3 until like 2020 at the earliest so i’m not holding my breath for that yet,

also, hannibal season 4 is floating somewhere out there in the ether, but that’s a completely different story

#thanks spear!!#i still have some of these left from last night so i thought id get to a few #larkspear

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fromchaostocosmos · 7 years ago

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Just finished Westworld Season 1 and in middle of season 2 episode 1 and I had some thoughts that I don’t want to forget so I’m putting them out here.

So I think that a major faulty point in it all is that the only experiences that the Hosts know of humans and that Ford is basing his whole “humans are done it is the time for robots” is that the only humans that have been involved in this whole thing are those who are essentially the top 1% and those that work for the Delos Corporation and thus invested in seeing it make money not in being ethical or moral.

Like these are the uber wealthy and powerful they don’t live with consequences. The only difference with Westworld is that they don’t have to hide away their violence the way they might have to cover up if they murder or hurt someone in the outside world, but either way they still can get away with it.

I mean look at our world now and the kind of shit the rich and powerful get away with all the time.

I think if the Hosts saw humans the suffer and toil and endure as they have they would see that they are really not that different.

Also a lot of the show talks about god and religion and such, but it is very much steeped in western ideology, christian and greek/roman mythology, since the show tends to stick with christian and greek/roman metaphors and mirroring.

A lot of the end conclusions and trains of thought characters have break down once you leave western religion.

I can only speak from a Jewish perspective but G-d, our relationship with our Maker, what does it mean to be human, and all those questions that comes up through out and the answers that explored fall apart once you look at it from the Jewish perspective.

The final thing that kinda snagged me like a thread was the 3 worlds we know about Westworld which takes place in American Western Frontier, Raj World which takes place during a portion of British Imperial Rule of India, and Shogun World which takes places during the Edo period of Japan.

Westworld and Raj World are all about colonialism because that is what was happening during those times periods. As for Shogun World I don’t know enough about the Edo Period to feel qualified to makes any statements on it.

Even though Japan did eventually become an Imperial power that colonized others Shogun World is not, from what little I do know of the Edo period, taking place during a colonization the way Westworld and Raj World are. And since I don’t know what the other parks are I’m going to use just Westworld and Raj World for the next bit.

There is this idea of colonization both a literal lever and metaphorical level. The humans or guests as they are called for at least two of the parks get to exist in a time of colonization so it is on a literal level. And on a metaphorical level they are in essence colonizing the Hosts.

For a theme park the Wild West would be more fun then the time of the first colonists in what would become America. I mean the Wild West is stereotyped with saloons, sex workers, violence, gun-slinging, and drinking.

But Westworld and Raj World are based from real pain, the pain and suffering of those who were colonized.

So should the Hosts ever get outside and they feel that from the prior experiences of humans all humans are worthless I question what would happen when they met the descendants of those that have been colonized.

Yes the hosts have been enslaved and colonized time and again for the amusement of a portion humans, but what happens when they meet the many different peoples who too have been enslaved and colonized, some times more then once, and who in some cases carry the trauma not just in their memories but in their very genetic code, in their programming so to say, with inter-generational trauma.

For those of us who have been colonized, for our people those memories are, as Westworld would call it, a cornerstone moment in many many ways.

Again this is just my thoughts from having just finished season 1 and just started season 2. I don’t know details of what goes on in Raj World or Shogun World I just know that they get explored in Season 2 so I might be totally wrong about everything I wrote here. These were thoughts I had that I didn’t want to forget so even though I haven’t finished episode 1 of season 2 yet I wanted to have it written here.

#my posts #westworld

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fossadeileonixv · 7 years ago

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Mercato Madness: July 27

What would ya do here?

Wow, this is a thing! Sorry I’m having trouble coming up with something cute here cuz this is madness. Hair Leonardo confirmed in a presser yesterday that no hair Leonardo, Leonardo Bonucci, did in fact request a return to Juve, one year after his shock move to San Siro. I mean, we’ve unwrapped this quite a bit here already, but it says something when one of the best defenders in the league hands in a transfer request and pretty much everyone is like “Oh. Good.” As bizarre and comical as this is, the compensation is the hangup, as Juve definitely is interested in bringing him back to bolster their Champions League chances. A swap with Mattia Caldara has seemingly been the backbone of a deal sending Leo back from whenst he came (is that right?), but the valuations of the respectively players by both sides aren’t matching up quite yet. And throw in the news that emerged yesterday that Juve want a buy-back clause (God, do not do this, just on principle), and you got another layer of sediment to brush off. Gonzalo Higuain is another name that’s been mixed up in this Leo-swap, but with Sarri flashing the cash for him at Chelsea, the possibility of Pipita in Black and Red is growing a little dimmer. The chances I think, are still in our favor, but I think time is our enemy.

My question to you lions and lionesses is what is ideal here? Nine posed this question yesterday or the day before sort of, but what is the most reasonable outcome to all this in your mind? And how ya feeling about a buy-back?

Hosting Bernard. When I saw that Milan was linked with Bernard, I was like that’s pretty good. Host or not, and confusing history aside, along with Ford he created the most impressive AI theme-park in Westworld, and while having no football experience it might be good for the stadium issue. Then I realized it was Bernard, the plucky 4′4″ left-winger from Shakhtar, and I was like “Oh... Bernard.” and still liked the move. Out of contract with the Ukrainian giants, Bernard the human footballer is being courted by a few clubs, but many think Milan with Leonardo have a pretty good chance at landing the 26 year-old. Mainly a LW, Bernard packs a lot of pluck into his 3′10″ frame, is good with the ball at his feet, has excellent vision, a decent bit of pace and can find the back of the net. And if his performances for Brazil are a barometer, he’s a pretty physical player for someone of his stature. Would he be tried on the right? Dislodge Cal back to LM? Signal a change in formation? Who knows. But on a free, this would be a nice little piece of business and he’s from Mrs. Rockett’s hometown in Brazil, so there’s also that!

Kjaer in the air. If Leo leaves and Caldara does not, ex-Roma and Palermo man Simon Kjaer may be called on to fill his shoes, because another average-to-good center back is exactly what we need. The journeyman had a bit of a disappointing season in Sevilla last season, and would come relatively cheap, but I’m thinking that if Leo leaves you need to either commit to Musacchio or bring someone with a bit more class in. Kjaer, in a vacuum -- well, he wouldn’t be able to breathe and would die -- but in a metaphoric vacuum, isn’t a poor move for a 3rd or 4th choice defender, but it really doesn’t seem to fit right now with Mus, Zapata, and as of right now still, Gomez. Plus we have a history with blonde, pony-tailed central defenders from Roma that, although are remembered endearingly now, were not so endearing when they played here.

In other news... Biglia’s agent has come out and flatly denied that in the wake of Leo’s request, he asked for a return to Lazio. This is good. Biglia was vital during the second half of the season and his departure would really throw a monkey wrench into the transfer window... Re-calibrate your Conte-Watch clock, Russu, as Hair Leo gave his full support of Rino. I’ve said it here a few times. Conte will probably be this club’s next coach, but for stability’s sake, I see why you double down on Rino. God bless Rino forever, but I really hope this isn’t Montella 2.0... Can we just talk about that away kit for a second? I know it has nothing to do with the mercato, but HOLY SH*T between the chalk across the top to the illegible name and number on back, I think that may be the worst kit since the rainbows. Ew!

That’s it babies! Sound off below!

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thedeadflag · 8 years ago

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@dreamsheartstory said: if you find any good sci fi, let me know… it’s so rare…

It really is. For a genre that has so much potential, it rarely makes the small screen without being corralled into a few very specific tropes (sci-fi cop procedural is so, so overdone, but I’m desperate haha)

Still, this is what I’ve watched over the past...3 years? 3 years, yeah. At least, the notable ones, not including the obvious big name Netflix marvel shows, Sense 8, orphan black, etc..

SOME MINOR SPOILERS BELOW

The Expanse:

Harder sci-fi. Essentially, it’s the future, where humanity expanded across the system, and Mars split off to do their own thing after a civil war. The people working on “the belt”... as in the asteroid belt and other such unsavory places and stations...are the clear have-nots and are generally abused at will by both Earth and Mars, and the show starts where tensions are at an all-time high, with the belt a hair’s trigger away from revolt, and the Earth/Mars tensions coming to a head

Great casting, the crew of the Roci is fantastic. Though Thomas Jane is...a Thomas Jane character. He’s such a perfect fit for Miller, because Miller checks all the boxes for his strengths, and hides his weaknesses well enough in the flaws of the character. So i can’t blame the show for that, but I hate looking at his face. Still, the casting is just top notch. And they have Shohreh Aghdashloo, who is always fantastic, and Frankie Adams pops onto the scene in S2 and does quite well. Essentially, casting = A+

Only real complaint is that i read the book, and there’s a pansexual lady character that is exceptional and amazing and I love her and her mouth of a sailor. The show cut that and made her more passive and scared in S2, which is bullshit, and led me to stop watching because I was furious at that decision, but in the end, it’s still absolutely 100% worth watching. If just for the Roci crew alone and the endless shenanigans they get into (and sometimes out of)

Binge-worthy. Pacing of the first two episodes is a bit inconsistent, but they’re covering an absurd amount of ground, so that’s expected.

Killjoys:

Lighthearted space-faring sci-fi, set in a totally built from the ground up universe. It slowly leaks out the lore as to not jeopardize the general tone of the show. However, it does turn serious for stretches.

Easily binge-worthy. Takes 3 episodes to get momentum, but after that, it’s pretty smooth sailing.

My only real quibble is with the origins of Dutch. We get a hint of her growing up essentially as property, abused into being a living weapon/assassin, before we get a good read of the world, and that...really comes off as a bit exploitative, given she’s a woc.

The ship is an A+ lovable sassy ladybug

Dark Matter:

A bit “harder” sci-fi than Killjoys, but it has its lighthearted moments

Super super slow burn. I finished the first season and only then did I really start to dig my claws into the show. It’s slow.

That said, interesting lore, and the overarching series of narratives are solid and worthwhile, they just take an egregiously long time to lift-off.

There’s apparently wlw content in season 3. I haven’t finished S2 yet, but I’m hoping it’s solid.

Westworld:

Western meets Wizard of Oz featuring Anthony Hopkins with an old west fetish. Set far off in the future. There are, like, androids and stuff

I didn’t get through it since western shows give me the creeps, but most of my friends who watched it says it was pretty great. I only watched the first episode, but the acting and cinematography and music were all very well done.

Ascension:

A sci fi mystery, set in a space-ship, if that space-ship was sort of like one of the Bunkers in the fallout games, full of people from the 50s.

The show is not without its warts, but it’s a miniseries (so it’s not long), and it’s surprisingly well done. Doesn’t cover all the themes it brings up with the greatest nuance or skill, but I’d wager it’s probably worth a watch?

The OA:

Another mystery! Sci-fi in the vein of alien abduction and strange abilities.

It’s kind of surrealistic? It makes you pay attention, and if you slip up, you’ll probably miss out on something. There’s a decent chunk of content mashed into those surprisingly few episodes.

Didn’t like that it robbed a character of a disability. I think it would have worked just as well with the character still being blind. They could have made it work.

Trans guy rep in this show, which was a plus

American Gods:

I’m not sure if this counts? It kinda counts. I’m saying it counts. It mixes sci-fi and fantasy.

I haven’t finished this yet, mostly just because it’s hard to find torrents that aren’t tracked by the network. My ISP is okay with me getting one or two notices a month, but past that, it’s tricky, and I can’t afford a good VPN, so I’m playing the waiting game for a bit.

Ricky Whittle and Ian McShane were fantastic in the episodes I did see. The show is, if nothing else, visceral and beautifully shot.

3%:

Sci-fi in the vein of Hunger Games, but a better premise, and better executed

I only managed to get it with the dubbed audio, so that was flat out atrocious and made me weep over the injustice

Still, despite the absolutely grating audio, I pushed through that and enjoyed much of the rest of the show. it’s solid. Not, like, the best show out there, but it does what it does well, it covers its themes well, and the visual elements of the acting seemed strong.

Find the sub-titled version with the original language (portugese iirc?) audio. I think that’s available on Netflix now, or at least Netflix USA, from what I understand.

12 Monkeys:

It’s a police procedural time jumping sci-fi with a dystopian, post-apoc future.

It’s okay. Nothing special. The two leads really do try to put the show on their back, btu the writing’s not real strong. Watchable, but lots of plot holes, plot armor, and writers shoehorning in sudden/coincidental events out of nowhere to increase tension. if you want something to watch for background noise, or maybe if you want a procedural show and have checked out the others already, maybe this will be for you.

Agents of Shield:

Superhero-based sci-fi

First season is slow and full of filler because they were waiting for that Captain America Winter Soldier movie to come out before tying their show in with the events. There are guides to watching the first season. I thought it was all decently fine, and good writing alla round, there’s just too many episodes that season to justify the few meaningful narrative events.

Season 2 has Dichen Lachman. The final half of that season character-assassinates her (and the other inhumans) to provide the show a late-hour villain to root against. I hated that. It’s the weakest season, thankfully, and I’m sure there are watch-guides to skipping through that because...

Shit gets real in season 3, and it’s worth watching even outside of S1-2, I’d even rec skipping those if there wans’t so much character-building in those 2 seasons. The writing is better, the acting is better from S3 onward. There’s still some fumbling of themes, but not to the degree of the previous seasons. Same with Season 4, where it arguably has it’s greatest few episodes. Ends with a brief Hydra-AU arc that IMO is skippable, but some adored it. I didn’t, but eh.

Colony:

Harder sci-fi. Aliens invaded and swiftly won. Now they’re ruling us from a distance, using human figureheads to do so. Really neat lore, and worldbuilding.

Unfortunately, it’s the most frustrating sci-fi show i’ve seen in years, because the male cop lead always has a gut feeling that always aligns with what the revolutionaries are planning, so he always intercepts them. And they get unbelievable plot armor to escape the writers’ ham-handed tension-building, ensuring the writers don’t pay any consequences for the shitty bullshit they keep pulling over and over.

If you can take that sort of crap, and care enough about worldbuilding/lore/etc., then go for it. There’s definite value, and things improve greatly in season 2. But my lord, season 1 is so frustrating.

Person of Interest:

You’ve probably watched this one

Hard sci-fi in the vein of "Hey, maybe writing a secret intelligent AI is just a really bad idea” *five minutes later* “Oh no what have we done”

It’s a really bad idea.

But we get fun police procedural moments out of it, because John is solid, and Carter & Root & Shaw & Bear are excellent.

Bear is best.

The show has watch guides for getting through the first season, and parts of S2.

Avoid the final 3 episodes of the series. Maybe the final season altogether. Otherwise fantastic and heartwrenching stuff.

The Last Ship:

Naval Adventure to Rebuild the World After a Rampant MegaVirus sci-fi

Surprisingly decent for a show that’s basically funded entirely by the American Navy.

Just keep in mind that there will be shitty patriotism bits of bullshit tossed in here and there, and there won’t be so much shock when those bits show up.

First two seasons play out like a mix of The Hunt for Red October and Jesus Camp. It’s bizarre, but sometimes it works? Rhona Mitra and Christina Elmore are probably the reasons for that. And Dichen Lachman is in S3 and she doesn’t die, so that’s a plus.

It definitely has its dips into shit-tier quality, and self-righteous bullshittery, especially in S3.

But it also handles a national political arc halfway decently for a sci-fi show in S3.

Anywho, this is good for, like, background watching? Or low-intensity, low-effort watching. In that context, it’s a good enough show.

The Leftovers:

Three seasons of super depressing and heart-wrenching drama with sci-fi at its core (huge amounts of people vanish one day...the show is about the world finding out how to move on, what ti all means)

Excellent acting. Top notch. Like, some of the best on TV. Some stunning stuff.

The show only gets better. I didn’t like the first half of S1, it’s very slow and arduous, but it’s worth it.

Not very sci-fi, at least not until S3, but still. It works with sci-fi elements and it’s a very thoughtful, smart show.

Wayward Pines:

It’s sci-fi in the vein of Under the Dome, but it manages to be even worse somehow don’t ask me how

Oh my god don’t watch this, the cast does not make up for it, they flounder in atrocious writing. i’m only mentioning this here because it’s just so bad, don’t waste your time like I did.

That’s...well, the stuff that’s not far below mediocre.

#spoilers #AoS spoilers #agents of shield spoilers

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