#and it didn’t serve the plot or any themes or anything. I just don’t get how those were the choices they made. and it sucks bc like.

[palukoo]

okay I am interrupting my gonch posting to say. wtf dead to me that was the worst possible ending like. I quite literally could not have come up with an ending that bad what the hell

[lornaka]

My five cents on Tech’s fate in TBB

It’s been over three weeks since the show ended and I’ve been writing this in my head ever since, mostly to have it summed up in one post for posterity lol. I considered letting it go at this point but I know it’ll drive me crazy if I don’t get it out of my system so might as well.

So here we go, some of my rambly post-finale thoughts on Tech’s death (and a few other issues) under the cut!

Disclaimer: while this post is in critical spirit (because that’s how my brain works), I want to make clear that I have nothing but respect and gratitude towards everyone who’s worked on the show. My criticisms are of the final story as a whole as I interpret it (art is art, everything is subjective, you know the drill), but one never knows what goes into the process of making it behind the scenes, so I’m not holding anything against the creative team. I love this show dearly and am in awe of how good it is at its best, despite certain things I wish they did differently.

To begin, if I had to sum up the biggest problem that TBB writing suffers from, it would be lack of closure, and too many red herrings. Not just for Tech, but many things. Major plot threads as well as little character moments are cultivated or thrown in just to never culminate in anything or to be immediately discarded after serving the plot, some of them incredibly misleading. Some of the top examples:

- Crosshair’s chip. We never get an exploration of how the trauma of his chip activating and being left behind not only affected his motivation and choice to stay with the Empire, but his relationship with his brothers. While it was made fairly obvious, if subtly, that Crosshair became free of the chip’s influence after getting hit by the ion engine on Bracca, the narrative treated this change as if it didn’t matter at that point, while it obviously mattered a lot within the context of Crosshair’s character. Add to that all these little details with him clutching his head in s1 finale, Omega expressing her disappointment in him, and Tech’s comment on how “it is just his nature” (as if it matters!!! See what I mean about the narrative treating Cross’s chip as if it didn’t play the key part in his trajectory? They throw in this line, like we are supposed to take away that it’s simply Crosshair being Crosshair and not like, the results of brainwashing and abandonment), Wrecker blaming Crosshair for not going back to them, all while we as the audience have been shown and told repeatedly how these chips work (and so were the Batch), we ended up with an incredibly confusing situation with lots of mixed signals from the writers. And once Crosshair makes his choice to stay with the Empire in s1 finale, his chip and the confusion it brought to his relationship with his brothers is never brought up again, because the plot simply moves on.

- Cid’s betrayal. After her being a major character for two seasons with a continuous relationship build-up with Omega in particular, she is discarded as soon as her betrayal serves the plot, with all that character development getting thrown out of the window. You can be mad at Cid all you want, but to me it’s incredibly weird and wasteful to end two seasons worth of build up on that note without it having any closure for the characters, especially Omega whose whole theme is trusting people and bringing out the best in them. It’s fine if they decided to make Cid exactly what she appeared on the surface (untrustworthy and self-serving) after playing around with her potentially growing through her fondness of Omega, but then at the very least the betrayal should’ve had an impact on the characters, Omega most of all. Even just one casual line from Omega in s3 about how Cid’s betrayal impacted her emotionally, however minimally, would have solved that problem. And no, CX-2 mentioning how he extracted info on Phee from her off screen absolutely doesn’t count as closure, because I’m talking about emotional closure for the main pov characters as well as the audience. Cid had a presence for two seasons, then as soon as she executed her role as a traitor to further the plot, she was discarded like she was a random extra.

- Emerie’s relationship with Hemlock. We are led to believe that he basically raised her, instilling in her the idea that she had no chance without him and owed her purpose and “safety” to him. You can’t tell me that this didn’t deeply affect her struggle and eventual decision to break away from all that and choose to help the kids, basically betraying Hemlock. I get that the show only had so much screen time and Emerie is a supporting character in season 3 at best, but common, she has more tension with Dr. Scalder than Hemlock while the potential for this rich deep conflict between them is right there.

I can probably list more smaller examples but this is getting long and I don’t want to go on any more tangents, so, finally, the biggest example of lack of closure and tendency of TBB writing to display foreshadowing that leads nowhere:

Tech’s death.

First of all, I’ll die on the hill that it wasn’t denial or delusion that led to such a big portion of the audience to believe that Tech didn’t really die in s2. If we look at the facts:

- there was no body

- it’s the finale of season 2 out of 3, pretty early for one of the main titular characters to get killed off

- the only/last character to allegedly see Tech after his fall is a villainous scientist who is known to experiment on clones specifically

- not a fact but: the whole scene with Hemlock presenting Tech’s goggles to Hunter was incredibly suspicious. In hindsight, I think the whole purpose of it was so that the Batch got Tech’s goggles back in their possession as a memento (and to show how evil Hemlock is to rub it into Hunter’s face like that) but it was executed in a way that read as something much more. It read as if Hemlock was going out of his way to convince us/Hunter of Tech’s death, but with us knowing who Hemlock is, his background in experimenting on clones, everything screams at us to not trust a word he says. Is it really so surprising that so many of the viewers immediately jumped at the conclusion that something more was going on there?

- Hunter’s (lack of) reaction/immediate narrative fall-out. More on that later as I address lack of emotional impact of Tech’s death in s3.

- it’s Star Wars. And there was no body.

So yeah, to me, it is completely justified that so many people read that whole thing as open to speculation at the very least, foreshadowing Tech’s survival at most.

Personally, I was 70% sure Tech was truly dead prior to s3, but not because the text told me so, but because at that point I was used to the show’s writing regularly sending out mixed signals, and a part of me was resigned to Tech’s death becoming another example of the writer’s intent clashing with their accidental empty foreshadowing.

As season 3 aired and the whole CX-2 plot was unfolding alongside continued lack of closure for Tech’s fate, my hope for Tech Lives reveal grew and grew, but in the end my initial doubt was proven right, unfortunately.

Oh, CX-2.. what a mess. You can’t tell me the creators went over all of these scenes, all of these lines, looked at the whole picture and *didn’t* see how it was incredibly easy to interpret CX-2 as potentially being Tech with all these little potential parallels. “Domicile” alone.

If they didn’t want us to entertain the idea that it could be Tech, they could’ve done it differently, but for some reason, they chose to leave that space for speculation. My question is, why?

If they truly wanted us to believe Plan 99 was it, Tech’s Noble End that we were supposed to take as this dramatic super emotional ultimate sacrifice and all that, then why would they not make it clear that CX-2 couldn’t be Tech? Why breed confusion? And breed confusion they did. It’s hard for me to believe they didn’t foresee the “ohh is it Tech?” speculation.

When so many members of the audience immediately and individually jump at a theory or have the same take away from the story they are being told, yet the authors say it wasn’t meant to be taken that way, something went seriously wrong with the writing.

I don’t like to speculate on such things because we will probably never know for certain, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they had at some point considered CX-2 being Tech or at least something more for the whole CX plot thread, but changed and reshuffled things at the last minute for whatever reasons.

Which is fine and understandable. But it brings me to the heart of my biggest issue with how Tech’s fate was handled:

lack of impact and closure.

Let’s disregard all the Tech Lives theories for a moment and focus on what we did get: Tech, one of the main characters, getting killed off at the end of s2 out of 3, for stakes and consequences and NOTHING else. When I say nothing, I mean nothing.

Imagine, for a moment, he survived and stayed with the Batch. Nothing would have changed, in the grand scheme of things. Nothing. We wouldn’t have had a few obligatory “Tech mention, everyone feel sad now” throwaway lines/goggle shots and whatnot, sure, but that’s it.

Tech dying didn’t change the trajectory of the plot in any way, nor did it affect any of the other characters in a way that changed their trajectory. And anything less is simply not enough to justify killing one of your main characters. Stakes and consequences ain’t it.

Consider Mayday, for example: a supporting character, but his death in s2 affected Crosshair in such a way it completely redirected his journey, AND in s3 we got an episode that cemented the impact Mayday had on Crosshair and provided emotional closure for them. That’s a narratively meaningful death.

Tech’s death was not meaningful to the narrative beyond removing him from it. That’s why so many Tech fans insist he deserved better treatment: not only was he not present in one third of the show physically, but he lacked any sort of presence even in death. His absence was never processed or grieved by any of the main characters and so by extension by the audience.

And before anyone starts with the whole ‘they are soldiers/they had no time to grieve/etc’ arguments, it is the responsibility of the writers to provide the space for all of that emotional impact. It they don’t, there is no impact.

A few reactions here and there, moments of missing Tech as a person and a brother, not an asset, anything would have made this whole thing easier to accept.

The lines that we did get, from Omega mentioning the stuff Tech taught her to Echo commenting on how decryption would be easier if Tech was with them to “Clone Force 99 died with Tech” from Crosshair - each and every single one of those lines linked to Tech’s functions as part of the squad, his usefulness, but we didn’t get a single line in remembrance of him as a person of his own, no one missed or remembered him for himself or his personal impact on them.

Just one line from Omega about how he taught her about change being a constant part of life or whatever, or Wrecker making a comment on how Tech used to info dump about stuff, anything would have instantly provided that much needed sense of “he was here, he was a person and is still a part of us”. Instead, Tech was killed off to show that messing with the Empire is dangerous and risks are real, I guess, and immediately lost any and all presence within the story.

We never even got to see Crosshair’s or Phee’s reactions to losing him.

Speaking of Crosshair, that’s a whole other example of complete lack of closure: they never closed the loop on the family being reunited again after initially leaving Crosshair behind, and with Tech dead, it’ll forever stay broken.

They could’ve given this a bittersweet yet meaningful spin if they developed the angle of Tech dying on a mission to bring Crosshair home, making a sacrifice so Crosshair had a chance.

Instead, the moment Tech dies, we get Hunter (and through him, the narrative) immediately abandon the idea/plot thread of going to rescue Cross all while saying “let’s not waste Tech’s sacrifice”. Sacrifice for what? Clearly Hunter doesn’t see it as a sacrifice for Crosshair’s sake, so, what, to make sure the rest of them makes it from the mission? The mission to save Crosshair. That mission. Right.

I see people talking about Tech’s noble sacrifice that ensured his family got to live and eventually have their happy ending, but all I can think about is how the creators chose to have him die on a mission that was immediately abandoned and the only take away from that whole sub plot was Tech’s own demise.

And after Crosshair is back with the Batch, his reaction to Tech’s death is never explored at all.

So yes, to me Tech deserved so much better. If you are going to kill off a major character, it must be necessary to be compelling. The way I see it, Tech’s death was not necessary at all because it didn’t change anything. And if it was meant to, the creators failed to communicate that by choosing not to explore the emotional impact of it and not structuring certain story beats in a more precise manner.

To wrap this up, if the way Tech’s death was handled was satisfying for you, that’s valid and I’m glad for you. For me, unfortunately, it’s completely the opposite and will forever remain the biggest and most unfortunate low point in the story.

And while I welcome anyone to share their own perspective if they wish, please don’t take this post as an invitation for debate, since there is no one right or wrong way to interpret or be affected by art.

[the-bitter-ocean]

oceaaaannn hiii! let's go with 3, 5, and 15 for the isat ask game c:

(MAJOR A6SE / 2HATS SPOILERS + FULL GAME SPOILERS AHOY) Thank you for the questions @dekupalace ! Since I’m going to be talking more in depth about the game for one of these questions I’m going to put my responses under a read more:

3- favorite soundtrack?

Oh god that’s such a hard question the whole game has certified bangers. The musicians at Studio Thumpy Puppy were not messing around or pulling any punches. The soundtrack of the game elevates literally every emotional beat. If I was forced to choose only one song out of the soundtrack my favorite track in the whole game has to be “How Can You Help Me, Stardust?” aka the theme that plays when you fight Loop at the Favor tree during act six. Hearing that for the first time while getting the full context of loop’s backstory made me go crazy. It was so fucking emotional and well done. That and it’s just objectively a super intense high energy song that makes me wanna dance around. If anyone deserves the coolest fight theme in the game, it’s Loop.

5- favorite optional event?

Ooh this is also a hard one! I adore a lot of the optional story events because each of them really shed light on Siffrin’s mental state /characterization, as well as gives depth to other aspects like the other character of the world building as a whole which strengthens the themes of the story. Aside from the obvious choice (2Hats Ending/ Act six loop encounter) I think my favorite optional event would have to be the “Who Was Phone” achievement (Change God event). There’s something so fascinating about learning about the Change God. Someone who clearly adores their certified little guy (Mirabelle) and is willing to offer words of kindness and assurance in her identity even if it knows she won’t remember in one instance..and then in the very same breath tell Siffrin that they enjoy watching Siffrin in the timeloop torment nexus because they’re curious to see how they change in a situation where everything is forced to stagnate. It was so genuinely fucked. I will think about it always forever.

15- anything you’d change about the game? be it game mechanics, a new feature, a change in plot, etc

Overall I’m pretty satisfied with the game both in story and gameplay actually. I think Adrienne did a good job writing and expanding on the characters and story that was set up in the prologue. The quality of life in terms of gameplay got improved since the previous game as well ( those who played the prologue can attest to this) . The fact that it was a in universe story reason as to why makes it all the more satisfying (if you want to know what I mean by that please read my mutuals @felikatze analysis about it here.)

I just am happy that Siffrin got to be happy in the end and stay with their family, to be able to talk things out and escape the loops. I know some people didn’t like that or expected a more darker/sadder ending or wanted the gameplay to be more challenging … my response to that is Literally Just Play Start Again: A Prologue. To me it would be extremely reductive to have Siffrin just suffer with no reprieve or escape from the loops (because that’s just a repeat of what happened in its predecessor) or have the group just split off from each other immediately after everything happened. It would have been extremely unsatisfying and ultimately missing the point of the themes of the game as a whole gonna be real lol.

The only things I’d maybe change or add is like it would’ve been cute to see Euphrasie and Claude be together/ reunite on screen in act 6. They should kiss. Lol. (That and just I would’ve personally loved to see Euphrasie in canon expanded on a little more but that’s not necessarily needed she serves her purpose in the narrative. I just like analyzing her and giving her more depth and I like when others do too, but that’s what fanart/ fics and aus are for so I’m not fussed.) 

I don’t mind that the game is sort of open ended and doesn’t answer all the questions. I think that gives artists, fanfic writers, Au makers and people who like to analyze the game more freedom to come up with their own interpretations for things that happened in pre canon and post canon which to me is more interesting. I know Loop disappearing at the end of the game in both endings is sad/ bittersweet but I wouldn’t necessarily change the way that was structured either. I like that their fate was ambiguous because it leads the viewer to come up with their own theories as to where they went. ( personally I love seeing stuff where loop gets to travel on their own and form a new life and identity outside of the loops and learn to heal, as well as post game getting to meet back up with the party and learn to navigate this new life/ change one step at a time. )

[jujumin-translates]

[A3!] Event | A Postman Delivering Your Feelings | Episode 4

Misumi: (We all get letters from our fans, so we all have connections to letters, but… Who from Autumn Troupe would be good…?)

Misumi: Hm~m…

*Door opens*

Sakyo: Ikaruga? What are you groaning about?

Misumi: Ah, Sakyo!

Misumi: I’m scouting people for the post office event, but I don’t have anyone from Autumn Troupe yet…

Misumi: I was just trying to figure out who from Autumn Troupe to ask to do it~.

Sakyo: Someone from Autumn Troupe, huh… I think Hyodo and Nanao both said they already had plans.

Sakyo: …Then I guess I’ll do it.

Misumi: Huh, you’ll do it, Sakyo!?

Sakyo: I didn’t have a cell phone as a kid, so I used to write things like letters and New Year’s cards.

Sakyo: Even now, I sometimes add brief comments when I enter sweepstakes, since it helps me with fan interactions.

Misumi: I see! Ehehe, I’m glad you told me that, Sakyo~.

Misumi: Then let’s do our best with the event performance!

Sakyo: Damn right.

Misumi: Good, that’s three people scouted out! Lemme tell Director-san~.

LIME

△△△: Director-san! I’ve decided on the people who will do the Happy Letter event!

△△△: It’s Guy and Tsuzuru and Sakyo △△△

Izumi: Thanks! Let’s all get together sometime tomorrow then.

△△△: ‘Kaaay! I’ll be sure to tell everyone.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Izumi: Misumi-kun, Masumi-kun, Yuki-kun, Tasuku-san, and then Guy-san, Tsuzuru-kun, and Sakyo-san. You guys are the seven members participating in the event.

Izumi: Except for the first few, the members were decided on by Misumi-kun on my behalf this time.

Izumi: Thanks, Misumi-kun!

Misumi: You’re welcome~.

Izumi: Once again, thanks for taking this on, you guys!

Guy: Yes, I will do my best to make this a good event.

Misumi: Let’s all do our best to make this event a success!

Izumi: Yeah, exactly. Alright, here are the details of the event.

Izumi: As I think I’ve told you before, in addition to performing on stage on the day of the event, you’ll also be helping with serving customers.

Izumi: There will be a capsule toy corner, a corner selling stationery, postcards, and stamps, and a letter-writing booth.

Izumi: For any information about the contents of the performance, you can talk to Tsuzuru-kun.

Tsuzuru: I told Director about it earlier, but I’ve actually already started thinking about the script.

Tsuzuru: Now that the plot is somewhat decided on, I’ll give you a rough summary of it and what I’ve got in mind for the casting.

Tsuzuru: The setting is a near-future city where technology is advancing. The young people living in the city have rarely used post offices.

Tsuzuru: And the protagonist is a new postal worker who doesn’t really know what a “letter” is.

Masumi: So even though they hardly know anything about letters, they’re a postal worker.

Tsuzuru: Yeah, so then the new delivery person is doing his job properly while being scolded by a senior delivery person every day…

Tsuzuru: But then when the protagonist delivers a letter written by an older brother to his younger brother, he realizes that there are some feelings that can only be expressed in a letter…

Tsuzuru: And that each letter is written with the recipient in mind and the overall importance of letters.

Sakyo: I see, sounds interesting.

Yuki: And it fits the theme of “To Your Loved Ones…” too.

Tasuku: Yeah, it does. I’m curious about the details of the story and I’m looking forward to acting it out too.

Tsuzuru: Thank you so much.

Tsuzuru: For the casting, I’m thinking Ikaruga-san should be Letra, the protagonist rookie delivery person, and Masumi as Riffle, the other rookie delivery person…

Tsuzuru: And then Yuki as the senior delivery person Stamp, and for the veteran delivery people, Envelope and Tiga, Furuichi-san and Takato-san…

Tsuzuru: Guy-san as Carta, the postmaster, and I’m thinking I’ll be Lease, the older brother sending the letter.

Tsuzuru: I’ll share the script with all of you when I’m finished with it.

Yuki: Near-future postal workers, huh? Am I allowed to start talking costumes yet?

Tsuzuru: Yeah, sure thing. Let’s continue the meeting after this.

Yuki: Yeah, let’s do that.

Izumi: Alright, then I guess everyone aside from Tsuzuru-kun and Yuki-kun is dismissed for the day.

Izumi: Once the script is done, let’s discuss rehearsals and role studies again.

Troupe Members: Yeah!

[ ⇠ Previous Part ] • [ Next Part ⇢ ]

[moonlitempty]

The World’s End (2013), Dir. Edgar Wright, Starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost

One night. Six Friends. Twelve Pubs. Total Annihilation.

And with this beautiful entry we end the Cornetto Trilogy Journal Entries (C. T. J. E.’s for short), it’s been a truly beautiful ride! I hope my (frankly deficient and almost awful) little journal entries have provided at least a little bit of enjoyment or inspiration to all of you, my beautiful Peggsters <3

I had a lot of fun making them! And this served almost as an exercise or test in if I had any creativity left, I hadn’t done anything like this before so it was a nice little refreshment from my normal journaling routine.

(Pss, there is one for Spaced on the way, this is not the end!)

The World’s End proved to be the most exotic (for lack of a better word) movie out of its siblings, while I felt like Shaun and Hot Fuzz were grounded in reality enough that their events could realistically happen in our reality (well, perhaps excluding the zombies), I felt like The World’s End went all out with the mysticism, fantasy, extravagance, and exuberance.

Of course, this is to be expected, it IS a Sci-Fi movie after all! And I didn’t realise how much I needed a nice, time-to-fight-a-planetary-menace movie until I saw this beaut.

Which speaking of that, this movie is visually beautiful! All of Edgar’s Cornetto movies have this signature look I can’t quite put my finger on, but World’s End (I’ll call it that from now on for the sake of convenience) exudes a certain look and feel that I can’t quite describe, it’s sophisticated almost?

The editing in this film is the best in the entire trilogy, it’s got that signature snappy and dynamic style Edgar does so well, but this time it’s refined to the maximum level, with every scene change and transition leaving you in awe in a “THAT IS GENIUS!” sorta way.

Actually, I remember absolutely losing my shit at the intro ALONE, it was that much of a treat to the eyes.

The score was just PHENOMENAL as well! Normally I’m not one to pay much attention to a film’s score, they almost blend in and become complementary to the film in some cases, but this score drew me in almost immediately. It just started to become more and more impactful and present with each passing scene, I stopped taking the score for granted, and the whole film became a feast for the senses, the scene where Gary, Andy, Sam and Steven are driving away from Newton Haven was so powerful and imposing, I must get this score on some sort of physical format (don’t trust digital media to last forever! much less streaming!)

The plot was the thing I was most afraid of, I’m not known as a huge Sci-Fi guy, I find it quite boring and even uninteresting most of the time, so I was terrified of feeling disconnected from this film. The contrary ended up happening, I think this film may have put me onto the genre! That strange sort of cosmic horror and the implications of bigger and stronger societies outside of our own planetary grasp is very, very intoxicating.

GARY WAS PHENOMENAL.

The first time I watched the film I was honestly a little afraid that I’d dislike him, every little juvenile and childish joke or one liner he’d pull made me worried, specially since he was surrounded by a bunch of people that clearly knew he was not someone to trust. This all changed relatively quickly though, I learnt that Gary was just someone clinging to the past and the fun times he used to have with his mates, and honestly his struggles with addiction and feeling like you have nothing going for yourself hit particularly close to home for me. I ended up completely adoring Gary and I wish him the best, my sweet 40 year old baby boy.

The dynamic between Gary and Andy was perhaps the most interesting in the entire film, you could even argue it’s the central theme of the whole film, and seeing how it all slowly developed, unraveled, and blossomed, and Andy grew to care for Gary again was very, very sweet. The scene where they’re together at The World’s End was the most cathartic and powerful moment of the film. To err is human, truly.

I struggled to grow particularly attached to the rest of Gary’s and Andy’s friends, besides Steven and Sam, I didn’t care much for Oliver and Peter, admittedly, sorry!

This movie was surprisingly powerful, even now I find myself still thinking about it, specially the message of how making mistakes and being imperfect is part of the core nature of being human, to rob us of imperfection is to rob us of humanity, of warmth, of thought, of intention.

The World’s End. 10/10.

Until I (inevitably) rewatch you again, Cornetto Trilogy, which will probably be sooner than I expect it to be ❤️💙💚

[idkaguyorsomething]

Why Greta Gerwig should adapt The Magician’s Nephew instead of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

I had some thoughts. They are below the cut in list form

Something we Haven’t Been Shown Before- to put it bluntly, we already have a perfectly good adaptation of TLTWATW, and it’s probably as good and accurate an adaptation as you could ask for. There are a few minor details that got cut and added, but honestly, as far as book-to-movie adaptations go, it’s extremely faithful to the plot, themes, characters, the whole shebang of the original book. Even if you don’t count the live action movie, there’s still the animated movie, the BBC production, and several play adaptations out there. It’s had its time to shine and by adapting The Magician’s Nephew, we’d be getting something fresh from the franchise.

Equally Accessible Starting Point- while TLTWATW was the first Narnia book to be written and published, chronologically The Magician’s Nephew takes place before it, serving as both a prequel and standalone story so that newcomers to Narnia could get into the series with either book. C S Lewis himself said that it didn’t matter which one people chose to start with, so it would serve as a great entry point for anyone looking to get into the Chronicles of Narnia as well as provide an interesting prequel for people familiar with the movies that already came out, leading me to my next point:

Worldbuilding- this book has so much cool stuff you guys. The pool world, Charn, the apple grove, the rings, Frank. ¡Actual literal worldbuilding! Also Sherlock Holmes and Atlantis for some reason. There’s just a lot of really interesting concepts and locations in this story that have the potential to be a true spectacle while also serving as a rewarding expansion of the universe that Narnia fans know that newcomers will still be able to appreciate.

Our Heroes- Digory and Polly are incredibly adorable and likable protagonists. They feel a good deal more fleshed out and realistic than the Pevensie kids in the books, and even though the movies went out of their way to give them some more depths, our dynamic duo from The Magician’s Nephew still feel quite distinctive in their own right. Their interpersonal conflict never grows as deep as something like, say, Edmund’s betrayal, but they both have different perspectives and things they bring to the table as individuals while also having a very fun, genuine friendship. Bonus points for being a rare boy/girl relationship that is never so much as hinted to be anything beyond platonic.

The Villains- The Magician’s Nephew has a pretty perfect combination of antagonists who manage to be memorable and legitimately menacing as well as pathetic little meow meows. This book gives us Jadis’ backstory as well as her getting to wreak unhinged havoc in downtown 18XX London as well as Uncle Andrew, a conspiracy theorist incel Redditor before Reddit was ever a thing. They’re delightfully entertaining in completely different ways, and seeing them onscreen would be an absolute treat.

Thematic Resonance- lots of things that happen in this book carry a lot of similar motifs to other films that Greta Gerwig has worked on, and since she hasn’t really created any epic fantasy style films yet, they could provide a strong emotional core to center any experimentation she tries out in the genre. You’ve got Digory’s loving but complicated relationship with his mother due to her illness displacing them from home, the coming-of-age aspects as the children encounter various adult figures they feel powerless to oppose, and learning the consequences of one’s actions. It’s even mentioned in the book that Polly is working on a little writing project that she’s sensitive about, like Jo March. A lot of people have complained that they feel Greta Gerwig will neuter the story by toning down the religious elements (which there is A LOT to dissect about concerning how C S Lewis’ beliefs led to things like the Problem of Susan, but there just isn’t enough information about the actual movie out yet to draw any actual conclusions) yet I’d argue that these emotional arcs, which play into Gerwig’s strengths as a director, could easily hold up a movie on their own if handled well. Combine that with the potential for unique visuals, the book’s surprisingly good sense of humor, and the many concepts that could be brought onscreen in a truly unique way, and you’ve practically got a recipe for a great addition to the Chronicles of Narnia unlike anything the movie fans have gotten before.

Feel free to disagree about any of that, though. Hearing where other people think the netflix movies should pick up would be really interesting, so leave any thoughts on the subject in the notes if you want. I just wanna see Fledge the pony accidentally get yanked into another dimension.

[cancerian-woman]

You called Caroline a white Bonnie, how so? Bonnie in my opinion had more of a consistent personality in the show. She was consistently written as a moral superhero for everyone. Caroline was whatever Plec needed her to be in the episode imo. A victim in one, a villain in another, one day she’s sleeping around with every man in the show (that’s an exaggeration, but yeah), the next day she’s slutshaming another girl for doing the exact same thing (Elena also slut shamed her for sleeping with/ being raped by Damon, even though Elena also sleeps around, so I guess it’s a running theme). One day she hates Klaus with all her heart, the next day she sleeps with him even though he killed her boyfriend’s mother. One day she’s a girls girl, the next day she’s a misogynistic mean girl. It really depended on what Plec thought was right for the plot of the episode. And am I the only one who thought that the Alaric/Caroline thing was off putting? Wasn’t he her teacher? Didn’t he date Elena’s surrogate mother AND her aunt? And so much more. And he admitted to having feelings for her, even though she was an adult at the time, it was… strange. And I didn’t like the plot line of her being pregnant with the twins without her consent. The forced pregnancy was just not my thing. Did she even give any sort of hint that she wanted to be a parent throughout the show? I don’t remember.

Okay, I’m free from work so let me break this down lol. This is long.

Not that I disagree with your thoughts on Caroline. I just wasn’t talking about her then. Tyler ends up dating Liv Parker in season 6, that’s his final relationship after Caroline. I agree, Caroline is just a self-insert for Julie turning her into whatever the show needs for that moment.

Penelope Mitchell/Liv was being set up to be Bonnie/Kat’s replacement since Julie admitted to wanting Bonnie permanent death to be in season 5. That tweet is still posted btw.

If Bonnie is no longer the resident witch and there are no more Bennett’s then of course the remaining witches are going to get the spotlight.

Tbh, the way tvdu fans ignore/ed Bonnie/Kat they wouldn’t have cared if she was fired to make room for another white and woman they found more desirable.

Candice has admitted that she found out she was pregnant called Julie and Julie from there rewrote season 7 to accommodate Candice’s pregnancy. Which tells you exactly how she feels on Kat getting full attention because Candice was not the last woman standing lol. Candice didn’t have to stop working I cannot stress this enough but she certainly was not the first woman to be pregnant onscreen and have the baby bump hidden.

Caroline never mentioned anything about children until that forced pregnancy. Alaric was married to Elena’s birth mother, then dated Jenna. Either way Calaric was a waste of time. Lmao.

White!Bonnie to clear up further confusions for you lol: are white witches who are abused for their magic or serve others but have agency. Ex: Freya her siblings, Davina with the NOLA witches or vampires, Hope’s a martyr for the Salvatore school, Liv is Bonnie and Rebekah mixed but even she didn’t want anything to do with magic because of what happened to her family lol.

Bonnie’s beautiful, compassionate, powerful, intelligent but she’s black. Not okay to be anything but white in tvdu. Instead of pushing Bonnie, the writers took these qualities and gave them to white and desirable women.

Hope that clears my comment up completely.

[misty-caligula]

Okay, so I’m not used to really getting... noticed... in the way that I have been recently. And I’ve been kind of just vibing quietly before I actually respond to anything. But I got some responses to my big thesis post which I think warrant extra attention, because I think perhaps I wasn’t as clear as I wanted to be.

It’s worth mentioning that I have almost 500 posts up at this point, and have been very much immersed in yj theory for a fair while, so it’s hard to necessarily know how clear I am in any given context, and if I’m making assumptions of a reader. So I’m going to respond to a couple of things and see if I can redo a bit of Jackie/Coach stuff. My intention isn’t to say “Ah you’re wrong!” but to reframe my own position. If you don’t like what I’ve got to say that’s fine, I’m just a random on the internet. I’m not Right, I’m just thinking thoughts.

(Long post ahead about meta analysis of jackie and coach and society)

@inthegloomglow

Really good post but… coach and Jackie didn’t deserve to die for not being calm about all of this. They murdered his brother. I’m not sure that’s the point I’m supposed to get? But it’s weird to condemn them for that.

@areyoushuri

!!!! Criticizing Jackie and Coach for not being well adapted to the willingness and struggling to accept the rituals and cannibalism created is odd considering that the vast majority of viewers probably wouldn't survive/accept something like that. Yes, they're stubborn, not built for the wilderness, etc. but so many of the traits we criticize now served them well before the crash.

Okay! So first thing’s first. I do not hate Jackie or Coach. I think they’re both really interesting characters, with interesting through-lines. I think that they’re well acted, well written, and bring a lot of value to the plot. I’ve completely fallen in love with Jackie and Shauna’s really messy ... mess, and will absolutely go on giant tangents about it if you don’t stop me. I find Coach to be a really intricate and tragic portrayal of being queer in the 90s, one that speaks to me as someone who was struggling with being queer in the 90s, and whose dad was queer in the decades prior. I love these disasters, as I love all the disasters on this show.

I’m not critiquing them as people, I’m digging into the metatext of their actions as thematic devices. I also don’t know if this actually needs to be said but I’ll be very clear: If these were actual human beings then I wouldn’t want any of them to die, the point is that they are not humans, they are commentaries on society and culture and trauma and the way that people adapt or fail to adapt to changing situations. I don’t think people deserve to die for being wrong, or making mistakes... I just accept the theme of characters either surviving or dying based on their values within the show. I hope that’s clear, but just in case... there you go.

So my big concept of the show is that there’s this one giant question that the yellowjackets keep getting asked: “What really happened out there?” And that what DID really happen out there, fundamentally, is that there was a fracturing of social realities. Think of it like... the ‘jackets used to be part of “Society,” a huge world-wide group of all connected human cultures as a whole. And then they went off to the wilderness and they lost contact with Society, and they had to build a whole new culture all of their own from the ground up. We’ll call that the Team. Then they were suddenly rescued, after they’d fully given up on ever seeing Society again, and were forcibly thrown back in, and now are expected to just... reassimilate. And they’re struggling to do so.

So if you think about the show as a collection of big chunks, you can think of it like this:

> The ‘jackets are normal kids, living in and learning from, and protected by Society

> Their connection to Society is severed, but they expect rescue, and so they build a micro outpost of Society in the wilderness

> They slowly realise they’re never going to be saved

> They begin to recognise that the values and lessons that Society gave them are not all helpful in the wilderness and will get them killed. They start to develop the Team to replace what’s not working

> The Team grows in power, and the individual survivors have to make a decision about whether they’re going to remain loyal to Society or join the Team. Those who don’t join the Team die, not because they’re bad but because Society cannot protect them in the wilderness. To be very clear, neither Society, nor the Team, are inherently good or bad, they’re simply cultures that exist and offer each individual a place within them to provide and be provided for. But Society is NOT here, it’s a memory of a culture that’s been severed, and cannot provide anything anymore, only the Team is capable of doing so. THAT’S why only Team members can survive.

> The only survivors left are Team members, the Team stabilizes into a functioning self-perpetuating system

> They’re rescued and forcibly reintegrated into Society

> The remaining Team members now find themselves in the opposite situation, the Team is now toxic and can’t help them anymore, just like Society couldn’t help them in the wilderness, and they need to shed it to adapt back to Society just like they shed Society the first time. Those who can do so will eventually live long and happy lives. Those who can’t will die.

Coach and Jackie’s big thing in common isn’t that they suck, or that they’re unpleasant to be around. It’s that they’re Society loyalists. They just can’t let go. And what I think is most interesting about that is that both of them are being MISTREATED by Society. They’ve both been assigned roles that they cannot fill, and have held onto those roles SO tightly that it’s getting them killed.

Jackie’s absolutely plastered with unearned privilege. She’s constantly being told how perfect and brilliant and incredible she is. But she knows it’s a lie. And in order to defend her place, to justify her situation, and protect herself from anyone finding out, she holds Shauna SO close to her, so that she can have someone to feel constantly superior to. To make her look good by comparison. Except that Shauna is so many of the things that she secretly knows she isn’t and feels she NEEDS to be. So she spends a lot of effort beating Shauna down and focusing on convincing her that she has all these flaws and things so that she doesn’t realise that Jackie’s not actually this perfect person that people tell her she has to be.

Once she’s in the wilderness and Shauna starts to shine on her own - because the Team simply needs a different set of skills than Society did and Shauna’s willing to engage with it - Jackie’s control slips and she resents it, she fears it so much. And she can’t accept losing that level of authority that she got given by Society, to take a lower role with the Team. And so she stays loyal to Society even when it’s nonsensical. She sits in the snow and simply waits to be rescued, because that’s what Society has taught her to do.

But the Team doesn’t work like that. It requires Team members to be self-sufficient, and to work together. Jackie won’t go inside because Society has taught her to wait for Shauna to submit to her authority and apologise and invite her in, to give her the position that she Deserves. Shauna won’t do that because the Team has taught her that each Team member needs to be a part of the whole, that Jackie must eventually request permission to join the Team as a regular member. It’s a conflict that doesn’t get resolved, because neither will budge, but in the wilderness the Team can protect you and Society cannot, so Jackie’s faith in Society is punished with death.

That’s why Jackie can’t make a basic campfire to literally save her life. Because the Team would’ve taught her how, would’ve required her to learn. Society would provide her with someone to do it for her. So she just never bothered to learn. It’s why she’s unable to recognise just how dangerously cold it’s getting and be REASONABLE and knock on the door. Because Society has taught her that she’s protected from danger, that if it ever got Dangerous someone would come and help her. She doesn’t know the difference between damn cold and dying cold. Society works because of hundreds, thousands, millions, billions of people working together in intricate systems of mutual support and deep heirarchy. You don’t need to know how to put out a fire because when your house catches fire you call 911. You don’t need to know how to escape the wilderness because when you get lost they send a rescue helicopter. But without the connection to Society its lessons are literally destructive - Sit and wait until you die. Rescue isn’t coming.

Sidenote: If you want to go REALLY deep into the meta of it, the Team then gets rewarded with food by predating on Jackie as a vestige of Society, much the same way as they get little bits of technology by picking apart the wreckage of the plane. The plane is useful to Society as a transport, it’s useful to the Team as a source of supplies. Jackie is useful to Society as a member, is useful to the Team as a source of food. But I digress.

Now Society isn’t always a nice place to be, and Jackie’s not treated all that well within it either. People find her frustrating and comment on how undeserving she is of her position. They actively go behind her back when they can, Jeff cheats on her with her supposedly lesser best friend, Coach Martinez tells her to her face that she’s kinda mid, and people are generally mildly annoyed at her most of the time. But Society has her back, and as long as she plays by the rules, and follows the lessons, her life is pretty much made. It won’t necessarily be everything she ever dreamed of, but she’s solid, pragmatically. But the stress it puts on her, to conform and try to fit the role she’s arbitrarily placed into by Society is going to slowly ruin her and she’ll end up a bitter and unhappy person if she remains completely committed to it (assuming they never crashed, obviously). And what she doesn’t seem to realise is that the Team offers her community, and acceptance, and respect on the terms of her actual reality, on what she’s able to genuinely provide, whatever that is. But she’s so caught up in holding onto Society that it literally gets her killed.

That’s not to say that she doesn’t have a potential place in Society where she could be genuinely happy. Just that the one that she’s assigned isn’t right for her. If she was able to be let go of her fear, if she was able to be honest and stop trying to conform to the expectations put on her by those around her, and take a position in Society that more suited her she COULD have a perfectly comfortable life, happy and healthy. But the fact that she’s been assigned this life path that she knows doesn’t fit, that she’s so insecure about, is what MAKES  her such an unwavering loyalist for Society, because she has so much to lose.

And that’s what makes her and Coach so similar. Coach is born in the ‘60s, is brought up in the ‘70s and ‘80s. We don’t know when he realised he’s gay, but it has to have been a very scary thing for him. He has been living in a world of deep and abiding homophobia his whole life (I remember the 90s, I can only imagine the 70s...) and then came AIDS. For his whole life Society has convinced him that living in the closet is a life-preserving choice. That he can get all kinds of value from Society, all sorts of good things, as long as he plays by the rules, fits his assigned role. And being gay simply doesn’t fit his role.

So he hides it. He hides it despite the fear it causes, the pain it causes, the fact that it keeps him away from Paul whom he loves. He takes on a job that he hates, surrounding himself with a bunch of girls who he despises. Because, as Natalie said, if he actually threw in his lot with Paul, if he went against Society, then he’d be reliant on Paul (and by extension the Gay microculture) in a really intense way and if he lost him then he’d have nothing left. He’d have blown his entire life up, and been stuck. Coach, like Jackie, is ruled by his fear that without Society’s handouts of privilege and gifts and authority that he’d simply have nothing left on his own. It’s a painfully real portrayal of the fear and self-hatred that perpetuates the ongoing trauma of the closet in the real world.

He’s spent his entire life giving up real parts of himself for the sake of Society, he’s all-in. And he, like Jackie, is just too invested to let go. He can’t appreciate that Society has nothing to offer him in the wilderness, that the Team can and will protect him if he lets it. A lot of people make jokes about the idea that Coach might be eaten if he sticks around too long, because he only has one leg. But that kind of ablest absolutism is Society thinking. Because the Team still hasn’t turned on him. When they decided they needed to sacrifice someone for Lottie they didn’t say “Okay, where’s Coach gone? Let’s go hunt him.”

The Team just doesn’t have the room to see him that way. NOBODY is expendable in the wilderness, every sacrifice is an agony they struggle to cope with. And... I guess if you wanted to get very dark with it, Coach’s missing leg means that his food value ratio to his potential value as a Team member is lower.

And Coach has shown plenty of value to the team in the wilderness. He’s actually capable of providing real advice as an adult with life experience. He taught them to shoot and hunt, he made sure that Nat wouldn’t get pregnant (thank GOD after the nightmare that Shauna went through), he’s perfectly capable of holding down the fort, and once he’s adapted he’s remarkably capable of getting around. To the Team he’s a pair of hands, a thinking mind, company, experience, and just... a human being. To Society he’s lost a lot of value, but the Team simply doesn’t conceptualise him like that.

And when he WANTS to, he proves how capable he really is. He got to the cliff on his own without too much struggle. He got into and out of the cave all on his own. Not saying it’s easy to be an amputee, but it’s not AS disabling as a lot of people would assume. And he’s still got a perfectly functioning mind, hands, etc. What he doesn’t have is a will to join the Team. To genuinely engage with the reality they’re in.

Again, this is reiterated with a second camp fire disaster, making the point that he’s been in the wilderness for most of a year now and he still can’t do something as simple, as fundamental to Team survival (but not Society survival) as lighting a tiny fire. Because in Society he’d never have to, Society simply provides. And in the wilderness he’s been relying on the Team to provide and not recognised that he’s been doing that. Not recognised the fact that he’s not been pitching in. That every fire he didn’t light someone else did. Every scrap of warmth he’s enjoyed all winter has been provided by the Team, not Society.

In S1E10 when Shauna gives up on Society and finally commits to the Team she does so with a fight with Jackie. And the only person on Jackie’s side is Coach, the other Society loyalist, who - like Jackie - assumes a position of authority based on his status within Society. And Lottie - the Team authority - says “Stay out of it, Coach.” She asserts that this is Team business, that Society has no say here. And, without Society providing the backup behind his words, and without actually contributing anything to the Team (not because he Can’t but because he Won’t) Coach has absolutely no power and no say, and he disengages from this point. And because he simply won’t join the Team his fate is sealed.

Coach also provides a viewpoint on the Team from Society’s perspective. Because the audience perspective is so deeply rooted in the Team, Coach’s viewpoint is the alternative. He’s the last tiny vestige of what they left behind. Like a tourist, watching a culture he doesn’t understand, assuming that he’s better than them, that they’re evil, that he knows what’s Really Going On. That his loyalty to Society will someday gain him some sort of advantage or reward, even as he stands on the edge of the cliff. Because his attachment to Society is so strong that he’d rather die than join the Team, an unthinkable option.

So when Coach sees the ‘jackets eating Jackie, his response of horror is not just that of Coach Ben Scott reacting to cannibalism in his face. It’s also the response of Society to the unforgivable breach of social laws by the Team. The fact that they’re able to do it, that they seem to be enjoying it, completely giving into the deepest taboo... he can’t handle it and neither, by extension, can Society. And as he’s powerless to stop it he simply closes the door, trying to separate himself from them. When he finds Shauna carving up Javi he tries to rescue Nat, the only Team member he sees as somehow redeemable, as a potential Society ally. And when she rejects him, when she shows him that she, who was on the fence, has now willingly and knowingly joined the Team he sees in her his faith in Society collapsing. Because here’s the girl who he put up on a pedestal, as “the good one” and she’s rejected Society. So either a) he’s wrong about Society, and Nat’s right. Or b) he’s wrong about Nat and right about Society.

Or a secret, third option, he could lose himself in a tantrum of repressed rage, burn down the cabin and also throw himself off the cliff, giving up on EVERYTHING in the process. (That’s my personal theory, but we’ll have to wait to find out)

Now he COULD respond at this point by going “Fuck it, fine, I can be a Team member too, if it saves my life.” And he might find in it the kind of value the rest have found. But doing that would require him to accept that they’re never ever going to be rescued. That Society truly is gone. That it was all for nothing. That he gave up his life, gave up Paul, gave up happiness and love and everything ... and never got his reward. No, he HAS to keep holding on, has to keep believing that there is a point, is a purpose to it. For his own sanity.

Again, we can read really deep into the meta of this and say... that’s what coming out of the closet really is. It’s saying “I’m SICK of giving up so much for Society, and I don’t believe that the reward is there, or if it is that it’s worth it. If the alternative is to be a monster, as Society tells me I am if I’m queer, then fuck it I’ll be the monster you say I am. Because that’s what’s going to keep me happy, to give me love, to feed me, and give me a life I want to live.” I’m not saying that it’s a completely 1 to 1 exact match, but you get the idea.

And so Coach tries to destroy the Team, tries to reassert the dominance of Society, because the Team is a bunch of inhuman monsters as far as Society is concerned. They’re deviant, corrupted, feral. But they’re not. They’re just trying to create a new culture that will get them from monday to sunday without dying on tuesday. They’re just trying to face a harsh reality with a perspective that makes sense, to them. They’re neither bad, nor good, neither moral or immoral. They’re surviving, or dying, and that’s what matters in the wilderness.

*Intermission, go grab some snacks*

Okay so this is already really really long, but you can flip the script and watch the exact same story happening in reverse in the adult timeline too. In Season 1 the whole big question is why is Travis dead? Who killed him?

And the answer is... the Team did. Like, in a LITERAL sense, he put the noose on his own neck. And Lottie pressed the button, at his command. He literally did kill himself. But he never intended to die, and what got him there was the Team. He genuinely believed that he needed to do the ritual in order to connect with It for all their sakes. And he - like Coach and Jackie in the wilderness - was wrong. The rituals they’d developed, the beliefs they’d formed to cope in the Team simply were of no use now they were back in Society.

But he couldn’t let go. He couldn’t accept that they were truly out of the danger, that the trauma was really over. That Society could protect them, when he’d had it proven so powerfully to him that it couldn’t help them in the wilderness. And his unending and irrational faith in the Team is literally what killed him. And Lottie, who MIGHT’VE been able to somehow rescue him from the situation - she was standing RIGHT THERE - was herself so absorbed in Team thinking that she instead just stood by as he died.

(Again, I really really need to be clear, I do not hate any of these characters, I love them all dearly and I’m reading into the meta rather than their literal actions, I don’t blame Lott for her actions as I don’t blame Travis for his, this is just how the story is written and WHY)

I could make a similar argument about Nat, and almost did, but she’s SO complex (she and Shauna have such intricate relationships to the Team and Society) it would honestly take up as much space as I’ve already written now and my brain’s getting tired. But I will end with a little thing I thought of as I was writing this.

There’s a third Society loyalist I forgot to mention: Laura Lee.

Laura’s faith in God is mirrored with her faith in Society. Neither are based on anything solid in the wilderness, she never gets any form of external validation of any of her beliefs. She just interprets what happens through her own lens and assumes she’s right. She’s been provided with a role of spiritual authority by Society, in an acceptable religion, and she assumes that she’s competent to hold it. When Lottie comes to her for advice, she provides it and assumes she’s correct. When Lottie sees things she interprets them as though her opinions were fact. When she sees the plane she decides that she should use it to save everyone, and because she decided that, she assumes that it’s God’s will, and so she assumes she cannot fail. That God has her back. Just as she, and Jackie, and Coach, assume that Society has their backs.

In the plane, Laura Lee sees her opportunity to reconnect with Society. And her unwavering faith in the capacity of God to provide protection from harm and Society to provide functional and reliable transportation without needing to work for it ... gets her killed. The lack of connection to Society, and the incapability of Society, and its’ God, to provide for the Team is displayed as a giant fireball in the sky for all to see, proof that they are truly, deeply alone. That Society cannot help them here. But it still takes a while for the lesson to really sink in. And for some of them, it just never does.

[yukine-sakamoto]

I just finished Umbrella Academy season four, and wow that was deeply unsatisfying. The random side plots, the awkward dialogue, the loose threads and plot holes, the sad ending - it was rough. The show originally was carried by the characters and the relatability of the family drama. It grounded the super powered elements and provided a good balance of comic relief in an otherwise bleak show with quite heavy themes. But this time around everything felt off.

I don’t know if it was the writing, the acting, or the fact that it was rushed into six episodes, but most of the scenes didn’t have any weight to them. A lot of it felt arbitrary or plot convenient or there just wasn’t enough time to build depth. All the scenes with Claire felt empty because the audience had never seen her before, for example. Some of the characters felt like they were leaning on tropes such that they were stuck in their ruts from season 1, ignoring any character development from previous seasons. Klaus had come to terms with his ghost powers and had been clean for a while. Other characters felt completely different, and I know that this is a new timeline, so they should be different, but it’s unsatisfying not to see the characters grow towards a change. This felt very sudden. Reginald was very different to season 1.

The side plot with Klaus and Allison felt very forced. The end result was Allison saving Klaus thus reprising the roles of victim and savior that Klaus complained about in the scene after the botched rescue. And how did he get home from there anyway? Also I think they could have done a lot more to show why he relapsed. I don’t want to dismiss something that touches upon real life difficulties, but it felt rushed. In previous seasons, it was explained that Klaus leaned on substances because he was tormented by the ghosts from his powers. But he had learned to handle his powers better so that wasn’t an issue. I guess being put in the same situation could be difficult because of the reminder, but the point is they didn’t show any of that. It was just powers = drugs. And the plot didn’t accomplish anything. It didn’t move the main story forward at all, and it didn’t really add anything to characters because it lacked depth. Also, I don’t want to have any sympathy for the guy that buried Klaus, but watching Allison literally crush his balls made me shudder.

The romance between Lila and Five felt very forced as well and super uncomfortable. Not only is there a physical age difference that’s hard to watch, there’s also the fact that mentally Five is like seventy years old. I get that they were alone together for a really long time, and that they share a common past and common trauma from the commission, and that would definitely make them grow very close to each other. However, it would never be romantic, in my opinion. Lila is married with kids, and I got the sense from Five that he wasn’t really looking for that anymore. He had a “romance” with Dolores in the apocalypse, and I would think he’s still healing from that. I could see them as like a close uncle and niece type thing. They spent a lot of time on this subway thing and it only served to set up a very short scene with the other fives where he magically gets the answer. They could have set that up in any number of ways without wasting screen time on this awkward romance.

The Diego & Luther buddy cop thing was odd too. I like the two characters. I liked seeing them get back in the action, although the fight lasted a little too long, and it doesn’t make any sense why the actual CIA agents would help them fight. I guess they needed a way to reveal that the keepers had infiltrated, but they could have shown that in a way that was quicker. Out of all the subplots I think this one worked the best to show the characters building their relationship, but only because it was simple and did it very slightly.

The Reggie/Viktor thing just felt hollow. Every scene where Viktor got angry felt more like a temper tantrum. And it wasn’t that way in other seasons. Plus everything he said was undercut by the fact that this Reggie didn’t know him. But also, this Reggie felt very different. Far less authoritarian. I suppose that only works when the super powered people are impressionable kids, but I still felt like he caved too easily with Viktor and Abigail. He was completely obstinate almost every other time he’s been shown. Also, Viktor said he could remove Ben’s marigold. That was the whole point of their endeavor, to try that instead of killing him. That was how Viktor convinced Reggie to work with him. And then he never actually tries it. He fails to bring it up whenever he talks to Ben, so Ben just continues to run because Viktor is threatening to separate him from Jennifer, same as Reggie. Then when he finally gets in contact with Ben, he tries to remove the durango for some reason. That wouldn’t fix anything. Jennifer would still have a mix inside of her, and after Ben was saved, the durango would just mix with Viktor’s marigold.

Honestly, the main plot barely makes sense anyway. Why is the substance called durango? It sounds childish. And the way it ends the universe is by infecting two people and creating a gross monster. The whole universe, all the timelines, from this one flesh blob. What happened to all the other kids born on the same day as the Hargreaves? Don’t they have marigold? Are they in this timeline? What about the left overs that no one drank? How does the monster get to other timelines and other Hargreaves? I feel like Reggie’s talk with Abigail didn’t really explain much. Like she said before the marigold/durango interaction would end the universe, but it was actually fine. I suppose she was just lying, but wouldn’t Reggie know that? Plus having them all die as the solution to all their problems is really dark. I mean I always want a happy ending, but this was just depressing. And how did the family make it out of the subway? How do the kids even exist if their parents were wiped from the timeline? What happened to the other Ben we saw teased at the end of season 3? What even happened on Reggie and Abigail’s original planet that kicked all this off? We never learn any real backstory from them, even though this is really all their fault.

I’m so disappointed. I mean I liked seeing the characters again, but I wish they’d taken the time to do the ending properly.

[agentnico]

La Chimera (2024) review

With Challengers and La Chimera, Josh O’Connor has now starred in two films in a row made by Italian filmmakers, and not just Italian, but Luca Guadagnino. I’m aware that La Chimera is directed by Alice Rohrwacher, but the movie just feels like a Luca film through and through, from the camerawork to the narrative themes. My point however is with these two roles does this make Josh O’Connor the new Timothee Chalamet?? He’s already nabbed himself a juicy role as one of the suspects in the upcoming Knives Out threequel, so the kid’s going places. Mark my words, he’s gonna end up in Dune eventually, it’s inevitable.

Plot: Everyone has their own Chimera, something they try to achieve but never manage to find. For the band of tombaroli, thieves of ancient grave goods and archaeological wonders, the Chimera means redemption from work and the dream of easy wealth. For Arthur, the Chimera looks like the woman he lost, Beniamina. To find her, Arthur challenges the invisible, searches everywhere, goes inside the earth -- in search of the door to the afterlife of which myths speak. In an adventurous journey between the living and the dead, between forests and cities, between celebrations and solitudes, the intertwined destinies of these characters unfold, all in search of the Chimera.

I’m fully aware that this has been critically praised left and right, and is a festival darling, however I’m here to disappoint you with an unpopular opinion - I did not love this one. The first hour is so frustratingly long and tedious and meandering that I lost any interest by the time the plot fully kicked in. Look, I appreciate a slow burner if it’s well made and serves a narrative purpose. Whether it’s Harry Dean Stanton wandering aimlessly through the American desert with lost dreams in Paris, Texas (1984) or Donald Sutherland exploring the streets of Venice in a state of grief in Don’t Look Now (1973), those movies are both extremely slow paced and yet manage to be so captivating due to the incredible performances and very articulate and detailed camerawork and direction that’s builds upon multiple emotions. In La Chimera however even though it features all the parts of the slow burner formula made great by the aforementioned films, it for some reason all felt pretentious and drawn out to the extreme.

Hats off to Josh O’Connor who gives it his all and reminded me a little of Donald Sutherland from back in the 70’s, and you can see him really trying to grasp at the limited strings of his character to try and reach for some kind of depth in what otherwise is a hollow role. Yep, I get that he’s supposed to be a metaphor for loss and preservation, but there was hardly anything for him to do here. The movie tries so hard to be this poetic allegory, yet I didn’t feel a think. It’s funny as back when I was an acting/creative writing student in university, I’d imagine I’d dig up this grave of a film (pun intended) and be absolutely showering it in praise as I was a swellhead and self-centred artsy fart who thought entertainment had to be slow and boring. Okay, not to that extreme, but my tastes have definitely changed since then and a film like La Chimera comes off as over-indulgent and obsessed with itself.

Nothing sticks, nothing grabs, La Chimera is dull as a muddy puddle, with uninvolving characters, a boring storyline with a protagonist exclusively moping about for over two hours. At least Rohrwacher hired Hélène Louvart to shoot her new film. La Chimera does at least look great in an understated way. Sometimes films do not connect despite the best intentions of the director and the viewer. Sometimes, it’s a viewer problem. Wrong time of day, wrong seat, wrong part of the theatre, tiredness, the person sitting next to you being annoying, several factors play into the reception of a motion picture, good and bad. Perhaps Rohrwacher’s La Chimera is a work of real merit and distinction, but see something in the wrong circumstances, in the wrong mood, it can harm both film and viewer. Again I appreciate that others are loving this film, but this one wasn’t for me.

Overall score: 4/10

[luvo27]

stress vs love cut scene concept from fabian's chapter!!

fabian's chapter ended up so much longer than i thought it would be. there was a scene concept where adaine and fabian break into rizs apartment to investigate and see if they can find out anything about baron, but it got scrapped for 1. time, 2. to avoid having to think about logistics, 3. the purpose it served for the plot/themes didnt work as much as i wanted it to, and while it probably would have worked out if i kept hammering at it, I'm happy with the chapter as it is. that being said, i have a few unfinished snippets to share!!

this scene was originally going to take place before the 2nd dream sequence:

“Whoever the fuck you are, I have a gun and I’m not afraid to use it—Fabian? Adaine?” “Hi, Riz’s mom.” “What the fuck?” “Hi, Mrs. Gukgak,” Adaine says sheepishly, getting up from the floor. “Sorry about your window.” “The window’s—kids, what in the world are you doing here?” “We’re, um. We’re worried about Riz.” Sklonda sighs and puts down her gun. “Yeah,” she says. “Me too. Do you guys—you, or any of the other kids, do you have any idea what’s happening? He’s been so…” she rubs her forehead. There are bags under her eyes, Fabian realizes. “He hasn’t been like himself,” Sklonda finishes. “Do you think we could…” “Kids…look, normally, I might say yes. I’m really glad he’s got friends like you in his corner, but it’s three in the morning and he’s asleep, so—” “We should let him sleep. Yeah.” “Plus there might be—” Adaine shoves Fabian in the side. “Ow!” He clutches his side. “What was that for?” Sklonda eyes them suspiciously. “Kids? Is there something I should know about?” “Maybe. We’re not sure yet.” “Is it something dangerous? Is Riz in danger?” Adaine hesitates. “Maybe,” she says. “We don’t—that’s why we’re here. We think it’s…it’s complicated,” she finishes lamely. “It’s Baron,” Fabian says. Adaine shoves him again. “Ow!” Sklonda’s eyes sharpen. “Riz’s boyfriend. Yeah. I talked to Jawbone about it, do you—you kids have met Baron, right? Do you know anything about them? Anything you haven’t told us?” Adaine and Fabian look at each other. “Not really,” Adaine says unhappily. “They’re dating Riz, and they’re probably not great, considering they’re like, Nightmare King adjacent or something. But we don’t know how, or what, or why—we don’t know what’s happening with Riz.” “Okay. Okay. I really…Riz could use all the rest he can get, so—” “Yeah, we weren’t really planning to talk to him tonight anyways, what with the powerful evil partner—-” “Powerful evil partner?” “Uh. Yeah. You know about the hands?” “The what? I mean, I guess Kristen mentioned something about hands a while ago—” “Yeah, exactly. Mrs. Gukgak, the point is, we don’t want to put Riz in danger. Or any more than he’s in already. We’re just…we need more information. Normally, Riz is the one who’d be breaking and entering—” “Fabian.” “Ahem! I mean, gathering information.”

“We should have brought Gorgug.” “We should steal Riz’s tie.” “We cannot steal Riz’s tie.” “He’s asleep! And we’re trying to help him.” “Yeah, and you were trying to help him when you asked about Baron during lunch.” Adaine goes silent. “Sorry. I didn’t—sorry. You, uh. You tried. It’s not your fault.”

“Mrs. Gukgak, have you been having problems with your heating system?” “No. Not that I’ve noticed.” “You’re sure? No problems with your heater, or like, windows opened, or anything? It’s been normal? You haven’t felt colder than usual?” “Well, I mean…we don’t turn the heat on super high here. But now that you mention it, I think I’ve been wearing warmer clothes inside than I usually do. And I think Riz has started wearing gloves, but I thought he was trying out a new look, and I didn’t want—you know how he gets, right?” Adaine nods. Sklonda lets out a breath. “Yeah,” she says. “It’s not—I don’t know if it’s something big enough for me to really notice, but if it helps, I do think it’s been a bit chillier than normal. Why?” “Just…thinking. It might be connected, I’m not sure.” “Right. Let me know if there’s anything else I can help with, alright?”

“That was useless. If we had Riz…” Fabian trails off. If they had Riz, they wouldn’t have had to do all this in the first place. “Yeah,” Adaine agrees.

plus an additional bit of fabian's voicemail at the end of the chapter from before the scene got cut :))

"We’ve been doing some investigation. Me and Adaine, that is. You’d be proud of us. Or maybe not, we did get caught almost immediately. And we were also breaking into your apartment, and I don’t know how you would feel about that. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. How do you delete voicemails? Uh. Well, I thought I would tell you that, you know, we tried. Investigating’s hard, the Ball. Honestly, I don’t know how you do it. It’s, uh, a very impressive skill, I’m figuring out. It’s really cool that you’re so good at it."

[you-are-only-mine-vn]

BEFORE YOU CONTINUE

"You Are Only Mine" is a large yandere collection. Because it's yandere it obviously contains sensitive topic like stalking, unhealthy relationships, and murder. There are many other triggering topics in this series like self harm, abuse, disturbing imagery(eyes, gore, etc) More will be added as I write for it.

You Are Only Mine is a series of yandere stories!

There is no one specific plot to you are mine, it serves to hold a a bunch of different yandere stories and characters. For example "Heart of the Sea" which is the first story I will be working on will not have characters that interact with any character from "Our Happy Ever After" because they are in a different story in his series. Not all characters in the stories will interact though.

FAQ

If I make "You Are Only Mine" content, can I tag you in it?- Yup! I would LOVE to be tagged in any fan content! It makes me so happy and overjoyed to see people making stuff for You Are Only Mine. I'm happy that others are interested in my stories and characters.

Are we allowed to send asks interacting with the Li's? - Yeah! I think it would also help me write the characters better for when I write their routes.

STORIES

Heart of the Sea- An ocean themed vn! Y/n is part of a pirate crew, exploring the seas with them. In most routes, the crew runs into a storm, you lose your footing, and fall into the ocean. However you don't die, not even when you're on the ocean floor.

Our Happy Ever After- A fairytale themed vn! The love interests are based off of fairy tale characters. The protagonists, the side characters, and even the villains! But how'd you get to these worlds?

more to be added- I currently have 15 other story idea to add to this but there's no name currently and that's fine since I mainly want to focus on Heart of the Sea

TAGS

#Heartoftheseavn

#Happilyeveraftervn

#💌-fan content

#🔞-minors dni

#🎤-Asks

#🥀-Angst

#☁️-Fluff

#🌟-abt star

DNI/RULES

Proship

Ageless in bio(either put your age/birthday in your bio, or you can send me a message telling me your age, if none of those I’ll block you)

I won’t be writing any gross out kink or anything like that.

If you’re a minor please don’t interact with my content that is 18+, especially since the base content won’t be 18+ so you can still get content.

Please be patient with me

I’d prefer it if younger kids(14-) didn’t interact with this blog because there will be swearing and triggering topics, thank you.

I’m happy to take criticism on anything and will take it into consideration. What I won’t listen to is any hate comments without criticism, I’ll just block you.

If you're going to send in an NSFW ask, please turn off anon, otherwise I'm not gonna respond to it or I'll make it SFW, thank you!

More might be added/changed to most sections as I develop this

EXTRA LINKS/INFO

This is a side account so any other interaction will come from @starswirlfoxgames

I also have a Twitter that will be STRICTLY 18+: https://twitter.com/Starsw1rlF0x

Ask box is always gonna be open unless I say otherwise so feel free to spam me with asks!

I typically try to do asks in order from which I get them but one might be late if I'm struggling with ideas. I wanna try and have a posting schedule which will be 10 am and 5 pm.

Asks: 0 Queue: 0

[s-------i-------g]

4/16/23-4/22/23

Resident Evil 3

If you’re a regular reader of this column (you are not), you’ll recall how I just finished the Resident Evil 2 remake with the $5 cheater mode. Unfortunately, there was no way to obtain a rocket launcher with infinite ammo without working for it, so I played through the entirety of this game entirely legitimately. So, how was this type of game now that I had to deal with inventory management?

I fucking loved it.

Look, I know. I’m going to get so much shit for saying that this is my favorite Resident Evil game, but so far it is. There is a chance that RE4 tops it at some point. But it’s not likely, considering I don’t have the remake and that I found the control scheme so weird and fucked up, that I gave up after dying in the village in the original game (the “original” being the HD version they ported to PC as played on a Steam Deck).

What I really like about RE3make is that it is blatantly dumb. They’ve thrown most of the horror in the trash and now it’s just an action movie about Millia Jovovich Jill Valentine kicking ass, escaping the zombie apocalypse, and getting revenge on those bastards at Umbrella. Sure, there are still some puzzles, and inventory management can still be a pain in the ass, but when Nemesis showed up every now and then, I was less panicked than I would be when Mr. X showed up; instead I was more annoyed than anything else. Although it is funny that hard shell supply cases just sort of fly out of him every now and then.

Capcom went all in on making this game more fun than anything else. I never felt like I didn’t have the tools to deal with whatever it was that was coming at me, but I had a damn blast handling the situation. If Resident Evil 2 is Alien, Resident Evil 3 feels like Aliens. And that works a lot better in a game than a movie, let me tell you.

The Full Monty

I don’t know on this one. It’s a little too goofy for its own good, and despite touching on depression (social and economic), it really doesn’t feel like it has much to say about… well, just about anything. Maybe body positivity? It’s not a bad movie, but with a plot hinging on a strip show where men strip down to the buff, the fact that they don’t show the movie-watching audience the dick is a travesty. They have that one hot guy who is supposed to have a giant dick, but they don’t show it? Cowards.

Contact

I can’t help but be a fan of anything sort of science fiction that focuses almost entirely on the minutiae of a niche discipline. I’ve been wanting to see this movie for a while (while also confusing for Cocoon, weirdly), and I find SETI and the Very Large Array to be an inherently interesting subject.

Robert Zemeckis is always an uncertain factor in basically any movie he’s attached to, but he remains grounded for most of the movie, with CGI used more sparingly than you might find his later animated abominations.

Jodie Foster does a great job as a capable woman who’s determined to reach her goal and is constantly underestimated by the men around her, just not in the same oppressive a way as they were in Silence of the Lambs. Matthew McCounaghy is around and serves to give the movie and extremely tiresome theme of where faith factors in when it comes toe world of science. The theme itself isn’t inherently bad, but it’s just done in such an overt way that I feel like it takes away from the ending the film which is all about faith.

The real star of the show is John Hurt who shows up a few times as the reclusive and enigmatic billionaire who funds Jodie Foster’s project. His presence often seems otherworldly and the fact that he always shows up to provide hope and keys to the secrets of the aliens paints him in a more extraterrestrial role. Unfortunately real space-faring billionaires are not nearly as interesting, humanistic, nor helpful.

What strikes me though, is that the ending feels hopeful in a way that seems genuine and sincere. Sincerity is hard to capture, and more often than not a message of hope feels jammed into a work to please an audience more than expressing a genuine thought. Good on ya, Bobby Z, you deserve to be forgiven for Forrest Gump.

Also, if there are any Jake Busey fans out there, watch out for this one, because your man has an outsized role in the film.

SOUNDTRAXXX

Mummification and Prayer by Prurient

History of Aids by Prurient

Fossil by Prurient

Pleasure Ground by Prurient

The Golden Chamber by Prurient

Colonialist Nature and Misanthropy by Prurient

The Black Post Society by Prurient

And Still, Wanting by Prurient

Cocaine Death by Prurient

Annihilationist by Prurient

Oxidation by Prurient

Worship Is the Cleansing of the Imagination by JK Flesh and Prurient

Of the Memories of Friends by Prurient

Through the Window by Prurient

Rainbow Mirror by Prurient

Garden of the Mutilated Paratroopers by Prurient

Black Crows Cyborg by Merzbow and Prurient

As is likely extremely obvious, I’ve been listening to almost the entirety of Prurient’s back catalog, spurred on by the excellent album Creationist. I really don’t know what to make of it, thought. Some of these albums are beautiful, challenging, and far too interesting for their own good and I like track after track, but others are grating, annoying, and full of whiny scream-o vocals. If there was a distinct trajectory that Prurient was following it would be easy to say whether I definitively like his music or not, but he’s definitely one of the more interesting artists I’ve come across in recent memory.

Profound Mysteries III by Röyksopp

I liked this a lot more than PMII, so I don’t know what to make of that.

WRAITH by Teeth of the Sea

I was testing out a new pair of headphones, and this was the first TOTS album I listened to, so I found myself going back to it. I still love it. It’s weird, dark, ethereal. Something like a cyberpunk noir soundtrack, with some wonderful trumpet solos peppering some great ambient work. Good stuff!

Dubnobasswithmyheadman (20th Anniversary Edition) by Underworld

Again, I was testing headphones, and I figured I’d throw this on. Still fucking great. Almost wall-to-wall bangers, and definitely one of the most important electronic albums ever.

[kittykatthetacodemon]

Okay I’m going to go a tiny bit feral about this but prev comment is so perfect I want to add on a bit.

It’s not just this episode is the thing?? It’s the whole fucking show, it’s the theme the whole way through. He’s literally re-learning how to be Obi-Wan Kenobi and not “that weird guy with no friends who lives in the middle of nowhere and doesn’t talk to anyone.” He used to be The Jedi-est Jedi, the most dramatic wizard bastard; he served cunt and kicked ass in his beige monk robes and that’s a fact. But now he’s literally buried himself in the desert for a decade. He’s tried to erase every aspect of himself. He’s been fucking terrified of everything and everyone, especially himself, because to be what he is? That is now a crime punishable by death.

I forget exactly which episode it is, but the bit that really nailed what was happening for me? It was early on, when he tries to infiltrate that gang’s drug lab to find Baby Leia (or whatever, forget about the plot, I don’t CARE) and he gets into a fight. It might possibly be his first fight of the show? No lightsabers or anything, just hand to hand combat. He hits the first guy and then FULLY PAUSES to look at his own hand in surprise. “Oh, that’s weird,” his face says to me. “I forgot I was good at this.”

And then, just like our gif up above—you can SEE him remembering. It takes every bit of focus to take the first guy down. But the next fight comes a little easier. And the one after that is easier still. And by the end of that sequence he’s taking down multiple opponents, and he doesn’t look surprised at his own body anymore. He’s remembering.

And that’s what it’s like the whole show, it’s what he’s doing the whole way through. Ignore the plot. I said it before. Forget about the plot. Everyone who’s complaining about the plot is missing the point. The plot is a sometimes paper thin vehicle for the CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT and that development is TRANSCENDENT and I am TAKING NOTES. The fight choreographers for this show got it EXACTLY RIGHT. The physical aspect is an exact visual mirror of what is happening to him mentally.

I could go on for hours and hours about this but everything he does is this slow awakening back to who he really is, and you basically watch his whole personality come back online in the same slow stuttering way. He’s remembering how to fight. He’s remembering how to be A PERSON, and then how to be HIMSELF. He has to slowly work his way back to his lightsaber. He has to slowly work his way back to the Force. He has to remember how to CARE ABOUT PEOPLE, because Inquisitors apparently track kindness like an outbreak of the plague and Obi-Wan has had to cut that part out of himself to survive.

And yeah the twirl is fucking hilarious, and it is not necessary, but that’s OBI-WAN. The man used to regularly flirt with people doing their sincere best to kill him. He has a Signature Dueling Pose. He’s the most dramatic motherfucker on the planet. On any planet. Every little peek of that coming out of the Tattoine-sandblasted shell of Ben had me screaming. THATS OUR OBI WAN. THERE HE IS. I KNEW HE WAS IN THERE SOMEWHERE.

I LOVE this show. I LOVE what they did with this character. “I wonder what Obi Wan Kenobi’s been up to all this time?” Nothing. The man’s traumatized to holy fucking hell. Obi-Wan has left the building—but. But. BUT. He’s not gone for good.

I have more to say but I’m gonna quit while I’m ahead. Just—nobody try to look me in the eyes and tell me the fight choreographers didn’t nail it. They did. Don’t look at me, I’m never going to be normal about this.

I CANNOT BELIEVE HE STOPS TO DO A DRAMATIC LIGHTSABER TWIRL IN ALL OF THIS

[thetoadghoul]

Volunteering: (Ohtani x Reader) <333 (Part - 2)

part 1!

plot: Wednesday’s game arrives which Ohtani invited you to, some bonding time before the first pitch <3 slowwwburn, long cause idk details are fun lol

Wednesday quickly arrived, made much faster by the crazy amount of work you were required to do for your ‘actual’ job. The last three days had been spent with you running around the LA area, as well as cyberspace, to serve your role as interpreter. It was hell, for more reasons than one. The biggest of all being that even though you were not in Japan at the moment, you were still required to wear a proper suit. That meant a tight navy skirt, stockings, and some blasted heels. Sexist men, long meetings, and endless paperwork aside, you enjoyed your job for the most part - but this aspect really wore on you. However, the pain in your feet wouldn't damper your excitement for tonight’s game. Today you were not actually volunteering at the Angels stadium.

The day before yesterday, when you were actually volunteering, a bashful Ohtani had tapped you on the back while you were picking up baseballs from the batting cages. When you turned around the giant man was holding out a lanyard with an attached document, marked ‘VIP Guest of Player’. It took all you had not to let your hands shake with nerves as you reached out and grabbed it gingerly.

“Uh, see you on Wednesday.” The man looked to the side awkwardly, running a hand through his hair.

“...Yeah.” You responded with a small smile, feeling stupid, but it was all you could think of.

“Well, uh, I better go...” He motioned behind his back with a lazy thumb, staring to jog backward.

You nodded quickly, rushing to go back to picking up balls before you said something super lame, or weird.

It wasn’t till you were on the way home did you take a look at the back of the stadium pass. It read ‘Guest of Shohei Ohtani’. So he had put in the request for you, that was just like him, so kind. It would be an understatement to say you weren’t excited for tomorrow.

-----

Currently, your heart was still racing, but for another reason other than a certain super cute and insanely talented baseball player. It was because it was almost three-thirty in the afternoon and you were running around your company-provided apartment, trying to get ready as fast as you could. Ippei let you know you should get there around four-thirty, by then the team would have been done warming up and starting to enjoy a pregame meal while the away team got the field to themselves. From that point onwards, pretty much everyone was free to relax in the clubhouse till just before the first pitch.

With little time to consider, not even enough time to take a shower after having just got off work, you went with an oversized red T-shirt, baggy jeans, and some cool Jordan’s. This was your go-to, and it was comfortable. You don’t have many clothes anyway, living out of a suitcase.

Right as you were about to run out of the door you remembered to grab your standard Angels cap, it had been provided to you as part of your volunteer uniform a while back, slipping it on over your tight work bun. You would let your hair down later.

All right, everything was in order, Uber scheduled, lanyard secured.

It took about half an hour to arrive at the stadium, and once it came into view, you instructed the driver to let you out in front of the ballpark entrance. It had been a long time since you got to go through the gates as a member of the audience, it actually gave you a wave of nostalgia seeing everyone in their gear, so hyped up for the game, tailing gating outside for what was probably hours.

Once you were through, you started walking through the concession stands and various other stalls, dodging around the fans that were already inside watching the warm-ups, as well as hanging out drinking and eating. There were pictures of Ohtani everywhere, people taking turns snapping pictures of each other in front of the various cutouts of him. The air was buzzing with energy, and it seemed like all for that guy. Honestly, you had worked for a couple different teams over the years, but you had never seen hype like this. It was surreal, seeing a legend in the making.

You smiled, gripping the lanyard around your neck, making your way through the stadium. Shohei was super nice to do this for you, really, you should show him your support. Maybe a quick peek in the team store would do? Plus, you deserved to spend some money on yourself. After all, this was the first time you had really been ‘out’ in the almost three months you had been in California. Your free time was either working, volunteering, video games, or sleep.

You took a couple moments in the Angel's merch shop, quietly perusing the aisles, keeping an eye out for any Ohtani-themed items. Unfortunately, there weren’t really that many, probably sold out by the fans. What was there, was way too small for you.

“Y/n, you here to watch the game?” A young voice sounded.

When you turned to see who addressed you, a familiar girl was standing there grinning.

“Hey Jordan! I didn’t know you were working tonight.” You grinned back.

Jordan worked at the store as a stock manager, she was close in age to you so the two of you often hung out. You had invited her over a couple times, both bonding over your love for crappy reality TV, beer, and of course, baseball.

“Yeah it was last minute, a girl was feeling sick and there wasn’t anyone else cept’ me.” She sighed.

“Bummer, text me if you need help?” You offered, to which she waved you off.

“Nah, you enjoy being here and NOT working.” She chuckled, walking over to organize a messy shelf.

“So, you looking for something in particular?” The girl glanced over her shoulder.

“Uh yeah, you recommend any cool Ohtani stuff? Or is there any at all... seems wiped clean in here.” You said while looking around.

“Ohtani? You here to cheer him on too then. Wanna catch his eye.” She teased.

“Don’t say it like I’m just here for my like, prince charming.” You snapped back playfully, but, maybe a little too fast.

“Aren’t you?” She pressed with an eyebrow.

“Okay, I’m leaving.” You pouted, fake walking away.

“I’m just kidding, actually, stay here for a second I might have something you’ll like.” Jordan yelled as she jogged off to the back room behind the counters.

You did as you were told and when she came back there was a large white Angels jersey in her hands.

“Ta-da!” She grinned, twisting it around to show the player’s name on the back.

“Oh, it’s in Kanji? That’s cool, I didn’t know these existed?” You questioned, running your finger over the ‘tani’ character of Ohtani.

“It’s the last one on the floor, had to grab it off the mannequin. Hope it’s not too big? It’s XL?” She questioned, passing it to you to hold.

“Nah it’s perfect, can’t you tell.” You joked holding the jersey next to you, while you showed off your oversized clothes.

“Figured it'd be fine, wanna get rung up? I’ll give you that ‘good good’ employee discount. But, don’t tell anyone.” She smiled, heading to the register, to which you nodded and jogged after her.

After you finished your purchase and waved bye to Jordan, it was time to head to the clubhouse. It was around five, so you were later than you planned but Shohei usually practiced batting in the cages a little while longer while everyone headed in. Slipping the plastic shopping bag into your purse, and ripping the tags off your new jersey, you slipped it on over your T-shirt, smoothing out the material as best you could. It felt great to finally have some real merch from the team, and part of you sort of wondered what Ohtani would think when he saw you. Hopefully, it wasn’t too much to just show up in his gear after he pretty much randomly invited you, let alone in the stadium-specific one, as you just learned from your colleague.

After you got to an employee-only doorway, you pushed on it hoping it was actually open. Ippei had also let you know via text that it would be unlocked for you. Another kindness of Shohei, not just inviting you, but making sure you had access to all the catering and AC inside the resisted area of the building. You slipped in and locked the door behind you, not wanting to encourage some intoxicated fans to follow. The hallway was empty and cool as you started making your way to the clubhouse.

You were admittedly a bit nervous by the time you got to the doors, feeling a bit awkward about strutting in as anyone other than a volunteer for the first time. Carefully you pushed open the door, making sure not to hit anybody. The room was full of chatter, some players eating, some playing cards, others watching TV on the room's monitors. You looked around for Ohtani, but he wasn’t there yet apparently. No matter, you strolled in and went for the snack area. Truthfully you hadn’t eaten since that morning, and that was just a toasted bagel. Turning your back to the rest of the room, you began filling up your plate with cocktail shrimp and grapes.

“Nice jersey.” Ippei said, coming up next to you, grabbing small sandwiches for his plate.

“Is that sarcastic?” You questioned with a smile, finishing your plate.

“Nah, I’m sure he likes it.” Ippei jerked his head to the left.

He? You leaned back to see around the man, meeting Shohei’s surprised face almost immediately. Had he been standing there the whole time? He had obviously been staring at your back, at his name, bashfully looking up to your face when you moved, blinking a couple times to clear his eyes.

“I uh, got it ten minutes ago.” You grinned awkwardly, pointing your thumb proudly at the jersey, hoping he wouldn’t think you were a weirdo.

The large player didn’t say anything, blinking more slowly this time before opting to just nod gently, with a quick “thanks for your support”, hurriedly leaning forward to start filling his plate with all kinds of foods.

—-

Once everyone had their food the three of you found a place to sit while you ate, it was at the back of the room away from the noise, and where the two usually sat before a game anyways. A small conversation started while the three of you ate calmly.

“Why... do you only have grapes, and shrimp?” Ohtani questioned suddenly, looking at your plate baffled. You looked down at it as well, pausing for a moment trying to find out what was so weird about that.

“Uh, well, it’s because... these things are... super expensive in Tokyo. It’s like a rich person food to me.” You smiled, eating a couple shrimps happily.

“Wow. That’s so sad.” Ippei chuckled before taking a bite of his sandwich.

Shohei on the other hand burst out laughing at your response, making you laugh a bit too at your pitiful confession.

“Seriously, I feel like a mega-rich, and very posh, Ginza lady right now - eating nothing but shrimp and fruit. So fancy right? ” You exclaimed, popping a grape in your mouth.

The Japanese player laughed even harder, tears building up as he wiped his eyes.

“Those people wouldn’t touch that stuff with a three-meter stick.” Ippei stated, letting out a small laugh.

“Just let me have my moment.” You pouted through a smile, shoving more shrimp in your mouth.

The other man calmed down finally and was now sitting there smiling while he ate.

“So, fancy y/n, are you okay to sit in the dugout tonight. Not too unrefined for you?” Ippei questioned with a smirk.

“That’s, allowed?” You asked, surprised.

“Yeah, if you want to. Can’t stay there the whole time, but.” The man responded nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.

“It’s the best place to hear, ‘the surprise’.” Shohei added, food in the process of being shoved in his mouth.

“Well, doesn’t seem like there’s any other option.” You smiled at the player, who nodded in acknowledgment.

“He’s batting first tonight, you won’t have to wait long.” Ippei spoke, starting on the next sandwich.

“Hope me being in there won’t be bad luck.” You joked.

“You believe in that?” Ippei smirked.

“My family ingrained it into me, wasn’t allowed to watch a single super bowl game in the living room till I literally moved out.” You frowned, stabbing a grape.

“Harsh.” The man smirked with a small laugh under his breath.

“You will be good luck, for sure.” Shohei leaned forward in a hunch to take another bite of food, smiling sincerely at you as he looked up from his food.

“Then, I will see to it that will become a very good omen. Please believe in me.” You responded in the highest form of keigo you knew, bowing rigidly from your seat for comedic effect. Since you never studied that level of grammar, it was really freaking bad, causing the two men to laugh again.

“You’re funny.” Ippei chuckled.

“Yeah, and your Japanese is so good though?” Shohei exclaimed, eyebrows raised, eyes wide.

“Nah it’s pretty bad, I fell off the study wagon a long time ago.” You laughed awkwardly, waving a hand in front of your face.

“You’d be there forever if you stayed on.” Ippei chuckled again, while Shohei nodded in sullen agreement.

“Writing would be nice though, having to look up every other kanji at the doctor's office, or like city hall makes me literally sweat, like, a lot. Buckets. But when I look around, I'm the only one.” You giggled.

“You’re so honest.” Shohei chuckled, wiping his mouth with a napkin, still leaning forward in his chair, you grinned back at him. Your eyes locked for a while, you had never noticed, but his eyelashes were sort of long.

At that moment Ippei had to take a call, letting the two of you know he’d be back in a bit, walking off. The two of you looked away and finished eating in silence.

When you looked up from your empty plate, the large player was now staring at you with a soft expression. The warmth in his eyes made you blush, he didn’t even break his gaze once he was caught like he usually did. You responded back to him simply with a shy smile, before being the one to avert your own eyes to the floor again.

Thankfully at that moment, a group of Angels came over, slapping the Japanese man on the back, starting up a conversion. They were going over strategies for the game and overall just getting hyped up. You didn’t have much to input, so you just kind of sat there enjoying the excited chatter. Shohei smiled merrily the whole time, inserting little jokes, completely affected by their excitement. The way he carried himself really reminded you that the essence of baseball was really just about having fun with your teammates and giving it your all. He looked simply happy to be there, and it made you smile too, just watching him goof off. It was charming to see his duality of being a just big kid with endless laugher, versus the super-serious, and seasoned player he was on the mound.

You were really trying hard not to but, you were rapidly developing feelings for Shohei. The last three months of volunteering here, you of course thought he was really cute and kind, classic boyfriend material. A simple crush, like many of the girls working around him, surely had as well. However the possibility of you two actually dating had always been a foreign concept, one which stopped you from even considering it, at all, you just didn’t know if you even could. With you both traveling for work, how would there be time? Plus, what about the media? His family? Yours? All those things seemed unscalable walls, that is, until this moment, when you could feel his gentle eyes on you once again.

Maybe, there was something? Or maybe, he was just a super nice guy, and you were treated no different than anyone else.

When you snapped out of your thoughts, Shohei was starting to stand up, grabbing everyone’s empties plates. He reached his hand towards you, asking for the one in your hand with a tiny nod of his head, to which you thanked him, stood up, and handed it over.

Well.

Either way, you were so screwed.

-------

Hope you enjoyed! <3

[reiedits1]

The Last Of Us Part II

I played and finished The Last Of Us Part II last week and it has been on my mind ever since. I obviously understand that a lot of people have problems with this game, and that’s okay. I’m not here to change anyone’s views on the game or anything, I just want to kind of write down my opinions and takeaways as, again, it’s been on my mind since finishing it lol. Nobody may see this and this will mean nothing, that’s fine. 

Anyway, this post will contain SPOILERS

My Overall Thoughts

I’m not entirely sure how to structure this so I guess I’ll just start with a broad statement lol; I loved The Last Of Us Part II. In my opinion, it’s a beautiful and well-crafted story about loss, grief and consequences, with how each of these things affect different people. 

Discussion 

From what I’ve seen, I see a lot of people hating on this game for its handling of Joel and the decision to have the player play as Joel’s murderer, Abby. I’ve also seen a lot of people say that the message is as simple and plain as “viOleNcE iS bAd”, but I personally think it’s so much more than that.

The Last Of Us Part II doesn’t just tell you that violence is bad, but it shows you the ramifications of it by dealing with the emotional toll as well as the consequences on not just the main person involved, but their loved ones too.

As we all know, at the start of the game, Joel is brutally killed by Abby and we go with Ellie on a mission to avenge him by killing everybody involved. We see it all from Ellie’s point of view, hardheartedly seeing Abby as the villain as she just killed the character that we know and love as we have an emotional connection to him after the first game. His death is supposed to make you feel angered. It’s not like you’re supposed to be joyed by it. His death scene left me feeling empty and sick, wanting revenge alongside Ellie. 

However, as the game goes on, we start to see the story from Abby’s point of view. We learn that the doctor that you, the player, had to murder at the end of The Last of Us is actually the father of Abby. This is brilliant. Now we see one of the main themes of the story, consequences, and I was immediately on board. Joel is not a good person, at all. He murdered hundreds of Fireflies and took away the possible cure for humanity for his own personal reasons. This is incredibly selfish, even going to the lengths of lying to Ellie about the events as he knows that it isn’t what she would want. Technically, Joel is the villain.

Joel had been through so much, so you may think it’s justified. But the point is, Joel isn’t the only person in the world of The Last of Us. Everybody he murders aren’t just mindless NPCs, they are people. People with their own problems who have gone through their own share of pain and loss, people with their own loved ones. Such as the doctor, who had Abby, whom he loved very much and Abby the same. So, understandably, she would feel incredibly angry and feel the need for revenge, just the same as Ellie and the player after Joel’s death.

There is now a cycle of revenge. Ellie goes on to kill Abby’s friends, and so Abby tries to kill Ellie and her friends. It’s not until Lev talks Abby out of it that the cycle seems to have been “broken”. Abby and Lev put it behind them, however, Ellie cannot and nor can Tommy, which means that the cycle is not broken. Ellie continues her hunt for revenge, thinking it’s still what she needs. Just as she’s about to murder Abby, she sees it’s completely useless.

Here I’m going to talk about another core theme of the story: loss. As Ellie is about to kill Abby, she realises that Joel is gone. Completely gone, and killing Abby is not going to change that. She now has Lev, and if Ellie was to kill Abby, Lev would only lose Abby, leaving him in the same situation Ellie was in at the start of the game, which in turn means Ellie is becoming what she set out to kill. It’s no use. Revenge only causes more pain and loss. This cycle is so vicious and nobody wins, and Abby realised this once she found Lev, and found that revenge is a futile thing that does not achieve anything, especially not bringing back her dead friends. She managed to break the cycle herself, and in turn, she found a life worth living, a live with Lev. However, Ellie could not manage this, choosing to still seek revenge.

Because of this, she faces the consequences. She loses all of her loved ones. She loses Dina, she loses Jesse and she loses her baby son, JJ. Tommy is the same too. Tommy couldn’t break the cycle, and he loses his wife, Maria. And guess what, Joel is still gone. All of that loss, yet Joel is still dead. It’s all been for nothing. Ellie is now completely alone, which is what she said she was scared of in the first game, all because of revenge. The way forward is not anger, rage or revenge, but acceptance and love. That’s my takeaway.

You may think this treatment of Joel and Ellie is “disrespectful”, but I disagree. In the first game, you do a lot of bad things as these characters. Yeah, you go through a lot of pain, but so has everybody else, yet they still face the unfavorable consequences. It only makes sense that Joel and Ellie would too. In my opinion, this only helps to build the world of The Last of Us and show that just because Joel and Ellie are the main characters, they aren’t invincible, and the world doesn’t revolve around them. They just happen to be two people who live in the world amongst so many others, which for me, makes it so much more realistic. This is emphasised in the incredible detail in the gameplay of each enemy having names, with other enemies interacting with eachother as you stalk them. It makes them feel so much more real and only increased my enjoyability.

From a story like this, which is so dark and gritty, I don’t expect a happy ending. You’re not supposed to like Ellie by the end of this story, as she serves as the example of why the cycle of revenge is horrible. You’re not supposed to feel satisfied by it, you’re supposed to feel empty, hurt and sad. That is literally the point. 

You have to realise that The Last Of Us is a piece of artistic storytelling told and made by artists. It would have been so easy for Neil Druckmann to write a boring and two-dimensional story to appease players and make bank. But he didn’t. He chose to craft an intricate, heavy and creative direction for his material, and I hugely respect that. At the end of the day, he doesn’t owe you anything. This is his story, and these are his characters, he can do what he wants with them. If you don’t like his creative vision, then great! You don’t have to. If you don’t like something, just don’t play/watch/read it. If you loved the first game but hated the second, then just pretend it doesn’t exist and come up with your own fanfiction for these characters, it probably wouldn’t have been as good as this.

A lot of people blame “bad writing” when they don’t like something. There’s a difference between feeling bad about something than it being bad writing, you know. Just because it wasn’t what you wanted, doesn’t mean the writing is bad. By you feeling angry about Joel dying, Neil Druckmann’s writing has accomplished its objective. And I’m not trying to say that everybody who doesn’t like this game didn’t like it because their fanfiction didn’t come true. You cannot like this game solely because you don’t like the direction it took, and that’s fine. Because again, this story is a piece of artistic storytelling, and art is subjective.

This entire post is just my opinion. I personally loved this story and these characters, and it was exactly what I wanted to get out of this game. Everything about the game I just adored. I loved the plot, the writing, the characters, the gameplay, the music, the visuals, the performances - everything. And if you didn’t, then great. That’s your opinion. It just hurts me to see so many people dismissing the incredible things achieved in this game solely because of one plot point. I don’t know. As I said, I’m not trying to change your opinion or anything, I just thought I’d share mine.

I only scratched the surface of my thoughts and opinions on this game. I could talk about it for hours, which only goes to show the extent of its achievements and how incredible it really is. I doubt anybody is reading this and that’s fine, apologies if none of what I said made any sense at all lol, I’m awful at articulating my opinions aha.