#are severely missing the point of both him this storyline and the show itself tbh

[kennyomegasweave]

You will never make me hate Save. Sorry I'm not sorry. I actually thought he was gonna be the one to put Grandma in the hospital after his conversation with Hope last week, so nothing he did this week surprised me.

Like, he's been with Hope since they were kids and he saw him hella beaten, bloody, and passed out on his floor (he didn't even get his apartment door closed first) because his boss beat him. I'm not surprised he's willing to do anything to try to make things better for him. Especially since it's heavily implied this has happened before. And yeah Hope likes fights and being violent, but it's not a fight against Arun's dad. That's his boss that he can't do anything against in his own defense.

Is it okay what Save did/is doing? No. Do the other residents of their neighborhood deserve anything he's done/will do to them? Hell no. Does Jack deserve any of this happening? Fuck no. Is this going to bite him in the ass because now the boss knows he will do anything for Hope (and vice versa)? Almost certainly. But all of his actions make complete sense when you acknowledge he's doing everything trying to help the man he so clearly loves. You don't have to like him or agree with his choices, but they didn't come out of nowhere and there aren't just because he's an asshole. He and Hope are stuck in poverty and debt themselves. He's living in a tragedy too, the only difference is his story just isn't what this show is about.

[alwaysahiccupandastrid]

IT Chapter 2 - Thoughts (SPOILERS)

When the first IT movie came out two years ago, I went in knowing absolutely NOTHING about the book or story. I still have not read the book (I have maybe twenty pages of Jay Baruchel’s book left, and then I’ll be starting IT!), but both then and now, I’ve found that the first IT movie is one of my favourite horror films. Whilst the first one didn’t really scare me so much as just freak me the fuck out, I still thought it was well-made and enjoyable.

I hadn’t watched the original film for a long time - probably over a whole year since. When I saw that there was going to be a double bill of the first AND second film, I immediately jumped to get a ticket - I needed a refresher of the first film, and I was extremely PUMPED for the second film. 

As I’m writing this, I’ve just gotten back from the double bill and I wanted to get some thoughts down whilst they’re still fresh in my mind. This is NOT my proper, written-out review, more just me making notes that’ll help me write that review. I also wanted to write them down just in case someone wants to go in prepared, or if they’re on the fence about seeing the film and don’t mind spoilers. 

I am also NOT talking about the first film - I made a post on my old blog when I first watched “IT” in 2017, which I have dug up and can be found HERE. 

In case it’s not already obvious, THERE ARE SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT. MASSIVE SPOILERS. DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO READ THE SPOILERS.

Anyway, let’s get on with it!

This is more of a cinema-complaint but my cinema still had the music that plays in the venue playing over the first thirty seconds so I missed ALL the audio in the first thirty seconds of the film. I DID see Beverly floating and the Losers Club talking, so I’m assuming it’s nothing I didn’t already know from the first film.

I like that it opens with cutbacks to the first film, it ties it nicely together and adds an extra reminder/refresher of what happened in the first film.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT THAT FUCKING OPENING ARE YOU FUCKING WITH ME RIGHT NOW

So after the Losers Club, there’s a scene with this gay couple at a carnival, one of whom is called Adrian, and they firstly get verbal harassment from a gang of people, and then said gang starts following them.

OKAY LOOK THIS IS A WARNING, THERE IS A GAY BASHING IN THIS FILM. It really FUCKED me up, I’m going to be honest. I’m pretty sure it’s something that happens in the book, so maybe I don’t need to warn anyone, but I was unprepared to see it. 

So after they beat Adrian up, they toss him over a bridge while he’s unconscious and into the river below; his boyfriend goes running down to find him, and that’s when you see Pennywise.

At first I thought Pennywise was just super against gay bashing and was actually helping Adrian but NOPE, HE TAKES A GIANT FUCKING BITE OUT OF HIM, I NEARLY SCREAMED IN THE CINEMA

Also I definitely noticed how Adrian was asthmatic and needed an inhaler, as is Eddie. I’m not sure if that’s a sign but let’s assume so...

This is how it all starts again and Mike - who’s the only one still in Derry btw - has to call the rest of the club up because “oh shit he’s back again”. 

Can I just say that the casting for the adult Losers Club is FUCKING PHENOMENAL. ALL OF THEM.

James McAvoy as Bill? Jessica Chastain as Beverly? Bill Hader as Richie? Blessed casting, absolutely blessed.

As a writer, I laughed so hard at everyone hating Bill’s book endings. Literally EVERYONE shat on how he ended his books, even his own wife (who’s an actress, I think?) and it was so funny.

Poor Eddie went from a domineering mother to a domineering wife who I’m 99% sure is played by the same actress by the way. 

Probably should mention now that Eddie is one of my favourite members of the club in the first film, so that was kinda sad for me to see.

Oh God, Richie in this film is perfect. I love him. First time we see him, he’s vomiting after getting a phone call from Mike and then he has to go onstage to do stand-up. Throughout the whole film he is literal GOLD.

Ben really had a huge glow-up between movies, I mean DAMN BEN. Does that happen in the book? Ben going from the “fat kid” to “handsome and fit” or...?

Oh poor Bev...poor Bev indeed. She went from being abused by her creepy ass father to being in an abusive relationship with her husband. I sadly get the feeling that that kind of thing happens in real life - history repeats itself and all of that.

I’m 90% sure that Bev’s husband was going to r*pe her because he threw her down and started to take off his shirt, but she kicked him off her and fought back before too much happened.

Of course, Stan. I had a horrible feeling when I saw the trailers and saw that he was noticeably absent compared to the others. Also, when I started reading IT two years ago (I only got a few chapters in, I didn’t have much time so I kind of fell away before I got too into the book), THAT scene with Stan was one of the only chapters I got round to reading because it was right at the start. So I knew and I was dreading it.

Potentially triggering for people like myself who have been suicidal/are suicidal/self-harm; he runs himself a bath and then slits his wrists to kill himself (and succeeds). I mean, it’s not 13 Reasons Why level of explicit, you don’t SEE him do it properly, but it’s intercut with the moment Bill sliced his palm in the first film when they were all making the pact. So it’s PRETTY DAMN OBVIOUS what’s going on.

Throughout this whole film, I had no idea what was real and what wasn’t anymore. Some of the shit that happened was bizarre and I was like “...how is NO ONE NOTICING THAT”. 

As soon as I saw the words “cut” and “IT” come out of fortune cookies, I knew something was about to go down. Even more so when “Stanley” came out of one.

The humour in this film is a whole new level. Most of it is Bill Hader as Richie, but some of it is just in general (like one of them screaming “IT’S NOT REAL” whilst smashing a chair on a table in the Chinese restaurant, only for an employee to turn up and be like “da fuq”...long story).

I assumed that Henry Bowers had fallen straight to hell or died frankly. Oh boy was I wrong. Not surprised they put him in an asylum given that he murdered his own father tbh. 

PATRICK THE ZOMBIE

So is the Patrick zombie ACTUALLY driving Henry around, I’m curious because how the fuck would no one else notice a zombie driving around?!

“how do you not know material from you own show?!” - oh God, I am so weak

Pennywise kills this little girl called Vicky and I just KNEW. I just knew what that little bitch (Pennywise) was up to as soon as he started fake crying because “no one will be my friend because I look strange” or whatever. He saw that mark on the girl’s face and I fucking knew. 

“One...Two...” “...” “...” “...you’re supposed to say-” AND THEN HE TOOK A MASSIVE FUCKING BITE OUT OF HER FACE, I LITERALLY CRIED OUT I WAS SO FUCKING TERRIFIED

The scene where Mike drugs Bill to get him to “see” is...weird. Extremely weird. It was like being on hallucinogen drugs. Everything about it and IT is weird.

I’m confused as to when the timeline of them building the clubhouse and their individual experiences with IT take place in this film. Are the individual encounters (which I’ll talk about in a moment) supposed to have taken place in the time they were all apart? And the clubhouse, was that AFTER they fought IT? I’m so confused about when all of this was happening

So they all have to find these objects as offerings for this ritual to defeat IT and...that was a ride of several varieties.

We’ve all seen the Mrs Kersh teaser, right? The old lady? And how she suddenly wiggles around naked in the background for no apparent reason? That made a LOT of people laugh but, I mean, hats off to the actress for doing that, I’m 21 and I couldn’t even imagine having to do that.

Umm so yikes, Bev’s relationship with her father remains so creepy and abusive, like he blames her for her mother killing herself?? And then sprays her in her mom’s perfume and starts smelling her?? I needed to lie down on the sofa I was on, it had me so uncomfortable.

Um so Mrs Kersh turns into this GIANT FUCKING OLD LADY DEMON THING THAT’S NAKED AND I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO UNCOMFORTABLE IN MY LIFE

Pennywise painting his face and making those noises...yikes. fuckin yikes. I still love Bill Skarsgard.

OKAY LOOK RICHIE WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT RICHIE’S WHOLE STORYLINE SO IMMA DO THAT NOW

ABOUT RICHIE

So if I’m correct, and I think I am, Richie is gay? There’s a flashback when he heads to the arcade of Richie when he’s young and his hand lingers just a second too long on another boy’s at one point, and then he gets accused of being “weird”. Then it turns out the boy is Bowers’ cousin and Bowers shows up, starts accusing Richie of being a certain-gay-slur, and Richie runs outside.

Umm that bUILDER LUMBERJACK STATUE COMING TO LIFE WAS UNNECESSARY THANK YOU I’M GOING TO HAVE FUCKING NIGHTMARES ABOUT THAT FUCKING THING

So back to older Richie because this is all happening one-after-the-other here. Older Richie goes outside and he looks up at the Lumberjack statue, and there’s Pennywise with loads of balloons.

Pennywise starts accusing him of being too afraid to play games, but especially truth-or-dare, because then “everyone will know your secret”. 

My legit favourite thing is now Pennywise the clown floating down from on top of a statue singing “I KNOW YOUR SECRET, YOUR DIRTY LITTLE SECRET” and I refuse to feel guilty for it

It is so heavily implied that Richie’s secret is that he’s attracted to guys and I am here for the representation. I don’t know whether Richie is gay or bi or whatever, but shit I love it

I literally just wanted Richie to admit it so he could be proud and not afraid, like own it Richie. Own who you are, and then Pennywise can’t use it against you.

I’m literally going to rewatch this film JUST FOR RICHIE AND EDDIE’S ROMANCE

Anyway, end of me discussing Richie (for now)

I saw you Stephen King, in that shop with Bill’s bike :))

I wonder how other adults in Derry feel about seeing fully grown Bill screaming down a drain. It’s kind of sadly funny now that I consider it...

To be honest, I don’t remember what that little boy was called but Bill must have looked like a fucking weirdo just screaming and following that little boy around... (okay, I THINK the kid is called Dean so I’m going to just call him that)

To be fair to Bill, I also lie awake at night wondering “why Georgie??” That kid was far too adorable.

I always thought Ben was smart for some reason and so I was kinda surprised to see him in summer school (I’m English so we don’t have that here, but am I right in thinking that it’s where you go if you fail school or something? To get your grades up/retake tests?)

I was not convinced for a second that that shadow belonged to Beverly, and turns out I’m right. 

See, after seeing Bev’s head suddenly catch on fire, I’m glad I never started smoking (yes, I’m aware that’s Pennywise)

Poor Ben, having fake-Bev tell him that he’s fat/will die alone etc. It’s so sweet that he kept the page in his yearbook that she signed though, to remind himself that the REAL Beverly wouldn’t do that.

“Kiss me, fat boy” - AM I WRONG OR WAS THAT A LINE IN THE TIM CURRY VERSION BECAUSE I’M SURE IT’S NOT THE FIRST TIME A PENNYWISE HAS SAID THAT

That creepy ass pharmacist is still there?? AND his daughter?!

See, I’m confused...did Eddie’s mom REALLY get killed by the Leper or was that just a Pennywise trick to lure him in?

That Leper, guys...fuck me, it’s disgusting like it licks and vomits on Eddie?!

You know shit’s about to get real when characters go into fun-houses, especially the ones with a clown theme.

Okay, you know what, I was wrong when I thought that that little girl called Vicky had the most violent death - HOW ABOUT DEAN?? PENNYWISE RAMMING HIS HEAD AGAINST THE GLASS AND THEN FUCKING EATING HIM IN FRONT OF BILL WHILST BLOOD SPRAYS FUCKING EVERYWHERE

Ben: I’ve spoken to Richie, he’s going to stay -> Cut to: Richie, escaping and driving away very quickly

Hang on, how in the fuck did Eddie survive Bowers stabbing him in the cheek?! (Having said that, the Narrator in Fight Club survived blowing the whole of his cheek off so I can’t complain). 

For a moment I genuinely forgot about what happened to Henry Bowers after this but I’ve just remembered - he attacks the Losers Club again at the library and gets stabbed (I think?). All I know is that he definitely dies in that library.

I knew Mike’s parents had burnt to death and he’d been in the next room, but I didn’t realize that he’d been a toddler at the time?? Jesus, how is he not completely fucked up after that?!

No amount of money or anything could ever convince me to go into that fucking house on Neibolt Street frankly. 

I can’t remember why Richie decided to stay right now but he decides to stay and help out. My memory is BAD.

So they go into the house and so much horrific shit goes down that I literally was hiding behind the blanket I was using.

Less scary thing first: Ben having words carved into his stomach until Bev kicks some ass and destroys a mirror. Still freaked me out but not as much as the NEXT THING HOLY SHIT

So in the next room, the fridge opens and inside is young!Stan’s body - his head then falls off and rolls across the floor, starts speaking. When the Losers Club starts not believing it/being less afraid, Stan’s head...fuck fuck fuck

Stan’s head GROWS FUCKING LEGS AND IT BECOMES A SPIDER BUT WITH A HUMAN HEAD?! SO STAN’S HEAD IS THE BODY/FACE BUT IT HAS SPIDER LEGS AND I NEARLY BURST INTO TEARS BECAUSE I CAN HANDLE A LOT BUT FUCKIN SPIDERS IS NOT FUCKIN ONE OF THEM

I’M NOT KIDDING, THAT IS THE MOST TERRIFYING, HORRIFYING THING I HAVE EVER SEEN, AND I HAVE SEEN A LOT OF HORROR MOVIES

So they all end up going into the sewers, and going deeper after that, to do their ritual; freaky-boob-demon showed up and pulled Bev underwater, but beyond it being a quick jumpscare (that was admittedly scary), nothing happens since it goes down underwater and just see Eddie panicking but too afraid to go in after them himself.

Richie giving Eddie the pep talk was both sweet and hilarious. I admittedly laughed more than I should have done at the “you married a woman who weighs 400 pounds comment”. 

So, surprise surprise, the fucking dumbass ritual doesn’t work. For some reason Mike decides “hmm I won’t mention that this ritual failed before when it was last done, ho hum” and so everyone’s in the shit after that.

Pennywise turns into this gigantic crab-spider-thing and I don’t know how to feel about it. It’s honestly terrifying and unsettling, but I was half-expecting IT to turn into something like a massive spider or something horrific. I’m glad in a way he didn’t but still.

I should have mentioned this earlier but remember how in the first film, they decided that they’re safe so long as they stay together? YEAH, WELL, SECOND FILM SAYS LOL NOPE TO THAT AND THE CLUB KEEP SEPARATING, WHY DO YOU STRESS ME OUT LIKE THIS

The thing with Richie and Eddie and that Pomeranian was so cute? You know, until the dog fuCKING TURNED INTO A MONSTER THAT IS, “Not Scary At All” MY ASS PENNYWISE

Is IT able to be in seven different places at once? Because I wasn’t sure, but Pennywise seems to torment the kids/adults separately at the same time in BOTH films

So apparently Bill feels guilty because he “wasn’t sick” that day that Georgie went out into the rain and like...okay? That feels a bit shoehorned in but cool, alright then.

Bev ends up in that toilet cubicle with people trying to break in and like...gross? Her dad? And the pharmacist? Can go fuck themselves :))

So that toilet filled with blood pretty fast huh

Also Beverley really took her sweet ass time realizing that it was BEN who wrote that poem despite the fact she seemed to realize he was the one who did it AFTER he kissed her awake in the first film. However, I’ll maybe let it slide since apparently they forget things when they leave Derry, so...

Ben nearly drowns in dirt and Pennywise taunts him about dying alone, honestly same, I just know I’m going to die alone and unloved :))

Richie deciding “fuck it” and throwing rocks/screaming at Pennywise was so amazing...until the deadlights got him.

Eddie really sacrificed himself like that, huh :(

Poor Eddie was so happy because “oh my god I did it, I killed him, Richie wake up, look-!” - and then he got fucking stabbed. Gosh, I just LOVE it when my favourites DIE LIKE THAT STEPHEN KING -_-

So the deadlights are kind of just...balls of light? Or...?

So apparently calling Pennywise names like “clown” and putting him down is all it took to make him small enough to defeat, huh? They really shouted “clown” at him until he shrunk into a new-born-baby-sized-Pennywise

Also they crushed his heart and that was it. Cool, I guess. I don’t know what I was expecting but I don’t think what I got was it

So, um, while I’m here, let’s just take a moment to...

FUCKING NO WHY DID NO ONE FUCKING TELL ME THAT FUCKING EDDIE WAS GOING TO DIE

I WAS ROOTING FOR EDDIE EVERY SINCE HE SAID ABOUT GAZEBOS OKAY YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW ANGRY AND SAD I AM

I mean, he died like a hero, granted, but how fucking dare you-

You know what’s even MORE heartbreaking than Eddie dying? RICHIE’S REACTION.

Oh sure, the others are sad, but RICHIE IS FULL ON SOBBING AND NOT WANTING TO LET HIM GO, LIKE HE’S LITERALLY IN DENIAL AND HAS TO BE DRAGGED AWAY

RICHIE TAKES IT THE HARDEST AND MY HEART, IT FUCKING HURTS GUYS, IT REALLY DOES

Anyway, thank you Bill Hader for inventing acting for this film

Okay I’m sort of done

So no one is going to notice that dusty crackhouse building just crumbling completely then?

That moment where the remaining adult losers look at their reflection in a window, and they see themselves young - but it’s ALL of them young, even Stan and Eddie, and now I really am sad

Richie breaking down when they’re in the quarry to clean up...again, my heart hurts and it’s Richie’s fault

Towards the beginning of this film/most of the first film, I genuinely cared a bit about who Bev ended up with (well, more I was hoping it was Ben because he’s sweet and a good person) but by the time we got to Ben and Bev kissing after all the Bill-Bev-Ben triangle bullshit...meh. Cool, I guess. 

I am genuinely glad that the surviving losers seem to be living at least slightly better lives by the end of the film; Bill actually as an idea about what he’s writing for once; Bev is away from abusive fathers/husbands and with Ben on what looked like a VERY nice private yacht; I think Mike was going to see the world(?) after being cooped up in the library for so  long.

Richie...I don’t know if his ending was better than how he started to be honest. I think he said something about being proud at the end, so maybe that means he’s going to accept who he is? 

HE CARVED “R+E” into the bridge as a teen, and he re-cARVES IT AT THE END ARE YOU SERIOUS

Did Stan really think that by killing himself, it would prevent everyone from going back or...? Because he says in his letter that if it’s not ALL of them going back, then he’s assuming they’ll all die? Or something?

^If I’ve got that wrong (which I’m sure I have) please excuse me, it was 1am by the time the film finished and I was recovering from being terrified and I was tired

Obviously Bill Skarsgard was amazing as Pennywise, I just wanted to save that until last because wOW. He really put his all into the character, and I personally think he did a fantastic job with it.

So overall, I enjoyed IT Chapter 2. Was it as good as the first? Ehh...kind of hard to say. I was more scared shitless this time around but it was mostly jump-scares. It was definitely creepier/darker/bloodier. Having said that, there were moments where I was like “what the actual fck” or a bit lost, like Mike drugging Bill? I also noticed that a LOT of people in the cinema were laughing towards the end when it was the comedic parts but rather the scary ones - whether that’s just “some people laugh when nervous/anxious” or they genuinely thought it was hilarious, I’m not sure. This film is also nearly 3 hours long, which...is a while. For me, it wasn’t too bad because I’ve done LOTR marathons at home using the extended editions, so under 3 hours is kind of something I’m used to, but it does kind of drag a bit. At the beginning there was a lot of time building up characters, which I get, but also was slightly unnecessary at times. The CGI was sort of a mixed bag for me. I feel like the CGI on Pennywise throughout was overall improved, but there were moments like an eyeball rolling across the table or something where I thought it looked fake as hell.

But all of that aside, I really enjoyed the film. I think I’d go back again just to see Bill Hader as Richie, to be honest, and for Richie’s whole storyline. For me personally, that was the best non-horror element of the film.As I said, I have not read the book YET, but it’s the very next one on my list - chances are I’ll be starting it tonight or tomorrow!

[annakie]

It took three and a half months, but I’ve finished my Doctor Who Rewatch.

It’s time to talk about seasons 10, 11, overall wrapup thoughts and some best/worst lists.  Very long post below.

I started doing this back at the end of August as more of a joke when I was going back and cleaning the terrible cringe stuff off the first few months of my blog, then ended up taking that project from when I started the blog in May, 2011 until late 2016.  I realized that I had too much going on IRL right now to revisit my life at the end of 2016 when things took a sharp turn the wrong way, so I haven’t picked that back up again.  I still might at some point.

After the start of the nostalgia tour I:

Cried about Doomsday

Still hated the Manhattan episodes but renewed my love for one of my favorite characters of all time.

Reflected about Martha Jones and being an overly-zealous defender of a fictional character

Cried a lot over meeting and losing River Song in the span of an hour and a half.

Made my way through Season 4 and found myself still mostly loving the show.

Finished Season 4 and was starting to tire of Ten but knew I had more content to get through.

Didn’t post again til I was done with Amy and Rory.  Loved Amy, Rory and River even more, especially Rory.

Watched an episode I remembered I didn’t like just because of the guest actors.  Only marginally helped the episode.

Disliked the second half of season 7 even more than I used to.  Felt meh about Clara.

Warmed to Clara more in seasons 8 and 9.  Still, was ready to see her go.  Loved Twelve, though the first half of season 8 continued to be rough.  Adored the Husbands of River Song for the 6th+ time.

 Took a brief moment to love Bill.

Full disclosure on the rewatch: I skipped most of Fear Her except the first and last few minutes, and actually haven’t gotten back to Waters of Mars or the one 11 Christmas Special with the kids who’s father dies.  I may or may not pick those up in the next week or two.

So tonight I finished rewatching all of Thirteen’s episodes and wanted to talk a bit more about Bill, and then a lot about Thirteen, and some general thoughts about the whole rewatch.

Bill Potts is too good for this world.  I remembered loving her during her season but was blown away on the rewatch with how much I loved her, and almost all of her season.  Her energy, her story, her smile, it’s infectious.  It’s infuriating that so many people didn’t watch Bill because wow she deserved a lot more attention that I feel like she got, and also I feel like the show itself turned a real corner that season.  Season 9, yes, definitely better than 8 and 7.5.  But It’s like Moffat or the writers in general kinda grocked into several important things and made the show more progressive and less cringe?  

There wasn’t an episode I thought was bad, even the more filler episodes like the one in space with the air being a commodity was tense and fun.  I’m not sure I’d skip a single episode.

And then Bill, I think, ends up getting an even shittier deal than Martha in her season.  Left alone for ten years in a shithole mopping up floors, only to be turned into a cyberman and get left extremely traumatized, and sacrifice herself.  A very good story.  A very sad and frustrating ending.  Except that she does get to “transform” and travel the universe with Heather.

Maybe she did eventually go back home and finish living her life from not long after she left in the TARDIS the last time -- it’s entirely possible.  The Memory-Bill in Twice Upon a Time (the Twelve & One crossover) remembered traveling with Heather, which means her memory was taken from some point AFTER.  So maybe she got to be an ethereal being for a long time, and then eventually went home to Earth.  Or maybe she’s still out there traveling the stars with Heather.  Either way, she deserves a good life, and a good ending, even if we never know the true ending.

Twelve -- I love him.  Again, he had a really rough start but Capaldi is an amazing actor and he owned the role. I don’t think it’s actually possible to rank my favorite doctors from the new Who era, they’re all different, all great.  And Missy -- such an amazing villain.  Paired with Simms-Master was so, extremely fun, but even on her own, I think she’s now my favorite incarnation of The Master.  (I’ve only seen a few episodes of Old-Who with Delgado, and I really love Delgado’s Master as well.)  

Nardole was also a fun addition to the season.  I know technically he was considered a full companion and enjoyed him when he was there, but tbh, to me it was all about Bill.

But hey, when Twelve left, it was a good time for him to go -- I really think three seasons is the sweet spot for length of a Doctor.  I was so ready for Thirteen and The Fam.

I remembered loving Thirteen when her episodes were airing and, I was right to.  Jodie Whittaker is so good -- I never doubt for a second that she’s The Doctor.  The show one again feels very different with a new doctor / companions / showrunner.  I honestly loved the lack of Doctor-Angst in the season.  Thirteen is so much more brightness and sunshine and I think it was a good way to swing the Doctor after Twelve.  I also liked that there were a few comments about changing genders, a little bit of frustration from noticing how people treated her differently, but it was neither an earthshattering thing that made EVERYTHING DIFFERENT nor was it a non-event.  I really think they handled it well.

I will say that I think some of the critics were right, that the season itself could have used a bit more of an arc.  Not a heavy arc, like seasons five and six had, but a bit more than Tim Shaw showing up in the first and last episodes of the season.  It looks like next season is going to have that.

The arc that was there though really came from Graham and Ryan’s grief about Grace and their relationship growing.  Honestly, I remember when we learned that one of the new companions was going to be a 60-ish year old dude I wasn’t looking forward to that at all, but honestly, I love Graham.  He’s an actual good guy, he loves deeply, he’s allowed to show his emotions, he handles things WELL.  He’s not perfect but also I felt like they wrote his character so well, he wasn’t an arrogant guy expecting everyone to follow his orders, he cares deeply for Ryan and even had some great scenes with Yaz.  

Ryan and Yaz are both also just so fantastic.  I loved getting to spend time with Yaz’s family both current and past.  I actually learned a little history in the episode that took place in Pakistan (and loved having a benevolent alien storyline there, love that episode so much).  I also loved that they allowed Ryan to show grief and sadness, and vulnerability too.  

I was definitely feeling the 13/Yaz vibes on the rewatch, and although I wouldn’t say I’d be upset if they did end up doing a Ryan/Yaz storyline, I also wouldn’t be upset if they didn’t do any romance storylines at all.  I didn’t miss it this season, and 13/Yaz seemed more likely than anything.

I also loved that they took on racism in a couple of big ways this series.  I felt like the only big swing-and-miss episode was Ker-Blam! where they were so close to really hammering down a good message in the episode and then it felt like Jeff Bezos himself came in and rewrote the last 10 minutes.

TBH there were a couple of episodes that I had COMPLETELY forgotten about, especially the one with Chris North and the big spiders.  Like while I was watching it I had a vague memory of seeing it before, but not up until then.  I’d also forgotten about the New Year’s episode last year with Ryan’s dad.  I only remembered to watch it because after the final episode I was like “Wait, wasn’t Ryan’s dad supposed to be in this season?” and so I went to hunt for the episode.

SO... that’s it.  I was actually a little shocked last night when I finished up the New Year’s episode and realized... I was DONE.  I made it back through eleven seasons and... it was worth it.  

Some final thoughts... and I’m just picking a few things out here off the top of my head, I wasn’t keeping a list all the way through so I’m sure I’m going to think of other things after hitting Post, but here we go.

---------

COMPANION RANKINGS: God Tier: Martha Jones

Faves: Bill Potts, Rory Williams, River Song

I love you so much: Donna Noble, Amy Pond, The Fam (All together!), Jack Harkness, Mickey Smith, Wilfred Mott

Very very Good: Rose Tyler, Nardole

I Still Like You: Clara Oswald

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FAVE SEASON: I mean, it’s still gonna be Martha’s season with an honorable mention of the second half of 4.

If you take Martha Jones out of the equation, it’d probably be either 6 through 7.0, or Bill’s season.

LEAST FAVORITE:  The second half of 7, for sure, and the first half of 8 is kinda rough.  It’d be easy to say season 1, as well, but I don’t think that’s entirely fair, as I think the age of the show really shows there and there was a lot of getting-on-their feet they had to do.  There’s still a lot of good there, you just have to look for it harder.

---------

Favorite Specials: 

The Husbands of River Song, #1 favorite no question

The Day of the Doctor a close second. 

Honorable mention to the Night of The Doctor for the canonical return of Eight.  Seriously, the first time I saw that it may have been the single most joyous moment of New Who for me.

Least Favorite:

I mean, I haven’t rewatched two of them yet since I remember not liking them.  

Also Voyage of the Damned was just even worse than I remembered it.

I Cried The Hardest:

Amy and Rory’s leaving in The Angels Take Manhattan

River’s death in the Library

The end of Doomsday

Danny’s death

The end of Vincent and the Doctor

Prem’s death in Demons of the Punjab, maybe the only single-episode character death that hit me that hard.

Happiest Tears: 

Martha leaves the Doctor

The group in the TARDIS towing Earth home in Journey’s End

Twelve and River get 24 years together

Ryan calls Graham “Grandad”

Jackie and Alt-Pete meet/”reunite”

Heather shows up and... “saves” Bill, they go off on adventures.

Best Twists: 

John Simms Return at the end of season ten.  

YANA is the Master

Oswin is actually a Dalek

Heaven is run by Missy, and the Cybermen. (Damn I really love twists concerning the Master don’t I?)

Bill discovers she IS a Cyberman

Loudest cheers: 

Mickey showing up in Doomsday

Martha laughs at the Master

Rory’s speech at the beginning of A Good Man Goes to War

The Doctor punches a racist who insulted Bill

Best dramatic moments: 

Jack and the Doctor talk about Rose in Utopia

Twelve takes several billion years to punch through a wall

Just This Once, Everybody Lives!

Turn Left

The Doctor says goodbye Idris in The Doctor’s Wife

Missy and the Master’s mutually assured destruction.

Biggest Laughs for a good reason: 

The entire poison scene in the Unicorn and the Wasp

Basically everything about the Doctor attempting to be normal in The Lodger.

Right, putting Hitler in the Cupboard.

Doctor, when I’m on a date, do not put the Pope in my bedroom.

Biggest Cringe: 

Penis-head half-human Dalek

Concrete blowjobs

Anytime a lady slapped/hit a guy not in self-defense

Old goblin Ten / Jesus Ten in Last of the Time Lords

Most of The End of Time part 1

Eleven forces a kiss on Jenny in The Crimson Horror (THAT deserved the slap.)

There’s a lot of things I could point out in season 1 but I’m grading season 1 on a curve.

Favorite non-companion recurring characters: 

Danny Pink

Brian Williams

Jackie Tyler

Worst Villians: 

“Love And Monsters”

“Fear Her” 

The eye-crud sleep monster with Twelve

I kinda wanna say the Daleks are so overdone it’s hard to get excited about them anymore, though I did kinda like what they did in “Resolution” (13′s New Years episode last year.)

OK I honestly don’t know if I want to put “A sentient universe who is in the form of a large frog and just wants a BFF” in best or worst but I feel it belongs SOMEWHERE.

Best Villians:

Missy

Whatever the fuck that thing is in Midnight

House

Got a Raw Deal award:

Adam (Seriously, he was told nothing and did nothing wrong via what he’d been told?!

Donna

Bill (Seriously, TEN YEARS SCRUBBING FLOORS? only to not be saved by 2 hours and then turned into a cyberman and killed again?)

Most Bothersome Lack of Continuity:

The rules for meeting yourself / interfering in the past.

Uh so who was the Not-Danny astronaut in “Listen” anyway?

Most Improved on a Rewatch:

The Fires of Pompeii because... ten and twelve?  It used to be one of my least favorite eps of season 4.

the Daleks in Manahattan episodes I guess just because I liked them more this time though they’re still not great. 

Seeing all of River’s timeline in such a short period of time

Gotta say I enjoyed Planet of the Dead a normal amount when before I used to really dislike it.

Best Premiere of a Doctor:  The Eleventh Hour Roughest Premiere of a Doctor: Deep Breath, since I’m grading season 1 on a curve. Best Exit of a Doctor: Honestly?  I’m gonna give this one to Nine.  He sacrificed himself to save Rose, and he died too soon.  It seemed a fitting end, if too quick.

Roughest Exit of a Doctor: I’m going to go with Eleven here.  It came at the end of what I felt was the worst period of New Who.  The episode itself was... I kind of felt like it was overwraught and didn’t pack quite the same punch as the other three.  Say what you will about the “I Don’t Wanna Go” line with Ten and Twelve needing to be convinced to regenerate at all.  Matt Smith did the best with what he was given, but he wasn’t given much in the entire last run of his episodes after having some of the BEST episodes the previous two and a half seasons.

Best Premiere of a Major Companion: Honestly?  Still gotta go with The Eleventh Hour, for both Amy and Rory and the great way they were both set up and the mysteries of the season.

Worst Premiere of a Major Companion: If you don’t count Asylum of the Daleks (which I thought was great) as Clara’s premiere, then it was definitely Clara’s “The Bells of Saint John”.  No contest.  I don’t think ANY of the rest of them were done poorly, TBH.  I guess I’d have to go with “Rose”, because the Autons themselves are pretty meh and the plastic wasn’t great.

Best (Main) Exit of a Major Companion: This one is more difficult. Doomsday deserves a nod.  Martha Jones walked the world and ended on her own terms.  Journey’s End saw the end of an entire era of companions we loved.  River showed up and died on the same day, but her final appearance is one of my favorite episodes ever.  The Angles Take Manhattan was SO GOOD.  But The Doctor Falls was exciting and tense and tragic.  Hell, even Clara’s final episodes were great.

Honestly, this shouldn’t even be a question.  I can’t choose.  I can’t think of a single one I didn’t love.

Anyway, thanks for reading this, if you got this far!  Know what?  Doctor Who is still a great show, even if it’s not an obsession anymore.  I can see myself doing this rewatch again in a few years, and I’m super looking forward to the next season starting in a couple of weeks!

[fooboo24]

watched the reign finale and despite everything i cried fiixjfijdjfjid

thoughts beneath (and therefore SPOILERS so do not click if you don’t want to see them) because i need to ramble

OVERALL MESS OF THOUGHTS AHOY

-francis and mary at the end had me blubbering ifjdijxjfijgjg. mary got to go back to the best and most ideal time of her life, when she was back in france (her home lbr... she was generally raised there) with francis. like...... it was just nice to see after everything tbh

-the entire show could have REALLY benefited from anywhere from just one more episode (pacing pacing pacing!) to just one more season. or, ya know, a rewrite of the second season. ive seen a lot of people on youtube commenting that mary being in france for like ... 2.5 seasons or whatever was too long and bogged down the plot, which i agree with. if they’d kept things concise and clean with a linear storyline and maybe only a few little side things going on, the show wouldn’t have suffered so badly later on.

alas, however, this cannot be undone. but i honestly feel like the show would have really come into itself quite well if they had been given a fifth and final season. shit could have been better paced and relationships and character better treated and fleshed out. everything this season happened way too fast because they had to come to such a definite conclusion so suddenly due to their farting around with mary in france :/ and due to this, a lot of side characters were quite literally sidelined and given half-assed sideplots that ultimately worked against the main plot moving so quickly because they felt so out of place/weren’t given enough time to go anywhere properly.

like greer and claude (AND CATHERINE!!!!!... and elizabeth... and mary herself... im rambling here), good god. claude’s plot was all ???? but felt like it could go somewhere because she was given considerable screentime with luc. but then out of nowhere, it was just: leith’s getting married (no screentime with him let alone further mention) and then “luc left claude!” and then claude was just dropped entirely. like ????? sensible or satisfying plot conclusion who? this french princess gets none. and like, she didn’t even need to have a guy for either one. it could have given her a 2-3 minute scene where she resolves to start clean and make amends with her heart and romantic struggles by allowing herself to just “be” herself outside of the expectation of having a man in her life. because we know claude is a strong girl, and they could have shown these labours of love she has been put through as fostering both a sense of sadness, but also strength with which to uphold herself. but nah. she walks away from henry and charles having a bitch fit in the throne room or whatever and that’s the last of that.

and greer. hers is a bit less severe, i suppose, but it still shows. kind of had a thing going with james that was alluded to, but the last mention of it was episodes ago when she was momentarily angry at mary for sending him away. then in this last episode? nothing, because it would be tonally inappropriate because it was a very MARY only episode both in situation and being the finale. but series’ finales handle multiple plot lines well all the time, and so could have this one, but once again other characters and storylines suffered for the immediacy of jamming a bunch of plotlines into some 40 minute episode. i mean im glad they didn’t subtract from everything going on to an extent, because that would have detracted ever further from mary’s main plotline due to time restraints, but im glad for the poorest of expectations in the show, in some ways.

my favourite character has always been catherine. a wickedly interesting character, great actress, in a mostly “meh” show overall. she got a poor end, too, but at least she got something (hello margot). the whole devil-worshiping witch thing was a bit much tbh. couldn’t emmanuelle have taken the boetia and some gold and been good to go? no. we had to see her get narcisse and catherine drunk and drugged in order to force them into an ... orgy (yes, it was effectively rape)  in order to conceive a child to be her demonic spawn or something? and this gives way to catherine learning she has to buddy up with her other daughter margot (margaret? marguerite?) in order to outlive henry and charles’s bullshit (GOD!!! THE SHIT WITH NICOLE!!!! SO! MUCH! WASTED! SCREENTIME!). uhhhhh????? idk why catherine couldn’t have NORMALLY (not drunk or drugged and just having been sexually assaulted) overheard charles and henry plotting to give weapons and shit to the basques and been like “yall are idiots this won’t work” (because she’s intelligent af) and then when they brush her off and tell her she’s “not like she used to be” (or smthin along the lines of that...) she could have been like “fuck it if my idiotic sons are gonna drag france and themselves to hell im going to start this over properly with another one” and then, with the intuition she has always had, realizing that henry and charles will eventually die for their idiocy and that they are lost causes she can no longer steer to sense and survival, gone to margot to teach her of her own volition instead of by the shoe-horned prophecy of emmanuelle? just.... blah :///

literally every character deserved better, is what im saying.

with a fifth season shit could have been waaaay better explored and better ended overall. hell, mary’s life after darnley’s death could have been explored. a wedding to bothwell (let mary be momentarily happy???? [spongbob voice] and ALIVE!!!!). more conspiracies and plots against elizabeth. her capture and being held in england. greer could have given a proper chance with james, and seeing as the show isn’t largely reliant on historical accuracy, they could have been happy together. OR, seeing as she wouldn’t be playing any kind of a significant or necessary role in the story at that point any longer (she can’t join mary on the run or really visit her in captivity i imagine... and she needs to be safe for her daughter), things could have been dissipated with james and she could have been granted some land and a home and the chance to live her life with her daughter, and maybe find love and a husband in the future. she could have gotten some scenes to do justice to her character, and then been off on her way without sidelining her poorly and entirely (but still keeping her character lurking in the background for no discernible reason) to the detriment of the show. claude could have gotten a final confrontation with leith where they end it entirely, because good god leith is also one of those characters that’s been dragged around for excess punishment more than necessary, and he could have gone off and gotten married and been GONE and happy. claude would grieve, of course, but maybe she could have gotten luc back and that could be its own happy love story where she is fully ready to commit being in a happy, functional marriage with luke while falling love with him. or hell! she could have had her scene to distance herself from luc permanently, been granted an annulment, and could have gone off and just done her own thing or could have gone off to find love elsewhere. instead of her entire story left dangling. catherine could endure the loss of two more sons and the loss of the valois line in france, but how she remained a powerful surviving figure in european politics. margot would have been an interesting character to potentially get to know, too! and it would have been hella interesting to see how elizabeth would deal with the threat from spain. IT COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER UGH!!!! and im mad about that :///

even oneeeeee more episode would have drastically improved it. help pace it and slow it down and for the billionth time, resolve dangling sideplots. but nope.

well, okay, that’s it from me. i mean, despite its glaring flaws a lot of the time, reign is a show dear to me that also has a lot to love, and i’ll genuinely miss it.

t’was fun, reign, goodbye! :’))

[notagreenlantern]

So.. ... can you sum up the space opera for us?

Yes. But you are all gonna wish I didn’t do it... Gather round, because I am incapable of being brief...

It all started when avillainous bug dude named Annihilus (spelling? Who knows. Someoneknows. Not me), who chilled in the Negative Zone until he noticedthat the regular universe was expanding, and this cause the NegativeZone to shrink (because comics!) and he went “Fuck this shit!”And decided to invade the universe outside the Negative Zone. Heunleashed the Annihilation Wave.

This wave of reallyferocious supercharged bugs and ships and what have you, tore throughmost of the universe, leaving the Skrull Empire crippled (like, theyhad nothing going for them. They didn't even have a single ruleranymore, it was just complete shambles. They had no business goingthrough with an invasion of Earth after this, but they did. BecauseSkrulls??? IDK).

The wave also killed everysingle Nova Corps member, except for my babe Richard Rider, who hadto take over the entire Nova Force (don't ask me, this goes intostuff I don't know. But it's like the entire power of the corps whichis usually shared between the members of the corps. And like it candrive someone mad to have all of it, but the Worldmind is helping himnot go mad [this is an important plot point for later]). There's alsothe Worldmind, which is an A.I. as well as the memory bank of theentire culture and civilization of the planet the Nova Corps wasfounded on, Xandar. This Worldmind is sort of in Richie's head or thehelmet. I don't remember. Anyway. They get along very well. Worldmindis only interested in protecting itself, and Richie is very muchinterested in not letting the frelling bugs overrun the galaxy.

Richie also runs into Draxand a girl called Cammie (who is... Not that important in the end?).Drax is not Drax the Destroyer. Except he is. But he also isn't(COMICS!)

There's also theseplotlines involving the Super-Skrull (I actually started to miss him,he wasn't in the story at all towards the end. Actually, the Skrullsin general were not present for a lot of it in the second half. Thefailed Earth invasion probably had something to do with that), andRonan the Accuser(for the life of me I can't remember his plot atall, but he drags Gamora into the story). These two later on have tointeract on several occasions, and it is always great. I ended upreally liking both of them as well.

Quasar is killed (he getsbetter).

The war starts. Likeactual war. It is made clear that Richard gets the commander role andthat he is forced to take a lot of hard decisions, and this is wherehe grows up, and becomes an adult. A lot of characters show up. PeterQuill (formerly Star-Lord. It's a whole thing), Gamora, Ronan andDrax are on Richie's team, and he's later joined by the Super-Skrullfor a bit, Phyla-Vell who takes over the mantle of Quasar, a bunch ofGalactus former heralds (like two, it's not a bunch. Surfer dude goesback to being Galactus Herald. Surfer dude and Galactus are thencaptured by Annihilus, who tbh has some help), also help Richie out.

Thanos, and a fairy (whichaccording to wikpedia was a creature created at the same time as theuniverse was created) join Annihilus because Thanos is bored and justwants to see how it all plays out (no seriously, that is hismotivation). They kidnap Moondragon. I don't remember why.

I am making this way toodetailed. I need to rein this shit in...

Thanos turns Galactus intoa weapon. Moondragon convinces Thanos that Annihilus is playing him.Thanos is about to disable the Galactus weapon, so that Galactus canfuck up Annihilus. At this point Drax, who found out aboutMoondragon's kidnaping from Phyla, caught up with Thanos and pushedhis hand through Thanos' chest and pulled out Thanos' heart. It wasbloody. And extremely bad timing.

Elsewhere there was somepolitics shit going on with the Kree? The Kreeleadership made a dealwith Annihilus? Ronan was not impressed. He and Super-Skrull went tothe homeworld of the Kree and fucked things up there. They found outthat the leaders had killed... I can't remember what it was called,but some sort of head in a jar or something? Something that usuallylead the Kree anyway. Regardless. The Kree made Ronan the leader,despite his protests.

Richie meanwhile got readyfor a suicide mission, but first sent a detailed message to ReedRichards about the annihilation wave, and that if Richard failed, thewave would reach Earth

In the end, the war iswon, the Annihilation wave is stopped, Richie put his hand downAnnihilus throat and pulled out Annihilus heart (there were a lot ofhearts being ripped out of people... Technically not people since nothuman...)

Richard went home to Earthfor a little rest. It did not go well.

Ronan impressed with PeterQuill's performance during the war, made him security advisor orsomething.

Now, let's see if I canexplain this... The Kree homeworld had some sort of security net,something computer based security system, which was damaged duringthe war, to patch it up, Peter took an offer from some sort of spaceknights (no seriously. Space Knights. I have to look that up. Itsounds badass and awesome) which had a fix that would be patched intothe Kree system. However it turned out this was an evil plot and itall got infected with a virus (techno something the virus wascalled), created by a lot of robots called the Phalanx.

This kicked off three tiein books leading up to the main book + the Nova series which startedafter Annihilation. One tie in featured Star-Lord and the notGuardians of the Galaxy, not yet anyway. Another was about Phyla-Velland the third about some dude named Wraith. We are pretty much gonnaignore Wraith completely in this summary. Unless I suddenly rememberthat he was super important... I doubt it.

Phyla is the new Qusar andshe has some serious self doubt issues, about taking over this role.Also her girlfriend is Moondragon, and Heather is having issues withheadaches. But it's Phyla who starts hearing a voice telling her shehas to find “the chosen one”. So she and Heather head off to dothat, chased by the Phalanx, who also finds out she is looking for achosen one. Moondragon is turned into a literal dragon.

We get a quick re-cap ofPeter Quill's history and some shit he did where he had to make achoice which led to the death of a lot of people, and how that madehim retire the name Star-lord. Anyway, he ends up with the Kreeresistance movement, and they assemble a team for him, to infiltrate.And they had to do it without as low tech stuff as possible becauseanything technlogical can be infected by the techn-something virus.

This virus also infectspeople, and it doesn't brainwash them, they can still act likethemselves, but they want to do things for the Phalanx (brainwashingand/or mind control are pretty huge things that creepy me out alot... Like actual things I'm terrified of creep me out. Which... Iknow, irrational. But whatever). So they are more or less under mindcontrol. Ronan is controlled by them, for a while. He breaks free romit eventually.

It is revealed that theleader of the Phalanx is actually Ultron, who builds a massive toweron the Kree homeworld and then projects a shield preventing anyonefrom coming in or leaving Kree space (which is huge and includes alot of planets). Ultron's motives are... Badly explained.

Phyla and Moondragon find“the chosen one”. The chosen one turns out to be Adam Warlock.Ultron shows up. Ultron kills Moondragon (fucking asshole!). Someonenamed the High Evolutionary (also an asshole and a huge dick) joinsPhyla and Adam as they escape from Ultron.

Meanwhile Richie almostburns to a crisp. While he is being healed, a Kree woman is deputizedand made a Nova. Gamora is brainwahsed and hunting Richard. Richardis infected with the virus. Gamora kills the woman who was made anova. Richard fights off the virus, and with worldmind keeps it atbay. Rich manages to escape Kree space and ends up on Knowherewhere he meets Cosmo the dog (who isa good dog). Stuff happens there. I'm not going to get into it.

Iam only halfway through Annihilation Conquest here. Jfc. I have gotto stop being so fucking verbose.

Iam so sorry.

Alot of stuff happens. Like a lot. A lot I can't even explain.

Youknow what, let's just skip to the important bit. They defeat Ultron.

Peterdecides that the galaxy needs guarding and he assembles the Guardiansof the Galaxy, and they take up residence in Knowhere. Which is thehead of a dead celestial, floating at the edge of space, and whereCosmo is head of security. The important point is that they haveteleportation technology there.

Meanwhilethe Kree are very defeated after first the Annihiltion wave, and thenthe whole Ultron business.

Richie gets into a fight with Galactus. Worldmind crashes. Richie goes backto Earth and gets involved in the Invasion business. He meets up withDarkhawk who works as head of security at Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S wherealso Richie's brother Robbie is a scientist. They get Wendell back,though he is kind of an energy being.

Theyalso get Worldmindback, but after the invasion is over Worldmindstarts to go crazy, after crashing, and having put so much energyinto not letting Richie go mad, it itself went mad. It was alsoheavily influenced by Ego the living planet (IT'S A PLANET WITH AFACE! WHY????). There is a whole storyline about Worldmindconscripting hundreds of humans to becoming nova corps members.Richie opposing this, because he doesn't want to send young untrainedpeople out into war, and everyone just calling Richie jealous. Richieis then stripped of all of his powers (wich is why he got to beQuasar for a bit).

TheGuardians meanwhile do a lot of guarding the universe. Mostly bydealing with rifts in space. Drax and Phyla go off to findMoondragon. Phyla makes a deal with Oblivion, stops being Quasar andstarts calling herself Martyr and has a pretty dramatic personalitychange.

AdamWarlock, is. Adam Warlock. They somehow pick up Jack Flag..... Fuck,what happened to Jack Flag???? I don't think he showed up in the lastevent? Where was he???

Anyway.The Guardians had their own series, so while everything is eitherleading up to soething or interconnected with the over arching plot,they had a few solo things the got to do. Just like Nova. Though Novagot more solostuff to do than the rest.

Alright.Now we get to the really complicated bit.

Fromwhat I gathered from the backstory recap, the Inhumans got shit on alot. Especially lately, with people attacking them and then findingout that Black Bolt had secretly been a Skrull for months, and thatlots of Skrulls were n the moon where they used to live. So theInhumans decided that enough is enough “fuck everyone else, we aretired of being treated poorly” said Medusa. They had been createdfor war, so after they retrieved the real Black Bolt the Inhumans dida serious number on the Skrulls, before going to the Kree where theydecided that they now ruled the Kree (I can not be expected to gointo the actual politics). Also to make it a proper royalarrangement, Crystal was betrothed to Ronan and they got married, anddespite Crystal repeating like a million times that it was just apolitical gesture and an arrangement. I think they actually startedto are for each other? She definitely started to care for the Kreepeople, much more than the rest of her family.

MeanwhileVulcan was a mad king. I really can not go into the politics oof theShi'ar because I can't remember how to spell their name. Anyway. Theyescaped from all the recent disasters, so they were still a strongempire, an empire ever growing. Anyway. Vulcan brother of, fuck,what's his name? Havoc? Something Summers, and Scott Summers (Iassume you know their names. Why am I telling you...) had somehowtaken over leadership of the Shi'ar empire, instead of Lilandra  whowas sister to the previous emperor?

Eitherway, Vulcan is mad and my favorite mad king. He decides he's gonnaconquer all of the universe, because that's the sort of thing a manlike him would decide to do.

Now,on Vulcan's side he has the Imperial guard which is a group thatalways protects the emperor, like they are totally loyal to them nomatter who they are or what their actions are (and for some reasonall the imperial guard members are like counter parts to DC's Legionof Superheroes???? according to wiki... I am unfamiliar with most ofthe legion. And mostly just wondered why one of them reminded me ofBrainiac). The leader of the Imperial guard is Gladiator (and I likedhim... And for a purpe dude with a mohawk he was pretty hot... I meanIliked him for other reasons than just how shallow I am)

Theresistance against Vulcan consisted of a very random group of people,some of them x-men. Havoc was there. A woman with green hair whoseemed to be dating Havoc, I think her name might have been Lorna (orsomething). Someone who may or may not have been a future relative ofJean Grey?????????? and some other people I can't remember at themoment. They called themselves Starjammers.

TheStarjammers had Lilandra and were protecting her. They found outabout the wedding between Crystal and Ronan, and the green hairedlady had some connection to Crystal they decided to flee to Kreespace to attend the wedding. The Kree still had that shield, thoughnow they operated it, and they let the starjammers through, and thenput it up again so that the Shi'ar ships that followed were destroyedupon impact with the shield. I think that is what happened. I am notsure.

Anyway,Vulcan got really mad and saw it as a sign of aggression that hisships got destroyed and decided that he would have a war against theKree, and the Inhumans who were still the leaders of the Kree.Because they had promised Ronan that they would evolve the Kreepeople (because Comics?).

Sometime passed before the wedding. At the wedding day, a suicide bombertook down the shield protecting the Kree space. The Imperial Guardattacked the wedding, and kidnaped Lilandra.

Thisstarted the war between Vulcan and the Inhumans.

Somany things happened all over the place. I have to try and keep thisshorter. So I don't think we need to summarise the Darkhawkstoryline. We're skipping Blastaar and the Negative Zone and hiseventual move into regular space. We are gonna skim past some thingsI'm not entierly sure when they happened chronologically. Most ofRichard's storylines. Which is mostly battling a Worldmind gone mad,getting his powers back, and not much else connected to the war.

TheGuardians tried to get the both parties in the war to see the factthat the universe was fragile after the recent disasters, and thatall the rifts in space were a bad sign. But both Inhumans and Vulcanrefused to listen to them, because they had never heard of theGuardians.

Vulcangot more and more mad.

Gladiatorturned against Vulcan. I don't know if he was in love with Lilandra(maybe he was and I missed it in the backstory recaps), but it'sheavily implied.

Lilandrawas rescued. She was also brought to the throneworld and about to bereinstated in power, when sadly she was assassinated.

Afew of the Guardians traveled through time in a side plot, whichactually tied into the main plot, but is too complicated to get intoright now.

TheInhumans having lost the one thing that could have turned the waragainst Vulcan (Lilandra taking back the ower) decides to use a lastditch plan. A terrigen mist bomb that would “evolve all of theuniverse like it evolved the inhumans, exept the kree which areimmune to it so why they thought it would work on  anyone else is amystery” It was a fucked up plan. The bomb was also powered byBlack Bolt (there's a whole plot about the Inhumans weapons andshields and stuff being powered by Black Bolt's voice. I can't getinto it), and it was a suicide mission. Crystal decided that fuckthat, that shit is fucked up, teleported with Lockjaw to the bomb andturned it into just a immensely powerful bomb. She and Black Boltwere about to teleport away again when Vulcan attacked in person. Sheand Lockjaw teleported away.

BlackBolt and Vulcan fought. The bomb exploded killing both Black Bolt andVulcan. As well as opened up The Fault. A massive hole in space whichopened up to the Cancerverse.

TheShi'ar surrendered.

Thena lot about politics.

Gladiator,against his will, was made the new emperor.

Therewas a lot of stuff with the Inhumans and the Kree which is lessimportant right now.

Richardhad a run in with Monark Starstalker (seriously what happened to thatdude? Can he come back?). Also Darkhawk. Also the Sphinx x2. Also hebrought back Namorita.

Everyoneexplored the Fault and took readings of it.

AdamWarlock turned into Adam Magus the evil version of Adam Warlock.Peter Quill tried to stop him using a cosmic cube, but Magus fooledhim into thinking he had been stopped.

Alsothere was that thing with the chuch of universal truth which Icompletely forgot to talk about. I have forgotten to mention so manythings. So much happened.

Ahuge cocoon hatched and Thanos came back to life.

Quasarwent deepest into the Cancerverse and discovered the evilcounterparts of Earth's heroes. An evil Quasar went to visit Earth.Richard Rider and Darkhawk took care of him. Darkhawk was badlyhurt... Oh my god, I have to check what happened to Chris! He nevergot to see Richard Rider again.If he even survived. Or maybe he waskilled off later on. I doubt he was much more than a d or c-listhero.

Thecancer verse started to come out of the fault, first just monsters,but soon enough the real infection from the cancer verse started andthe evil counterpart heroes showed up.

Okay,so the deal with all of this is...

Theuniverse has death and life these are constants and they are alwaysat odds, but they keep a balance. In the cancer verse death waskilled off, meaning that universe no longer was in balance. Andthings just kept growing, hence the name. They filled that universeto the brim and now that the fault has opened they want to get outand start to fill up the next universe. This means finding the marveluniverse's avatar of death (=Thanos) and killing him at a specificplace in a ritual.

Idon't think I need to get into the ending of it.

Sothat's it. I am sorry I can't do short and concise. And it bothers mehow much I left out and forgot about...