#and during episodes like this the alternative to being late is not being on time. it is simply not doing anything

[adhdandcomics]

i’m very sorry that society has made you feel this way about your fellow disabled people. i hope you can reflect on why you believe that other people with worse symptoms than you are bringing down this community and giving us a bad name.

(especially in the context of a vent post that is not indicative of whether or not we are “actually trying” in real life.)

i am also sorry that society makes you believe that in order for disabled people to be respected we have to consistently be working toward a nebulous goal of self improvement and overcoming of disability as to not be perceived as lazy and inconsiderate by the world.

i hope you can be kinder and more patient with yourself and your disability in the future, too.

[shallowseeker]

And yeah, it sucks, and Dean was cruel and murderous and dehumanizing, but on the other hand, 14 days isn't very long.

And yet, at 14 days, things were already starting to repair and heal with Jack just a little bit, even before Cas came back.

(I've seen it said that this didn't occur till after Cas came back, but in 13x04, Jack's behavior and personality are what began to thaw Dean out and, per the script, "put chinks in his armor.”)

///

Interestingly, even back in 13x02, Dean’s body language doesn't match his words. Here it reads as "move behind me."

///

By the end of 13x04, Dean and Jack are tentatively starting to like each other. They're even a little bit alike in this scene:

*THEM: not looking directly at each other as they say HEY awkwardly*

Jack: Hey.

*Dean, doing the same thing*

This is also maybe the first time Dean calls Jack by his name? (I'd have to check, but I think so.)

*Dean’s eyes flitting around nervously*

Dean: “You did good today (pause) Jack”

Yeah, I think you can make a well-argued case for something-something “conditional love.”

But given the Kelly-Cas brainwashing and everything else that came before, I’d say it’s not unreasonable for Jack to like having established trust. To have earned trust.

Earning trust is important in all relationships, not necessarily always an evil “conditional” thing.

///

Then Dean goes and apologizes to Sam, saying that he was out of line during the therapy session and that he's sorry for being a dick lately.

It's sweet, but also, no one is being very empathetic to Dean and his losses. But I think by this point in Dean's life, Dean's not really expecting that either.

He’s only able to get that support from one person in his life right now: Jody Mills. (13x03) Which is part of why he felt comfy taking the case with her, I think.

Later in this scene, in a break with his past tendencies, Dean will actually try to rely on Sam:

///

DEAN: And he tapped his power and saved our asses, so that's a win.

Sam was right about one thing, though. It wasn't Jack’s powers that impressed Dean, or even being saved. It was the effort.

(Jack's personality was already thawing Dean, too.)

///

The rest of the scene is sweet. Dean tries to see Sam's perspective, and Sam tries to see Dean's.

It's a trading of strength and hope, which is how real families are, too. Our strength and resilience wax and wane, and we share our burdens, but we try to share our hope, too.

This is a rare occasion: Dean is trying to share a burden; he lets Sam know how bad it really is.

(Dundundun! Ellen Harvelle would be proud.)

Dean is accepting that Sam isn't going to get there on his own. So he spells out his despair for him. The Cas of it all.

And Sam seems to get that it’s a Cas thing. That's clear in his behavior in the next episode. And Sam wants to be there for Dean, I don't think that's a lie, but…

Sam ALWAYS wants Dean to tell him stuff like this, to talk out the big stuff. But one of Sam’s hopes is that talking things out will fix them.

(Classic Type-A kinda mentality.)

But THIS? Cas’s death isn't fixable, not quite as nebulous as the mom-in-Apocalypse-World-problem is. (In fact, I wouldn't put it past Sam to have been up all night researching, finding NO way to get Cas back. Alternatively, the constant casework could represent just utter denial.)

Anyhoo, Sam's grieving the losses too, but Dean is different. And unfortunately for Sam, John Winchester's grief was so horrendous and frightening that seeing Dean's, uh, particular kind of grief triggers Sam's panic response.

Just look at Sam’s face here.

SAM's BRAIN: brrrrrrrr RED ALERT brrrrr RED ALERT

*Meanwhile*

///

Next episode (13x05):

We find Sam in a state of near-panic. Just look at that face:

And actually, looking at Sam's D8> here…

..I think it's possible that he TOTALLY knew what the PB&J stuff was about, and his brain went into a meat grinder of:

OH NO FUCK NO NO NOT THIS--I RECOGNIZE THIS. THIS KIND OF GRIEF RUINED MY CHILDHOOD!!!!!111

{8[

Don't Grieve in Front of Me Dean (analysis)

Don't Grieve in Front of Me Dean Redux (s7 analysis)

///

So.

Sam finds a case about best friends. Makes you wonder what he was googling to find it...

And Sam’s distress surrounding the case is interesting, because he is behaving so DIFFERENTLY than he was in 13x02 and 13x03:

Dean: *cue surprise*

Dean is weirded out. Maybe he figured Sam would let him take a real break, or maybe it's just that the timing of Sam’s suggestion of leaving Jack behind feels weird now.

They’ve switched places.

Dean was eager to leave Jack in 13x03, and Sam was the one insisting on them staying with Jack to help him “learn to control his powers.”

Now, in about two weeks’ time, Sam’s like—“Jack has TV! We’ll put up extra warding! It’ll be fiiiine!”

Dean’s brain, probably: Hmmm. Sam is trying to cheer me up, but wow are these about-faces on what's bad parenting and what's good parenting kinda fucked up.

///

And at the end of the episode, Dean tries again to tell Sam just how bad it is (mirroring Mary's willingness to offer up “not being okay” in s12):

And Sam is pretty much at sea.

[wingedshadowfan]

⚠️arcane s2 act iii spoilers // criticism ⚠️

i kind of hated the end of arcane. hear me out.

i don't wanna rain on anyone's parade but we can all agree season 2's pacing was super breakneck. not a lot got explained or was given the proper time to develop or be addressed (at least in front of us, the audience, that is - but even then, some things could've been hinted at better) and this goes for both lore, motivations and interpersonal character relationships. (and i can give many examples such as the black rose, maddie's true motivations, caitlyn and vi's fight, jinx rallying up the undercity, viktor and ambessa's plans diverging, etc. but instead, i'll tell you what i think went wrong with what we got to see in the last three eps)

seeing where ep 7 left us made me think "okay ep 8 will start from the same exact spot and we'll see from there" and ofc my expectations were defied but that's not my main problem. i needed to know what happened to ekko, jayce and heimerdinger but even more than that, i wanted to see jinx grieve isha in her own way (by herself and not through being asked or guilt tripped to help someone else's agenda bcuz she clearly had little intrinsic motivation to unite the undercity over a common goal after silco's death) and internalize what she'd meant to isha - and that becoming jinx's catalyst to rally up the undercity. i wanted her to understand why this orphan from the undercity's mines sacrificed herself to save jinx - the symbol of a cause greater than her. i needed her to see what unifying zaun and making tangible institutional change to the undercity would mean in a way sevika never would've been able to show her. it would mean no more powders, no more ishas. not one more. breaking the cycle of violence, poverty, oppression, somewhat like what silco said in ep 9 (which she interpreted as 'you're the problem, so kys' and she attempted to until somehow ekko convinced her to help. how, why and did she even unite the undercity at all or just make her big hot air balloon late-to-the-party entrance with the firelights to a stray kids banger while sevika did all the work down in zaun?).

anyway, ep 8 threw us in for a loop in an alternative universe (and i loved it, don't get me wrong, but considering there were only 2 normal length eps left, it scared me just as much). instrumentally to the plot, we got to see ekko's main ability develop, and we saw jayce's reasons for shooting viktor. the main conflict of the show, the piltover/zaun one, if those 1,5 seasons so far were anything to go by, just got set aside for the time being. over halfway through the season, we've got a new big bad - the possibility of everyone getting possessed by the viktor/hexcore and becoming part of The Glorious Evolution™. it felt like a movie about racism and police brutality added aliens in the last 5 minutes to force oppressed and oppressors to (not all that successfully) work together, massive losses were suffered by everyone, and then the overarching motif wasn't about love or humanity or rebuilding (things that have come up repeatedly in other episodes, including the one ep literally called 'the messege hidden within the pattern'), it was "bad things happen sometimes, but good things happen sometimes too. it is what it is. i guess." like. duh?? as a viewer, this was quite the disappointing ending takeaway from such a masterpiece of a show but more on that in a second.

narratively, we saw a butterfly effect situation in ep 8 that answered the question of 'what could've been?' but even that answer confused me. the undercity was already oppressed and in socioeconomical peril before jayce's hextech - vi's death during that last job (which makes me believe zaun was the same in both universes because why else would they be poor enough to steal from piltover?) prevented it from being invented and thus stopping other things in piltover from happening but how did it lead to progress in the undercity? what happened and what was the key to it all along? why did shimmer not get invented, how did zaun and piltover seemingly unite, why were zaunites all of a sudden seemingly so much materially and culturally richer and better educated in just a few years? (that aside, i love ekko's determination to get back and save his universe's zaun. i loved the alternative jinx and i loved how everyone was wearing vests 10/10)

then, ep 9 felt like a bunch of confusing things happening one after the other to the point it almost overwhelmed me and i was left thinking i didn't understand a single thing from it (except maybe that one scene - that, i understood spiritually). and the first maybe 90% of ep 10 felt like i was just repeatedly getting hit, and again - no time to breathe, no consolation, no resolve, just receiving bad news after bad news, like getting beaten to the ground with stones.

and at the very end, after some of the ends get tied, caitlyn has her speech, which to me, sounds more depressing and hollow than anything else. she talks ambiguously of history and of ups and downs and of a story not yet over, but there's no promise for the future, no motivation to keep going, no bigger picture, no lesson learned. we're not shown much work being done either (and i'll make a separate post examining why it felt that way to me and a separate one abt how i interpreted her conversation w/ vi at the very end). i was left a bit confused, somewhat unsatisfied, and very, very sad.

did anyone else feel that way too? what did i miss, did i misinterpret or misunderstand something? please i'm going insane i had two different friends tell me they had no idea what i was talking about and that the ending was everything they wanted and more

[thatbloodycountess]

I know it’s been six years, and the fandom is mostly dead, but I’ve been thinking about FFXV lately. The story was great and I loved the characters, but there were holes in the plot and with character development. I get that the developers had an idea story-wise and made significant changes once Tabata took over. Even after six years, I can still see what was left on the table and I have some ideas on how to remedy these issues.

I loved the beginning where the Regalia broke down. But, the game could’ve started a day or two before the boys left Insomnia. We could’ve had some time with Regis and Clarus and get an idea how them and the boys felt about the journey.

They could’ve added the events from Kingsglaive to the game itself. I’m sure not everyone saw the movie and it would’ve been awesome to play as Nyx. This would’ve lengthened the first chapter too.

The DLCs could’ve been weaved into the main game. The Trails of Cold Steel series did a good job of diverging storylines. Events in these storylines were happening simultaneously and added impact to those plot points. It would’ve been easy to switch to Gladio once Noctis found the mythril, considering both events were happening at the same time.

The same goes for Episodes Ignis and Prompto. Ignis’ DLC could pick up immediately during the chaos in Altissia. The latter could’ve been placed after Prompto fell off the train and ended when he was captured by Ardyn. Or if his memories were being manipulated, when the player sees him strung up on that contraption in Gralea.

SE missed an opportunity to continue the story during the ten years of darkness. That chapter could’ve opened with the beginning of Ardyn’s story and spaced it out a bit until the DLC’s conclusion. Luna and Aranea’s DLCs could kick in here too, considering both would’ve fleshed the story out more. Then bring in Episode Noctis and perhaps have a FFVII lifestream moment as he obtains the knowledge of the Lucian kings.

I’ve read that the ending in Dawn of the Future isn’t canon. It’s an alternative ending like Ignis being healed by the crystal in his DLC. However, it could’ve been just as impactful as the canon ending. Since it makes Bahamut the villain and uses the trope that humans can become stronger than gods. It’s a similar situation Yuna faced in FFX, but she got to challenge her fate. Noctis didn’t.

The chapters were too short for my liking and there should’ve been more foreshadowing about Prompto’s origins other than Aranea’s comment outside of Steyliff Grove. Noctis didn’t find out that he has to sacrifice himself until he was absorbed into the crystal. He accepted his fate too easily. There was no point where he became angry over it or wonder if Regis or Luna knew what his fate would be. Again, he didn’t get the chance to tell Bahamut to go fuck himself.

The game is one of my favorites in the series and always will be. But there were so many missed opportunities and it makes me wonder what could’ve been.

[clarisse0o]

Camp Wiegman-Part 37

Lucy Bronze x Ona Batlle

Alternative Universe : Military School

Words : 5k

Masterlist

———————————————————————

Friday, January 15; 6:00 AM -  Lucy's Room.

Even though the ringtone is more pleasant than the alarm in our dorm, it doesn’t stop me from groaning and burying my head in the pillow when it echoes through the room. I hate waking up, no matter what sound comes out of the alarm. I feel a light pressure on my back, encouraging me to roll onto my stomach.

"Get up, Ona."

"No," I mumble.

We stay like this for a little while. I start to worry when her presence lingers on me longer than usual. This isn’t normal. I turn my head to the side to check on her. A smile creeps onto my face when I see her eyes are closed. My movement must have woken her up because she opens one eye, then the other.

"Is getting up tough, Miss Bronze?"

"Whose fault is that?"

"It’s not like I didn’t warn you..."

I clutch my pillow a bit tighter. Guilt washes over me when I see her like this. She hasn’t been spared during the last five nights I’ve spent here. She has as many dark circles under her beautiful eyes as I do.

"I don’t blame you, Ona. But get up now, or we’ll be late."

"Hmm... Don’t feel like it."

Instead of listening to her, I roll over in her bed, pulling the comforter over my head to escape her. Silence reigns until I feel a foot in my stomach, sending me tumbling off the bed. I open my eyes wide to see her grinning triumphantly. The shock leaves me speechless.

"I already let you sleep in my bed, even though I tell you every night it’s the last time... At least do me the honor of getting out when I tell you to, will you?"

I groan as she gets up and walks past me, but I smile when I’m sure she’s in the bathroom. This girl is completely crazy, yet I like her more and more every day. I didn’t think that was possible. Neither did I expect my episodes to worsen after coming to this room. Neither of us was prepared for it. Lucy even thought I had lied about the previous ones, but that wasn’t the case. In the end, we realized the only way for me to fall back asleep after an episode is to sleep in her arms until morning. If that doesn’t happen, I can’t get back to sleep for at least one or two hours.  Lucy kept telling me each time that it would be the last time and that we’d find another solution, but here we are, five nights in.

"Ona," she scolds as she comes out of the bathroom, standing in front of me with her arms crossed. "You’re really pushing it. Get up, now!"

"Alright, I’m getting up!"

"You better be! Hurry up, we’re leaving in ten minutes, max."

The one thing that hasn’t changed since coming here is her commanding nature. Sometimes I think it’s just a front to make her orders seem more fun. But deep down, I know that’s not the case. She wouldn’t hesitate to punish me if I didn’t listen. She has the authority, so she takes advantage of it. With these thoughts, I head to the bathroom, where my things are already set. Lucy has managed to change all my habits in less than a week. She makes me prepare my clothes the night before, and sometimes we even go to bed earlier than the imposed curfew to catch up on sleep. That’s unheard of for me. I quickly get dressed, brush my teeth, and apply some makeup. I barely have time to fix my hair when the door opens, and  Lucy walks in.

"Ready to go?"

"Yep, I just need to grab my jacket and bag."

 Lucy hands me my jacket with a small smile. In her other hand, I also see my bag.

"Thanks," I say, holding back an eye roll.

I’ve discovered that  Lucy is very particular about order. I thought I was meticulous, but she’s on another level. Her room is always impeccably tidy, and she’s incredibly organized. Case in point: our suitcases are already packed, just waiting for our return later this afternoon. Once everything is set, we leave her room. We greet an instructor who came out at the same time as us, then I follow  Lucy down the stairs. I still feel a bit strange being here, but I’m no longer afraid of what her colleagues think. All the educators were informed that I’ve been staying with Lucy ever since a teacher caught me in the hallways when I was heading to her room alone one night. I had been hanging out late with Alexia, not paying attention to the time. The teacher dragged me to the principal’s office without listening to a word I said. He felt pretty foolish when Wiegman explained the situation to him.

"Shall we meet up later?"  Lucy asks me.

"Yep, I’ll meet you at the car, then?"

"Around one o’clock, yes."

"Alright, have a good morning."

"Thanks, you too."

We’ve settled into a bit of a routine. I leave her to wait for her friend at the back door of my dorm while I head to the cafeteria to meet up with mine. Alexia always waits for me out front to ask how my night went. No one has noticed our routine yet because we always join them at the table anyway. Today, we’re the last ones to arrive. We sit in our usual spots with our full trays and join in on the discussions already happening during our absence. It’s the best part of the day. Since we wake up early, we always have time to chat until eight o’clock. Sometimes, there are exceptions where we leave the cafeteria early, like today. I don’t return to  Lucy’s room. I’m not allowed to. Besides, I know she needs to shower since she always goes for a run after breakfast. Since I live with her, I’ve started to learn her habits. We already spent a lot of time together, but now it’s even more. However, I’ve been trying to balance things since Alexia confessed that she misses me. I realized I was spending more time with  Lucy, so I decided to organize myself better. Now, I dedicate my classes and free time before meals to Alexia and my evenings to Lucy in her room. I’ll see how I manage once I’m swamped with homework again, as I’ve asked to work in Lucy’s office, and I know she won’t forget that. In the meantime, I head to class. The day goes relatively well. For a week now, we haven’t really been following the lessons since these are our last few weeks. We’re still working, but nothing important, so we end up laughing a lot with Alexia, making the most of our last two hours together. Maybe too much, as we get reprimanded by our teachers quite a bit. Today is no exception.

"Seriously, you should’ve seen her face when I told her," she giggles, talking about her girlfriend without any discretion. "It was hilarious!"

"Alright, enough!" shouts the teacher. "Out, both of you! Now!"

I widen my eyes at the tone our teacher suddenly took. I expected him to react again after his first warning, but not this harshly. He’s the only one who’s gone so far as to kick us out. We must have pushed him to his limit. Our teacher in the first class was more lenient with us.

"No, it’s fine, we’ll calm down," my neighbor replies.

"You’ve already told me that ten minutes ago," he retorts. "And the rest of the week too. This is the last straw. Out!"

To accompany his words, he points to the door. Alexia reluctantly packs up her things. She gives me a stern look to prompt me to do the same when she notices I’m not moving. The only problem is that I’m frozen. I’m going to be in so much trouble if I leave this room.

"Batlle, do you need a special invitation?"

"No, it’s fine..."

"Excuse me?!"

I don’t reply anymore, afraid of making things worse and getting written up too. It wouldn’t be the first time. I grab my bag and join Alexia, who is already at the door. As if that wasn’t enough, the teacher asks another student to escort us to Bronze' office. I’m in so much trouble. Ale is teasing me.

"Oh, come on, you shouldn’t be that scared! It’s been ages since Bronze punished you."

"You don’t get it. If I’m denied the weekend because of this, I’m a dead girl!"

"You’re overreacting," she laughs.

Oh no, I’m not. She doesn’t understand why I’m so scared. We arrive at my supervisor’s office quicker than I would’ve liked. Two pairs of eyes are on us as the student escorting us knocks on the door. My first instinct is to stare at my feet.

"Ooh... This doesn’t look good," Ingrid comments.

I bite my lip. If she caught on that fast, I have no doubt  Lucy will too. I hear the latter stand up from my peripheral vision. I fidget with my fingers, dreading making eye contact with her.

"What’s going on?"

"I—," my classmate tries to explain.

"I wasn’t talking to you," she interrupts. « Ona?"

- We-

- I said Ona, snaps Lucy harshly in response to Alexia’s attempt to speak.

I lift my head for the first time since I’ve been here. I realize that I’ve positioned myself behind Alexia without meaning to. To my surprise,  Lucy doesn’t look angry, or she’s hiding it very well. She raises an eyebrow when our eyes meet and crosses her arms.

- We got kicked out, I mumble.

- Excuse me? I don’t think I heard you correctly.

I swallow hard. She’s right about one thing—she’s a very good actress. She’s angry. I doubt her lack of sleep will help matters. I press myself against the wall as she approaches us. She sighs, ripping the paper from Megan’s hands violently.

- Alright. Go back to class.

She’s so terrified that she bumps into me as she leaves the room.  Lucy doesn’t take her eyes off me, which also tends to scare me.

- Reasons? she asks me.

- Talking...

- Talking? she repeats, raising her voice. Are you kidding me?!

- No...

- I can’t believe it, she says bitterly. You promised me you wouldn’t do it again! And here you are, as soon as I loosen the reins just a little, you do it again, she snaps at me.

- Luce-

- Oh no, no, she cuts me off. Shut up, will you!

- Whoa, calm down, Ingrid intervenes. Have you seen her face or what?! She was already terrified just walking through the door! she defends me. I think she’s learned her lesson, right Ona?

I nod timidly, thanking her with a look, unable to speak. I knew she would be mad at me. Even though she’s my friend, she’s always prioritized her role as supervisor. I turn my eyes back to her when she sighs again. Her hand rubs her forehead, as if she has a migraine.

- I’m sorry, she says. I’m sleep-deprived.

- Let’s look at the bright side. We can now finish our work faster, Ingrid says, trying to lighten the mood.

 Lucy doesn’t say anything else, just gestures for me to sit in my usual spot. Alexia, who still hasn’t said a word, simply gives me a sorry expression, realizing that I was completely right to be scared.

- Well, I guess I’ll team up with mini Putellas then, Ingrid says. Come sit with me, will you?

Alexia follows the orders she’s given. I smile slightly, noticing she’s not used to being here. I’m sure it’s the first time she’s been kicked out.

- Does this change anything about our weekend? I ask Lucy timidly, who’s now standing in front of me.

- No, but you won’t have the next one, and neither will I.

- Why not?

- Because that was part of the deal with Wiegman! she informs me. How can I go if you’re not sleeping at night?

Now I feel guilty. I should have negotiated to stay in class and asked for a different seat, for example. It’s too late to come up with solutions.  Lucy slides a sheet of paper in front of me. I don’t understand her intention until she asks me to read out the numbers to help her with her work.

- Can I go to the bathroom first?

- You’re kidding me, right?

I bite my lip, wanting to collect myself before diving into her work. Her bad mood makes me anxious. She grants me this favor but insists on coming with me. I say nothing, even though I made the request to get away from her. When we arrive at the bathroom, I only breathe when I’m locked in a stall.

- I’m sorry... I dare to say once I can no longer see her.

- I’m the one who should be sorry, she surprises me by replying. You could have held off for your last class at least.

Not knowing what to say, I stay silent. I come out of the stall after flushing and stand beside her to wash my hands. I look up into the mirror when a pair of lips touches my cheek. The contact lasts longer than it should. I remain speechless at this more-than-pleasant gesture.

- Do me a favor and don’t get kicked out again for the rest of the year. I won’t be as lenient next time, knowing what you’ve become. Got it?

- Yeah... Sorry again about your weekend... There’s no chance I’ll have it.

- I’ll make sure you don’t. That will be your punishment, she tells me. I had planned to offer you a weekend in the Alps with my friends. Now I’ll have to reschedule everything since I can’t go anymore, and I’m not sure if you’ll be invited then.

- What’s this about...?

- I wanted to surprise you since I’m forbidding you to go back to Barcelona.

- You would have taken me with you...?

- Of course.

- And now you don’t want to take me?

- Not until you prove you deserve it.

She winks at me before leaving the room. I quickly toss my paper towel and follow her. Damn it! I’ve messed everything up! I’m sure she’s trying to make me feel guilty, and it’s working perfectly. I try to convince her to change her mind on the way back, but it’s no use.

- Please, Luc-

She puts her finger on my mouth, making me stop so I don’t run into her. I look around and see that we’re back at the office, and our friends are laughing at us.

- That’s enough. I said no.

- So, are you two best friends again? Ingrid asks.

- No, she’s just trying to persuade me to take her on the weekend we planned.

- Oh... I forgot about that... Damn. Can’t we go now? Can’t you work something out?

- That’s what I’m trying to ask her! I reply.

- I said no. It’s your punishment. Now move your chair over here. You’re supposed to be helping me, remember?

She sits behind her desk with a determined look. I glance at Ingrid, who seems exasperated by her friend’s behavior. Without much enthusiasm, I follow the order and sit next to her. Alexia also sits next to Ingrid to work better. I retrieve the previous sheet and make myself comfortable, crossing my legs.

- First to finish wins? Ingrid challenges us. We’ve been waiting for you for this.

- Fine by me,  Lucy surprises me by agreeing. You’d better be efficient. I hate losing.

I chuckle and nod.  Lucy gives the signal to start our silly contest. I quickly give her the first eight-digit code to avoid getting scolded. We keep going like this for a good half hour until the bell rings in the hallway.

- Already? Ingrid exclaims. Do you have one or two hours of detention?

- Two, I respond instinctively at the same time as Lucy.

 Lucy gives me a dark look.

- What? It was my turn to answer.

- Hmm.

I sense amusement from Ingrid. It’s true, it’s pretty funny to see us connecting this way. Alexia is more discreet next to her, even though she’s probably thinking the same thing as us.

"Alright, give me the next one?" she reminds me.

Friday, January 15; 12:40 PM - Manchester Airport.

Ten minutes have passed since Lucy and I arrived at the airport. The morning had been tense since my dismissal, but  Lucy calmed down after we crushed the other team just before lunch. After that, we separated to eat, then I met her on the same side street as last time when it was time to leave. Now, I’m eagerly waiting for Mapi to arrive, and I think I’ve mentioned that enough already. I’m starting to get fed up with the tension between Lucy and me. It feels like it’s only getting worse. She’s been ignoring me since we got here, tapping away on her phone doing who knows what. I sigh in frustration. This situation is ridiculous. I was about to speak when she finally looks at me, but then she steps back, looking behind me. The next moment, something literally jumps on me. Lucy catches me to stop me from falling. I’m attacked by a wave of kisses, causing Lucy to step back.

"Mapi, cut it out," I laugh.

"I missed you so much! Oh my God, I thought I’d never land! Seriously, how do you manage to sleep through every flight?"

I laugh, recognizing my best friend and her way of complaining without mincing words. I turn around when she finally climbs off my back.

"Good to see you, Commander! Maybe not as much as my Ona, but still!"

"Good to see you too, Mapi."

Mapi sticks close to me until we retrieve her suitcase. Since I no longer have a phone to communicate, she catches me up on her crappy week in detail without paying any attention to Lucy beside us. She missed an important exam that she hopes to retake. She also tells me she ran into her ex with Feli. Judging by Lucy’s reaction to this news, I’m not holding my breath for her to change her mind about returning to Barcelona. She eventually talks about her casual flings, which I could have done without hearing next to my supervisor. I feel extremely embarrassed, unlike Mapi, who seems totally at ease. I get a brief break when she grabs her suitcase from the conveyor belt.

"Does she always talk this much?"  Lucy asks.

"It’s just the beginning..."

"Great. I thought no one could be worse than you."

"Hey!" I lightly punch her. "I’m not that bad! And I did warn you that you were taking a risk by picking her up."

She pinches my cheek when I pout. I give a victorious smile when she apologizes, saying she was joking. She quickly withdraws her hand when Mapi comes back. She resumes her monologue all the way to the parking lot.

"Wow, nice ride! An Audi? You didn’t mention that, Ona! Can I sit in the front?"

"No!"  Lucy and I reply in unison.

"Whoa, calm down, you two," she chuckles.

 Lucy avoids us by getting into her car. I help Mapi put her suitcase in the trunk before we get in too.  Lucy hasn’t let me drive her car since last week, but I was glad she let me do it at least once. The feeling of driving her car was magical, and I understand why when it purrs at startup.

"By the way, Ona?" Mapi asks.

"Can’t you just shut up for, like, five minutes?"  Lucy growls.

"Is she always this grumpy?"

I laugh as my best friend points at  Lucy with an indifferent look.  Lucy’s going to explode any second if she keeps pushing her buttons like this.

"If you don’t stop soon, I’ll leave you on the side of the road!"

This scene is truly hilarious. Mapi eventually cooperates by sinking into her seat and sulking. Now she knows what it’s like to be put in her place by  Lucy Bronze.

"What was your question?" I finally ask.

"Um, I’m not sure I’m allowed to talk..." she pouts.

"Don’t be upset. She was joking. Right, Lucia?"

"Mm," she responds.

"So?" I press.

"Did you sort out your phone problem? You said you would this week."

I sigh and shake my head, thinking about that issue.

"I called my mom. She gave me a hard time when I explained that mine was broken. We argued until she finally agreed to let me cancel the line and get a new one."

"And?"

"Well, I eventually got the green light."

"So it’s good? You can get a new phone?"

"Normally, yes."

"Then why don’t you already have one?"

"Because Lucy will take me when she feels like it."

I see Mapi flinch in her seat through the rearview mirror. I glance at  Lucy, who sighs heavily. I place my hand on her shoulder to try to calm her down. I think Mapi’s presence is irritating her. She was happy to host us last week, though. Maybe I’m wrong. Her mood has worsened since my dismissal. I feel responsible. We had started the day off well. I smile as I realize that my touch has an effect, against all expectations.

"Go ahead, Mapi, spit it out,"  Lucy encourages.

"Well... We could go get one now, right? But, you know, it’s up to you! You’re the driver, after all..."

"Alright, let’s go. I’ll have the opportunity to leave you there if you keep annoying me."

I laugh, removing my hand from Lucy. She changes direction towards a street I recognize. She’s actually heading downtown.

"Take out my phone and send a message to Ingrid asking her to meet us," she orders.

I don’t think twice and do what she asks. My best friend is here, so she can ask hers to join us too. Ten minutes later, we’re in the underground parking of the shopping mall. I’ve visited a lot of places, but I’ve never been here. We follow Lucy, who heads for the stairs. She’s tapping away on her phone, as if we’re not even there. We arrive in the middle of a dozen brand-name stores. I spin around to see if I spot any stores I might like. It only lasts a second, but when I stop, I don’t see anyone beside me anymore. I move forward a bit, hoping to spot  Lucy, Mapi, or maybe even Ingrid, but I don’t recognize any faces. There’s no one. I’m alone, and I start to panic like a little girl who’s lost her mother in the supermarket. I look around and even search my pockets, but I quickly remember that I haven’t had a phone for weeks. I stop when I start to feel overwhelmed. I’m beginning to think I’ll never find them with all these people around. I jump when a strong hand suddenly presses on my shoulder. I was ready to fight back, but I relax when I come face to face with  Lucy.

"Oh, thank God..."

Without thinking, I hug her. She chuckles softly, accepting the embrace. She doesn’t seem to notice my panicked state. Yet, I can feel my heart racing against her warm body. I pull away from her so she doesn’t realize how exaggerated my reaction was.

"Sorry, I... I didn’t see you leave, and I thought I’d never find you again."

"Calm down," she smiles. "I’m here now. Give me your hand so I don’t lose you again. Your wonderful best friend and Ingrid are waiting for us."

She knows exactly how to calm me down. I smile and happily take the hand she offers. She pulls me along in a direction I definitely wouldn’t have taken if I had gone looking for them.

" Lucy?" I call out to her.

« Mm?"

- "I'm sorry for ruining your mood... It's my fault, and I hate seeing you like this."

I bite my lip when our eyes meet. She smiles tenderly.

- "It's not your fault."

- "But—"

- "I promise, Ona," she interrupts, tightening her grip on my hand. "If you don't want things to get worse, don't stray from me again."

I smile at her, and she finally lets go of my hand when we reach Mapi and Ingrid, who are deep in debate. It almost seems like they've known each other for ages, even though they've only met twice.

- "Oh, there you are at last!" Mapi exclaims when she sees us. "Can we go now?"

- "Of course. Try not to get lost again."

Ingrid and Mapi walk ahead of us as if we weren't there. Well, they do glance back at us occasionally.  Lucy tells me that the mobile store is on the next floor when I ask her. We take the escalator to get there.  Lucy takes my hand again as I start to lag behind them. The other two girls decide to leave us to check out the store across from the mobile shop when we arrive. At least we'll have a little peace, and I'll have time to choose a phone without any pressure.

- "Hello," a salesman approaches us right away with a predatory smile. "Can I help you?"

- "We're fine, thanks,"  Lucy replies coldly. "We're just browsing for now."

I give the salesman an apologetic smile, realizing that he's unwittingly sparked my boss's ire. I hurry to join her when she calls me over a bit further away. I apologize and quickly catch up to her.

- "I guess you want an iPhone? Can you even afford it?"

- "Yes, yes! My mom sent me some money."

- "Do you want to look at anything else?"

- "Are you kidding?" I giggled. "I only have Apple products; I'm not going to look at Samsung!"

- "As you wish," she smiles. "So, which model? You had a 13, right?"

- "Yeah," I sighed. "Actually, I'm torn. I could get the latest model, but I think it's too expensive. What do you think?"

- "What I think? It's not up to me to decide."

- "I'm just asking for your opinion..."

- "There's not much difference between the latest models. It's up to you to decide what you want."

- "Do you need advice?"

 Lucy lets out a grumpy sigh towards the salesman who returns. I stifle a laugh and place my hand on her arm, which is holding one of the displayed phones.

- "We'll come to you when I've made my choice," I simply say.

He nods. I think he got the message now. I smile, seeing  Lucy glaring at him as he walks away. I call her to get her attention. She raises an eyebrow, noticing my amused expression.

- "You think this is funny?"

- "He's not doing anything wrong; he's just doing his job."

- "Yeah, well, if his job is to check out all the pretty girl in this store, I hope he gets a bonus considering how often he stares at you."

I look at her, stunned by that comment I didn't expect at all. A burst of laughter escapes me, causing her to frown. It's one of the last things I expected to hear from her. I wipe away the tears forming in the corners of my eyes.

- "Are you done?" she snaps coldly.

- "Sorry, Luce, but why are you reacting like this? Who cares? I won't ever see this guy again anyway."

- "Yeah. Well, are you done so we can leave? The last thing we need is for the others to show up, and that would be the icing on the cake."

- "Hey, are you done being like this? As long as those two are together, they leave us alone. It's pretty nice, isn't it?"

- "Which one are you choosing?"

I sighed, realizing that my words wouldn't change her mood. I hope it'll fade soon because I won't be able to put up with it for long. I give up and change the subject, pointing to a phone in front of us, the iPhone 15.

- "That one, then?"

- "Yeah."

- "You know it's really expensive?"

- "Let's just say my mom transferred me a generous amount," I giggled. "Might as well enjoy it, right?"

- "You could use it for something else."

I stare at the new iPhone for a moment. According to people, it's the phone to have. I'm so tempted, but  Lucy's eyes are much more compelling. I let out a defeated sigh.

- "Alright, alright, I’ll go for the other one then."

I settle for the iPhone 14 that was right next to it.  Lucy nods, as if she approves of the obvious choice.

- "So, black or white, Princess?"

- "White," I finally said without hesitation, crossing my arms.

- "Okay," she laughs. "Let's find a saleswoman."

- "The salesman was fine by me," I teased. "Especially since I told him we'd go back to him."

- "You really want to irritate me to the end?"

We lock eyes for a moment until I look away to find the salesman in the store. I’m not trying to annoy her, but I don’t want to give her the final say on everything either. I smile when I finally see him and waste no time going over to him.

- "Ona," she

 growls behind me.

- "Have you made your choice?" he asks warmly when I reach him.

- "Yes, I have. Can you take care of it?"

- "I'm not sure your girlfriend feels the same way..."

- "Oh, she’s not—"

- "If it were up to me, I would have gone to your colleague already," my boss retorts. "Just do your job."

- "R-right... If you would follow me..."

The poor salesman is almost running out of fear as he heads to his desk with a computer. I wait a moment before following him to turn back to  Lucy.

- "Are you serious? Why did you let him think we were together?!" I giggled.

8

"I’m saving you from his flirting tactics."

"Oh yeah? Who says I didn’t want to be flirted with?"

"Doesn’t matter," she rolls her eyes. "Come on, he’s waiting for us."

I smile unconsciously as I walk past her. This situation is actually quite funny. The poor salesperson doesn’t dare look at us when we sit on the stools in front of his desk. He prefers to focus on his screen to do his job. I suppress a smile when  Lucy continues her act by placing her hand on my knee. I have no idea what’s gotten into her, but I don’t mind it.

"So... uh, what would you like to do?" he finally looks at me.

"Open a new line."

"Alright... Are you already a customer with us?"

"Yes."

"She’d like a new no-contract plan,"  Lucy intervenes. "That’s what you wanted, right?" she asks me for confirmation.

I nod with a sly smile. The guy taps on the keyboard as I give him my line number. He accesses all the information my mom provided when setting it up. Fortunately, she had the sense to put it in my name, or else I wouldn’t have been able to change anything. He quickly switches the line when I tell him the plan I want with a new number.

"Uh... what model do you want?"

"iPhone 14 in white," I replied.

"Are you sure you don’t want to go for black, being undecided that you are?"  Lucy asks with an amused smile.

"Stop it," I giggle. "You’re really silly."

"Yet, I’m the one on top," she murmurs.

Her words were a whisper, but loud enough for the salesperson to hear. I can’t hide my surprise when I catch her smirking. I can’t believe she dared to say that! My cheeks flush with embarrassment, and I can’t think of anything to say in response. She’s taking this role-play way too far. The salesperson is so uncomfortable that he gets up, saying he’s going to get my phone from the stockroom.

"What were you thinking?" I spitied as soon as he left.

"Oh, it was just a joke. I’m not sure which of you was more uncomfortable," she teases.

"It wasn’t funny at all, you idiot!"

I can’t hold back my smile as she laughs even more. Goodness, I don’t understand what’s gotten into her all of a sudden. Just a few minutes ago, she was completely grumpy.

"We should play this game more often."

I turn my head to hide my embarrassment. I didn’t know she could be so teasing. I push her hand away when she tries to slide it up my thigh to provoke a reaction. I glare at her, but she’s not intimidated in the slightest. She just chuckles and places her hand back on my knee when the salesperson returns. He sets the box with my new phone on the counter after scanning the barcode.

"Alright. Now we just need to set it up. We can do it together if you’d like."

"Yes, please."

He removes the plastic wrapping and pushes the box toward me.

"Do you know how to do it yourself?"

"Of course."

"I’ll let you handle it then. Is there anything else you need?"

"A screen protector,"  Lucy replies.

I hadn’t thought of that, but it’s a good idea considering how my last phone ended up. I nod, and he gets up again. Meanwhile, I take my new phone out of the box and insert my new SIM card under  Lucy’s watchful eye.

"This game is ridiculous," I say.

"I thought I was doing you a favor," she says, removing her hand.

"A little, yeah. But we both know he wouldn’t have tried anything more."

"That’s true. I don’t know what made me react that way, but it annoyed me to see him looking at you like prey."

A foolish smile spreads across my lips. I appreciate that she doesn’t let people disrespect me. I try to convince myself that there’s no hidden motive behind it. That’s probably the case anyway. I turn on my phone and start setting it up, syncing it with my account. I feel relieved when I see my home screen, as if I never broke my previous phone. I’m thrilled to find all my data intact.

"Did you manage?" the salesperson asks upon his return.

"Yes, everything’s working," I reply with a smile.

"Great, here’s the receipt," he hands me a sheet of paper. "You’ll find a one-year warranty, your new phone number, and of course, the price. Are you paying by card?"

"Yes," I confirm.

He hands me the machine once he’s inserted my card. I enter my code before handing it back.  Lucy takes the bag where the salesperson has put the empty phone box and the receipt. I thank the salesperson as he returns my card.

"Have a good day," he wishes us.

"Thank you, you too."

I put my phone in my pocket before anything can happen to it, and we head out to meet Mapi and Ingrid. It wasn’t difficult to find them. They were waiting on a bench across from the store. The first thing Mapi asks me for is my new number. I choose the simplest way: sending her a message. I do the same with  Lucy and end up getting Ingrid’s number, which she readily gives me. “Just in case,” she says. I’m not sure I’ll use it, but at least I’ll know who to contact if I can’t reach  Lucy one day.

"So, movie night at my place tonight?"  Lucy suggests.

"Really?" Mapi enthuses. "Like, all four of us?"

"I’d love to leave you behind, but Ona wouldn’t let me."

We all laugh except for Mapi. The girls get up, and we head back down to the parking lot. Mapi immediately agrees to Ingrid’s offer to ride with her. I stay with  Lucy, who seems pleased to get rid of my best friend. I know she likes her and that it’s just her bad mood talking, so I’m not worried about the rest of our weekend. I’m beaming when she hands me the car keys.

"You’re letting me drive?!"

"Mm-hmm."

"But I don’t know the way to your place..."

"I’ll guide you."

I don’t ask her a third time and take her keys. She makes sure I’m settled in and have my license with me before letting me go. I start the car, unable to hide my smile as I think about the evening ahead.

[markantonys]

okay, letting some potential s3 travel plans percolate.......the facts (and safe-feeling assumptions) are these:

the girls start at the white tower, and it seems everyone else is in tar valon as well (moiraine and rand are per a description of the opening scene shown at the con, and the cast have said in multiple interviews that everyone's together at the start of the season)

showverse has already established a waygate near tar valon, and there's a set report of a waygate near the two rivers for s3

rand is in the waste by 3x04, as that's his big rhuidean episode

rhuidean is just about the first thing that happens upon arrival in the waste in the books; not to say the same will definitely be true in the show, but it's a fair guess that rand might not reach the waste until 3x03

the other scene shown at the con included egwene in a desert-y location with moiraine, rand, and lan, so feels safe to say egwene will join their trip to the waste, as she does in the books

jorin the sea folk windfinder appears in block 3 (eps 5 and/or 6) per a leak on the actress's CV

i'm guessing perrin is set up nicely to take a waygate from tar valon to the two rivers. and he doesn't really have any dependencies on the other main characters' activities since he's flying solo this season, so he can head out anytime - we'll leave him aside in this speculation.

unsure what means the waste gang will use to travel there from tar valon, but a waygate feels likely as a replacement for the portal stone.

i have to assume that jorin's presence somewhere in ep5 and/or 6 indicates that's when elayne and nynaeve (and likely mat, perhaps also min) are voyaging from tar valon to tanchico on a sea folk ship. at first it puzzled me that they would remain in tar valon so late after everyone else has left, but i have an idea now!

so, i'm thinking the waste gang + tanchico gang have 2 full episodes in tar valon (relationship-building, prophecy research, bubbles of evil, accepted tests, tower politics, meeting elaida and the brothers G, egwene discovering dreaming abilities and being summoned by amys, rand learning more about the car'a'carn from the aiel trio, rand giving mat cpr if i'm lucky, etc). then episode 3 is when they decide they have to split up, with rand & egwene needed in the waste and the others heading off to chase rumors of liandrin in tanchico.

this way, they all leave at the same time and the tanchico crew is on their way by the end of ep3, but then perhaps their plotline is left out of ep4 (with the massive rhuidean A plot and maybe a small perrin B plot, this could be an offscreen travel episode for the tanchico crew), so we catch up with them again in ep5 on the ship with jorin and approaching tanchico.

alternately, everyone heads out in 3x02, and 3x03 features the tanchico crew doing something narratively valuable during a journey from tar valon to an ocean port city. alternately alternately, waste crew heads out in 3x02 and tanchico crew sticks around tar valon 1 extra episode before heading out in 3x03. regardless, with the info we have now, i think it makes the most sense for the tanchico crew to head out pre-3x04, sit out 3x04, and reach tanchico in 3x05 (with their first scene(s) in the episode being the girls learning from jorin as the ship is still en route). but who knows how much these speculations might change as we learn more!

[iwtvfanevents]

Rewind the Tape —Episode 2

Art of the episode

Just like we did for the pilot, we took note of the art shown and mentioned in the second episode while we rewatched it, and we are sharing our findings with you. Did we miss any? Can you help us put a name to the unidentified ones? Do you have any thoughts about how these references could be interpreted?

Unnamed painting by Marius de Romanus

Created for the show (uncredited artist).

Armand (still "Rashid") tells Daniel that Marius was a contemporary of Tintoretto (1518-1594).

Transformation

Ron Bechet, 2021 [Identified by Gizmodo's Linda Codega, here.]

Bechet is a New Orleans-born visual artist. He's a relative of the early jazz pioneer Sidney Bechet. Exhibition Prospect.5 says about the collection this piece belongs to: "Bechet carefully renders the ways vines wrap themselves around trees for support and access to sunlight. At times, this relationship serves both the vine and the tree. Works such as Transformation depict a harmonious symbiosis, as tree and vine both flourish. (...) Through his immersive compositions, Bechet invites us to see history and ourselves in relationship to the beauty, power, and violence of the natural world." And, from Xula Gallery: "Here, we are gifted with the physical proximity of life and death – How they share the same organic space, how they sleep together as equals. The flora of South Louisiana's natural landscape is cleaved open to expose its roots. (...) Here is botany that has every potential of becoming monstrous. All of these meanderings are used to symbolize the deep historical roots of a family home and exhibits the precariousness of nature, both human and environmental, with all of its nurturing and destructive potential. (...) It is a diaspora body, skin folded back to reveal its elegant and resilient backbone."

Untitled photographs

Vivian Maier, undated

Maier was a street photographer whose work was discovered and distributed after her death —she took more than 150,000 photographs during her life, and never printed or circulated any. You can learn more about how her work came to light here. We don't actually see the self-portrait in the third picture, which hangs to the left, until episode four.

Dancers

Edgar Degas, 1899 [Identified by @nicodelenfent, here.]

Degas produced countless paintings of ballerinas throughout his career. While he is often considered an impressionist, he himself saw himself more as a realist and preferred harsh gritty subjects of working class backgrounds. Ballerinas at the time often came from working class or poor families and worked intense grueling hours.

Berthe Morisot with a Fan

Edouard Manet, 1872 [Identified by @nicodelenfent.]

Manet was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. The portrait in this scene shows his close friend, painter Berthe Morisot, wearing mourning blacks after the death of her father, but wearing a wedding ring —she was engaged to Manet's brother.

Portrait of Erich Lederer

Egon Schiele, 1912 [Identified by @nicodelenfent.]

The Schiele depicts a young Erich Lederer, son of art collectors Serena and August Lederer, whose collection was looted by the Gestapo.

Paddy Flannigan

George Bellows, 1908 [Identified by @nicodelenfent.]

The Bellows depicts a young impoverished boy on the streets of New York.

A Doll's House

Henrik Ibsen, 1879

Lestat tells Louis "They'll seat us late, and we'll miss Nora's entrance with the Christmas tree," which quite a few fans soon identified as a reference to this play, in which a housewife becomes slowly disillusioned with marital life and eventually leaves her husband. This conclusion led to the play being banned in certain countries, such as Germany and Britain, and Ibsen was compelled to write an alternative ending, in which Nora's husband forced her to stay. In the two stage productions pictured above, you can see Kelsey Brennan and Nate Burger on the left, and Assad Zaman and Anjana Vasan on the right.

Unnamed paintings of Papa du Lac and Paul

Created for the show (uncredited artist).

Unidentified painting*

* The running theory is that the woman in this painting is Gabrielle, Lestat's mother; which would mean this is another uncredited prop painted for the show.

Woman in A Fur Coat

Edouard Manet, 1879

Additionally, on the bottom left corner of the frame you can catch a glimpse of another unidentified painting, but we couldn't get any clearer looks of it either.

Autumn at Arkville

Alexander H. Wyant, 1909 [Identified by @vfevermillion.]

The one in the mirror and the one on the other side of the door are too blurry, but we managed to place the one on top of the couch!

The Lone Tenement

George Bellows, 1909 [Identified by @nicodelenfent.]

The National Gallery of Art says about this painting: "Bellows has imbued the composition with a sense of eerie wistfulness, recording the precarious positions of those who were being displaced to make way for the future."

Don Pascuale

Gaetano Donizetti, 1842

The opera that Louis and Lestat go to at the end of the episode follows an elderly bachelor, who gets conned by his nephew Ernesto and his friend Malatesta into marrying the nephew's lover, Norina, under false pretenses. You can find a complete synopsis here.

The Storm On The Sea Of Galilee

Rembrandt van Rijn, 1633 [Identified by Gizmodo's Linda Codega.]

Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch Baroque painter and printmaker from the 17th century, is best known for his biblical and allegorical pieces. Rembrandt's only seascape was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston on March 18th, 1990, alongside other 12 works of art. The case remains unsolved.

If you spot or put a name to any other references, let us know if you'd like us to add them with credit to the post!

This week, we will be rewatching and discussing Episode 3, Is My Very Nature That of a Devil. We can't wait to hear your thoughts!

And, if you're just getting caught up, learn all about our group rewatch here ►

[chaifootsteps]

anon who sent an ask awhile ago about how Stolas getting drunk is always used as an indication for how sad he is -

I didn't even think of that at first but honestly it makes it a whole lot worse Stolas just got out of the hospital after having his wife call a hit on him

Stolas definitely knows about this but he still leaves Octavia alone at night to attend a house party, during which he gets smashed so hard he can barely walk or string a sentence together

this is next level recklessness on his part. Striker could easily try to kill him again or kidnap Via for ransom but Stolas never shows consideration for either. If he'd gotten a call she needed help or was in danger, was he just going to drunkenly open a portal then fall flat on his face through it?

same applies to Ozzie's - he went home and got drunk immediately but what if Via had needed him? at least Blitz just crashed on the couch then only got drunk at the party where he knew Loona was

not to mention Loona is older and can defend herself. Via can't - because Stolas never taught her to. he was too busy lending out her inheritance for sex

besides the writers just forgetting Via exists until it's time for another Stolas Makes Up for Being a Bad Dad But Not Really Episode, there's something else I've been thinking lately:

Stolas is written like he's a teenager. He doesn't feel like an adult once s2 starts; he's alternating between obsessed with his crush or being spiteful towards his wife and the fact he has a teen to look after rarely seems to factor in to what he does or doesn't do. He responds to someone yelling that he's hurt them by shutting down, sulking, then being petty til he can have a crying meltdown about what he really wants, then he makes out with the first person to show some interest.

At no point during any of this does the thought of the risk posed by his ex-wife & Striker, his responsibilities to look after Octavia or the need to behave like a reasonable adult in his fallout with Blitz enter his head. He just follows all his impulses and vices with a hefty dollop of 'me me me' attitude sprinkled in there too

Stolas' whiny behavior makes a whole lot more sense when viewing him and not Octavia as the seventeen year old

I've always said that he looks and post-pilot, even sounds more like Octavia's older brother than her dad. He certainly behaves like it and Viv and the fandom constantly making excuses for it makes it even less cute than it already wasn't.

[bookmuseum]

[REVIEW] The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

3/5 stars (★★★)

"He does not deserve the light, he deserves peace."

This was an oddly enjoyable read for the Christmas season. Before I read The Master and Margarita, I had zero idea what the book was about and 412 pages + a lot of reviews later I still can't exactly say what even happened here. The Gogolian influence was very persistent in Bulgakov's prose, so I highly recommend reading some of Nikolai Gogol's stuff before getting into TMaM. That being said, I agree with people that it's a novel that stands on its own in spite of its heavy context. I did some background research into Bulgakov's biography, the ten-ish years it took for him to write the book, Stalinist Russia, and the 25-year gap between when he finished the manuscript (which don't burn!) and the actual publication of it after his death. Critics seem to be unanimous in agreeing that the Master is a self-insert of Bulgakov himself, which I really felt to be most fitting during the scenes in the hospital where he discussed with Ivan the Homeless his philosophies on art and the current social order. I appreciated Bulgakov's harrowing criticism on Soviet Russia without actually being too grave about it; the dark humor is good because the "dark" is the adjective that informs the noun, not vice versa like a lot of "satire" plots which I feel fail in comparison. The magical realism was a good kind of wacky (although I wouldn't exactly call it magical realism, but that may be just because I'm more used to its South and Latin American literary uses). I liked Woland and all the beheading episodes. Bulgakov's tongue-in-cheek treatment of citizens "disappearing," private executions, political censorship of the Soviet intelligista, and the air of general repression felt in all people, especially artists, during the time were spot-on (though that's coming from someone who never experienced Stalinist Russia and have only done humble research into it). I think TMaM is a great testament to the political and social climate of Russia in the 20th century. Bulgakov captured everything so well whilst still retaining a sense of wonder, folkloric absurdism, and, at times, tender humanity.

Personally, I didn't like the scenes set in Yershalaim with Pontius Pilate and Yeshua Ha-Nozri, though I appreciate their symbolic meaning and narrative weight as a whole. I honestly found myself falling asleep, especially during the infamous conversation between Pilate and Jesus. That being said, I found Bulgakov's portrayal of Jesus very intriguing, as well as his decision to refer to ancient Jerusalem by an alternate transliteration from the Hebrew quite bold. It gave a sort of distancing effect to the otherwise well-known Biblical places that separated their religious (over)-associations with actual historic (and fictionalized) context. I like that Jesus became "Yeshua," with the name obviously coming from the Aramaic word for "the Lord is salvation." Bulgakov making Jesus' last name "Ha-Nozri" meaning "of Nazareth" specifically was quite beautiful to me, as it places him as coming explicitly coming from the town of Galilee (north of Palestine), which Jesus was said to have lived in before he began his ministry. Instead of "Jesus Christ" or "King of Israel," which are common ways he is referred to, Bulgakov opted to name him according to his native Palestinian roots first and foremost. There's a lot of literary analysis you can take from that, but it's inherently a very defiant decision that I appreciate Bulgakov for making, and I'm saying that as a reader in 2024. Bulgakov, amongst other subtle cultural references, also mentions the keffiyeh ("kefia") in his novel a handful of times, most strikingly in the scene when Matthew Levi essentially curses at God because he was too late saving Yeshua from crucifixion. Bulgakov here is writing almost 100 years ago from where I am with zero idea of the political climate happening now in my world (although Zionism was still obviously present in early 20th century Russia). Matthew Levi's keffiyeh was one of the book's most resonant images for me, even if Bulgakov didn't exactly intend it to be as jarring as it is since he couldn't have predicted the genocide happening in Gaza right now. However, this small link I've noticed between the past and now is just an example of literature transcending time and space by acting as a bridge for human connections. Long ago, one man from Palestine disrupted Jerusalem and Rome's established (tyrannical) order and then centuries later a writer in early 20th century Russia adapted Jesus' story to criticize the cruelties and ridiculousness of the Stalinist regime, and then I in 2024 am reading this as the mass killings are happening in Palestine. Through this one book, three generations -- three timelines -- are somehow connected.

My final comment is that TMaM, particularly that connection I've personally drawn as a modern reader, reminds me why humanities, reading, history, literature, the arts, etc. are so timelessly and universally important. I know I may sound crazy and "you're just trying to be deep," but it really honestly is the truth. Bulgakov explicitly highlighting Jesus as Palestinian in Soviet Russia as a form of political protest and me in 2024 reading this book just as Jesus' same homeland is being massacred during Christmastime ... it's so haunting. The book being finished in 1940, meaning it and Bulgakov's very Palestinian Jesus is older than the "state" of Israel is an even more damning fact in and of itself. Even though I gave the book 3/5 stars, it's surely a story I will remember. That final image of the four "horsemen" riding off into the distance just as another dawn is breaking over a dictatorial empire history knows is doomed to crumble that concludes the novel will stay with me.

[yumeka-sxf]

A chronological analysis on Twilight and Yor - Part 12

*This is part of an ongoing post series. If you missed the Introduction/Part 1, click here*

----------

The result of Anya's comment about Yor being bad at cooking, and Twilight's fib about being stuck on the toilet, culminates in the episode where Yor takes cooking lessons from Camilla. We've seen that Yor does occasionally cook, even though it results in mutual awkwardness for the three of them – Twilight and Anya have since stopped bringing it up so as not to hurt her feelings, but Yor is aware of their distaste nonetheless.

This episode also reveals how the Forgers have started living like an actual family. We've seen previous examples where Yor does the grocery shopping for all of them, and in this case, they always eat dinner together even if their schedules don't align. Even though they need to act like a happy family out in public, what they do inside the house shouldn't matter, like eat their meals when it's most convenient for each of them. But likely their eating arrangement grew out of overall convenience, since Anya can't cook and Yor's food is barely edible. But it's interesting to see how Twilight is so insistent that they wait for Yor before they have dinner even though he could just make the dinner anyway and put Yor's portion in the fridge until she gets home.

His expression in the manga during this scene is particularly intense.

But although he shows concern about Yor coming home late, the cuts on her hands, and her disinterest in eating dinner despite all their waiting, he chooses not to pry. It's almost as if Twilight is conflicted about how much to embrace being an actual family – on the one hand, he wants to do a normal family thing like eat dinner together, but at the same time, his spy persona is pulling him away from a normal family thing like asking Yor if anything's wrong…because the latter is something that could possibly bring out unwanted emotions in him.

His reaction to Yor here is the opposite of how he reacted when she came home with her "bullet in the butt" injury. In that case, he panicked that she was upset about something he did, but here, he's much calmer about it and doesn't dwell on it further. Perhaps by now, he's simply more trusting of their relationship. He realizes that she has her own life outside of the Forger family, and anytime she's down about something doesn't necessarily mean he's the cause of it. Plus, considering how he failed to cheer her up with all the things he had planned from their previous date, he may be doubting his ability to properly analyze her moods (something that will be showcased in full on their next date!)

At this point in the series, Yor is still convincing herself that she needs to get better at cooking only because the alternative would be losing her cover up due to a possible divorce. It's unlikely Twilight ever openly complained about her cooking, much less do anything to indicate he'd want a divorce, but the overly self-conscious Yor can't help but see that scenario. As I mentioned before, she still hasn't overcome her need to always feel like she's useful to others, and since her main profession can't help Loid and Anya, she's desperate to be useful in ways that a "normal" wife/mother would be.

During the cooking lesson, Camilla notes something that's been obvious for a while – that Yor looks less blank and robotic than she used to. Interestingly, Yor is quick to associate it with her marriage, as if she knows deep down that the marriage fulfilled more for her than just a cover up, but she's afraid to see that as a fact.

While Twilight won't admit that the marriage fulfilled anything for him besides what's needed for the mission, due to his need to be an "emotionless" spy, Yor is hesitant to admit the same for another reason…her low sense of self-worth. Throughout her life, she was never able to foster desires for herself, only what she needed to do to ensure Yuri's success. So the idea that something has since come along and given her fulfillment indicates that, for possibly the first time, she's desiring something for no other reason other than the fact that she herself wants it. And the fact that she wants something purely for herself and not because it will benefit someone else, is still a foreign idea to her, hence her hesitance to admit it.

When the time finally comes for Anya and Loid to taste Yor's stew, we're treated to several very "softly emphasized" scenes – while Anya happily eats, Loid looks at her with one of his most fatherly expressions yet, Yor is brought to tears upon seeing how much they're finally enjoying her cooking, and the three of them exchange blissful smiles across the table (while Bond watches).

It's at this moment that Yor is finally starting to comprehend how she feels being in the Forger family – while she may have thought it was only to conceal her assassin job, she admits that Anya and Loid make her happy…and, probably for the first time in her life, this is a happiness that benefits no one but herself. While she's still a long way from getting over her imposter syndrome and understanding normal social interactions, from this point on in the series, her cover up is no longer the primary reason she thinks of when it comes to being part of the Forgers.

But as is typical of Endo's sometimes devilish sense of humor, rather than ending on a high note, Yor insists that Loid and Anya try the other meal she made…which was anything but a success! Poor thing should have quit while she was ahead.

Continue to Part 13 ->

<- Return to Part 11

[darlingdivasworld]

SPOILERS FOR EPISODES 20, 21 AND 22 OF SEASON 9

Remember when I said that Episode 14 was the worst of the season? I still mean it is but there were parts of these Internationals episodes that made me compare to that atrocious episode or Season 7. There are definitely good aspects of it (Anthony and Adele, fan favourites returning, Freya's song, the outfits) but overall could've been better.

1) Internationals...at home

I could already sense that Internationals would be underwhelming since we were staying at home but seeing it in real time was just worse. I don't know how it could've been salvaged but I don't like how they handle it. Everything and everyone is at TNS so Internationals feels very local. There's no tension or suspense in the competition because we don't see other countries dancing whatsoever.

Twists or revelations aren't given time to be dramatic or shocking because everything is cramped together. For example, Ebby is made the alternate because she recorded the Internationals duet (accidently) but she only reacts in her talking head. No one on A-Troupe reacts to this either and Ebby is subsequently ignored for the rest of the episode. I also feel like everyone's storylines weren't wrapped up properly.

2) Grace

I remember starting Season 9 and thinking Grace's motivations for trying to take down TNS were ridiculous but as time went on, I just accepted it and credited Grace for her unfaltering determination. And with her plans succeeding more than failing allowed me to respect her as a ridiculous yet amusing antagonist. Even at Internationals, she's still plotting and scheming. Sorry, I meant was because the TNS writers decided to give her a redemption arc. WHY? Even after screwing with Ariana at Internationals, she looks so satisfied with herself...until suddenly she's not.

Apparently, Grace is secretly jealous of Ariana because she's all alone and Ariana has friends and a girlfriend. Redeeming Grace this late is just cheap. I know she's still a child but she's just so much more dynamic and entertaining when she's being evil. Even when she double crosses Maria, I'm just sitting there thinking, "I wonder what song Maria had chosen for A-Troupe."

I guess she realised that after spending time with Maria, she would be her future self if she continued scheming, but Grace's guilt wasn't highlighted enough throughout the whole season. Outside Internationals, the only moment I can think of is when Daisy glares at her during her audition. No build up=no pay off, and I wasn't for it.

3) The ending

Okay, this IS the worst part of Internationals. Eldon and Michelle walk up to Nick and claim they want to buy the studio. Together. Yes, that's right, they FORCED Theldon to break up so Micheldon could return to the open arms of no one.

It's so insulting on so many levels it's infuriating. Last time we saw Michelle and Eldon together, Michelle claims that, "Their time has passed." Until it hasn't for convenience. These 2 haven't shown romantic interest in each other for a decade until the TNS writers decide Micheldon should be endgame. Not to mention the egregious claim of having "Emily's blessing". Last time I checked Michelle, Emily is your wife and Emily wouldn't be in an open relationship. There's no reason for Michelle to be romantically attracted to a bum like Eldon. Last time I checked, he broke up with you after losing a dance battle and ghosting you. And you can't even make the argument that he's matured because a month ago, he was bullying children because his girlfriend broke up with him. No one wanted this and I'm honestly baffled by how tone deaf the TNS writers are.

Like, who's side should I be on? As much as I love Nick, he is practically a wallet due to his absurd neglect of the studio and practically forced Kenzie to be studio head whilst being a teenager. Rival that with immature man child and his god-like girlfriend. No thanks.

In summary, they could've done better and I'm really disappointed overall. The season started off with a lot of promise but the second half depleted in quality and that cliffhanger ending makes me strictly against a Season 10. Now why would I (or anyone) want to see Michelle and Eldon in love, running the studio?

[clown-cult]

Mon🅰️ & 🅰️rchie — an incoherent theory.

ALSO LOTS AND LOTS OF SPOILERS AND POSSIBLY SPELLING ERRORS. )

Alternatives titles include “How Archie took on the A moniker” OR “the one where Mona accidentally inspired a serial killer” OR “how Alex Drake is possibly even lamer than she already was and got The Game(tm) snatched out from under her” OR “these timelines are so messy as it is and I really suck at timelines so please god just bear with me as I stumble my way through trying to establish a fun little theory”.

So. As someone who’s seen both shows (although I saw the original a while ago), one of the biggest questions I have when watching Original Sin is “how did The Game(tm) go from various young women pulling strings behind the scenes and playing epic games of sabotage and blackmail while calling themselves ‘A’ go to a hulking scary mfer that runs around in a mask and kills terrible people?”.

This is my attempt, inspired by many late night overthinking sessions, at piecing together how the mantle of ‘A’ passed from one group of liars to another, from one town to another and who might have inspired the current ‘A’.

How did we get here? Will this make any sense? Let’s see, shall we?

So apparently the Original PLL takes place from 2010 to 2018. Again, all these timelines and articles I’ve read are a whole ass mess, but like me, they’re just working with what they’ve got. Thanks, Marlene.

First, a quick rundown of our main locations and players.

For locations, we’ll obviously be focusing on Rosewood and Millwood, which are a few hours apart and easy to go between in a few hours. The other most important location will obviously be the Radley Sanitarium.

For our main players, we will be focusing primarily on:

Mona Vanderwaal - the original A.

Dr Anne Sullivan - therapist at the Radley.

Sebastian Sullivan - only child of Dr Sullivan.

Archie Waters - the current A.

Angela Waters - twin sister to Archie. Took her own life at 16.

Rose Waters- mother to Angela and Archie Waters.

Okay. Here’s my attempt at constructing a timeline and assigning details where I can. Please note I got a lot of this from the wikis and used episode dates as dates of events unless dates in the episodes were given.

March 21st 1983, Angela and Archie are born. Rose is a teen mother who becomes heavily religious later in life, a disastrous combination with her untreated mental illness. Angela is subjected to verbal abuse and shaming and Archie, apparently having a face that “only a mother could love” is kept in an animal cage in a room.

The father of the twins is Marshall Clanton, who becomes a teacher and later principal at Millwood High, which Angela later attends.

Mona Vanderwaal is born on October 8th, 1993 in Rosewood where she grows up.

Angela Waters dies on 2000 1st at the age of 16, taking her own life after a year of being bullied and experiencing an assault which led to more bullying.

Her daughter’s death sends Rose Wanters into a breakdown and she goes to Millwood School with a knife, where she is stopped by Marshall Clanton.

Rose Waters is committed to the Radley in January-February 2000 and is treated by Dr Anne Sullivan. During this space of time, Dr Sullivan investigates the Waters house after her sessions with Rose make her wonder about Rose’s son. She finds Archie, who is also 16 at the time and has escaped his cage. Dr Sullivan is alarmed and calls the police, but Archie is nowhere to be found.

June 23rd, 2002, Sebastian Sullivan is born in Rosewood.

Alison Dilaurentis disappears on September 1st-2nd 2009, due to harassment from ‘A’, so therefore Mona has already taken on the moniker of ‘A’ in revenge for Alison bullying her. It is unknown for how long Alison had been bullying Mona to push her to this moment.

June 2011, the original liars (Aria Montgomery, Emily Fields, Hannah Marin and Spencer Hastings) start group therapy with Dr Sullivan to try to process their feelings around Alison’s disappearance and the trauma they’re suffering at the hands of A/Mona’s cyber harassment. Dr Sullivan realises she is being stalked shortly after sessions begin.

August 2011, Dr Sullivan is harassed further by ‘A’ and the original liars are led to believe she has been kidnapped and buried alive. They search but do not find her. Dr Sullivan is revealed to the audience have never having been buried at all, presumably after being blackmailed and threatened by ‘A’. She disappears for a while as a result.

Mona Vanederwaal is unmasked as A and committed to the Radley in 2012 where she is treated by Dr Sullivan, who also reveals that Mona blackmailed her and threatened her son, Sebastian. This was the cause of her disappearance.

Mona is discharged from the Radley in January 2013.

February 2013, Mona visits Dr Sullivan to thank her for her help in treating her. Mona is presumably no longer A but is still involved with and aware of “the game” at points throughout following seasons.

June 2015, Pam Fields makes an appointment for Emily Fields to see Dr Sullivan after her experiences in the dollhouse. Dr Sullivan is therefore still in Rosewood at this time.

The time jump in the OG series happens soon afterwards. This is where things really get dicey as what happens in this space of time is anyones guess. I’m just going to go with what we know for a fact aka what has been stated by other characters and we’ve seen after the time jump.

Post-time jump, Dr Sullivan is not seen again in the OG series so we can assume she moved to Millwood at this time with Sebastian.

The Radley also closes during the time jump and is converted into a hotel. The function of the building may have changed, but its dark history cannot be hidden and so going forward we will also be looking at evidence of an accessible paper trail. This will involve the Radley, the people it held for treatment, the people who worked there and how easy it would be for an outsider to find information.

The purpose of this is to show how easily someone could find out about the events of the original A incidents, what the liars went through and the various identities of A.

When the Radley is closed and turned into a hotel, Rose Waters is discharged and returns to Millwood. She is homeless but among her person belongings are her medical records from her treatment with Dr Sullivan.

October 14th, 2018. Sebastian Sullivan, while out on a jog in the forests of Millwood is killed presumably by Archie Waters. Sebastian’s body is found positioned over some three logs that have been assembled in the shape of an A. In the flashback, Archie is also already wearing his mask with the stitching in the shape of an A.

Depending on the timeline, in either July or October 2018, Alex Drake (secret twin to Spencer Hastings) is revealed to be “A.D”, the latest in a line of A’s who took on the mantle that Mona created, so it’s suitable that Mona is the one to mastermind her unmasking.

Later in October 2018, Mona kidnaps Alex and her mother Mary and takes them to the dollhouse.

Depending on when exactly Alex is revealed, given that Archie has already started targeting Dr Sullivan in the same year, it’s possible that The Game(tm) has already been taken from Alex by Archie and is about to twist into a new deadly form.

At some point between 2018 and the start of Original Sin in 2022, Marshall Clanton, now school principal, reunites with his son, Archie, and they set plans in motion to take revenge on the women who bullied Angela to her death by using their daughters.

In 2020 at another point, Mona returns to work at BHU with Alison DiLaurentis after it’s implied that Alex and Mary managed to escape her.

August 20th 2022, Davie Adams, one of the original bullies, receives a flier from the Y2K party where Angela Waters died. On the back of the flier is a threatening message with a single red A in one of the words. Davie takes her own life shortly afterwards and leaves an A in her blood on the bathroom wall. The red ‘A’ moniker is already being implemented on the poster.

September 28th 2022. The new liars (Imogen Adams, Tabitha Hayworthe, Farran Bryant, Noa Olivar and Minnie Honrada) all receive their first ‘A’ texts. This new form of The Game(tm) has now begun.

November 3rd 2022. Imogen Adams and Tabitha Hayworthe, investigating a lead on Rose Waters, drive to Rosewood and stay overnight at the Radley Hotel to meet with Eddie Lamb, a former orderly at the Radley, the next day.

November 4th 2022. Eddie Lamb shows Imogen and Tabby his old logbook of people who came for visitations, including the people who saw Rose Waters. This proves that even though the Radley is not an asylum anymore, there is a paper trail from when it was and the names of people who were patients and who visited. Eddie now works at the hotel, but he still has evidence of his time at the Radley and it’s previous history.

December 15th 2022, Archie’s identity as ‘A’ is revealed, along with Principal Clanton’s involvement and the fact that he is Archie and Angela’s father.

Principal Clanton is arrested the same night and Archie is hospitalised after being stabbed in self defence by Imogen.

He escapes shortly afterwards and goes on a rampage.

January 1st, 2023, Archie Waters is captured and sentenced to death for the Millwood Massacre.

June 11th, 2023. The new liars, now being stalked by a new killer calling herself Bloody Rose Waters, locate the real Rose Waters and are able to search her belongs enough to find that Dr Sullivan treated her at the Radley. This proves more of an accessible paper trail to Radley records.

June 12th 2023. Imogen and Tabby are able to break into Dr Sullivan’s office and steal their patient files. If two sixteen year old girls could break in and easily access this information, it’s safe to assume anyone could. As the girls flip through files, the names of the original liars are clearly seen. There is an identifiable paper trail dating years back to the events of the original show where Dr Sullivan was treating the original girls for their trauma and anxiety around what happened to Alison and the original ‘A’; Mona Vanderwaal. This information can also be accessed with relative ease.

Imogen says these don’t seem to be files from the Radley and could be from a private practice, but they would still likely contain information about the original A incidents with Mona.

June 18th 2023. Imogen confronts Dr Sullivan about whether or not she is Bloody Rose, demands proof, and to know why she is so eager to treat the new liars while not disclosing her connection to the Waters family. Dr Sullivan reveals she treated Rose, found Archie and believed that he followed and stalked her for years before killing her son. Her motive for trying to help the new liars is to try not to fail them, as she believes she failed to protect her son and that she believes Archie targeted her because she didn’t do enough to help him or his mother.

June 19th 2023. Dr Sullivan gives Imogen proof of her story by taking her to see Sebastian’s grave.

July 4th 2023. Dr Sullivan is ambushed and murdered in her office by Archie Waters, who has escaped jail, again wearing his ‘A’ mask.

Okay. That was the timeline I cobbled together with duct tape and tears. It’s the best I can do.

So, piecing together what we know of both shows, the fact that there is an ‘A’ in the original show doesn’t remain a secret for long. Several people take on the title and work for the A team.

There is a long list of material evidence on both the OG show and OS for people being in the Radley, along with who treated them, what was discussed and who it involved. Both shows are full of twists and turns involving investigating and blackmailing by various characters.

I point all this out to say that there’s a not insignificant chance that, if Archie Waters really was following and keeping an eye on Dr Sullivan over the years as she believed he was, and if he really did hold a grudge against her, Archie could have gained access to information her private life, her son, the people she treated and ‘A’.

Now, I’m about to point out some stuff while also doing a little speculating. Keep bearing with me here. We’re almost done.

It wouldn’t have been hard for Archie to find Dr Sullivan. She has frequent therapy sessions with his mother, after all. It wouldn’t have been hard to find her office as a result.

It wouldn’t have been hard to find out about A, given that Dr Sullivan still kept detailed files on the original liars even years later. Given that A was a large factor in their lives, it wouldn’t have been hard to find out that A was stalking and blackmailing the girls, just as Archie began to do in Millwood.

It wouldn’t have been hard to find out about Dr Sullivan’s son, given that Sebastian was used by A to threaten and blackmail her to the point she disappeared for a while. The same boy Archie killed after taking on the ‘A’ title.

It wouldn’t have been hard to find out about Alison DiLaurentis, the girl who disappeared. The original liars were in therapy to talk about her as well as A. It wouldn’t have been hard to find out that Alison was the typical, manipulative, popular girl who was also a bully. Everyone knew it. Not dissimilar to Karen Beasley, the popular bully of Millwood High that Archie murdered at the Spirit Week dance.

It wouldn’t be hard to find out that when the identity of A was revealed it was a young woman named Mona Vanderwaal, pushed to her action by the ceaseless bullying she endured at Alison’s hands, while the original liars did nothing to help Mona. Again, there’s one or two passing similarities to Angela, who was bullied by some of the popular girls while others turned a blind eye until it was too late.

Mona didn’t meet Angela’s fate, however. She did things a little differently. So differently that she started a ripple effect that inspired several shadowy figures behind the scenes with mysterious texts and their own agendas. Mona herself played a part in uncovering several of them.

So, in conclusion and to return to our question at the beginning, how did The Game(tm) morph so drastically from original show to reboot, and how did the persona of ‘A’ go from belonging to a cyberstalking mastermind bent on payback from the girls who bullied her to being attached to a vengeful serial killer who targets abusers and bullies?

“Whacky ass writing lmao who tf cares” is one answer, and tbh probably the right one…but then there’s the answer I came to instead; that Archie Waters in his stalking of Dr Sullivan discovered the whole ‘A’ mess and was inspired by the original A, Mona.

There are enough similar notes hit that the A that Archie would have found out about would have had to have been her, not Cece or Alex (right down to them both targeting Sebastian who’s really the true victim here lmao), and maybe have even become obsessed with Mona to the degree that he decided to adopt the ‘A’ persona that she created and take over The Game(tm) that she started, only to turn it into something far darker and more deadly.

Bonus points if Alex Drake’s big dramatic ‘A.D’ reveal as the secret twin gets undercut by the fact that someone else’s secret twin already pulled the rug out from under her and took off with the title of being the new ‘A’ while the original ‘A’ locked her in a basement in France. Because that’s incredibly funny.

Anyway…this is barely coherent and A Lot and I apologise. I just have a lot of thoughts and had to get them out somehow.

Please don’t come for me 🫠

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story?

The Enemy of the World and The Time Monster tied. These are the 12 stories that were closest to making it through and so have been given a second chance

ROUND 4 MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

The Edge of Destruction

Synopsis

As they slowly recover from the shock of being thrown to the TARDIS floor, the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara all start acting strangely. Unexplained events occur and the travellers start to turn on each other as they contemplate what is happening on the TARDIS.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Dalek Invasion of Earth

Synopsis

The TARDIS returns to London; however, it's the 22nd century. With bodies in the river, and quiet in the Docklands, the city is a very different place. The Daleks have invaded and it's up to the Doctor to thwart them once again.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Enemy of the World

Synopsis

On Earth in 2018, the Doctor and his companions are enmeshed in a deadly web of intrigue thanks to his uncanny resemblance to the scientist/politician Salamander. He is hailed as the "shopkeeper of the world" for his efforts to relieve global famine, but why do his rivals keep disappearing? How can he predict so many natural disasters? The Doctor must expose Salamander's schemes before he takes over the world.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Spearhead from Space

Synopsis

Forbidden to continue travelling the universe by his own people, the Time Lords, and exiled to Earth in the late 20th century, the newly regenerated Doctor arrives in Oxley Woods accompanied by a shower of mysterious meteorites. Investigating the occurrence is the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT for short), an organisation which had previously been associated with the Doctor during the Cybermen's invasion.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Inferno

Synopsis

UNIT is providing security cover at an experimental drilling project at Eastchester, designed to penetrate the Earth's crust and release a previously untapped source of energy. Soon, however, the drill head starts to leak an oily green liquid that transforms those who touch it into vicious primeval creatures with a craving for heat.

The Doctor is accidentally transported ""sideways in time"" by the partially repaired TARDIS control console into a parallel universe where the drilling project is at a more advanced stage. Thwarted by his friends' ruthless alter egos, he works to save both universes.

Propaganda

Not only does this story have the BEST companion and beautiful stylish (kind of canonically) lesbian scientist Dr Liz Shaw, but the story is brilliant. A murder investigation. An alternate universe where Britain is a fascist republic. Camp, evil, moustacheless and eye-patched Brigade Leader Lethbridge-Stewart. Mysterious green ooze from the earth's core that turns people into blue werewolves called Primords. We're treated to AU Benton turning into a Primord. The slowly building pressure and stress across the seven episodes, until the penultimate one where the alarm is constantly blaring, and the few remaining survivors have to not only escape the threat of the Primords but also escape the explosion that is imminent. The fact that the whole thing is basically hopeless, they're all going to die and there's no way to stop it because nobody listened to the Doctor. Like, everyone in the alternate universe just straight up dies. Also Fascist Liz's bowl cut. (anonymous)

Terror of the Autons

Synopsis

The Earth is endangered by a renegade Time Lord known as the Master, who steals a dormant Nestene energy unit from a museum. He reactivates it using the facilities of a radio telescope, then uses his hypnotic abilities to take control of a small plastics manufacturer, Farrel Autoplastics, where he organises the production of deadly Auton artefacts, including plastic dolls, chairs and daffodils.

Propaganda

the worlds ugliest doll, a blow up chair eats a man, 10/10, would watch again (anonymous)

The Time Monster

Synopsis

The Master, in the guise of Professor Thascalos, has constructed at the Newton Institute in Wootton a device known as TOMTIT — Transmission Of Matter Through Interstitial Time — to gain control over Kronos, a creature from outside time. The creature is summoned but proves to be uncontrollable.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Face of Evil

Synopsis

The Doctor arrives on a planet where two tribes, the savage Sevateem and the technically brilliant Tesh, are at war. He meets Leela, an exile from the Sevateem, and discovers that their god of evil is apparently himself.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Earthshock

Synopsis

A conference to unite military powers against the Cybermen is taking place and the Cybermen plot to destroy the Earth by crashing a space freighter into it. The Doctor must stop them, whatever the cost...

Propaganda no propaganda submitted  

Enlightenment

Synopsis

Materialising on an Edwardian sailing yacht in space, the Fifth Doctor and his companions Tegan and Turlough find themselves caught up in a mysterious and deadly race. The prize is Enlightenment - the wisdom to find your heart's desire - and it quickly becomes clear that one of the crews will let nothing and no-one stop them claiming victory.

As the Black Guardian pressures Turlough to complete his side of their murderous pact, it seems that the Doctor may not survive to cross the finish line...

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Battlefield

Synopsis

The TARDIS materialises in the English countryside near the village of Carbury, where a nuclear missile convoy under the command of UNIT Brigadier Winifred Bambera has run into difficulties. Lying on the bed of nearby Lake Vortigern is a spaceship from another dimension containing the body of King Arthur, supposedly held in suspended animation, and his sword Excalibur.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Ghost Light

Synopsis

The Doctor brings Ace to Gabriel Chase, an old house that she once burnt down in her hometown of Perivale. However, trying to get Ace to accept her guilt is not the real reason the Doctor came here; a mysterious and highly mentally unstable being slays below them.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

[lune-redd]

Hey sorry to gush in your inbox but I really want to talk about an aspect of your PPG designs that I really love.

I know I've sent you an ask about your Puff and Ruff designs being great in the past (your Punk ones are too since you put those out), but I want to emphasize that I really love that they actually look like teens from the late 2000's/early 2010's with their clothing choices. I feel like when people attempt to create aged up (specifically teen versions) of these characters, they tend to go for fashion that's modern at the time of said art being created. There isn't an issue with this of course, the original series was intentionally timeless so you could put them in most modern time periods and it would work but I think it's neat to see! This is just my own headcanon but I like to think that the Puffs and Ruffs were born the day of the series debut and the original RRB episode air date respectively (November 18th 1998/April 7th 1999), with the Punks sharing the Puffs birthday as parallel universe counterparts. Given that they were five when they were created, they'd be teens during the late 2000's/early 2010's.

I don't see people explore that often that these kids would be later millennials following that logic (kinda, sort of? They're both younger Millenials and older Gen Z... being five years old when you're born has some peculiar and highly specific consequences) and share a lot of those experiences with how they expressed themselves. I love how this is apart of your designs of the non super kids too, although I don't think you've gone into them too much.

That's it! Really love seeing your PPG work cross my dashboard it's always a delight. :]

AAAAAA thank you so much!! Yeah I really wanted them to feel like they'd be teens in the late 2000s bcuz, well, Townsville Alternative takes places in 2008-2009 (ten years after the original PPG series aired.) I sorta imagine the girls being born August 20th, the day Birthday Bash aired considering it's an episode about their birthday. But yeah I really do wanna make it feel very late 2000s with it's aesthetic n shit, you can see that in some art for it I did (most notably the title reveal, the chibi Mitch and Buttercup drawing and that one drawing with Buttercup dragging Mandy around with a mall Hot Topic in the background).

I feel like making the AU's aesthetic be inspired by late 2000s alt rock did work in it's favor (hence the name Townsville Alternative)

But yeah thx for the ask hope you appreciate my rambling lol

[hadleysmis]

Timeline of Les Misérables adaptations and more that I've mentioned in this account

Long post

1903: Su Manshu's translation. Les Mis becomes a vessel for political arguments in regards to the Qing Dynasty and the political climate of China.

1926: Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh makes a translation of Les Mis in Quốc-ngữ (modern Vietnamese script) and subsequently makes a political argument against the colonial mindset of France.

Hồ Biểu Chánh makes an adaptation of the novel within the same year and by doing so, used Les Mis as symbolic resistance against the French cultural aggression. It is titled Ngọn Cỏ Gió Đùa; a name which the Vietnamese population would call the story rather than the French title.

1927: Budnaseeb, the first Urdu translation, is written. It was heavily abridged, not making it past 300 pages.

1938: Kyojinndenn, an Edo and Meiji Restoration period retelling of Les Misérables, is made. June rebellion is replaced with the Seinan war. Marius' legacy was of the samurai. Hadley guesses that the overall message was anti-war. Since it is technically lost media, I cannot find much opinions surrounding the topic.

1950: Ezhai Padum Padu, a Tamil movie, is made. It majorly focuses on Javert and Jean Valjean's story. It is set during the Indian pre-independence era.

1955: Kundan, a Hindi movie, is made. This retelling of Les Mis is set before and during the Quit India Movement, with the June rebellion being replaced by the protests of the said movement. It uses real life footages of the protests, such as speeches, in the movie.

1956: Duppathage Dukha, a Sinhala movie, is made. Not much information can be found about it, but there is a debate about how some aspects of it were copied from Kundan.

1961: Jean Valjean, a Korean movie, is made. It is lost media, and I can't find any more information about it.

1967: Sefiller, a Turkish movie, is made. The impact was so strong that Turkish people are said to immediately think of Sefiller rather than the original novel by Victor Hugo.

1969: One of the Japanese translations, called Aa mujyou, is written. There's illustration, but it wouldn't be coloured in until 1978.

1972: Beedala Patlu, a Telugu movie, is made. I haven't talked much about this adaptation unfortunately. It is set during the Indian pre-independence era.

1973: Minamoto Tarou makes a gag manga of Les Misérables. It is full of slapstick humour despite it following many key events of the book, although there are major changes near the end. The series ran until 1974.

1974: Lebanon makes a series adapting Les Misérables. Apart from short translated scenes, I haven't gathered much information about it very unfortuantely.

1976: Anime retellings of fairytales and old stories are broadcasted. One of the stories includes Les Misérables. It largely focuses on the story of Jean Valjean and Cosette, and ends when the two successfully sneak into the convent.

1979: Jean Valjean monogatari is broadcasted. Within Les Mis fandom, people usually talk about the awkward animation more than anything else.

1984: A manga by Misaki Akira is published. It is very 80's manga-like and it isn't known to be too accurate to the characters from the original book.

1989: Vietnamese movie based on the Hồ Biểu Chánh's adaptation (1926) is made. The director comes back twenty odd years later to make a TV series from the same inspiration.

1996: Korean TV series is made. It is set in the late 80s. For political context, 1988 was the end of the series of military-authoritarian rule of South Korea. Hadley's only watched up to the first two episodes because the loading time is abysmal and he's lazy.

1998: A Japanese fighting game adaption called Arm Joe takes the world by storm. Or it could've. It uses characters from the novel, but does not retell a story. The name is a pun of the popular titles of 'aa mujyou' which Japan uses as an alternative to 'Les Misérables'.

2000-ish: A horror manga by Inuki Kanako is made. It focuses on Cosette's childhood, and finishes with a rushed ending to Cosette and Marius' ending, without Jean Valjean's return after his departure. I couldn't find the exact date of publication.

2006: A peking opera is made about the story of Les Misérables. Even though there is a full upload with subtitles in Chinese, I cannot read it, so I cannot tell you more details.

2007: Shoujo Cosette, focusing on the little girl's life, is broadcasted.

2013: Vietnamese TV show, adapting from Hồ Biểu Chánh's novel with the same director as the 1989's movie, is broadcasted. The Vietnamese population overall, akin to the reaction of the Turkish population with their own adaptation, prefers and thinks of Ngọn Cỏ Gió Đùa instead of the original novel.

Arai Takahiro takes three years, starting from 2013 until 2016, to write his passion project of Les Misérables. It is seen as one of the most faithful adaptation to date, along with iconic beast analogies which made the manga stand out from other various adaptations.

A performance is carried out by Chung Ying Theatre Company in Hong Kong.

Türkiye uses Do You Hear the People Sing in their Gezi Park protests. The protests were fighting for protecting Gezi Park and the public places, defending freedom of speech and right to assembly, banning the usage of chemical gas by state forces against protesters, the resignation of the Erdoğan's government, free media, and fair elections

2014: Manga classics (Hong Kong) is published. It is seen as a nice starting point for the general population to get to know of the story, most likely from Cosette's storyline, but I haven't heard much from within the fandom specifically. Unlike other manga, this is more easily acessible to an anglophone audience.

2015: An Urdu translation, not abridged, is finally published. It nears the 1900 pages mark. It is titled Mizraab. This was scene as a massive improvement from the original approx. 250 paged translation.

A Korean original musical soundtrack debuted. It's a bit pop-y and rock-y.

2016?: An erotica manga is published. It 'tells the story' of Fantine, and the main ship is her and Jean Valjean. I personally do not recommend it. Javert has long, luxurious hair though.

In order to encourage English literacy, a performance in English took place in Hong Kong, encouraging young students to come and watch and take pre-show and post-show lessons and briefings in order to understand the story and theatre storytelling better.

South Korea used Do You Hear the People Sing in a protest against the then-president Park Geun-hye, fighting to hold her accountable for favouritism/influence from non polical figure(s) in political subjects, corruption, and extortion (to Chaebols). The protest lasted until 2017.

South Korea publishes a children's adaptation of Les Misérables: Les Misérables for lower age students (Athena Publishing).

2017: A book with illustrations titled gū xīng lèi is published. Gū xīng lèi is a common title of Les Misérables in traditional Chinese/Cantonese (I don't know which one).

2018: An illustration book depicting Les Misérables characters as anthropomorphic animals is published. The front cover says it's a beginning half, but as of yet, there hasn't been the second part published. The story ends after Jean Valjean successfully runs away with Cosette from having saved her from slavery from the Thénardiers.

A Japanese audiobook titled 'Jean Valjean and Javert' is made. It gives Javert's backstory as a cruel, black and white inspector. It also focuses on Jean Valjean and Cosette's familial relationship.

2019: A TV movie called Owarinakitabiji is broadcasted. It replaces rebellious aspects of the public with natural disasters (earthquakes). The story focuses on Jean Valjean's storyline.

The first ever government-approved adaptation of the musical Les Misérables in performed in Tehran. There are many changes which makes this adaptation unique, reflecting the artistic state of theatre in Iran.

2020: A Thai-inspired fantasy retelling of Les Misérables, named 'A Wish in the Dark' is published.

2022: Sri Lanka uses the song Do You Hear the People Sing in the midst of mass protests called Aragalaya ('The Struggle'). The protests criticised the mismanagement of the government in regards to the economic sector and the following crisis, severe inflation, daily blackouts, shortage of fuel and domestic gas and other essential goods. They also called to end the nepotism of the president's family.

Japan performs mijimenaru hitobito, a stage adaption of Les Misérables.

A Korean company publishes children's retelling of Les Misérables as a book with coloured illustrations.

A Korea company publishes another illustration book. It is short and concise, overwhelmingly focusing on Jean Valjean's storyline, with the June rebellion only taking the space of one page.

2023: Mandarin play, in joint collaboration with the Chinese and French government, takes place. It runs until January of 2024. Its aim was to be as accurate as they could be to the book, including reciting excerpts in French. It is also an original musical.

A manga based largely on Les Misérables movie starring Liam Neeson is made by Team Banmikasu.

2024: A ballet performance by the Momoko Tani Ballet production takes place.

A manga titled 'Dear friends of L'Heure Bleu' debuted. It focuses on Enjolras' storyline, and begins with him recruiting people for the cause, on his way of forming what becomes to be Les Amis de l'ABC.

The End

I'm sure I've missed out on a lot of things in general, but also within my account itself lmao.

Okay bye!

[duhragonball]

End of Evangelion: 26'

No, it doesn't.

All right, this is the second half of End of Evangelion, a movie that serves as the "alternative ending" to the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series. The series was 26 episodes long and episodes 25 and 26 attempted to depict a finale where all of humanity was combined into a single merged being. This was the culmination of "Human Instrumentality", a goal of Gendo Ikari throughout the series.

Episodes 25 and 26 were not well-received, probably because they tried to show Shinji Ikari coming to grips with Human Instrumentality without actually filling in the audience on what it was or how it happened or why it was so important. Also, there were other non-Shinji characters that fans might have been interested in seeing. So in 1997 the studio produced End of Evangelion to show an ending set in the "outside world". This ending also sucks, but at least it connects the dots from Episode 24 to Human Instrumentality.

EoE's two halves are called 25' and 26', as a reference to their purpose as an alternate version of Episodes 25 and 26 of the TV series. 25' is better, because it actually sort of shows what was going on. SEELE attacks the NERV base, forcing Gendo to attempt to launch Human Instrumentality before it's too late. Asuka regains control of her Eva Unit 02, Ritsuko springs a trap to get revenge on Gendo, and Misato escorts Shinji to Eva Unit 01 and convinces him to meet his destiny. Then they all get brutally murdered. 25' also opens with Shinji jerking off over Asuka's comatose body, so... you know, it's a mixed bag.

26', on the other hand, is the drizzling shits, and that's what we're going to talk about now.

Gendo's plan is to do the exact same thing SEELE wants to do, only he wants to do it in some slightly different way. I went over most of this when I covered 25', so I don't really want to get into it again. Suffice to say, a merging of Adam and Lillith, the two cosmic beings who begat the Angels and humans, respectively, will somehow trigger Third Impact, which will then bring about Human Instrumentality. Gendo has Adam inside his own body, while Rei is some sort of receptacle of Lillith's soul? I don't know how that works.

Anyway, Rei's body begins to fall apart even as he talks to her, so they need to get started. I don't understand why he waited this long if this is all they needed to do.

Step One: Cop a feel. Seriously, he could have done this in Episode 1. To be clear, there is a little more going on here than Gendo fondling a minor. You see...

At some point after Episode... 8 I think, he had Adam grafted onto his own right hand. They don't show this in EoE, and I'm pretty sure you never see it in the TV series either. I could be wrong, but I only noticed this image during the clip-show segment of the first Evangelion film, Death and Rebirth.

The point I'm making here is that when Gendo puts his hand on Rei, he's pushing Adam inside her body. His hand actually phases inside her somehow. Of course, he could have put it somewhere other than her boob, but this franchise loooooves sexualizing teenagers.

Meanwhile, Shinji has arrived in Eva Unit 01 to repel SEELE's squadrong of bad guy Evas. He doesn't actually fight them, he just screams like a maniac when he sees Unit 02's dismembered corpse. Then the Lance of Longinus, which Rei had tossed into space weeks ago, suddenly flies right back to Earth. Why? Who the fuck knows?

This isn't even the first time it happens in this movie! In 25', Asuka was fighting these same evil Evas, when another Lance of Longinus suddenly flew in from out of nowhere and turned the tide against her. She saw it coming and even confirmed that it was "The" Lance of Longinus. Well this other one came from the moon, so it's definitely not the same lance, so I guess there's two of them now. I'm so sick of trying to make sense of any of this.

At SEELE's command, their Evas drag Shinji's up into the sky. I think he's pinned to this cross, except I'm pretty sure the cross is made from energy wings from Unit 01, so I don't know how that's supposed to work. The bad Evas then do some other mukity-muk, and this changes the cross into...

Whatever this is! I ain't got time to read all that.

This produces a field of destruction that tears up the ground and exposes the "Egg of Lilith", or the "Black Moon". The Wiki says that this is the vessel which brought Lilith to Earth, and Adam had a similar vessel called "The White Moon" which landed in Antarctica. But this movie doesn't bother filling us in on any of that. They're just like "Here's a purple ball, that's dramatic for some reason, trust us."

As all of this is going on, Rei suddenly separates from Gendo and rejects his procedure. He doesn't understand, but she informs him that she is not his puppet, and Shinji needs her. So instead of doing it the way Gendo had in mind, Rei floats up to merge with Lilith by herself. Also, I think the took Gendo's right hand with her, because he keeps clutching at his arm for the rest of the movie, and we never see his right hand again.

Now, you might have noticed I haven't had much to say about what Shinji is doing during all of this. That's because he can't do anything. The poor dope is stuck in Unit 01, completely helpless as the bad Evas do their ritual. All he's been doing this whole part of the movie is screaming in helpless terror. I had hoped Rei coming to save him would offer him some comfort, but she looks like this now...

So yeah, he's not exactly reassured. Rei/Lilith also assumes control over SEELE's Evas, and their heads change so they all have her face, which is pretty disturbing.

BE NOT AFRAID.

Finally, Rey/Lilith reshapes into a new form, that of Kaworu, the 17th Angel that Shinji had to kill in Episode 24. This seems to calm Shinji down. I think it's just Rey/Lilith in disguise, but maybe Shinji sees this as evidence that Kaworu isn't really dead, which would mean Shinji didn't murder him.

So a bunch of visual things happen and Clownshoes declares that Eva Unit 01 has now become God, because it possesses an S2 engine, the Fruit of Life, and a human mind, the Fruit of Knowledge. Didn't Eva Unit 01 already have those things before, though?

I suppose this could explain why there's more than one way to do this ritual. Gendo wanted to combine Adam and Lilith with himself, I think, which would have made him God, maybe. SEELE, on the other hand, wanted to do it all with just their Evas, Unit 01, and the Lance(s?) of Longinus. In the end, Rei sort of combined both of their approaches, though I don't know what difference it makes.

Well, no, I guess I do know. Rei/Lilith asks Shinji what his desire is, and he impulsively thinks of boobs. I assume Gendo would have thought of his dead wife, or the SEELE guys would have thought of worldly power.

From here, the movie goes off the rails with a bunch of fantasy visions. In other words, we're right back in the same bullshit that made the original Episodes 25 and 26 so esoteric and dumb. We start with Shinji as a small boy, farting around in a sandbox for like five minutes.

Then we see him watching Misato having casual sex with Kaji, just like in Episode 25 of the TV series. This is presented like it's some horrible thing Misato did, which is disillusioning to Shinji. I still don't understand this. Adults have sex. Why is this supposed to be a problem?

Then he's suddenly trying to figure out how to connect romantically with Asuka, except he doesn't really know her, or Rei, or Misato, or anyone else. He gets bitter and frustrated, accusing them of being unclear about their feelings towards him, but they say he hasn't tried to get to know them.

Then he's with Asuka at their apartment, and he begs for her to help him (with what?). Asuka is upset because she knows he just wants someone to be nice to him. He's only begging Asuka because he's too frightened of Misato, Rei, or his own parents, so he's come crawling to her. Well, she's not playing along.

So he strangles her. I doubt he could do this to the real Asuka, but this is some bullshit dream so it works.

He asks Lilith what went wrong, and she replies that he just assumed everyone had the same feelings as himself, so this isn't the harmonious world he wished for after all. I guess? This seems like a repudiation of the scenario from the TV finale, where Shinji could interact with other humans through the Human Instrumentality, but it took him a while to get comfortable with doing so. Here, he tries to live that way, but it isn't working.

So at this point, Shinji decides that if people don't like him, then to hell with it. This leads to Third Impact, with Lilith essentially dissolving the entire human population into LCL fluid. Each human is visited by an image of Rei, which sometimes takes the form of someone they love. For example, this girl at the command center is visited by an image of Ritsuko, who embraces her tenderly before she turns into orange Kool-Aid. Of course, the real Ritsuko is already dead, but a Rei shows up anyway to turn her body into orange goop.

The leader of SEELE is also gooped. Interestingly, you can't really tell how they feel about the way this has turned out. That's because everyone is visited by some pleasant fantasy before they dissolve, so I think it's reasonable to assume this is not what SEELE had in mind, and yet they probably think it's exactly what they wanted to happen.

Gendo Ikari's fate seems a bit different, though. He does get a visit from the image of his dead wife, and he admits that he'll probably receive retribution from Shinji over the way he treated him in life. He admits that he pushed Shinji away because he was convinced it would be less painful that way, so it looks like father and son are more alike than they ever wanted to admit. Anyway, an Eva picks Gendo up and bits off his upper body, though I doubt any of this was real.

As Lilit-- I got a phone call from my mom while I was typing this part. She's fine, but she's fed up with the weekly dominoes game she was attending. We talked for probably 45 minutes and after that I felt genuinely refreshed. I don't normally mention when I take breaks while writing long posts like these, but I needed that one more than I realized. So I want the record to reflect my gratitude.

Right, so as Lilith gathers up all the goop-ified humans, she has the bad guy Evas self-destruct. I don't think they explode, since we see some of their remains at the end of the movie, but they do stab their little core-dealies with their weapons.

Then she opens up a third eye in her forehead and sends the cross containing Eva Unit 01 to penetrate it. Okey dokey.

Then we get this rapid succession of images with voices saying typical breakup/brushoff lines. "I don't like you in 'that way'," "I don't want to know you", "I'm just not into you", all the classics. I think this is the sort of thing Lilith is removing from the human condition. Now everyone's just disembodied minds suspended in goop, so there are no boundaries.

This is where I got completely fed up. This is a photograph of an empty theater. That's cute how they worked the cross into the image, but it serves no purpose at all. Nothing's made much sense ever since Rei merged with Lilith, but now it's extra stupid. We're not even watching a cartoon anymore.

To be fair, there were photographs in Episode 26 of the TV series as well, but not to this extent. After this we get: a cat, a TV broadcast transmitter, a bunch of people walking through a busy street. More people milling about, people sitting in a theater, and then the empty theater again. Okay, I'll show you the cat.

Best part of the movie. RIP to this cool and good friend.

So when all is said and done, Shinji finds himself in this reality, where everyone is just floating in a big sea of LCL fluid. I like how his and Lilith's bodies are merged together to represent this condition. Mostly I'm just glad we're using animation to represent things instead of just random film of bystanders.

But Shinji decides that this doesn't feel right either, and he asks to be restored to his former state. Lilith grants this request, though she does make it clear to him that things will be like they were before, with everyone knowing feat and pain, and misunderstandings and such, but Shinji seems to have (re?) learned the same lesson he figured out in Episode 26 of the TV series: that this pain and the boundaries between people are necessary in order to grow.

So Lilith collapses into the sea of LCL fluid, and her entire head falls off. I guess this is the same AT field failure that led to the disintegration of Rei's body at the start of this episode. Anyway, when all is said and done, Shinji is back in a corporeal body, and Eva Unit 01 pops out of Lilith's eyeball. It's no longer God this way, so all the heavy stuff is over with.

Yui then appears before Shinji and they talk it over. He's fine living this way on Earth, and Yui is happy continuing to exist as part of Eva Unit 01. She plans to fly out into space and contemplate her existence, and she figures that, billions of years into the future, when the Earth no longer exists, she will still be there as evidence that humans lived in the universe. Okay... You know, I thought she was the normal one in the Ikari family but... no. Just, no way.

And that leads us to the epilogue, where we find the Earth after the Third Impact. Lilith's remains still lie in pieces over the surface of the planet, and all the LCL has pooled into the oceans or something.

I read the wiki about this scene, and it pointed out that there's evidence that some time has passed since the battle that started all of this. The moon is full in this scene, but it was a new moon earlier. So at least two weeks have passed. More importantly, these wooden stakes are set up in the area, and these are apparently markers Shinji set up to commemorate his dead friends from Tokyo-3. Before she died, Misato gave Shinji the cross necklace she wore, and he held onto it throughout Third Impact, but now he's hung it on a rusty nail in a piece of wood, and some rust has gotten onto the necklace, indicating that some time has passed.

The reason this matters is to add some context to this scene, where Shinji wakes up to find Asuka lying beside him. The movie gives the impression that he just got back to the real world, but the details suggest he's been living out here on his own for a while. It's unclear what happened to everyone else, but Lilith's words seemed to suggest that anyone who wanted to return to a corporeal body like Shinji could do so if they wished. So it's possible that lots of people have already done so, and Shinji just isn't around any of them. Or maybe Asuka's the first one to join him out here.

Maybe she's the only one, and they're the only two humans here. The point is that when he sees her, the first thing he does is strangle her, which seems completely ridiculous, unless you consider that he's been here a while, and he probably doesn't believe she's real. When he strangled the fantasy-Asuka earlier, she didn't put up a struggle, so he's trying to use that as a test this time.

But instead, Asuka raises her hand and caresses his cheek, and this surprises him so much that he stops what he's doing and starts to cry all over her face. Well, it could be worse, Asuka. She mutters how disgusted she is with him, and that's the last line of the movie.

Objectively speaking, this probably is better than the original TV series ending. It's more ambitious in scope, the visuals are more impressive, and the conclusion seems more ambiguous and grim. Everything seems to have turned out... okayish for humanity. The world looks unrecognizable, but nobody's suffering, and if I understand correctly, those markers Shinji put up may be premature. Asuka's return suggests that others might follow, and if they don't it'll be their choice.

I guess Gendo definitely will not be reunited with Yui, since she's buggered off into outer space, but at least he acknowledged his failures as a father, and I take that to mean he at least cared about his son, even if he couldn't express that to him.

The thing about TV Episode 26 is that it ended with the whole cast applauding for Shinji, which is either a fantasy he made up for himself, which is cheap, or the ending really is saying that they all lived happily ever after in a heaven of their own making. And that seems kind of chipper for a show like this. It made it hard to accept that this was really how they were ending things, even if it was the best possible scenario for the characters.

But like I said before, the big problem with both endings is that they're so damn confusing, relying on me to recall little details about the lore that might not have even been available to viewers in 1997. Huge chunks of the movie are just lavish images depicting vague events. Shinji barely does anything in the whole movie. First Misato has to drag him to the Eva, then the Eva puts him inside of it, then Rei/Lilith has to rescue him by turning him into God.

I think the biggest problem I have with the NGE mythos as a whole is that the lore is really fascinating stuff, but the show is never really about the lore. Everything always comes back to Shinji and his mental health issues. I keep wanting, for example, Ritsuko and Misato to have some in-depth discussion about Adam and Lilith and how the Second Impact went down and so on. But the show never wants to just sit down and go into all of that. It's always one character sort of getting the partial gist of it and trying to explain it all to another character. Like, Misato was telling Shinji a bunch of stuff while she was driving him to his Eva, but I seriously doubt he was paying any attention, and he probably wouldn't have been in any condition to understand what she was telling him.

Like... I don't hate Shinji as a character, but this whole premise just feels kind of wasted on him. Does that make any sense?

I still feel unsettled about this, like I'm on the brink of apologizing that I didn't enjoy this more than I did. I went in just assuming this would be a blast, and it was for a little while, but most of it just... isn't for me.

I don't know. I think I'm just gonna sign off here. I'll probably have more to say about it in the coming days, but I'll save it for replies to any asks you all want to send me. But otherwise, I think it's time I moved on...