#and her and barb last ep

[jelestes]

I just want to say that ava coleman is one of the best characters ever written in television, there’s so much more to her character than just being the “lazy principal” when you get to see how much she cares for people you can also see that she’s the one who was never cared for and that adds so much to her, to who she is and the writers are doing such a well crafted, beautiful job with her development. I can’t. I just love her so much y’all 😭

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

I’ve read Montauk, the og script for s1 ep 1 of stranger things, back before it was called stranger things

Some highlights

Montauk is in New York, and it’s also a coastal town.

Lucas was called Lucas Conley. Mike has a birthmark (but we all knew this) and Dustin wears glasses.

“Will Byers, 12, playing as a wizard”. “Lucas Conley, 12, playing as a knight”.

Will says the “We're screwed if it's the Demogorgon” line.

After Karen tells Mike to wrap the campaign up, he complains that he didn’t know it would take 7 hours. Yep you read that right, not 10 like in the show, 7. (Imagine how tired we are). It was a seven.

Instead of Dustin going to Nancy’s room offering pizza (and it being a friendly, non romantic gesture), Lucas goes into her room to like, look at her. He has a crush on her.

Nancy used to wear braces?? As in, in the past, not 16 year old Nancy.

Will asks for Dustin’s X-Men Uncanny 269, instead of X-Men 134.

Will doesn’t live near the woods, but rather near the beach.

While Will is pointing the gun towards the door of the shed, instead of whatever it is that took will appearing behind him, it simply enters through the door, Will doesn’t fire cause he’s terrified, and then, AND THEN, WILL’S NOSE AND EARS BEGIN BLEEDING. WHAT THE FUCK.

“Will doesn't fire. He just stares. Paralyzed by fear. The hairs on his arms stand up again. His ears begin to drip blood. And then his nose. He fights tears.”

Hopper has a stumble not a full beard.

Joyce works two jobs, one of them is being a waitress. She wears “too much makeup” and curses a lot. She has a Long Island accent and long fingernails. Jonathan works two nights a week at a movie house. Joyce also is much more aggressive.

Jonathan goes to look for will directly after finding out he didn’t spend the night at the wheelers. As in, skips school and decides to just look for him.

James and Troy are 14, 2 years older that the party.

Mike has a crush on Jennifer Hayes??

Barb wears braces

Instead of a party at Steve’s, it’s a bonfire at the beach. And, Chrissy mention?? “There's gonna be bonfire at Turtle Cove. Chrissy'll be there,”

Terry Ives is a man??

“Florence (hopper’s secretary): And Terry Ives called again, yammering on about some more activity last night at Camp Hero.

Hopper: Tell him I've seen that Twilight Zone. No, scratch that, don't encourage him. If he calls again, cite him for wasting my time.”

Hopper wears reading glasses, and his desk is a mess of mugs, papers, and candy wrappers?

Joyce says “He [Lonnie] doesn’t give two shits about that boy [Will].” Damn.

El is actually 10 years old, 2 younger that the party.

El doesn’t steal fries. She sees the fries boiling, the oil splutters and she gets scared. She encounters a freezer, opens, and finds frozen fish inside. She never has seen fish before, she smells it, studies it. She bites into its belly. When hearing Benny approach, she just grabs as many fish in her hands as she can and runs.

Benny serves fish and chips, and he’s also Benny Henderson. At least, that’s what he tells el. He’s described as “Benny Hammond”.

Mr Clarke is hot, as the girl classmates acknowledge it. He teaches “earth and biology”

Benny makes El fish and chips. She eats it with her hands.

Hopper graduated in 1958. Scott in 1962.

Benny has a Rottweiler. El and him become friends. The agents chasing el kill him :(

Steve sexually assaults Nancy??

After Nancy doesn’t appear again, and Barb is left alone with the rest of people, she decides to call out for Nancy one last time. No answer. She grabs her car keys and goes home. Or at least tries.

All the characters are much meaner too??

This scene with hopper is so creepy

And, huh, confirmation it was Vecna who took Will?

And you can hear things from the upside down!

[haru-dipthong]

Ep 12 of my Utena fansub is out!

私たちも今までいろいろやってきた、疲れたわね

We've been so busy the last few episodes. I'm pooped.

A juicy little indulgence on my part here - the fourth wall break here by the shadow girls does not actually exist in the Japanese (explicitly). I’ll explain why I added it.

Here’s a very literal translation of the individual words above with no thought given to context or adjusting for grammar.

We (also) | until now | various different things | have done up to this point

I believe いろいろやってきた (lit. we’ve done various different things up to this point) is referring to their various performances in a sort of meta way. If we take each appearance of the shadow girls as a semi-in-universe mini stage play, this line is referencing the presence of previous plays within the current play. They’ve played pirates, plate spinners, cowboys, an educational program, and more! Acknowledging these things is tantamount to a performer acknowledging the fact that they’re an actor rather than a character while on stage, so the fourth wall break felt appropriate.

Anya was also happy with the fourth wall break and added that it emphasises the episode as a turning point and helps close out the arc, which I really agree with!

-----

また黙秘するわけね。今のウテナってかっこ悪いよ。何か取られた腑抜けみたい。なんだかわからないけど、取られたら取り返しなさいよ！

Are you clamming up again? You look pathetic right now. Like you let someone steal from you! I don’t know what it was, but if someone took something from you, take it back!

Couple of little things to discuss about this line:

かっこ悪い is often translated as “uncool” or “lame”. This can sometimes be accurate, since it’s the opposite of かっこいい (lit. cool), but in this circumstance those words don’t hit hard enough. This かっこ悪い is more barbed than usual, so I kept the barbs by choosing a different word: pathetic.

“Clamming up” was an off the cuff choice because I felt I’d used “be quiet”, “not talk”, etc too many times in the previous scene to reuse them here. I think it fits with Wakaba’s personality and the current situation pretty well! 黙秘 is defined by jisho.org as “remaining silent; keeping secret”.

腑抜け means “coward” or something similar. I tried phrasing this line a few times to get that word in somehow, but in the end the whole rant just read so much better without forcing it in. Also cps (characters per second) was a concern here.

-----

元気な友達がいるね。

Your friend has quite the personality.

元気 (genki). What a word! Often translated as “energetic”. So often in fact, that even before I checked, I knew that the ohtori.nu translation would have used it, and sure enough!

Your friend is very energetic. (from ohtori.nu)

Along with “eyesore” and “confession (of love)”, this might take the bronze medal for common Japanese words that consistently get translated into very uncommon English words.

Of course, 元気 can literally mean “having a lot of energy”, or simply “well” (as in the opposite of “unwell”). But “energetic” is just such a bad translation for it 90% of the time. I wish I could convey why in words, but in most contexts, the word 元気 and the word “energetic” just feel so different.

Anyway, 元気 has quite a positive nuance, which emphasises the passive aggressiveness of Touga’s comment. The intent with this line is that he’s giving a vague compliment to Wakaba, indirectly (talking about her as if she’s not there), and making it clear that he wishes she wasn’t around. Everything else about the line should be secondary, including the specific meanings of each word.

I think this is emblematic of my general approach to translation — to identify the author’s original intent of a line/scene/work and then write it in a different language with the same intent in mind. Every line, every scene, is trying to do something — I believe it’s the translator’s job to identify what each line and scene is supposed to be doing and preserve that, so media literacy is very important. Sometimes that line is doing exposition, in which case a literal translation of each word is often ideal. Sometimes that line is trying to evoke a feeling, establish a character, or make the audience remember similar experiences, in which case the individual words used matter much less. In this case, the line is attempting to invoke memories of similar experiences of passive aggressive, dismissive comments. And frankly, “Your friend is very energetic” does not do that, so I consider it a poor translation.

-----

Thanks as always to my ride or die @dontbe-lasanya for their awesome editing this episode (and every episode!)

Make sure to follow the blog for episodes as they're released. Go here for all previous episodes:

[alipeeps]

Episode 21

As I suspected.. while the gang were having an emotional catharthis about Bai Jiu's mum... Chongwu Camp turned up to hunt for Wen Xiao.

Ayyy my boy Bai Jiu, all is forgiven. Yeah, you stand up to that scheming git who manipulated a grieving teenager.

Ugh I want to stab him.

What kindness? You took him in because you knew you could manipulate and use him! Listen to Zhuo dage, Xiao Bai!

What does he want the arrow for? Is he gonna... try to remove/obscure the Chongwu tattoo?

Called it.

My fucking heart!!

Go Zhuo Yichen!

Did she just... fucking snatch that arrow out of the air and fire it back at them:?!!

Is that what Wen Zongyu has been doing with his demon blood experiments? Creating demonised humans? His own personal army of demon-human hybrids? Can't imagine the prime minister (RIP) or king would be too happy if they knew about that...

Oh SHIT the one word spell doesn't work on them?!!

Oh FUCK the arrows are demonised too?!! That's why the one Sijing fired back at them killed the archer but her other shots didn't.

It's got fucking backwards-angled barbs along the shaft too! Bastards!

Is Zhao Yuanzhou gonna step in front of Wen Xiao and take an arrow for her?

Nope he caught it...

PLEASE tell me him getting cut by the demonised arrow is not going to count as the final step in sealing his 5 senses?!!

FUCK IT!! I KNEW IT!!

How many times did I say last ep that he needed to get at least 1 of his other 4 senses unsealed so that he wasn't vulnerable to having his last sense sealed? Why does nobody listen to me?!! 😂

Ohhh shiiiit the ever-burning fire will start to burn him if his senses are sealed?

Uhoh... fucking red haze incoming?

God I love how his pupils keep flickering between red and not!!

Congrats Wen Zongyu, you dumbass. You said a demon's inner core has a consciousness... with his senses sealed, his core's consciousness has taken over... but isn't his core basically made up of/controlled by malicious qi?

You had no idea what you were fucking with you goddamn dumbass!!

Aaaaand now he's loose in the mortal world, controlled by malicious qi.

Ugh and the visual of his bottle - the one from which he drinks to help keep the malicious qi suppressed - abandoned and left behind...

Aaand the gang is arrested.

God I love her...

Oh mannn... so he'll have retreated to the house where he barricades himself inside after each blood moon?

Oooh Zhu Yan vs his own demon core. This'll be where that clip from the trailer comes from then...

Yup, there it is.

How is it even possible that is the same damn actor? He looks like a totally different person!! 😍

Oh shit he's literally using visualisations of his relationship with Wen Xiao to fend off the visualisation of his demon core...

God I love this fucking song so much.

Our boy Ying Lei is tracking the shapeshifter demon.

Uhhh... noooo... Ying Lei... that's not Zhuo daren. Zhuo daren is in prison. And you're tracking a shapeshifter demon, Ying Lei. A shapeshifter demon. Ying Le? Hello?

He's such a fucking dork. I'm love him.

This has to be Xiao Bai having a nightmare, right? Cos they all got captured and put in prison. He's not following Zhuo Yichen through a forest...

Or is it not a dream? Did they only arrest Wen Xiao and Pei Sijing?

Ugh he hesitates to hold onto his braid... so Zhuo Yichen straight up offers it go him and tells him he can!

Because it's not fucking Ying Lei, Xiao Bai...

Ok so they definitely did only arrest the girls (rude!) and that explains why Ying Lei wasn't surprised to find Zhuo Yichen appear while he was hunting down the demon... the 3 of them went to hunt her together.

Uuuh you ran off so fast you left Xiao Bai behind, Zhuo Yichen!

And how's he supposed to know if anyone who comes up to him is who they seem to be, or if it's Ao Yin?

Ooops!

Dudes... my dudes... what if the Ao Yin in this scenario is actually... Xiao Bai?

How could he make a demon obey him? Because he's been sodding experimenting on them for at least 8 years!!

But yes.. well done Sijing, this particular demon was working with Li Lun!

Uhhhh is he though? You were still in Li Lun's illusion when he died?

Oh SHIT... and surely if he had died the illusion would have immediately dissolved? Which would mean he very much DIDN'T die.. and just faked you out with an illusion of him burning up!!

EXACTLY!!

Ru-roh Shaggy!!

Hahahaa the way he ducks away from Ying Lei's pat on the head - and then actively seeks one from Zhuo Yichen!!

Jeez, callous much? Also? Fuck you!

You tell him Sijing!!

AND WHOSE FUCKING FAULT IS THAT?!! YOURS!!

You made this happen!! All so you could get your precious fucking ever-burning wood!!

Point of order though... why did he wear that dumb mask for so long? Like.. who did he need to be hiding his face from other than us, the audience? There was no need for him to hide who he was from Chongwu Camp?

Don't you fucking stick that needle in my girl, you fucker!!

Hahahaaa Ying Lei is soliciting head pats too!! These dumbasses!!

Oh my god poor Zhuo Yichen!

Saved by Bai Jiu!

His double-take from.. "Thank goodness you're here!" to "Why are you here!"

Zhou Yichen she's a fucking SHAPESHIFTER!!

Why are they so fucking stupid?

Oh ffs didn't Ying Lei warn you about this Zhuo Yichen?!!

Aaaaand that's where it ends.

Ngl that whole sequence annoyed me. They KNOW she is a shapeshifter, why did they keep getting taken in every time she pretended to be someone they know?!

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Junior Year Ep 3 Fast Times at Fantasy High

Welcome back to Fantasy High! It’s a very exciting episode because something that we rarely see in this show about high schoolers studying at an adventuring academy is happening: The Bad Kids are actually going to class. 

But first, they have to get to school. Riz, unsurprisingly, arrives first. On a big old 30 Investigation roll (+11 to a 19), overnight he did a deep dive into what everyone needs to do to get into a good college. Fig is actually doing great. If she would just go to her classes, she’d be fine. Kristen on the other hand is in serious trouble seeing as allowing your god to die is pretty much an auto-fail for a cleric. Fabian and Gorgug are both solid students with good extracurriculars. Their main hurdle is going to be the MCAT–the Multiclass Achievement Test. In order to multiclass, you need to get permission from your current advisor and pass the test. Then you can take 3/4 of each track for a 150% course load. And then, of course, he and Adaine are the party nerds so they’re doing great. They could maybe add some extracurriculars but they’re model students. 

RIz also has done some research about possible college options: Astral State University (where they visited in the one shot), CUS Dabus (in the City of Doors), Bastion City University (who are doing big, world changing stuff), the Society of Shadows (the rogues only group that forces you to leave your life and friends behind that Penny Luckstone refused to join in The Seven), and–most hilarious but also saddest–Lord Salazar Edge's College of Lone Adventurers (which we learn in the AP was a Murph pitch, lol). 

Back at Mordred, Adaine is doing her best to get her less studious friends up and ready for school, going as far as casting Friends on them to get them in the car. Fig willingly fails and Kristen–who really wants to be convinced–sets the DC at 10 and gives Adaine the Help action. Before they get to the car, Lydia (Ragh’s awesome mom) slaps a toxic looking blue energy drink from Kristen’s hands and gives them all full trash bags full of food for lunch (she’s used to feeding half-orc athlete Barb Ragh, not three spellcasters).

Jawbone loads them in the car and, on the way to school, they hear the song of the summer which is this emo anthem. When they meet Riz, he’s super excited to see everyone and show them their dossiers. He even made one for Adaine just for fun even though she doesn’t need any help and she loves it. What she (and Riz) don’t love however is Fig’s new school plan which, as we learned last week, is to enroll in something other than bard classes and then go to her bard classes (since a part of her isn’t going because she has chronic Stick-It-To-The-Man-Itis). Riz and Adaine try to figure out if they can gaslight Fig into going to her classes or hack the system somehow. 

Back at the Thistlespring tree, Gorgug is doing some last minute pre-school work: creating his homunculus (which is kind of like an artificer’s familiar). It’s a hastily made archaeopteryx (flying dino thing, if you know Pokemon, think Archeops) that’s light on the feathers. He accidentally names it Cloaca (a birds multipurpose excrement chute) which his parents love because it’s spreading awareness of non-traditional bodies. Then they launch into a story about mermaid reproduction that I’m not gonna get into because not even Gorgug wanted to hear it. He’s clearly anxious about his skills because he feels his parents disapprove of the bird even though they’ve never been anything other than 200% supportive of him in their lives. 

He gets a ride to school and his friends meet Cloaca, who he nicknames Chloe–the name I’ll be using even though the Bad Kids of course will exclusively call it Cloaca. Riz hands Gorgug his file which he reviews along with the letters from his parents. It’s a lot of the same info except that one of the letters is a rejection re: Multiclassing with a note to talk to his advisor (Porter, the Barb teacher who Fig hates). 

Fabian shows up, starving and shabbily dressed without Cathilda to take care of him–she’s still in Leviathan. The girls share their trash bag food with him which he wolfs down gratefully. (When he mentions his parents are away, Fig seems surprised that Gilear left. Interesting to note for future eps because that feels out of character for their relationship). Anyway, he mistakes Chloe for a piece of trash because is it really the first day of school if Fabian doesn’t insult Gorgug (accidentally this time. progress!) and then the bell rings. As it does, the Bad Kids look around and realize something strange: they’re Juniors now. That means more than half the kids here are younger than them now. They’re not the Freshmen they once were. 

The Sorc Prof (Jace Stardiamond) is filling in as VP while Gilear is away and as he makes an announcement on the intercom, Fig almost falls into an open construction pit (a SECOND construction based incident) but is saved when she’s hit with an armful of gym equipment instead. Put that on the Faeth luck swap conspiracy board. Anyway, Jace also says that Aguefort is gonna be out so they have a new Principal: Emergency Backup Interim Principal Grix. The Bad Kids have never heard of this guy before. 

In the spot where they saw Dane and Penelope campaigning to bring back Prom Court their first year, the Bad Kids now see a table for Student Gov manned by Jawbone and a minotaur student he seems to know: Mazey Phaedra–a senior and the student body prez. She’s also based on a Scottish Highland cow which isn’t important to the story but it is important to me because those cows are super cute. Riz suggests they sign up so they go talk to Mazey who seems cool: She thanks them for saving the world, she knows Ayda, and Fabian clocks later that she’s a dancer bard. All green flags. 

After indulging Fabian’s ego for a bit, the squad encourages Kristen to go for President. Before she can though, she’s beaten to the punch by a halfling student with major Tracy Flick energy who introduces herself as Kipperlily Copperkettle. Kristen immediately shoots back with, “What are you, four different dogs?” which is maybe the funniest thing a Bad Kid has ever said. The Bad Kids hate her vibes on sight but Kristen especially is full aggro. Riz notices that she’s wearing a pin of a rat’s butt being grinded between two gears and when asked about it, she says it’s Ratgrinders pin–Ratgrinders being the name of her adventuring party. They ask who else is in her party and she points out Reuben–an emo, gnomish bard who is signing autographs because he’s the one who wrote the song they were listening to on the way to school (before Kristen changed it to a health and wellness podcast). 

Kipperlily (who I’m gonna call KP) is told that she can sign up but she has to find time to campaign outside of her classes. She says that won’t be a problem because she’s already aced Junior Year and she slides over an envelope to Jawbone to prove it. Apparently, the way Rogue classes work here is that the students find clues and puzzles throughout the school left by the professor but they’ve never actually met them. If a student is able to find the Rogue professor, they automatically get an A for the year and, apparently, KP did just that. 

Paperwork in order, KP is about to leave but Fig stops her to ask what her platform is. Her answer: “Equality, equanimity, and fairness under the rules. In the past, there has been an eccentricity to the bureaucratic and administrative decisions of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy that has favored some students over others. Very nice to meet you guys.”

As she leaves, they hate her even more. 

Adaine tries out a new trick she has which allows her to see into the ethereal plane. She sees a lot of Aguefort’s wards but also the fact that the wards are porous enough to let in ghosts because one of the professors is a ghost, though they don’t know which one. She suggests to Riz that maybe the Rogue prof is a ghost. She also sees some ghost steaks in the fridge, presumably belonging to the ghost prof (btw: steak for lunch at a high school seems wild, lol). 

At this point, Fabian notices Mazey’s dancing shoes (Badidas of course) and clocks that she’s a dancer bard. He talks to her about how he’s looking to multiclass and she hooks him up with a note to give to the dance class professor (Terpsicore Skullcleaver) that says he’s a good kid. She also tells him that Jem Peppercorn (the absolute legend who stayed in the gym eating for the whole Goldenhoard fight) graduated last year and he had the party house which means there’s an opening for a new party house. And Fabian has a very big, very fancy, very empty house. Kristen does an Insight check and gets a Nat 20 to clock that yeah, there’s a little bit of a flirty vibe going on. So of course, she uses Thaumaturgy to create tremors–a move I was extremely confused about at first blush but I think she was using to give Fabian an excuse to hold her or something. Clearly, she’s a more attentive Wingwoman than she is a Saint. 

Anyway, conversation finished, they go to the Auditorium where Jace announced Principal Grix wanted to give a speech. Grix is a gold, warforged spellcaster with a ball comprising his lower half instead of legs. Apparently, he was created by Arthur Aguefort to take his place while he’s on vacay. He speaks in a stilted, robotic manner and gives a speech parallel to Aguefort’s day one speech about what an Adventurer is. But instead of the rambly, unhinged answer Aguefort gave, he simply gives the Dictionary definition: One who goes on adventures. And then he starts going off about order, bureaucracy, and rules. 

The Bad Kids are taken aback–even rules gremlin Riz.On a 27 to clock whether he’s been hacked (because she can’t believe Aguefort would make a robot that acted like this) Adaine sees Grix steepling his fingers and saying “Perfect order” which isn’t conclusive but is def troubling! They start raising their hands and asking Jace questions about if they really have to follow rules in a hard way this year–it still is Aguefort after all–but Grix cuts in and says that the backtalk he’s getting is exactly the problem. He casts Time Stop (a 9th level spell) and the entire auditorium finds themselves in the hall, in a single file line, ten minutes before class is about to begin. Not a great start to the year! And on a dirty 20, Kristen doesn’t see KP anywhere. Suspicious! 

Riz tells Fabian and Gorgug about any extra MCAT stuff they don’t already know. He also tells the group about the Frosty Folk Festival and Gorgug mentions that his parents are hosting. Fig says she wants to maybe try out some of her new songs there…once she’s written them. Fabian asks if they can take a break from hardcore Bad Kid stuff this semester and Kristen says that’s a good point because she has a campaign to focus on. Fig declares herself secret service because, of course she does. She also announces her plan to go to Bard classes…but disguised as a new persona (Tiny Emo Girlie: Wanda Childa) so she can befriend and spy on Reuben. Riz and Adaine are at the end of their collective rope. 

With his free time before the bell rings, Gorgug wants to talk to Porter to sort out the MCAT stuff. Porter lays it out for him. He thinks Gorgug has amazing, raw, natural talent and he uses his rage in a really noble way to protect his friends. But he hasn't seen him reach his full destructive potential and he’s not impressed that he defeated the Night Yorb will tools and “magic” instead of rage. He would be fine if Gorgug wanted to get some Fighter levels with Ms. Jones or something else that would dovetail nicely with Barb classes, but as of now, he hasn’t seen what he needs to see to think that Artificing classes would do anything but steal focus. Gorgug can of course quit the Barb track and move to Artificing, but Porter is not giving his approval. 

Meanwhile, Fabian is having a much less hostile meeting with Terpsicore (after an accidental detour to Adaine’s wizard class because he trusted Fig–who’s never been to bard class–to give him directions). Terps is this tiny (5 ft 3in) Half-Orc with crazy, hyper positive, aerobics grandma energy who immediately breaks down Fabian’s cool guy jock persona and gets him into a dance, jam sesh with her that moves through different styles of dance and music. I can’t do this scene justice, you have to watch it. Her “Uh-oh, uh-oh! Uh-oh, uh-oh! A challenger approaches!” tells you everything you need to know about her. 

By the end of the dance, Fabian has fully embraced his weird art kid energy and Terps has approved Fabian for multiclassing. It’s looking like all sunshine and roses for Fabian until Terps tells him that if he’s gonna make this multiclass thing work, he needs to be really serious. Lots of rest. Lots of healthy food. And no parties. Uh-oh indeed. 

Next up, we turn our attention back to Riz who’s still in the hall and tries to steal the envelope KP turned in to Jawbone to get some info about the Rogue prof. Jawbone catches him and is good natured about it but won’t let him have the envelope: not for moral reasons so much as because a good rogue has to earn it by not getting caught. 

Riz asks about KP and Jawbone says she’s a good kid but kinda Type A. He asks Riz if he’s getting some “I’m in the picture and I don’t like it” energy from her and Riz denies it. Jawbone decides to give him a little bit of a hint re: the Prof and says that KP technically didn’t find the prof. The prof found KP. But he won’t say more and he would appreciate him not saying where he got the info. The main reason he’s giving the info at all is because KP was snooping and heard him talking about Kristen’s god dying. She then asked Jawbone a bunch of questions about Kristen which he answered so he figured fair’s fair with regard to giving Riz some info about her. Riz is troubled. Jawbone tells Riz that they’re due for a heart to heart but Riz says he’s good and he’s stressed but stress is good. Yikes!

Kristen is also still in the hall and finally properly signs up for class president but, as she does, she hears some familiar voices: it’s her parents, dropping her younger brother Bucky off for his first day at Aguefort. She has serious deja vu as they’re saying the same “Don’t mix with the weirdos” stuff they said to her on her first day. Kristen fails a Wisdom save and is deeply affected by watching her parents basically bullying her younger brother who she hasn’t seen in a good bit now. The last time she had any contact with them it was just to give them her dragon gold and that was over the phone.  She sees that her not being in the household to shield her brothers from her parents has led to them having to take all that parental abuse and pressure alone. She goes over to confront them feeling hot under the collar and Riz senses a crackle of something in her aura. 

Cass chimes in, thinking she’s been summoned, and asks if it’s a good time for them to talk and Kristen snaps at her that OBVIOUSLY it’s not a good time. Kristen feels a spasm in her body and, for the first time, Cass snaps back at her: "Fine! I can make my own people to talk to!“ Deeply concerning, but we’ll come back to that. For now, we follow Kristen as she reaches her parents and brother. Bucky immediately goes in for the hug and seems very happy to see her. Her parents, not so much and the feeling is mutual. “Second time’s the charm, hopefully” they say, tacitly deeming her a failure. She pretends to be directing traffic so she can hustle them out the door ASAP and gets a Nat 20 to do so (rolling with advantage for reasons Brennan doesn’t expound on). Bucky says he wants to talk to Kristen about something but he’s late so can they meet up after class? She says sure thing and he runs off, his longsword trailing after him. 

Kristen is left alone with her parents and it’s a bit of a standoff. Her mom asks how she’s going and seems to genuinely want to know to some degree but it’s still mainly jabs about her lifestyle and choices and leaving the church. Her dad especially comes down hard on her for leaving Helio without a chosen one and becoming a cleric to a night goddess right before they were struck with four months of night which, admittedly, is a fair thing to have questions about. But Kristen has died and come back from the dead. If that can’t keep her down, her parents certainly can’t. She pirouettes away from the conversation and heads to class (because she may not be worried about her parents but she is worried about what Cass said to her). 

We hop over to the second nerd of the party, Adaine, who’s in wizard classes with Professor Tiberia Runestaff who Brennan says has “Evil Lucille Bluth” energy (which is different from regular Lucille Bluth how?). She’s a friend of Aguefort’s from the Mountains of Chaos and Adaine wants to impress her so so bad. 

She starts off her lesson by saying that this year is the weed out year. This is the year that separates the paltry magicians from the truly great casters. Then, she starts listing out the materials they need for this week’s castings–a list that includes TEN BARRELS OF DIAMONDS. For ONE WEEK. Adaine may come from money but she doesn’t have access to any of that money right now. She raises her hand to ask if there’s any way she could borrow some diamonds from the school or something and basically gets a harsh, “That sounds like a you problem” kind of response that she shrinks back from. Tiberia continues to list the ridiculously expensive materials needed to continue on and Adaine knows that she can’t ask Jawbone for any of this. She resolves to call Aelwyn for help during lunch. 

We then move on to a Fantasy High first: Fig going to class! Although she’s not going as herself. She’s disguised as her alter ego Wanda Childa. The professor (Lucilla Lullaby who is some kind of chill Eladrin) seems to perhaps think she recognizes her before she sits down next to Reuben. She charms him by smelling of peach schnapps and cigarettes and they have a flirty emo-off before Lucilla points out that she’s 100% not on the roster and, despite the fact that it doesn’t always seem like it, this is a school with rules. This year especially! She leaves, but as she lingers to give Reuben one last look (and sniff) she notices that he has a Ratgrinder tattoo that matches KP’s pin. 

As she exits Lucilla is making a call on her crystal and there’s a good chance it’s connected to the encounter Fig has when she gets to the hall. Jace Stardiamond is leading an eagle aarakocra Council of Chosen agent (think FBI) who is investigating truancy in the area and calls Fig by name–well by pseudonym anyway. He is incidentally also looking into the disappearance of Hilda Hilda. Sensing her chickens are finally coming home to roost, Fig gives a weak lie about not knowing how schools work and skateboards away, using Cutting Words to prevent Agent Clark’s attack of opportunity on her. He vows to find out who she is as she makes her escape. 

Proving you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it go to bard class, Fig goes outside to spy on her class through the window instead of attending because she thought Lucilla actually seemed pretty cool. She doesn’t hide well enough though and Lucilla spots her through the window. She’s shocked to see Fig for the first time in two years and welcomes her in like she’s the prodigal son. Fig asks if it would be weird for her to attend. Lucilla assures her that it’s the opposite of weird and, in fact, mandatory. 

She settles in for her first day of bard class–this semester and ever–but out of the corner of her eye, she notices a sneering Rebuen texting someone. It’s Lola Embers. Looks like they’re signed to the same label. 

Finally, we hop to Kristen who’s headed to cleric class with Professor Yolanda Badgood (a wispy air genasi). Before class even starts she tells Kristen to meet her after class. We timeskip to that meeting and, like many others in this ep, she thanks Kristen for saving the world. But she has a followup question: How did she do it when her god is dead? Kristen says she has a lot going on with her estranged parents she just saw and her scattered mind and her feeling like the stairs are disappearing behind her as she climbs. She has to update her god in the files and her address for that matter because, as we learned when she talked to her parents, all her mail is still getting sent to her old address. Her professor sincerely asks her how she’s feeling and Kristen says she’s fine but asks if there’s some kind of test she can take that will tell her what god is right for her. Her professor is like, “Didn’t you just say you had a new god???” But Kristen feels so much pressure with Cass and she mainly feels annoyed by her presence. Professor Badgood says that she’s allowed to change her god as much as she wants–she herself gave up an active relationship with a divinity so she can be kind of an interfaith minister to all her students. And she says that all faiths are trying to capture a piece of the truth–even the out there ones with evil gods and such. She recommends that Kristen spend a week earnestly trying to connect with Cass and if she still feels like she wants to split she can go from there. 

Kristen has a followup question: What do you do when your god says, "Fine, I'll- I'll make new followers"? Badgood seems taken aback, and she’s even more so when Kristen says she’s been rude to her god. Kristen asks if she should apologize and Professor Badgood gives her the most gracious version of, “Duh, obviously” a person can manage. She directs Kristen to one of the million prayer rooms in the class so she and Cass can talk. 

Kristen actually takes this seriously–or at least more seriously than she takes most things. She clears her mind and meditates until she finds herself in the forest of Sylvaire where Cassandra is crying to herself. A bright moon that would erase any shadow or doubt encroaches. When Kristen tries to touch Cass’s shoulder, the god flinches away and sobs that Craig–her only other follower–has joined the Wolfsong Revival. Tracker’s movement.   

Cass is scared. She doesn’t want to end up dead in the Astral Realm like Yes? Kristen apologizes and says that she understands that she’s getting to point where chaos isn’t cute anymore. She follows that up by saying that her top two priorities are Cass and her student president campaign however so I don’t know how committed she is to being serious. Cass isn’t either because she flat out states that she can’t rely on Kristen. She’s so so lonely and she’s confused about why things aren’t working out. They started out so big and magical and they’re still so stuck. She thought it might be because of her somehow but then she learned about the trail of abandoned gods in Kristen’s wake and realized that *she* was the connecting factor, something that Kristen cops to verbally: “It’s me,” she says. 

Cass announces that she’s getting some help and Kristen asks who. A cleric? Nope. No clerics for now. She just wanted a friend. Kristen sees her petting something invisible and asks if it’s a dog. 

“I’m more of a cat person,” Cass says as a black cat fades into view. 

“Hi Kristen,” Kalina says. 

And that’s where we end our ep!!!! The bitch is back!!!!

Honor Roll

Riz for Thinking Of All His Friends

In Sophomore Year there was a thing with Riz’s dad where it was like, sometimes you show your love through work and, viewed through that lens, Riz *really* loves his friends. I recognize that the likelihood of his meticulous plan actually working is slim to none and he’ll have to accept that even if they all stay really close friends (which they better), they’re likely on at least slightly different life paths, I do think it’s really sweet that he’s putting so much effort into making sure that ALL of his friends are successful by the metric that he’s using. Also, the “Hi Adaine :)” binder for her was so cute. I love nerd friendship. 

Detention 

Fig for Hilda-Hilda-ing Too Close to the Sun

Girl the Fantasy FBI is after you!!! Just stop lying and go to class!!!!!

Random Thoughts

In the AP for this ep, Emily mentioned some cool warlock thing that might be worth taking the MCAT for and officially registering (she’s currently off the books multiclassing) but it’s never mentioned in the actual episode so I assume it got snipped away in editing. 

I really love how polite Adaine is to anyone who hasn’t earned her scorn and the little moment of her taking a reasonable amount of food from the trashbag Lydia offered her and thanking her was very endearing to me. 

Zac is very quick on his feet and Chloe is a GREAT save for Cloaca but it is ABSOLUTELY not gonna be what anyone calls that bird but me and him. 

When Jace said over the intercom that Sorc classes are just talking about how fun and easy magic is, I’m surprised Adaine have anything snarky to say about that, lol. *I* had a comment and I don’t even go to that school. 

Is anyone else getting like…Santa Clause 2 energy from the Grix situation? If that ends up being the vibe then that’s super funny because iirc Santa Clause 1 was ref’d a bunch with the oracle stuff in Freshman Year. Full circle baybee. 

KP seems like she is springing into existence to fill the voice left by Penny Luckstone getting her GED and leaving. They’re like on the exact same level of one axis of a cartesian plane but on opposite sides. Both at 100% intensity but vibes in opposite directions.  

I kinda wanna add a poll to this post that’s like, what is the crazier story? Mermaid reproduction with the Thistlesprings or snapping turtle man with gun up his secret cloaca story with Jawbone?

Honorary Honor Roll to Ally the person for the legendary 4 dogs joke. Honestly even funnier knowing that that’s the actual name of Brennan’s old PC. Burned the man to his face. Roasted him like corn. 

OK, so what are we thinking about the Ratgrinders? Is that a ref to grinding rats for XP or more how they see other people/what they’re going to do to people who get in their way? KP is obviously very rules focused but in a Lawful Annoying way. I do think it’s interesting though. Have any of you guys ever seen the Community episode where it turns out everyone at Greendale hates the gang because they have major main character syndrome and are always forcing everyone else at school to accommodate their flights of fancy (a perfectly reasonable reason to have beef with people)? I’m wondering if there’s a bit of that energy happening here. Either way, this strikes me as a party that’s interested in exploiting loopholes and such for maximum efficiency (eg: finding the rogue prof for instant straight A’s) and that’s a different kind of maverick behavior than what the Bad Kids do which is go buckwild, breaking rules if necessary, but getting real results. It’s like the BK’s are Aguefort’s perfect party and I’m suspecting the RG’s are Grix’s. Speaking of–

A FH concept I had ages ago was rival adventuring party to the main group which has like, bizarro versions of everyone. And we may be getting that! We have an emo bard to contrast Fig’s punk rocker energy. And a rules follower (derogatory) rogue to contrast Riz who is also a rules follower (blessed). Very curious to see the rest of their party! And very curious to know if they’re Bad (™) or just annoying in a high school way. Sometimes people just don’t vibe with you. 

Oh, a specific concern that I have: KP specifically asked where Kristen was able to create a god. I don’t think that’s info I want a super type A person I don’t trust to have. 

Very sweet that Jawbone’s immediate instinct when he thinks an earthquake is happening is to bodily shield Fig and Adaine, his two kind daughter-figures in the Bad Kids. 

Kristen says that Cass is a hard sell but I have to disagree. Look at this flyer. It looks convincing to me!

“I think songs can accomplish a lot, if you let yourself hear the music.” Gorgug :( He’s gonna show Porter this season. I just know it. I believe in you Spring Break! 

Love Murph throwing in the Frosty Folk thing apropos of basically nothing just to make sure they had an in-character reason to all know about that for later, just in case. Info management! Important! 

I remember Bucky being a lot younger but either I’m confusing him for one of her other two brothers or it got retconned (or Quangled lol) older to make this storyline work. Very interesting that he went in for the hug, not the other way around. Seems like at least one person missed her. With his longsword and his parents’ inclinations, it seems like he’s most likely a Helioic Paladin. I’m very interested in how they’re going to treat his relationship with Helio because even though Kristen rejected him and we’ve seen that he has some followers that range from just shitty (K’s parents) to downright culty (the Harvestmen), that doesn’t mean that all of his followers are like that and we’ve never actually seen Helio be anything but pretty chill when he’s appeared. He wants to talk to Kristen about something and my conspiracy theory brain is wondering if he was asked to be Helio’s new chosen one but he hasn’t told anyone yet. That would be very interesting and I’d like to see a storyline about the tension of K and her brother having very different relationships with the same god. The chill peace and love god might have been a great person for him to turn to in absence of his one lifeline in the house leaving. But it could also be tons of other things so we’ll see. 

Wild that Kristen has pissed off or abandoned every member of that godly family (Sol, Helio, Galicaea, and Cass). She really is the constant here. 

Ally says Kristen is wearing an Adidas tracksuit meaning that this world canonically has both Adidas and Badidas. 

It’s a funny moment when Terps is like, “Is there harm in your life? ”to Fabian when he mentions eating food out of a trash bag but like, the kid isn’t doing *great*. Def some neglect happening and he said he was wearing yesterday’s clothes and still banged up from the Night Yorb fight. If I was a teacher, I’d have questions too! 

Yolanda Badgood. Terpsichore Skullcleaver. Lucilla Lullaby. Most of these professors are named like My Little Ponies and I love it. 

When Lucilla say “Wanda” it seems like she briefly (correctly) thought it was Fig which is funny because it paints the picture that she’s been actively waiting on pins and needles for her to show up for the past two years. It’s funny because she’s not a missing person. She’s highly visible both from saving the world and being a rockstar AND both of her dads work at your school! Just get in touch! 

Really hope Adaine follows up on the Aelwyn conversation because I wanna see two kids raised in old money discuss the price of ten barrels of diamonds. 

Also lol at random things like Fabian being the FUTURE OF DANCE being pinned on Adaine’s oracle prognostications. 

[goat-charcoop]

Welcome to the new Oceanside Wellness

*Private Practice Season 1 Episode 1*

The moment the world met Charlotte King.

Looking back now, I have loved this character from the beginning. I've read about people who hated her at first but grew to love her as the series progressed, this thankfully did not befall me. I've always loved a badass, take no prisoners, speak your mind no matter what female main character with a soft heart hiding behind all the barb, and that my friends is Charlotte King.

The way she stormed into the series, telling Sam to get out of her way. Her face when the woman yelled, "I want Ken's sperm now!" Her "That dead man's swimmers are staying exactly where they are. You got a way to fight me on that? I'd like to see you try." Yes, queen! Her little smirk after she insults Sam's book, absolute Charlotte King at it's core and I am in love with it.

That lawyer also does not love his life. Raising his finger at Charlotte King, you are a brave soul, my dude.

Cooper is such a kid at heart. And I kind of love it, most of the time. That 'I'm just a baby' trend from a while back comes to mind when he acts all goofy.

After my rewatch he is now called Handsome Cooper, lol because when he greets Addison again he asks if she remembers him and says, handsome in such a wholesome 'how could you not, I'm a hottie' way and it kills me. Then him clutching Violet's stuff in the mall, him messing around with the fishing rod, such a boy *insert heart eyes* It also helps that everytime he's great with a kid on-screen I find him a little hotter than before.

Some other fave moments from this ep:

1. "That's a loud deposit." - Sam Bennett said something hilarious, who fucking knew.

2. I still like Pete this season, he also looks hot. Conceited but hot. Thinking Addison came back because of the kiss though, I mean, man bring down the ego a notch or three.

3. Where did Sam's dog go?

4. This interaction:

'How you doing there, Pete? ' -Addison

"Kicking ass and taking names. You? " Pete

"Ass kicking and name taking are on my resume." Addison (Fucking badass!) Also Addison last monologue, brilliant!

5. Eating a whole cake on the floor with your best friend, goals.

6. "Oh my god, when did my knees turn 80?" - Violet (feel you girl)

7. Midwiffery, is that even a word. 😂😂 I remember them joking about it on some interview too, hilarious.

Honourable mention:

The woman who played Violet's first patient did an absolutely phenomenal job, especially in her last scene. So heartbreaking.

And now the rambling is over, if you read all this I commend you.

Much love.

[tableintheteacherslounge]

Abbott elementary 03x14 thoughts

Still in denial this season’s over 💔

past ava?! HEY GIRL

“Damn I wouldn’t lie to me” she’s so ava

Barb with the graduating kindergarteners sooo cute 🤏🏻

Ok but IS greg wearing a tshirt or sweatshirt

“MEL??” Janineee?!? Ooh she’s not playing

Ofc the workwives show up together and I love that they did

JANINE MOCKING THEM IJBOL SOO HARD GIVE QUINTA ANOTHER EMMY IMMEDIATELY

Erika’s so cool and hot omg i love her

The work moms are SO moms tonight i loveee it - i could too easily delve into the development of them not caring about janine to this, but i’ll save that for another day

Mr J as a bouncer is perfecttttt

Zach 🥹 omg i missed him

THEY SHOULDVE KISSED RIGHT THERE (or so I thought at the time 🤭)

Bc then the actual kiss?!?? I LOST MY MARBLES! Best? Sitcom? Kiss? Ever???? Hot DAMN

Ok thats all i wrote down while watching

Thoughts after the fact:

Janine trying to set up the perfect party w sections she’s such a dork i love her

But also shes hot and cool and self assured and this is such development from s1 - and I guess why she had to go to the district, to get that self assurance

I LOVE SEA BARBARA

The work wives were work wiving so hard this ep it always just makes me so happy

They should’ve kissed too

Mr johnson’s advice was so important, i cant wait for him to walk janine down the aisle one day

But also him asking if janine killed someone absolutely sent me

I really really loved this ep

A perfect finale

After a lot of the season didnt feel quite right / like the characters were themselves, I’m so glad the last 2 eps have felt back to proper abbott

So excited for what this means for teddie in s4

AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT THAT KISS AGAIN BC HOT DAYUMM

[ageless-aislynn]

Aislynn's Rumble Jumble of Random Thinky Thoughts on Halo s2 ep 5 "Aleria."

Spoilers, natch. 😉

I was holding out a little bit of hope, especially given that Riz went back for Vannak, that we were going to get some sort of last minute reprieve to save the big fellow. Sadly, no. 😭

John's guilt that Riz went back for Vannak's body because he had been pushing her so hard was understandable but I don't believe that was the whole story, if it was even a part of it at all. I think she went back for him because because he was one of them and they don't leave one of their own behind. More than that, she went back for him because she loves him. Call it the love for a brother, for a comrade, a friend who has been at her side since they were children, she loved him. Of course, you're also welcome to call it romantic as well, you know how I support my fellow shippers 117% at all times 😇 (she says, as if she hasn't totally written Vannak/Riz shippy fic 😂😉)

Poor John, of all the trauma he's been through, this has been by far the worst of it all: he's been abandoned by the UNSC, he's lost his armor, he's lost his identity as Master Chief, he's lost Reach, has lost Cortana, lost Admiral Keyes, lost Kai, lost Vannak and then now Riz. That moment when he tells her she's all he has left just about broke my heart. When she hugged him, he did a brilliant job, IMO, of showing how for a moment, he just wanted to close his eyes and collapse onto her, then pride makes him withdraw and try to pull a facade together like it doesn't matter. *sniffle*

I obviously hope this isn't the last we see of Riz but, at the same time, I'm happy for her. She deserves some peace after the terrifying amount of physical and emotional violence she's been through. Just seeing her smiling at the end made my heart feel a little better. Love you, Riz. I hope we see you again having a great life, bb, you deserve it. 💖

Okay, so I was NOT expecting Laera to go all Negan with a barbed wire bat. 😮 But was it satisfying to watch the quiet menace growing larger and larger, while that shopkeeper dude clearly realized that he would've been better off taking a beating from Soren? Yes, that was very satisfying, indeed, lol! And why I wasn't expecting the UNSC to have taken Kessler is beyond me because of COURSE they know about him (Halsey called him by name, after all) and of COURSE they're going to want a son of a Spartan. Will any of Soren's enhancements have been passed down genetically? Will Kessler be more likely to survive the process if they put him through it? Will they not even have to put him through it at all? I would imagine they have a lot of questions they'd like answered. And Laera and her bat would be very happy to answer them all, I'd imagine... 🥊😠🥊😉

Now, the three most important things about the scenes with Makee, Cortana and not!Thel!Arbiter whom I shall try to now call Var 'Gatanai since that's his name:

I still don't care for Cortana's makeover. 🤷‍♀️I liked the bit of camaraderie between her and Makee, especially with Makee's line about what happens when a useful thing loses its use. I see a forced alliance in their future, if not an actual friendship.

I still keep staring at Makee's eyebrows, wondering if they're more blonde because she dyed them or is it from whatever she went through to bring her back to life after last season. Yes, this is the important thing to keep worrying about. 🙄😜

I had to struggle so hard not to loudly exclaim, "ARE YOU BLINDED BY ITS MAJESTY?" when Cortana showed Var the Halo lands Makee and John frolicked through in season 1. 😇😂😉

And fourth place runner up, I didn't get as many shippy vibes this week between Makee and Var, whom I can call by his name or by not!Thel!Arbiter but not just "the Arbiter" because I'm a card-carrying member of the Fangirls of Arbiter Thel 'Vadam Fan Club and I'm not going to risk losing my membership. 😂😉

My bb boi. *draws sparkly hearts everywhere* 💖💖💖😉

I'm of two minds about them pretty obviously giving Var the Arbiter storyline here. However, if they would've called the character Thel 'Vadam(ee) but not had him voiced by Keith David? Um, HERESY. I don't say that sort of thing often when it comes to new adaptations but, c'mon, he IS the Arbiter when it comes to voices and considering that Thel would be CGI or whatever they're using to create Var and the other Elites, it's not the same sort of prospect as I've heard other people say, that they should've dubbed Steve Downes' voice over Pablo Schreiber's. (Yes, I saw that pop up a couple of times in the earlier days.) I mean, clearly Steve Downes IS Master Chief when it comes to the games but dubbing a live action actor is never going to look smooth, IMO.

Anyway, I think this means we won't be meeting Thel in this series, since his storyline is currently going along without him. 🤷‍♀️

Now to see what's in store for us next week. I am both looking forward to and dreading Kai and John's inevitable reunion. He's going to feel utterly betrayed, I'd think, and as I've said before, if she's not utterly devastated by Vannak's death and feeling guilty over not being there when Silver Team needed her... I'm going to have to super-duper fix that with fic. *nodnods* 😜😉

PS - Am I writing something utterly fluffy for Vannak right now? OF COURSE I am! C'mon, Vannak, jump in the AU Party Warthog, where you'll always be safe and happy!

[silverskull]

The Rookie 518 specumalation...

SO. MANY. THOUGHTS.

UC Chenford is like, my absolute favourite thing, and seeing Jake and Sava again…. Urgh, it’s bringing back all the memories of last summer (the good parts, obvs - the theories and the creativity and the craziness…)

I don’t usually like to speculate on episodes - I just like to let them happen. No point getting bogged down or upset if things don’t happen the way you’d like, and as a community, we can often get caught up in little details that just make us mad at one another 🤯.

THAT SAID, I have no problem doing *fun guessing*, or wondering how certain teasers connect. And since we have a hiatus and this is my favourite subject, let’s go down the rabbit hole…

I actually originally thought they may have taken the clips of Lucy’s interview in the station from last year’s Real Crime ep, but I checked and they did not (different lighting and angles). This is a part where I’m not majorly interested in guessing, but perhaps they do not interview Tim at the start, to keep up the fear factor, so Lucy is interviewed on her own. Followed by her and Tim interviewed at her apartment when it’s revealed he’s not dead. Or perhaps he’s there beside her and it’s just cropped. Not a spec to worry about either way.

Who the redhead is with Tim and Aaron, or why there’s a puff of smoke, I have no idea. But Tim looks good.

NOW.

This is where it gets interesting.

I think Jake gets out of jail (see barbed wire and “this is a high security” sign), and that the lovely image we’re all fainting over is actually really Jake and Sava, not UC Tim and Lucy, or any version of Dim and Juicy. I’m interested to see if Jake has lost weight too, or if his fling with the waitress in Vegas is brought up…

There are a few possibilities here, but I think, basically, there’s an issue between Jake and the guy we see him beating up in the alley. I can’t tell if Jake is really dead, or if the death is a setup by LAPD (if it’s a setup, I want happy Jake and Sava in the sunset afterwards 🌇). It could be some kind of triple cross con, where they pretend they think Tim is dead, but it turns out to be fake Jake. Meanwhile, real Jake is safe somewhere and he meets Sava at the end. 

Anyway, he’s probably really dead (which is very, very sad 😭) and the story we’re left with is Lucy going UC as Sava to figure it out. Meanwhile, real Sava is bopping around on her own, devastated by the death of her OTL. (‘Bopping’ and ‘devastated’ should not be used to describe the same moment of time for a character, but here we are. 🤷‍♀️) I think Lopez and Harper take her into the station to tell her about Jake’s death and, maybe, put her into protection for Lucy to go UC.

I think Sava on the bench meeting Beard Guy is actually Lucy, and I can’t be fully sure if Beard Guy is also Alleyway Guy. Possibly. But surely there are more characters involved.

The spoken lines are cut up all over the place. Listen with good speakers, don’t watch the picture, and you’ll hear it. I’m not fully convinced that just because “Tim just disappeared” sounds slightly English means it’s Sava. When Lopez and Harper meet (probably) Sava in the beginning, she doesn’t have an English accent there. 

Because of that, I have no inkling whether that’s Lucy or Sava. The only thing is, at the porch, she has her phone out, and the Lucy in the car crash does too. That’s obviously to facilitate the footage for the documentary, but I’m feeling slightly more like it might be Sava because of that.

I don’t know at what point the car crash fits into anything. I can’t tell if it’s Lucy or Sava, and the clothes and hair don’t match any of the other images we have of her. I think something hits her from behind while she’s on a video call, and I think she might be in the front passenger’s seat, but that’s all I can tell from that.

OKAY OKAY, NOW.

The most interesting bit! (According to me!)

What the hell is that massive house?!

There’s no way it’s Jake and Sava’s, so it might be something to do with Alleyway/Beard Guy (slash Jake’s murderer?!). It’s unlikely to be connected to the redhead lady scene, because Tim no longer has his vest on, and the neighbourhood looks entirely different. Either way, Tim and Sava/Lucy are not alone in there.

When Tim finds the secret door, someone is filming (perhaps Aaron’s bodycam/Sava’s phone?) and a third person appears in front of Tim - you get a split second of their hand. So it’s not like he’s hanging out alone, babysitting a grieving Sava, however interesting that might be.

My (second!) favourite thing from this promo was something I missed entirely on every other viewing, until I took the screencaps for this essay. THERE’S A HIDDEN ROOM FULL OF TREASURE. Or something. Probably something more boring, like notes, or art, or a dead body.

Maybe Jake was involved in some sort of heist for this stuff, got killed, LAPD got involved, Lucy goes UC as Sava, while Sava helps out on the LAPD side. Something goes wrong for Lucy (car crash?) and the team have to follow their own leads. Sava gives them this house address and they find the secret passage, but Tim falls through some sort of trap door. He may find the secret room on his own, or maybe they find it together.

Add to all this that set decorator and gentle spoiler man, William DeBiasio hinted that one or other of Chenford are in danger in this episode (just trust me - the tweet tree is too big to repost at this stage!), and the remaining one is worried about them. Because we hear “Tim just disappeared”, and because nothing bad has happened to him so far in the series, I’ve been assuming that the bad thing would happen to him. But really, it would make more sense if it happened to Lucy (back to the car crash/UC issue).

And then it would be Tim taking care of Lucy at her apartment. And since we see the cameras when Sava arrives at the station, Lucy's uniformed interview could be before the op takes place, while the interview at her apartment is afterwards.

Eric Winter was also asked in a cameo message why Lucy would do a documentary about UC, and thus broadcast her face to any potential criminals. He said “it’s all explained” in the episode.

Myself, I have a constant little racket in my head that reminds me “light drama, light drama, light drama”. The Rookie is not a very serious show, and we let a lot of inconsistencies slide. I’ve been letting the True Crime episodes exist outside reality, and just don’t think very deeply about how they affect the ongoing plot. I also love the True Crime episodes, and I cannot understand why people don’t! (You are completely allowed to not like them, I’m just letting you know where I stand!)

So with Eric saying Lucy talking in public about UC is “explained”, I’m wondering if something happens… like she gives up on UC? I’ve not been one of the people who thinks she dislikes it. I never got that feeling from her character. But maybe something in this episode changes her mind; or maybe I’ve been misreading her feelings.

Then again, it may be as simple as - someone uploaded her picture online (at the crash, or somewhere else public). Or Sava was broadcasting the whole thing (and that’s why we keep seeing her on her phone). So Lucy’s face (as Sava) is already out there, and it doesn’t matter in the context of this documentary.

--ETA-- Jake's clothes in the sunset gif are, I think, exactly what he was wearing when Tim and Lucy arrested him, giving more credence to the Jake & Sava theory.

--end ETA-- ANYWAY.

As you may be able to tell by now, I am super, super, SUPER excited about this ep. Some of my favourite bits of everything are going to be in it, and the only cherry that could make it even better would be some form of Chenford kiss. Imagine, less than one season on from 422, and I’m feeling deprived that we haven’t had a kiss in the last few episodes (goddamn that bug the actors got after 512……)

Now that I’ve typed this thesis, watch someone drop a new promo/spoiler that completely negates the entire thing.

WOOHOO, FANGIRLING.

[idontknowijuststartedsomething]

All I’m gonna say

-blitz had a choice between making money and not fucking with his sister. He chose the money, not even trying to say to her that they need money or seeming conflicted about his choice in anyway. Choices reveal character, and even thou they didn’t technically kill the guy, that’s still what he was gonna do and what he was trying to do. Him turning around a second later and saying let me help you lets have dinner makes him look so stupid like dude you choose money and finishing the job over not messing up your sisters current thing. You can’t have it both ways dude. If they try to throw a blitz pity party about this just no. But it didn’t even seem like he cared about what happened with him and Barbie in the last scene of the ep he just wanted to make fun of moxie in his normal way seeming unaffected by what just happened

-not just this episode, but overall the editing in this show is not good, both within a scene and scene to scene edits. When they bust in the door then it cuts to Millie making a face for five seconds and then back in the cabin like what. I get your trying to set up Millies performance and the song but it could have been conveyed and edited so much better

-I liked barbs design, but I wish I knew anything about her character. Like all I know is she’s trying to get a job/has a job and that something happened with her and blitz and that she’ll manipulate teenagers(bro why didn’t you just make him older(I know viv said he’s like 18/19) or why didn’t she just say humans are easy to manipulate.

-moxxies like we have a job to do bro you got sidetracked too and didn’t want to look into the guy who obviously did it.

-the captions during the banjo solo were actually pretty funny and clever. I also like they guy getting turned into a skeleton bit during the end concert.” first aid is for winners” was funny too

-I liked the design of the news anchor and the client guy

TLDR-I don’t feel bad for blitz this episode, he made his choice and then acted like he didn’t. The editing in this whole show makes me mad. I wish this episode let us know more about who barb is. Moxxie was acting like an asshole which felt off. Some good designs and some funny jokes.

[iamforbyler]

mileven and stancy parallels to show mileven is bones:

1. barb (nancys best friend) dying in steve’s pool by the demogorgan while nancy and steve are having their “big romantic moment”

max (els best friend) dying bc of venca while mike and el are having their “big romantic moment”

2. nancy not being able to say ily

mike not being able to say ily

3. nancy having drink being thrown on her and then having an argument with steve in the bathroom/ next day

el having milkshake being thrown on her and then the next day mike and el and have an argument

4. mike changing as soon as he’s with el - not playing dnd, ignoring his friends

nancy changing now she’s dating steve - said by mike (?) first ep of s1 (i can’t exactly remember what was said so i’ll have to check it)

5. steve and nancys first scene together in s1 is them kissing.

mike and els first scene together in s3 is them kissing (this also parallels with joyce and bob in s2, another couple that doesn’t last (rip bob)

6. stancy not having that much screen time together and never teaming up as nancy is always teamed up with jonathan

el and mike not having much screen time together and never teaming up as mike is always teamed up with will

7. steve and dustin becoming friends after he broke up with nancy

el becoming friends with max after she broke up with mike

[simslegacy5083]

NSB (Straud Legacy) Gen 9 Ep 62: Let's Make A Deal

After his weird and wonderful date with Amaya, Luigi was in a great mood, but not so great that he wanted to talk with troublesome Jade.

He did take her call, just in case it was team related. He should have known better. She wanted to see him “about their relationship”. He knew he should just hang up, but some unseen force compelled him to accept her invitation to a venue near her home.

Maybe in person he could convince her to give up on having another affair with him, without damaging their working relationship as teammates.

---------------------------------------------

Jade’s rendezvous was a party room he’d visited a couple times with his dads when he was small. Hoping to set a classy tone for the conversation, Luigi stepped behind the bar and prepared them a couple old fashioned “cherry cordial” cocktails.

He served her with a smile and sat down, starting with: “Look, you’re a friend, and you know I’ve got your back, but I’m just not comfortable sneaking around like this.” Her drink sat untouched as she poured out a torrent of justifications in response.

“PSHH, what Brice doesn’t know can’t hurt him. I’m the one suffering because he’s clueless in and out of the bedroom. It’s not like he owns me, so I don’t see why I can’t arrange for a little something special on the side. And you are y’know, that night with you was sooo special! I can see why that gearhead Noemi keeps you on the hook. That’s all I’m asking for, the same quiet deal she’s got, my needs filled up without my marriage broken up.”

---------------------------------------------

Luigi held up his hands then, telling her “what I have with the WIDOW Noemi is was nothing like what you’re proposing”.

He agreed that night with her had been amazing, and he’d thought the world of her, but that was before he'd known about her relationship with Brice.

He wasn’t going to get involved with a sim who was married to someone else unless all parties were onboard. He had principles and he wouldn’t compromise them for her or anyone. He hoped she could understand.

---------------------------------------------

“Oh, I understand all right!” A furious Jade jumped to her feet. “You’ve clearly chosen your dumb robotics cow.”

She stomped away, whirling around to throw one last barb before she slammed the door: “You picked the wrong gal, just like you always pick the wrong scuffle lane, and I’m through bailing you out when you do. Good luck going pro without me to carry you!”

As soon as he heard the door close Luigi let loose, releasing his frustration in a string of forbidden words. This was EXACTLY the outcome he’d been hoping to avoid! If he could turn back time, he would never have gotten involved with a teammate, but now he’d just have to deal with the consequences of his actions and never make the same mistake again.

---------------------------------------------

View The Full Story of My Not So Berry Challenge Here

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

I have the Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down: The Official Behind-the-Scenes Companion book, I got it in 2018, so here are some fun facts from it

In the party’s dnd charts it says Will’s class is “magic-user” 👀👀 and one of his abilities is “true sight” 👀👀

The first scene written and the first scene filmed are both the dnd game at s1 ep1

Mike supposedly has rainbow blinds in his room (as a reference to E.T since Elliot also has rainbow blinds)

When El throws Lucas against a wall, that was Caleb, not a body double. Apparently he was excited to film without a double and asked for it (he was thrown against a mattress). Called said he had so much fun.

During the scene where El sends the van flying, the duffers said than when they first tried it (without filming) it all went as it was supposed to, it flew the right directions. The first time they filmed, tho, the van fell on top of one of their cameras and destroyed it.

Steve is in his last year of high school (as opposed to Nancy, who is in her second, or Jonathan who is in his first)

Steve plays basketball and baseball. He was supposed to be an asshole and die the first season, but Joe Keery came and gave a bit more depth to Steve’s character.

243 people auditioned to play El

Some of El’s powers include biokinesis, teleportation, and psychometry

Hopper fought in Vietnam 

At first the upside down wasn’t supposed to appear on screen at any moment. We would have heard what happened over walkie talkies or radios.

A demodog is just a teen demogorgon (I think this was explained at the show, but I have seen people say they are different creatures)

Jonathan does cycling, is in the school newspaper, and the photography club

Caleb is very good crying on command

Mike’s bike is the newest because his family has the most money, Dustin begun painting his bike but hasn’t finished it yet, and Lucas has a fluorescent saddle

At first they weren’t allowed to use ghostbusters costumes but they talked to Ivan Reitman and eventually got green light 

Dart was supposed to appear in the first season but they didn’t have enough time

The upside down was originally called the underworld 

Nancy and Jonathan (their relationship) are inspired by David and Jennifer from WarGames (1983). Also by Willie Scott and doctor Jones from Indiana Jones

Bob was supposed to die on ep 4 instead of ep 8

For the scene with Will and Morse code (when he’s tied to a chair) the duffers just told Noah to watch a YouTube video on Morse code the day before 

Talking about Noah, after being possessed and convulsing to the point everyone was amazed with his acting, the moment they stop filming he just gets up and asks for a cup of tea like nothing happened

For the upside down spores they actually used dandelions 

Hopper is repeatedly described as a cowboy lmao

In s1 when the boys dress El up in a wig and a dress and Mike does her makeup, they are dressing her up in their vision of what a girl is

Finn said than it was only halfway through the second episode than Mike realized than El is a real girl, a real person, and not E.T.

The duffers were inspired by the breakfast club for the making of Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve’s characters!!

Nancy played volleyball, was in the cheerleader team (?!?!?!), was in the French club, volunteered at church and did social volunteering, and did a writing workshop

Barb played softball, the clarinet, was part of the Mathematical Olympiads, volunteered at the library, and was a babysitter.

[melancholydreamers]

Are there any modern or old songs that you wish Santana and Brittany had covered individually or as a duet?

Oh that’s a tough question, there just are sm good songs I think that they could do. This might be long cuz I’m gonna add parts of the lyrics that make sense :)

As a duet, I would loved to see “Lay All Your Love on Me” by Abba. If you’ve seen Mamma Mia, then the scene for that is perfect for Brittana. It’s very fun and playful

Lay All Your Love on Me :

“I wasn't jealous before we met

Now every woman I see is a potential threat

And I'm possessive, it isn't nice

You've heard me saying that smoking was my only vice”

…

“It was like shooting a sitting duck

A little small talk, a smile, and baby I was stuck”

There are also tons of Taylor Swift songs for them “Invisible String” and “Paper Rings” especially

Invisible String :

“Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire

Chains around my demons, wool to brave the seasons

One single thread of gold tied me to you”

Paper rings :

“I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings

Uh huh, that's right

You're the one I want

I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this

Uh huh

Darling, you're the one I want”

I would have loved to see Britney do “Circus” and “Seek Amy” by Britney Spears. She definitely should’ve gotten more solos after britney/brittany or most of the songs in that ep.

Circus :

“I feel the adrenaline moving through my veins

Spotlight on me and I'm ready to break

I'm like a performer, the dance floor is my stage

Better be ready, hope that you feel the same”

Seek Amy :

“Love me, hate me, say what you want about me

But all of the boys and all of the girls are begging to if you seek Amy” (it’s supposed to sound like F U C K me lol)

I could also see Britt singing “I Think I’m in Love with You” by Jessica Simpson. She has a similar vibe to younger Britney Spears, so it’ll work well with Britt.

I Think I’m in Love with You :

“ Boy (girl) I think that I'm in love with you

I've been doin' silly things when it comes to you

I think I'm in love

Boy (girl) I think I'm in love with you

I've been tellin' all my friends what I feel for you”

And last for Britt, a duet w/ Blaine. ME! By Taylor Swift ft. Brendon Urie. They literally both have the same sound and vibe as Taylor and Brendon. It’s perfect.

ME! :

“But one of these things is not like the others

Like a rainbow with all of the colors

Baby doll, when it comes to a lover

I promise that you'll never find another like Me”

For Santana, I feel like she would sound good singing anything, so it was difficult to chose the right ones. I love her ballads/ more slower songs, like “Landslide” and “Songbird” by Fleetwood Mac. So I think she would sound good singing “Has Anyone Written Anything for You” by Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac). She would ofc sing this to Britt.

Has Anyone Written Anything for You :

“Has anyone ever written anything for you?

And in your darkest sorrow

Did you ever hear me sing?

Listen to me now

You know I'd rather be alone

Than be without you

Don't you know?”

I can see her singing “Gorgeous” by Taylor Swift to Britt as well.

“Ocean blue eyes looking in mine

I feel like I might sink and drown and die”

…

“You're so gorgeous

I can't say anything to your face

'Cause look at your face

And I'm so furious

At you for making me feel this way

But, what can I say?

You're gorgeous”

Okay last Taylor Swift song lol, “I Know Places” (she would sing this for early s3 Brittana, before/during her coming out)

I Know Places :

“Something happens when everybody finds out”

…

“They are the hunters, we are the foxes

And we run

Baby, I know places we won't be found and

They'll be chasing their tails trying to track us down

'Cause I, I know places we can hide”

Honorable mentions, “Delicate” and “Lover”

“This ain't for the best

My reputation's never been worse, so

You must like me for me

Yeah, I want you”

And lastly, “Us” by James Bay.

“Sometimes I'm beaten

Sometimes I'm broken”

…

“Can we make it better?

'Cause I'm losing hope”

Tell me how to be in this world

Tell me how to breathe in and feel no hurt

Tell me how ‘cause I believe in something

I believe in us”

Done!! Lol sorry this was so long, but maybe give these songs a listen if you don’t already know them! And lmk what you think!!

[lokittystuckinatree]

The Romans is my favorite Classic serial so far and one of my fave eps in the whole show. Historical inaccuracy be damned

I loooooooved the Doctor here he was giving less “mad scientist” and more “eldritch trickster faerie wizard” which I think the modern Doctor has lost. I love that he can’t play the lyre that was funny in hindsight. He can play so many instruments just not that.

His moral ambiguity was chefs kiss. Almost a reverse of waters of mars. There, he went mad with power trying to meddle in order to save lives. Here, in trying to save his own ass from Nero, he indirectly and accidentally caused a major historical event and the deaths of hundreds of people. When faced with the question of responsibility, he laughed. He was also kinda framed against literal Nero the whole ep which just…good shit. Made me think of the Master for some reason. Increasingly clear that much of their falling out was caused by a slow drifting apart of morals. Master used to be more “good” but Doctor used to be more “bad.” This Doctor seems to be willing to meddle when it suits him

Ian and Barbara are extra adorable in this one, but that scene where he was chasing her around the villa accusing her of being the reason he was put in jail…then the Doctor being like “look at their youthful exuberance” when he walked in? erotic. Like “twelveclara squishy Tardis controls scene” and “James 1 and giant tentacle scene” and “the Doctor and the Master (every scene)” level of horny. Also Strangely refreshing to see a romantic subplot between two companions even though it happens relatively often. Just great to see a romance without the Doctor for once I guess.

The gradual and then jarring tone shift from comedy to something akin to classical tragedy or even horror? Peak. The way the light moments just made the horror of the situation more eerie? This whole episode was just Shenanigans. Antics. Hijinks. Situations. Perfect.

Nero went from Goofy caricature to Nightmare Fuel last minute like YEESH. I was worried they were making too light of Nero until he started the death threats and evil laughter and the rapeyness was played less as a joke. Also poppea scheming to keep her power was fun to watch. Vicki exists. (I haven’t seen her other eps.) Also guy who initially seemed like a creep who wanted to buy Barb for unsavory reasons turning out to be not only a good guy but a Christian? (Famously hated by Nero, he blamed them for the fire) wonderful twist.

Etc

[hoardofshinythings]

Gremlin Notes: Stranger Things Ep. 1-S. 1

Byers have a mut retriever? House doesn’t seem dog lived in. Neighbours? Keep eye on pupper in future episodes. 

Creatures mess with phone lines 

Demogorgon unlocks door from outside (telepathic powers), can teleport though so why? Does it have wherewithal to be a haunting dick? Keep an eye on this to see if something like this happens again. 

Will grabs dads gun, knows how to load it (dad teach him... or mom?? I can see his dad getting impatient with him while teaching him, but then Mom latter teaching him with patience to do it... or! OR. Johnathan. Hmmmmm). I am officially on team ‘Give Will A Gun’. Not even as a treat. Fay boys with boom sticks are badass. 

Joyce does not confirm kid is missing with Wheelers mom. No trust? Or just hopeful? Looks like no trust. Is Mrs. Wheeler a gossip?

BARB DEFF A LESBIAN MY GOD. On SITE. She may not know it but I do. Course she dies dammit.

Phil Larson: someone keeps stealing gnomes from his garden. No murders or other big things in the last 4 years (but no mention of before). Keep an eye on reports of weird, silly, or off things that happen in town for background noise or weird connections you can make later.

OMG Ben is just a gentle giant oh rude. Knows all the truckers and old folks in town. Who the shit would believe he offed himself? The look on his face when she said 11. He called the police.  What if they had arrived first.  Did they really have to kill him? They really really didn’t? Though I guess even if they convinced the both of them the lady was child services it’s a small town word would get around about a starving kid in the woods... but who would connect the dots? Could just be one of those ‘weird things’ that happens and then vanishes into the rumor mill. Ben did not need to get capped. What if he brought her down to the station instead what would have happened? Would they have feckin shot any officer involved? Like... your problem solving skills are NOT the best here secret lab. Choose the most normal route to not be noticed. But then maybe there have been a lot of cuts and they don’t have the sharpest staff anymore and ‘quick shot mcgee missus’ is the kind of slapstick crap they got now.... which explains why the place is falling apart at the seams with crazy shyte by this point. Hmmmmmmm.... 

Teacher BIGGEST nerd. Scott Clarke 

Mom took Will to see Poltergeist but not Johnathan. J just not a horror kind of person or is this a favoritism thing? Keep an eye out for this.

Johnathan deff has older sibling syndrome out the wazoo. Used to calming mom, probably forced to be mediator. Anxiety out the ass probably. She tries to bond with him in panic night of disappearance. He doesn’t know what to do with that. She falls apart really fast. He is deff used to managing her. Probably has de-escalation skills tantamount to a Negotiation Specialist due to his parents obvious rough road and then dealing with that in a small town and the rumor mill of it all. 

Mike see’s Steve climbing the side of his house and just goes on because wtf dude I got other shit to do. Very sibling blackmail collection habit.

Observation of Nancy and Steve interactions. Always seems like something disappears in Steve’s eyes when she calls him an idiot. She means it as an affectionate nickname, so he is playing it cool, but that look says he has to TRY to play it cool and not take it to heart. It has probably been used on him by those he cares about before, but meant to hurt unlike her. It does make him back off from what he is trying to do each time. A switch is flipped to Step Back mode.