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Haven DVD Commentaries; 5.22 - A Matter of Time

Commentary with Joshua Brandon (writer for the last episode), Brain Millikin (writer for this episode) and Colin Ferguson (who plays William and directed 5.20)

BM: This was written really as one big two hour episode with 5.21. We did that a bunch of times this year and I think it does feel that way. In a perfect world they would have maybe aired in a two hour block, because this is the most two-partery episode we’ve done all season long. CF: It does feel that way. And I like how in this episode, in every plot line there is someone who’s stuck. Stuck in the fence, stuck in the cave and stuck to a chair. BM: Yes, well that was an edict going into this episode, we needed this one particularly to be a bottle episode. Which for those who are unaware, that is when you spend as much as possible, if not the entire time shooting the episode, on your stage. We typically do it to save time, maybe save some money. Or you’re just gearing up for a bigger episode down the road. It can be a challenge, because on the one hand you’ve just got a lot of people stuck in a room. But the opportunity is really high for some longer stronger scenes and interactions between the characters. It becomes a bit more like a play than an epiosde of a TV show. CF: And when you’re a guest star coming in, your job as a supporting actor is to support the other actors. Now at this point in the season, 21 episodes in, Lucas is tired, Emily is tired, everyone’s just burnt. So I come in and I have to know my lines, and we ended up shooting all of my coverage for the epiosde in about an hour and a half at the tail end of one day. JB: Wow. CF: Anything in this direction [the camera facing towards William in the cave] we did in about an hour and a half, because we spent so much time the other way, with the thinny when it appears and all the other stuff that’s happening. There’s so much more movement there that took the lion’s share. And then turn around and hose down Colin. BM: That is unbelievable. Because that’s like ten pages of dialogue! CF: It was a lot BM: Oh my gosh.

BM: I can’t go any further without giving props to Steven Wright our costume designer - I love Emily’s coat. Emily has had exceptional coat game over the course of the series.

[As Audrey and Duke discover Hailie stuck in the fence] CF: Wow! That’s disgusting when you see it there BM: You know, that was somethign that we talked about for a long time. Number one, in the bottle episode way that we had to shape this, we knew that although we had all these outdoor scenes that we needed to keep them contained pretty much to one place. So that we could shoot as quickly as possible. But at the same time we had the season laid out and we knew the tent poles of the story that we had to hit. We knew by the end of this episode that Duke needed to kill her and take her Trouble, and it was going to be a big deal that he would be taking a Trouble now sort of willingly, to use it. And that was going to start him on a much darker path for the rest of the season. So we just needed to try and dramatise that as best as possible. And it just made sense, given how we had already set up Hailie’s mom dying in the same way - becuase all Troubles have a down side, and hers gave out on her at the exact time she needed it most, when she was passing through a fence. So we were watching a cut of that episode [about Barbara] and we figured the same thing should happen with Hailie. And it winds up telling a story about repeating what’s happened before. The sins of the father, destiny, all that stuff. CF: And a great performance by Tamara [as Hailie] too. That sort of squeal that she had there was not over done. It was gross. JB: She was great. And right from the beginning when she was cast in 5.15, as soon as they started seeing the dailies come in, we were all thinking that if there was a way to bring her back then we should, because she was really terrific. BM: Yes and she did not have an easy job on this one. She spent an entire day standing in this - I think painful - rig, with that fence going half into her. And she couldn’t move. CF: And the issue with that is you can’t go to the bathroom. Or, you can but it’s a time suck, you know if it takes 20 minutes to get out of the thing and 20 minutes to get back in again. BM: Yeah. But the fence was also sort of a practical thing, in that we needed her to be in a situation where she’s probably going to die, but where we could still talk to her. So she couldn’t be cut in half or something. So the fence was just kind of, logical really. And we had looked into some real life accidents where people have been impaled and this idea that the shock means you don’t really feel it, at least for a little while - and that was important because she needed to be able to have a conversation and not just be screaming in pain. JB: And also knife victims; leaving the knife in can prevent you from bleeding out. CF: By the way that fence was built by production, it was not an existing part of the location.

[Dave about to get hypnotised] BM: So this side of the story was probably the most important one. This was the other big tent pole that we knew coming into this was that this was going to be John [who plays Dave] Dunsworth’s last episode. John is fantastic, but we were losing him to another show already, and we had always intended that as we got towards the end game of the season that we would see some of our characters lose their lives. It just felt that with the stakes as high as they are, it wouldn’t really be realistic that everyone would make it through. So it just made sense given the story we were telling, that it would be Dave. But we had some problems because we knew that he was going to be tied up for the whole episode. Because it’s a bottle episode but also because last time we left him untied up he started killing people. So we needed our other characters to be smart enough to tie him up, but we also needed him to have a story that took him beyond just sitting there. So that’s where this whole ‘mind palace’ experience wound up coming from. And the same thing with what’s happening here [Vince and Dwight realising they’ve lost time]. We’d never really leaned into the lost time of it all, it happened on a couple of occasions, but knowing that we were going to dispatch with it this episode, we figured this should be one where we really kind of go crazy with some lost time stuff. I think it wound up really working well, because it gave Adam and Richard [as Dwight and Vince] a lot to play with. Again, as a bottle episode, just standing in the room.

CF: That wide shot of the cave is amazing; it makes the room look significantly bigger than it actually is. That first shot that started the scene. The room was not that big, it was probably only maybe 20 feet square. BM: Wow. You two were terrific in these scene. I wish we could have done more. But we knew we only had you for two episodes CF: Yes, I was contractually on other things before and after BM: Yeah, so we knew where we were going with Nathan and William throughout. We all really liked William, and sort of understood where he was coming from, in a good way. I think all good Bad Guys, you can kind of relate to how they wound up the way they did CF: And you guys did a great job of that, through and through, of making the reasons why he’s doing it real, and defensible. JB: The original title of this episode, I think, as “A Fool For Love” BM: That’s correct. I was like; I love that title, let’s use it - why do I love it so much? And then realised, it’s the title of an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Which I love that episode, it was the one that was all about Spike, also about their bad guy and getting to know what’s the matter with him. So if I’d had my way, we would have had more of Nathan and William in this cave. I think originally they were going to be stuck in there for a whole act CF: Oh wow BM: You were going to be running around, there was more stuff outside. A lot of that got pushed into about two minutes of episode 5.21

CF: I came up to Halifax for this with my girlfriend and my son, first time I’d gone on location with them. So when I come home at the end of the day I’m handed a baby to take care of. So for me, I had a ton of dialogue to learn JB: That’s a lot CF: Well you’re learning, your’e learning how to do it. It’s just a life thing that you deal with. BM: Well and you had just directed the previous episode a couple days before hand, right? How much time did you have off between directing and then having to sit in a cave for a day? CF: About ten hours. JB: Wow BM: Wow.

BM: It was a bit of a chllange this episode because we had three story lines, or four if you think about Dave in his own mind. And we’re just cutting between them all, they basically each get one scene and act, is how it winds up working out. And each one, they’re still in the same place they were before. So we had been really worried at the script stage, that it was maybe going to feel a little too static. But I’m happy to say that you guys killed it. CF: Well and watching it now, Tamara does such a good job of that kind of Faustian moment, of; I’m going to ignore the consequences/oh no here are the consequences. And it’s so hard to make that likeable, because if you do it badly the audience is just going to be going; Well you knew it was coming, you idiot. But she actually pulls it off JB: She’s amazing BM: Yeah, it was a little bit like what happened with Lisa Hawkins in 5.21. We had set up this, well Matt McGuinness had felt that in season four and some previous seasons, we had ignored the reality of the situation a little bit. So he had wanted where possible to really have people just react the way that you and I would. So we felt that this was another example of that, that Hailie’s going to be pretty pissed off about what’s happened to her. And that if Duke came to her and asked for help, she’s not going to be like; Yeah I’m going to be a hero and do the bigger thing. Real people don’t do that, she would instead probably be pretty mad at him and blame him for what’s happened to her.

JB: I love what they did here with this mind palace stuff. We talked about this a lot when we were conceiving these episodes. And it should be no surprise that Brian and I are Star Trek fans, and there was a DS9 episode right towards the end, it wasn’t a great one, it was called Extreme Measures, and it was O’Brian and Bashir’s last adventure, and they wind up in a sort of a mind palace. And I was reading some behind the scenes stuff that they wanted to treat the set differently and have psychedelic images on the walls and really make it different from - Oh we ran out of time and money so we just re-used these sets. They couldn’t do that there because they had to play on a whole thing of; Oh it might be reality, it might not. We didn’t have that, so that’s why you’ve got the tree and the bike and everything. CF: The tree is the best one because as soon as that goes up you’ve got the iconography of being some place else. JB: Exactly, and we really got to play with that. BM: I would like to be able to say that I got the idea from DS9, but I took it from a Stephen King book, Dreamcatcher, which they made into a movie with Damian Lewis and his character spends a good chunk of the film in his own head. It’s visualised as a sort of library, he’s running around looking for books trying to find the right bit of information. And so like so many things we’ve done in the show, we try to pull from other Stephen King books, or the Stephen King universe, and that was another way we were able to do. I’m kind of surprise that it worked and we were able to sell it through - it was kind of a dicey thing. I think Sherlock helped us a lot too. JB: And John Dunsworth is so good in those scenes BM: Yes, which were not easy because he was just there by himself. He had to spend a day just wandering around the Haven Herald alone, and then the next scene he’s talking to a disembodied voice on a radio. Because we couldn’t yet reveal that Croatoan is William Shatner. CF: And on the day when you’re shooting stuff like that it’s always the script supervisor, way off camera, shouting out the lines, and you have to react like it’s coming from … wherever. It’s always a bit of an exercise. BM: And to make it worse, it was his last day on the show. Five years of work, and the big send off for him is that he gets to work by himself. CF: I was there for the send off, it was a lovely lunch and it was quite emotional. And everyone came down from the office, it was quite a send off. BM: That’s great. He’s been fantastic. JB: I really liked John, he was one of the first actors I got to talk to on the phone (becuase I never went up to Canada) but he was one of the first people I dealt with when I started here and he was just telling jokes and being hilarious. Really sweet guy. BM: Yeah it speaks super highly of him that I was - well I still am a nobody, but I certainly was a nobody when I was doing my first episode back in season two. And I was walking home through the parking lot, everyone else had already gone home, and this car comes peeling out of nowhere and starts doing doughnuts around me. Then he slams his breaks on, rolls down his window - I thought I was going to die, but it was John Dunsworth asking me if I had dinner plans, and we went and had some food. He’s a great guy.

BM: So this was something else that we knew we’d have to do at some point in this episode - 5.21 was Audrey and Duke coming back together again, and this episode was going to have to be a bit of of the shit hitting the fan. And she has to ask him to do the thing that he left town for, and that he doesn’t want to have to do. And she’s right. JB: Yeah and on some level Duke knows that. Because it’s all about destiny and that’s the vision he saw, and he can’t escape it - the worst thing he ever had to do was kill becuase Audrey told him to, and now he has to do it again. BM: It was a tough one. We at this point knew where Duke’s story was going, which also made us sad, for Duke. So all of this episode for him, was just about dealing with inevitability that he’s just kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.

CF: I can’t believe that Duke and Audrey just left Hailie there on her own again to go and have another conversation BM: We got that note from the studio, and the way that we were able to get away with it, is that this episode takes place in real time. So she’s only there for about 42 minutes in total. Both of these episodes take place over the course of a couple hours; which is crazy when you think about it.

CF: You guys did a great job of making William’s appeals to Nathan logical. I find the biggest problem is when you get a scene where what you’re being asked to do, no one would do. Where there’s really thin logic that doesn’t really work and you’re supposed to pour your heart into it, but you’re just thinking; why would anyone do this? But with this I feel like I’m in the right. JB: Well it’s also not interesting otherwise. And Brian did such a good job with all that because, we do care for William. Even though he’s done these horrible things. And I think this episode is about him redeeming himself; in his own eyes as well as the audience’s. Because he’s been a fool for love, because he’s done things that he probably wouldn’t have done if he hadn’t felt so strongly for Mara. Who didn’t really care as much about him as he did for her. I think we’ve all been there. BM: I’ve been really attached to this idea that we ended up doing at the end of the episode, where Nathan’s wearing one of those rings around his neck, and we’ve spent a long time this season revealing what they were and what they could do for people like William and Mara. And I had really wanted to try to get to a place where Nathan could give one to Williiam. JB: Definitely. BM: That had been our goal - our stretch goal (if we can get there then great) - for the end of this episode. And there was a bit of push back, because Nathan had been wearing that ring around his neck since season two, and it had been his dad’s and Lucy’s and everything else. But I was just like; Nah, he should give it to William. But I think it wound up working, because it actually required William meeting him half way. JB: Yeah and he deserved it; he deserved to go home. I think that great line, I don’t remember exactly, but it’s like; You don’t deserve to die, I don’t know if they want you there, but you don’t deserve to stay here.

JB: In the cave scenes I also love the play on status, that Nathan is the one whose body is breaking down, he’s getting weaker and weaker, but William is the one pinned under the rock. So in theory William is at a disadvantage, but he’s just watching and he can wait it out if necessary. BM: Well that came out of necessity a bit, because originally they were both going to be in the cave but free, so they would fight for a bit and then get to a detente kind of a place. But enough people were like; That will never happen - they will fight until one of them dies. So it was like; OK, what about if one of them is trapped? So if William’s trapped, he’s smart, he’s a little Loki-ish, his biggest power is maybe his voice and he can break Nathan down that way.

[Vince with a gun pointed at Dave’s head] BM: Oh, so sad. JB: It is really sad, and this is what happens when a show goes on and you have to make big decisions, you don’t want to do it. I remember coming home and my wife was watching the show, the first half of the season, and she was saying; It’s getting dark - I don’t like where it’s going. And I couldn’t say anything, but in the back of my head I knew where it was going. But that’s the beauty of telling a story like this, is you get to have real consequences. You’ve got to make some sacrifices if the story is taking these dark turns. BM: I’m super happy that that voice mail bit with Dwight actually worked. It was an 11th hour save, because we were like; How are these guys ever going to figure out what the hell is going on? Because they keep having their memories wiped. I was like; Maybe Dwight gets a voice mail?? And everyone else was like; That’s a great idea! And I was; That’s a great idea???

BM: And we’re coming up on an Oprah Winfrey call back here [with Vince and Dave]. The first of many callbacks. This was just the idea that there’s some sort of untoward relationship or fascination with Oprah Winfrey that Vince and Dave both share. And that seemed like a good idea because we needed a litmus test to prove it was Dave, and a call back always works. JB: We never established what that was though, did we? BM: No. JB: We just know that it’s something between them. Duke knows about it too because he brings it up at the beginning of season four. BM: Exactly. You’d have to ask Gabrielle Stanton about that one. But it was the first of a few call backs that we tried to squeeze into this episode. Heavy shows up later on, and even Maddie Irons, we brought her back. We really start doing that a lot in this episode and the next few. We didn’t know whether this was going to be the end of the series or not, but regardless it was going to be a big season and we wanted to start looking back to the past a little bit. I think we varying degrees of success.

BM: So we knew that Dave was going to die at the end of the episode and that Croatoan was going to leave his body. But nobody wanted Dave to die in vain. We wanted him to have a hero moment. So we decided really early on, that he could do something to take away the lost time power that Croatoan has. Mostly because, as we tried to break what was happening in the following episodes, the fact that Croatoan could erase the memories at any point in time, made it completely impossible. So we realised we needed to get rid of that, and that gave us an opportunity to have Dave do something, which then beget the wall of clocks and his mission to go back into his mind palace here. But then again, if Dave *knew* he was going to die, that makes him less heroic, so we had to kind of do this whole dance were Dave was going to be spared. We had conversation after conversation for weeks about the levels of heroism - like, too heroic? not heroic enough? But you talk about all of that, and then it goes away when you watch John Dunsworth here because he is fantastic. And those two guys, their last two scenes together, all of those concerns just go by the way side.

CF: They got a sunny day for these scenes with Hailie, that’s great. There had been a lot of rain in the weeks before. JB: Yeah you wouldn’t really think this was shot shortly after the scenes with William and Nahtan in the woods. They got really lucky. BM: And we were just so lucky that Tamara was available to play Hailie. When we had here in 15 and 16 on that Duke side story, at that time we had not intended to bring her back. But we really liked her and found an opportunity, and now, I couldn’t imagine it any other way because Duke’s relationship with her in those episodes, that he started her Trouble and that he knew what happened with her mom - it all plays into what’s happening here. So it makes it so much better. And they were great. Unfortunately he has to kill her here - we talked for a long time about how to do it. There was this idea that he could snap her neck, but that felt kind of cruel, and so what we liked what this idea that he could kind of embrace her and pull her, so that he makes her injuries worse and that was what was kill her. But iti was the idea that he could hug her instead of some brutal thing. You know, he could have suffocated her or various things but that just felt too cruel. But they both sold it. JB: Beautifully directed moment too. BM: Yes. And unfortunately for Duke, and for Eric Balfour, he’s had to do a few really harrowing things like this to people over the course of the series. I think it’s because he started out the show as this kind of care-free, fun-loving guy, it just sort of makes sense with the nature of television that you start torturing people for season after season. But he does such a good job with it, that it was just only natural. He is as good at dealing with the dark things he’s had to do as any body.

CF: I’m happy that Emily’s walking better. I mean just standing there was an issue when we were shooting 5.20. BM: Even then you can see, we did start re-writing stuff so that she wouldn’t have to walk around as much. He can walk over to her, there just to be more running around in that story.

CF: By the way when you’re working with foam for days, everyone’s walking around on it, the ground gets completely crushed and pulverised into tiny little pieces, so its … your lungs aren’t happy by the end of it. Becuase it’s foam, it’s not meant to last more than a few days BM: That’s a great shot though. It looks great, worked out really well. CF: Yeah they do a great job as a crew, all the prep and getting the right lenses for that super wide angle - because it makes the scene to give it some scope.

[As Nathan takes a handful of aether] BM: So we always knew we were going to try and get to this point in the episode where Nathan was sort of forced to do waht William wanted him to do. And this moves them into a different tone of what’s going on between them.

JB: The controller crystal there, that was kind of modelled on the kryptonian crystals from the 1978 Superman movie CF: And that aether stains anything it touches. So we had to cover our hands with silicone barrier cream and just take it off immediately afterwards or it would stain permanently. BM: It’s funny there’s a bit of a vestige of previous versions of the script where your foot was stuck rather than your arm. So it was still in the script that William would cup the aether with both hands and then open them up again to reveal the balls spinning. And I realised after we shot it that was impractical now - but you did such a good job selling it. CF: Well we had a long discussion about how much pain I could show. Because if your arm is trapped by a boulder you’re going to be in pain, but if I leaned on that through a whole episode, that gets old. Because also Tamara would be doing something similar with Hailie’s story. So I sort of played that it was more numb, so that I could make the point of the scenes be the dialogue.

BM: For the longest time we didn’t have Heavy back, Robert Maillet, but he was such a good sport, he flew up just for the day. I think we got him on a break from The Strain. Really nice guy.

[William, about Duke and Mara; “I should kill you just for putting that image in my head”] *general agreement this is a great line* JB: We were talking about this section and wondering how William would react [to William learning about Mara using Duke] and I think all of us figured he’d be like; Yeah that sounds about right. As opposed to be upset or angry. CF: I did a few versions of that, some were more jokey but I can see why they didn’t get in because you can’t go too light there or the stakes go away BM: You guys really sold it. The idea of how Nathan gets through to William had always been, not that he would make some great argument and convince him, but that he would sort of challenge William, almost insult him so much that he finally got through to him. That felt the most realistic. CF: Well I take my hat off to you guys as the writers and Eric on the lighting, because when you’re reading a script thinking; Oh ok I’m trapped under fake boulders for an episode, … You’re thinking; This could be bad. But it doesn’t feel take.

[As Duke cuts his hand to let out the Trouble] JB: Can I just say, I’ve seen people do this on television a lot and it looks incredibly painful. CF: Yeah I cringe. If I had to cut myself, I wouldn’t use my palm. I’d use the back. JB: I’d be going for a pinprick, not dragging the knife right across my skind.

BM: So this is the place we wanted to get to where William is not a bad guy, not a good guy, somewhere in between. CF: Well and I like that you didn’t make him all of a sudden all like; *overly happy voice* Golly Gee, I’ve seen the light and I was wrong. You know he still has a bit of swagger where he’s just like; Get out of here JB: Yeah; Before I change my mind. Because I might. CF: Yeah. BM: It felt realistic for him. And in a strange way, I mean it’s a cliche, but him and Nathan wind up having more in common than perhaps either of them would care to admit. They are more similar characters. Nathan could have been William if the circumstances were different. JB: I love this too, this wasn’t quid-pro-quo, it was; “get out of here I’m letting you live” and then Nathan decides to hand over the ring. I really like that they don’t strike a bargain as such; it’s just two independent things that these characters decided to do for each other. CF: I like that moment, because I’m thinking William doesn’t get a lot of gifts. Birthdays, christmas, he’s not getting a lot of presents, so. BM: Yeah. And he’s spent a long time in the void.

BM: It’s funny William’s last words to Nathan there. We had always thought that he’d give us some clue that they could use in the next episodes. But then we shot the episode and coudln’t put the clue back in. He just gets a bit of advice - that it’s going to be bad - but it wasn’t really something we could call back to. Missed opportunity.

[Nathan; Where Hailie] JB: That very obliquely references the scene in 5.21 where Duke tells Nathan to talk to Charlotte, and Nathan says, I can’t, and Duke realises she’s dead. And now Nathan’s realising that Hailie is dead. BM: Wow. JB: You didn’t catch that the first time did you? BM: No. I wrote that, too.

[Vince saying goodbye to Dave] BM: So this was a scene we were looking forward to, in a sad dramatic kind of way. We knew that there needed to be a moment between these two. So we wanted Dwight to sign on to Dave’s plan early on, and then give Vince and Dave a moment, because this is their last scene together. And we just felt like we needed Dave to step up to the plate here. These guys have spent their entire lives protecting Haven and it’s secrets, and they’re in uncharted territory here but it’s like; Who are you really and what are you going to do? And we knew that Dave was going to step up in this episode and then Vince is going to do the same thing, pretty much, two episodes from now. It ends differently for Vince, but even going back to the pilot, these two had all of the secrets. And the idea had always been that eventually the show would catch up to them, and bring them along with it - like they would be swept up with it. CF: I love that idea that everything has a cost. That if you want to be the gatekeeper, or the holder of secrets, you’ve got to pay that bill at a certain point. JB: That’s a really sweet moment; Dave’s “Copy that big brother.” BM: Yeah I think we took that from some of the radio speak that Dave did in Roots, 2.05, when he was talking over the short wave radio. JB: That moment really gets me, where he smiles as he goes under BM: When I wrote this I originally imaged the exact same device as Men In Black, for some reason. But then we looked into it and it turns out that is what some people use for hypnosis, these little hand held strobing devices.

[Dave shouting at Croatoan] BM: John Dunsworth is great here. And again, it’s tough; he had to shoot all this by himself, just shouting at a disembodied voice. But you don’t even think about it, because that’s what John Dunsworth can do. JB: And you wouldn’t get many takes at this, either [Dave smashing up the clocks and the wall] BM: No. You can maybe tell, it might be a bit too obvious, but there’s a late addition to the scene here when Dave writes in his notebook, Because we needed everyone else to know that Croatoan’s plan is to go after Audrey, but there was really no way for them to know that. So we realised it was maybe one little last beat that Dave could do for them, something that he has figured out how to leave a message on himself. And that gave us a cool last beat of the episode. But it was literally added in I think a couple days before we started shooting. CF: John gave a really nice speech that day at lunch when he was retiring from the show. He was quite choked up about how much the show had meant to him. I think he said he didn’t appreciate this coming at this point in his life; having five years on a show and a huge extended family. BM: We got super lucky with both John and Richard. When we were casting the show we knew we were going to be shooting in Chester Nova Scotia, and we needed to cast Vince and Dave as pretty local guys. We didn’t want to have to be flying them in and out, we were hoping to find someone in the area. Those guys both lived a few miles away from where we were shooting, had both done tons of work, and they auditioned and got the job instantly. They were fantastic and everyone could not believe their luck. And they I think had only known each other a little bit, but had this incredible raport. John had lived right in the area forever; his family are like the Kennedy’s of Nova Scotia. CF: Oh yeah they’re everywhere BM: And Richard Donat built his house with his own hands out there in the woods, it’s remarkable, and has been there for decades. They’re both great guys, we were so lucky to have them.

[As Nathan Duke and Audrey discuss the controller crystol] BM: Thiis scene wound up being a bit more important than I think any of us really thought that it would. I thought it was just be funny if they talked about the fact they had no idea how to use this thing they just spent the last two episodes getting, and now they have no idea what to do with it JB: Yeah I think in an earlier draft it was more comedic BM: But this is the last time these three are really together again on the show. And certainly in slightly nicer circumstances. So it really wound up being about them appreciating that. The Three Musketeers together again. So it actually wound up being really moving. And coming right on the heels of what just happened with Dave; it’s pretty sad.

CF: And by the way just so you know, those aren’t the colours of real life. That house is not that yellow. The jeep is not quite that blue. Everything’s racheted up a little bit. I mean just a little; 10, 15%. I guess they were making the fall colours really punch because we’ve never really been in the fall before.

[Croatoan talking to Vince and Dwight via Dave’s body] BM: So this had been part of the plan from way back when; we knew that we would have Croatoan in Haven for the last four episodes of the season, so we knew that the end of this episode would have Croatoan pouring out of Dave. And there was a lot of talk about what that would look like. There were some people pushing for Dave’s body to explode, but that just felt cruel. So I’m so happy that he’s pouring out as this mist. And this made it a bit spookier because the next episode is about what is Croatoan? Because they don’t really know and i’ts not until the end of the next episode that we see that he now looks a lot like William Shatner. And here’s the note [on Dave’s arm] we were talking about that this wasn’t originally in here, and we added it really late. But I’m really happy that we did.

#haven syfy #haven dvd commentaries #5.22 - A Matter of Time

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fromthemouthofkings · 5 years ago

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10 Favorite Characters

Thank you @wisteria-lodge for tagging me!!

1. Grand Admiral Thrawn (the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn)

I stan 1 (one) blue alien Sherlock Holmes

[image description: the cover of The Last Command by Timothy Zahn, showing Thrawn as a blue-skinned humanoid with blue-black hair and glowing red eyes, wearing a white Imperial uniform. end id]

So I’m specifically talking about the book character here; I have no idea what’s going on in the Star Wars TV shows. But Thrawn of the Star Wars Legends universe (and the newer canon book, Thrawn) is hands-down one of the best and most interesting characters I’ve ever seen. He’s brilliant, creating battle strategies by studying his opponents’ cultural art to understand their cultural psychology and look for weaknesses in their thinking. And despite being a morally grey character, he’s not unduly arrogant and is actually extremely likeable--he has to work hard to get into the Imperial command structure that heavily discriminates against non-humans, his motivation is the best interest of his people, the Chiss, and he is always willing to explain his thinking to his close allies and friends. And who else would respond to being stabbed by smiling and saying, “But it was so artistically done?”

2. Beren (specifically, from Philosopher-At-Large’s script/screenplay adaptation of Tolkien’s story of Beren and Luthien, A Boy, A Girl, & A Dog: The Lay of Leithian Dramatic Script Project, which can be read in full here: https://rustbucket.net/leithian/index.html)

Do we not all want to yell at the gods about theodicy until they answer our questions to our satisfaction? I specifically pick Beren not from the original Silmarillion, as much as I love Tolkien’s work, but from Philosopher-At-Large’s script retelling, because A Boy, A Girl, & A Dog might just be my favorite work of literature of all time--fanwork, original fiction, or otherwise. I stumbled across it via a fanart of Beren on DeviantArt, like, six or seven years ago that referenced it, and my life has never been the same. It was hard to pick a favorite character, since literally all of the Script’s characters hold a special place in my heart, but I love Beren’s gentle, dry humor and his grim, determined, reckless stubbornness. His relationship with Luthien is of course the driving point of the story, but I thought that his relationships with Finrod and the other members of their company, and his backstory in Dorthonian and his interactions with the Valar were spectacularly done as well. This story is full of the grim determination to at least try and keep loving people, to keep throwing yourself at a problem and refuse to back down until you find a satisfactory solution, and Beren is right there at the heart of that, and I think that makes him pretty hopepunk.

3. Hamlet (Hamlet by William Shakespeare)

What is there to say about Hamlet that hasn’t already been said a thousand times by people significantly more learned and eloquent than me? I love him. He’s a genre-savvy protagonist trapped in a world where nothing! Fucking! Makes! Sense! My poor emo boy. I feel so much for him, being trapped in a situation where he needs to learn the truth in order to move forward and finally act, but there’s no way for him to get at the truth, so instead he just spirals further and further into fey, frustrated, erratic “madness.” Such a disaster bi. Definitely in love with his tired functional gay bf Horatio. Drama queen and Pretentious Asshole TM. In any decent modern au, he loves Hot Topic and gets all his clothes from there. I don’t even really do theater, but I’d love to have a chance to play him onstage.

4. James Dunworthy (the Oxford Time Travel series by Connie Willis)

The Oxford Time Travel series by Connie Willis ranges from hilarious (To Say Nothing of the Dog) to heartbreaking (Doomsday Book) and Mr. Dunworthy is right in the middle of all of it. For those who haven’t read it, the premise of the series is that time travel has been discovered, but we can’t use it to change the past, so instead it’s mainly just used by historians going back in time to study history, and Mr. Dunworthy is the head of the history department at Oxford University in the year 2060. He might be strict, but he has strong dad vibes, and, just, cares so much for all of his historians. He basically adopts Colin when Colin is stranded in Oxford over Christmas during an epidemic, he regularly puts himself in danger to look for lost historians, he helped invent time travel, and he knows that the point of studying the past is caring about the people who lived there. I want him to be my dad.

5. The 9th Doctor (Doctor Who)

Okay, I love 10 and 12 and 13 almost as much as I love 9, but 9 has to be my favorite Doctor. He was my first doctor, and what really got me hooked on the series was his kindness--hard-won and hard-clung to after the trauma of the time war. It isn’t always easy for him--the time war took everything away from him, and you can see how he’s tempted to be angry and bitter and harsh--but even so, he insists on helping people, on atoning for his mistakes, on nonviolence and using kindness and cleverness to fix things instead of violence and hate. He says, guns are bad and bananas are good, and every person is important, and when asked if he’s a coward or a killer, he says, “Coward. Any day.” And that philosophy, that choice, has left a deep impact on me.

[image description: gif of the 9th doctor saying “Who said you’re not important?” from New Who Season 1 episode 8, “Father’s Day.” end id]

6. Eliot Spencer (Leverage)

The whole premise of a group of thieves, criminals and con artists getting together to take down corrupt people in power is great, and Eliot is my favorite. He may have done some seriously bad shit in the past, but now he’s just devoted to taking care of the team, and particularly his hacker and his thief. I don’t know that he believes he’s worthy of their love, but he’s still somehow the most mature and emotionally stable member of the team; he knows how to control his anger and live alongside his regrets, and despite his grumbling, he dives headfirst into protecting the rest of the team and keeping them safe. Bonus points for being in an almost-canon ot3, and for the passion that he brings to his cooking. Also, I headcanon him as gray aro and transmasc, because I can.

[image description: gif of Eliot standing back-to-back with Parker and Hardison. end id]

7. Jon Sims (The Magnus Archives)

I’m only on season 3 of TMA so far, but I love Jon with all my heart. Working at a supernatural research institute, after having had a supernatural encounter of your own, and still choosing not to really believe in the supernatural until it knocks down the door to your office and riddles you with worms? Big mood. He’s a stubborn workaholic disaster ace, and I relate because I too struggle to interact with people and tend to get lost in obscure research projects for hours at a time. Somebody give this boy a hug and then a nap.

8. River Taam (Firefly)

Once again, there are a lot of good characters in Firefly, and I was hard-pressed to pick just one of them to put on this list. But River is a sweet summer child slowly overcoming trauma to find the joy and delight in the world around her that she had before the Academy, and I want all the best things for her. Bonus points go to Simon, who gave up everything he knew to save his sister, and Mal, who stubbornly sticks to his own code of honor even after loosing the war and much of his faith.

9. Lancelot (The Once and Future King by T. H. White)

A splendidly complex and morally grey take on our favorite legendary hero. T. H. White writes a Lancelot who struggles deeply with guilt and pride and imposter syndrome--who struggles desperately to do what is right and to channel the traits he finds in himself--both strengths and flaws--into doing the right thing. His scrupulosity is sadly relatable, and the lines “It is so fatally easy to make young children believe that they are horrible” and “ You could not give up a human heart as you could give up drinking. The drink was yours, and you could give it up: but your lover’s soul was not your own: it was not at your disposal; you had a duty towards it” are both absolutely haunting. It’s only implied in the book, but T. H. White admitted in letters that Lancelot enjoys pain, and is probably bi as well, and a bit in love with Arthur, and that he feels very guilty about it, and I just want a fluffy modern adaptation where Arthur and Guenevere and Lancelot can be in the kinky ployamarous triad that they deserve and just be happy together.

10. Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling)

While I have some problems these days with the Harry Potter series and the transphobia of its author, it’s possible to like something without minimizing its flaws, and this list would not be complete without Luna Lovegood. I spent significant portions of middle school pretending to be her. She taught me how to embrace my own unabashed weirdness, and I wouldn't be the same without her.

@a-nerdy-shade-of-purple @conan-concocting-chaos @one-supportive-august @the-lyra-cal-trans @the-eleftheria @dumpstertrash

#quinn speaks #thank you so much for the tag! I had a lot of fun doing this #my taste in characters is apparently Ravenclaws and Huffledors haha #thrawn #beren #hamlet #dunworthy #9th doctor #eliot spencer #jon sims #river taam #lancelot #luna lovegood

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killian-whump · 5 years ago

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Assuming there's a sequel, what do you think will JJ's role be? Do you think he'll make a hollywood healing and return as a nefarious outlaw (with a limp) or a jaded washout who lost both his legs? Or maybe he's already dead and only appears in flashbacks? What do you think has a higher chance of happening?

This is a really good question...

As I said in another post, I’m not entirely sure that Maddie Hawkins has another story in her - that includes JJ. I think it’s pretty clear that she’s done with him, and won’t be giving him a second chance.

And, besides, I think a retread with these same two characters might be a bit dull, no? So I feel like if they DO bring these two both back again, it’ll have to be something along the lines of what @gingerchangeling was proposing, where it’s years later, JJ’s as healed as he can be (obviously, with a limp or even a missing leg), and he hunts down Maddie for his own revenge... but there’s a kid. And it’s obviously his kid. And what do now??

Because we all know that Hollywood loves a good “bad guy changes his ways entirely for the kid he never even knew he had (or wanted)” storylines. I mean, her future headcanon is just that good. I don’t think they could possibly come up with anything better IF they want to bring BOTH characters back again.

But they might NOT bring them both back again. Dolly never said anything about bringing Maddie back for a Season 2 - only JJ. And, to be honest, JJ’s likely got a lot more tales in his life that could be told. It’s implied that he’s pulled the same trick he pulled on Maddie with plenty of other women. He’s obviously been at this for quite some time, and has many outlaw adventures they could show in flashback form.

We could also see them explore Deke’s story and tell about what happened between HIM and JJ in the past - and show us the tragic death of his wife. Given she died in a fire and not from a bullet wound, I don’t think JJ meant to kill her - and it’s obvious he’s not as cavalier about killing innocent women as he is innocent men. It could even be that this accidental killing of a young pregnant woman is what pushed JJ into being the murderer he is in S1′s story - sort of a “I’ve already done the WORST possible thing, so what does it matter?” mentality. That would likely make for a good story, as well - and I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing more of David Denman’s bounty hunter.

Speaking of which, they could just show us the adventures of Deke and JJ on the road back to nearest town and the Sheriff’s station, and it could just be an hour’s worth of quality whump with Deke torturing him the whole damn way. I mean, we all know that’s got MY vote, but I have this weird feeling it might not be what Dolly would go for ;) But then again, who knows? I mean, she DID say that they wanted to see JJ suffer a little - and man, did he ever suffer at the end there. Maybe Dolly’s one of us and we just never knew it? XD

Actually, there IS another way they could bring JJ and Maddie back together again - if he heals and escapes, she could even team up with Deke to try to recapture him, and we could see his hijinks on the run as he tries to get lovely young ladies to hide his limping ass from the law, lol.

Although we have to remember that if there IS a Season 2, it’s likely to follow the same format that Season 1 did, and each episode will be based on one of Dolly’s hit songs. So if we DO see JJ again, it’s very likely we won’t be seeing anything that will tie directly into this episode, so much as it would be JJ filling the role of “nefarious outlaw” or “double-crossing lover” in an entirely separate story based on an altogether different song. In which case, it likely would be from JJ’s days before meeting Maddie, because that would be easier to explain than having to go into HOW he escaped from Deke AND how he healed from those injuries Maddie gave him.

Or maybe they’ll scrap S2 entirely and Dolly will just write an entire album of new songs inspired by Colin, and we’ll get a season of hour-long music videos FOR that album, with Colin playing the lead in every one!!! :D

HEY. Don’t you all start telling me that’s not going to happen. I don’t come on your blog and crush your crazy dreams, do I??? XD

#jj sneed #heartstrings spec #jj sneed spoilers #not whxmp #anonymous #kw ask box

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jebentnietalleen · 5 years ago

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By now most people have read and seen a lot about the convention already, but since I said I would write about it (and because I like to be able to look back on my own experiences later), I'll ramble on for a bit...

First and foremost, it was a pleasure to meet and see other Tumblr users and fans of skam in general, I loved being in a room with so many like minded people 💖🙏🥰 . I've never been to a convention before so it was truly special. I wanna give a special mention to

@chelouelou

, meeting her was one of my personal highlights and I am so glad we hit it off just as well as we did online. She is the sweetest person and a ray of sunshine, and we had multiple laughing fits for no good reason. All lovely things imo 🧡😍🙌✨

Some random facts:

I almost drew a braincell at La Petite Ceinture so I could write 'the skam france galaxy braincell' but I chickened out last moment because it felt like sacrilege

Every time we saw one of those step scooters we felt triggered

Every time we saw someone carrying a baguette we laughed

Elise brought everybody clown noses

La Petite Ceinture is absolutely calming and just a great experience to visit

About the convention:

We arrived around 9:00, and because we already got our passes the night before (the organization for that was also shitty, we arrived at 17:30, which was suppose to be the time that they would open up for the passes, and left at 21:00. They were not prepared, everything arrived in boxes through out the night, we had to wait a long long time) we didn't have to wait in line and sat on the floor for a bit while we waited for everything to start. We sat next to a large glass window, and suddenly we heard some fans shrieking in excitement. We looked up and saw Maxence walk past us, and let me tell you, that alone was quite an experience. Mannequin elite, indeed. There is just something so alluring about him, it's even more apparent in real life. We were all very nervous and also excited about the whole day, and this hyped us up even more ngl. We saw more cast members come in, Coline, Paul, Robin, Leo, and probably more that I can't remember. We got called into the big room where the panels were held, at around 10:00.

After a short speech by the host, and a video introduction of all the casts (which was lovely and I might post later, I don't know if anybody posted it yet? I haven't seen it) the cast of skam france came on stage. The crowd went wild, naturally. They got a standing ovation. The energy was buzzing. Axel was joking around from the first second, he was talking with Maxence and with the boys and with Zoe, making jokes the whole time, even gave the host what looked like a slap on the ass hahah. He looked very hyped up. The whole cast looked very happy to be there.

The duo photoshoot was suppose to start 10:15 but started around 10:45 instead. So the day already started with a delay, and because a lot of events had some overlap (for example they couldn't start the group photo shoot if a few cast members were still busy with their duo's) it had a sort of domino effect throughout the whole day. There was a lot of waiting and a lot of standing around. When I was in line for the duo photoshoot, Axel and Maxence were both hugging fans they met before (even though it wasn’t allowed, which I still don’t understand tbh) and one girl wanted to do the Polaris hand holding bit with Axel and he went with it and looked at her so softly it was a lot okay, I hope that girl is still alive. I saw Maxence do the same thing with another girl during the same shoot, so they stood back to back with the girls in question (the picture later became famous because of the manip smh) And just before it was my turn, Maxence draped himself over Axel and they hugged with Maxence standing behind Axel and Axel reached up to touch Maxence's arm. This wasn't for a photo they weren't even facing a camera, this was just them being their caring selves. They were really sweet together the whole day, as everyone has seen by now.

We had to wait a long time for the panel to start, and they started way later than planned. Maxence was still busy with his duo with Rocco and Assa and Lais also came in later. Everything was in French and the host translated. I considered going up to ask a question (tell us more about the 90% social media content that Axel wanted to do that went too far lmao) but the queue filled up so quickly and I knew there was a limited time for the cast, so I didn't. In the end it's probably for the best seeing as they went on for a half hour longer because Axel is the literal best and I will not hear anyone say anything different. I thought the host did a good job, but I still think a lot of details got lost in translation because he obviously couldn't translate every single thing word for word. I cackled because when he talked in English he pronounced Axel and Maxence's names very Englishy. I thought it was cute that Axel kept shouting for Maxence to come join them when they started, and that when Maxence came in he sat in front of him. I sat pretty close to the stage at that point and saw that Axel explained to Maxence that he yelled his name hahah. That whole panel was golden, loved hearing about their fave lines and upcoming projects, plus they were all so sweet to each other, ugh, name me a better cast istg. Some of the other highlights for me were how adorable Axel and Leo were together and how Moussa and Lais are integrated into the whole cast and got along with everyone. Seeing Lais and Maxence interact got me thinking about seeing Sofiane and Eliott together on screen and now I want it even more tbh. Of course everyone knows that Axel ignored the rules and insisted on talking to everyone who had a question, went off stage and talked to the people who were left, tried to include everyone, in general he had a really big role yesterday. I got an ask saying he is a true born entertainer and that's true, he really is (I will answer that ask later I promise, I am just way behind tbh sorryyy).

After the panel was the group photo with the skam france cast. The chaotic energy was off the chart. Especially Axel and Maxence, I saw Maxence bite some girls tag that was around her neck for the picture lmao. They kept cheering the people on who came for their picture, it was adorable. When it was my turn I stood between Axel and Maxence and ugh, just, it was great okay. I said thank you when I got my picture, and Maxence went: nooo, thank yOuUuU (you know the voice he sometimes uses? Yeah) what a sweetheart tbh.

After this there was a looooot of waiting for me. The only thing I had left was the autographs and selfies (this was one event) and that could not start before all the group photos were done, and they went on for way too long. That just means the organization sold too many or didn't calculate the right amount of time it would take. I managed to catch some of the skam og panel and italia, but not all of it, and tbh it's all a blurr because I was busy with processing everything haha.

Finally it was time for the autographs, and the line was looong. I had the pleasure of seeing Axel carry Lais to the tables up close and personal, what a legend. The times I fondly shook my head with a grin on my face yesterday because of that chaotic king are countless. Just before I was almost at the end of the line, they cut us off because they needed to start the closing ceremony (for lack of a better description). Luckily they wrote numbers on our hands so we didn't have to wait all the way back in line again, because after the ceremony they would get back to it. This wasn't in the schedule, it was suppose to be over, hence closing ceremony, so the skam france cast stayed behind way longer than planned. The closing ceremony was very emotional, most of the cast got tears in their eyes as people shared their stories. Not everything was translated but you could still tell it meant a lot to them. Not to mention the amount of money they managed to raise with the convention. Truly amazing. Of course we all saw the cast go absolutely nuts to one direction lmao, that was a treat to see after such a long day. Idk how they kept up their energy, especially Axel who seems to be inhuman tbh. He never seemed very tired, you could see it a bit in his face but he powered on and I love him for that. The rest of the cast was definitely more visibly tired, some more than others of course. Finally we got back to the autographs, and still it was a long wait. I think we were there for nearly 2 hours and I only got to Marilyn, Lais, Axel and Maxence. By then it was 21:00 and I could barely stand. I only ate two mini croissants for breakfast and had a few handful of nuts during the day. I wasn't hungry but that still probably wasn't very smart of me. I kind of regret not staying to get the other autographs as well, but I was truly spend. Lais is as much a ray of sunshine as he is on TV, he is super nice and thankful, as is Marilyn. They were kind to everyone. That's something that I can say about the whole cast: everywhere I looked, I saw happy cast members who were touched by every single person who come up to them. Amazing really.

I'm not gonna lie, I was looking forward to getting to Axel the most. Anybody who follows me will not be surprised by this. So let me tell you a little bit about it. Axel gives the best hugs, is kind, is soft, calls you by your name, explains to you that he will read your letter later and carefully because he reads every one of them (I assured him that I am aware of that and very thankful) and that he wants to take his time with it to be able respond to it (which is not something I expect or even want, I just wanted to thank him and tell him how great he is, no response necessary). When I said it's been a long day he said no no no no, it's been a cool day, and I think he really means it. He was so full of energy after that long a day. He is so happy whenever he sees someone he remembers. And when I asked for a hug he said pffff of course!!! Did I mention he winked at me? Yeah. I really thought I could not love him more than I did but I do. I'm so grateful to have been able to meet him and talk to him and ugh ugh just, I can die happy now.

Maxence was really tired and stressed by the time I got to him and he took a smoke break just before. They warned us to keep it short because it was taking too long, so I did. I gave him the letter I wrote and he thanked me and we took some selfies. He was very nice but you could tell it was a lot for him, and that's very understandable.

After that we went back to the hotel and I literally could not even form proper sentences anymore. We didn't get any dinner, we just talked for a bit to let it all sink in and then we went to bed.

Tbh, it's still a bit like a dream when I think back on it. It's a good thing I have pictures because otherwise I wouldn't believe it myself. I love this cast and this show and the crew too of course, I am so happy I went and the next time I get the slightest change to see them again I will take it without a doubt. They are all amazing. 10/10 would recommend.

PS: if anybody has any questions don’t hesitate to ask, although I might not know the answer or remember haha.

#tara at eli3 #eli3 recap

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theonceoverthinker · 6 years ago

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OUAT Rewatch 4X14 - Enter the Dragon

Sorry for all the delays with these reviews! I’ve really been DRAGON my feet through this whole season, haven’t I?

...You don’t come here for smart puns, Regina! XD

Anyway, there’s a nice juicy review under the cut!

Main Takeaways

Past

I love how this plays as the evil version of every “young person melts the heart of older person and convinces them to go back to doing what they love” story! While it’s not a parody -- and is in fact played deadly straight -- it’s funny as hell to watch because of that!

It’s kind of weird seeing such vague mentions of Mal’s backstory. All throughout the episode, we hear clues, but are never given anything concrete. I wonder when or even if we ever would’ve gotten a backstory for Mal and Briar Rose.

Present

Wow, I gotta say, considering how DESTROYED Mal was by what Snowing did to her kid, stealing another kid is just horrible (The fact that he’s turned back into August and she may or may not have known that is irrelevant for me since she stealing a son from his father at the end of the day) ! I don’t know if it’s exactly poorly written or not -- a case of extremism turning her into what she hates or mishandling a character who is supposed to be more balanced between being evil and sympathetic. I guess it’s up to interpretation, but given that the there doesn’t get to be a reaction from Marco to Maleficent over the fact considering how big of a deal it is that she reverted a little boy back into being a grown man, I feel forced to say the latter.

This also applies to Regina too, ESPECIALLY considering her conversations with Marco in the last episode and this is more of a problem than I realized. She’s stealing a child, putting him up against three villains, AND disposing any direct means of contact between herself and her backup. And the fact that Rumple reverts him into being August at the end of the episode changes nothing here because that wasn’t an anticipated move. It’s even more distracting given the gravitas of the moment where Emma and Regina try to figure out whether or not to steal him in the first place. Regina says she’s going to protect him and pull out if he’s in danger, but what does she think they’re going to do to him if not threaten his life? Even just the emotional duress of those kind of threats is crazy to do to a kid. And then to drop her phone so he can’t even be tracked? It’s played as this necessary evil, but is never given the payoff to back up what a horrible and reckless thing this was to do. They STOLE his childhood -- what was essentially his happy ending -- and that has to be answered for by ALL involved parties: Maleficent, Regina, and Emma too for ultimately agreeing to this.

This segment has a really interesting theme of not being overly insistent on complete control. Throughout it, Regina insists to her friends that she can handle the Queens of Darkness. Even as the stakes raise, she makes risky and riskier decisions that she says she can manage. This culminates in a horribly risky decision (See above) that, in her insistence in keeping control over the situation and her sureness that she’s right, has Regina abandon her means of getting backup. And this all ends with Regina, forced by her own hand, to relinquish control to Rumple. I think that this is an important lesson for Regina to learn, and while I didn’t like the big decision that she had to make for lack of a proper fallout (I’ll actually discuss in a bit why I choose this episode to take the issue with it), I think the rest of the story is good!

Stream of Consciousness

-Regina, you trying to KILL ME with the cut of that shirt?! Because it is working!

-Damn, Regina is AMAZING at acting evil! XD

-HOW THE FUCK DID YOU CRUSH GLASS?! ARE YOU THE FUCKING HULK? XD

-I love how Regina looks between Mal’s castle and her book like “I’m gonna get my favorite author to sign my book!”

-Wouldn’t someone just win “Don’t Be a Hero” by only saving themselves?

-I love how there were freakin’ BETS on the game! XD

-We got another Henry and Belle scene!!! Tbh, I wish there was a bit more substance here too. Belle ADORES books and this is literally a mystery surrounding a book! Why couldn’t she give him some advice on maybe where to look or just talk about the nature of books! You have two book fans sharing a scene! Why not use that?

-I would KILL to know how Regina’s night of drinking with the Queens of Darkness went! Like, they drank a whole bar! XD

-To be fair, Emma, Regina’s probably not reaching out because she’s hungover as FUCK after DRINKING A WHOLE BAR! XD

-MAL, DRUNK AS FUCK, SINGED A COP CAR! XD WHERE ARE FICS OF THIS! THIS IS THE TRUE SEQUEL TO “THE HANGOVER!” XD

-”Some drinking.” SOME DRINKING? YOU DRANK AND ENTIRE BAR! XD

-I like how Regina’s “pathetic” flame was more of a matter of nervousness than inexperience. It shows that Regina’s learned a lot during her tenure with Rumple while still having a lot of space to grow.

-Maleficent is introduced as a druggie! She literally stabs herself with something that “takes the edge off!” XD

-”You need to remember who you are.” “That Maleficent had a foul temper, and if you insulted her, she’d turn into a dragon and eat your flesh.” Holy hell! My eyes are filled with hearts!

-”Where the hell have you been all night?” I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW THAT AS WELL!

-NOW WHAT KIND OF CRAZINESS HAPPENED IN THE VAULT?! XD

-To be fair, Emma, Regina’s been ROCKING this undercover mission so far.

-This episode is full of sexy, badass people, but this cake is the sexiest thing of all!

-”Well, look at which two survivors found a dinghy together.” ...Rumple, HOW ARE YOU SO BAD AT BEING KILLIAN? IT’S NOT ESPECIALLY HARD AND YET YOU SOMEHOW FAILED AT IT! It’s like trying to pet a puppy and instead doing a handstand! XD

-I love how Storybrooke can appear on a GPS system! Is someone in town just a really good techie or is Google our new God? XD

-”The only magical thing you’ll find here is duct tape.” Accurate! XD

-”You didn’t ask your questions more forcefully.” Oh trust me, she did. It was scary.

-”One little snafu?” YOU WOULD HAVE TO STEAL A CHILD!

-”Break some rules.” YOU ARE STEALING A CHILD!

-A Pirate’s Oath! XD What the hell? Someone’s just looking to cop a feel!

-I love the fact that it is 100% canon that Regina rode on the back of a dragon. Maleficent gave her the best piggyback ride in the UNIVERSE!

-Wait: GOLD HAS A CABIN?

Favorite Dynamic

Rump-illian and Belle. I absolutely love Rump-illian and Belle’s subplot here. Rumple, for better or worse, knows Belle and is exactly slippery enough to forge a story to get the dagger back for himself but also not infallible as to still fail to discuss things he wasn’t privy to. Major props have to go to Colin. He’s playing Rumple playing Killian and that is AMAZING! His lines and delivery are just awkward enough to capture Rumple’s failure to perfectly capture Killian, but they’re close enough that they could fool someone who’s just getting to be close with Killian like Belle. He’s always a little off center in how he conducts himself, making the reveal something that could feasibly be guessed but also surprise everyone! And the transitions -- the one at the docks the one as he walks into the pawnshop, and the one outside the pawnshop are done so well as to make the whole subplot even better!

Writer

David Goodman and Jerome Schwartz are in charge of today’s episode! So far, they’ve had a perfect season! But...well… Look. This episode isn't bad, but I do wish the present segment had some more polish. Considering that the three people involved in that final decision are all mothers and to not do more with that idea is really distracting in hindsight.

Rating

8/10. I’m torn about whether or not I should punish this episode for what goes down with Pinocchio. This episode is more setup in that regard than payoff and it’s not bad setup. But at the same time, I do have to ask myself if that payoff was ever going to happen and if it wasn’t, then the setup of something that upon inspection is so fucked up. And I do think that the payoff wasn’t intended to come up -- they had to know -- and so I do find fault with this episode for executing this idea in such an irresponsible way. Otherwise though, the storytelling is really good. Everything makes sense, the story’s engaging, the pacing works, the characters are for the most part in line, and the theme of the past segment lines up in a way that’s subtle, yet effective.

Flip My Ship - The Home of All Things “Shippy Goodness��

DRAGON QUEEN - This is my JAM! Look at Regina’s face as Mal enters the room. That is the face of a woman realizing “I am gay for LIFE!” And in the present, could these two flirt any MORE?! <3 Just look at the aspirin scene! Mal and Regina are both letting their guard down (Regina’s being more of a casual spitfire, Mal’s not wearing the jacket and is giving a bit more info), Mal’s helping Regina out a bit, there’s candles everywhere, and there’s a touch of loose tension in the room. It’s enough to make the moment pretty sexy. ALSO, they go on a mission alone and the presentation to it plays out exactly like an impromptu date! This is the BEST! I just love how Regina smiles for Mal. It’s big, but natural and just kind of happy!

Swan Queen - Dude! Emma is so worried about Regina! That panic in her voice is CRAZY and her dedication to having Regina’s back and protecting her really shows how much she cares for Regina! This as some of their best shippy moments by the sheer amount of concern Emma has for her!

Captain Swan - While it doesn’t work exactly, Killian does a really good job assuring Emma that things with Regina will be okay.

Mal/Briar Rose - “What happened to you?” “A Rose. A Briar Rose.” Mal says that line in the same way someone talks about someone who they had a bad breakup with!

-----

Hi!!! Thanks for reading and shout outs to the fine folks at @watchingfairytales and to the lovely @daensarah! See you all next time!

Season 4 Total (121/230)

Writer Scores: Adam and Eddy: (34/60) Jane Espenson: (20/40) David Goodman and Jerome Schwartz: (38/50) Andrew Chambliss: (22/50) Dana Horgan: (6/30) Kalinda Vazquez: (22/40) Scott Nimerfro: (14/30) Tze Chun (8/20)

Operation Rewatch Archives

#ouat #once upon a time #watching fairytales #ouat 4x14 #jenna watches ouat

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lobsters-on-their-heads · 6 years ago

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OB Rewatch: To Right the Wrongs of Many

I’m not crying, you’re crying

You can read my first watch review, which hits a number of points I left out, here: https://lobsters-on-their-heads.tumblr.com/post/164138983111/to-right-the-wrongs-of-many

I loved

Sarah’s flashback scenes flow with the storyline, and inform Sarah’s current character. We learn more about her, and get answers to a question that hadn’t occurred to me to ask - why did she decide to keep Kira?

Siobhan! Being the loving nurturing mother we’ve seen her be for five seasons. Quite different than the woman we meet in episode 2, who was DONE with Sarah’s bullshit.

Sarah rummaging around the basement boiler room, fussing over Helena to get her the things she can, keeping her head cool and her voice reassuring.

Art: “Are you alright?”

Helena: “Most excellent.”

And the back and forth between Sarah and Helena bearing their children, with Sarah repeating the lines Siobhan gave her... I... *sniffles* ....

The shot of the twins

Art and Sarah delivering Helena’s babies. They were, after all, the first two members of Clone Club that she interacted with. Sarah was absolutely the best person to do it.

Helena’s stick figure mobiles

Cosima and Scott helping Sarah practice for her GED. Hell, Sarah practicing for her GED! Which she will eventually take, I know she will.

Siobhan’s portrait. It’s her, a cup of tea, and her shotgun. Perfect.

Donnie is adorable with the babies. It’s a damn shame we didn’t see more of him being a father during the show (probably due to the availability or desire of the child actors).

The parallel with Season 3′s opener

I loved the entire fucking baby shower. My favorite thing ever is whole Clone Club events like this. I also really hope that those judgey “friends” of Alison’s from Season 1 (you know, the living ones) saw all these random people streaming into her house, including a gay couple, a lesbian couple, awkward nerdy guys, a black guy with his daughter and a disabled girl, and a perma-drunk from the vague South. To say nothing of how those neighbors must feel about Helena.

Cosima taking Purple from Felix and immediately handing him to Delphine.

Love, love, LOVE Cosima’s dress. Which was surprisingly difficult to get a good screenshot of while she’s standing.

Finishing the show with the Sestras together. Okay, so the very final scenes didn’t have them together, but you know what I mean. This scene was wonderful. Yes, they are going off and living happily ever after, but pain remains. Pain that is perhaps related to their fights, but not always. No matter what, though, they always have each other.

*cries again*

Helena’s story about letting the babies eat sand! “Where does this sand come from? I don’t know, so I let them eat it.” We all know it comes from the bodies buried under her apartment.

I liked

The camera circling around Sarah while Westboreland taunted her.

Sarah: “Ah, shut up!” and then she smashes his head with a oxygen tank.

Kira being supportive and understanding of her mom. I like it because Kira’s sweet, but I don’t love it - Kira’s a kid, and she shouldn’t have to worry about her mom.

Helena offering Kira a jam burger and Kira backing up quickly. I hope that was improvised.

The contrast between the sunny family time of the baby shower and Sarah’s darker solitude as she approaches and enters the house.

The parade of people asking Sarah “How was the test?” I like it for the comedic aspect, but also because every single person there supports and roots for Sarah exactly where she is. None of them show any judgment that she’s taking her GED test instead of, say, her GRE.

I’m as lesbian as they come, but I do melt when I see tough guys holding babies like this.

Sarah’s face as Helena starts sharing her book.

I didn’t like

The placement of Delphine’s condolences to Sarah about Siobhan. It’s been months, and Delphine has almost certainly seen Sarah before now. It’s a nice moment, but it’s out of place. It’s also one of the few times we’ve ever seen Delphine and Sarah alone together, and I believe the only time it’s happened since the first episode of Season 3. Delphine’s sentiments regarding Siobhan are spot on, but it’s odd to hear her emoting like this to Sarah. Even in the rewatch, I was just as uncomfortable as Sarah was.

That Rachel couldn’t come in. Obviously she wanted to, despite her claims to the contrary, and she needs the redemption that the sestras give each other.

Other notes

I see now that it wasn’t the tray table Helena smashed Coady’s face into, but the stirrup / footrest at the end of the bed.

Westboreland drones on about “I made you” yadda yadda, but he did pretty much jack shit in the creation of the clones except maybe finance and protect. The Duncans did the work.

Pretty sure that’s Sarah’s first kill.

Somewhere in the second half of my first watch of Season 5, I had this fic idea of Donnie and Helena going to the island to rescue Cosima and Charlotte (and Delphine). In that fic, Delphine delivers Helena babies, which is kind of what everyone on Tumblr wanted. Anyway, having Sarah do it here was actually a much better idea.

There was definitely infodump with Alison talking to Donnie about his new job, but I’ll kind of allow it since it involved pouring concrete floors, and... well. That is something he knows about, isn’t it?

As cool as this board is for the show, I’m not sure why it’s set up this way for them. They could store the info in a spreadsheet (Delphine already has it in the computer). The pictures are fun, but don’t serve much purpose for their research. Like, they already know they’re all played by Tatiana Maslany, so they’re not trying to figure that mystery out. But maybe Cosima just likes to look at them?

The birthday card Sarah finds is tucked into the same book that Cosima read to Kira at the end of Season 2. Was the card in there then, or was it tucked in later by Siobhan or someone else?

And I’m totally with with Felix on being upset about the boxes and the for-sale sign. Even if he’s not living there, a lot of the stuff was probably his once, just as much as hers. He deserves to have a piece of his mother to hang on to without Sarah throwing it away (which she totally would).

Évelyne’s probably doing an awful lot of this these days

According to IMDB, Lauren Hammersley is 5′9″. See, this is why Tat always looks so short. She’s surrounded by really tall people.

Sarah had nothing to be sorry about when she snapped at Alison, who was pushing way too hard at completely the wrong moment.

Most of the Lyft and Uber drivers I’ve had would not have sat silently in the front seat like Yusef did. Rachel probably scared him into submission.

With a number like 274, I think it’s safe to assume that there were originally 300 Ledas, and 26 were either killed by Helena, by clone disease, or by something else.

Of course Évelyne speaks Spanish. Two dialects of French, English, and German weren’t enough.

Interesting that the babies are Arthur and Donnie, rather than Arthur and Donald or Art and Donnie. I wonder if a certain US president influenced that decision.

I have questions

Why does Coady follow this asshole, again? Why does she do things that she, herself hates, like killing Mark? What does she get out of it that she couldn’t achieve on her own or with a different crackpot? What is left for her here? What’s in it for that other doctor, too?

(really disturbing note - had the abortion gone through, would Kira’s magical healing abilities have, uh... ? you know what, let’s not explore that too much)

Why does Sarah struggle so much with school? She’s obviously intelligent and able to focus on and achieve goals when she wants to, but academics seem to elude her. It seems logical to me that her attitude problems and academic struggles would be related. Then there’s her anxiety (called fear, but really) and terrible self-esteem, and everything spirals, but it didn’t always.

A few episodes ago, Scott or Cosima said they had 144 doses of the inoculate ready to go. In this episode, Scott’s worried about expanding the cell line any further. Does that mean they’ve used 144 doses? I doubt it. Does it mean they’re just making shit tons of it? I don’t know how any of this works.

Where is Felix living now, by the way?

Is this realistic for a glass eye?

I would’ve liked to have seen

What happened to Enger, and Art seeing it happen. More than that, though...

I think this ep could have been a solid two hours if they’d committed to it. The extra hour could include

Sarah, Helena, Art, and the twins getting out of Dyad, accounting for the dead bodies scattered around in there, and wrapping up what’s left of Neolution

Delphine’s return from “France” and finally starting a real relationship with Cosima. I want to see them getting ice cream together.

Also Delphine taking rocks away from the babies

Helena moving into the garage

What’s the plan for Charlotte?

How Felix and Colin became a couple

and still leave us wanting more. Plus, that Delphine / Sarah scene could have found a better spot.

#to right the wrongs of many #orphan black rewatch #orphan black series finale

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wolfjsamuel · 6 years ago

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Life found a way, to make me cough out more cash for more JW movies I just saw "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" yesterday and decided to make a little review about it. This took me 5 hours on a rush this morning, so no Easter Eggs this time, and pardon the crudeness of the quality. [SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT] So I'm a big "Jurassic Park" fan, and I later came to appreciate "Jurassic World". So when I first heard about the sequel 2-3 years ago, I was super excited. But after finally seeing the film, I'm personally unsure of this sequel. For the most part, I felt a little let down, especially with the ending. Let's just say, this isn't the last time Chris Pratt will be dawning the Raptor-Handler persona. But mainly what struck me the most was the treatment of the dinosaurs themselves. This by far is the most emotional time you'll have with the creatures. And I felt it lost the beauty and purpose of "Jurassic Park" . You see, "Jurassic Park" was always about the wonder and glory of these creatures. In this sequel, it didn't seem to honor the creatures as much, in fact, its the opposite, it left them bruised and abused. Unlike previous films where the dinosaurs (in some way or another) take back control of their natural lives, this film hardened on the idea of "dinosaur vs. man" to a heart wrenching degree, which is what Spielberg tried to avoid in his original film. Another thing about JP was the idea of "control", the message being you can't control nature. In this movie, they force the idea that man CAN control nature in a violent way, and as a result, opens the door to the suffrage of these creatures. There was a scene that really broke my heart, which gave me the same sentiment about Han Solo dying. There is one creature who we've seen from the VERY beginning of Jurassic Park, one who has been featured in all (3) movies, which is considered an one of the iconic characters of the film, who perishes by the lava in this movie. If I were the director of this film I would have saved that creature. It is one that welcomed us to the park, and it should have been preserved. Although, sure, it was nature-killing-nature; you had the human element taking these creatures outta the island, they should saved this one as well. Any ways, If you've seen the trailer, and if you're a true fan, you'll obviously get the similarities with"Jurassic Park: The Lost World", and it pretty much is, but with a different ending (an ending that is "the beginning of the end" so to speak). From characters to dialogue, each scene had reference to "The Lost World", right down to the lack of use of the original "Welcome to Jurassic Park" theme song (which dishearten me a bit). Now despite my disappointment, there are some good traits to the film. What I enjoyed the most was spotting the many subtle and obvious references to the original Jurassic Park trilogy, as well as seeing the return of iconic characters from Jurassic World. Added to that, a new twist to InGen genetic-cloning research and backstory story (emphasis on cloning). The reference to John Hammond's back story and his previously unmentioned business partner was very interesting as well. However I wished they'd have done more, maybe add some flashbacks to to the original Jurassic Park itself. Something along the lines of West World, with Anthony Hopkins. Would have been great to see John Hammond in CGI with a younger James Cromwell (Lockworth). Another great thing aesthetically is the use of animatronics, prior to the premier, they had mention the use of returning practical effects, and what's cool is that now days you can't actually distinguish which is practical and which is CGI, and I found myself attempting to spot that for this movie. But I digress, as mentioned, there's obviously going to be more JW movies. Maybe then we'll we delve into the backstory of pre-Jurassic Park and even further since, as previously mention, there is a new installment to the Jurassic-Genetic story that hasn't been done in prior films (And no, it's not the hybrid...it's certainly not an animal for that matter). So, much like Star Wars, we will have to wait and see where the true story will go. Cause right now, "Fallen Kingdom" just opened the door to a new venture. Overall though, "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" was still exciting to watch, despite the critics I made. I think there could have been more to this film; difference of execution. But at the same time, there was just enough to keep me intrigued, and enough to make me a critic - so a fair balance splitting me in the middle. Plus! Can't go wrong with Jeff Goldblum in it. And HEY! In the 20 years he has been detesting this dino park, they sorta listen to him this time. I wish there was more of him though, I had hoped he would have had some interaction with the main characters. Hopefully as JW continues, we may see more of Jeff and maybe more of the original JP characters and park. Either way, can’t say this is my favorite Jurassic movie. It has good moments, but I’d still stick to the first JP and JW. Blue (Velociaptor) and Rexy (T-Rex) (characters) © "2015-2018" (Jurassic World 1 & 2) J.A. Bayone, Colin Trevorrow, Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley, Steven Speilberg, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Derek Connolly (based on the novel by: Michael Crichton) (Amblin Entertainment, Legendary Pictures & Universal Pictures ™ ) OTHER REFERENCES & LOGO'S ARE COPYRIGHTED © & TRADEMARKED ™ TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNER, PRODUCTION, COMPANY & STUDIO wolfjedisamuel © 18

#jurassic world #Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom #wolfjedisamuel #spoof #parody #t-rex #tyranosaurus rex #blue the raptor #velociraptor

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lizacstuff · 7 years ago

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7x02 Anons

I have a bunch of anon asks, many of which are a bit negative in tone, so I’m going to answer a smattering of them under the cut to protect those who don’t want to see it.

Anonymous said:So wasn’t enough captain swan but i’ll take it!

There is never enough Captain Swan for me, but this is about what I was expecting. This episode wasn’t about Emma. This episode was about Henry and the new characters and stories. It was to give us closure and let us know how things happened while at the same time trying to entice us to the new stories.

They are trying to move forward. I’m not really onboard, but I think it’s the right path if they want this to work.

Anonymous said:I loved what we got. But??? Adam and Eddie were able to get Jennifer for just one more episode and they only gave her THREE SCENES? Why? We should and could have gotten much more. I can’t believe they didn’t give us a scene of CS in their house with their little one. Or at least setting up a nusery with Emma showing a tad more. Something!

See what I wrote above, this wasn’t about them it’s about Henry. Killian and Emma appeared in order to serve Henry’s story. I get that you (and I) would have preferred if it was the Captain Swan hour, but except for the CS Movie we’ve never gotten that. We’ve always been given big (awesome) pieces and then had to fill in the details ourselves. This show is always plot, plot, plot. It’s never character, character, character. So this was no different than what has always happened.

And, hey, maybe they didn’t want to flash forward 7 months and show us Hook and Emma with the baby in case they want to use it in a series finale or something. You never know. in the meantime we have our imaginations and a very creative fandom.

Anonymous said:Yes, what we got was wonderful. But how stupid of Adam and Eddy not to use the full potential of having Jen back for an episode? It’s a waste! She got like 5 minutes total! And I will be forever gutted, and bitter, that we didn’t get to see CS find out they were pregnant. And I’m especially upset they didn’t show they in SB or at home with their baby. They could have given that to the audience if they’d bothered to utilise Jen fully for the one time they have her back.

You’re a real glass half empty kind of girl, aren’t you?

Honestly, for something that you’ve invested this much time in, isn’t it easier and more fulfilling to be happy with the “wonderful” that we did get, instead of bitter about what we didn’t? It’s your choice, but to me it seems like an easy one.

Anonymous said:Looks like A&E lied yet again ….. they said that Emma was in “ ALOT “ Of this episode …… I guess they count mentioning her name 50 times and giving her 2 scenes 🙄

While what we got was just about exactly what I expected, yes, Adam stretched the truth once again. Oh Adam, you and Eddy and your semantics do make it easier to quit you.

Anonymous said:I’m glad that cs got their HE, but really? Wish hook? And with a daughter? I wanted to see Emma and Killian’s baby not a random girl

Then this reboot is probably not for you. That’s okay. Lots of TV shows are not for me. I’m pretty sure many of us would have preferred to see a show about Emma and Kilian’s baby, but JMo isn’t on the show anymore. Emma is no longer the protagonist and would you really want to see a CS baby without Emma? Would you really risk Captain Swan in order to have some random storyline on this mess of a S7?

I’m flabbergasted that anyone would care enough about S7 to want them to jeopardize Captain Swan.

I’m good with them riding back into the Storybrooke sunset together and off of this show altogether.

Anonymous said:It’s me or even the quality of the editing is getting worse? The script it was is it, but even now with how fast the scenes goes from one to another and how bad are some of the new actors it’s like everything get worse

Hmmm… I didn’t notice the editing. I think you may be reacting to the overall pacing, they are still all plot, plot, plot and try to cram too much into every episode.

As far as the actors, I thought Gabrielle Anwar was the least of the issues in the first ep, but in this one… oh my. As @counttotwenty said to me, she should be twirling a mustache with every word she utters and @doddplaza compared her to Snidely Whiplash. It’s so broad and cartoonish that it’s bad. Both the writing for her and the acting.

Anonymous said:I think the audience will be really grossed out at this other Hook having another love interest. Sure it’s not THE Hook, but it’s the same actor and he looks exactly like the other one, it’s going to be extremely hard to dissociate him from the real one. There’s no way I’ll be watching any of that. And Colin is going to be excited about it and yeah, I have no time for that. I hope it gets canceled before we reach that part or Colin has the chance to hyperventilate about it on twitter.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. First off when has Colin ever hyperventilated on twitter? Other than using a few too many exclamation points he’s incredibly low-key and usually just retweets stuff. He was on the promotion train for S7 during the cons this summer because its his job. It’s a requirement. Cut him some slack.

As for the love interesting, I agree. I think putting Colin on screen with any other woman this season would be a huge mistake. Even though he’s a totally different character (a fake person really) I don’t think the audience is ready. However… do A&E know that? I don’t know.

What I do know is I won’t watch a second of it, so if it happens it doesn’t matter to me.

Anonymous said:I am 100 percent thankful they didn’t muck up captain swan but I feel like the undercut Killian becoming a dad for the first time by making wish world Hook a dad already. Also I thought Adam and Eddy said wish world was not real? How does WWH know Tremaine etc ? This show is a hot mess

Hmmm… WishHook must have found a way to leave the WishRealm and ran into Tremaine? No idea. I’m certain they are going to be fifty-eleven-thousand plot holes in this thing.

Here’s the thing.. do I think it’s stupid? Hell yes. But I don’t think they should have done any of this AT ALL. It was too soon for a reboot and they shouldn’t have drug characters from the original into it. However, that train has left the station so I’m just left feeling gratified that they found a way to not ruin Captain Swan or Killian Jones. So… while I think the WishHook thing is stupid and does not remotely match up with what we were lead to believe that WishReal was (a twisted up EQ/Genie version that was all fake) I’m not gonna put up a fight like I care. Because when it comes to this show I only care about Captain Swan.

Anonymous said:I’m so happy emma and hook are happy but it makes me sick that Rogers is going to go off with some other woman and we are probably going to see their kid. I won’t even be watching but… I thought I’d be over the moon about Emma and hook and I am, honestly I am, but I feel like my emotions are all over the place and I can’t seem to get past my feelings about seeing Rogers with another woman. I don’t know. Sorry to both you I just dot have anyone to talk to and I’m crying a lot so.

Honey, I don’t think there is any reason to be this upset. WishHook and Killian are different people. They are not the same and no one is forcing you to watch WishHook do anything. Let the show go, don’t let it ruin Captain Swan for you. They’ve done this to preserve Captain Swan, so take it at face value. Nothing they do in S7 matters. Seriously.

Anonymous said:I still think it’s ridiculous this show even had another season without so many main characters, but hats off to the writers for what they came up to keep CS intact. I feel like a very lucky CSer right now because this could have been a total disaster and they managed to keep CS, Emma and Killian untouched. I’m not here to see any version of Hook/Colin acting romantically with other women (yuck) so I’m out from now on, but I’m at peace with where they left CS. THANK GOD

Agreed on all of it.

Anonymous said:this was an emotional curtain call? god they really become terrible writers

I have to say that might be one of the lesser Jane episodes. I mean there were some things that were deftly done, like having Hook and Emma able to go home, but not have it appear they were abandoning Henry. They threaded the needle on that pretty well, but some stuff was so heavy handed.

I can NOT believe for Shoe Believer that they had two people observe “Are you in love with her?” after observing Henry doing nothing for two seconds.

Really?

That’s how unsubtle things are going to be from here on out? That line twice in the second episode before the audience has even gotten to know these characters? For really no reason? Wowza. Talk about trying to force a ship. That was bad.

Victoria Belfrey’s and Lady Tremaine’s writing was ridiculous. It is so broad and over the top, but as @counttotwenty said to me this morning, the show is taking itself so seriously.

(And again, Colin, the best OUAT scripts you ever read? Oh honey. That observation is not holding up)

Anonymous said:I’m seeing Hooked Queen gifs now. Really hoping A & E don’t go down that route! Or that the child is theirs. The horror!!!! Don’t think I could bare it. But in terms of CS I think that’s the best we’re going to get and I’m happy Emma gets a second chance (an addition not a replacement) like Snow did. Just imagine the cute adventures this little pirate will have with those two as parents :)

Okay the idea of Hooked Queen makes me want to vomit, so please don’t send me asks about it. I’ll ignore them or possibly block you. Seriously. It doesn’t mean I think it will happen, it just means I don’t even want to think about it. However, I do want to address your speculation that the child could be theirs. Come on. You don’t think there would have been a flicker of recognition when they just teamed up this episode with WishHook talking about finding his daughter. I can’t remember how the WishAU disposed of Regina, but I think we can rest easy on that she’s not the mother. Good grief.

Anonymous said:that know it all anon of yours from earlier certainly has egg on their face now.

She never came back to apologize for telling people who believed that was not our Hook in the sneak peek to use logic!

I never come after anyone just because their spec is wrong, but don’t come into my ibox and insult others who have different and (ultimately correct) speculation. It’s rude.

Anonymous said:The way they’ve set this up though - they’re kinda asking Emma and Hook fans to leave, when they need to desperately keep as many viewers as they can. Because if Rogers was the real Hook and he’s obviously not with Emma and his real child, people would still be invested in him as the character they’ve always known. But now, all those fans can literally leave and not miss anything! Colin is great and all but they’re selling people a whole new character and now that’s another strike against S7.

Thank GOD they didn’t do this. I know it would have been better for investment of fans, but the idea of Killian and Emma separated when we know JMo will never appear again to wrap it up? That sound fucking awful.

So, yes, they are risking fans of CS leaving after getting the happily ever after confirmation, but if the show doesn’t stand on it’s own, it doesn’t stand. Every new show has to debut and find it’s audience, so does this one. Honestly, I’m thrilled they’re not risking destroying CS just for a few more eyeballs. They have a bit of integrity left.

Anonymous said:I wonder how pissed the shippers are that Emma and Queen Queen didn’t speak or touch? Or that Jen and Lana didn’t even film together?

I’m guessing they are not happy. But they are so upset about the CS child and *gasp* adult Henry trying to woo a lady without both his Mommies there to change his diapers I’m not sure how much they have focused on the lackluster goodbye.

Like Lana and JMo, Emma and Regina aren’t really friends. They are frenemies who are related and know they have to get along for the sake of Henry and Snow and sometimes team up to prevent evil. Period.

Anonymous said:Im with you Liza. I cared only that CS got their happy ending and ended in a safe place. Henry is part of that but I can assume he’ll make it back home someday just fine. Hes an adult who makes his own decisions. Im actually grateful to A&E. They gave me an exit strategy from OUAT. I get to take it knowing my beloved characters are in a beautiful safe place. I cant ask for more w/ JMo’s exit. I hope we might get a peek into their lives in a series finale but if this was it, Im ok. Im happy too.

Me too! I hope in the series finale we get a peak into their lives. Time will tell!

Anonymous said:I couldn’t agree with you more. CS is happy and alive and together and pregnant. As far as I’m concerned nothing else happened on the show. I can walk away happy and live in fanfic and Colin/Jen cons.

Long live the fandom!

There are all sorts of Storybrooke important questions to explore, for instance do Killian and David go out sailing? Have Snowing had more children? Who’s the big spoon… Killian or Emma?

Anonymous said:A strange episode but a good one for me! I was looking for peace after JMo said she was leaving. The reason I cont w/ OUAT was b/c of CS alone. They got their happy ending. Shes w/ her parents, husband & kid, and her adult son is living his life away from the nest as all children do. I can watch the first six seasons in good faith, finish w/ 7.02 and let the rest go. It a blessing of a goodbye to OUAT for me as I was always done after tonight. The true Killian and Emma are happy and so I am too.

It was a strange episode, I don’t see me really ever rewatching it, but Killian and Emma going through that portal is all that matters. I’ll enjoy the gifs of their scenes for a long time to come.

#captain swan #ouat negativity #not all the asks are negative #ouat s7 #asklizac #anonymous #ouat 7.02

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truemedian · 5 years ago

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Even a lesser John Mulaney-hosted Saturday Night Live is pretty funny

John MulaneyScreenshot: Saturday Night Live TV ReviewsAll of our TV reviews in one convenient place. “I mean a lot to a small group of people.” If your third SNL hosting gig is your weakest yet and is still consistently funny, well, you’re probably John Mulaney. The former SNL writer turned award-winning stand-up and almost apologetic actor is just funny. That’s perhaps not an enlightening way to describe the guy, but there’s a certain kind of comedian who just is. That’s Mulaney, taking the mic for his third opening monologue since he left the writers room and slaying with habitual, deceptively effortless ease. Joking about his eccentric career path to date, Mulaney explained that he is the host who’d done the least between his second and third hosting stints, his self-effacing shtick both cheeky and spot-on. (A set-ender about a Make-A-Wish girl confessing that her second choice Mulaney introducing her to that week’s guest Lin Manuel Miranda actually made her wish come true struck exactly the Mulaney sweet spot of potentially edgy and hilariously apt.) Mulaney’s always going to be Mulaney (even as a cartoon pig) his specific, knowingly oversized delivery marking him out as the funniest voice in any room. That doesn’t necessarily make for the most versatile Saturday Night Live host, but, with Mulaney’s intimacy with the show to guide things, tonight’s episode made typically fine use of one of its funniest, if most unlikely, superstar alums. But back to funny. With a sketch veteran like Mulaney in house, jokes just work better. He knows the rhythm of a sketch inside out, and slots himself into a role with the confidence of a guy who simply knows how the machine operates. (A little cue card hesitancy notwithstanding.) Which is a good thing, as the sketches tonight weren’t themselves stellar. The big news any time John Mulaney hosts these days is just whichever aspect of New York culinary-mercantile sketchiness will be the subject of a lavishly produced musical number, and, while tonight’s Broadway ode to LaGuardia Airport sushi is third in line behind (in order of undeniable delightfulness) “Diner Lobster” and “Bodega Bathroom,” it follows the overall theme of the night that third-best Mulaney on SNL is still thoroughly enjoyable SNL. Look, nothing’s ever going to capture the surprise victory of that first sketch—just like any recurring bit, there’s an element of giving the audience what they’re there to expect that saps some of the initial live-wire weirdness from the enterprise. But, apart from the central players in the set-up (Chris Redd and Mulaney as the New Yorkers horrified at Pete Davidson’s unwise choice of NYC convenience amenity), there’s a no-doubt inexhaustible well of petty New York gripes and vomit-worthy eccentricities for Mulaney and his fellow Big Apple veterans to plumb for extravagantly silly numbers whose disproportionate response is part of the gag. Here, we get Kenan as a plane-downing goose Phantom, Cecily Strong as an operatically remorseful, long-ago sushi chef (that spicy tuna is from 2018), Kate McKinnon as pretzel-hawking Auntie Orphan Annie blaming everything on de Blasio, Beck Bennett as the somehow unaccompanied baby on your flight, and—capping things off with a double dose of Mulaney’s Sack Lunch Bunch shenanigans—musical guest David Byrne as a “Road To Nowhere”-singing “baggage handler who throws your luggage into Long Island Sound,” and Jake Gyllenhaal, rigged up to fly as the traveler in pajamas who’s creepily enthusiastic about the TSA pat-down. (“You don’t have to use the backs of your hands!”) Taking the whole show into the audience to end the sketch amidst a shower of loose-wire sparks with Byrne singing the way, the whole thing was delightfully, goofily unnecessary.

Best/Worst Sketch Of The Night

So, apart from that one, I thought Mulaney’s stand-up persona found its truest home in the Sound Of Music sketch, a musical dissection of just how creepy that whole “I am 16, going on 17" romance subplot is. With Cecily’s Liesl (in ridiculously fine voice as ever) beginning to question her beloved sort-of Nazi suitor Kurt’s blond, Aryan suitability, Mulaney keeps slipping in the sort of wise-ass asides his comedy is built around, as Kurt keeps confessing to being more like “17, going on 47" as the song goes on. (Oh, and he’s planning to move them into an apartment with a lot of suspiciously Aryan roommates, including one named Goebbels.) With Mulaney’s Kurt alternating between snarking about his beloved’s growing number of reservations (“Wow, she’s got a list.”), and smoothly crooning away her reservations about the whole Nazi thing (“Focus on the age stuff.”), the piece was a perfect use of Mulaney. Him assuring Liesl, “This is Austria, nineteen-thirty-bad: In a few weeks this will be the least of your worries,” was the ideal synthesis of host, delivery, and premise. Any sketch matching Kate and Aidy at its center is an automatic contender, and the return of their melodramatically feuding 1950s sisters in the classic Say, These Two Don’t Seem To Like Each Other gave the ever-delightful duo a chance to outdo each other with bitchy period skullduggery in advance of their shared suitor’s arrival. The joke is, once again, that their Davis-Crawford (pretty much literal) back-stabbing proves helpless against the unwitting charms of a much more conventionally attractive family member (here, Mulaney’s returning sailor and “pass-around party bottom”). Having the joke that Beck Bennett’s Admiral (somehow being promoted from Corporal last time) is in a closeted frenzy at Mulaney’s oblivious nautical sexiness (shades of Kimmy Schmidt’s “Daddy’s Boy” and Hail, Caesar!’s “No Dames”) is hacky but funny, with Beck, Kate, and Aidy all doing absurdly over-the-top mugging (including a straight-up “Ha-ga-goo-ga-goo-ga-gaaa!”) while maintaining their 1950s film noir demeanor, and I laughed at pretty much all of it. Mulaney’s gift for straight-manning (as opposed to party-bottoming) was used to fine effect again in the meme sketch, where his suburban uncle angrily whips up a slide show of college-age nephew Pete Davidson’s reddit jokes at his expense. Mulaney makes the uncle’s outrage at being the internet’s #whitecollarvirgin simultaneously righteous and comically out-of-touch, as the memes keep coming. (His awkwardly grinning Facebook profile picture overlaid with “When ya’ll kissing and she say, ‘That’ll be $200'” is introduced with Mulaney’s hilariously perplexed, “This next one was tweeted by rapper Ice-T!”) There’s not much more to the sketch but watching Mulaney flesh out a portrait of out-of-touch suburban dudgeon, but’s just so great at it. Like more than a few sketches tonight, there were some pacing/timing issues, here mainly at the expense of an ending. Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney got to do their behind-the-scenes thing with a filmed sketch about Mooney—tired of all the “geek” roles coming his way—deciding to turn their shared office into a gym in order to get cast in Mulaney’s proposed male stripper sketch. The pair’s signature self-parody here clanks alongside the admirable monstrousness of Mooney’s post-transformation prosthetics, as he immediately becomes a smugly buff, absurdly pumped-up dudebro (thanks to, among other things, the absurdist delight that is guest trainer Justin Theroux as himself), scooping a muscles-smitten Chloe Fineman into an offhand sex-date and allowing a bashful Lorne Michaels to pet his newfound bulges. Good Neighbor pals Mooney and Bennett’s humor traffics in such light cringe comedy, as clueless strivers inevitably find their lowest level, as, here, the horrifying, gravel-voiced, ’roid-gremlin version of Kyle, having made himself “less interesting” for glory, is summarily fired from the show by an unimpressed Mulaney. Lurking at the heart of most of these sketches is a mingled affection/contempt for the bottom-dwellers of the entertainment industry, pitiable losers whose lifelong consumption of TV and movies has left them convinced that they are just one big break (or Tupperware full of lean, broiled chicken breasts and a 5 p.m. bedtime) away from the stardom they just know is their birthright, and Mooney, especially, is most comfortable playing around there. (Also, filming schedules being what they are, it’s unlikely this sketch is in response to Pete Davidson’s off-weeks’ interview about being typecast on the show, but there’s a harsh but essential truth about living or dying on SNL that’s resonant throughout the bit.)

Weekend Update update

Che continues to successfully play around with his role on Update, here breaking from a joke about the growing coronavirus threat to muse about his fears that they’ll play an Update clip of him mocking the typically lame and self-serving Trump administration response to the crisis at his funeral. In what former SNL-er Al Franken would call “kidding on the square,” Che confessed to “sitting here pretending to care about politics,” before whipping off his clip-on tie, whipping out a tumbler of something brown (“Why am I hiding my drinking problem?”), and, finally, donning a crooked baseball cap as he essayed the role of a Michael Che who’s finally been broken by all the world’s unrelenting horseshit. It’s a blessedly funny move, carried out through the rest of Update (“You know, I just found out I might have a kid?,” he’s heard mumbling after the camera cuts back to the straight-faced Colin Jost), and it adds a frisson of reckless abandon to his side of the proceedings that’s sloppily energizing. “I feel free,” he exclaims at one point, and his story about his beloved grandma telling him, “We are living in our last days,” lands satisfyingly, before Che rambles on to rebut granny’s “no white girls” rule. (“I work in show business, that’s unrealistic.”) Joining in on the cold open’s queasy mockery of the prospect of noted fundamentalist and science skeptic Mike Pence leading the uninspiring cadre of sycophants, yes-men, and non-doctors Trump put in charge of fighting a potentially deadly outbreak of disease, Che did resort to yet another SNL “Mike Pence is secretly gay” joke. And I could have done without the “Chinese people eating dogs” joke when supposedly defending the virus hotspot, too, although, for Che, loosening up seems to come yoked to being sort of an asshole. Otherwise, Update’s cracks at the news of the day went as usual. Jost let Trump hang himself with his own slurred nonsense (Thank god we have “different elements of medical” on the coronavirus front), and—echoing Trump’s rhetorical gambit of using supposedly overheard chatter to disseminate patently absurd nonsense to the world—deftly managed to get the hashtag #TrumpSlump trending during the show when talking about what he’s definitely heard people calling the precipitous stock market losses since Trump started babbling incoherently about the “hoax” outbreak of a rapidly accelerating infectious disease outbreak. Hey, if that’s the world of public discourse we live in at this point, then fighting hashtag with hashtag is fair game, so good on you, Jost. Chris Redd, taking the well-known SNL path of making yourself a showcase on Update when you’re being underused elsewhere, put together a solid few minutes as himself, commenting on the just-concluding Black History Month. As with most such pieces, the jokes sprayed all over the place, although nominally anchored to the central premise that, as Redd put it, black people “took too many Ls” for Black History Month this year. Straying into politics while keeping his eyes on the joke, he ably described SC primary winner Joe Biden as Joe “I have a black friend” Biden, and noted how watching the garrulously long-winded Biden give a speech is like “watching an old man parallel park his thoughts for 20 minutes.” On Trump’s hastily disseminated photo of himself surrounded by the handful of black Trump supporters he could get to pray over him, Redd, in his best turn of phrase, described the gathered worshipful as “White House negroes,” and ran down some of the more egregiously misguided corporate appropriations of Black History Month, including that credit card that makes it look like Harriet Tubman is either saluting Wakanda or “she got recaptured.” Weekend Update has long been a place for cast members to present their own, individualized versions of the newsreader gig, and, should Jost follow through on his suggested post-election departure, this is about as good a tryout as Redd could give.

“What do you call that act?” “The Californians!”—Recurring sketch report

The John Mulaney “I hate New York” Musical Showcase; the Kate-and-Aidy 1940s Femmes Fatale Extravaganza.

“It was my understanding there would be no math”—Political comedy report

Hey, everyone’s going to get super-sick! So that’s funny. Or it could be, I suppose, if the cold open didn’t shy away from the aforementioned flop-sweat generator that is Mike (“condoms don’t work, pray away AIDS, smoking doesn’t kill, climate change is a myth, intelligent design”) Pence is in charge of mustering the nation’s medical defenses to wheeze into another underwhelming Democratic slate sketch. Again, the joke that noted frothing gay-basher Pence is in the closet is (whatever the truth may be) beyond played out at this point, although at least Beck Bennett’s strident Pence nodding toward his willful disregard of scientific truth by calling the coronavirus a test of his faith “like dinosaur bones, or Timothée Chalamet” was half-smart. And Kenan Thompson coming out as Ben Carson (“the brain surgeon that they put in charge of house development”) was the usual hoot, with Kenan’s approximation of Carson’s singsong cadence making his dire predictions about the toll of the virus extra alarming, especially to Pence, who hurriedly shoves Carson aside for straying from the administration’s sweaty “All is well!” public stance on the topic. That things veered suddenly into a another stealth Dem candidate sketch could have served to hammer on the theme, I suppose (although simply following through on the premise might have been an idea, too.) But things quickly turned into the same unsatisfying quick-hit impressions and internecine sniping among the candidates, an exercise that’s seeming more and more like a slightly unimpressive audition process for who’s going to be the eventual nominee. (Sort of like the much of the actual remaining Democratic field, but I digress.) Honestly, only the (increasingly unlikely looking) prospect of a four-year Elizabeth Warren-Kate McKinnon reign holds any interest for me at this point, McKinnon’s spot-on impression the only one to go much beyond the surface into something more substantive. (You know, like the actual Warren, but I digress.) As for the rest, we have ringers like Larry David’s Bernie Sanders and Fred Armisen’s Mike Bloomberg. And while who doesn’t like David’s gabbling, kvetchy Sanders, there are some issues. Namely that SNL can’t think of much to do besides grumpy old candidate jokes with the surging potential nominee (although a passing reference to Bernie’s “Castro wasn’t all bad” remarks this week at least nodded toward actual engagement). Also, as much fun as Larry seems to be having coming back to 30 Rock every other week, it’s unclear if he’s on board for a theoretical Alec Baldwin-style regular gig should Sanders win. As for Bloomberg—meh. He’s not going anywhere politically, and, as primly humorous as is Armisen’s shrugging rich guy approach to this whole “let the poor people decide” thing is, it’s yet another role whose farming out to a higher profile outsider continues to signal the show’s lack of confidence in its in-house talent. Same goes for Rachel Dratch’s Amy Klobuchar, whose best hope at this point is a Vice Presidential gig (on both fronts). There’s nothing wrong with any of these funny people or what they’re doing per se. It’s more that there’s no reason for them to be there, and that these sketches remain irritatingly shallow. On the in-house side, that seeming lack of confidence appears not so much borne out in these openers as untested. Sure, Colin Jost barely tries to conceal how unsuited he is to play college chum Pete Buttigieg, and the absence of other ringer (and other Dem impersonation I could stand to see more of) Jason Sudeikis saw the Joe Biden spot going to Mulaney (who would likely be the first to admit that celebrity impressions aren’t in his wheelhouse). But, what with SNL’s proven disregard for gender-appropriate political casting of late, the fact that able mimics Melissa Villaseñor and Chloe Fineman and nimble actresses Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim remain on the bench is increasingly vexing. As for the actual sketch, it was the same too-glib drive-by, with only Warren’s gloating over her debate trouncing of Bloomberg registering, in McKinnon’s lived-in performance, with any juice. Meh.

I am hip to the musics of today

Goddamn, that was great, as David Byrne (late of the aforementioned Sack Lunch Bunch), joined Mulaney and delivered a pair of electric live performances. He did “One In A Lifetime” first, and it’s striking just how Byrne keeps that well-trod Talking Heads song from receding into classic hits predictability in performance. That song is as weird and satirically biting as ever, as much as its ubiquity threatens to turn it into just another toothless oldie, and, with his identically grey-suited backup musicians all channeling that old Stop Making Sense spirit with their non-stop individualized choreography and musicianship, the song—with the 67-year-old Byrne holding center stage, as deceptively limber as ever—was a showstopper. So, too, the rousing second number, the Byrne-penned “Toe Jam,” where Byrne ceded even more time for each member of his expansive musical team to shake their stuff in the individual spotlight. Easily one of the most enjoyable musical guests in years, Byrne remains a one-man show unafraid to let others steal the show. Just bottomless fun.

Most/Least Valuable Not Ready For Prime Time Player

Not building sketches around the proven talents of performers like Nwodim, Fineman, Villaseñor, and Gardner just seems perverse at this point. SNL’s second line looks thin in the talent department because nobody’s making use of them. The LaGuardia extravaganza gave Cecily, Kenan, Kate, and Beck plenty to sink their teeth into, but Cecily’s second singing showcase of the night puts her on top.

“What the hell is that thing?”—The Ten-To-Oneland Report

Well, at least we got Chris Redd’s welcome and funny comic tribute to Black History Month on Update, so the muddled mush of the Jackie Robinson sketch can stay the ten-to-one oddity it is. Kenan is delightful, don’t get me wrong. As the lone black man to boo color-line-busting legend Robinson, his Dodgers fan Terrence “The Enlarged Heart” Washington was a funny construction, his petty jealousies trumping any sense of racial pride or loyalty. As the 1940s white fans around him look on puzzled at Washington’s animosity toward the first black MLB player, Kenan makes his frustrated non-ballplayer’s grudge almost but never quite hilarious, although the way his bewildering heckling keeps igniting pockets of revealing racism beneath the white fans’ sporting loyalties is fairly pointed. Beck Bennett’s loudmouth fan immediately starts an “Oh, so it’s all right to boo white guys?!” side-argument that ultimately and inevitably sees him getting carried away by telling Robinson to go back to the Negro Leagues where he belongs. Still, the funniest joke is when Kenan, berated by bleacher-mate Mulaney for talking that way in front of his kid, notices the young black child sitting next to him and exclaims, “I don’t know this kid!” Stray observations Kate, as The Sound Of Music’s Maria, sings her own reassurance concerning her relationship with the Captain, “I’m old enough, but it’s still kind of dicey.” Jost, on Joe Biden’s resurgent Democratic primary win in South Carolina: “But, in keeping with South Carolina tradition, the losers will get the statues.” (In front of photo of a Confederate monument.) Mulaney’s monologue has me scanning the internet to see if he’s scored another Netflix special yet. (Not yet, apparently.) From going as close to the edge as he gets with jokes about Jesus forgetting to do magic on the one occasion he could really have used it, to that Make-A-Wish anecdote, to a great run about how crappy the Founding Fathers really were, to a straight-up joke about Trump being stabbed to death Caesar-style by some senators, it was tight and focused and very, very funny. On that assassination joke, Mulaney reassured everyone, “I asked my lawyer if I could make that joke, and he said, ‘Let me call another lawyer,’ and that lawyer said yes.” Mulaney’s Kurt, to Liesl: “Oh, age is just a number that the government keeps track of.” Redd kids on the square that the withdrawal of all black candidates for president has meant less airtime for him. After Che—still in booze-swilling carefree mode—jokes that Ash Wednesday is the one day a year when Catholics can indulge in “a little bit of blackface,” Jost signs off, laughing, “For Weekend Update, I’m Catholic . . .” All welcome Che’s proposed new Houston Astros mascot, Cheatie the Camera. Before Davidson’s customer makes his ill-gated sushi purchase, he and Redd buy “a Chobani yogurt with no spoon to eat it with” and “a $15 dollar Dasani, extra plastic.” Once more the show ended awfully abruptly, so here are the full goodnights again. Good night! Daniel Craig and The Weeknd next week! Read More Read the full article

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son-of-alderaan · 7 years ago

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I think we’re all pretty fed up with this thing already so I’m not going to comment or reblog most of those #plotgate posts that I’ve seen on my dash lately. All I’m going to do is give you these three links: (x) (x) (x)

They contain a lot of great quotes from production members that they’ve made before and after the release of TFA. I just picked some interesting quotes here and there but I read through them all and now I’m really tired.😴

J. J. Abrams: “The script for VIII is written. I’m sure rewrites are going to be endless, like they always are. But what Larry and I did was set up certain key relationships, certain key questions, conflicts. And we knew where certain things were going. We had meetings with Rian and Ram Bergman, the producer of VIII. They were watching dailies when we were shooting our movie. We wanted them to be part of the process, to make the transition to their film as seamless as possible. I showed Rian an early cut of the movie, because I knew he was doing his rewrite and prepping. And as executive producer of VIII, I need that movie to be really good. Withholding serves no one and certainly not the fans. So we’ve been as transparent as possible. Rian has asked for a couple of things here and there that he needs for his story. He is an incredibly accomplished filmmaker and an incredibly strong writer. So the story he told took what we were doing and went in the direction that he felt was best but that is very much in line with what we were thinking as well. But you’re right—that will be his movie; he’s going to do it in the way he sees fit. He’s neither asking for nor does he need me to oversee the process.” (November 2015)

J. J. Abrams: “There were things that we – at the very beginning of the process – were outlining and discovering and we just knew would be in ‘Episode 8’ or ‘9’. A couple of those were things I was so excited about getting to do, but realised early on that there was no way we could shove them into ‘Episode 7’. Then of course Rian Johnson came along and is incorporating some of these things very closely to what we were thinking about – and in other cases things that we would never have imagined.” (December 18, 2015)

J. J. Abrams: “We didn’t write a treatment [for the next episodes] but there are countless times we came up with something and said ‘oh, this would be so great for Episode VIII!’ or ‘That’s what we could get to in IX!’ It was just that kind of forward moving story. But we knew this had to neither be a backwards moving nostalgic trip only nor a beginning of a movie without a satisfying conclusion, and that was part of the balancing act — embracing what we have inherited and using that where and whenever possible to tell a story that hasn’t been seen yet. We also knew that certain things were inevitable in our minds but that didn’t mean it would be inevitable for whoever came in next. When Rian [Johnson], who I admire enormously and adore, came on board, we met and talked with him about all the things we were working on and playing with, and he as a spectacular writer and director has taken those things and has written an amazing script that I think will be an incredible next chapter, some of which incorporating things we were thinking of and other things are things we could never of dreamed of.” “There were a handful of things we talked about that were going to be helpful to him. Some were very easy to do, and some things were things that I didn’t want to do for other reasons, but I tried to be as accommodating as I could.” (December 15, 2015)

J. J. Abrams: “Larry and I had a bunch of thoughts of where certain things could go and we shared those things with Rian Johnson, who’s directing VIII. He had things that he came up with where he asked if it was possible if we could make some adjustments with what we were doing at the end, most of which we did — there were just a couple that didn’t feel right, so he made adjustments — but it was just collaboration” (January 8, 2016)

J. J. Abrams: “Well, when Lawrence Kasdan and I were working on the story, we had a sense of where we thought things would go. So of course there a number of things we use and set up. And it’s wonderful to see how Rian Johnson has taken our story. Of course we had meetings and stuff beforehand, but he’s taken it and really made it his own and continued the story his way. But there are, of course, many things in this film that are very clearly part of a continuum.” (SFX magazine January 2016)

J. J. Abrams: “ I’ve been very lucky to work with people, like, in the case of The Last Jedi, Ryan Johnson, who is a filmmaker who doesn’t need a babysitter. He needs to be given the room and the space to do what he wants to do. We collaborated really well from the moment he came on, but this is his moment to tell his story.” (May 15, 2017)

Lawrence Kasdan: “[J .J. Abrams and I have] not really [sketched out the next episodes]. [The Force Awakens] sets up a lot of stuff. There’s a lot of people to deal with. And Rian took on that job and he’s going to change it, because he’s Rian. And I’m sure Colin will change what Rian does…. These movies will all be so different. Rian Johnson is a friend of mine — he’s going to make some weird thing. If you’ve seen Rian’s work, you know it’s not going be like anything that’s ever been in Star Wars.” “We talked about [the ending of the new trilogy] — and there’s a certain thing that people who are involved with it feel should happen. There’s a kind of movement that happens. But it’s not in your control. It’s going to veer off with Rian, and it’s going to veer off another way with Colin.” (December 22, 2015)

Lawrence Kasdan: “We didn’t [plan the next episodes]. We should have, but we didn’t.” “What we thought was it was a big enough job to wind up with something we really like.” “It fulfilled those desires to get back to a certain spirit.” “Nothing is settled at the end of this movie, so that suggests ‘Episode VIII’ and ‘IX.’ But we did not say we had to lay that out. That’s someone else’s job.” (December 16, 2015)

Kathleen Kennedy: “George had done a sketch of the story he had in mind, but that was done for the sale of the company. It wasn’t really a document to sit down and start developing a movie from.” (Empire magazine – October 2015)

Kathleen Kennedy: “We haven’t mapped out every single detail yet. But obviously everybody’s talking to one other and working together […] that collaboration is going to guarantee that everybody’s got a say in how we move forward with this.” (December 7, 2015)

Kathleen Kennedy: “[Lucasfilm Story Group head] Kiri [Hart] has been very good about creating a narrative timeline, and having everybody involved in a certain narrative understand where it might fit. That’s become important to the way we talk about these stories.” (December 12, 2016)

Kathleen Kennedy: “No [J. J. Abrams didn’t do a treatment for future Star Wars episodes], because at that point we were sitting down and talking about where this might go, even as early on as with Michael Arndt. We were sort of plotting out, because obviously if you know up front that you’re building the pacing inside a trilogy structure, we needed to have some sense of where this saga was going without locking in on things and leaving room for creative development. But we had to have some sense of where we were going.” (December 17, 2015)

Kathleen Kennedy: “Yup [Rian Johnson came in and gave notes while The Force Awakens was in development.]” “Yes. We talked a little bit about [setting up plot points for VIII and seeding things], but we didn’t end up doing a great deal of that — but we did talk about that. And Rian did come in very early and he read, and came and visited the set. J.J. and him had a lot of conversations. I think Colin will end up doing more of that more-so with Rian as he develops Episode IX.” (December 17, 2015)

Kathleen Kennedy: “Part of it is Rian Johnson [to push the series forward in new directions]; I love his talent [and] his commitment to these stories, and his understanding of the mythology that George [Lucas] created. It’s really something that I think you’ll see that he takes these characters [and] develops their complexities. He’s not afraid to try things that move this into a more complex universe, and I think that’s great. I think that’s what [Star Wars] needs.”(April 14, 2017)

Colin Trevorrow, director and writer of Star Wars: Episode IX: “A story must evolve or perish, and Rian [Johnson] and I are working closely together to make sure our stories build off of each other and continue to evolve and take us to new places, and I think that’s what the fans expect and what they want.” (January 11, 2016)

#plotgate #star wars the last jedi #j.j. abrams #lawrence kasdan #rian johnson #kathleen kennedy #colin trevorrow

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thatssonanii · 8 years ago

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Line In The Sand-Chapter Three

Tama Tonga/OC

After their shower Tama helped her dry off and put lotion on, halfway through she had fallen asleep on him. The sight had brought a smile to his face. He had dressed her despite her being asleep then carried her to her bedroom after the other guards had come and gone to let her finish her early nap.

Tama had the cameras that were placed outside around the property queued up on his laptop while he made a few phone calls.

“Thought you forgot about me.”

“How could I forget about my sister,” Tama smiled leaning back on his bed. It had been a few weeks since he had gotten down to Miami per Colin’s request. The last time he had talked to his sister and best friend, was when her and her husband dropped him off to the airport in San Diego. His sister, Melanie, and her husband Joe were Tama’s best friends. They are the only people who knew him better than any other person in his life given that they grew up together. “How’s South Beach, broddy?” Melanie laughed slightly when he blew out a big breath. “It’s cool, Mel.”

“It’s cool, Mel,” she mocked playfully. “What’s going on? You don’t like workin’ with the Boss Man?”

“Workin’ with him is fine. He’s actually pretty chill.”

“But.”

“The way he treats his wife is terrible. I thought the stories we had heard were bullshit or at least halfway made up,” Tama sighed sitting up to glance at his laptop. “From what I saw last night they aren’t.”

“Look here, Tama. You are there to work not to be playing captain save a hoe.” She spoke sternly. True enough, Tama’s the big brother but she liked to boss him around and give him the business when she thought he was wrong or heading in the wrong direction. “Whatever is going on between him and her is none of your business. She’s a hoe that lucked up for the money, if she’s getting the snot beat out of her that was her choice.”

“Don’t call her that, Mel. Sevyn isn’t a hoe, she’s cool.”

“Tama, don’t. I know that tone and I know what it means. Stop it.” Melanie chastised over the phone, “You need to stay away from her.” She had heard far worse than Tama or her husband had. In her eyes, Colin’s wife was nothing but a gold digging slut who deserved everything that came to her. “I’m supposed to protect her, Mel. I can’t stay away from her.” Tama kept his eyes locked on the screen of his laptop waiting for Colin’s arrival. If he didn’t focus on something else he might have said something he regretted and didn’t mean to his sister. “Just keep it strictly about work. Don’t be your normal flirty self, Tama.” In theory that all sounded good but he couldn’t help who he was. And it was much too late to be about work now. “Don’t fuck her. Keep your dick to yourself,” Melanie spat. Her words made him laugh, she knew him far too well. While he wasn’t the type of man to sleep with any and every one, once he felt a certain attraction his clear thinking became clouded. “If I tell you something, you gotta promise not to yell in my ear. If you yell in my ear, I’m gonna hang up.” She sucked her teeth before telling him to go ahead. Melanie had a feeling of what he was going to say but she was hoping she was wrong. “We had sex this mornin’,” he admitted softly, “On the kitchen table.”

“I’m sorry. What did you just say? I know I didn’t hear what I thought I heard, Alipate.”

“Chill with the government, Mel. You heard what I said.”

“She’s married to your fucking boss, Tama. Is she worth your kneecaps? Or your life?”

“You didn’t see what I saw when I met her last night, Mel. Colin treats her like shit, like an object.”

“Wait,” Melanie spat. “You met her last night and she let you fuck this morning. But you want me to stop calling her the hoe she is. You are something else.”

“Don’t, Mel. She’s a sweet girl who’s in a bad way. Like I said the stories were true for the most part.”

“Let me guess, you wanna take her away from his evilness. Just mind your business, keep your dick to yourself and do what he’s paying you to do.”

Tama continued to talk to his sister but decided to change the subject as he awaited the return of Colin. Telling her about what transpired between Sevyn and him seemed like a good idea at first. Melanie didn’t want her big brother getting hurt behind some broad. They only had each other, she didn’t want to be without him again.

Sevyn stirred in her sleep feeling someone run their fingers through her loose hair. She leaned into their touch with her eyes closed, not ready to get up. The way Tama had fucked had made her exhausted, the shower and massage were icing on the cake that had put her to sleep. This was the first time she was actually able to sleep peacefully. A kiss to her forehead had completely woken her up. When she opened her eyes, she found Colin’s blue eyes staring back at her. “Hey there, beautiful.” He greeted her softly still running his fingers through her hair. She sat rubbing sleepily at her eyes. It was hard but she made herself wake up completely. “How long have you been back?”

“About an hour. Did you miss me?” Sevyn bit her lip feeling slightly awkward. In all honesty, she hadn’t thought about Colin since she woke up alone in their bed. She simply nodded to make him happy. “We’ve got to go to one of my clubs tonight. You need something new to wear,” he started as he sat on the bed beside her, “I’m gonna have Tama take you to get something. Wherever you want to go, he’ll take you.”

“I can drive myself, Col. There’s no need to bother him with this.”

“We talked about this, Sevyn. You need to be protected when I can’t be there.”

“You told me you wouldn’t hide things from me, Colin. If this is going to work, you need to tell me if something is happening.”

Colin hated that he had made that deal with her. His job and his wife were two different worlds to him. Having her tainted by any parts of that world was unnecessary in his eyes. Sevyn didn’t share the same thoughts though.

“There’s a small threat, nothing major.”

“Colin,” she sighed now fully awake. “If it was nothing major then you wouldn’t have gone the extra mile to hire a guard for me. Is someone trying to hurt me?”

“They’re trying to hurt me and they know if they get to my prized possession then they get me,” He explained nonchalantly, “Get up and get dressed. It’s almost three and we’re leaving for the club around ten.” Without another word, Colin rose from the bed to leave the room more than likely headed for his office. It was unfair to her that Colin would try to leave her in the dark especially when her life was technically in danger. Reluctantly she got out of the bed to get dressed. At this rate, Tama was the least of her worries when there was someone trying to hurt her because of her husband.

“Alright, Sevyn. Pick out something nice. I wanna show you off.” Sevyn rolled her eyes leaning into the kiss Colin placed on her forehead. Those are the same instructions he gave to her whenever she needed a new outfit. “As always, I’ll see you when I get back,” she waved headed for the door. Tama was standing there waiting on her with his arms folded across his chest. The facial expression he had didn’t give much away as far as what he was thinking. “Just do what I ask, beautiful. Don’t disappoint me.” Colin waited until she had turned to walk away before he gave her ass a hard slap. She stopped in her tracks, her eyes shot up to Tama’s and held his stare. He shook his head the motioned for her to come on.

Tama opened the passenger door to the jet-black suburban for her and waited until she got in to close the door. Once he was in he made sure her safety belt was on, he fastened his own and started the car. “Where am I headed,” he asked pulling out of the driveway. “Lincoln Road Mall is fine. I’ll probably just find something in Forever21 or Express.” He asked her to put into the car’s GPS for him. Sevyn felt awkward that he made no attempt to have a conversation with her especially with what transpired earlier that morning.

It took twenty minutes to get to the mall but it felt so much longer to Sevyn. Tama didn’t look at her, make any attempt to touch her or talk to her. It felt like torture and she started to wonder if she had done something wrong.

Tama helped her out of the SUV, then placed a hand at her back leading her towards the stores. “Which store do you want to go to first, Sugar?”

She furrowed her brows looking over at him. The name had caught her off guard. Had he really forgotten her name that quick? “Sevyn,” she corrected softly. “I know what I said. Now which store,” he asked returning her gaze until she looked away. She pointed towards Forver21 not bothering to look at him, she knew he had seen her.

The associates greeted her, knowing exactly who she was. Colin Harris’ wife. A label she loved and hated. Right now she was in the middle. The down side was that they swarmed her in whatever store she went into to make sure she didn’t give Colin a bad review. The up side though, they did whatever they could to make her comfortable and were very friendly.

“You need help finding something, Sevyn?” The associate called her by name after Sevyn had asked her numerous times not to call her by her last name. She told them all she was her first name, not her last. Her last name didn’t make her. “Nope, I’ve got it but I’ll let you know if I need help.” Tama stood back while Sevyn searched for a few dresses to try on. He surveyed the store looking for a threat. Unlike Sevyn, he wasn’t in the dark, he knew exactly who he was looking for and why. Even if he didn’t have the attraction he has to Sevyn he would still protect her. It’s his job, it’s what he does. No one was getting to her on his watch.

“Hey um you wanna come to the dressing rooms with me,” she asked grabbing onto to his bicep.

“You need help?” The smirk she enjoyed seeing made another appearance.

“Colin said you have to follow me wherever I go,” she shrugged, “You wouldn’t be doing your job if you didn’t come back here with me.”

Melanie’s voice echoed in his mind. Staying away from anything that would put him in the position he was in with Sevyn in the kitchen was what he should have been doing. But seeing the extra bounce in her step was pulling him toward her. Sevyn isn’t the girl Melanie thought she was, at least she didn’t seem that way to him.

“Where you at,” he asked loudly. He stood at the bank of dressing rooms waiting to hear her voice. “I’m in here.” She poked her head out of the door and nodded her head towards him. “I’ll be out here when you’re ready.”

“Nonsense, Tama. Get in here.”

“I think it’s much safer if I stay out here.” Honestly, her invitation had made his dick twitch a little in response. All he could think about was fucking her inside the dressing room.

“Come on. I might need help and I’m gonna need your opinion.”

He huffed walking towards her. “Fine but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Tama looked around before stepping inside. The last thing he needed was any of the associates to see him with Sevyn in the dressing room. They were like puppets to him. They would go back and share any information they could with Colin to make a buck. “Fuck you get undressed quick.” Sevyn shrugged taking the royal blue tunic dress off the hanger. Tama sat on the bench watching her pull it up over her hips and settle the straps. “What do you think,” she asked turning towards him. “Looks kind of basic to me.” At least he’s honest, she thought to herself taking the dress off leaving her in only her purple lace thong. “If you wanted to strip for me, that’s all you had to say.” Their eyes met through the mirror, she shook her head and smiled. “Put this back on the hanger. Make yourself useful.” She tossed the dress and hanger at him. She debated quietly with herself trying to figure out which dress to try on next. She wasn’t sure about the floral print cocktail peplum dress anymore, it looked cute before but now not so much. The black dress with cut outs was calling to her, she liked it though she wasn’t sure if Colin would. “Either try the dresses on or put your clothes back on, Sugar.” There was that name again, she shook her head and put her hands on her hips. “Is my nakedness bothering you?” She asked walking closer to him.

“And you called me bad. You’re the bad one. I’m tryin’ to do my job and here you are seducin’ me. How dare you?”

“All I’m doing is trying on dresses, Tama. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“It is when you know I’m tryin’ not to bend you over in here.”

She gasped placing her hand on her chest feigning innocence. “Mmm, I’m a married woman. You shouldn’t be trying to fuck me.”

“Somebody needs to. It’s clear your husband isn’t takin’ care of you.”

“Who takes care of you, Tama?” Sevyn stood close to him, bending at the waist with her hands planted on his firm thighs. Her nails dug into them slightly, sending a shock straight to his groin. “No one. God has yet to bless me with a wife.” The tension between them was thick. There was no sign of anxiousness or fear, it was purely sexual. “He did bless you in other ways though.” As she spoke she lowered to the floor until she sat on her knees before him. She had the button on his black jeans popped open before he could protest, to her surprise he was wearing black briefs. “Inside of these jeans are rough on my skin,” he laughed a little. Her eyes found his again as she laughed. He had read her mind because she was surely about to question why he had obstructed her plans with the briefs. “Disappointed?” He mocked lifting his hips to help her get his pants down. His dick sprung out hitting her lips, she giggled and grabbed ahold of it still maintaining eye contact with Tama. “Not in the slightest, Tama.”

The head of his dick was slick with his precum, she used her thumb to spread it around before licking from base to tip. She repeated her actions still staring into his eyes, licking around him like he was her personal blow pop. “Don’t tease,” he groaned softly. Sevyn wrapped her lips around his head, allowing her spit to flow freely from her mouth onto his length using it as lubricant to jack him as she went along. Tama watched her every move intently, struggling to keep his hips still. She had just started and he already felt like he was going to cum.

Sevyn felt his dick twitching and straining against her cheeks and the roof of her mouth as she plunged him into her throat. He wasn’t a small man but she tried to take him all anyway. She gagged a bit before backing off. Slowly she withdrew the shaft and the head popped free of her lips with a loud sucking noise. "Aah, fuck," Tama grunted. "Do that again, Sugar." He bit his lip to keep from shouting out as he thrusted the saliva soaked head back against her face. Sevyn draped her lips back over the head then sucked him again deeper.

Tama's hips were bucking wildly as he sought to keep control. He wanted this to last. "You look amazing with my dick in your mouth,” He muttered feeling his toes curl in his shoes. From the way she angled her body in front of him, Tama had a great view of her breasts, her ass in her thong, and his dick disappearing down her throat. He started to think about the security procedures he had learned over the last few weeks. It was all he could do to stop from cumming. He panted noisily forgetting they were in public as Sevyn continued to fuck him with her mouth. His groans, her moans and slurping sounds filled the small room.

Sevyn’s hand that rested on his thigh moved down to her cloth covered mound. Sucking him off had more than turned her on, his groaning was pushing her over. The throbbing had become unbearable. She rubbed tight circles over her clit while simultaneously deep throating Tama’s dick. “That’s it, Sugar. Play with that pretty pussy for me,” Tama grunted reaching a hand into her hair. Again, she slid him out of her mouth with a pop, continuing to jack him off with one hand. “You better be quiet.” She moaned seductively eyeing him. “Someone might hear you, Tama.” A breathless laugh escaped him, she had to be fucking with him. “Shit, I can’t help it. You’re fuckin’ killin’ me right.” His hips lifted slightly to meet her strokes. “Feels good, doesn’t it?” Just as he prepared to answer her, she slid his length pass her lips once again and the slurping noises were back. Thick spit dribbled down the sides of Tama's shaft as it thrust in and out of her mouth. Wanting to focus on him cumming, Sevyn withdrew her hand from her panties and wrapped it around his balls massaging them gently as his dick hit the back of her throat.

“What are you doin’ to me?” Tama asked staring down at her. He watched his dick slide in and out of her mouth still gripping her hair, guiding her along his length. Never in his life had a blowjob felt like this, she deserved any and everything she wanted after the way she made him feel. “Fuck … fuck … fuck,” he groaned as she sucked faster and harder. Sevyn had hollowed out her cheeks, continuing to let the spit dribble freely from her lips. She felt him start to swell in her mouth, letting her know he was about to cum. Sliding him out of her mouth allowing his hand to slip from her hair, she continued to jack him off watching his face intently. She wanted to see the face he made when she made him cum. “Let go, Tama. I don’t think we have much time before someone comes to check on us,” she whispered. “It’s comin’, Sugar.” Tama’s body started to tingle from his head to his fingertips to his dick all the way down to his toes as his orgasm rushed through him. As soon as, she felt the first drop hit her chin, she opened her mouth with her tongue out to catch the rest. “Holy fuck, Sugar, Fuckin’ hell.” He came in fast spirts cursing repeatedly to himself. To Tama she looked sexy as hell with his cum on her tongue for him to see. She continued to rub up and down his length until she was sure he was done and sat with her mouth for him to see.

“What you gon do with that, babygirl?” With a shrug, Sevyn closed her mouth and swallowed every drop of his cum. “Let me see,” he ordered still breathing raggedly. She opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue. “All gone, Tama.”

Tama had no idea how he walked from the dressing room to the cash register to the car. His legs felt like jelly, the two of them sat in the running car while he got himself together.

“I think the black dress is gonna look really good on me.” Sevyn sat in the passenger seat, looking in the visor mirror reapplying her lip balm. Tama just stared at her, he had never been so upset and happy with someone in his entire life. “You got some nerve, girl.” Ignoring his comment, she smirked to herself and continued with her rant about her dress. Tama shook his head and prepared to leave the parking lot.

“The nerve of you,” he chuckled glancing in her direction. “You did that shit and now you actin’ all innocent like it didn’t happen. Talkin’ about that dress like I care right now.”

“What is it that I did, Tama?” She asked turning in her seat to look at him.

“You just sucked my soul out through my dick and expect me to talk to you about that damn dress, Sevyn. I mean shit, that was some impressive work.” She smiled shyly offering a small thank you. “No, not thank you. I want my soul and feelin’ in my legs back.”

“I was just returnin’ the favor.”

Tama didn’t mention anything else about it, he only playfully glared at her from time to time. It was a damn good time but he knew he needed to back off her. If was going to continue whatever they were doing, he needed to know a little more about her and her marriage to Colin. He can’t go around sleeping with married women, he wouldn’t want someone sleeping with his wife. The next time they were alone, he planned to find out as much as he could. Hopefully he could talk to her this time instead of fucking her, even though the latter sounded much better.

@lavitabella87

#tama tonga/oc #tama tonga #line in the sand

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oddieodelia · 8 years ago

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Forsaken: UK Shadowhunters Con Recap

Hi all! So I went to Forsaken this weekend, if you don’t know what that is, it was a Shadowhunters con in London with Maxim Roy (Jocelyn), Jon Cor (Hodge), Kaitlyn Leeb (Camille) and Joel Labelle (Alaric).

It was so much fun, and since it was their first con/they’re not the main cast it was so small, nice and chill. They were all so down to earth, humbled and overwhelmed that we came to see/speak to them. They each had two panels (one on each day) and a full guest panel, I’ve managed to write up most of what I can remember below. Obviously there’s a lot I haven’t captured, but highlights/best moments are under the cut!

A lot of things we discussed were personal/non-Shadowhunter related, if you just want to read the bits to do with the show, just read the bits that have been bolded.

Kaitlyn

Camille will not be appearing in 2b

We were meant to get a scene set in the 1800s when we saw the flashback photo of Camille/Magnus/Ragnor. The scene was meant to be at a ball, and Camille tells Magnus about her dalliance with that short lived Russian. However unfortunately due to budget constraints the scene got cut.

Another scene that got cut: initially at the beginning we were meant to see a scene between Camille/Raphael that was all in French. As she doesn't speak French she spent a while learning the lines and the accent. She nailed it by the time they did the table read, but after that the scene got cut.

When discussing ships that would never work, she said Camille/Alec. We agreed that would only happen if she did an encanto on him. After discussing for a while Kaitlyn said that to get back at/hurt Magnus for sending her to Idris, when Camille breaks free she'll encanto Alec.

If Camille wasn't such a lying cheating bitch she believes Camille and Magnus could've had a future, because deep down they do and will always love eachother.

Kaitlyn has a few projects coming up: she's continuing with Heartland, a Netflix show coming up (Slasher 2 I think she said?), and another show that also stars Paulino Nunes.

Her favourite scene to shoot was the first scene with Simon and Raphael.

She loves her scenes with Magnus because she loves working with Harry. After Harry, her favourite person to work with is Alberto.

Hardest thing to shoot/skill she had to learn whilst being on Shadowhunters was learning to speak with fangs in her mouth. She was pretty bad at speaking, but at least she was better than David. David was awful at first. Trying to do anything (e.g. pouring the bloody marys) whilst she had the long nails was very difficult too.

Another hard thing to shoot was the graveyard scene. Avery was born 5 weeks prior and shooting went till about 7am. She was also wearing heels which isn't easy on grass/mud.

She initially auditioned for the role of Izzy. They then brought her back to audition for Camille, which she got after one audition.

If she could play anyone else in the show it would be Magnus because his character is amazing, but if she's talking about a character she could physically play (e.g. a female) it would be Izzy.

On who is the biggest mother hen on set? Kat. Not in a particularly maternal way, but she always makes everyone - especially new cast members - feel welcome and part of the Shadowhunter family.

Kaitlyn loves British TV. Fave shows include Downton Abbey and Keeping Up Appearances. She also loves the Royal Family and Kate in particular.

Her comfort movie/movie she's seen the most is Monster In Law. She loves Jane Fonda.

One place she'd love to visit? Somewhere in Africa to see safari. However she'd have to wait till Avery is a little older as the flight is so long.

Her favourite animal is an ostrich. She'd love a pet ostrich, she'd name it Betty.

If she could dress Avery up as a Disney princess it would be Pocahontas. For Halloween last year she dressed her up as a gypsy bride, and her friend's son was the gypsy groom.

She loves being a mother cause it makes her feel like a wonder woman. Being able to juggle so much and look after another being is so fulfilling.

Her mother was her role model growing up, so she wants to be the same for Avery.

She doesn't really get starstruck, but when she was on Total Recall she had a moment of being starstruck when she saw Colin Farrell. Her husband joined her at the premiere and when he saw Jessica Biel he totally freaked and asked for a photo.

Joel

Firstly Joel is like the funniest dorkiest man ever. He reiterated many times that if he does 'make it' and become a super famous actor in the future and becomes a douchebag, he wants us to call him out on it. He wants to always stay down to earth like he is now.

Joel is an actor and a stuntman. Trying to break into acting was difficult: casting directors would see his stunting resume and not really give him a chance. Luckily he's now seen as both and has a few different projects coming up. He's currently doing some work on Fargo.

He initially auditioned for the role of Meliorn, but that then went to Jade. They brought him back a few times and he then landed the role of Alaric.

He loves working across Isaiah, they were both such fun on set. Joel really wanted to pull a prank on Isaiah (saran wrap the toilet bowl in his trailer) but was scared Isaiah would kill him.

He was super freaked when he first heard that Isaiah was cast as Luke. 'That's the Old Spice guy??!!' but got over it pretty quickly. Secret: Isaiah literally is the Old Spice guy in real life.

Joel doesn't really get starstruck, but he once was at the craft table making a sandwich and Gary Oldman was next to him making a sandwich and he didn't know what to do with himself.

His favourite scene on Shadowhunters was when he kidnapped Clary/Simon and put them in the car, because he actually drove the car afterwards. He was told to 'drive safe but make it look dangerous'. He told Kat/Alberto to buckle up and just sped round the corner, as they hadn't buckled up they flew across the seats.

As a stuntman and professional skydiver he's broken like every bone in his body. (Don't quote me on this, but it was like his arms 3 times, every finger, both his wrists and all his ribs on one side?) He was actually in a coma once too. One of his arms has like metal and screws, it always beeps when he goes to the airport in China.

Though he's got a few projects he still professionally skydives and is going back to Toronto to do so very soon. He promised Dom that he'll bring him skydiving soon.

He didn't steal any clothes from the set because Alaric's clothes were 'so lame'. He hated on his dip dye plaid shirt.

He wishes he could've had more fight scenes. As a stuntman he would've loved to have more fight scenes and done all the stunts himself. If he could've redone his death scene it would've been a dramatic battle death.

He didn’t really prepare for the role/read any werewolf lore when he got the part. He feels if he prepares he tends to over prepare and just mess up. Acting is meant to be like real life - in real life we don’t prepare everything we say and have set lines, acting should be as natural as possible. You just have to learn your lines, hit your mark and listen to what others are saying to you.

He'd love to play Aladdin in the live action version. (Someone then started the hashtag #JoelLabelleForAladdin)

Actors he looks up to? Denzel Washington and Shia LaBeouf. (The first because he's an incredible actor, the latter as he's so famous yet his personal life is not in the limelight. Shia is a very 'normal person'.)

Worst/most embarrassing thing that has happened on a set? He was on Reign and was part of a battle scene outside where they all had to run/charge forward. He tripped over a log and fell pretty much into a really expensive camera and completely broke it. He's super clumsy on set and has knocked over/broken many props too.

He was so flattered and humbled about this weekend. It was his first con and 'one of the best things he's ever done.' Speaking to his family about it, his mother and sister were like 'why? why would people want to come and see and take photos with you?' his sister sent him a whatsapp like 'why, you're ugly'.

Jon

Firstly Jon is super poetic and everything he said was just so wonderful, quotable and long winded, so I probably won't be able to capture everything that was said. Like not from the panel, but his autographs took so long. Maxim and Joel were totally making fun of him and were saying he was writing poems for everyone. Every autograph had a little message, he was such a sweetheart (mine said 'you have a wonderful smile').

Jon's read all of the main TMI books and seen the film, he wanted to have his own take on Hodge. He wanted him to be seen as like an older brother/uncle, someone who was close to the Lightwoods. He wasn't a Lightwood though, and he's not part of the Circle, he's just somewhere in between, on his own.

He thinks Hodge felt so guilty after what he did, he was just so surprised and like 'oh no what's happening' when Valentine just took the cup from him.

His favourite Lightwood to work with was Alec, because he gets along really well with Matt.

If Hodge hadn't died yet, Jon would have loved to have done the scene from the books with Sebastian.

He can't say anything because of NDAs, so we don't know if Hodge might be able to come back. Perhaps in a flashback with Jace and Alec?

If Jon could play a superhero it would be Batman. Jon has a few different projects coming up, most recently he filmed a pilot for the CW. It's an adaption from a YA novel, I think he said something about mermaids? They don't know if they'll get picked up or not but from what they've heard, the pilot is being very warmly received.

If Jon wasn't an actor he would just be a writer. He talked a lot about his book and short stories and gave advice to writers. He started writing his book when he was 19 and every now and then he goes back to it and rewrites bits. It's been finished for years, he just always changes bits and doesn't want to publish it yet. When he does publish it, it will be free and proceeds will go to charity. He said he thought about going to an editor or publisher but he doesn't want restrictions. With acting, he is just an actor who is told what to do - by the script, directors, producers.. etc. Writing on the other hand is something personal and truly where he can be free to do whatever he wants.

Jon talked about his mother a lot. She was a 16 year old single mother and daughter to a priest (I think he said, or granddaughter?). He was originally meant to be put up for adoption but once she had him she couldn't let him go. She went to the prospective parents and apologised that she couldn't give him up. She's basically his biggest constant and role model in life, and why he cares and admires women so much. He got really emotional and choked up and I thought I was about to cry. The whole room was just silent.

Jon and his mother moved around a lot when he was younger so he was always the 'new kid' at school. That's how he ended up acting - he once joined a drama class and realised acting was a way he could almost deflect any of the mean things people said about him/how he could make others laugh. He felt like as the new kid he always had to prove himself to others.

So obviously his name is Jon Cor - when he was bullied his nickname was Jon Apple Core, his nickname from friends was Jonny Hardcore.

He talked a while about gaming (unfortunately I can't really remember the games he talked about) but he was saying how he appreciates games as an art form. Some games have beautiful storylines and are way more than just *sings Super Mario theme song*.

He laughed and talked about some of his past projects, including Saw. He said it was such a fun and crazy experience, there was one scene where he was just handcuffed to a chair for a while, whilst his co-star was hung above him. They took her down every few takes and made sure she wasn't hanging for too long, but she still became numb from the waist down and had to go to hospital.

Jon’s all time favourite band are The White Stripes. He also absolutely loves The Doors.

Maxim

Obviously the first thing everyone talked about was Jocelyn's death. Similarly Maxim talked about NDAs so can't confirm or deny if she'll be able to come back at all.

She found out about Jocelyn's death after shooting 2x02.

If Jocelyn were still alive she would've loved to have had more scenes with Isaiah. Following the books, Jocelyn and Luke would've eventually gotten married.

Isaiah is also a great kisser. As on screen kisses are so mechanical they’re often pretty awkward, so it’s always a pleasant surprise when you find an actor who kisses great on screen.

Her favourite episode is the pilot. There was just something so magical about the first episode, everyone was so excited to film and to be part of such a huge project.

Her favourite scene with Kat is the one from the pilot where Jocelyn gives Clary her stele.

She loved the World Inverted episode, she'd love to explore that again. She said when her and Alan were dancing, he kept saying that they should kiss. 'Alan is so in love with me!'

She thought everyone was so great in the AU episode, she though Isaiah was hilarious and Emeraude did such a great job with nerd!Izzy.

Her best friends on set were Alan and Jon.

Maxim only did one audition and got the role. She filmed her audition on her iPhone in a hotel room and got it straight away. (Joel was so amazed, ‘one audition? ONE audition?! one audition on an iphone???’) She submitted her video on a Thursday, got told she got the role on Sunday, flew out on Tuesday and started filming on Thursday.

Though Jocelyn and Maryse had a rough relationship, Maxim thinks Jocelyn would totally approve of Clary's friendship with Isabelle. She wouldn't judge Izzy on her parents' mistakes, and be happy that Clary has someone so strong to show her the ropes.

On Climon/Clace: Jocelyn would approve of Climon because she knows Simon is like the nicest and sweetest boy who would treat Clary right. (As Maxim she totally does not ship them though). With Clace she at first wouldn't approve as she never wanted Clary to get involved with a Shadowhunter cause she'd be scared he'd turn out like Valentine, but in the end would approve. She'd realise that Jace is a good person who will treat her right and protect her.

She said that Alberto is so much like Simon and is the nicest, sweetest boy. She once asked him if she could adopt him. She wants a small Alberto that she can carry around in her pocket.

When the younger actors were filming the flashback episodes, Maxim spoke to the actress portaying young!Jocelyn. She gave her more physical pointers such as how she moves and how she fights - she held the blade in one hand which was unfortunate for the younger actress as it was super heavy. (Maxim said after the day they shot the flashback in the park where Jocelyn kills the demon from the lake in the park she could barely move her arm.)

She feels like she was the mother hen on set, though she's not particularly serious herself. She played pranks and scared people too. She wanted to hide in Dom's bathroom and jump out at him but she was scared of what he'd do afterwards.

Speaking of pranks, she said her best one ever was on a film that was shot in Mexico. One of the actors was kinda drunk and like asking them to all go out at like 3am when they had a call the next morning, so the next day they told the director/producer. They hired two guys to act as cops and pretend that he did something wrong and would get arrested, they staged a whole argument between the cops and director in Spanish (the actor doesn't speak it so was just standing there scared). They convinced him he was going to get arrested and wouldn't be allowed back to Canada. This lasted two hours.

She also pulled a pretty harsh prank on her mother. Her mother always used to buy the lottery, and one day when she was out she asked Maxim/her husband to write down the numbers for her. Maxim and her dad decided it would be fun to pretend she won a lot of money, found her ticket and wrote down 5 of the 6 numbers. Her mother thought she had won like $250,000 dollars and was totally freaking out, then they told her they lied.

Maxim is a scuba diver. She’d totally recommend scuba divers to go to Belize.

She loves British music. Currently she’s loving Adele, Ed Sheeran and Coldplay.

And finally just a few notable thoughts that came up in the group discussion with Maxim/Jon/Joel (Kaitlyn had to leave early to fly back to Canada):

Which character would win a THG battle? Everyone agreed Alaric would die pretty soon, it was a toss up between Jocelyn and Hodge though (brains vs. brawl)

What weapon would they use in a THG fight? Joel said a machine gun. Jon said a pen, because the ‘pen is mightier than the sword’. He then went on a ramble about how he’d just do small things like steal Maxim’s toothbrush and slowly make her think that she’s going insane. Joel and Maxim pretended to fall asleep as he discussed his plans.

Favourite colour? Maxim and Joel both said blue. They think perhaps because it reminds them of the sea/sky respectively (scuba diver/skydiver). Joel’s is red.

What crazy colour would they dye their hair (in real life or for a role)? Joel - blue (because it’s his fave colour), Maxim - platinum, Hodge - purple (perhaps for a punky dude who steals things? Again, he went on a roll and Maxim/Joel just started laughing)

Spirit animal? Joel - pig (I’m so lazy), Maxim - dolphin, Jon - lion

And that’s about it for my write up. It’s 11:30 and I’m super tired, hopefully this all makes sense! I wrote half of this whilst on the tube home from the con, so if there any grammatical mistakes I apologise. If I think of any more I’ll update this, feel free to ask me any qs! And check out my forsaken tag, I’ll upload more photos later.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading! xx

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shinewithalltheuntold · 7 years ago

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So, I had the pleasure of attending the Once Upon a Time panel at Phoenix Comicon today. Sean Maguire, Karen David, and David Anders. I expected to be entertained. I did not expect to almost ruin my makeup because they made me laugh so hard I cried.

Seriously, I cannot overstate how flipping funny these three were together. And adorable and thoughtful and just...this was one of the best panels I have been to in a long time - which is saying a lot because I’ve been to some really good panels.

A few highlights Many highlights under the cut because OMG they were just so entertaining:

- Karen David trying to come up with a way not to spoil people in the audience who hadn’t seen the finale yet (the mod rightly pointed out that anyone going to a panel without having seen the finale of a show knows what they’re getting into. Still, Karen was adorable about it.)

- David made a comment about Sean looking cooler with his bow and arrow than Stephen Amell and the audience all gasped. David took mock offense because they were at a Once panel and not an Arrow one. He then randomly dropped references to Stephen Amell for the rest of the panel. So funny.

- Sean of course got asked about Robin’s death. He said he was obviously disappointed about it, but emphasized that an actor’s job was to serve the greater story and that as a writer he understood that (didn’t know he was a writer so that was an interesting tidbit.) He sounded more zen about the whole thing than the interviews I read at the time - understandably so.

- He then made joking references to Robin’s death off and on, including that if Robin had been in the musical episode the only thing he could have sung about was being in a box. This led to David Anders singing a Robin Hood theme song.

- David Anders can sing. Both he and Karen sang during the panel. Sean sort of halfheartedly sang at one point, but he deferred to the other two. Karen serenaded us with a Galavant song. It was glorious.

- Karen and David would have loved to be in the musical episode, but Karen pointed out that the regular cast has a lot of talented people and they should take center stage over recurring characters. Sean would not have wanted to be in the musical episode, but was happy it was well-received and that his castmates did well.

- Karen enjoys teasing Colin. He apparently tried to get her to crack at various points and she took that as a challenge so now it’s a bit of a thing with them. (She apparently tweeted a picture of a ham to him at one point.) Also, apparently someone tweeted “#pantydropper” to Colin once and it makes him turn red whenever it’s mentioned. So Karen makes sure to mention it.

- Oh, and in the finale scene where Hook calls Snow ‘mom’, the first few takes apparently Colin played it all over the top sexy just for laughs.

- David enjoyed working with Sean on the couple of scenes they had together. He was impressed with Sean’s ability to cry (holding Peanut) and not break character even when dealing with cheesy lines.

- Sean finds that the more serious a scene is, the more he wants to joke around (which I so relate to). He made a comment about that possibly being the reason he was let go.

- Karen was really excited to with Ginnifer Goodwin in her first episode. She shared a care package her dad sent to her with Ginny. And then gave little care packages, including tea, to her castmates a lot. She stopped when she realized how expensive it was going to be. She apologized to Sean because she stopped it before he came back.

- She talked about what a pro Lana is and how when she’s playing the Evil Queen she is totally into it. But in the diner scene where the Evil Queen is force choking Jasmine, Karen made this really weird, loud choking noise that she broke character and apologized for. Lana cracked up, and Karen said she had to be looking away in the rest of the takes so she wouldn’t laugh.

- When asked about props or stunts that were memorable, Karen said she absolutely loved the flying carpet stuff. And working with Joanna. She is totally in love with being a Disney princess; she referenced it a lot. It was too cute. Sean talked about riding the fake horse in the streets of “New York” and how ridiculous he looked and how the people watching the filming looked at him like he was nuts. He also talked about how sometimes the arrows he used were CGI because “apparently the producers didn’t want him accidentally shooting his castmates. Or the crew. Or random citizens of Vancouver.” David joked that the heart he used in his scenes was real, donated by someone named Doug who died and donated his organs to Once.

- They all love Eduardo and his costumes and what he did for their characters. Sean talked about how it helped him find the character. Karen said Eduardo told her she’s be on a liquid diet to fit into her costume so she loved when wore the cape because she got to eat that day. David loved the steampunk look to his costume.

- Someone asked what spinoff they’d like to do for any of the roles they played. David said there had been talk of a Sark spinoff for Alias at one point. Sean said he’d love to play the version of Ian Fleming he played in Timeless in a spinoff. Karen just said she wanted more Galavant - maybe a movie or a musical.

- All three of them geek out whenever they get the chance to act with Robert Carlyle. They all think he’s amazing.

- David doesn’t know how to play anything but villains.

- David and Sean were fucking savage about Trump. Sean did an impression of him that I’m pretty sure was the start of my tearing up from laughing, and when asked which real life hero or villain he would be he said he would be Trump so that he could shoot himself in the head. Then at the end when they were asked who they’d take a magic carpet ride with, David said Trump so that he could push him off. Sean said that David stole his answer verbatim and then looked out and said that they might as well do it right so he would take Pence on his carpet ride.

- Sean’s favorite thing to do besides acting is napping. A highly underrated pastime. (Clearly a man with a small child.) Karen likes going into the studio to make music, and is learning golf. David agreed to help teach her.

- Karen is moving into Sean’s neighborhood. Sean is helping her move. Karen joked that she just wanted to see Sean in a tank top and then Sean talked about as actors how they’d all have the perfect “moving day” outfits and that if his clashed with Karen’s husband he’d have to go home and change.

- David moved recently as well into a “cooler” neighborhood and apparently someone wrote something about hipsters not being welcome in the neighborhood. He left it up because it amused him and was actually kind of cool looking. He referenced Banksy in describing what it looked like.

- Sean liked doing Once Upon a Time in Wonderland because it let him develop his character a bit more. And because getting two paychecks is always good.

- Now that I’m thinking about it, Karen did reference wanting to do a spinoff called “Once Upon a Time in Agrabah.” She said she would take the magic carpet with Hook, and pick up Robin and Whale on the way because after spending the weekend with Sean and David she was bummed that she never got to have scenes with either of them. (Seriously though, they seemed to have hit it off really well. They were having a great time together and were really comfortable with each other.)

- A gentleman talked about how his wife had been battling cancer and Once was a godsend to her because it helped keep her mind off the pain of chemo and he was really grateful to the show for being so important to her. Sean said something really lovely about how he thought he spoke for all the cast that being able to create something that was so meaningful to so many people and to hear stories like that was what made their jobs worthwhile.

- Karen talked about her parents and how inspirational they were to her. They weren’t allowed more than $20 when they emigrated first to England and then to Canada. Her dad framed the $20 to remind her and her sister of how important it was to work hard to achieve your goals and how supportive and awesome they were.

- She also talked about being bullied growing up and dealing with racism and how seeing Disney princesses like Jasmine and Mulan and Pocahontas helped her to recognize that those things she was being bullied for were what made her special. When she was done talking, David leaned over and gave her a hug.

I’m sure there’s more stuff that I’m missing because the panel was pretty much an entire hour of amazing and I am so so glad I went. Karen David is sunshine personified, Sean Maguire is witty and sweet and charming, and David Anders is so much funnier than I was expecting (and also had moments of sweetness.) I highly recommend attending any panel any of them do, separately or together. But especially together because it was just truly delightful. (And I am really bummed that I missed the chance to do the photo op with the three of them together now. Alas.)

#phoenix comicon #ouat #sean maguire #karen david #david anders #the whole weekend was fun #but even if it had been total crap #it still would have been worth it #for that panel alone

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furederiko · 7 years ago

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Random-News-Digest time everyone! It's the final one for the month of June. And yes, I admit that it's mainly published to address the recent update of a certain... game XD.

NOTE: This post hasn't been formerly proofread, so I have to apologize in advance. I'll get to that when I have the time, which might take a day or two, or even faster than that. Big religious holiday is supposedly starting later tonight, and although I'm not celebrating, for some reason I've always got caught up in the moment (can't actually get some rest due to the festive noise anyway. Gah!!!). And also, the internet has been rather slow thanks to that same reason. So there's that! (^^;) Proofread and minor updates completed on June 26th 08:10AM. See? Told you it'll take a while... XD

Star Wars

Big storm is brewing against the franchise! In an unexpected and perhaps unprecedented (for the franchise at least) turnaround, directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are no longer attached to the "Han Solo: A Star Wars Story" (tentatively titled) movie, which is currently IN PRODUCTION! Nope, make that 'only a few weeks away from finishing the filming' stage. So it's more than halfway done. Unbelievable, right?

Creative differences is the diplomatic excuse as always, because well... this IS Hollywood. The duo even issued a statement with the cliché tune of "Unfortunately, our vision and process weren’t aligned with our partners on this project", because well... cliché HOLLYWOOD. But it turned out the reason was a bit more personal than that. Apparently they had a clash of style and vision with Lawrence Kasdan (who's writing the movie's script with son Jon Kasdan) regarding the titular character's personality, an issue that was not backed by producer Allison Shearmur who's overseeing production in London. Since the long-gestating problem that has begun since day one of production couldn't be solved, they have practically been let-go (or fired, if you prefer the more blatant term). Rather blindsidedly too, some sources claimed. I'm not taking sides here, but honestly, if this was intended to be such a serious movie, I personally wondered WHY Lord and Miller were even hired. Considering their portofolio so far has been none other than comedy. No wonder there was a clash of tones there!

Kathleen Kennedy, the president of Lucasfilm immediately announced that there would be a replacement, with names like Ron Howard, Joe Johnston, and Kasdan himself being in the mix. And well, yesterday the studio has officially chosen Howard to take over Lord and Miller's directorial duty. A news that was met with mixed reactions, because while some were aware of Howard's superb Oscar-winning talent, many others have so easily forgotten all the critically acclaimed works he has delivered and... lamented this decision instead. Some even started complaining that the movie doesn't need to exist in the first place. LOL. That's our INTERNET people, get used to it! By the way, Howard is no stranger to the "Star Wars" franchise. He's an acquaintance of George Lucas, and had previously been approached to direct "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace". His hiring is said to be keeping up with "the spirit of the saga that George Lucas began 40 years ago", inspite of how old-fashioned it might be.

It's currently unclear if all the works that Lord and Miller have done since February would be scrapped and replaced anew, but since the issue stemmed from such fundamental ground, I feel many scenes will be redone in extensive reshoots during the Summer. Not unlike what happened with Gareth Edwards' "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" last year... which thankfully came out unscathed. For the record, this Han Solo movie starring Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover, Emilia Clarke, and Woody Harrelson is still scheduled for May 25th, 2018, so the studio might need to salvage as much footage as they can to fulfill the target date. As for Lord and Miller, there are rumors that they might get back to talking with Warner Bros about "The Flash". Not surprising, considering they DID write its original script, and left to do Han Solo. That poor superhero movie is pretty much a vacant production anyway, having lost directors over and over again. For the moment, there's no official confirmation about this. Heck they can even go back to working on sequel to "The LEGO Movie", right? We'll just have to wait and see.

Suffice to say, with this news, as well as the fact that Colin Trevorrow's recent movie "The Book of Henry" tanking both critically and financially... the Force is definitely NOT with the franchise. It makes good sense if fans are beginning to doubt that Trevorrow will wonderfully fulfill his duty as director for "Star Wars: Episode IX", the last of the modern/new-era trilogy. Not to mention, the firing of Lord and Miller might affect the franchise in terms of... behind the scene dealings. I'm not hyperboling here, but things are definitely not looking good. Then again, Lucasfilm managed to crawl out from risky situation before, as evidenced by "Rogue One", so perhaps this won't be a huge deal? I for once am glad that I'm not that invested in the franchise. But I'm aware that many nerds, and general audience out there care deeply enough for it to be more than just casually concerned. Let's just... hope the best and expect the worse. Okay?

Dark Universe

Another major franchise (if we can even call it that way, because it's still in infancy state for now) that has also become a major question mark, is none other than Universal and its modern Shared Monsters universe. Much were riding on Alex Kurtzman's "The Mummy" to jump-start the whole universe, but it sure didn't play out as planned. It wasn't the breakout hit that Universe was expecting. Nope, it was worse. It was already riddled with bad reviews prior to release, hence the opening numbers for the movie was underwhelmingly weak, and now it has plummeted 56% domestically in its second week. It's another "Ghost in the Shell" and "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" situation, folks! Not even a household name like Tom Cruise and/or Russell Crowe can do anything about it.

The good news is, it's doing better in the global market having passed the $600 million mark. The bad news? One would easily wonder if this is a good sign for Universal or not? After all, isn't this like... the "Dracula Untold" situation all over again? Will Bill Condon's "The Bride of Frankenstein" need to re-start the universe from scratch again? I'm honestly skeptical about it, but this is Hollywood we're talking about. A business that in general, couldn't care less about what its audience is thinking. Perhaps we should be doing that instead, then? Hmmm...

Mission Impossible

Speaking of Tom Cruise, he's currently filming the currently un-subtitled "Mission: Impossible 6". Aside from introducing Henry Cavill as a likely expendable member of the movie, director Christopher McQuarrie also personally confirmed several additions to the cast, old and new. Namely, the female cast who have joined series veteran Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin, Sean Harris, and Ving Rhames for a 2-hours session with Cruise's Ethan Hunt (Jeremy Renner is busy with Avengers, so nope, he won't be around). Surprisingly, these gals consist of returning actresses Michelle Monaghan and scene-stealer Rebecca Ferguson, as well as new ones like Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, and Sian Brooke. That's like, twice the number of women compared to each previous installments! Who would've expected that we're getting a balanced gender in the 6th movie, and not just another sausage-fest, right?

McQuarrie is writing and directing the movie, and seemed proud with his extended cast. We still however, don't know much about it or the plot. I can only hope that this one will have a fresh story, that doesn't revolve in recycling has-been-plots. This franchise has that kind of unfortunate tendency, by the way. I'm not and never a fan of the movie series (I liked the TV better? Idk why), but it's totally commendable that it still has a good spark for another round. Heck, perhaps it might be turned into its own Shared Universe in the near future? LOL... Naah, I'm just kidding. But really, that might actually happen. I hope I didn't just jinx it...

Transformers

Reviews for Michael Bay's latest bombastic explosive robot-destruction-porn have hit the market, and well... should we even be surprised if they are BAD? Like... really BAD? "Transformers: The Last Knight" has even surpassed the Chinese-heavy "Transformers: Age of Extinction" by debuting in a... lower RottenTomatoes score. YIKES! 17% on RT, and 29 on Metacritic. Critics haven't been kind with the franchise, as evidenced by how they were torturing "Age of Extinction", but they weren't holding back with this one too. According to many, this one has even more bloated overstuffed plot, it's an overlong mess of badness, eventhough it has an ambitious screenplay and Mark Wahlberg giving his best as Cade Yeager's swan-song to the franchise. Some however, also said that it was bearable and would likely please its true fans no matter how bleak it might be. So... it's not for everyone, then? Hmmm...

In another NON-surprising news, Bay also announced that he's retiring from the franchise. AGAIN! Yes, I've even lost count how many times he had sworn these similar lines, but in an interview with Fandango, he just openly reiterated his intention. AGAIN. Hopefully for good this time, because I'm intrigued to see other directors taking their chances with this. I admit, I'm rather skeptical about his words though, because as I said, he kept on saying he's done with the franchise, only to jump back in while boasting his pride all over the place. It's like, a Decepticon knocked him out cold, and gave him amnesia every single time he finished making one movie! The bigger problem in the bigger picture though, we still have many more movies in the planning! I think it was 14 more scripts, right? I lost count as well. A Bumblebee spin-off has even been set to arrive next year as the beginning of this supposed Bay-less era. The logic here, is... do we really NEED more? It's a rhetoric question, by the way, don't bother answering. "Transformers: The Last Knight" is out since June 21st, so it should be crashing down in theatres near you as we speak *sigh*.

Jurassic Park

Well well well... title for the sequel to "Jurassic World" has been revealed! Announced through an official poster, the movie will now be called "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom". It's unclear what the 'Fallen Kingdom' actually means, although it somehow reminded me of... the 2nd Transformers movie. Which is not a good sign, considering the first "Jurassic World" made A LOT of money, but in a way, suffered through poor reviews by many critics. Will this franchise fall into the same category to Transformers? We'll see. "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" is set to arrive next year!

DC Films

"Wonder Woman" was the FIRST critically-good DCEU movie, so it's not even a surprise that WB is already planning a sequel. Once again, this IS Hollywood, people! Director Patty Jenkins and DC Comics and DC Films' Geoff Johns are currently collaborating for the treatment. Their goal is, "to make another great Wonder Woman film". The twist in this equation, Jenkins hasn't been officially signed to the project. Given the sudden recent development on "Star Wars" (which MIGHT carry Lord and Miller back to DC Film), this can mean anything. So it's unclear if she will or will not direct it, or just working behind the scene as writer and producer. Creative differences happen every now and then. But you know what? I'm more curious to how Johns can even manage to work on so many projects at the same time! Is he a cyborg, solely created for multitasking? He DID write "Vision" for Marvel Comics before... hmmm

Meanwhile, "The Justice League" is expected to have a new look now that Joss Whedon is in charge of the reshoot. Splash Report said that the movie have been overhauled by the studio not just once, but TWICE. This was seemingly evidenced by what happened after production was wrapped on October 2016. If it was done, how come actors like Jason Momoa subsequently had to cancel guest appearances and also postponed production for "Aquaman" just to do reshoots? And looks like it's not just an everyday reshoot after all, but a 'serious' and 'significant' one. Similar to what happened to "Rogue One" for half of its runtime, I say. The sources of this rumor said that WB didn't like what they were seeing, and commanded a rehaul. Big or small, it's none of our business, but surely, by now they have learned that messing around too much in the editing room could resulted into something equally awful. Like... last year's "Suicide Squad".

So as we speak, Whedon is likely working hard to change the team-up movie into something... better. Why would I blatantly said Whedon's name? Because Zack Snyder is no longer in charge, considering he and wife/producer Deborah have walked out since March due to personal family issue. Clearly, Whedon is solely in charge now, even if he's not given the credit he deserved (WB said the movie is still Snyder's no matter what). I don't know about you, but this situation suddenly feels eerily similar to the Lord and Miller, "Han Solo", and Ron Howard situation. According to random unconfirmed buzzes, Whedon has also been heavily involved in the DCEU. I don't actually know what that means, but it's probably similar to his previous overseeing-role for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Again, do take this with a grain of salt, because once again, no official word has been made about it. But you know what? I'm NOT surprised if that's indeed the case. Whedon had successfully created "The Avengers" in 2012, back when almost everyone in Hollywood thought a Cinematic Universe was a dumb idea. And now every studio want their share of a similar cake! It just makes perfect darn sense that WB hired Whedon to fix their DCEU, with the exchange of giving him freedom with his upcoming "Batgirl" project. I don't think it takes a genius to figure this one out. LOL.

X-Men Universe

At the same time, 20th Century FOX is also confidently moving forward with "X-Men: Dark Phoenix". True to the rumor, producer/writer Simon Kinberg is set to turn this into his first directorial project. All Most of the cast from that dreaded boring "X-Men: Apocalypse" are set to return. Wait... WHAT?!

Yep, that's quite a surprise indeed. I, among many others, thought that actors like Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, and especially Jessica Lawrence were done with their roles. J-Law in particular, has publicly expressed her disdain to play Mystique like... over and over again. Not to mention, "Apocalypse" tanked critically (and also financially? I forgot about that one). But this is indeed happening folks, which means expect those three, as well as Nicholas Hoult to be reprising their respective mutant characters once again. Since the title obviously is a reference to the character Jean Grey, all the younger cast have been confirmed as well. Sophie Turner, Alexandra Shipp, Tye Sheridan, and Kodi Smit-McPhee will be playing Jean Grey/Phoenix, Storm, Cyclops, and Nightcrawler once again. They are contractually-tied to the movie anyway. Hold on... where's Evan Peters? And... why aren't people talking about him? Will we not see his over-powered Quicksilver this time around then? Hmmmm... good riddance. Perhaps Taylor Swift is primed to take over his scene as the official... Dazzler?

Anyways, the studio is aiming big as always. After completely wasting and misuing the talent of one great Oscar Isaac, as well as the character Apocalypse that he was entrusted, now FOX is aiming for another big star to... probably ruin: Jessica Chastain! Yeess, the Oscar-nominated actress who had been approached by Marvel Studios before, has entered negotiations with the studio last week. She's the studio's top-pick to play the antagonist, Shi'ar Empress Lilandra Neamani. This is a character closely related to the alien-entity Phoenix, by the way. But knowing FOX, and also the hack that is Kinberg, I wouldn't bet too much on Liliandra to actually resemble anything she looked in the comics. She wasn't even a villain there, because it was her sister instead! Intriguingly, the Shi'ar is a Marvel Cosmic character. Does this mean, FOX is trying to have their share of the space opera-cake too now? Without even seeding hints towards it? That's FOX all right...

Seemingly, production is reaching the start of production in Vancouver, Montreal (marked by random set-photos on social media), eventhough Chastain hasn't even been locked. With an inexperienced director, a rushed production, a major storyline that has been done and sadly damaged before, and the level of CG necessary to pull of the scope? Those variables just don't add up. I've lost interest to this franchise a long time ago, so clearly I don't have faith in this one either. How they will even manage to achieve the November 2nd, 2018 release date is beyond me...

Speaking of production, "Deadpool 2" filmed scenes at the Hatley Castle Victoria, British Columbia. The place serves as a stand-in to Professor X's (which one? LOL) X-Mansion. True to his character, Ryan Reynolds sure didn't waste time to make fun of his fellow X-Men side. It's officialy the first set-pictures from the sequel! Also, Japanese actress Shioli Kutsuna has joined the cast in a key role. Perhaps, as the X-Men Hisako Ichiki/Armor or Noriko Ashida/Surge? "Deadpool 2", which is still a tentative-title (seriously, it's an epidemic!) will arrive on June 1st, 2018.

One last thing! Those Marvel fans who have been speculating that the copyright for "Fantastic Four" has reverted/been sold back to Marvel Studios... can now swallow their hopes and dreams in whole. As Kevin Feige has repeatedly stated (to which I'm scratching my head because nobody believed such an honest guy like him), this is NOT happening! And thankfully, we get an actual confirmation now, because FOX is... *drumrolls* set to make another movie! YIKES. YIKES. YIIIKEEESSSSS!!! Exaggerating response aside, this isn't that much surprising, since Kinberg had sung similar tune several times already. The failure of the really honest-to-God-really-BAD 2015's "Fant4stic" movie, as well as the whole backstage drama with director Josh Trank, apparently didn't stop FOX from further claiming their feet in this franchise. Because yeah, clearly they are only stalling time, trying to avoid the copyright from being reverted automatically to its rightful owner.

Third time's the charm, huh? Not so fast. This one won't be another reboot apparently, because it's going to focus on Franklin and Valeria Richard, a.k.a the chidren of Reed and Sue. Seth Grahame-Smith, the same guy who also walked out from "The Flash", is said to be writing a draft about this movie. Grahame-Smith was already involved in the 2015 movie to do some rewrites, so he's not necessarily a new name in the project. I'm not sure what to think about this, because I believe FOX has totally ruined this particular franchise. So much that I would really love to see Disney and Marvel Studios' take on the superhero family. Hey, it could be a live-action version of "The Incredibles", right? But the idea of focusing on Franklin and Valeria is intriguing nonetheless (assuming FOX can pull this off), because it might end up becoming a fun family movie like those "Spy Kids" series. Plus, they can easily use the same cast from the 2015 movie because they have aged now. But... that might be a wishful thinking. I still would rather see the copyrights revert back, so Marvel Studios can bring justice to, and have actual-legit fun with these characters in their upcoming Cosmic Universe. LOL.

SONY Marvel Universe

During the press junket with FilmStarts for the upcoming Spider-Man movie, producer Amy Pascal delivered a mindblowing statement that... in just seconds rocked the Marvel fanbase to their core. For better or worse, I say. When asked about SONY's upcoming plans for Spider-Man spin-offs, ones that Kevin Feige had openly said to be "a SONY Project", Pascal gave an arguably... contradicting answer. "Well those movies will all take place in the world that we are now creating for Peter Parker. They’ll be adjuncts to it, it may be different locations but it will still all be in the same world, and they will be connected to each other as well.", she said, ambiguously confirming that both Ruben Fleischer-directed "Venom" and Gina Prince-Bythewood-directed "Silver & Black" will exist in the same universe to Tom Holland's Peter Parker. Which means... the... MCU, right?! O_O... She even added that "There’s a chance [that Peter Parker will appear]. There’s always a chance. I think one of the things that Kevin has done with Marvel that was so brilliant is by bringing the fans along and making each movie seem like a chapter in a book, that you have to read that chapter in order to go forward. And I think the investment that the fans get to feel in being a part of a larger story and understanding what’s happening, I think is something that I know Sony would want to emulate.".

This small news, was immediately met with various kinds of reactions. Some was calling Pascal out to be a 'hack' who didn't understand what she's saying. On the other hand, others are calling Feige to be liar, especially due to how 'surprised' or 'confused' he looked upon hearing the words coming out of her mouth... which was followed by a mysterious 'smile' (Monalisa much?). And other variations of those. Want to know my immediate reaction? Allow me to share what I wrote on the 1st draft of this post: Okay, this must be a joke right? Or Amy Pascal is confused or mixed up about something? Because that means SONY is messing around with the MCU! And I'm not too sure I would like that. It's bad enough that Marvel TV division is already chipping away potential characters from ever being used in the big screen, now this. Isn't that like, overstepping much? If anything, this gives Avi Arad an access to mess around in the MCU. And also, not only the Earth-based but the cosmic side through Venom as well.

Ignoring my personal-beef with Marvel TV aside, nor my natural grumpy bed-side manner (what can I say, I've been in a bad mood lately. LOL), that WAS indeed my response when I first read the news a few days ago (earlier this week in fact!). Of course I've calmed down ever since, and managed to carefully assessed the situation with a cool head. Nope, there aren't any official confirmation or clarification so far, from neither SONY nor Marvel Studios. But many sites have chimed in with their take on the matter, and well... it's starting to make sense. The way I see it, neither Pascal and Feige are spreading lies. They are only speaking in their own personal style and gesture. So we can't really take their words or sudden expression at face value. Collider and Marvelous Realm pointed out the generalising word 'adjunct' that Pascal used. As Birth.Movies.Death pointed out, Feige is a man of diplomatic answer, and had always refuse to give out unnecessary information when it's not needed. Pascal on the other hand, is spontaneous and her role is to help sell her own studio... SONY. A studio who by the way, had also stated that "Venom" and "Silver & Black" are NOT connected to the Peter Parker movies. But she wouldn't be talking like that without having prior discussion about it, right? If we look at it closely, Pascal herself NEVER stated that those movies would be part of the MCU. That's not how their collaborative deal is happening anyway. In a way, this is a situation that rhymes a bit in comparison to Marvel TV's Netflix series, or their other non-ABC projects. Once again, as I've said over and over again, the arrival of 2016's "Doctor Strange" helped Marvel Studios to expand their universe into a Multi-verse state. So perhaps, speculatively-speaking... that's exactly what's happening with the SONY Marvel Universe, right? That it's part of the MCU, just not in the same realm to The Avengers?

The Hollywood Reporter's thorough piece about the relationship between SONY and Marvel Studios, surprisingly shed some hidden lights about the SONY movies too. Apparently, SONY is also working on projects that will focus on Sergei Kravinoff a.k.a. Kraven the Hunter, and Mysterio. As if we don't get enough villain-based movies, Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock is set to take on (if not feature) another Spider-Man's symbiote antagonist: Carnage! According to Omega Underground (via ComicBook.com), the R-rated movie will begin production on September 1st for the October 5th, 2018 release date, and is set to film in Atlanta and New York City. Meaning it won't be long before we get to know who will play the totally-NOT-PG13-character sociopath murderer Cletus Cassidy. "Silver & Black" is also eyeing for a Fall start. A rumor detailing the movie's possible plot has also been flying around the internet. For the record, the source's credibility is questionable, particularly because it includes several characters like Jessica Drew and Dominic Fortune that might not even be SONY's to begin with. It also introduced many names from the Spider-Man lore, like The Scorpion, The Chameleon, and Norman Osborn... that somehow sounded a little too good to be true.

For now, Tom Holland isn't attached to any of these movies, but the intention of SONY is clearly to do so. And I hope that's indeed the case, because it probably would give me a slight of interest to see it. To be honest, I'm still mulling over the fact that SONY is going to flesh out amazing villains like Kraven, Mysterio, the Symbiotes, and many others, robbing their connection to a Spider-Man. I personally would love to see Holland's Spider-Man taking on these characters as PART of the MCU, not the other way around. I'm still happy that at long last, those names have been reconsidered for a big-screen feature, because as disappointed as I've been to realize that Hardy won't ever be portraying Kraven now, we DO need to see a "Sinister Six" movie somewhere in the future, right? But on the other hand, the absence of quality control from Marvel Studios is undeniably concerning. Don't forget, Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach practically ruined Venom in "Spider-Man 3", and other characters like Goblin and Electro in the consequent follow-ups. Which leads me back to the most nagging question: Is the SONY Universe thing REALLY a good idea? Will its movies be enjoyable and not disappointing like those "The Amazing Spider-Man" series? Hard to tell. Somehow its future is still looking dark and cloudy to my curious eyes...

Marvel Studios

You've seen that official first teaser for "Black Panther" that arrived two weeks ago, right? Yes, I'm sure you have. I've always thought that Marvel Studios is keeping wrap Ryan Coogler's movie for a grand debut in San Diego Comic Con next month. Turns out it arrived much earlier than I have anticipated. Am I disappointed though? Of course NOT. It looked grand like its poster, amazing like any Marvel Studios' releases, gloriously and explosively epic, and character-focused (if that new synopsis is any indication). And surprising too, because it was much more colorful than I expected!

I honestly didn't expect the costumes to be so... vibrant. But as it turns out, the designs for those bright red, dashing yellow, lush green, and navy blue outfits were completely inspired by actual African culture. Which is of course AMAZING, because I got to learn new things from it. I can already expect a nomination in the Costume and Production category in the next Oscar race. Yes, Production too, because the fictional country of Wakanda itself is also looking grand. A combination of African culture and high-tech, this country looks and feel like Thor's Asgard that takes place on Earth. A hidden utopia! Also, we got plenty of women in action thanks to the Dora Milaje! Lupita Nyong'o strutting as Nakia in a casino, Florence Kasumba's Ayo kicking people's behind with a tonfa, and Danai Gurira as Okoye who seems to be serving as Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa's right hand. And then there's Angela Bassett who's rocking grey hair as Queen Ramonda, Letitia Wright's Science-Princess Shuri with Panther-shaped Iron Man-style gauntlets, and singer Nabiyah Be as Tilda Johnson who is connected to Michael B. Jordan's Erik Killmonger. Johnson's name might be unfamiliar in the mainstream, because she's a character best known as the supervillain Nightshade. Oh, and also don't forget returning actors Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis as Everett Ross and Ulysses Klaue respectively. Sure, it would've been great to see some Asian tone, but at least the two added some colors to an otherwise African-American cast.

Executive Producer Nate Moore, who also worked on the last two Captain America movies, talked to Complex and shed some details about the movie. He confirmed that "Black Panther" takes place right after the event of "Captain America: Civil War", and that the untimely passing of John Kani's T'Chaka will serve as the catalyst for the plot. In a sense that, T'Challa himself wasn't automatically a King and had to prove himself, while internal threat presumably coming from Killmonger will challenge that notion. Chiming in to Kevin Feige, Moore reiterated the studio's goal to "tell the best stories with the strongest developed characters and scripts" they can work on, and not to rush something that's not ready or not according to their standard. Particularly when asked about the issue of diversity, to which he kindly compared to the "Fast & Furious" franchise. "I think an upshot with Marvel is that our characters and brand are both big enough where we’re not limited to just using actors and actresses who’ve done a ton of movies. We work with big name actors but we’re not under the pressure of saying that we have to work with, say, Matt Damon or Will Smith, or no one’s going to want to see this new idea. Hollywood is a bit agnostic as far as race and gender. They’re just trying to get as many people as possible to see movies so they just want faces that get people into seats, frankly. And because there aren’t as many roles for people of different ethnicities, you tend to see a lot of guys like Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio who are super talented, but who maybe aren’t as diverse as other actors out there.", he said, negating the practice that has recently been done by other studios like Universal with their Dark Universe, or WB with DC Films.

As for the future, the studio is always thinking ahead, but in a limited capacity as things evolve naturally. He admitted that they are "finishing up what we call Phase 3, which will sort of end with the fourth Avengers film in 2019. And then I think for us, we continue that conversation of, what’s next? Who will be the new heroes who can tell great new stories and bring us to new worlds that we haven’t even had a chance to visit yet, while still expanding on the slate of heroes we have and finding the next step for characters people have come to love? We’re looking for the next best story. And then we let the story tell us what we should be making as part of that one united narrative in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.". Once again putting focus on the story first and not just trying to make the MCU continue rolling. And what kind of stories? One that would please the fans. Because for the studio, fans are "the forefront of our minds when we talk about development. What does our audience want and how do we give it to them in a way that’s unexpected? What do they want to see? What can we show them that they don’t know they want to see, but that we think they’ll really respond to? And a big part of that is plunging into new worlds with characters that offer a different flavor than what people are used to. Those are the stories that we want to explore.". An attitude that so far hasn't been taken as good lesson by other studios.

"Black Panther" will arrive on February 16th, 2018. Considering that's less than 3 months prior to "Avengers: Infinity War", it's clear that the movie's going to be have some set-up towards that ensemble movie. While Chris Hemsworth is seemingly having a fun time on set on Instagram, Boseman posted a video showing that Chris Evans' Steve Rogers and Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff will be filming a scene with him that's set in Wakanda. This hinted at the possibility of the Secret Avengers' members visiting Wakanda to request T'Challa's aide. Some members of the "Black Panther" cast (Winston Duke, Danai Gurira, and Letitia Wright) have even been confirmed to reprise their roles. which makes sense, really. In an interview with Stephen Colbert, Johansson stated that there's going to be a scene consisting around 32 characters. It wouldn't be a surprise to expect the representatives of "Black Panther" to be part of that big ensemble. Heck, even Iron Man and Hulk might have already shared a scene with Doctor Strange and Wong!

Actress Hannah John-Kamen has joined the cast of "Ant-Man & the Wasp" in what Variety called as a key role. John-Kamen is a rising star, and her ethnicity comes into mind with what Moore had stated in regards of diversity. But what character could she be playing? Young Janet van Dyne? Or another female antagonist for the MCU, which might sound a bit offensive for her background? I bet we're going to hear more details about her role pretty soon, since the movie will begin production in Pinewood Studios Atlanta, under working title "Cherry Blue" next month, after the 4th of July holiday. That's less than two weeks away from now, folks! According to information on OmegaUnderground, this production will run concurrently with Avengers 4, which will commence production on July 17th under working title "Mary Lou 2". This clearly hints that Evangeline Lilly's Hope van Dyne will eventually join the ensemble movie like many fans have hoped, along with Brie Larson's Carol Danvers. After all, her "Captain Marvel" is also expected to begin production in the same location, from January to May 2018 under the working title "Warbird".

Can you believe it? Those three are the FINAL three movies of Phase 3. Which means, the end is near. For the 3rd Phase that is, because somewhere out there writer/director James Gunn is already hard at work to deliver the next iteration for Guardians in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3". A movie that will mark the beginning of the Marvel Cosmic Universe. It's unclear what shape it will take though. Does that mean introducing new heroes like Nova and others? Or can we expect members of the existing team, like perhaps Rocket Raccoon and Groot to star in their own separate title? During E3 2017 World Building Panel, Gunn admitted that he has completed the first draft of "Vol. 3", but apparently, it comes with an issue. Namely, a retconning issue. Gunn specifically pointed out the mugshot scene from the first 2014 movie, causing many sites to speculate that it has anything to do with Rocket, Lady Lylla, and his Halfworld origin. Since Gunn is prone to debunking false rumors/speculations, and this time around he's not saying anything... it's safe to assume that there might be some truth to it. Then again, this is just the first draft! Even Adam Warlock got kicked out from the first draft of "Vol. 2", right?

Enough about the future, and let's talk about the... near future. As in what's coming in the next weeks. About "Spider-Man: Homecoming", of course! Obviously, its World Premiere is coming, because early social media reviews for the movie have officially arrived a few hours ago! Nope, let me correct that. It started a few days ago. Apparently, some early screenings have been held, and one of its particular audience is the nice guy I've been following on Twitter. And should I be surprised that it's... AMAZING? Well... duh, that's what you get when you let Marvel Studios work on it, right? While he had since ranked it under "Logan" and "Wonder Woman", he didn't hesitate to compare it with "Spider-Man 2" that has been his all-time favorite. His response rhymed really well with Robert Downey Jr.'s statement on his Facebook account, so it's indeed a good sign.

And just earlier today (local time, meaning last night in the US), social-media embargo for critics have been lifted, and they have been tweeting their official responses ever since. And well, they are singing the same tune! Here's a glimpse of what they say (in list form... because I love lists): - Collider's Steven Weintraub simply LOVED it. He said that the movie was "Tons of fun". Mike Ryan of Uproxx added that it's an absolute delight. - Germaine Lussier of Gizmodo/io9 compared it to "Spider-Man 2", calling it close to the Sam Raimi's movies. He also added that the movie had several genuine surprises, while exuding young innocence that differentiate it with other MCU movies. Others like William Bibbiani of CraveOnline thought it was fluffier than the Raimi's though, because the drama is thin. - Some critics, like Sean O'Connell of CinemaBlend and Brandon Davis of ComicBook.com easily called it their new favorite Marvel movie. Davis even added that it's endless fun and flawless. - Chris Sylvia of RegalMovies reminded that it's also a good High School movie while calling it his favorite Spider-Man movie to date. Angie Han of Mashable also said that it balanced superheroism and high school drama nicely. - Kristy Puchko of Nerdist, Vanity Fair, and ComicBookResources praised Michael Keaton as an amazing antagonist, even compared him to Tom Hiddleston's Loki. Jeff D Lowe, social media producer of Good Morning America also said that Keaton is fantastic, saying that his character is a great villain with depth. - And of course, praises are being sung for Tom Holland's performance. Molly Freeman of ScreenRant said that he's definitely the best Peter Parker so far. Erik Davis of Fandango called it spot-on casting and spot-on Spidey, while Matt Singer of Screen Crush gave him thumbs up. That all sounded positive, so I don't think it would take long for the 1st Rotten Tomatoes score to generate, right? Let's just hope that unlike the questionable posters, word of mouth will help boost the movie's appeal, and it will exceed the $100 million estimated opening number (which has already gone lower since previous tracking).

That whole talk concerning the state of SONY Marvel Universe also shed some light to the production of this movie, and what's to come. It's revealed that SONY's new head Tom Rothman, is betting high on it to kickstart their own Cinematic Universe. With the budget of 'mere' $175 million, it was unveiled that "Homecoming" is totally taking the Marvel Studios method of "Keep costs down on the first two outings and spend bigger on a third". The movie was intentionally made to replicate the John Hughes-vibe, and those who have seen it said that director Jon Watts and his young actors (who went on a picnic together for some fun real-life bonding time) delivered that promise. Michael Keaton is only signed to play Vulture in this movie, so it's unclear whether he'll be reprising in the sequel or as part of "Sinister Six" in the future. And speaking of sequel, we can expect NO Iron Man in it, because there will be another to-be-determined Marvel Studios character instead. Doctor Strange and/or Hulk comes to mind, Captain Marvel, even Charlie Cox's Daredevil since Feige had indeed stated that a crossover with Marvel TV will eventually be inevitable. But perhaps... an original character? Here's hoping it will be hinted in the movie's post credit scenes.

Lastly, be sure to check out SDCC 2018 next year, because Marvel Studios will be releasing a special 10-year Anniversary logo. Darn it, it's almost 10 years already! Time flies by soooo quickly...

Marvel TV

Freeform's Marvel's "Cloak and Dagger" won't be arriving until 2018, but according to SpoilerTV it has quietly been renewed for second season. They said the production will begin next month and ends in October. Now this sounded a bit odd, since last we heard, they've only completed the pilot in February. Is this report accurate, or is SpoilerTV merely making a mistake when they were meant to refer to the rest of the Season 1? We'll have to wait for further news to clarify this.

Netflix

In case you're forgetting, Marvel's "The Defenders", Marvel TV's FIRST-ever (yes, unbelievable right? What took them so long?) crossover between their series is coming in August. It's easy to lose track about it, since the marketing has been swept away by coverage for "Homecoming" as well as other big-screen titles. Not saying they aren't promoting this mini-series though, because very recently the official Twitter accounts of the four core heroes have released motion posters to remind audience and Marvel fans of their existence. Charlie Cox's Matt Murdoch was obviously the first, followed by Krysten Ritter's Jessica Jones, Mike Colter's Luke Cage, and Finn Jones' Danny Rand. Each carrying their own tagline and personal swagger, before culminating into a catchy foursome poster.

No offense, they looked COOL, but... I don't know. Perhaps Marvels "Iron Fist" had given such a negative after-taste, that I no longer anticipate this mini-series as much as before. No reason to be worried since Scott Buck is not doing it, but... likely I'm already feeling tired of waiting too darn long to see this happening. As I said above, unlike the movie side, Marvel TV is burning me out so much faster than I've expected, I ended up developing some beef against them. With that said, I WILL be watching this mini-series, but that's likely as far as I'll go for the Netflix side. I'll likely even give Jon Bernthal's Marvel's "The Punisher" a huge pass when it arrives later in November. Not saying these series are bad, but... the dark, gritty, and gruesomeness are seriously wearing me down. Oh well... to each their own, I guess. Marvel's "The Defenders" arrive on August 18th, 2017.

DC Television

I'm not a fan of "Watchmen". When Zack Snyder made a movie version of the 1985's series back in 2009, it made me cringed. The whole nudity revolving Doctor Manhattan, and that unnecessary extended intimate scene between Nite Owl and Silk Spectre were... disturbing for the then-young version of me (still do though LOL). Then again, that's probably just me not digging Snyder's style, so probably not the series' faults. I also understand that many people are loving this series, and since this is the Golden Age of superhero adaptations, should we even be surprised to hear that another version is coming? Yes, this time in form of a TV series. According to Variety, Damon Lindelof is currently in talks with HBO to develop such series. HBO had tried to do so in 2014, but it didn't pan out, so there's no reassurance if this time it's going to be... better. No confirmation so far from HBO, but I'm sure we'll be hearing about this in the near future. Same question though: Is this a good idea? I seriously can't say. Perhaps it is, perhaps it might be great and I end up liking it. But at the very least, this is a good news for the series' devoted fans! There's one for everyone, right?

Super Sentai

Long time Tokusatsu scooper Dukemon, has revealed the possible rumor to the upcoming Super Sentai series. Yes, "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger" is still airing, and it's not even halfway done. But projects like this usually takes 2 years in advance to work on, so it's not a surprise. According to Dukemon, the 2018 season/team will once again be Car-based, particularly to celebrate the 10th anniversary of "Engine Sentai Go-Onger". A team-up with its members is also in the rumor mix. Now I can't say for sure whether I like this or not. I'm probably among the few weirdos who LOVED Go-Onger and their talking Enjins (basically the team consists of 19 members because of them and Bomper), but another Car-themed series feels... redundant somehow. Sure, it's easier to pull off for the mecha/toys design. But unless it has other meaning to differentiate it (like "Kyukyu Sentai GoGoV" with the whole Rescue-theme, or "Go Go Sentai Boukenger" with the adventure/expedition angle), we've seen too many of those already. Of course, Tokusatsu is a genre that LOVES to rehash popular themes, just like they do with story tropes in a yearly basis, so it's not out of the realm of possibility to see them going back to vehicles. Oh well... here's hoping we'll be getting a "Go-Onger 10 Years After" V-Cinema too. With the way the series ended, I would LOVE to see the cast reunites. Beside, all if not most of them are still active in the entertainment business anyway.

DuckTales

Now THIS is a series I'm going to be watching. Hearing that modern version of the classic theme song alone, complete with the various swashbuckling adventure scenes of the characters... already got me fired up for no particular reason! Perhaps, the effect of nostalgia-blast? Granted, I never actually watched the original series religiously, because I didn't have the means to do it. But now that I can, I'm going to give this show a chance. Sure, the character design and art-style might need some time to get used to, and yes, I'm still taken aback by the non-Donald-esque voices for the nephews (especially knowing that "Parks & Recreation" annoying Jean-Ralphio is voicing one of them). But the six Short-Episodes I've seen so far, were enough to convince me that this is going to be great. And that Launchpad is still my favorite character of the show. LOL. Here, check out this First Look trailer on Youtube if you don't believe me...

A one-hour episode/movie for "DuckTales" is set to embark David Tennant's Scoorge McDuck's adventure with Tony Anselmo's Donald Duck, as well as the three nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie (Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz, and Bobby Moynihan). It will premiere on August 12th, 2017, which will then be followed by the series regular run starting in September 23rd. That date is the 30th anniversary of the original series, and will bring two brand new episodes. The series will also star Kate Micucci as Webby Vanderquack, Beck Bennett as Launchpad McQuack, Toks Olagundoye as Mrs. Beakley, as well as featuring special celebrity guest stars. We have Lin-Manuel Miranda as Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera/Gizmoduck, Allison Janney as Goldie O’Gilt, Margo Martindaleas as Ma Beagle, Paul F. Tompkins as Gladstone Gander, Kimiko Glenn as Lena, Jim Rash as mad scientist Gyro Gearloose, Josh Brener as tech billionaire Mark Beaks, Keith Ferguson as Flintheart Glomgold, Eric Bauza as the Beagle Boys, and Corey Burton as Ludwig Von Drake. This already sounds MORE than just fun, am I right?! XD

The King of Fighters

Chinese-produced series "The King of Fighters: Destiny", has released its second official trailer. This one is more story-oriented, and well... gotta admit, the more I see it, it does grow on me. From what I gather, while Kyo Kusanagi can be seen sensing the arrival of the Orochi, the bulk of the story will focus on the Fatal Fury Trio's beef with Geese Howard. Geese killed Terry and Andy Bogard's father Jeff, and so the brothers, alongside Joe Higashi will attempt their revenge to the guy who is ruining Southtown. I was a bit skeptical when I first saw Geese's right-hand Billy Kane, but he looked okay now. Particularly after seeing him wearing his iconic Union Jack headband. There's a special clip showing Terry, Andy, and Joe dealing with Billy and his henchmen, and it looked nice. A press conference video, also confirmed the appearance of iconic female characters like King, Mai Shiranui, Yuri Sakazaki, Athena Asamiya, and others, though I'm not sure casting BEJ48 idols as their voice actresses is a wise choice. They should've hired the respective voice cast from "The King of Fighters XIV" instead. Of course, I'm going to check this series anyway. I just hope it exceeds my expectation, and that this would be good, because we all know that video-game adaptations don't really have good reputation...

Tomb Raider

Possible title for the next Tomb Raider game has probably been revealed. Rumored at least, courtesy of NeoGAF. Some artworks by the title of "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" have seemingly been leaked via an entertainment marketing company. Further adding credential to this rumor, was the fact that the images have since been removed by the website. If this rumor is true, then it seems Lara Croft will be exploring Egyptian Pyramids once again, which is a really nice decision. We'll just have to wait and see if this rumor pans out or not. So take it with a grain of salt for now...

Dynasty Warriors

Koei TECMO has debuted the first official trailer for their open-world "Dynasty Warriors 9 / Shin Sangoku Musou 8". The footage will undoubtedly thrill fans of the series, while also teasing the updates the company has given to this iteration. Koei TECMO weren't kidding when they said that it's meant to be "the most immersive and ambitious Dynasty Warriors experience to date" because it sure looked that way. Having been converted into a fan over the past years, I can honestly say that I'm looking forward to see this game come to shape.... even if I won't be able to play it, since it's likely a PlayStation 4 exclusive. There's no fixed 2018 release date for now, but expect details about the game and its 83-plus characters to be delivered in the near future.

Professor Layton

Following details for the second episode that was unveiled during E3 2017 last week, LEVEL-5 has debuted the official second trailer for "Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and The Millionaires' Conspiracy". This one previewed the main stories of the game, and also unveiled the looks of all titular seven millionaries in cinematic motion. With only four of them detailed for now. Those who were worried that this title might look and feel different to the previous Layton titles thanks to a female protagonist, can rest assured now. It feels just like another chapter in the Layton storybook. Heck, even the great Herschel Layton himself made a cameo appearance in this trailer! Just look at Katrielle and his dad, and tell me you didn't go... "Aaaaaaww".

Also, in an exceptionally clever marketing to commemorate the game's release, LEVEL-5 collaborated with real escape game creators SCRAP for a "Real World Puzzle Solving" campaign. It's a free to play experience that is accessible to anyone worldwide! There will be 50 puzzles released on the internet one by one from June 20th to September 21st. The first one has famous Japanese entertainer Pikotaro doing a puzzling-rendition of his "Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen" song. It's available on Youtube, if you don't believe me. That particular puzzle is pretty easy, but the next one? You're going to need a paper and pen to figure out the message. And not just that, the question will also direct you to 15 different websites hosting clues in form of another puzzle. How THRILLING is that?! Go ahead and visit Layton.world to test it out, because once again, the treasure hunt is free for play! "Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and The Millionaires' Conspiracy" arrives on 3DS in Japan, and iOS and Android worldwide on July 20th.

Zero Escape

Spike Chunsoft released an official trailer for PlayStation 4 version of "Zero Time Dilemma" last week. The point of this trailer is clearly to give us a glimpse to how the game would look in PS4. I'd argue that it's not that much different to the PC Version, but it does have some minor details like shading and such that somehow looks... clearer. This is a good chance for those who have played the first two games (or the recently re-released "Zero Escape: The Nonary Games"), but hasn't had chance to experience its third. Assuming you own a PS4, of course, LOL. "Zero Time Dilemma" will be released on August 17th in Japan, and Fall in North America.

Final Fantasy

Square Enix has officially released the trailer for "Final Fantasy XV" next DLC, "Episode Prompto". You can check it out on Youtube. If the E3 2017 footage showed the gameplay of his solo adventure, then this one is focused more on the story... which of course is all about his unexpected origin. This DLC will launch several days from now, on June 27th, 2017. Here's hoping the Final Fantasy fans will receive this much better than Gladio's.

Street Fighter

CAPCOM has rolled out a Season 2.5 patch, and an alleged leak about future updates immediately floated in the internet. This report, assuming it's accurate, said that data miners have found signs of future DLCs and new game mechanics among other things in the patch. The character DLCs, which are now speculated to be coming as Season 3, consisted of 6 additional characters that should make many fans happy. Fan-favorites Sagat, Sakura Kasugano, Oro, C. Viper, Q, and Necro are all mentioned to be on this list! Admittedly, this isn't that much surprising considering most of them (with the exception of Sagat and Q) have already appeared in various Story Modes since the game was first released.

The leak also include the existence of second Critical Arts for all characters, an Arcade Mode, and also a second Cinematic Story expansion. And now suddenly it sounds a little too good to be true *sigh*. Now remember, take this with a grain of salt. This could be real, or a deliberate ruse by fans to force CAPCOM to eventually turn their wishlist into reality. Especially considering, as far as I know, the 2nd Season DLC (Akuma, Kolin, and Ed, with three others remaining) hasn't been received as well as expected. But if CAPCOM is true to their words of saying that "Street Fighter V" will be the only version of its generation (so there will be no 'Super', 'Arcade', or 'Ultra' upgrade), it can very well be true...

Pocket Monsters

Yeah, this is the reason why I'm posting this R-N-D! To be precise, WAS the reason, because it was initially scheduled to go up yesterday. Following the subjectively-disappointing Solstice Event, Niantic has begun rolling out update for "Pokemon GO" in terms of their new Gym system, and it is... well, elaborate, to say the least. I wanted to say 'Complicated', but I've slowly warmed up to it that it's no longer a suitable term. The transition had started on June 19th (local time) with Gyms throughout the world being closed down (which made the App looked somewhat-eerie, to be honest), and was officially implemented as soon as the extended Solstice Event (for another 24 hours until June 21st, 1 PM PST) ended.

Gyms have been reactivated since yesterday's morning (I know, because I've clearly experienced it myself), and new feature called Raid Battles have been made available for Level 35 above later in the afternoon. Today, many users have reported that the Level warning has been lifted, and those with lower levels than 35 has even obtained their daily Raid Pass. Niantic confirmed through an official announcement, that Raids are available for 'Level 25 above' now. This confirmed that the limitation was purely for Beta Testing, and thus the feature will be rolled out for even lower levels in the future.

Calling this a major update would be an understatement. Those who are in the game purely to collect Pokemons might not be majorly affected, but those who relied on Gyms to farm PokeCoins and such will definitely need to learn from scratch. Practically, it has altered the way Gym-goers going to behave. This update changed the whole pattern of the Gym System, forcing Players old and new to adjust their gameplay. And of course, this gave me mixed reaction. Here's what came in the update, along with my thoughts on them (once again, in list form):

- Let's start with the simple touches! A handy Search Function in the Pokemon Collection screen has been added! This is well appreciated, as now we don't need to waste time scrolling down the long list just to check/compare our Pokemon. It also works for searching based on Types or species. So when we enter the word 'Fire', the result will feature every Fire-Types on our list, and if we enter the word '+eevee', every Pokemon related to Eevee including its evolutions will show up. Convenient! There's a marker on PokeStops now, indicating which one we haven't spinned for the day. This is small, but also convenient! - Having Photo Disc on Gyms that unlock items is a wise decision, because that means the game now has more PokeStops than before. Standing by near a Gym feels rewarding now! And in return, the same is happening to PokeStops with some of them being turned into Gyms. This helps give access to wider-range of Players who usually can't participate in Gyms because of their limited occurence. - I'm really happy to see that one species of Pokemon can only be assigned once, and the improved UI allows us to see the team of Pokemon lining up together like badasses. Also, they are no longer sorted by CP. It's a first-come first-served situation now, which admittedly sounds more fair to low level users. Yes, many users are complaining to the fact that Gyms can only contain 6 Pokemons now, but they seem to be forgetting that it's the maximum number of PokeBalls a Player can bring in the core RPGs. So it's still a great nod! - Trainers also felt more incorporated, as we can see their in-game silhouette decorating the Gym's backdrop and/or doing cool battle pose prior to Pokemon Battle. This is where the whole wardrobe-customization feature comes into play in an interesting manner. It's honestly thrilling to see it in action. - The addition of Gym Badges that keeps track of activity is also a neat touch. Aside from serving as memento of the places we have visited, now we can monitor whatever is happening to the Pokemon we've placed there without the need to travel the distance just to check them nearby. Eventhough I would've prefered it better, had it were Type-based like in the core RPGs, this was more than acceptable. Curious about the Ranking System though. How do I get a Basic/Vanilla, Bronze, Silver, and Gold? - Gone is the Prestige system, and enter the Motivation Level. Many Players have been complaining about the whole Prestige system that drains out excitement, so in a way, good riddance. On the other hand, its replacement might be a bit tricky to judge. Berries that were once treated like waste, is now important because they are necessary to restore a Pokemon motivation level. So as long as you, as well as other people continue feeding Berries to one Pokemon, it will continue its reign in the Gym. Even if they are NOT yours! I'm starting to understand that the point of giving Berries to Gym Pokemon of the same team, is a way for other users to participate in Gyms without the need to submit their own. So those who are more focused in collecting, can still gain Stardusts by giving up their unused Berries to Gym Pokemon. Aside from getting items via the Photo Disc, of course. Unfortunately, although it felt good and fresh at start, in less than 48 hours many Players are already complaining because keeping track of Gyms to feed Berries to their Pokemon turns out to be... reasonably exhausting. Just between you and me, that's practically one of the reason why this R-N-D suffered a one-day delay (I got too exhausted, it practically knocked me down cold)... - Inline with the Motivation Level, is the new PokeCoins system. Previously, Players had to assign a Pokemon for at least 20-24 hours before automatically receiving 10 Coins by collecting them at the Shop. That's no longer the case now. Coins will now be earned by the duration a Pokemon had spent in the Gym, and will be accumulated to Player's in-game pocket after it has completed its duty (as in defeated and lost all of its motivation). There's a maximum number of Coins that can be earned a day. The rule for this one however, apparently is still being tweaked and tested as we speak, as proven by the latest changes. Defending Pokemon will now earn 1 Coin per 10-minutes, to a maximum of 50 Coins daily (regardless of how many Pokemon assigned on numerous Gym). I'm still personally anxious about this change, and how this will affect my daily Coins-revenue. I'm not a pro, but Gyms are definitely my primary source of income in this game. LOL. - A new real-time push-notification has been added, thus a message will be sent to Player whenever their Pokemon is defeated and has left the Gym to return to their owner. I just got mine several hours ago, and it was both fun and sad. Fun because the progress feels up close and personal, eventhough the game isn't even activated. But also sad because clearly it's not a good news... *sniffs*. - Raid Battles is an intriguing cooperative feature. I haven't experienced it myself (it's happening in every Gyms nearby... while I'm practically stuck in the house *sigh*), but it plays out similar to what was promised on the App's teaser trailer... more than a year ago! Yes, the idea of 'multiple Players gathering around to defeat Mewtwo in Times Square', has at long last become reality. Players will be alerted of Raids event on the Nearby Screen. A giant Egg can then be seen on top of a Gym, which will then hatch into a strong giant-sized Pokemon. Using a one-per-day free Raid Pass, Player can cooperate/participate with others to defeat this Pokemon. It will be active for 1 hour, but each Player will only be given 5 minutes each. If they succeed, said Pokemon will be available to be captured. Premium Normal Raid Pass, alongside Max Revives are now available for purchase in Shop to support this feature. - There are several ranks of strong Pokemon that will hatch as Raid Boss. I saw a 1-star hatched into a Croconaw with CP 5000+, a 2-star into Exeggutor with CP 12000+, a 3-star turned out to be Vaporeon with CP 16000+, while a 4-star is Snorlax with CP 25000+. For the record, you don't really need to be nearby to see this process... which is how I was able to spot them while cringing knowing I couldn't participate. There are 5 levels of difficulty to Raid Battles, and each will award different prize. All are new items for the game: Premiere Ball, Rare Candy, Golden Razz Berry, and Fast/Charged Technical Machine. - Higher difficulty Raid will also include the Legendaries Pokemon like Moltres, Articuno, Zapdos, and others, as proven by the variants of Lugia Badge discovered in the APK. A Legendary will have a unique egg, and to battle them a different item called Legendary Raid Pass is required. Clearing a Legendary Raid will also give three ranks of Badge: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Now, before you get excited, there's a catch to this. Apparently... this special Pass is only awarded to high-level players who have participated a good amount of regular Raid Battles. Which is such a bummer for a lazy introvert such as yours truly *sigh*. Nevertheless, Niantic did confirm that this Pass will be given to active Players, so let's not rule out any possibilities just yet. After all, they are still tweaking the system with feedbacks from Players. - Last but not least, a new anti-cheat measures have been implemented. Players who obtained high levels, as well as rare, region-exclusive, high-CP Pokemon through illegal means such as hacking, GPS-spoof, or other 3rd Party Apps, will have their Pokemon specially marked. This doesn't necessarily kick GPS-spoofers, botters, and illegitimate players out from the App, it just disables them from using Pokemon and participating in Raid Battles. In theory, it's a much-anticipated update that answers the cries of many legitimate Players. But in practice, is it really effective? I'm personally not sure if the punishment is working or not. I'm still seeing many Players who have over and over again showed signs of cheating (proof? One user kept stealing my spot after I cleared out Gyms, and there's NOBODY in the area but me. Clearly a spoofer!), comfortably placing their high-level Pokemon in various Gyms.

Thanks to mining the latest APK, there are many details that have since been made available by several fan-sites like Pokemon GO Hub and The Silph Road. Most are just confirmation to what Niantic has officially announced, but some of them might hint at future additions to the game that has yet to be activated. So those who are interested can go ahead and visit those websites to check them out. The first site also provided some fan-made guides, such as technical details on how the new Gym mechanics works, Raid Survival guide, how to battle Legendary, guide to predict how manyPokeCoins we can obtain, and others.

In the end, whether this Gym System rework is effective or not, remains to be seen. Despite some of them had behind-the-scene technical updates, popular Pokemon like Vaporeon, Gyarados, Dragonite, Blissey, Tyranitar, and others are still occupying every single Gym I've encountered. Personally, this shows that the issue of seeing the same old Pokemon species over and over again isn't yet solved. And then there's the cheaters, who have gotten high levels yet was given early chance to test out the Raids. So while some Players are enjoying, others aren't quite feeling the same thing. As I said, this changed how Players think, and clearly forcing them to adapt with the new situation. As proven by the PokeCoins issue, things might still be in process of worldwide-scale beta-testing for the time being, and that minor changes can still take place on the fly. So let's just wait and see how the final system turns out when "Pokemon GO" officially celebrates its first anniversary next month!

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