#anyway!!! great episode :DD

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

Promo time!!

:OOOO MARVIN???!?!!?

O.O Clearing his name??

COULD LOSE EVERYTHING ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ???

Why???!?!!

Hmm why?

OPE NEVERMIND THERE'S PROBABLY WHY

YUP o.o xdd

Ohhh noo

WAIT O.O that's going all the way through 😬😬😳

HER J U G U L A R ಠ⁠Oಠ????

Did it perfectly plug it or something????

Ohhh gosh o.o

Yeah there's barely any blood :OO but they don't know why o.o

Y'all that is crazy xdd

But back to Mateo, did he commit the crimes or smth?? And that's why he could lose everything?? I'm so confused 😭😳

I remember seeing something about Mateo dealing with Marvin and saw the subtitles of the first few seconds of the promo when it popped up on my recommended and played a bit muted sometime last week but dang o.o

I was more like :OOO :DD Marvin?? and I can't even remember if I knew it was bad xD I think I skimmed the outside description while looking the episodes up but dang o.o

Anyway WHAT 😳😳😬!!???!?!??

That's the last of my last thoughts, now it's time for the. . .

REVIEW

I absolutely LOVED this episode!!! It was SO hilarious :D XDD. There were serious moments, but it was funny like, 80-85% of the time XDD wonderful lol. I liked how even though there were definitely people the storylines focused on (and different levels within that), we still got to see everyone today :DD. That was really nice 🥰🥰. I was hoping we'd get to see Carlos (since it's not always a guarantee) so even though it was only for a bit I'm glad we did :D. And we only saw Paul and Marjan for a few scenes but they were still there :)). Anyway! Great storylines all around :)).

Now it's time for the individual parts!

By the way, since the new episode is tonight this probably won't be very long :). But also, I have less to say on the more humorous episodes anyway lol, so it works out

Paul and Marjan! Didn't see much of them but they were wonderful for what we did. Their strategy of trying to get donations XD Or at least, what we saw, of Marjan talking about the gunshot XD. Y'all crazy 😭 xD. Anyway! I love her :)). And of course! I love him <3. And they were great at their jobs!

Judd and Grace! That first scene XDD. Hilarious lol. They were, as always, adorable 🥰🥰. Also Grace helping out TNT with beating Paragon to the call was gold XDDD. I love her so much lol. Speaking of, she was great at her job, as always :)). Judd was also wonderful at his job :D. And back to that first scene, Judd talking sports with the rich guy xD amazing. I love him lol <333.

Mateo! NANTEO MOMENTSSS 🥰🥰. And I'm sure we'll get more next episode too :D. Quick note on that while we're on Mateo: I am scared o.o ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ. Anyway xD. His whole thing with not actually having read the book and then trying to was great lol xD 🥰. I love him :DD. Also, he was great at his job :)). Lastly, it was fun seeing him throughout storylines - man was just around to hear it lol xD.

Nancy! My girlll :DD. Again, Nanteo momentsss 🥰🥰🥰❤️!! She was also just kinda Around for several parts of Owen's storyline, which I just found funny XD. Also, my girl was fighting for her life against Paragon 😭😭. Seriously though, she had the most insults out of the bunch xD. Honestly a slay though lol. I love her 🥰. And of course, she was amazingat her job :D. I do have to say though, the bloody bus was ridiculous XD. In a good way, but still lol.

TK and Carlos! We didn't see much of Carlos this episode, but he was lovely 🥰. Why was he telling the story of his kidnapping XDD 😭😭😭. That was so out of pocket lol. Hilarious though, especially with TK jumping in about the stalker xD. Anyway, I'm sure Carlos was great at his job lol. I love him 🥰. As for TK, if Nancy was insulting people the most with the Paragon situation, he was the most tired XD. Something would happen and my man would just siiiiigh XD. Lovely, lol. Also I just have to mention (though I did in my liveblog) him immediately running in after the explosion :'). Speaking of, he was amazing at his job! I love him :DD.

Tommy! She was great this episode lol :)). While actually in the field, up till the end, she was very respectful, but nooot any other time XD. So with Nancy as the insulter and TK as the sigher, I think Tommy would be the polite but fed up one lol. I'm sure they were all equally frustrated but my girl was going off whenever she wasn't being polite XD. Anyway lol, she was of course amazing at her job 🥰. And I am SO GLAD Paragon ended up getting sued in the end >:DD. As they deserve 😌. But yeah, she slayed this episode 🥰🥰. I love her <33.

Owen! He was great this episode xD. I don't care THAT much about Owen's love life, but it's always hilarious so I'm cool with it lol. But I did like the consistent characterization in the fact that this man repeatedly puts his foot in his mouth when it comes to women lol. But specifically something he thinks is true and decides to immediately confront them about xdd. Honestly though, even though I was pretty sure she was just being nice, I can kind of see where he was coming from. Again though, my man didn't need to shout it out xD. Anyway, the scene of the 126 finding out was HILARIOUS lol XDD. It's the fact that none of them even seemed that shocked xD. Like, they were invested, but they were kind just like "this tracks, of course it happens to Owen" XD. Anyway, I do hope Owen and this lady (I don't remember her name) work out though :)). Not just for the money lol, I just think Owen deserves to chill romantically for a little while lol. Also I loved his interactions with Matoe :D. I love him :). Owen, that is xD. And, he was great at his job 🥰.

Overall, I really enjoyed this episode! I thought it was absolutely hilarious XD. Seriously, there were barely any serious parts, and most of those weren't even that serious lol. But even though I love me some angst and serious stuff, I really loved the comedy of this episode xD. Especially since it looks like the next one, while it'll have comedy (how can you have something involving Mateo and Marvin and not have it be funny), will have some serious parts o.o. I'm excited though! Scared too, but excited xD. Anyway, I loved both main storylines and all the other little ones as well this episode :)). It was just a really fun episode :D 🥰🥰.

So yeah! I loved this episode, I thought it was great. I'm a bit nervous for the next one! This has been my review of. . .

9-1-1: Lone Star, Season 4, Episode 10: Sellouts

It was amazing! I'm definitely excited for the next episode, even if I am a bit scared. I'll be back next week for my review of. . .

9-1-1: Lone Star, Season 4, Episode 11: Double Trouble

See you next week!

[stellarfractal137]

(first time doing it)

J x DD reader(male if you ok), after episode 8 comforting her. T_T i feel sad for her fr

J - You're safe now

Type: Oneshot

Genre: Reverse comfort

Notes: I found this idea super cute, and not gonna lie, I feel kinda sad for her too, I think she deserved better. Like, she literally doesn't appear after Cyn's fight (from my knowledge). Don't worry it being your first time because this is also the first time I did comfort stuff. Also, I didn't know if you wanted headcanons or a oneshot, so I went with a oneshot as it felt more natural for this. Anyways, hope you like it and that's it.

After the events of the fight with Cyn, with you siding with Uzi, you went flying to search for J since she was missing. I literally just noticed that she just falls into a hole and never comes back.

You went down a hole close to where you last saw her, and found her sitting and hugging her knees with her eyes widened.

"Are you okay, J?" You asked, with genuine worry, as you went up to her.

"W-Where's Boss?!" She asked, looking around, trying to see if she's close.

"Um, she kinda..." You paused a bit as you got close to her, trying to look for the right word. "...died?"

She looked at you in pure shock, not believing your words.

"She died?!" She got up quickly, but then suddenly made one of her arms into a blade and pointed at you, making you step back defensively. "That's a lie! Boss would never die! S-She can't..."

She looked a bit sad, not believing the possibilty that Cyn's dead after being basically enslaved by her this whole time. You just put your hand on her blade, pushing it out of the way, with her not even reacting to it.

"Well, don't ask me how it happened, but yeah, Uzi killed her." You tried to reassure her with a soft smile.

J just silently retracted her blade and fell down on her knees.

"S-So, it's over?" She asked, looking up at you. "It's all... finally over?" You kneeled down to her level, with her eyes following you.

"Yes, it's over now." You said, slowly hugging her.

She slowly hugged you back, her head over your shoulder and her yellow visor taking the form of crying eyes.

"I-I'm sorry..." She suddenly apologized in a low voice. "I'm sorry for taking her side."

"It's fine, J." You tried reassuring her. "You just thought it was only choice." You started slowly rubbing her back to hopefully calm her down. "But it's fine now, you're safe from Cyn, you can relax."

For a while, you kept rubbing her back as she silently let you, until she spoke up.

"Will you guys... accept me into your team...?" She asked with a bit of hope in her voice.

"Well, I don't know about the rest but at least I'll accept you back and I will make them accept you." You said with a half hearted chuckle, hoping she'll laugh too, and she did slightly that.

"T-Thanks, I guess." Her voice was still low, but it was noticibly better. She pulled away a bit from the hug, but still hugging you. "I think I'm fine now."

"That's great, J!" You congratulate her. "Do you wanna go back to the surface now?" You asked and she nodded. "Alright, then. Let's go."

You slowly pulled away from the hug, both of you getting up. You turned around and opened your wings to fly away, but suddenly J grabbed your hand, making you retract them and look back.

"Really, though, thank you..." She looked a bit ashamed to say it, looking down like she just lost her pride. "I-I think I would just give up and die from overheating if you didn't come for me..." She hesitantly admited. "So, t-thank you..."

"Awh, J," You smiled at her, knowing it must be difficult to say this. "That's the nicest thing you ever said to-"

Suddenly, J turned her other hand into a blade and pointed it at you.

"One word of this gets out and you're dead, got it?!" She had an angry and serious face while saying it, making you chuckle a bit.

"Alright, I get, you're the boss." You chuckled softly a bit more, and for one more moment, J slowly gave the most sincere smile she ever did.

[red-might-be-dead]

hello hi here to force strange thoughts into your brain once again, this time about jrwi (wow who could’ve guessed)

been thinking about this for a little but it’s basically what i think some campaigns would be if not podcasts, i haven’t listened to some of the older ones so i’m sorry they’re not on here :(( if you have any ideas feel free to add them btw :DD

RIPTIDE!!!!! - really long animated series

not an anime though, no matter how much grizzly wants it, it would be an animation style where the characters could have very clearly different nose, face and body shapes, really pushing my riptide nose agenda here sorry, each episode would be like 20-40 minutes long and instead of coming out in seasons there would be massive gaps in between episodes, from 2-6 months long, to leave time for writers and animators to get stuff done (massive team of animators btw, i feel like it would be pretty successful)

PRIME DEFENDERS!! - comics

literally nothing else they could be, just really well made, well performing comics (i’ve already talked about this before you can stalk my talk tag if you really want to find it lmao), the comic company making them would be keeping well away from movies n shit btw

APOTHEOSIS!!! - i wasn’t really sure about this one to be honest

i had to ask my friend and she said anime which i don’t agree with but i can see it, i think maybe a short book series where each book is 150 - 300 pages and is about a different god they have to kill/a different episode, i think that works but if anyone has any better ideas please tell me :D!!

BLOOD IN THE BAYOU!!! - i hate to say it, i really do…

bitb would be a really long really good 80s horror book with strong homoerotic undertones, a satisfied fanbase and lots of active members in the community making fan comics, films, writing, theories and art ect… until well after the book came out……….. and then it would be made into the most egregious and awful live action movie you have ever seen, the most awful casting (like chris pratt as officer dudes….. throws up) and even worse sfx, oh yeah and the characters would be ruined and the story would become so butchered it wouldn’t make sense, they would do some shit like cut out becky so kian just kisses some random lady (removing both a really good and well written character and a layer of kian’s character that i think is super important) and make rolan really be an evil bug spy the whole time so rand has to kill him to save the town also add in a whole new sub plot that never existed like the rand family is secretly a long line of bug alien hunters or something fucking stupid like that and the entire fanbase would murder whoever thought re-writing the story was a good idea (ahaha can you tell ive been through something like this before ahahaha, character morals and motives being removed and whatnot ahahahhahahaha.)

anyways………

THE SUCKENING!!! - live action series

it would be well made though, unlike the bitb movie it would be its own original thing, have great makeup and effects also be well casted and well shot, well written, ect ect, it would bloody and gory and not suitable for people who can’t handle showing bones and organs all over everywhere, lots of shitty rip off merch would be made though and the fandom would be 99% gay little freaks (normal suckening enjoyers) and 1% homophobic straight white men who get mad whenever they see soda and emizel having gay sex on screen or whatever fag shit that biting thing was

again feel free to add your thoughts and ideas and shit in the reblogs it would be nice to read them :DD!!

[inamagicalhallucination]

this is how a beach episode would play out in my head - kunikida, dazai, and atsushi focus

kunikida: are you not gonna go swimming dazai?

dazai: nope! i think today im just going to relax in the sand! maybe i'll try and drown myself later tho... what about you?

kunikida: im not swimming either

dazai: awww why not

kunikida: for some reason i dont feel safe getting in the ocean w/ u here

dazai, snickering: aww~ how could you say that~ im so hurt

atsushi, in the background, running towards them full speed, forgetting how fast he is, excited to go to the beach and go swimming for the first time (all the times he has had to go rescue dazai do not count), happily jumping towards them, thinking theyll be able to catch him

kunikida: anyway, i think i'll try to stay as dry as-

atsushi jumping onto kunikida and dazai, accidentally causing them all to fall forward and into the water

kunikida:

dazai: atsushi-kun...

atsushi, still grinning, happily, tail wagging: isnt this great dazai-san kunikida-san!! the ocean!! we're swimming!!!

kunikida: no matter how excited you are, pushing us like that...

atsushi, flushing a little but still too excited to be fully embarrassed: ahhh sorry about that!! i didn't mean to! i was just going to go in for a... well i mean i've never been swimming before not really and i was rlly glad u suggested coming here to the agency and i wanted to um well u know..

dazai: hug us? how sweet~

kunikida, awkwardly coughing: ... well it doesn't matter - its no big deal just enjoy your time here

atsushi: okay!! :DDD

atsushi: :DD

atsushi: :D

atsushi: :3

atsushi: :)

atsushi: :|

atsushi, a tiger - a cat, a little kitty cat: dazai-san kunikida san i dont like the water anymore can we go home

[randomfoggytiger]

Once again, you have done a wonderful analysis. I was the person who asked about the status of their relationship in Dreamland and Arcadia. 👏 great work!

I don't know if you have been asked this before, but I am going to ask anyway.

If you were to teach a class on the Xfiles for critical thinking and analysis, how would you want to structure the course? What episodes would be your "go-to" and what aspect of analysis would be your focus? Where would be a good starting point for the uninitiated?

You offer enough evidence that the show can be used for film analysis, writing, critical thinking, argumentation, creative writing, etc., so it is very plausible to use the XFiles as a medium to get students, or just the everyday person, motivated to think in ways that they may not normally practice.

I am inspired by your analysis of the asks that you share with your audience.

I think this my answer is both simple and complex, depending on which angle you want to tackle.

Simply: The X-Files is a masterclass in failure; and I mean that quite neutrally. There were cracks embedded in the foundation since Season 1-- a lack of show bible, a lack of narrative cohesion, a lack of attention to important detail, a lack of conclusive vision despite the aspirational visions-- that deepened with each new mystery box, each new twist, each new "the truth is out there, but it's not the truth we said it was a week ago, this time it's different" bend. Even more simply put, it is a deeply broken, deeply flawed series because its premise-- a shadowy conspiracy that cloaked alien interference and abductions-- was probably never intended to be more than that. But each new idea was more tantalizing than the last; and the more the show explored new territory, the more it sketched out an inescapable map. And soon, there was no new place to run.

Complexly: The X-Files is a masterclass in failure because despite all its faults, its flaws, its frailties, its downright ham-fisted or shocking plot points, the crew's talent was insane.

Not just David and Gillian-- though their chemistry's the stuff of legends-- but Mitch Pileggi, Nic Lea, the returning and supporting actors, the writers, the directors, the costume designers, the behind the scenes people, everyone poured their heart and soul and best into this series (until Season 7, which drained everyone, on and off set, of their investment.) It could, should have been so much worse-- it could have been canceled after its first season, it could have been canceled after the first few episodes, it could have been canceled after the ending in Season 1. Yet, in spite of DD and GA's green acting, and the more fixed direction, and the odd angle or odd script moment or odd lighting choice, there was talent-- sheer undeniable talent-- that was thrown in... maybe not everyday, but most days. And even more complexly, Chris Carter-- for all the faults that can be levied at his later work or behavior towards long-time friend Gillian-- fostered that talent. He was a generous executive producer; and once he formed loyalties, he stuck to them. In all the past interviews I've read, his writers and actors and crew admired his work ethic and trusted his judgment. And, while it wasn't the best judgment to guide the juggernaut of this immense series, he handled immense, buckling pressure so well that, by and large, he passed himself and his writing off as the stuff of legends... until, of course, it inevitably blew apart and plunged downward. But that's a risk he took; and the show did incredibly well while it soared.

Putting the two together: if I were to use this show as a teaching tool, I'd divide it into segments: the MOTW and the mytharc. The MOTW is where the show shines brightest, and what it's most remembered for by the vast majority of its viewers (and the populace.) Here, I could prove what incredible talent and dedication and drive can do: what generosity and fostering of ability, what openness to ideas, what creativity pushed to its max would inspire. How Squeeze-Tooms succeeded but Pusher-Kitsunegari failed; how to handle a skeptic-believer dynamic believably; how one show contained a multitude of tones, and played with them expertly (from drama to horror to sci-fic to comic to romantic to adventure to etc.); how to sensitively (or try to) push forward an idea that needs to be solved, in our world, without choking the audience with moralistic spoon-feeding. How and why (and when) a show can do all these things in one breath and utterly embarrass itself in another (looking at you, Fight Club.) That would then lead me into my second point: what the consequences of that would look like-- scripts written the night before (perhaps even the day of) filming; actors and crew pushed to their exhausted limit; one man creating more and more and more shows-- because he doesn't trust his first one will go on forever-- instead of focusing that incredible drive and effort to cleanly outline his pet project. Lastly, I'd shift into the perfect demonstration of The X-Files's rises and falls: its mytharc How the MOTW idea existed, in its infancy, in the Pilot; that the convoluted, ever-evolving plot didn't take shape and fly until the scope of ideas grew greater and greater; how that spawned an incredible mythos (or the potential of an incredible mythos); and how that mythos, for the most part, carefully danced a line that could have enraged many different factions of society and many different points. An elegant, slimmed conspiracy, at first, that took time to highlight important issues-- government overreach, abuse of power, coercive or vindictive control-- until it devolved into trite statements, repetition instead of invention, without firmer substance. Until the writers didn't have any land left to explore, turned around, and realized they'd flown into a corner. Then they threw a smokescreen-- a new tragedy or drama onscreen-- and hoped the audience would be blinded to the trick, once again. And, ultimately, how that lack of trust in the audience was a greater sin than their ability to finish the show satisfactorily.

If I were to step back, though, I think The X-Files could prove any point you want to prove: the struggle of the artistic vs. the executive, the reality of expectation vs. creative vision, the high of a meeting of minds between an ideas man and his audience, the impropriety of expecting fan loyalty yet shoveling them slop, the deevolution of a beloved franchise through disengaged interest and floundering quality, the importance (the sheer, indisputable importance) of writing well if nothing else, etc. etc. etc. I don't think I'd get into the Chris Carter issue, though. That area of drama is locked away from all but the most interested (in my case, over-invested); and it wouldn't be productive to bring into a classroom, seminar, or what have you. Unless, of course, I were teaching psychology. ;))))

Personally, I would divide the show into its sequential leaps forward: the time Chris Carter insisted on casting David and Gillian for their chemistry; the time Morgan and Wong pitched the show's first creature episode; the time Rob Bowman insisted on trying something different while directing; the time DD started writing, then directing, under the show's tutelage; the time GA wrote out her own script and directed it; the time Kim Manners or Rob Bowman or Vince Gilligan (or Spotnitz) pushed for overtly romantic moments between Mulder and Scully; the time 1013 and the show's theme and the UFO poster and the smoking man became international iconography, etc. All of these elements echo back to Chris Carter as a competent helmsman, and showcase him (and the show) at his best. Then, I'd pivot to the creative toll: the time crunch, the stress, the media speculation, the lack of privacy or a life, the ever divided attention-- that the most glamorized years of the show were also the most brutalizing (FTF and Season 5 filmed consecutively; and back to back with Season 4.) Finally, I'd focus on the sudden tone shift, pivot, and recovery of Season 6, 7, 8, and some parts of 9; and how each of the last three seasons suffered from the same fate: fresh new mysteries, failed follow-through, and catastrophic fatalities until the writers hit the emergency "Reset" button again. And that that pattern continued, irrevocably, for a movie and another two years.

But most importantly: I'd use any scene, any episode, any season to prove that all this profound effort-- time, blood, sweat, and tears-- can create giants... and can tear them back down when the foundations crack and give way. Until, in short, the writing, the one aspect holding everything together, falls apart. And without the writing, there is no final act, there is no happy landing-- there is only a man caught in the act, reprimanding you for looking behind the curtain.

Hope this helps! :DDDDD

[retrobr]

Lazytown Shenanigans Pt. 8

Wow I'm finally back with my ramblings (nobody waited and nobody asked for this :,DD)!! I was kinda busy getting acquainted with some fandom stuff — reading some fics, to be precise — and was getting some rest from the show to be more excited to continue watching it! 

I think that this kind of posts will be posted much less often than before because I will take a break from watching more often, at least I think so

But anyway, this time I've watched "The Baby Troll" and. Uhh. Let's just get right into it 😭

"The Baby Troll."

I'm not even going to lie; this is probably one of my least favorite episodes so far. I honestly can't even say that I liked it even a little bit, this episode is just not it. But of course there were some nice moments, so I'd better start discussing it

I cannot keep silent about the fact that the town looks quite beautiful at night. I'm attaching a wonderful frame to convince you of this, my dear people:

Well. Not that it's breathtakingly wonderful — there were much more beautiful frames, but I'm a stupid person and forgot to take some screenshots — but I think it looks nice at least??

Before I get too bored writing this post, I want to touch on the topic of my favorite sillies. One thing made me giggle a little: the city is sinking into the night, it's time for everyone to go to bed soon; Robbie walks around the park and wonders why "those brats" are not playing. Buddy... it's like... a nighttime?... 

And, well, why does he even bother about kids not playing on the playground huh? I mean, their excited shouts and bustling annoy him all day long, so he should be happy that they're finally not playing. BRO YOU GOT SOME REST, AS YOU WANTED!! USE IT FOR YOUR OWN ENJOYMENT OF PEACE AND QUIET!!

This scene is not that long, I would even say insignificant, but I pay a lot of attention to it because in my opinion it gives a subtle hint that he is actually used to their hustle and games and quite likely finds the park empty without their fun. Yes I will make one small scene make sense; I'm a big softie for Robbie's and kids' interactions, nice to meet you 🤵

Also sometimes I wonder how Robbie manages to get into trouble so stupidly and spectacularly; bro kicked the ball, got hit by the said ball in the ass, and fell in the chest, which locked up in the result. Bravo, bravo 😭😭 At least he wasn't complaining when Sportacus saved him (and the kids as well, but we're not talking about them yet) and even asked for it, because, from my observations, he usually gets annoyed when someone helps him

And his disguise in this episode was kinda silly. I don't have much to say about it tbh, it just looked funny 🤷

But let's talk about some other characters now; from this episode I learned that Meanswell can knit. Attaching evidence to the above fact (this frame looks so cozy I want to get in there):

And since we're talking about the abilities of some of the characters, I was pleased to learn that Trixie can play the guitar. In my vision she's a great music lover and you can't convince me otherwise

One more thing about the Mayor and then I'll touch on the topic of the thing that genuinely scared me. Meanswell is kind of dumb — like, not even dumb, but just inattentive. Right in front of his eyes the kids ran away from home to the mountains at night, and he didn't even notice it. LIFT YOUR GODDAMN EYES AND SEE WHAT'S GOING ON IN YOUR HOUSE. MORE PRECISELY OUTSIDE THE HOUSE. You know what I mean 😭

Oh and well. About the scary part of the episode. What the actual fuck was that troll? Why does it look so freaking scary?.. I watched this episode before going to bed, that is, at night, and how can I sleep peacefully now when the appearance of this creature stands right on the surface of my thoughts? And it was so annoying in addition to it's creepy appearance, and it seems to me that for the most part I didn't like this episode just because of this creature. I don't even want to think about it tbh 💀

In general, as it's already clear, this episode didn't seem to me the best, at least for the entire fourth season. But at least I've learned a lesson from this episode: if you want to eat like a bitch, gobble up an apple. It solves all the problems.

That's pretty much it. Thank you for your guys attention and have a good day :]

[leiascully]

I'd love to hear your continued thoughts about S8 because, having read your thoughts, I have the exact opposite read on his character (which fascinates me to no end.) I'll put together a more cohesive post in future with detailed screenshots about what I'm talking about, but:

Mulder didn't shut Scully out, I believe, in a "get out of my life way": he softened every time she spoke to him, he sought her out; and when he neglected her or wasn't there for her, DD played Mulder with tons of regret for his actions. Mulder from Je Souhaite/Requiem was still there; but the writing cut all those important moments out, leaving DD/GA to make the best of what they could with the material (because CC spent so much time on Doggett-- unnecessarily-- to get the audience to REALLY like him, as I believe you said.)

Truly, I'm curious where the ideological split is on Mulder. Where do you think it comes from? My guess... hm... I think it's because Scully knew his patterns since episode one: he challenged her in the basement, making her "prove" herself; and when she stood her ground, he beamed. And when the conversation concluded, she beamed. Because I truly believe Scully LIKES to be challenged, likes to "earn" Mulder's full attention and debunk/debate his ideas. It's their singular love language-- that and silent touches and meaningful gazes-- and she's just as charmed in Chinga whenever he calls as he is in calling her.

You mentioned how Never Again Mulder was still putting the work over her, making her prove herself; and I do agree. That was his lesson. BUT that wasn't what he meant to do, because he's so small and shrunken by the end of the episode that Scully didn't see that her life is also his, dropping his sentence because that would mean their dynamic would have to shift. And he wasn't ready for it, yet. Scully needs the reassurance that Mulder gives her in FTF; but she has to wait for a bit to get there.

Those are just my thoughts-- feel free to checkmate the ludicrous ones~. ;))))

This is going to sound flip, but I honestly try NOT to think about S8 as much as possible, because I get so frustrated, but thoughts under the cut to save all our dashes.

First, I get very grumpy about how much time was wasted in S8 on trying to convince us that John Doggett, former Marine and NYPD detective, was the world's littlest meow meow who had never done anything wrong, despite being a cog in the same imperialist machine that the Syndicate is part of - they just pledge allegiance to a different flag (aliens?). Not only do I have to endure the lack of Mulder and Doggett trying to make himself important to Scully, I have to deal with this piss-fight of Mulder and Doggett both being territorial about Scully and the X-Files when Mulder comes back, as if Doggett has earned the right in however many months versus however many years to be protective of either.

Anyway, I do think Mulder shut her out in S8. The first thing he says to her when he wakes up in "DeadAlive" is a joke. That's also what he does when she comes back to the office in "Never Again". He keeps her at arm's length. Mulder's impulsivity is framed by the narrative as one of his valuable traits - those associopoetic leaps and literal leaps into danger are part of what make him a successful field agent with a high solve rate. He literally flung himself onto a train, you know? But Scully's foray into impulsivity in "Never Again" - sleeping with Jerse, which is arguably less bad than punching a suspect, which Mulder has done multiple times, and on equal footing with sleeping with Kristin - is immediately and harshly punished by the narrative in a way that Mulder's actions aren't. (Sure, Kristin doesn't have a great fate, but Mulder doesn't experience bodily harm or slutshaming about it.) And while Scully presumably never finds out about Kristin, Mulder obviously knows about Jerse and has Opinions about it all.

Instead of understanding Scully's desire to feel like a valued member of the team, on equal footing, with her own desk, he (willfully?) misinterprets her, says it would be difficult to accommodate her request, and then decides that her choices are all about him and the work, as if Scully's desire can only be understood in the context of it being an attempt to rebel against or punish Mulder. He has conceptualized himself as the embodiment of The Work, in essence, where as Scully's body is Worked On, even though she tries over and over to prove herself and put herself on equal footing. Everything that happens to Scully is about him; everything that happens to him is also about him. We know that he cares about her and he's worried that she was hurt, but he doesn't show that to her in "Never Again". We also don't really see him allowing her to show she cares about him much in S8, except to tend to the minor bodily harm he gets with that scratch (even then, he tells her she has "manos de piedra").

Mulder's trauma in S8 is real and it's definitely earned. The things he went through are hard things. It's understandable that he's shellshocked when he comes back and everything is different. When Scully was abducted, he tried his best to keep everything pretty much the same in anticipation of her return, the way Samantha is still a child in his mind. He refused to have a partner, etc. Scully made an effort, but it isn't as if she could put her pregnancy on pause or get rid of Doggett. Both of them are at fault for not having conversations about that, but he does deflect her few half-hearted efforts with humor and sarcasm. He's a little more open in "Empedocles" after he's feeling more reintegrated into his life, but we don't see much indication of him seeking any kind of help with that reintegration, either from Scully or a qualified professional, whereas Scully went to therapy multiple times and seemed to have an established relationship with her therapist. He holes up in his apartment and decides she's shut him out despite the ways she keeps trying to invite him back into her life. This is in pretty sharp contrast with Scully after her abduction/cancer immediately trying to get back to work and be his partner again (not healthy either, but a very different approach). Mulder, who feels left out of the decisions she made when he was gone, leaves her out of the majority of his decisions in S8. He tries to convince himself she was better off without him, but that's not what she's telling him. He's in so much pain that he doesn't know how to make room for her hurt. That ends up causing both of them more pain. But she still makes space for him: inviting him over, asking him to be involved in the baby's life, giving him the desk back in the office, etc. Every now and again, he's able to step into that space, but it seems to take effort. He's so willing to sacrifice himself/what they have without ever asking her if that's what she wants.

The moment in the Pilot is lovely. But anyone will tell you that the thrill of proving yourself for the first time doesn't last through having to prove yourself for the hundredth time. Scully never betrays him, but he still only lets her in so much. Yes, he tells her about Samantha, but he doesn't tell her about Diana. And sure, he tells other people that he values her skepticism, or at least, her willingness to put in the work to come up with an explanation that isn't just based on Vibes™ and crystals, but he doesn't tell her until FTF, at which point he's making a hard choice harder for her. Even then, it's framed as about what she's done for him (saved him, made him a whole person), not who she is to him (a true partner, a soulmate). He's a dick to her in WotC despite her being willing to help him, they're dicks to each other in "Syzygy", and I would argue she's not as charmed as you say in "Chinga", because he tries to talk about Supernatural Explanation 101 as if she doesn't have a Doctorate in Weird Shit by now. He's charmed by her, but it's like she's a dog with a new trick, not like she's the person who's been right beside him for five years researching all of this. Scully has been shown to accept the strange as long as she can explain it and he's talking to her like she's fresh out of X-Files Orientation. Yes, he sometimes tells her to trust herself and that her intuition is good, but those are usually the moments when her intuition and her training are telling her two different things ("Beyond The Sea", "Emily", "Memento Mori", etc.).

This is not to say that Scully always does the right thing with respect to either the work or their relationship, but those are my reads on those threads. I honestly don't care if Mulder feels small at the end of "Never Again". It's literally not about him. It's about Scully wondering what she should do with her life if she isn't getting what she needs, and finding out immediately there are repercussions that Mulder will never face. When Mulder goes through a sort of similar crisis of faith in "The Red And The Black", Scully teases him a little, but she's ultimately there for him in a way he's not there for her at this moment, and he never really understands the way that she is disrespected and undervalued by the patriarchal system of the FBI.

(Reading the wiki, I found out Doggett is supposed to have a J.D. and a Master's and that just makes me angrier tbh. Has no one in that writer's room ever actually gotten an advanced degree?)

[goldenpinof]

Yeah in my opinion Phil would still be up for some dapg and podcast and regular joint content and whatnot because he knows that 1) their audience (at least what’s left of it) loves it, 2) HE loves it, 3) Dan loves it. The problem is the usual: Dan wants to do something big and important so he can be taken seriously or whatever, but let’s be real — his attempts so far have led to mixed responses. The book? Wasn’t that great, we can say it now. DD? Still trying to figure out what it was for other than promo for the tour (and the content itself wasn’t good and so 2016). I still can’t believe he decided to ditch the gaming channel and joint content for *gestures vaguely* that. I wish him well and I’ll always root for him, but he really needs someone to give him career advice

i can't believe you're pulling me back with this shit redhgfs i was peacefully existing for weeks not thinking about Dan's failing career ffs. god help me!

RIGHT!!!!! all of what you said! not only career advice but also a reality check, and i mean it in a very nice way. i guess we can agree that he grew out of youtube and doesn't want to do it anymore (partially because of what happened with youtube originals. fuck them). and that's okay. and wanting something bigger, more serious, conceptual, and right for him is also okay. i support that. but every piece of, let's say, work he was trying to do outside youtube turned out to be tied to youtube anyway. and not because he wasn't trying hard enough (well, debatable), but because most of his experience that he is willing to talk about is either already mentioned on the platform or happened because of his youtube career. and also it's the best place to promote whatever he is doing, so he can't escape it unless he hires a marketing team and invests thousands of dollars in a real promo campaign. PHYSICAL as well (non-existent billboards and posters for wad shows will haunt me to death).

the book. i have a question (lots of them, but whatever). have you read it? and if yes, was it interesting from a fan's pov? and god, would i love to know the opinions of people who aren't familiar with Dan and his content. i bought the book in 2021, can't make myself read it because i'm afraid to get annoyed at him repeating himself.

yeah, i also can't believe he is too fucking stubborn to return to what clearly works for us and him with Phil. because it can be a side thing, and he can focus on his stand-up bullshit at the same time. on the other hand, i watched Lilly's interview with Anthony about how her late night show was taking ALL of her time and she couldn't continue to make youtube content. and i thought, maybe Dan is in the same situation. his new projects take everything? but there's a difference! he is not shooting 2-3 episodes per day. and for wad he delegated lots of work to other people. some of them did a shitty job, but that's a different topic. that's why i would pay my own money for dnp to talk about the work processes in detail. that could explain where all these weeks and months go. dd was shot within a few months, partly during the tour. so even that didn't take that much time. and i know there are scripts, and logistics, and rehearsals, and pitches to networks or whatever, and he is probably doing a lot of manager's work himself sometimes. but damn, math is not mathing.

[heretolurkandnothingmore]

for the ask game... gotta be obi-wan!

Hi :DD Thanks for the ask, sorry it took so long. Been running around like a headless chicken. (original ask game link for anyone who wants to send me more asks)

How I feel about this character: So, ok, I like Obi-Wan a lot. Reading the Jedi Apprentice series specifically endeared me to him even more than the rest of SW did (hot takes central: these books were pretty good, actually. Jedi Quest too, I'm just not yet finished with that one). It's the way he always tries to do the right thing while circumstances both external and internal keep getting more and more complex and tangled until a web of duty, love and denial strangles all.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Anakin, of course! I'm the opposite of a multi-shipper (no negativity for multishippers, I've just got a one-track mind). The way these two orbit each other, the sheer depth of change they inflict on one another is overwhelming. But nobody needs this, an Obikin blog, to go on about how much they like Obikin))

My non-romantic OTP for this character: I'm going to say Quinlan (I wish there were more TCW episodes where they interact, it's always a blast). Qui-Gon gets an honorable mention, as does the Ahsoka and Her Two Space Dads (tm) family unit. I love them. Probably reflects in my art.

My unpopular opinion about this character: Feel free to throw tomatoes at me, but I do not think the interpretation of him as this unshakeable, untarnished beacon of light (who's never made the wrong choice or wavered in a significant way) that I've seen some people come up with is all that compelling. Not to *me* anyway. Obviously, we all have different reads on a character we love, mine is just different, as are my tastes.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Hm. Not sure. Depends on the canon, I guess. In the OT I wish there was just more of him? Even as a Force Ghost or something. In TCW I wish they'd given him more interaction with Ahsoka. In the Prequels he's perfect in every way great, but gosh do I wish TPM had more scenes with PadaObi, his haughtiness and his hedgehog haircut.

[whenthechickencry]

Umineko EP8. Replay Part 1

The episode starts with Battler handing Ange the key and telling her that she is the only one that can decide how to use it.... which at least shows that he INTENDS for her to make a choice for herself but I can't really blame Ange for feeling like she was being forced into someone else's answer either.

Of course, it's not like it's exactly farfetched that he wants his younger sister to stop being stuck in suicidal survivor's guilt, he's trying to guide her to the answer he wants without forcing her as much as possible.

It's still a lot to ask of Ange to just take everything that Battler is going to show her at face value, especially after what she just saw like 5 minutes ago, though.

Everyone recounting how this is "the first time the 5 cousins were together" is a little sad since that means in reality that could never happen....

God, I fucking hate the uwufication of Kinzo in this episode, lol. Yes I get it. I get what Battler's doing. But also I just can't stand Kinzo being remembered like this...

The notorious HAPPY HALLOWEEN sequence happens and Ange starts feeling more and more unsettled by this depiction... it is kind of sad how what a lot of people would consider "just a normal family" seems like an impossible dream for Ange, but I get her. Family for her doesn't really mean anything happy for most of her life... this, to her, probably doesn't really feel like someone trying to comfort her to help her be able to move on with her life but more like someone rewriting yours and a bunch of other traumas for their own ends.

I am really not surprised Ange ended up lashing out here.... yes, it is important for Ange to realize that her family aren't all awful evil greedy monsters but that her family were complicated people who had both good and bad parts.... but that doesn't mean the bad parts Ange saw were just fiction made on her head. Kinzo did abuse his children. Kinzo dd horrifying things to all the Beatrices. Telling her she was just imagining that makes it obvious she is going to fight against it.

Of course, this also isn't true at all... Battler is helping her deal with her own trauma and her own future in more positive ways by helping her remember all the good sides of her family. That she isn't really alone. Ange decides to step out of playing the Ange piece.

Aaaa, this is too sweet and makes me want to cry though... wouldn't be great if Sayo and Battler were actually able to talk like this? It didn't happen but just seeing it happen anyways makes me very happy.

Beatrice notices Ange's keys and realizes that Battler is playing a game with Ange. Beatrice is able to do magic in front of Ange, and yet she doesn't believe it.

Now Beatrice and Battler wish they could spend eternity forever, but they must close the catbox and hand the future to Ange...

Well... a bit of column A and a bit of column B, I guess, haha.

It's hard to not look at both Battler and Ange's point here... I can understand why Ange wants to reject and feels resentful towards this world and also why it's so important for Battler to convey his message. "The sin I left behind" The point isn't to erase everyone's wrongdoings but also to give them a chance to grow past them and let you understand them, even after they are dead and let Ange remember the other half of who these people were, memories that were deleted by many years of people only reminding her of the bad parts.

Ange starts talking about how Eva was nicer to her originally and eventually was meaner to her when she wouldn't stop asking about the truth, which she doesn't want to tell her due to her being the culprit.... that's such an impossible situation for either of them to navigate, isn't it? Leaving Ange with her family is not a real option, though, so it's hard to think what Eva is even supposed to do, even if the answer is definitely not taking care of a child that you are definitely not emotionally capable of taking care of.

Ange.... seeing that fragment in episode 7 is obviously making her even more desperate to prove Eva did it.

I can see a bit of Rudolf in how Ange deals with her flaws. Yes, she knows this is bad and self-destructive, but so what? It's similar to how Rudolf seems keenly aware of his flaws but ultimately, also, doesn't really ever even want to try to fix them. It's what they have decided is best for them, and how they have survived... but Ange will manage to break this cycle.

Uh, I don't think Eva would be too happy about having a daughter because then she wouldn't be able to launch tactical misogyny at Jessica but uh, the scenes here are cute anyways and I can totally believe Eva would rather raise a daughter than a boy if the situation wasn't like it was.

Beatrice is drunk and Battler notices haha.. it's nice to see Beatrice merrily drinking instead of the binge drinking before ending your life on EP4....

I can't help but feel some kind of sorrow from all these scenes of the family working together, it just feels a little bit sad that this couldn't happen in reality even if I also feel happy that it's happening at all.

Yeah....

Every conversation between Beatrice and Battler feels so precious, they talk about how they hope the real Ange is smiling and not the piece, how they can't force her to accept the truth, and how they need to clean up from their sins in creating the gameboard in the first place.... Ange's realizing she is letting a bunch of people outside the Ushiromiyas and Rokkenjima decide her opinion on her family.

Quiz time!! Quiz time!!! I love the quiz game section so I was curious about how the manga was going to do it when I first read it but it did do it brilliantly as well. We start with Kinzo's Christmas puzzle and he starts lamenting how people will forget that he used to be a fun grandpa because her memories will be overwritten by the mean Kinzo legends.... both of these are true though. Kinzo can be a fun grandpa while fucked up in other ways. I do remember a bunch of lines about how Kinzo didn't especially like Maria but I wouldn't be surprised if that too was something that got exaggerated because no one has a good image of Kinzo already. I started overthinking Hideyoshi's puzzle and checking which plants had seeds and which didn't and which is considered a fruit and vegetable, oops. Eva gives her South Pole puzzle

Should she have? Yes. But also it's kind of impossible to ask of her given the circumstances, that's what makes the situation so heartbreaking...

We get Gohda and Kumasawa's dessert-themed puzzles. they don't really get an extra scene, they start discussing how Ange's bright smiles were stolen by her future, but how ultimately the only one that can hatch her smile back is herself. They pray that she will be able to find her happiness.

Nanjo gives the kyuukyuu puzzle and Genji the candle puzzle, Genji talks about how he was saved from Taiwan and Battler chooses to not pry too much more which uh, guess Battler suspects Genji is in love with Kinzo if he doesn't want to pry, haha.

Natsuhi does her keyboard puzzle and Krauss. Natsuhi sees the bond between Eva and blood and says relationships matter more than blood, she realizes what she says and we get some perspective into Sayo and Natsuhi. Sayo fcking hated Natsuhi but as she saw the regret she carried in her heart she was able to stop hating her, as the real one to blame is Kinzo. Beatrice calls her mother one time. Beatrice does think forgetting your sin is an extremely grave sin, so I am comfortable saying Sayo ended up with some trajectory similar to this in actuality even if she still obviously holds some bitterness...

Kanon has the periodic table puzzle, Shannon is flavors, and their conversation is just depressing.... they start talking about ho the catbox is a wonderful place where all dreams ca be true before deciding that they{'d rather see their dreams outside the catbox and decide to duel each other.

Rosa is the gold-carrying puzzle and Maria the sheep and wolves one Beatrice Sakutarou and Maria have a discussion about how hard it is to believe in your own magic, but they believe that Ange will be able to do it, even if it will be hard on her. Kyrie has the puzzle with Satoko, Rika, and Miyoko,, and Rudolf uh does the same puzzle again but harder. Kyrie tells Eva to watch for Ange, and then Rudolf and Kyrie are alone and Rudolf reveals the baby swap and Rudolf says he is fine being killed for this, which he would kind of deserve, tbh,but... George and Jessica do fucking Monty Hall problem George and Jessica tell Ange to not let the truth in her hands be changed by what other people say which is... the opposite of the solution posited by the Monty Hall problem what the fuck guys. But the point is that she should remember what was true to her instead of letting her mind be changed by a bunch of people who have never even met any of these people. It{s easy to dismiss this entire sequence for Ange, and a first-time reader, as just a fantasy to make Ange feel better. But, is it not also true that if they knew of their deaths, and if they knew what the future was going to hold for Ange, that all of them would want what is best for her and try to alleviate her heart? Is that truth not also worth having Ange find out?

"The sin.... is to refuse to remember."

Ange goes to take a nap and Battler opens up the party for all the fantasy creatures, and you get a sense of how much the cast of this game has grown, lol.

Kinda bites with knowing what's going to happen, but I think even that is necessary for Ange to reach her truth, as well, so.... message still applies.

I am going to cry.

The description of Ange being locked in a room, separate from her entire family, where she can't go no matter what is a bit sad, too... Anyway Bernkastel guides her out the window and into her parents corpses. Comparing Beatrice's essay to Shannon in episode 2 compared to now is pretty interesting, as Gaap mentions, haha. It's nice that even if just in meta Sayo has managed to not have such distorted views about her body and love...

Meanwhile, Battler notices Ange isn't where she's supposed to be and starts freaking out. Bernkastel shows up and Battler soon realizes he's stuck co-authoring the tale with Bernkastel. Bernkastel is made to promise to release both Erika and Ange if you can solve her riddle.

Bernkastel is about to give her riddle, after a lot of talking from Battler about how they will be besties afterward, and we move to Ange seeing the corpses. "Was that fun just an illusion" asks Ange after seeing the empty hall...

I remembered this was what originally clued me in that the answer was children + parents, just a very sus description, lol.

Battler: It's because of Erika. I can't help but be suspicious when people are examining corpses. Hhahaha okay Battler, Erika gave you trust issues. Sh = K is confirmed in the game as well when they die, The rules are set up.

Bernkastel's flash game begins!

I forgot that in universe the one that solves the puzzle is Maria, haha, also Ange is here to get further traumatized and see her parents as murderers yet again. And then she is forced to hear hundreds of goats say awful things about her family as if she hadn't gone through enough.... whispers that won't stop for decades. The media caught on to plenty of dirt from Kyrie and Rudolf's past... but it's funny because it didn't matter who they dug for, they would have found dirt for everyone anyway. Ange's family is just the most 'fun' because Ange is alive so they can torture her for reactions and get 'new' content to draw enjoyment from if she ever reveals any details of anything... When Ange feels like she is about to be consumed by all the goats, Bernkastel and Erika come and save her. Obviously, they are using her and manipulating her for their ends, but you can certainly understand why she feels as if they are saving her once you realize she has had to deal with the goats for so long and they are giving her the opportunity to shut them the fuck up. Eva's choice to never reveal the truth gets reframed in this episode, she is creating endless theories of herself as the culprit and setting herself up for endless abuse, all in order to guarantee the truth that will hurt Ange so much will never come out....

Ange.... I really don't think you can blame her for how she feels during this episode.

Ange and Bernkastel have a conversation about holding on to a miracle vs finding the miracleless truth. Ange decides she's tired of other people hiding the truth from her so she's ready to face the truth even if it means giving up on a miracle. Bernkastel feels some bitterness about how Battler and Beatrice get to laugh and enjoy each other after their game.... once her game ended all that meant was she now had to deal with a bunch of trauma.

Bernkastel reminds Battler the game isn't over and the keys are in Ange's hands, not his. We cut to Bernkastel-Ange-Featherine in the study. Featherine and Bernkastel point out that the point of the key is for her to choose between something, and Bernkastel points out that even if he is respecting her decision there's obviously a choice he wants her to make, which helps Ange understand a bit more the unease she has been feeling. It's hard for me to not see the events of this episode as necessary for Ange... if she just went along with the trick ending just because that's the only perspective Battler gave her would she have really felt comfortable in that choice?

Erika is chronically addicted to being WRONG

The fact Ange is forced to play an actual 6-year-old also I think is like... it probably didn't help in Ange feeling manipulated and infantilized.

"I t wouldn't have been much longer before I was chased out of the gameboard with everything still vague and fuzzy," I think kind of points to what I was mentioning earlier - if Bernkastel hadn't intervened I doubt Ange would have felt satisfied with her answer.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Social Media and When They Were Actually Filming in France

@galadrieljones:

Hey guys so I have something i want to point out based on some old social media discussions we had like a year ago.

@wdway, when you pointed out the discovery that Daryl is in Marseille in the sneak preview, that sounded familiar but I couldn’t remember why. I wanted to say that he had been in Marseille at some point, publicly, and that we even talked about it. So I searched back through our old conversations and I found one from like almost exactly a year ago, pertaining to him being in France, but we didn’t know why. It was before filming officially began for the DD spin-off (which was confirmed October 2022 in Paris). We were talking about a story he posted which showed the same poster in three different frames. This was the poster:

I determined that this art gallery, which was showing some of Norman’s photography (I think) was in the city of Arles. Arles struck a note when I looked back, because Arles is a town a bit north of Marseille, on the Rhone, near to the ruins we were discussing yesterday: the Pont du Gard and Château des Baux-de-Provence. The Old Water Mills are also near there.

So this means Norman was in Arles in July 2022, for an art show that went until September 2022. Arles is right near those ruins in the sneak peak and also about an hour or so north of Marseille.

Was he already filming?

Marseille isn’t near to Paris. Not like it would be a quick trip down there just to film some panoramic shots and shots of the town.

So there’s a bit more, circumstantial ofc, but when I went and reread our conversation, one of us mentioned that in the fb group ppl were seeming bummed because Emily wasn’t posting a lot lately. Ppl were worried about her and what was wrong. Ann also was pointing out that there were similarities at this time, between Norman and Emily’s posts. Coffee, the color red, table tops, etc. Norman was clearly in France. Ann you had guessed possibly he was there for something Diane was filming, and/or because he was filming episodes of Ride in Europe at the time. So I went to look back at Emily’s acct from that time period. It truly is a lot of dog content, an undated post of her on a boat, a post of her and her new boyfriend from July 4th (later-grammed at the end of August), etc

But she also posted this on August 15th, which is her in a hotel alone on her birthday:

Norman was liking a lot of these posts, btw. He didn’t like the birthday one though.

@wdway:

These are great. What a coincidence.

He posted this on July 26th, which was about three weeks after he was in Arles. It’s the Tuileries Garden in Paris. He’s not in it, so it doesn’t mean he’s there, but it’s just a lot

Emily didn’t post location-specific at all during this time period, not until mid-September, when she did a show in Nashville.

@galadrieljones:

And it was so noticable that we talked about it in the chat and the fb group noticed as well

This is my whole discovery and it’s absolutely nothing certain in any way lol but it just made me raise my eyebrows very high, like if Norman was already filming in Marseille at that time, then who’s to say she wasn’t filming something in Paris in December 2021? I know it’s a long way ahead, but her Paris posts all got likes from Norman. Also, where was she during those rogue weeks? Her instagram doesn’t say. So…probably nothing, but could also be something!

Also oh, when I look back at Emily’s posts in early 2021, they are like ALL location non-specific. I have no idea when she got back from Europe based on these posts. They’re all full of her star and weird vague sayings about looking forward to the future, and she also posted some old photoshoots of herself from 2014. Norman liked like all of these posts. He hasn't been liking any of her posts lately, btw. ANYWAY

SOrry, that should be early 2022

SO like after or during when she was in Paris

@wdway:

Clarify for me again, is this during the time before or after we knew there was going to be a spinoff. And secondly if the answer is yes, did we know at the time it was supposed to be set in Paris? I can't remember if the Paris announcement came at the same time as them announcing MMB wasn't going to be in it.

@galadrieljones:

When Norman was in France that first time in 2022, we already knew there would be a spin-off and that it would be set in France, but that’s all we knew. I think the spin-off was re-announced in April, after the debacle with Melissa leaving. They announced it would be in Europe/France and that Melissa was dropping out to take some time off. It was right near the end of filming for season 11

So… March 2022 - filming for season 11 wraps up, Emily is in Atlanta for Fandemic, Rick is in Atlanta, too. April 2022 - MMB drops out, spin-off is announced as being a European/France setting, Daryl-only. Gimple hints that there are clues related to the setting in WB

In October 2022, when filming apparently just began in Paris, that’s when Norman went on Kimmel and mentioned that he and Greg Nicotero had been in France scouting locations at some point, and he mentioned “blowing up the Louvre.”

@wdway:

The announcement in April of 22 you know they had to have known that Melissa was backing out way before that announcement. I mean I do remember them talking about scripts already being worked on.

@galadrieljones:

Yes, totally. And we began to wonder if they knew all the way back before filming for 10C, because the episode “Diverged” is so bizarre.

@wdway:

You know it was just a totally different take on that episode once you watch it knowing that she wasn't going to be in the spinoff, at least not initially it just plays differently.

@galadrieljones:

Also, just to keep pounding in the logistics (because I can’t help myself lol), World Beyond season 2 was filmed in Virginia during 2020. It premiered in October of 2021. This means the French coda was written and filmed all the way back in 2020?? Did they know then?

I mean they filmed 10C in 2020, right? Covid year? Diverged aired on 3/28/21.

Anyway, even if MMB pulled out after the French coda, it seems possible to me at this point that the spin-off, which was originally announced in the summer of 2020, was probably always going to take place in France.

(Which means they knew well before Emily was there at the end of 2021)

@wdway:

Even more so than the coda which was the very last scene in S2e10. In the first season of TWB the Paris makeover in the back of the truck. We initially thought it was about he Mona Lisa a painting by Da Vinci trying in with a Last Supper scene we associated with Daryl and Beth. With the announcement of the spin-off in Paris it took on a whole new meaning. So, when was Emily in Paris, was it around that time? She even took a picture of the Mona Lisa. She might have been doing a little filming just some shots not really scenes in Paris for the spin-off.

@wdway:

You somewhat answered my questions while I was typing, haha.

@galadrieljones:

Emily was in Paris at the very end of 2021. She posted herself in front of Christmas decorations. It then was unclear when exactly she got back.

Great minds can read each other it seems.

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH STILL FREAKING OUT OH MY GOSH

Y'all I'm losing it

HUAAAGHAHHHHHHHHHHHHH FIRST DATE

LOL YEAH I'M TENSE TOO

AUGUHAH HE'S ADMITTING IT FIRST DATE WITH A MAN OHHHH MY GOSH I'M NOT OKAY LOL

THIS BETTER BE AN ACTUAL DATE BC THAT WOULD BE AWKWARD

SPFIENAIMCLS IT'S A GROUP DATE

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH EDDIE'S HEREEEEE

OR IS IT ON ACCIDENT MAYBE O.O

IS HE GONNA THINK THEY'RE JUST THERE AS BUDDIES O.O (BUDDIE LOL)

OR IS HE GONNA THINK HE WAS BI THIS WHOLE TIME BUT BUCK WAS THE ONE WHO DIDN'T KNOW

Oh my gosh I'm freaking out

I'm not okay

What the heck

(edit starts here)

Ope a guy with his hand

OPE OH GOSH

That's not good o.o

Not really matching your message sir xD

Oh goshh o.o 😳😬

OH GOSH BUCK

Me when I saw the promo again a little while later: OH MY GOSH HOW DID I FORGET THAT BIT

Gosh. Wow

(end of edit)

Okay, that's the last of my last thoughts, now it's time for the. . .

REVIEW

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I'm not okay

I LOVED THIS EPISODE SO MUCH!!! OH MY GOSH. This is the anti feeling to last night when I watched tgd and the end killed me for an entirely different reason THE GAYS ARE WINNNINGGGGGG!!!! I'm not okay. Anyway IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! Genuinely though all the plots throughout were really good and there were a TON of good moments. Plus the crossover with The Bachelor was GREAT lol. I need to go back and watch those first two minutes but I will update the post slfjdfhs. Now, I'm going to make a quick celebration post and maybe rewatch that clip if possible, and then I'll be back because I can't possibly put off this review xD. Oh my gosh I'm having so many thoughts.

OKAY AAHHH HI ME FROM THE NEXT DAY I was literally freaking out so much (and still am) that I couldn't do it and I kept procrastinating and then I fell asleep lol xD. I have continued to procrastinate (and I had things to do) but!! Here I am :)).

First though, I'm going to go back to the promo bit and add the second half because apparently I completely forgot about it, and I have since watched it a couple of times xD.

Okay!! Now, let's talk about some other bits of the episode xdd.

The Bachelor crossover was so fun!!! I've never seen The Bachelor lol but it was a great story, great call xD. And everyone freaking out SLFKGHDKS!! Maddie and Josh fighting over the call to Chimney giving them spoilers to Eddie siccing the girls on Buck to Bobby and Hen going 👁️👄👁️. And that poor girl xdd. Also the "Do I have to?" "I wouldn't" just killed me xDD. Glad she's okay though :)). Sucks she'll never have her chance lol. But hey, she got to talk to him :)!! Wild xD. Anyway, I think was a super fun thing to throw in there for the 100th episode :DD. It's also interesting to see a reality show crossover with a fiction show xD. Had a fun time with it!!

Maddie and Chim!! They were so funny at the beginning xD. Her sending the 118 was wild lol. Also I loved her face to him later when he was talking about how cool Tommy was right after Buck was complaining about him (😏😏) xDD. They're idiots your honor lol <33. Anyway, Chimney slayed on the calls today 🥰. Especially figuring out the head trauma for that poor woman! Nice job my guy :)). Also, I didn't notice it until I saw subtitles later but "I'm your basketball beard" AUGHWUOGIH!!!! XDD SLFJDGLKDS HE'S SO WILD FOR THAT O.O. Anyway he did genuinely slay, loved him supporting Buck lol :)). I'm sure there was some brother in law bonding in there xD. Maddie slayed on calls too!! I really loved her conversations with Buck though :D :)). The brunch one was sweet and kind of silly, plus the "Is it circled with a heart?" line was SO GOOD LOL SLFJDHS XDD. Idiot <33 (Buck more than anything but it's all affectionate I promise). Also I really loved Maddie's reaction to Buck talking about maybe accidentally purposefully injuring Eddie. It completely makes sense for her character and I'm really glad it was in there, it added some great depth <33. Though the storyline itself has depth!! Especially after the ending lol. Anyway, poor Maddie with her story about the Sarah's :(( xd. That sucks :'(. I do kind of know how it is (not quiiite as close) and it really can be awful xd. Dyeing your hair is a wild step xD. Plus SLFKGJDS "I would've changed both names" oh my gosh XDDD 💀. Also nice on her for calling Buck out for acting like a teenage girl lol. Anyway, love her, and Chimney <33.

Hen and Ravi!! We didn't see much of either of them this episode but they were great :DD. Poor Ravi xD. Bro had no clue what was going on with anything ever lol. He didn't even know who Tommy was! After all the drama he caused!! Poor guy's out of the loop (well for the drama he would cause, is what I meant) lol. They both slayed this episode though :DD!! Hen was great on the house invasion call and the Bachelor call :)). Love them <333.

Bobby, Athena, and Harry!! AYYY Harry :DD!! Welcome back man 🥰. Seeing him greet Athena and Bobby was so nice :'D. It's nice to have him back :')). Sucks to have a change in actors (Marcanthonee will be missed!!) but I'm sure he's gonna be great :)). Elijah, I believe his name is? Welcome aboard dude :DD! Anyway, his return isn't under the best of circumstances o.o. Love Bobby knowing, or being suspicious yk, and called Michael (they are my besties your honor 🥰🥰, I love them <33). Also really glad he told Athena immediately and didn't turn to hide it or anything 😬 :)). Anyway, glad he was so supportive <33. That whole thing was wild though o.o 😬😬😳. It really sucks so much that that happened :((. Harry didn't deserve that, and he was totally valid in his anger and wanting to respond. I don't think he should've beaten the guy up, but I get it. It sucks that he was to be a representative but that's how it is :'((. Hopefully it'll change one day. Also his conversation with Athena about it all and whether she cares more about being a cop or his mom OOUFGH O.O. That bit hit HARD 😬😭. He did have a bit of a point, but I'm glad he apologized <33. And that Athena was more understanding the second time. On a lighter note, her waking up him by pouring a bucket of water on him was amazing LOL xD. Anyway, seeing his reaction to the video hurt so much :((( 😭😭😭💔. It really is awful to see yourself angry. I only tend it see it in writing and it still sucks and is hard xdd. But HALLELUJAH YAYY he's not being charged, at least with prison time that is :')). And he's sticking around :DD!! I'm sure it'll be difficult with Athena monitoring his community service and such but I think it'll be really fun storyline wise :)). Also Athena having to tell that mom that she shot her son 😭😭😭💔💔🥺🥺. That was so awful, I'm so sorry honey <33? And that poor lady 😭😭😭😭💔💔💔. Her acting was amazing <333. It's such an awful situation and I hope she manages to be as okay as she can be :'((. Pooe guy <33 he seemed great :'( :'). Anyway, love them all (the three I said lol) <33 🥰🥰.

It's time.

Well time to talk about the rest of it besides that one part of the ending lol.

Buck and Eddie, and Tommy!! BROOK this was so wild o.o xD. The jealousy was painful 😭, but I also kinda loved it, it was hilarious xD. It really sucks that Buck was feeling left out, and I do think they were kind of leaving him out, but I don't think it was at all intentional. Eddie invited him to basketball several times, and the other things were things he and Tommy already had plans for. He even seemed excited when he thought Buck was going to come to the fight with them (which that bit HURT by the way lol 💀)!! He did seem kinda shady asking Buck to watch Chris but I'm sure it was an accident xDD. He's just an idiot your honor lol <33. I do wish he was a little more obvious about not blaming Buck when he got injured, but like, he was in a whole lot of pain with a possibly broken ankle xD. It's understandable lol and I don't blame him. I also don't think Tommy was trying to exclude Buck! H was happy to see Buck throughout the episode, he gave him a tour, planned to give him flying lessons!! It was just a really unfortunate situation and Buck wasn't communicating (as he admitted at the end lol). Poor Buck though through all of it 😭😭💔🥺. I know it was kind of on him for not communicating but it just sucks being left out :((, I totally get it. You don't wanna say anything and be told you're overreacting or for people to think it's weird, and you don't wanna be possessive or anything, but it sucks and you miss them :((. I know how it feels xD xd. Still, I'm really glad he was getting aware of it, and he listened to the help from Maddie lol <3.

I think the conversation at the end was a really good way of wrapping it all up. Seeing everyone's side (Eddie's opinion given by Tommy but honestly he wasn't really as involved in the problem lol), and having everyone apologize. Also then them hyping each other up :')). I do find it interesting to see and outside perspective to the 118! We're so used to the family that is the 118 and the 126 that we don't really think about the fact that it's probably not like that for most people xdd. It wasn't even really like that when Tommy was there. And it makes sense for him to be jealous over it!! It's completely understandable and a really cool perspective to see :)). Although I will agree with Buck lol, he's pretty cool on his own lol.

Now, seeing as I was freaking out and forgot half the previous lines, I'm going to say what I thought/my reactions to a few specific lines and everything as it started to ramp up xD.

By the way, I have watched this scene (or at least parts of it) like. 20 times now. And some of it I'm still trying to remember as I freak out once again right now lol xD. So keep that in mind lol.

When they were talking about the mouths static was hilarious xD. In all fairness, it wasn't great lol.

And then the Muay Thai (I think that's how it's spelled?), the after flying lessons bit and "Not in the same day"??? AAAAHHHHHHHHH!! That's where I started to really get stressed and suspicious and in shock xDD. I was like um. what was that. XD.

And then. Buck admitting he was trying to get TOMMY'S attention o.o. I genuinely wasn't expecting it but looking back on the episode it all makes sense yk o.o. Honestly I don't think even Buck really realized that was it until during that conversation, especially given his tone shift. And the Tommy's face afterward 😭. Bro is surprised xD. And I'm going to be completely honest, I thought Buck was saying "I didn't mean my best friend" there and not "I did maim best friend" until like the tenth time I watched it o.o xDD. The first one was wild, a self denial of Buddie because he's oblivious xDD. The second one makes more sense but is equally as wild o.o lol. He's realizing that just before he says it xD. And maim is dramatic but he did injure Eddie 😬🥺. Anyway, the next bit.

You know.

The moment.

"My sister says there's better ways to get someone's atten-" AND HE K I S S E D HIM!!!!! WHEN. I. TELL. YOU. I. LOST. MY. MINDDDD!!!!

It was so wild oh my gosh. You can look at my liveblog for more freaking out about that xD (and probably later in this post lol. And also in anything I've reblogged about it xD). I can still barely believe it's real. That it happened xd. I realized a little while ago that I have no idea what I'd do if Buddie actually got together, and I felt some of that feeling here. We thought for SO LONG,l we wouldn't have it, had kind of lost hope, and then BOOM!!!! I know I had hope for this episode but it wasn't SERIOUS, not really!! Hope but "I expect it.not to happen, no matter how hard I hope xdd". And we may not have gotten Buddie BUT WE DID GET BISEXUAL BUCK!!!!!!! I'm genuinely still so happy about that oh my gosh. I meant to make a post earlier but I was grinning in the hallway at school xD.

Now, AFTER THE KISS WAS SO WILD TOO AAAAHHHHHH.

OKAY I'm back for a third time lol, later in the day xD. Had a lot to do but now I'm here!

Anyway AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!! I barely even registered the sus stuff they were saying beforehand because I was in such shock, and the same goes for afterwards xD. I was just SCREEEAMING!!

But!! Some of these being my thoughts having watched it 20 times, and some of them being what I thought at the time, THE MOUTH STATIC COMMENT 😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️🥺 XD. Also we love Tommy asking if it was okay 🥺🥺🥺❤️🥰 :'). Anyway, it's the way Buck is just absolutely speechless. The only thing he has is the mouth static comment and that's it xD. All he had laid out lol. It's so cute to see him flustered and speechless :')). Also the fact that some of it comes from this revelation he just had (not just being a bi disaster, but discovering he's a bi disaster) is so good <333. And I just- YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!! HE'S F R E E!!! AT 8 ON SATURDAY SURE BUT HE'S F R E E 😭😭😭😭😭💔❤️❤️❤️❤️🥺🥺🥰🥰😎!!! ACCIDENTAL SUNGLASSES BUT WE'RE KEEPING IT. LIKE THE WAY HE SAID IT AUGOAUHUGIH HE. IS FREE!!

I'm so not okay over that <33

Anyway I love that Tommy does all the talking lol, he knows Buck can't and is short circuiting but he still has a conversation with him xD :).

And just AAAAHHHHHHHH THEY'RE GOING ON THEIR FIRST DATE!! IT'S SATURDAY AT 8 BRO!!! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND AUUUUAGHHHHHH!!

I mean I know you all do but you know lol.

Also Tommy telling Buck to call Eddie xD. Yeeeah, honestly seems like a good time to call and talk to him if he's on pain pills lol. Buck might have trouble speaking though, given he's still having a queer crisis xD. Kinda crisis, kinda discovery. Skipped some of that stage lol.

Buck's final look of the episode just destroys me :')). He's so baffled and happy your honor <33.

Now here's someone I'll say that I've been thinking of about the whole thing. Buck's tone changed, his vibe changed, something in his eyes changed, during that scene. Around the flying lessons bit xD. You can tell. I think he felt it, he just wasn't exactly sure what it was. And whatever he thought it was was probably terrifying (assuming he guessed correctly or knew lol). I think, if Tommy hadn't done something, he would've just let it go, let the moment pass. And, especially if he's done the same thing before, I think he would've pushed it away enough that he stopped thinking about it. I don't know if he has ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯. But it makes me think of a Buck who had Moments, who Wondered, and then dismissed them immediately because there was no way, he Couldn't. Or it was something he couldn't quite place. So he left it alone and forgot about it.

Idk. All I know is I don't think he would've made a move if Tommy hadn't lol, even if he was feeling the vibes xD.

Anyway, I've been genuinely so ill over all of this for literal days now. It's just past midnight on Friday for me lol. I'm just going so insane over it.

Today a question of the day in one of my classes was "What's a moment from tv/movies/musicals that impacted you?", you know something wild or epic or emotional or whatever, that impacted you. And, though it's far from the first time it's happened to me, I said this. Buck realizing he was bisexual. I don't think some people realize (though surely most of us on Tumblr do): This is a masculine, main character (honestly the main character) on an extremely popular mainstream television show, that after 7 seasons realized he was bisexual, and he's not a trope. It is profoundly impactful. Still definitely give credit where it's due to shows that have been doing it since the beginning (Lone Star, for example), but this is huge. They finally CAN do it. And I'm so happy for them, and proud of Buck :')).

Also quick note I just love how much Oliver is committed to and knows his character. The fact that he withdrew media wise because he agreed with us?? Wild. But he genuinely loves Buck so much, probably more than any of us, and he fights so hard to do him right <33. I'm so proud of, but more importantly, happy for him :')). He's been waiting so long for this and he totally deserves it, he absolutely slayed it <33. His acting was AMAZING, as always. I mean it's always great but this was just top both xD :'D. Anyway, thank you Oliver <3.

And thank you to everyone else on the show who worked to make this happen!!! And everyone in the fandom who fought for this!

I still genuinely can't believe it xd. It's just- amazing <3.

Also, quick think on Buddie: I do still want Buddie long-term. But I think Buck and Tommy could be cute, and no matter what I'm just excited to see where it goes for now :)). I actually kind of think it's better that Buck doesn't date Eddie first, for him and for us (a likelihood of them staying together). He needs to discover/explore/understand this new part of himself, and that might require branching out a bit :). Plus it's just good for him to get to be out there and live how he wants to, not worrying about endgame right now. I think Buddie will happen one day, but for now I am absolutely happy with this <333. I think it's gonna be great, and I am so excited :D.

One last scream:

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Overall, I really enjoyed this episode! It was sooo good, and not just The Moment. All the calls were cool and interesting, including the crossover, which was fun. Everyone's individual storylines were good, and even through a lot of silly moments, packed and stuffed with emotion :'). Plus all the little throwbacks to episode 1, and the series in general, were great and really awesome :'DD. Also, just thinking about the impact of the kiss being in the 100th episode <33. Wow. So insane (me) <33. Anyway, Buck and Tommy was wild but they were cute, I'm glad Buck and Eddie are doing better. I'm also glad everything got worked out between Athena and Harry <33. The situation sucks but I think we made the best out of it :')). I loved the Buck and Maddie interactions and moments this episode, they were great <33. I wish we got a few more team moments, or full family moments, for the 100th episode, but that's a small thing :) ❤️. I still THOROUGHLY enjoyed it and I thought it was just absolutely amazing.

So yeah! I loved this episode, I thought it was super great. There were a bunch of fun storylines, which I don't want to forget about in light of the last scene. I'm so excited for the next episode! This has been my review of. . .

9-1-1, Season 7, Episode 4: Buck, Bothered, and Bewildered

It was so amazing. I'm so excited but so nervous for the next episode! I'm sure it'll work out fine but it looks wild. I'll be back here next week for my review of. . .

9-1-1, Season 7, Episode 5: You Don't Know Me

See you next week!!

[vypridae]

BOO

sending over nikolai and poe for the character thing :3

AH !!!! nikolai and poe :3

under a cut bc this got a little long too

NIKOLAI

first impression

i remember meeting him and being so just like oh ??? hes a silly guy !!!! i immediately forgot all of his objectives and shit but i still was like oh hes the silliest

impression now

SILLIEST . ABSOLUTE CUTIE PIE . YOU CANNOT FATHOM HOW MUCH I LOVE HIM . BEST EVER

favorite moment

oh ym god dd ddd ddont make me cHOOSE . every moment with him is silly.

anyway its so actually hard to think of a favorite moment with nikolai because ive always loved all of his moments . honestly though my favorite has to be in the anime when he goes "HOLY SHIT !!!!" just because . holy shit !!!!

idea for a story

okay . imagine : nikolai cooking for fyodor and sigma . thats it thats the story idea

unpopular opinion

the idea that hes a great cook !!!! i love imagining him being realyl really passionate about his cooking and its just an aactivity that no one can criticize him for doing different than others because its COOKING !!! you can basically do ANYTHING in cooking !!! and he loves that aspect and he has a blast every time . and also because i like the idea that he makes food for fyosig when they Forget . i get why people say no hes Not because hes nikolai he is very silly, but i am Very Biased so Suck It

favorite relationship

FYOSIGLAI !!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAA

favorite headcanon

one of my personal favorites is nikolai whos really good at copying others' handwriting and signatures, one because he probably had to learn to change up his handwriting to infiltrate government facilities, and two because i think he'd have fun messing with sigma and fyodor by writing them letters to each other ... in the others' handwriting (he makes CRAZY THINGS happen and they figure it out almost immediately when they talk about it) . its so funny to me

POE

first impression

i think when i finished the episode in s2 where he trapped ranpo in the book i went ooh hes a little shit i love him . hes so gay and i love his raccoon . i think when i first saw him (esp in the flashback scene in s2 ep10) i was like "this guy is trans" like i saw the flashback and immediately decided he was mid transition

impression now

still love him and karl . still think hes gay for ranpo. still think hes trans . silly little guy !!! oh hes a little fucked up actually ... /pos

favorite moment

"well karl, seems like everyone else is having fun, aren't they?" -s3 ep12(?), absolutely the best, relatable, hilarious, i love poe

also the uuuh "you this kid's fanboy or something?" "NO HES MY RIVAL!!!!!!!!" in s4

idea for a story

literally anything with poe pinning over ranpo . i dont really have anything in specific in mind but honestly i love the idea of poe writing something thats super heavily based on him + ranpo and ranpo finding out

unpopular opinion

honestly the most i can think of is Let Poe Be A Little Fucked Up Actually because hes shown he can be evil (s2 ep10) hes shown hes super goddamn smart (s5 !!!!) hes good at being bad !!! and i love that because hes fucked up and we've seen he's fucked up !!! i want more fucked up poe content <3

favorite relationship

ranpoe . obviously . obviously the best

favorite headcanon

OOGUUGH UUHH poe louisa friendship is very close to my heart and i love the hc that they have coffee and just kind of talk sometimes its so silly to me

[laststandx3]

This post contains spoilers for ep 6 of daryl dixon

so finally watched ep 6 (the last one of the series) and let me tell you: it's bad. AdNag was wonderful, his hair were perfect, his face so kissable. 100% the highlight of the episode.

Anyway quinn dies (we knew it. let's not pretend we didn't) he get bitten by a zombie during the arena fight and in his last conversation as human he asks daryl to tell isabel he helped them an all. jesus christ, you're dying can you be less of a simp?

so let's talk about this episode for a minute. first half is them escaping the zombies in the arena (which daryl dixon has barely any difficulty in doing. he even lift one with a pole. really.) then the militia guys (was enough to fire one shot at random and they run away) and then our heroes were back on the road just to have the most nonsensical 5 minutes in the history of plots: does anyone remember the militia guy that wanted to avenge his brother so bad that in looking for dixon he got at least 40 people killed? the same guy that was cheering for a zombie to eat off dixon's face 3 minutes ago? that guy that was shown as the right hand of the boss? well after 5 episodes of murder after finally having dixon at the end of his gun he decided he wasn't going to kill him. bc he didn't want to kill laurent apparently, but the 20+ dead nuns is fine? the other innocents from the club? the paris commune? they can die. it's fine if he doesn't want to kill the kid but daryl dixon was right there, why not kill him?

second half of the episode they reach the nest and it's maybe the nicest sequence in the show so far. not enough that i can forgive everyone being dressed like background characters from a 40's movie or a group of french people picking the token american aboard student as their leader or everyone still speaking english for daryl or these people needing daryl to teach them how to use a rifle. but okay at least the sequence was nice. i don't believe that nuns taught laurent about aristotele but okay. i still have some suspension of disbelief left. at this point the people from the nest found daryl a lift home (kinda) and there's a ship waiting for him on the coast of Normandy. You know what we just found out? that dd's granpa died on the coast of normandy during ww2 and daryl sniffs on his grave even tho he never met the man and had a bad relationship with his dad. it feels like the american writers of this show had a list of things americans and french had in common and ww2 was the only thing left. anyway laurent then shows up from a dune and waves at daryl and idk it's implied daryl will take him to america? this kid only has bad ideas.

at the end of this season i can say this was the first draft for the show. not one single character has an arc. characters were underdeveloped, they had no solid background for their personalities. bad guys were bad until the plot needed them not to be. and those who were bad were bad just because. Genet she was a night guard at the museum and now she's leading a militia, i'm not saying it's impossible, i'm saying that without seeing even a glimpse of her character evolution she feels hollow. the guy wanting to avenge his brother does a 180 in a minute, killing 4 of his men. what is the journey there? he could've been a great character development, if he got developed in any way. Quinn, went form british living abroad (job still unknown) to nightclub owner that simped for Isabelle for 12 years but never ever in all this time looked for her once. and now that he died nobody cared, they made the big reveal that he was laurent's father and he was the ONLY person laurent showed no sympathy to?? Isabelle, laurent and the other nun, they saw everyone they lived with die and were okay, no faltering in faith, no grief. no lets go on with the plot. the other nun cared so little that she left them when they needed help the most and joined back when the risk was over. like?? girl what? I want to talk about laurent, he never questions he's god on earth, everyone told him he's special and in all his journey he never doubted for a second that he wasn't even if so far more people died than how many he helped. he saw murder, violence, hunger, pain, living dead and he didn't care at all. and now daryl dixon, i started the series knowing nothing about him and now the only thing i know is that he's the typical grunts not speak no friends type. zero connection with his character. he went throughout another tuesday of killing zombie and people and what bothered him the most was that everyone was speaking french.

this series gets a 4/10

[randomfoggytiger]

LOVED your Milagro analysis! I recently showed the episode to a friend who's not an xf fan, and she was bothered by the lack of emotion from Mulder and i was like...whatt. how can you not see how bothered and jealous he is from the minute he discovers it was padgett who sent the charm. his expressions in the elevator, breaking into his apartment to find Scully there, every time Scully defended padgett, like I was eating that shti right upp so I was so confused. I think it's difficult for people who aren't used to watching DD's acting (especially as Mulder) to be able to see the subtleties. I actually think Milagro's quite significant in terms of their emotional arch as well, I know he ditches her again the next episode but I feel a definite shift in their energies, like some things had been cleared, and then he does come back to her (baseball scene), whenever he can find the headspace to get away from his obsessive need to search and find, he always comes back to Scully (touchstone I actually cannotttt). anyway, I feel really validated in my emotions after reading the post so sorry for the rant but really appreciate it!!!

I get the same thing-- I also have someone I showed the series to, and she, unironically, falls into the "MSR wouldn't last and is surprised that it did" noromo camp.

DD's acting as Mulder is soooooooooooo great: even compared to his earlier work, there was a flatness undercut by jocular tongue-in-cheek teasing that makes it so memorable. But I found, even when watching a scene, that if I take random screenshots they STILL don't capture the emotion-- I have to be very careful which expressions to pick because they're "flit and they're gone" reactions.

And thank you for liking the Milagro analyses! It was an out-of-left-field for me, and surprisingly a lot of (not hard) work, two parts turning into three and 30 screenshots turning into 30 sets of 3 squished together screenshots. Love the feedback, and rant anytime~! ;)))))

[aemiron-main]

Hey, Em!

I was doing some research on the term (phrase? noun? English is not my first language so I'm not sure what to call it) 'C.C.' as I had noticed the first subtitles we get in ST are "[crickets chirping]" and in the same episode we get "Chrissy Carpenter" and in S4 we have "Chrissy Cunningham". I'm not really serious about this meaning anything in ST so far but I thought the following info about C.C. the cat (the first cloned pet) might amuse you in light of your Henward theories.

From the Britannica website: "CC was born on December 22, 2001, to her surrogate mom, Allie (pictured). CC was genetically identical to Rainbow, the cat who donated the genetic material." Interestingly, unlike Henward, CC and Rainbow did not look alike.

Just wanted to share for fun! Anyways, have a great day!

HELLO, ANON!!! <3

Oh this is definitely interesting omg, I had no idea that crickets chirping was the first subtitle we get in ST, and something that’s also interesting to me regarding what you mentioned about Chrissy Carpenter and Chrissy Cunningham and a possible connection to Henward is that Hopper mentions that Chrissy Carpenter’s dad drives an Oldsmobile- which is the same type of car the Creels have (specifically, the Creels have a 1951 Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday Coupe Deluxe), and what’s also interesting is how similar Chrissy’s family is to the Creels (with the Vecna version of Chrissy’s mom even wearing the exact same nail polish colour as Virginia, as well as very similar jewelry, clothes and hair), and how there’s shots in both Chrissy’s death and Virginia’s death that a.) don’t happen with the other victims and b.) are almost identical to eachother. So there’s definitely some sort of parallels/connections going on between the two Chrissys and the Creels!

And I’m STARING at CC the cat and Rainbow because that definitely reminds me of Henward omg I had no idea about CC and Rainbow either!! Especially considering all of the cat references surrounding the Creels (Victor talking about a wildcat, the taxidermied Lynx cat in the Creel house, all of the cat imagery on the TFS promo stuff etc)!

Thank you so much!!!! I hope you have a great day too!! :DD