#and also PLOT hooks....ideal. literally ideal.

[yesimwriting]

I agree that Art and Patrick need each other.

How do you think their dynamic would change (if at all) if they were in a throuple with someone?

I want to know your Challengers opinions on EVERYTHING but I suck at coming up with things to ask

this is such a fun ask!

sorry if i'm all over the place, i just had so many thoughts :)

disclaimer: this is based on my interpretation of the plot and characters, so it's very opinion based,, and if you see them differently that's totally okay bc room for interpretation and analysis is what makes an artistic work art :)

okay so i think some of the dynamic changes would depend on the personality of the third person, if that person is similar to tashi (and they actually managed to get into an official relationship) i think everyone would be happy but still a little toxic

this isn't me fully blaming tashi for all their issues btw!! i think fully assigning blame to one individual ruins the point of the movie and oversimplifies their relationships, but i digress

i think part of the reason that the plot of the movie worked out the way it did is bc tashi helped bring out the "hubris" of both art and patrick--patrick's pride and art's ability to trap himself in his head

to me, these are the main traits capable of ruining their relationship

wanting someone like tashi drove patrick's desire to be the "best", i see him as someone with a slightly obsessive personality,, and having someone so desirable, strong willed, and talented kind of becomes an ego thing

however, wanting someone like tashi works the opposite way for someone like art,, he wants to prove himself "worthy" so bad it traps him in his head and actually makes him more insecure

so with patrick constantly working to maintain his improved ego and art struggling to keep up the way he sees himself, ofc things get a little toxic bc even though they care about each other, it's more about their headspace than actually wanting to compete with each other

also i think tashi wanted to want art more than she wanted patrick, but she just wasn't there, which brings me to the dynamic i think would work best

patrick cares about art sm, idc argue with me if u want but i will never be convinced that patrick wasn't in love with art that the entire movie would have been maybe 20 minutes long if art said he wanted to fix their friendship/relationship

this isn't to say that art doesn't love patrick, i just think that they express love in different ways

patrick is so open in his affectionateness, and that's ideal for keeping art from getting stuck in his head, and art loves in a way that emphasizes consistency, which is ideal for someone like patrick, who places sm emphasis on external factors when it comes to his self worth

bc of this i think that the ideal third person for them would be someone that prioritizes art a little more,, i'm not saying someone that would love art more, but someone that'd take care to focus on art's feelings to make sure that art feels like he exists at the center of things

that might sound like a reach, but if you think of the moments in which tashi and patrick connected most, i think it makes sense, for example:

in the dorm room scene when tashi and patrick are about to hook up, they're literally talking about and complimenting art, when tashi and patrick hook up in atlanta it's after finding out about tashi's engagement to art (which 'proves' that tashi loves art), and they hook up in the car after tashi explains why she'd want patrick to throw the match, which implies she still cares about him

also the conversation in which patrick accuses tashi of hating art is arguably one of their least connected moments, even if he's flirting a little, that moment kind of felt like patrick was probing, trying to see where tashi was at

if they were in a throuple, i think they'd be happy, especially with someone that balanced out their pride and insecurities

patrick would become even more affectionate, he's definitely the type to pull in a s/o and kiss them mid sentence and then say he just couldn't help it

art would be even more open about his feelings, he's the type to mention how much he loves his s/o so casually it actually knocks the wind out of you

[kingdomoftyto]

Hi, happy spooky month, I have a ✨manga rec✨!! And in the spirit of the season, it's a horror story! >:3c

I want to spoil as little as possible because I went into this manga essentially COMPLETELY blind and, honestly, imho, I imagine it's the ideal way to experience the story. I literally first heard about it from a random youtube comment on a video about an entirely different manga--one which, mind you, had VERY different themes, which colored my preconceptions and added to the surprises for me later on!

ANYWAY, what I mean by all that is I'm going to start with the simplest possible summary of the premise, and if that's intriguing enough for you to give it a shot, then I recommend diving right in!! But, if you still need more of an in-depth, slightly spoilery rec? Then I'll gush a bit more under a cut to see if I can hook your attention.

With all that out of the way,

The Summer Hikaru Died is a horror/supernatural story about a high school boy named Yoshiki whose best friend (Hikaru) went missing in the mountains outside of town. What comes back is... something else. It looks, acts, and talks like Hikaru, but it's not him, and Yoshiki is the only one who seems to notice.

The only other thing I knew going in was that the commenter made a brief mention of the "Hikaru"-thing protecting Yoshiki, which seemed odd but intriguing alongside the rest of the premise.

So if that's enough for you (plus the fact that I'm telling you I haven't stopped thinking about this story since I read it two weeks ago), then please check it out! There are only 5 volumes so far!! Suffer through the wait for the rest with meeeeee ಥωಥ

More spoilery extended rec below the cut:

📣THESE MOTHERFUCKERS GAY*!!!📣

📣GOOD📣FOR📣THEM!!!📣

I know what you're thinking, and YES, it appears to be BL between the TIMID HIGH SCHOOL BOY and the ELDRITCH HORROR WEARING THE SKIN OF HIS BEST FRIEND.

And it's SO GOOD.

No SERIOUSLY, for real though, I had NO inkling going into this that it was even in the realm of possibility that it would involve romance

Let alone a nuanced, slow burn, VERY QUEER romance layered with ruminations on grief and identity and one's relationship to society

(ON THIS NOTE, I must advise up front that I DO NOT KNOW if this story will end in tragedy... It's still ongoing, after all! BUT, I think either way it will be an amazing story and... maybe I'm just delusional, and though this may be considered spoilery in itself, the most recent chapters have me optimistic that we might indeed be on track for some sort of happy ending... eventually.)

Anyway, I cannot express enough how incredible it was to uncover this aspect of the story organically without knowing about it beforehand. Born and raised in a rural village, Yoshiki is deep in the closet, and that's reflected in how subtle the hints are at the beginning. Over time, it starts to become clearer and clearer, but always with a layer of plausible deniability, at least if you're not expecting it to take such a queer turn. ("Hikaru" literally makes a ton of "no homo" style jokes early on, which... god don't get me started--)

As you might guess, Yoshiki had feelings for the real Hikaru before his disappearance, and ooh boy does that affect how much the grief and guilt and fear play into things. It's delightfully fucked up.

So yeah. I 100% expected the plot of this manga to revolve around the intrigue of the monster finding out Yoshiki knew its secret, the fear of not knowing when the monster would strike next, etc, but NO! That particular "reveal" happens within the first 10 pages, and then the entity just kind of... lives the life of a high school kid! He's kind of a little shit, but for the most part, he's a nice boy! Yoshiki is the only one who knows who "Hikaru" really is, but much of the tension comes from him having to come to terms with that, rather than the fear itself.

...and also the OTHER horrors and mysteries. There's tension there too, considering it's where the actual plot lies, lmAO. Just because "Hikaru" isn't a totally evil monster doesn't mean there aren't a lot of grotesque and scary things in here. Most of this manga I would classify more in the "supernatural" genre than "horror", but in those moments it DOES delve into horror, it goes pretty damn hard. I remember more than one moment where I felt sharp regret about reading it in the dark at 2 a.m. 💀

Still, if you dare, it's worth the read. I can't recommend it enough.

P.S. I wouldn't say it's a "funny" manga but it does nonetheless have an amazing sense of humor. There are a handful of actual jokes and gags that did have me rolling, but more importantly there's an unspoken, implicit acknowledgement of how absurd this all is, in that way only good self-aware horror can achieve. Take the main character Yoshiki for example. The image I used of him up above? The unsettling camera angle, the haunted look in his eyes? That's just how he always looks. The panel after that one shows that all he's looking at on his phone is a text from his sister reminding him to pick up wasabi flakes.

P.P.S. There's apparently an anime adaptation coming out sometime? I'll probably watch it, but I expect something will be lost in translation. We'll see, I suppose.

*- To be precise: Yoshiki is gay. The creature that takes Hikaru's place has a more nuanced (and alien) perspective on sexuality, and... I'll leave it at that.

[quill-of-thoth]

Letters from Watson: The Boscombe Valley Mystery

Crimes in Context

Blackmail, again The mystery in Boscombe is remarkably similar in structure to Gloria Scott. Not only is the crime here committed by a former criminal who turned their life around to live as a productive community member, after a time of being blackmailed by a previous representative of the law / legitimate authority (which matches Trevor Sr. in all respects except the "actually committed a murder" part) but the story focuses on how the case affects the innocent adult children in that situation.

It has less-strong similarities to other blackmailing plots in the stories, (see The Second Stain) in being impossible to resolve without the death of the blackmailer, and difficult even then. I will save a full analysis of the Holmes' series attitude towards blackmail compared to other crime for it's proper place in Charles Augustus Milverton, but Holmes very clearly believes that it's not his place to deliver people ridding themselves of a blackmailer to justice, so long as there is any possible way to prevent someone else from taking the fall.

Bigamy, technically

The lack of follow through in the story to McCarthy Jr's marriage to a woman of lower class, (or to her statement that actually she's already married, whoops!) appears to have a lot to do with the class of the alleged bride. In the Noble Bachelor, the fact that the wedding is highly publicized and the bride is briefly presumed dead heighten the drama, but the class and wealth of the engaged couple definitely color Holmes and Watson's perspectives on Hattie's impulsive marriage to her gold rush sweetheart. They are much less sympathetic to the unnamed barmaid who has married McCarthy Jr. To untangle it from the period typical classism and misogyny tangle, lets look at this marriage from her perspective. It's 1890, you're a youngish lady working at a bar in Bristol, making a relatively average-ish wage compared to every other woman you know. (Because you do NOT know women who have fifty pounds a year and work as governesses or typists - your daddy does or did physical labor of some kind, your mama worked in some kind of physical job all your life too, your sisters and cousins and neighbors are never gonna be the idealized house angel of the middle class. You aren't in a workhouse and you aren't dying of working with caustic chemicals in a factory, life is certainly better than it could be! You even have enough education to be literate!) You meet a man who you really want to bang. Despite being above your station he also wants to bang, but hooking up with him is out of the question on both religious grounds, wanting to have a good life where your neighbors don't scorn you grounds, and the practical considerations of wanting a guarantee that this fling won't leave you worse off financially if, say, your boss finds out you're banging someone out of wedlock. Even if you were a hundred percent certain you could keep actually banging this guy a secret, effective birth control is not a thing yet, safe abortions are not a thing yet, and even if you're aware of the theoretical existence of either, even trying to find out more information about how you'd get them could have dire social, financial, or moral consequences. But he's also aware that hooking up is immoral and might send him to hell, so he's willing to marry you. Your best option is to low-key marry the fuck out of this dude. This way if you fall pregnant you've got a piece of paper somewhere that says your baby is not a bastard, the banging you've been doing whenever he bothers to drop by is absolutely moral and justified, and in your wildest romantic dreams you live a life where you have access to nice things because he's willing to spend money that a laborer will never have on you. This is the kind of nefarious "clutches" you've got young McCarthy in: a perfectly sensible arrangement that's only hindered by the fact that your have to keep it secret because your husband knows his family won't approve. (Unless you've got a similar thing going with a sailor as well, then you have to keep it secret or somebody might put two and two together and realize that you absolutely have banged more than one man and ONE of those marriages means that the other is invalid. You've been banging out of wedlock! Technically.)

I'm frankly not certain if the Bermuda Dockyard husband letter is the truth. Sailors are not known for their fidelity and any relationship with one would be difficult at the time, since they'd be away and un-contactable so often and for so long. On the other hand, put yourself back in the shoes of our friend the Bristol Barmaid. One day you wake up and read in the newspaper that your secret husband of two years, who you don't know terribly well despite the marriage and all the banging, has murdered his father in a fit of rage and is likely to be hanged for it. You're shocked and you probably want as far as possible away from the social and legal ramifications of that, so if you instantly write to him and make up a story about having already been married to a sailor to make sure he doesn't presume he has any connection to you in the future, I don't particularly blame you. It's certainly less messy than many other methods of separating from your husband we'll see in the stories

[fandom-fae]

okayy so i just finished watching that new disney peter pan remake (“peter pan and wendy”) (also spoiler warning btw-) and honestly. i liked it actually- like the pacing was a bit weird/kinda too fast imo and i’m not a fan of the ending (but to be fair that’s just bc i generally don’t like the ending where the lost boys leave neverland but peter doesn’t so that one isn’t the films fault), but other than that i think it was really good and fairly well made tbh. i would’ve liked some more musical numbers- like the two pirate sea shanties are okay and i don’t wanna complain but damn there’s so much music potential for a story like this tbh. like you could’ve had a song where peter pan actually sings or wendy (im ignoring the lullaby bc i want a song actually about her yk?) or maybe even a duet with them!!!!! i had hope for new music but well meh.

anyway!!! i loved almost all the visuals in the movie and the instrumental background music was really good too! i liked that it was very obviously inspired by the background music of the original tbh!! and i liked the casting tbh, i actually think all the actors did pretty good jobs !!

and the special effects were really good imo! like- not to compare this to the 2003 peter pan movie, but in that older one i always kinda cringed when characters flew around bc i just idk didn’t like how fake it looked- like obviously that’s bc of technical or budget (or both) limitations but still idk- but this time i actually rly liked the way they did the flying for the most part, especially in the scene where they flew to neverland. i also think the set design was really good!!

AND!!!!! i like how literally every aspect (except for the ending lmao) that i disliked in the animated movie was changed- like tinkerbell isn’t blinded by jealousy anymore, the native characters (or well in this case character, since tiger lilly was kinda the only plot relevant one) aren’t such flat caricatures anymore and hook didn’t act so unbelievably ridiculous yk? also i generally just like how well tinkerbell and wendy and tiger lilly got along tbh, because in the older film as we all know they were written in a almost misogynistic way tbh with the way they were reduced to jealousy so much yk? except for wendy kinda but eh. this modern version is SO MUCH BETTER at that, like i don’t think there was any scene where any of the three were really jealous at all unless i missed something lol.

like idk i just like it. it’s definitely different from the original story and from the older movie but not in a necessarily worse way. its similar enough to be familiar and nostalgic but different enough to have its own charme yk? like its no carbon copy and that’s a good thing because it doesn’t try to be and it doesn’t need to be. it humanised almost every character more (even though the pacing again was kinda not ideal lol but it was still enjoyable)!!

i just think it would’ve been good for the movie to have some more transitional scenes or to drag some moments out longer tbh. like there was no moment in my opinion that was really too long, which is good, but there were a few that i think should’ve been longer tbh. it felt not like the movie was rushed but like the viewer was rushed through the plot yk? like there weren’t really any moments to dwell on a situation or to let it sit, except for when wendy was swept onto that beach and when she walked the plank. those two moments were imo well timed. but like especially that scene in james’ peter’s room could’ve handled a few more moments, or the scene before peter left london again when he was talking to wendy yk?

anyway uwu the cinematography was rly well done too imo, and i definitely liked the fight scenes and that scene when they all arrive in neverland :3 and the set design was very good too !!! i also think i liked all the costumes except maybe wendy’s and hook’s jackets cuz like idk, they’re fine but i’m not vibing with them lol. anyway yeah sjdkdjkdjdk- peter pan’s and tinkerbell’s outfits were really good tho imo. and tinkerbell in general was rly good!! idk the actress’ name but she did a great job and whoever did the casting for this whole movie also did great !!!

[ripplequest]

THE GRAND WEAVING

hello beautiful bubblefolk here is my homebaked worldbuilding system called "The Grand Weaving"! It was heavily inspired by the map making ttrpg The Quiet Year particularly their use of prompt cards. It is intended for 2-6 players however it can also be used solo. There at 14 prompt cards that can be assigned to a suit of playing cards (Joker being 14)

There are 3 Stages of the game:

First Weave

Development

Final Weave

Within a Weaving stage players take turns drawing from a deck of prompts and add their own personal touch to the world being created. There are 3 Steps in your turn:

Create Something! Can be literally anything; a creature, an item, location, etc

Draw from the Deck! Taking a card from the Weaving prompts and resolving it.

Create a Character! Making a character who inhabits the world, no matter how important or minor (for example you could make the ruler of a powerful kingdom that was added, or a wizard or just knows how to create hotdogs)

After all 14 First Weave cards have been used everyone moves onto the Development stage which is an open conversation of people changing, adding or removing anything they would like collectively to develop the world. Finally, the Final Weave is functionally the same as the first but with a different set of 14 Prompts!

Last but not least here is the 28 prompts :)

FIRST WEAVE

An Allpowerful God has manifested, who are they? OR New powerful magic has been discovered, what is it?

There's a giant body of water, what is it? OR There's a giant man-made object, what is it?

What is the most feared predator? OR What is the most commonly domesticated animal

Anicient technology is discovered, what is it? OR A supernatural enviroment is discovered, what is it?

What is the most famous landmark? OR What is something hidden?

What is the most beautiful thing? OR What is the most hideous thing?

There's something in the skies, what is it? OR There's something underground, what is it?

Create a civilsation with a strong ideal OR Create a civilsation with a strong desire.

Create a monster the land fears OR Create a mythical creature with a great legend around them.

What is the strongest military force? OR What is the dominant religious order?

Create a nobility line OR Create the highest title to be earned.

Create a lesser known community OR Create an isolated community.

There's an otherworldly presence, what is it? OR There's a paranormal presence, what is it?

Introduce a mystery OR Introduce a worldchaning invention.

FINAL WEAVE

A tragic death occurs, who was it, what are the consequences? OR A tragic accident occurs, what happened, what are the consequences?

A powerful artifact empowers a group, what is it and what is it capable of? OR A deity pledges to aid a group, who are they and what to they grant?

A supernatural disaster occurs, what is it, what was effected? OR An old prophecy comes true, what is it and what happened?

Another Race is created, who are they? OR Another kingdom is created, where is it?

A conflict breaks out, between who? OR There's a disappearance, what was it?

Create a crime group, what is their defining heist? OR Create a monster, what did it attack?

Create a mystery OR Create a legend.

War tensions begin to brew, between who, why? OR An alliance is made, between who, why?

Magic mutations effect a group, what are they, how? OR A great disease infects a group, what is it, how?

A revolution breaks out, who is revolting, why? OR A great power desparity is put in place, who is on top, how?

Something is stolen, what is it, from who? OR A gift is given, what is it, to who?

A character is now famous, who are they, what did they do? OR A bounty is placed on a character, who are they, what did they do?

Innovations fix a problem, what is the invention, what did it fix? OR A hero fixes a problem, who is the hero, what did they fix?

Create a plot twist OR Create a plot hook.

[ma-lark-ey]

So I did this with Harry Potter, I’m working on doing it with Mortal Instruments. Only fair I do it with Grishaverse trilogy as well.

Will I read the novellas? Lol no probably not. Am I having a bopping time with the main series? Yeah. It’s good distraction of being a trans high schooler in America right now.

Here’s what I knew going in:

Nothing! I knew it was connected to Six of Crows and set up the fantasy better so I was recommended to read it first so I DID. i had no idea about ANY of this plot.

Spoilers for all of Shadow & Bone trilogy. I have thoughts <<3

1.) Shadow & Bone ( 24/3/23-27/3/23 )

(8/10)

I really liked this first book !! I wasn’t particularly. Attached to any one character but I will say that I fell for the Darkling hook line and sinker.

Alina is. Alina? I don’t hate her. I don’t love her. I think she’s a pretty basic main character, she’s definitely not my favourite mc ever. I think she’s certainly the right fit here, I know some books I read and go “this main character is NOT for this” but Alina !! She works.

I think this book could’ve been more interesting if Alina, rather than being like “the chosen one” was the kind of person who decided to make themself the chosen one. Does that make sense?

All this critique makes it sound like I hated this book, I think it’s genuinely really wonderful and totally worth it’s hype. I made playlists for this book. Like not just my standard “title - author” playlist. I’ve got playlists for Alina and the Darkling and Nikolai (WE’LL GET TO HIM.)

2.) Siege & Storm (27/3/23-30/3/23)

(7/10)

This book IS GOOD. im going to say that because I did enjoy. Almost all of this.

I think Mal and Nikolai’s little. Whatever that was. Was so funny and I think that so many problems could be avoided if they just had a little kiss. Throuple it up baby. Alina has two hands. Also Mal you’re DOWN BAD for the prince and we can ALL tell.

I LOOOOVED the pirate arc. Obsessed with it. Gobbled it down. It was SOO good. Love pirates. Love Sturmhond not taking the Darklings shit. Love the fact that none of these people take any of the grishas shit.

LOVED ALINA PUNCHING HIM.

i think Alina and Nikolai and Alina and Mal are both equally good endgames honestly. I wouldnt be mad with either. But IDEALLY they’re all holding hands and making out. I am PUSHING the Nikolai/Mal agenda. I am FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE.

The ending was mid. I didnt like it very much. I think the Darkling STILL SURVIVING was BULL.

And if NIKOLAI IS DEAD I WILL NOT FINISH RUINS AND RISING. I WONT

especially if we get a Darkling redemption arc like I think we might be.

I literally. Nikolai and the twins? I’d die for them. Alina and Mal can die and I wouldn’t mourn but if ANYTHING HAPPENS TO MY PIRATES I’M RUINED.

Be back when I finish R&R.

3.) Ruins & Rising (30/3/23–5/4/23)

8/10

My vow going into this book was that I’d be happy is Nikolai lived. I had so much faith. SO MUCH FAITH!! For 240 pages!! I was a FOOL!!! I was a stupid optimist who thought my lovely little princeling would get to live a happy life!! I was rooting for them !!

I WAS WRONG !!! Death is too good for our Nikolai even though he’s literally never done anything wromg EVER !!

Hi guys. This man ^^ up there?? In those paragraphs ^^ he was in the agonies.

Me? ME NOW? Me who just finished Ruins & Rising and is living my best life holding my babygirl? I’m thriving.

I. Literally. Texted my mate who had read this series and said “Does Nikolai get a happy ending yes or mo I’m dnfing if he doesnt. I cant do this.” And GUYS!!

He’s KING!!! KOROL REZNI!!!! My BOY!!

He is baby girl.

You know I COULD talk about how Alina’s relationship with the Darkling is very good portrayal of grooming victims/codependent relationships and I could go into how Mal’s whole deal was batshit in the best way or how Tamar is the love of my life. But this isn’t a book review.

This is Lark. Being gay. For the bastard pirate harpy prince boy. On main. I will NEVER be normal about him. I’m holding him like a soaked cat after a bath. Dont you love him.

Anyways yeah not doing a post mortum on every book like I did with HP bc I have no further tjoughts on any of the other books.

Stan Nikolai Lantsov, haters be SILENCED. I’ve heard that he has his own book and I??? Society isnt ready for me when I read that.

I would’ve liked to know what Alina and Mal changed their names to. Thats all I can think of in my hazy mess of Nikolai thoughts.

Also in my perfect world they’re in a throuple. Maybe Tolya is in there and its a polycule but its MUCH funnier if he’s acearo and covers for their stupid asses all the time and is SO annoyed by his king and his kings girlfriend and his kings boyfriend.

Thank you. That is all.

Time to go start Six of Crows so my little sister can get off my back about Kaz <<3

[hkcomplex]

(re: @likelyseraphim)

Ehh, sort of. Not a very good one. Language and translation are all about context. 葬送 very much does not at all mean “Slayer”, and “Frieren the Slayer”, absent any context, is simply an incorrect translation of 葬送のフリーレン. It’s just not what those words mean. However, when Lügner calls Frieren 葬送のフリーレン, the line is clearly meant to be an intimidating nickname which suggests a lot of killing, so “Frieren the Slayer” very much conveys the same feeling in a way that a literal translation of the source syntax simply cannot. But unless the reader already knew it was supposed to be a nickname meant to suggest mass-murder, they’d never interpret 葬送のフリーレン that way.

(Also, most of the demons speak using sort of unusually-polite language in Japanese. As a nickname, it sounds a little weird even in the original Japanese, but given how the demons speak it basically sounds like something they’d say.)

But the demon-slaying is really the B-plot of the story; the overarching theme is about how this long-lived elf Frieren experiences the comparatively-short lives and deaths of her friends and loved ones. You sometimes see the title 葬送のフリーレン translated as “Frieren at the Funeral”, which is a pretty literal translation, but it gets the meaning of the title across insofar as it speaks to this primary theme.

… Of course, on top of that is the added cultural context that a title is meant to be an eye-catching hook for prospective readers, and should ideally convey the general tone of the work. “Frieren at the Funeral” is a bad title because A) it’s not very eye-catching, B) it sounds weird, and worst of all C) it suggests that it was translated by someone who thinks that translations ought to be extremely literal, even when they would lose the feeling of the original text and make something sound weird. “Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End” is again definitely not what the original title means, but it’s a good title, has Frieren’s name in it, and conveys a sort of classical-epic-adventurey vibe which fits the story well.

There is a fairly significant bit of wordplay in Frieren that will escape the notice of most English-speaking viewers, but I quite like it so I’ll explain it here. The title of the series in Japanese is 葬送のフリーレン (Sousou no Furiiren). “Furiiren” is of course Frieren; “sousou” means “funeral rites” or “attending a funeral”, but can literally be translated as “sending to the grave”. Since the story opens with Frieren watching her old adventuring pals growing old and passing away, we’re naturally led to the simple interpretation of the title: she’s attending her friends’ funerals.

(The full official English title is Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, because literal translations rarely make catchy titles.)

Later, as Frieren is fighting Aura, Lügner explains that Frieren is the most prolific demon-killer in history. In the English translations I’ve seen, this earns her the nickname “Frieren the Slayer”. But in the original Japanese, this nickname is 葬送のフリーレン: “Sousou no Furiiren”, the title of the series.

In this context, this line (and the title, too) could be more literally interpreted as “Frieren, who sends you to your grave”. It also means the line is a little more impactful in Japanese — you’re supposed to point at the screen and yell “hey that’s the name of the show!!”

There’s really just no way to preserve wordplay like this through translation so I can’t fault the translators at all for not trying, but it’s a fun thing that’s worth pointing out nonetheless. I just love that this was clearly something the author was setting up from the very beginning.

[crystalelemental]

Triangle Strategy continues. I'm on chapter...13? I think? I forget exactly.

To go through decision points I've had to make:

Visit Aesfrost (I did both in the demo, and fuck Hyzante in particular)

Refuse to surrender Roland.

Refuse alliance with that one house I can't remember. Silvio. That loser.

Reveal the illicit salt trade.

Refuse to hand over the Rosellans.

About to make a choice on battle tactics, haven't decided yet.

The game's events are coherent and interesting enough. If that sounds lukewarm, it's because it kinda is. I feel like the most interesting tidbits tend to be in the history books, which is not really where I'd want the focus of the game. Don't get me wrong, the general political machinations are interesting, and I think as a novel this would be pretty engaging. It's just...this is a game. And I'm doing a lot more reading than playing. Moreover, this being a game, they can insert little side shots that...kinda completely ruin the vibe of a game that attempts to force meaningful decisions.

Take the Silvio situation. Now, in an ideal situation, I would be looking at this through Serenoa's eyes and thinking on what I know. Logically, I'd probably take that deal. We're running on empty and can't fight this forever. But. The game insists on having a bunch of side scenes, including one of Silvio actively cursing your success in the last battle as ruining his intent. And because that scene played...we know exactly where this is going, long before it goes there. In a novel, a brief aside would just tip off the reader about what's coming, and probably be innocuous enough, or a hook of "oh man, that motherfucker, how are they gonna get out of this?" But when I'm playing the game, the tension of the decision is gone. I know what you're up to. Serenoa wouldn't, but I do, and I can now make decisions outside the scope of what the character should know and feel.

Which leads to problem 2: pacing and the general gameplay loop. So far, the voting sessions have been fairly...let's say not my favorite. In some situations like Silvio, it's actively annoying thanks to knowing exactly which way this goes regardless of your choice. Even when the decision is a bit more complex and you don't know exactly how things are going to go, sometimes there's a really obvious answer and instead of just pointing it out, you have to go hunt for specific pieces of information in a slow, drawn out exploration sequence to use as argument, one at a time, against the people opposed to your intended action. A good example is whether to go along with the illicit salt trade deal, or to expose it. And it's like...guys. Listen. If we do this, the guy running the show has so much dirt on us. We do this? We become the fall guy when he's done with us. Completely under his control. We can't take this deal. But I can't argue that with people outright, I have to dig through dialogue options to find the way to just bring up this very clear point.

The back and forth also leads to an odd situation where I feel like your characters are still fairly flat, despite talking so much. They're all very "Strong convictions, loosely held." Once you realize that the unlock dialogue isn't always beneficial to swaying someone, you can kinda crack everyone. Like I broke Erador down regarding Silvio's alliance first try, despite being told this would be like talking to a brick wall. Everyone claims to have strong personality and beliefs, but they all can be swayed in ways that average out to the whole cast being kinda mellow and, if I can be blunt, uninspired. No one stands out. And I am a character-centric kind of person. I don't care how involved your worldbuilding is, or how actually coherent your complex political plot is. If I don't give a shit about anyone in it, I'm going to stop caring. And the setting doesn't really do much to endear characters to you, really. Everyone is kind of an asshole? Like, Hyzante has a literal slave class they justify as goddess' orders, and Aesfrost's whole freedom scheme is quite blatantly stated to be a privilege of the strong while the weak are trampled. It's been very difficult to care about events, because no one had really gripped me.

Fortunately, there are two (2) characters I am now wholly invested on as of this chapter. Cordelia and Avlora, I'm a big fan of what you two have going on right now. Keep up the excellent work. I hope Cordelia gets her desire and stabs Gustadolph in the throat. Probably not given how the tone of this game operates, but I like her moxie. I remain cautiously optimistic on her tale. Every character named Cordelia is a winner in my book.

Kinda got sidetracked there...the pacing generally feels off, because it's like an hour of talking, 20 minutes of exploration, 15 minutes of playing a map. Which is not a great ratio. It may be because I'm coming off of Unicorn Overlord, which is delightfully fast-paced and engaging to the point I can drop three hours on it and feel like 20 minutes passed, but this game is like the polar opposite. Those 15 minutes of map fucking drag, it takes forever to beat one thing. I mean it doesn't, it takes like 15 minutes, but you get what I mean. It feels much longer than it is because things just move slowly, and actions take forever, and I have to keep fist-fighting the goddamn camera to stay at an angle where I can fucking see anything, because every time an enemy moves it has to whip around to some bizarro shot like it's trying to hide what it's doing from me. The camera thing actively gives me a headache, it's probably my least favorite part of the game. And the fact it keeps spinning means I keep having to orient which way my buttons work, because this game just cannot fathom looking at something directly, it always needs to be at a 35-55 degree angle, and depending on which side of 45 it is, the down button is either left, right, or maybe sometimes actually down. Drives me nuts.

My stance on the game is that it's fine. I'm enjoying myself enough to keep playing it, but I'm less able to binge it. I find myself needing frequent breaks just to work up the energy to slog through more narrative about characters I'm not invested in, or resting my eyes from dealing with the camera. But it's not bad, and there's at least some promise to how thing could resolve. Like with Cordelia, I remain cautiously optimistic.

[explorerspack]

man. megadungeon. WIZARDS!

[pink-blue-red-from-everhood-zero]

Hi- midtime fan, first time caller, excited for the chance to share my thoughts with you in a "given express permission" style!

Broly (original), a.k.a Z-Broly, is best understood as the answer to the question "What was that 1,000 year prophecy about, if every saiyan can go super now?"- as written by a pro wrestling bookie who needs a fresh villain for Da Movies who can intimidate Goku with like zero new story setup.

Like every Saiyan introduced as such until Trunks, he represents the premise of the Saiyan race- "alien martial artist who is impossibly jacked, can fly, and has a fireball game 1v1s your entire planet" in a package even more visually impressive than all the Saiyans that currently exist,

and he's noticeably the most direct of the "Evil Gokus" because- instead of screwing around with hostages, backup, evil parasitic trees, or even much of his own plot setup- his backstory is that he's The Evil Super Saiyan, Trained by Evil Grandpa Gohan to Evilly Do Martial Arts on Planet Earth-but-Crappier.

This means literally all of his production value went into making him a living Greatest Hits album of DBZ villain fights (pre Androids); a freaky alien overlord with an uncertain phase progression who can effortlessly keep the protagonist out and overpowered (Frieza), who is also a giant, bestial monster (Gorilla-Vegeta), who also shares Goku's exact bodyplan, history, and powerset.

That's why he's loved- he's the perfect final boss. He's memed because his dialogue consists of 2 pages generic wrestling heel banter and the explanation that his only motive for fighting Goku Specifically is that he (Broly) swore Bloody Vengeance against an Infant (Goku) for having Bad Vibes.

-

Twelve-ish years later (I'll cite my sources when it's less busy), for Dragon Ball Super; opinions on both the Goku (Black) and Tournament of Power arcs were mixed to bad and Toriyama finally Broke Glass In Case Of Poor Ratings- Movie Canonizing Fan-Favorite Character.

Of course, Broly was made no less than 6 arcs ago even if you've completely memory-holed GT. He's an entire seperate prophecy out of date, and we had anywhere between 2 and 4 mindless punch-em'-up arcs to get sick of them. He can't be a petty heel anymore or else he'd've been tapped for the ToP etc. etc.

So, for Super Broly Movie, Toriyama made the brilliant move of treating his total lack of motive or narrative impact like a plot point. He's a more sympathetic character than the franchise protagonists (in the context of this arc), and almost textually an Autistic Survivor of Abuse- dragged around by his Jackass Father-Figure with a literal shock collar, forced by that figure to conform to the Saiyan Ideal (incredible violence) through repeated torture, and sold into the service of a Space Fascist (Frieza again) against his will, for gas money.

People love THIS Broly for 2 reasons: one is that the back 90 minutes of his movie is a gorgeously animated marathon fight scene between him and The 4 Strongest Dudes In (This) Universe;

the other is that his movie's plot is a deeply intimate character study of Him Specifically, taking the angle that he Could Have Been Goku, but was Failed By Society; setting the stage for his peaceful denouement by making every other conflict of the movie a petty streetfight in an empty backlot, introducing a budding romance with Parallel Chichi, giving him the contexual and dialogic status of "determined, taciturn underdog" in a fight that he's otherwise handily winning for 75 straight minutes, giving him deliberate mirrors of Goku's pre-transformation dramatic traumas, and banking the climax on the emotional twist that you REALLY don't want to see [the guy who has been framed as the antagonist for the last hour and a half] die to the Textbook Last-Minute Heroic Team Super Move.

TL; DR he was the purest possible Super Saiyan Title Bout for Goku; and got given an actual narrative hook when they brought him back 12 years later.

Hope that helps!

i only read the manga, who the fuck is broly

[horrorlesbion]

top 5 or 10 movies you think riverdale should reference next plus optionally like what the storyline incorporating them should be like

i’m sorry this is so much more than 5 to 10 movies i got carried away

child’s play franchise - literally any movie

ideally seed/bride or the tv show. i think it was @girlbossreggie​ who proposed a chicles bride of chucky au which would be perfect. alternatively i want jennifer tilly to guest star. it is not elaborated if she is playing herself or jennifer tilly as possessed by tiffany. a bound reference is obligatory and it has to be made clear that she hooked up with jugheads mum (this can be combined).

devil’s carnival

dream musical episode. works perfectly if they want to pick up the “war between heaven and hell” plot from rivervale again. even if hiram would have slayed as the devil part i know they can make it work now. i’ll even tolerate some fanservice and give choni the june/cora storyline (toni is june of course).

alternatively i’ll settle for a veronica & hermosa single musical performance of a song from repo! hermione can cover the third sibling part if needed because i remember marisol said she wanted to do a musical performance i know we can get her back for this.

saw/escape room/hostel

saw is of course the classic and my favourite. i want a bunch of the characters trapped in an insane torture maze. i love single location horror. i’m sure we can dig up a villain weird enough to do it if glee managed it. if they’re cowardly they can also reference the escape room movies instead since those are more mainstream and less gory. hostel would be hilarious if only for the insane worldbuilding implications but we could make it work. if they suddenly revealed the blossoms went on a summer trip to hunt people for sport every year i’d believe it.

rope (alternatively: swoon/compulsion/thrill me)

honestly any leopold & loeb adaptation would bang. i know they already riffed on funny games for the chicles wedding but rope is such a fun set-up it’s easy to replicate (AND classic cinema at that). could do it with a bunch of characters though of course a gay couple hosting is always funniest. but i wouldn’t even be mad if it’s barchie or veggie who killed a man and have to hide a body in a trunk while everyone else is at the house for a nice little party. not a movie but thrill me is my favourite reference option you all know my opinion on this. even if it would have fit better during earlier seasons i know we can make it work. if it’s a musical episode they’re obligated to give chicles at least one of the songs (superior? life plus 99 years? thrill me?)

gone girl

veronica realised hiram actually seduced/paid off the russian assassin and pulled off the exact plot of gone girl to fuck with her because he was mad she exiled him. ideally this is how hiram comes back on the show. funnier if hermosa was in on it.

malignant

jason is reborn as a tumor on cheryls brain that possesses her body and kills people. we have magic now might as well go balls to the wall insane i KNOW ras loved malignant i just know it. for another insane cheryl plot to run in the background: velvet buzzsaw. her paintings come to life and start killing people. her fursona painting needs to be prominently featured in this episode.

us

everyone is confronted with their rivervale counterparts (who are even more deranged now) who all realised they were stuck in a timeloop and broke out of the pocket universe to take their places in the main narrative. doppelganger fight to the death everyone gets to try and flex their acting muscles.

the purge

you KNOW this would slap. would have fit ideal for early season 5. archie comes back to riverdale ruled by hiram not knowing it’s purge day in 3 days. however given the vibes of percival pickens i’m confident he’d be down to institute a purge day we can still fit this in. can mash it up with some references to assassination nation since that’s basically teenage highly aestheticised camp purge movies with three times the plot so a natural fit for riverdale.

psycho goreman

an episode entirely dedicated to what jb has been up to during the timejump years. and the answer is she found a space rock that lets her control a giant violent alien monster. since its set during the timejump we don’t have to explain why the actress still looks so young.

the descent

alternate bottle episode: all the riverladies take a girls trip going caving in a secret passage cheryl discovered in the blossom mines. they get attacked by fucked up cave creatures and barely survive. maybe one of them dies and cheryl has to resurrect her with necromancy. none of this is ever referenced again.

hard

now that gay kevin is becoming a cop what better time to pull off “gay cop gets over his internalised homophobia while hunting a gay serial killer and hooking up with him” everyone watch this movie btw it’s criminally underrated. 90s messed up gay cinema for the win. on THAT note i don’t know how they would pull it off since i don’t think the network would let them so much as breathe the name of this movie but referencing frisk would be so fun. i would bet ras has read some dennis cooper and probably seen this film. and speaking of really messed up gay content it’s a huge shame we don’t have blue velvet video anymore and already did snuff films in season 4 because an underhanded playdurizm reference would be fun. that was such a movie. if anyone takes this as a rec list do NOT even look up summaries for frisk and playdurizm without a strong stomach.

also: not gay but talking of extreme horror if we’re folding rivervale back into this season’s narrative i want an explicit martyrs reference for archie. he doesn’t have to get like skinned or anything but the vibes were already there in 06x01

any david decoteau movie

riverdale already spends a large amount of time with hot men wandering out shirtless. it’s a natural fit and they’re gay culture. funniest option would be 1313: giant killer bees and it ends with cheryl showing up to save the day bringing back the fact that she can control bees with her mind apparently.

raw / excision

i want betty to eat people or take them apart surgically. just let her do some fucked up violence. really get into it. alternatively a Came Back Wrong plot about archie and bettys new superpowers turning into something more malevolent and giving us a jennifers body/all cheerleaders die type plot. archie already gets a bunch of female abuse victim coded plots he can fit into this. however girl homoeroticism is still obligatory. let’s say beronica to make up for their lack of interaction since the timejump. (honorary mention for beronica thoroughbreds scheme. don’t know how to pull this off with hiram gone but you will always be famous)

orphan

one of the couples (through gritted teeth i guess barchie) decides to adopt and the exact plot of the movie plays out except the audience is not surprised the child turns out to be a 30 year old serial killer in the end because she’s also played by one of the hot young adult cw actors in pigtails but through the whole episode no one acknowledges that.

nine lives

hiram comes back as a cat. i’m somewhat convinced they cast mark consuelos as hiram off of his role in this movie.

[funkymbtifiction]

Ne or Se dom?

Since you're an ENFP who has god experience with the enneagram I wanted to ask: do you think different core types can affect what aspects of Ne dom an ENP embodies? I've been trying to type the protagonist of a k-drama but she stumps me: definitely strong Fi/Te and an EP, she's the only detective in the drama who's great at connecting seemly disparate cases across decades, and the only character who easily accepts and deals with the time traveling/twin universe aspect of the plot (most characters are ISTJ/ISTP, and even after having first hand experience with the anomalies they desperately try to find logical explanations for them). She's changeable and excitable, gets hooked on things then drops then cold turkey, easily adapts to changes and is quick to catch on things not explicit. So ENFP seems correct.

But there's a catch: she lacks a major Ne dom trait, the idealism. She does have a fantastical streak (on the first episode we learn her secret is that she's really into fanfiction when off duty), but is very matter of fact and realistic, even harsher than her STPs colleagues when dealing with suspects. She keeps her romantic feelings locked away and detaches from then because saving the world is more important at the moment. I asked abut enneagram cores because I suspect her to be a 3: she's definitely a competency type (even the childhood flashbacks show this focus on measuring up and performing well at school, even during playtime), 5 really doesn't fit at all and ENFPs are never 5s anyway. I don't think she's a 1 because she sure can break rules with no remorse or anxiety, and justify herself when acting badly. 3 fits because how others view her clearly affects her ("You made me look stupid!" is literally her main friction with the new intern she has to mentor) she never wants to look weak or unprepared. 

So now I'm thinking: is she an ESFP really in touch with her intuition, or an ENFP who's not dreamy and romantic? 

Sometimes if you get stuck, it's worth considering a third type to contrast and compare them -- for example, what about ENTJ? Would being realistic, matter of fact, but also highly intuitive / insightful and impulsive, while putting aside her feelings fit ENTJ better? Which type does the evidence fit best? If it's between ESFP/ENFP, if she's really intuitive and insightful and trusts those hunches without needing evidence to prove them to her first, ENFP is right.

3s can put aside feelings to get things done and care very much about being seen as competent, but 3/Ne is still idealistic in their desire to change and affect the world through their intellect.

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - Be Very Afraid

This is the best story arc episode in season three and arguably the best written episode since The Great Tree, but it’s still season three so there are still issues with it. 

Summary: When Zhan Tiri tells Cassandra she must destroy Rapunzel in order to wield the Moonstone's true power, Cassandra discovers that she can create, with fear, red rock spikes that cause fear and freeze their victims. Varian discovers the red rocks and teams up with Rapunzel to use his amber solution on them. Meanwhile, Eugene and Lance decide to throw a talent show to distract everyone from their fears. 

Why Can’t Cassandra Control The Rocks?

The series never gives an actual explanation for this. She could control them just fine in Rapunzel’s Return, so what’s changed? 

There is No Destiny!

There’s no prophecy, no oracle, no grand design nor master of fate to fight back against; the characters literally have no reason to do what they do. If you want destiny to be a goal then you have to establish what that destiny is first. 

What does Cassandra want? How does this connect back to Gothel, Rapunzel, and the Moonstone? Why she just failing about like an idiot here? Did she not have a plan when she threw her life away for this stupid rock? 

And of course Zhan Tiri is lying here, but why should Cassandra believe her? What does she gain by listening to a creepy ghost girl? This ‘destiny’ has not been established, so therefore there’s no hook nor bait for Zhan Tiri to trap her with. 

Leading directly into “you should kill your bestie’ should logically put Cassandra off of Zhan Tiri’s advice for good because Zhan Tiri isn’t actually offering anything. Temptation requires the person to be, you know, tempted by what they want, but Cassandra doesn’t know what she wants so none of this makes sense. 

The writing is desperately trying to make Cass sympathetic here, but all it winds up doing is making her look like a moron instead. 

This Isn’t Consistent

Not only does this fail to explain why Cass could control the rocks previously but no longer can, but it’s also contradicted just a couple of episodes later with the incantation bullshit. 

You need an established magic system in place in order for the character’s actions to make sense show!

This Ultimately Goes Nowhere

Ignoring how Varian should have been in season two and how translating the scroll should have led to freeing his father, which we’ve talked about previously; this subplot should have had more impact on the narrative than it actually did. Yes, Varian’s translation winds up driving the plot of Cassandra’s Revenge, but 90% of that episode winds up being utterly pointless, including the incantations themselves, so.... 

I Like This Sequence; Shame It Winds Up Being Undermined Later  

Unlike the majority of dream sequences in this show, this nightmare has an actual point. It more firmly establishes Varian’s fears and gives the audience some insight into what happened to him back in season one. Something we were sorely lacking. It also becomes the core conflict and drive of Varian’s character development through out the episode. 

Only for the episode to ignore Varian’s real issues and fail to adequately address anything. By series end this plot point will be completely forgotten. The show acts like bringing it up once and then never acknowledging it ever again just magically revolves Varian’s character arc. It doesn’t.  

So How Come Quirin Isn’t Affected By the Rocks? 

He’s right there next to them and he shows no reaction to them at all. You’re telling me the man who lost his home twice to these things, almost died to them, and nearly lost his only child because of them, is just not going to respond to new creepy red ones popping up? 

Quirin would have a treasure trove of trauma to explore in his own right, that undoubtedly would connect back to Varian’s own issues, but we’re just going to ignore it and have Quirin off screen for the majority of the episode?

Are These New Character Models?

Are you shitting me!? 

They built five new models just for a short two minute scene, one where none of the new characters are named nor given lines, only to never appear ever again!

What the fuck? Why did you waste time and money on this? What happened to all of the other background characters you already built? Did a bunch of season one models just get lost or deleted or something? 

Also why are they all wearing green? Is it St. Paddy’s Day? 

This Plot Point Wasn’t Established Enough Beforehand

Look, I’ll buy that there are people in Corona who still blame Varian for what happened in season one and for the Sapoiran take over. I mean they’re only getting half the story and were directly effected by his actions whether or not he intended harm to them. But we needed to see more of it beyond just this one scene.

No one was bullying him in Lost Treasure or The King and Queen of Hearts, so for all purposes he appeared to be integrated back into society, and now you’re telling me he’s not and that Rapunzel risked his well being by forcing him to interact with people who were hostile to him back in Lost Treasure? 

And yeah you can’t really move Lost Treasure back any further than it already is cause that’d leave a giant hole in the wall of the throne room for over a year. Which also makes no sense either. 

Or hey, maybe it’s just Feldspar being an asshole. In which case why should Varian or the audience care? 

Eugene is Wasted

Look I understand that there’s only twenty five minutes to tell this story and that Eugene isn’t the focus of the episode. I also understand that the B-plot is meant to be comedic in order to relive tension from the A plot, but this wasn’t the best way to go about it. 

The B plot swings too far wide in the other direction that it dilutes the tension too much. The A plot now has to work over time to keep the urgency going. I could understand it, if the show wanted start off with small fears first, but it needed to ramp up the drama as it got closer to the climax, not under cut it. 

We never see Eugene freak out over anything other this this cowlick. In fact we never see him scared of anything else beyond this one scene, which undermines Rapunzel’s arc this episode as she’s suppose to be the only one bottling things in. What makes Eugene so special that he can keep a lid on it with out consequences, or are you telling me that a dumb cowlick is his only fear? 

Either answer is stupid. 

I Hope You Have Copies of the Map

You went through all that trouble to steal the journal for this very reason and now here you are prancing around without it like it’s not that big of deal. Way to undermined past story arcs. 

It’s like the writers know that season one was their most successful season, and therefore try to make callbacks to it whenever they can, to make up for ignoring it in season two completely, but they still don’t want to actually acknowledge anything that happened during that season so they just refer to it in the laziest way possible, rendering the previous events pointless. 

So Close and Yet So Far

I’m mainly posting this whole conversation so that you dear readers will have context for what I talk about next. 

For you see, this scene starts out okay and it looks like we’re finally going to address the elephant in the room regarding Rapunzel’s involvement in Varian’s past trauma, only for the scene to immediately side step the issue all together and not resolve the conflict at all. 

No! Don’t Interrupt; Listen! 

Or at least go all the way and accept some of the blame yourself. 

It may look like Rapunzel is comforting Varian here on a superficial level, but without her verballing acknowledging what she did wrong, this action just winds up taking the focus off of Varian and what he needs and places it upon Rapunzel, both narratively and physically.

So what happens is that, in universe, it comes across like she’s just consoling Varian for her own personal comfort rather than genuinely trying to help. 

Why Would Varian Ever Think This? 

Okay, first off this has nothing to do with what Varian was talking about previously. Why would he jump from discussing his trauma to praising Rapunzel? You know the woman who is responsible for said trauma? 

Secondly, this switches the focus of the conflict off of Varian’s specific trauma and makes it about a generic “over coming fear” lesson mixed with an out of place validation issue. Which is not what’s actually needed for his character development; nor for Rapunzel’s for that matter. 

Third, being the sundrop has nothing to do with Rapunzel as a person. Her being born with magical powers was an accident of fate, same as her being royalty. She’s not innately better than anybody else because of this and nobody has any narrative reason to assume otherwise. Especially since her powers are utterly disconnected from her actual personality, choices, and actions. All three of which have become unbearably unpleasant by the last season. 

Finally, Varian, of all people should be the last person on earth to ever think so highly of Rapunzel. Them being friends again is already pushing believability. Him suddenly kissing her ass the same as everyone else this season is just flat out bad writing.  

Varian knows better than anybody what an awful person Rapunzel is. He’s seen her at her worse. He’s seen her not live up to her hypocritical ideals. He knows the larger problems that steam from placing people in power on pedestals. As her former victim, Varian by all accounts should be the one person who can bring Rapunzel down to earth and poke holes into her ego, even while still being her friend. Especially while still being her friend. She needs that! Writing Varian as another blind Rapunzel stan is not only writing him out of character, but it also damages Rapunzel’s own development. 

Also Varian hates magic. Why would he now worship someone just for having magic? 

THIS AIN’T ABOUT YOU BITCH!!!

I literally yelled that at my tv screen when I first saw this scene. Those were my exact words upon the episode’s first airing. And believe it or not, I’m not one to usually scream obscenities at inanimate objects. 

I understand what the writers were trying to accomplish here. They wanted Rapunzel to ease the tension by saying something funny and to make Varian laugh to distract him from his woes; thereby defusing the situation. But it doesn’t work because of season three’s tendency to make Rapunzel the most egotistical, smug, self-centered, abusive, self-righteous twat in the show. 

It really boggles the mind just how unaware the writing is. Like, surely no one makes their protagonist this unlikable on accident. Clearly they meant for Rapunzel to be an ass on purpose right?  They wanted Cass to have a reason to hate her so they decided to make her insufferable to the viewer in a misguided attempt to make Cass more sympathetic? Right? 

Then where is the bloody comeuppance? 

I genuinely thought this was all going to lead somewhere. That Rapunzel was going to learn to be a better person and I would have been fine by that. I would have applauded the show if they had turned her into an asshole intentionally so that they could teach a mature and nuanced lesson about morality. 

But they didn’t, and here I am; still shaking my head in confusion over a year later. 

Seriously what the fuck happened behind the scenes to cause this? How can processionals paid by the largest animation company in the world be so incompetent? 

Having Trauma is Not the Same Thing as Having a Phobia  

This is where Varian’s arc falls apart. Not only does the episode fail to have Rapunzel acknowledge her past wrongs for a second time, but it also completely mishandles Varian’s trauma because it equates it to being an irrational fear. One that can be overcome through pure force of will at that, same as Lance and everyone else’s fears in the episode. 

Ok first off Varian’s fear isn’t irrational. He even just said so at the start of the conversation. Varian’s trauma is very real, it’s not a hypothetical unlike clown-spiders and cowlicks. Also has been given very little reassurance that it won't happen again. Varian has no reason to trust Rapunzel or anybody else in the show. They never owned up to abandoning him previously, and both he and the audience have little reason to believe that Rapunzel wouldn’t just neglect him again if it was convenient for her.   

Secondly one does not simply ‘overcome’ trauma. Oh you can deal with trauma, you can manage it and learn to live with it. But it never goes away. It doesn’t magically disappear just because you ‘faced it’. 

In fact confronting it head on is actually the opposite of what your suppose to do when going through something traumatic. Studies have shown that distracting your mind after a car crash or what have you actually helps with PTSD later on. And ‘dealing with it” doesn’t mean ignoring the problem out right, but rather learning how to function despite the pain. 

But as the show acts like Varian’s trauma never even existed after this episode. 

This Doesn’t Resolve Anything!

What does “being special” have to with fear? How does this help Varian with his trauma? Empty validation has nothing to with what we were just discussing. 

Everyone gets afraid. Everyone has trauma of some sort. Are you telling me that my need for therapy some 20 years after being physically assaulted is just because I’m not special enough? Fuck you show! 

Moreover, this doesn’t resolve the story arc from season one. Varian and Rapunzel’s conflict with each other has nothing to do with self esteem. It was about personal responsibility, conflicting needs, and abuse. Yes, self image and acceptance was a small factor in their motivations, but it was never the driving goal behind their decisions. 

This is yet another broken narrative promise to the audience. There’s no closure to be had from this and leaves the viewer wanting, if not outright frustrated. 

In order to justify this exchange fans have to ‘read between the lines’ and make shit up in order for any of this to make any sense. People who still defend season three do by doing all the heavy lifting that writers themselves should be doing. 

If it’s not on screen, it doesn’t count. 

If Rapunzel never apologizes on screen, then she never apologized. If Rapunzel never checked up on Varian on screen, then she neglected him outright. If Rapunzel never acknowledges her wrong doings on screen, then she’s never learned anything. The characters pretending like she has doesn’t make it so. 

Why Does Cassandra Even Want a Destiny? 

Yes, Zhan Tiri is lying, there is no destiny, but Zhan Tiri being a liar doesn’t absolve Cassandra of her own actions. 

Cassandra herself believes in destiny and is looking for her’s, but why? 

Why does she want a destiny? What is this destiny she’s after? Why does she believe such a thing exists? What does she believe it’ll gain her? Why is she willing to risk so much for such a vague goal? What does any of this have to do with the moonstone or her mother? How does this destiny connect back with her personal feud with Rapunzel? 

It’s all disjointed and confused. Nothing lines up. It’s like the writers just had this dart board full of ideas for Cassandra’s villain arc, but couldn’t decide on which one to go with, so they just threw darts randomly each episode and went with whatever stuck for any given scene.

“Oh she want’s revenge for her mother during this scene, or wait no, she’s actually looking for destiny this episode?” “What destiny?” “Who knows. Now for this scene we need her to be sad because reasons...” “What reason?” “I don't care, make something up... Uuuuh, she’s sad cause she’s not a royal guard still” “But she became a guard during season one.” “Ignore that. Kids won’t remember. Now she needs to be angry and threating here” “Why?” “Because it’ll look cool.” “But why is she angry?” “Cause it looks cool Bob! Geez! Oh but she still needs to be sympathetic so give her a frowny face afterwards. Just have Zhan Tiri remind her how much she hates Rapunzel later, so as to egg her on and keep her doing stupid shit?”  “But why does she hate Rapunzel?”  “Do I have to think of everything BOB!!!???”  

There, there’s my non-so-accurate behind the scene’s glimpse into the Tangled writer’s room when discussing Cassandra’s arc. I could be wrong. There could have been some intricate and complex plan thought out that just didn’t make it onto the screen for whatever reason, or maybe everyone involved was so far up their own ass that they just forgot to give their main villain an actual reason for being the villain. But regardless the over all effect is that Cassandra is handed the idiot ball for a whole freaken season in order to even have a conflict and that is never good writing; or rather she’s hit in the head with it repeatedly. 

This Actually Goes Against Zhan Tiri’s Plan

Zhan Tiri’s short term goal is to be released from her dimensional prison and apparently she needs Cass and Raps to fight into order to do this. This was never established before hand and goes against her disciples pervious plans, but whatever. One could argue that this is just a lie in order to get them to fight later... 

However, this lie jeopardizes her long term goal. She eventually wants to wield both the moonstone and the sundrop herself in order to destroy Corona, but Rapunzel is the sundrop and you can only take her power during an ellipse, supposedly, which means if Cass actually succeeds in killing Rapunzel before then, then Zhan Tiri is up a creek without a paddle. Also if Cassandra did manage to steal Raps’ power with or without an ellipse then Zhan Tiri would still be out of luck. 

This was wholly unnecessary; you didn’t have to go from zero to sixty in one fell swoop. Have Zhan Tiri claim that fighting Rapunzel will award the power to the winner or something. There’s no need to bring up the ‘kill her’ option. That should logically just drive Cassandra away and puts Zhan Tiri’s plan at risk. 

The series wants to act like Zhan Tiri is this master manipulator, a chess master like Zantos or Palpatine, but she couldn’t even tie their shoes. Her plans make no sense and often contradict one another. They only work because the rest of the cast are reduced to imbeciles in order for them to work. 

This Plot Point Contradicts Season Two

His fear of spiders was establish early on, and I’ll accept the clown thing as there’s nothing to contradict it, but Lance has preformed numerous times before now and has never show stage fright. He’s a huge ham and back in Return of Quaid he mentioned how much loved acting and preforming and apparently been on stage before, so where does this fear of singing in public come from? Heck he sung in public just a few episodes ago in Rapunzel’s Return. 

If you have to sacrifice established character into order to make your plot work then you need a new plot. 

This Song is Nice; It Just Needed to Be in a Different Episode 

I’m glad Lance got a solo. He deserved one and the song is good. However it breaks the tension of the climax and gives the episode tonal whiplash. 

More than a song, Lance needed an actual focus episode in season three. One that was fully his. If anyone else shared it with him it needed to be Red and Angry, not Varian and Cass. 

Just imagine if this song came during an episode where he had to watch the girls. Imagine if he was singing it just for them. How much more impactful would that have been? 

Now imagine that we had a Rapunzel and Varian duet in it’s place here. That would have tied the episode together better and helped to further their own stories. Glenn Slater can write lyrics far better than Chris can write dialogue. I bet you a thousand to one Tangled the Series would have solved like half of it’s problems had Menken and Slater been allowed write and actual apology duet between Raps and Varian. 

Such a duet was proposed during Rapunzel’s Return but it could have worked here too, and you could have placed Lance’s solo in Day of the Animals or something, just leave Rapunzel out of that episode all together. 

Nothing honestly needed to be cut music wise, yet for some reason season three has less songs than the other seasons, even when counting the reprises, and they’re mostly shorter too. 

That’s mismanagement right there. Plain and simple. Someone at the top didn’t know how to balance the budget or resources and didn’t know where to the throw the money at. 

You Have a 70 Foot Shield Made of Magic Hair, Rapunzel

You couldn’t think to just block those rocks instead?

Giving your protagonist a big hero moment doesn’t work if they placed the person the have to save in jeopardy to begin with show. 

I Do Not Care About Rapunzel Right Now, Show

Yes, she’s the main character. Yes, her feud with Cass is the main conflict of the season and kicked off the episode. That does not mean that I automatically care about her personal feelings at this moment in time. 

Rapunzel has kept such a tight lid on her real feelings for the whole episode that this just comes out of nowhere. I was never waiting with baited breath for her to confess her deep dark secrets or whatever. 

It’s not even an interesting reveal. It’s just “Oh, see Rapunzel’s human too. She’s gets scared just like everybody else.”. I already fucking knew that, thanks. And what she’s afraid of isn’t even that compelling either; it’s a just a rip off of the prophecy dreams she had back in season one. The same ones that had no explanation and never furthered the story, so why should I care about this one?  

You have to earn the audience’s investment in your conflict. The character’s likability, as little as that may be currently, will only carry you so far, you have to establish shit first.  

Varian’s conflict has been the focus of the entire episode so far, and it’s a conflict that was set all the way back in season one, so of course that is what I’m invested in seeing get resolved. Rapunzel is once again just butting in and making it all about her when it’s not actually her story. 

And if you wanted it to be her story then you should have made her the actual focus to begin with and had her learn something by the end of it. 

This is Poor Choice of Words, Writers 

I could be generous here and pass this off as Rapunzel not fully believing in this prophecy. After all Corona’s destruction is still a hypothetical at this point and Cassandra really has left already. Since the episode is about fear, Rapunzel is of course more afraid of losing Cassandra’s friendship as it’s real tangible possibility. 

More than a possibility even, Rapunzel’s been dumped. Season three is a classic break up story, right down to the poor plotting and tunnel vision, hence why it’s so gay baity. 

However, this reading only carries so far. For starters this is Rapunzel’s what, fourth prophecy dream so far? Haven’t the past three already came true, so why would she think this one wouldn’t? 

Secondly, all that good grace goes right out the window once it becomes clear that, yes, Cassandra is indeed a threat; a threat that Rapunzel refuses to take seriously because she cares more about her own personal validation than her kingdom. 

Even as Cassandra does succeed in destroying Corona, and no doubt harms other people while at it, Rapunzel still is obsessed with ‘winning Cassandra back’. Oh and make no mistake, this is not because she actually cares about Cassandra as a person and her needs or feelings. Nope. Rapunzel just doesn’t like being dumped. 

Why Does Varian Need to Shove His Feelings Aside for Rapunzel’s Bullshit?

Rapunzel’s ‘confession’ has fuck all to do with Varian’s current issues. They do not connect in any way.  

Varian is dealing with real trauma, trauma that she helped cause, while Rapunzel is only dealing with a hypothetical prophecy and one very shallow, self-centered fear. There’s nothing to relate to here. Neither for Varian himself nor the audience. 

Yet for some undefined reason this is what gets Varian to ignore his PTSD flashbacks? What? 

This is once again break the narrative promise. I was promised closure for Varian’s story arc and instead of that the writers just brush it up under the rug. 

From the outside looking in this doesn’t come across as Varian ‘overcoming’ his ‘fear’. It looks like an abuse victim using learned helplessness to placate his abusers.

And yes, for the last time Rapunzel is Varian’s abuser. 

NEGLECT IS ABUSE!!! 

And and even though he is no longer her ‘responsibility’, she is still neglecting him emotionally as his supposed friend. 

Varian’s and Cassandra’s Stories Undermined Each Other’s 

Varian stopped the rocks. Rapunzel had nothing to do with it. Zhan Tiri blaming Rapunzel for it steals agency away from both her and Cassandra. 

However, if Rapunzel had used the hurt incantation to stop the rocks and Cassandra had felt it rom the other side, then you’d have something to back up Zhan Tiri’s claim and an actual point of real conflict to carry the rest of the season. Not to mention an actual tangible goal for Cassandra to work towards, survival. 

Cassandra’s conflict with Rapunzel not only prevents the resolution to Varian’s arc from being satisfying, but Varian fulfilling his arc in turn winds up cutting off Cass’s story at the knees. 

It didn’t have to be this way. Varian’s and Cassandra’s arcs should have complimented each other, but instead the creator decided to make them complete for screen time and relevance. 

It is such an gratingly stupid and petty decision that winds up being a disservice for all the characters involved.   

Cassandra’s motivation and goal should have been revealed back in season two. Varian should have been the sole focus of Rapunzel’s Return and gotten his big hero moment there along; with an actual ending to his conflict with Rapunzel that didn’t feel so lopsided and half assed. Then Rapunzel and Cassandra could have both been held accountable for their conflict in season three, instead of pretending like their shit smelled of roses the whole damn time. 

Lance Got a Whole Crowd Cheering Him On For Singing a Song, Varian Just Gets One Asshole Giving Him a Single Line of Congratulations

Did I mention this show has an odd anti-Varian bias? Cause it does. For whatever reasons his own creators hate him and that’s just utterly baffling to me. Like why create a main character that you don’t like? 

I look down on professional writers who treat characters they didn’t create poorly within their works, like with James Gunn and Scrappy Doo in the Scooby Doo Movie, Adric in the Doctor Who spin offs, or even the treatment of Doofus in Ducktales 2017. I don't care how much a character is liked or disliked by fandom, that shit is just tasteless and often unfunny. But at least I understand where they are coming from when they do it. 

But I’ll never understand what compels a writer to sabotage their own work; one that they are getting paid to write no less. Especially when said character is super popular with their fans. And Chris knows this. He knows the ratings plummeted without Varian in season two. He knows the merch didn’t sell because there wasn’t enough Varian products. That’s why he hyped up Varian’s return a whole week before Season Three’s airing with a massive online campaign, but he wasn’t smart enough to treat the character decently afterwards? 

I mean congrats, you convinced a just enough viewers to come back to season three to keep the show on the air I guess, but you left them all pissed off and have nothing to show for it to the higher ups a Disney. 

And Chris wonders why he wasn’t asked back to work on new Disney princesses shows that are currently in the works. 

That is Not Quirin. That is a Plank of Wood Pretending to be Quirin.

*Beep* *Boop*...*Dad Bot Is Proud. exe* 

Quirin is such a pale shadow of his season one self that he might as well not exist. I genuinely don't know why the writers released from the amber so early if they weren’t actually going to use him until the season finale. 

For the longest time I honestly thought that Rapunzel sucked out his soul with that decay incantation; what with that lyric about “setting the spirit free”. I genuinely thought that would be a later plot point, but nope, it’s just bad writing

Him just saying hi to son once and smiling blankly isn’t compelling and it’s isn’t fulfilling. It doesn’t actually resolve his arc. I mean he’s at least shown spending time with his son, but that’s not enough. We need to see him acknowledge past, we need to see him acknowledge his own flaws, and we need to see him being more attentive when Varian is in need. .  

Season one Quirin would be trying to stop Varian from going near the red rocks, a post season one Quirin should logically go after his son to make sure he’s alright, even if he’s know longer trying to actively stop Varian like he once did. 

There’s also that damn note and it’s secrets! 

You know what? That’s it. That’s the problem. The focus is all wrong in season three. Episodes get pulled into to many directions trying to juggle too many characters rather than dedicating the needed time to each individual arc. 

Season two’s finale should have been a three parter with Cass’s full motivation and goal laid bare before leaving.

Rapunzel’s Return should have been solely about Rapunzel and Varian’s conflict and resolving that arc fully 

Either Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf or Day of the Animals should have been a Lance episode about him and the girl’s, no Rapunzel. 

And this episode should have been about Quirin and Varian resolving their issues, with the Rapunzel and Cass stuff as the B plot not the stupid talent show 

There, all fixed. You don't even have to cut much, just rework the focus and leave Rapunzel and Cassandra out of conflicts they have no business being in. 

This Does Not Excuse Rapunzel’s Later Negligence Regarding Cassandra

Just because the red rocks was an accident doesn’t mean Cassandra should get a free pass for all the awful things she does later. Rapunzel uses this one interaction to excuse everything else Cassandra does in season three, as if she was just some poor lost baby and not a grown ass woman out to kill them. 

In fact Cass showing hesitancy here actually makes her later actions even worse. This means that she fully acknowledges that what she’s about to do is wrong, but goes ahead and does anyway, even gleefully so at times. Then she has to gall to act baffled when people see her as a threat? 0.o 

When fans say Cass isn’t redeemable or shouldn’t be redeemed, it’s not because he actions are so much worse than everybody else’s (even though they are), It’s because she doesn’t act like she wants to be redeemed half the time. The show doesn’t properly set up her ‘redemption’, instead it just lazily has Rapunzel yell at us how she’s ‘not lost’. 

Like below for instance. 

What Does Cass Need Saving From?

Cassandra is not in danger. She is the danger. 

She made the conscious decision to leave taking a world endangering artifact with her, and she later makes the conscious decision to come back and be an asshole for no adequately defined reason. 

She’s never shown to be in any physical danger from the rocks, the moonstone, or even Zhan Tiri herself. She apparently can take care of herself in the wild for over a year. She also has the capability of getting a job else where and just living out her life if she wanted to. Nothing is forcing her to listen to Zhan Tiri. 

Heck, even her hurt arm, the one thing Rapunzel is responsible for and could potentially be a continued threat to Cass’s well being, is just completely forgotten about.

And no, mental illness and past trauma are not excuses as well. In fact it’s rather insulting to both people with mental heath problems and abusive survivors to suggest otherwise. We don't need ‘saving from ourselves’ and we aren’t automatically dangers to anybody. Nor do we get free passes if we hurt someone. A jerk who happens to have a mental illness is just a jerk who so happens to have a mental illness; coloration is not causation. 

Conclusion 

It’s better than Rapunzel’s Return, but this episode was still a disappointment. A small part of me whishes this was a two parter because it has so much untapped potential, but I know it’s just be wasted in Chris’s hands. 

Anyways, I consider this to be the true mid-season finale of S3. Not only did the hiatus kick in after this episode, but it also clearly divides the season between the first half filler and the later Cass conflict. As such the next entry will be the mid-season recap. See ya, then. 

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[crazychlo08]

Okay, so all of you’ve seen me spamming gifsets about Under the Banner of Heaven and if you’re thinking about watching it... 

well, incoming ramble under cut :)

Under the Banner of Heaven is based on a book by Jon Krakauer, which is based off of the real life events of Brenda and Erica Lafferty’s murders in 1984. This mini series is indeed true crime and finding the murderers of the Laffertys, but it also goes deeper into Mormonism and the LDS (Latter Day Saints) Church and the diverging of fundamentalist Mormonism from mainstream Mormonism. I myself am not one for true crime, but I was immediately hooked into this show from the very start. I had anticipated the shows as it stars one of my favorite actors (Andrew Garfield) and of course my all time favorite Seth Numrich. Right off the bat I knew this was going to be a deeply introspective and high quality piece as Andrew Garfield always takes on projects that tell a story that needs to be exposed to the world, he himself saying that he always wants his work to mean something.

As always, Andrew Garfield goes above and beyond with his acting. It is so nuanced and realistic, right down to the little quirks in his movements and the ways his eyes can say so much in one frame. He has so much passion for what he does and it bleeds into his acting and through the screen. The show is set in a predomaintly LDS, white community in Utah and it does such a good job setting up the exposition as it shows Jeb (Andrew Garfield) with his family (literally made my heart melt into goo). Fast forward a little and we start to see some flashbacks, the overall cinematography changing from dark cool tones with warm yellow tones to show the contrast of mood and time. This is where we get to see some amazing actors like Wyatt Russell (I first discovered him in the Falcon and Winter Solider Disney+ series) who is so talented (though you hate his character most of the time) and becomes integral to the plot later. And of course, Seth Numrich, who turns out to have a lot of screen time and a big part of the plot, flashbacks and present time. 

The whole mood throughout is suspenseful and menacing, and you can tell there’s something going on but you just can’t put your finger on it. The performances that are delivered are insanely incredible, I cannot even put it in words how stunning and powerful they are. The way Andrew’s character is affected by this case as an unquestioning, faithful LDS Mormon himself is so nuanced and with precise yet noticeable acting. I also love the way that the suspects of this case are starting to open Jeb’s eyes about his faith, some of their circumstances relating to conflicts he’s facing in his own personal life and getting him to question ideals that he’s been following from the womb. It was also such a pleasure to watch Seth do something new on screen as he’s been working within the theatre industry more then film/tv, and it reminds me how talented and spectacular of an actor he is. He has one or two monologues which has sent shivers down my spine with this authenticity and power.  Every look and word has so much meaning behind it, and his character is so drastically different from flashbacks to present time, it’s amazing to see the difference in Seth’s portrayal, using his body language to present the un picture things his character has gone through due to time. 

In terms of how the religion is handled...Well, hang in there :) 

Growing up in a religious household with a family that practiced the same religion, I never saw religion in the media (film, tv, books, anything I consumed), and even though I am not Mormon, watching actors I respect pray and worship God on TV is something I never knew I needed. Personally, I feel like being religious is looked down upon in society, but in your church you’re expected to be super outwardly religious all the time. Seeing prayer and worship be so normalized on screen in every day life felt like I was being seen and that the high or uncomfortable expectations of the church was not as “weird”, and that it really surprised me since I’m not extremely religious. 

 The series handles the religion with reverence and so much respect, and since I knew little to nothing about Mormonism before this, it seemed to go a good job laying basic groundwork about how it works. Mormons have a complicated history dating to the late eighteenth century as they were prosecuted and hunted, and I had no idea. I researched some more and I found that ex Mormons who watched the show were shocked at how realistic and and true it was to their faith without bringing mis-concepted ideas or stereotypes. I found that even though the show is shedding light onto the bad side of Mormonism, I found that the religion isn’t portrayed just negatively. The joy in the scenes where families are harmonious and happy, sort of normalizing incorporating religion into their lives (which is what small child chlo would have loved to see). I also recognize the misogyny and the diminishing of womens’ identities, and how they are reduced to someone only to support and help their husband. It is crazy to see that some of that happened into the eighties and on even after working, independent, strong women were normalized. It also brings to mind how this is still going on all over the world and how it could be in our own backyards without knowing.

Only three episodes have been released and I’ve already fallen in love with every aspect of this series. If you’re considering watching this show, I highly encourage it is very educational with good representative with stunning performances from every single actor on screen. If you made it all the way to here, I applaud you for reading my rant and I give you a medal for actually listening to me <3

If you watch it, please please please don’t hesitate to come yell at me about it! 

[chemos-factories]

Would love to hear you talk in more detail about your thoughts on episodic chapters/writing, e.g. pros/cons, fun things it allows you to do, any tips and tricks, etc.!

so to me, the main draw of episodic writing is that i don't have to worry about an overarching plot. i struggle a lot with connecting the disparate scenes and scenarios i imagine in my brain, so giving myself permission to not have to do that is what keeps writing fun for me. (incidentally this is also why i enjoy running ttrpg games so much, all i have to do is come up with a hook, some possible endings, and story beats, and the players fill in the connective tissue for me) a downside, i suppose, is that it can leave a timeline and characterizations feeling somewhat hazy. this doesn't particularly bother me much, but if you're interested in writing something heavy on the character development, episodic format is probably not the ideal for you. as for tips. literally just write out a single conversation between some characters. something low-stakes, that gives a snapshot of their dynamics. i'll put some of the writing i've done for godswap as an example of what i mean under the cut

[him-e]

what did you think of shadow and bone? have you read the books? i only read the duology

Thoughts on Shadow and Bone, now that you've probably seen it?

I think the show is alright? It lacks a real wow factor as far as I’m concerned, but it’s enjoyable. It’s especially enjoyable in those parts I didn’t anticipate to like / didn’t even know would be there. 

Whereas the main selling points leave a lot to be desired.

The good stuff: the visuals. The aesthetic. The overall concept. Production, casting and costumes are excellent, the setting is fascinating. The worldbuilding isn’t perfect and is sometimes confusing, which is probably due to the show jumping ahead of the books and introducing elements that happen much later in the book saga, but I’m loving the vague steampunk-y vibe of it mixed with more typical fantasy stuff and slavic-inspired lore, the fact that it’s set in dystopian Russia rather than your usual ye olde England.

I find it interesting that in this ‘verse the Grisha are simultaneously superstars, privileged elite, legendary creatures and despised outcasts, according to the context and the type of magic they wield. It’s A Lot, and so far it’s all a bit underdeveloped and messy, like a patchwork of different narratives and tropes sewn together without an organic worldbuilding structure. (there are hints to a past when they were hunted, but how did they go from that to being, essentially, an institutionalized asset to the government isn’t clear yet. There’s huge narrative potential in this, and I hope future seasons will delve into those aspects)

Many of the supporting characters are surprisingly solid. I appreciated that Genya and Zoya eventually sort of traded places, subverting the audience’s assumptions about them and their own character stereotypes, despite the little screentime they were given.

Breakout characters/ships for me were Nina/Matthias, and even more so the Crows, i.e. the stuff I didn’t see coming and knew nothing about (having only read the first book). (I thought the entire Crows subplot was handled in a somewhat convoluted way, at least in the first episodes; it was hard to keep track of who wanted Alina and why, but the Crows’ chemistry is so strong it carried the whole Plot B on its shoulders).

HELNIK. As an enemies to lovers dynamic, Helnik was SUPER on the nose, I’d say bordering on clichéd with the unapologetic, straight outta fanfiction use of classic tropes like “we need to team up to survive” and “there’s only one bed and we’ll freeze to death if we don’t take our conveniently damp clothes off and keep each other warm with the heat of our naked bodies” (not that I’m complaining, but i like to pine for my ships a bit before getting to the juicy tropetown part, tyvm). And then they’re suddenly on opposite sides again because of a tragic misunderstanding - does Bardugo hate high-conflict dynamics? It certainly seems so, because between Helnik and Darklina I’m starting to see a pattern where the slow burn and blossoming mutual trust is rushed and painted in broad, stereotypical strokes to get as fast as possible to the part where they *hate each other again* and that’s... huh. Something.

^That’s probably why I’m almost more interested in Kaz x Inej, because their relationship feels a bit more nuanced, a bit more mysterious, and a bit more unpredictable. (I didn’t bother spoiling myself about them, so I really don’t know where they’re going, but it’s refreshing to see a dynamic that the narrative isn’t scrambling to define in one direction or the other as quickly as possible)

-

Now, as for Darklina VS Malina... I found exactly what I expected. 

Both are ship dynamics I’m, on principle, very much into (light heroine/dark villain, pining friends to lovers) but both are also much less interesting than they claim to be, or could have been with different narrative choices. I’ll concede that the show characters are all more fleshed out and likable than their book counterparts, and the cringe parts I vaguely remembered from the books played out differently. And, well, Ben Barnes dominates the scene, he’s hot as HELL, literally every single second he’s on screen is a fuck you to Bardugo’s attempts to make his character lame and uninteresting and I’m LOVING it, lol.

But yeah, B Barnes aside, Darklina is intrinsically, deliberately made to be unshippable. 

It makes me mad, because it’s - archetypally speaking - made of shipping dynamite: yin/yang-sun and moon, opposites attract, COMPLEMENTARY POWERS AND SO ON. And what does Bardugo do with these ingredients? A FUCKING DELIBERATE DISASTER:

^ Placing the kiss so early on (season 1, episode five) effectively kills the romantic tension that was (correctly) building up until that point, and leaves the audience very little to still hope for, in terms of emotional evolution of the dynamic. 

Bardugo lays all the good stuff down as early and quickly as possible (the bonding, the conflicted attraction, the recognizing the other as one’s equal, etc) only to turn the tables and pull the rug so y’all sick creepyshippers won’t have anything to look forward to, because THEY’VE ALREADY HOOKED UP AND THAT BELONGS TO THE PAST, IT’S OVER, THEY’RE ENEMIES. This, combined to the fact that she falls for him *without* knowing who he really is, is the opposite of what I want from a heroine/villain ship (it’s basically lovers to enemies, and while that can be valid too, I wanted to see more pining and more prolonged, tormented symbolic attraction to the Shadow/Animus on Alina’s part). 

But here’s the trick: it’s not marketed as lovers to enemies - it has all the aesthetics and trappings of an enemies to lovers (the Darkling is, from the get go, villain-presenting, starting from his name), so it genuinely feels like a trollfic, or at the very least a cautionary tale *against* shipping the heroine with the tall dark brooding young villain, and I don’t think it’s cool at all. It makes the story WAY less interesting, because it humanizes the villain early on (when it’s not yet useful or poignant to the story, because it’s unearned) but it’s a red herring. The real plot twist is that the villain shouldn’t be sympathized with, just defeated: there’s a promise of nuanced storytelling, that is quickly denied and tossed aside. So is the idea of incorporating your Shadow (a notion that Bardugo must be familiar with, otherwise she wouldn’t have structured Alina and the Darkling as polar opposites who complement each other, but that she categorically refutes)

Then we have Malina. The good ship.

Look, I’m not that biased against it. I don’t want to be biased on principle against a friends to lovers dynamic that antagonizes a heroine/villain one, because every narrative is different, and for personal reasons I can deeply relate to the idea of being (unspeakably) in love with your best friend. So there are aspects of Malina that I can definitely be into, but it troubles me that in this specific context it’s framed as a regression. It’s Alina’s comfort zone, a fading dream of happiness from an idealized childhood, to sustain which the heroine systematically stunts her growth and literally repressed her own powers, something that in the books made her sickly and weak. But the narrative weirdly romanticizes this codependency, often making her tunnel vision re: going back to Mal her primary goal and centering on him her entire backstory/motivation, to the point that when she starts acting more serious re: her powers and alleged mission to destroy the Fold, it feels inorganic and unearned. 

Mal is intrinsically extraneous to Alina’s powers, he doesn’t share them, he doesn’t understand them, he has little to offer to help her with them, and so the feeling is that he’s also extraneous to her heroine’s journey, aside from being a sort of sidekick or safe harbor to eventually come back to. People have compared him to Raoul from Phantom of the Opera, and yeah, he has the same ~magic neutralizer~ vibe, tbh.

The narrative also polarizes Mal’s normalcy and relative “safety” against Aleksander’s sexy evil, framing Alina’s quasi-platonic fixation on the former as a better and purer form of love than her (much more visible and palpable) attraction to the latter. This is exacerbated by the show almost entirely relying on scenes of them as kids to convey their bond. I’m sure there are ways to depict innocent pining for your best friend that don’t involve obsessively focusing on flashbacks of two CHILDREN running in a meadow and looking exactly like brother and sister. LIKE. I get it, they’re like soulmates in every possible way, BUT DO THEY WANT TO KISS EACH OTHER?

Which brings me to a general complain: for a young adult saga centering on a young heroine and full of so many hot people, this story is weirdly unsexy? There are a lot of shippable dynamics, but they’re done in such a careless, ineffective way that makes ZERO EFFORT to work on stuff like slow burn, pining and romantic tension, and when it does it’s so heavy handed that the viewer doesn’t feel encouraged at all to fill the blanks with their imagination and start anticipating things (which is, imo, the ESSENCE of shipping). The one dynamic that got vaguely close to this is, again, Kaz and Inej, and coincidentally it’s also the one we didn’t get confirmed as romantic YET. Other than that, where’s the slow burn? What ship am I supposed to agonize over during the hiatus to season two? Has shipping become something to feel ashamed of, like an embarrassing relative you no longer want to invite in your home?

Anyway, back to Alina/Darkling/Mal, this is how the story reads to me:

girl suspects to be special, carefully pretends to be normal so she can stay with Good Boy

the girl’s powers eventually manifest; she’s forcibly separated from Good Boy

the girl’s powers attract Bad Boy who is her equal and opposite but is also a major asshole

girl initially falls for Bad Boy; has to learn a hard lesson that nobody that sexy will ever want her for who she is, he’s just trying to exploit her

also, no, there is no such thing as a Power Couple

girl is literally given a slave collar by Bad Boy through which he harnesses her power (a parody of the Twin Scars trope)

you know how the story initially suggested that the joint powers of Darkness and Light would defeat evil? LOL NO, Darkness is actually evil itself and the way you destroy evil is using Light to destroy Darkness, forget that whole Jungian bullshit of integrating your shadow, silly!

conclusion: girl realizes being special sucks. She was right all along! Hiding and suppressing her powers was the best choice! She goes back to the start, to the same Good Boy she was meekly pining for prior to the start of the story.

... there’s an uncomfortable overall subtext that reads a lot like a cautionary tale against - look, not just against darkships and villain/heroine pairings, but also *overpowered* heroines and, well... change? Growth?

Like, it’s certainly a Choice that Alina starts the story *already* in love with Mal. That she always knew it was him. The realization could have happened later (making the dynamic much more shippable, too), but no.