#at least we have whatever cliffhanger they throw at us for episode 8 to look forward to!

[egophiliac]

Silver is finally here...he just took the title for the most beautiful card in TWST's history...

me five years ago: wow I really hope we get to see dragon Malleus someday! that'll be so nice and wonderful. I bet he's a big silly! :)

twst: :)

GOD. it occurred to me literally three hours before the anniversary stream that they might've been saving the reveal for then to just explode us all at once. this timing was EXTREMELY deliberate. thank you Twst. I can't even focus on all the Blazing Jewel stuff because Silver wielding the physical manifestation of his Complicated Dad Issues is busy eating my entire brain. and -- oh what's that? he duos with Lilia? I'M RUINED THANK YOU ᕕ( ᐕ )ᕗ

this is your warning that I'm going to be the most annoying person on the planet come Monday morning, thank you everybody and goodniiiiiiight

[thexfridax]

Wynonna Earp Boss Hopes Syfy Finale Made You Feel 'All the Things' — Plus, Scoop on One Happy Wedding Accident

By Matt Webb Mitovich, tvline.com / April 9 2021, 8:02 PM PDT

The following contains spoilers from the Syfy finale of Wynonna Earp.

After four years of protecting Purgatory with her Peacemaker, Wynonna Earp got to quite literally ride off into the sunset. And she did so while straddling a motorcycle, with Doc Holliday seated behind her.

Mind you, the two almost didn’t wind up together. Following the simply beautiful “WayHaught” wedding, Doc (played by Tim Rozon) was determined to put Purgatory in Charlene’s rear view mirror and get to living life as “just a man,” and Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano) felt compelled to stay put as Purgatory’s protector. But with an empowering nudge from li’l sis Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley), Wynonna caught up to her man and professed her love, after which they decided to travel light, for the first time in a long time, and pay their daughter Alice a visit in MIracles, Montana.

TVLine spoke with series creator Emily Andras about crafting this very fine finale, at least one “happy accident” that wound up stirring many emotions, and more.

TVLINE | The finale has just aired…. What emotions do you hope the fans are feeling at this moment?

Just head-to-toe body warmth, and love, and affection, and wistfulness…. And a little bit of bittersweetness. I feel like joy has to be paired with nostalgia, so I hope they’re feeling all the things. But hopefully not hungover!

TVLINE | At what point over the years did you ever envision Wynonna and Doc riding off into the sunset?

Ahhh! I almost never even let myself envision it, you know? It’s so funny — when you start doing a show, you have all sorts of ideas about what pairings are going to rise to the top, who’s going to end up with whom, and one of the joys of Earp is that so many different things have happened. But those two characters have certainly earned the chance to try to be happy, whatever that means to them. I never knew that I would be allowed to end such a romantic pairing with the woman driving the motorcycle and the guy on the back.

TVLINE | I’m watching that final sequence and it almost feels alien, seeing the two of them head off into what I think of as “the real world.” But I also found that viscerally exciting, to see so much ahead for them.

That’s so lovely, thank you for saying that. I feel like having the world ahead of them and being such an unusual couple, I would love to see what happens next for them. I’m sure there will be lots of crazy sex and crazy arguments and crazy laughter. So, godspeed! Godspeed.

TVLINE | When throwing a season-ending wedding, what is Emily Andras’ marching order? “Above all else, this wedding has to be…”?

It has to honor to all of the characters — and by that, I mean it has to try to find a moment for every special pairing on the show, not just WayHaught. I think it’s important to pay due respect to how far Waverly and Doc have come; she never gave up on him, she always saw a better man in him — and now he gets to be the best man! Nedley (Greg Lawson) and Nicole’s (Kat Barrell) relationship, that paternal/daughter bond is so special, so honoring that was very important.

And at the end of the day, I still think the real love affair of the show is the Earp sisters, so I ended to make sure that that was honored. I really love the parallel with the pilot, where Wynonna came into town against her will and was so hungry to leave but was forced to stay. And now you have Waverly secure enough in how their relationship has evolved, that she knows Wynonna deserves to leave again — because she’ll come back.

More than anything, it was about giving every character a moment of happiness. Even Jeremy (Varun Saranga) becoming deputy chief of Black Badge and maybe finding a new date…. It was all about finding everyone a moment of potential joy, after they’ve gone through so much after four seasons.

TVLINE | Talk about the decision to have empty guest chairs laid out with the names of those who are no longer with us or didn’t make it to the wedding.

That was such a happy accident. We were on-set, it was very much in the middle of the pandemic, and we knew we were going to have a limited number of people for the wedding. But then we put out chairs so you could understand where the aisle was, and they looked really empty. So my incredible director, Paolo Barzman, who also did the pilot, and my art director Trevor Smith, pitched this idea to me. I had sort of joked about, “Wouldn’t it be cool if you had the ghosts of characters past?” In the moment, they said, “What if we hung names on the chairs?” and it was just one of those goosebump moments, like, “That’s brilliant.” So then we have people writing up these cards, rushing them out, and it’s honestly one of my favorite things. Whenever I see that Dolls chair, I just can’t help but feel things.

TVLINE | But Mercedes (Dani Kind), to be clear, is still with us.

She’s just out, like, being her best vampire self. She’s out being an amazing vampire, yeah. I still have that spinoff if you want to help me sell that!

TVLINE | If anything caught me a bit off-guard, it was us getting a song from Rachel (played by Martina Ortiz-Luis).

The thing about Martina is that she is a phenomenal singer. She is the anthem singer for the Toronto Maple Leafs — so she’s quite a star here! — and she was on Pilipinas Got Talent back in the day…. It seemed like a waste to not have someone with such an exceptional voice perform! And what better song to lay over the necessary wedding montage than a WayHaught classic (Fleurie’s “Wildwood”), the song that was playing the first time WayHaught kissed. It’s a bit of an Easter egg for those hardcore WayHaughters!

TVLINE | I don’t think anyone would have ever felt like a “Dark Angel Waverly” detour was missing, if you hadn’t spent time on it the episode prior. Why did you feel it was important to go there during one of the final hours?

The truth of it is that honestly we’ve been balancing the spectre of whether we were going to have a Season 5 or not. When we started breaking Season 4 two years ago, we were looking down the barrel of about 24 episodes, so [when you get half that] you’re like, “What are we going to keep, and what are we going to pitch overboard? What can we live without learning about?” I would argue that this idea of Waverly having a darkness inside of her did have to be highlighted after four seasons. I completely agree that in a perfect world I could have done eight episodes of Dark Angel Waverly, exploring that and seeing it come to pass. But if we ever get more story, I don’t know if Waverly has complete control over that part of herself. I dont think it’s “gone.” If Nicole puts mayo instead of mustard on her sandwich, who knows what’s going to sprout out!

TVLINE | I mean, if only to see what other outfits Dark Waverly has.

As long as she keeps her thigh holster, she’s ready to go.

TVLINE | Looking back at these last few episodes, what are you most proud of?

‘m so proud of this cast. It’s so boring, but God, just to see them grow and thrive and shine…. performing comedy and emotion, seeing their commitment to the show, and the feelings…. It’s just been such a joy to see such an amazing group of people get their due. They really are that wonderful, off-screen as well.

I’m also pretty happy — in this day and age, and despite all the fights the show has been through — that if this is the end, I feel like that’s a pretty nice finale, a pretty good topper on the cake. I feel like the fans will feel like they went on a journey, and they left the characters in an interesting, good place. And look, that’s really rare in TV, to end your story the way you want. How can I be anything but grateful, at the end of the day?

TVLINE | When I was writing my tweet the other morning, I wanted to call it a “very fine finale,” but I worried you’d think I was saying it was only “fine.” But it was a very fine finale!

No, you have to keep me hungry! You get to challenge me, Matt. Listen, I just didn’t want to risk…. I’m the queen of 75 cliffhangers, but I feel like the fans have worked so hard for us, for so many years, that it was more important that they got closure, just in case. But there’s always another demon, there’s always another thing to trigger Dark Angel Waverly. There’s always more story, but at least you have this, no matter what.

TVLINE | And if some network or streamer does ride to the rescue, would there be something that brings Wynonna and Doc back to Purgatory? Or might a Season 5 be without the two of them?

Look, the show is called Wynonna Earp, so you need Wynonna Earp. She’s still the champion, she’s still got the magic gun and the best hair on the show — sorry, everyone else!

There are a couple of unresolved issues. We still have Eve, who we kicked out the the Garden very early in the season, and who can kind of shapeshift; she could take on the appearance of any one of our characters! That would certainly throw a wrench in the works in Purgatory. There are a million different reasons to bring Wynonna back, to help out her sister.

TVLINE | And lastly, was there anything you had to cut or just didn’t have room for, or any returning cast you couldn’t fit in?

Oh, tons. But look, you kind of hit the nail on the head earlier. I’m always striving to be better, and some stuff at the end felt a little rushed, with Dark Angel Waverly. I think if it hadn’t been a pandemic, there would have been more people at that wedding. I would have loved four more episodes to round the bend there. But look, that’s Wynonna Earp, man — perfectly imperfect! So that’s what we did, and what a ride it’s been. The ride of a lifetime for me.

[violet-t-9]

Check in on my (not very realistic) wish list for episode 134

 1. They find out (through Jester’s sending or the sending stone) at some point that Dagen is indeed, fine (also find out what happened to the rest of the rangers). I’m convinced Dagen’s self preservation instinct >> willingness to obey orders. (Unless Fjord and Essek just don’t even tell them)

Wow this is exactly what happened lol. Essek found out through the sending stone that Dagen is fine but they lost some rangers, and Fjord didn’t exactly tell them he told the rangers to engage.

2. The M9 find a creative way to get past the collapsed tunnels or clear the rubbles and continue chasing Lucien and Cree.

Not that creative, but they did clear the rubbles! Jester was quite smart in clearing the top rubbles first. I liked how Essek pulled rocks free with gravity too, so I will count it anyways.

3. The M9 find out where Lucien and Cree went, cut them off or catch up to them before they reach whatever entrance to the city. (Alternatively, they realize that they will have to go to the astral sea because they are too late.)

They left a trail of blood! Loved Jester’s detective face. They went the right way near the wall! Jester also successfully used Scry so they are close to TT. Cree also has to rest, great! They may be able to catch up in the next episode. 

4. Let the M9 sleep petition! Can we get a full rest pretty please? (Bonus: dome shenanigans where couples cuddle)

Hahahaha they got the dome cuddle pile appearance in and out of combat, that is so cool. The full rest is finally happening, although not very restful for some.

5. Caleb and Beau don’t get any extra eyes/weird dreams with this long rest.

Well... that was a weird, weird dream. At least technically they still haven’t gotten any extra eyes? We will find out in the next episode!

6. They discover some more Aeorian lore and things to do with the Eyes of Nine or the city that can potentially help them in future combat.

Caleb’s comprehend languages revealed hundreds of names lining the structure, wow. “Mausoleum of the forgotten” indeed, that explains all the undead vibes. Brashaar “filled their minds with thoughts” huh... Aeormaton Charlie can potentially help them in future combat! Hopefully... (honestly I’m with the wizards on this one, don’t trust it). 

7. Beau and Yasha have at least one of the following: physical touch, shameless flirtation, battle interactions.

“If only I had Yasha here” lol Beau is fun. They went first together into the tunnel and shimmied forward. They also got a kiss in the room with weird electrical energy, very nice.

8. Jester and Fjord have at least one of the following: deep conversation, praising each other, sweet domestic moment.

Fjord healed Jester and she thanked him, pretty domestic. Jester also keeps giving Fjord blessing of the trickster, cute. Jester’s handaxe throw got a sweet HDYWTDT to save Fjord. Jester says that Bjald looks good and that’s a nice compliment.

9. More one-on-one conversations between people on watch because we only got one last time (they probably all need a long rest though, except Essek, so this is a bit unlikely).

Well, if any conversations will happen they will be in the next episode. First watch is Fjord and Yasha so I’m hoping that they’d have a talk! Their interaction will be fun to see.

10. More of Essek’s fancy dunamantic spells (flavour, yum yum)/magical items.

Loving the fractal geometric shapes that comes with an... advanced detect magic? Something else? Love his unique flair for every spell he uses. Gravity sinkhole Essek style was awesome. 

11. Caleb’s polymorph into anything really, or using polymorph on any party member. (Bonus: polymorphed Caleb’s interaction with any party member)

Nope, no polymorph today, but Caleb made a lot of very smart decisions in and out of combat today, like “tongues” on Caduceus for talking with the dead Aeorian, and the globe of invulnerability. 

12. Essek tells M9 more about himself/they learn more about Essek.

We learned that Essek does not trust Aeorian robots lol (me neither, Essek).

13. Cad attempting to speak with the dead on the 3 dead TT members (Bonus: Veth continues dissing Otis even after they are dead) and getting some useful information out of them.

They found out that they don’t need to go into the weird structure with undead and necromancy! Those rolls, man Cad rocks! They found out where the TT are going and that it takes about a day. Awesome! Also, Veth’s “I only focused on Otis and don’t know anything the others do”was hilarious, although it was more of a diss to Lucien and Cree if anything else.

14. Jester, Cad or Veth getting to check in on their family members maybe (if Jester has any spell slots left and they are taking a long rest anyways).

Nope, but the scry was a very, very great idea and totally more important in these circumstances! 

15. No need to fight more weird dungeon monsters ahead because Lucien and Cree have to, so M9 can just casually track and investigate.

Wow, they disposed of two large beasts already? That was... fast. The M9 did have to fight at the end of the episode (the Aeorian Absorbers and such), but at least the TT took out two of those for them. 

16. Essek gets the full tower tour and we get to see his room eventually (probably not any time soon though, since they are in a hurry and all).

Nope, to be expected. It is a very high level spell. 

17. Everyone remains relatively happy and alive by the end of the episode except Lucien and Cree (they can perish), and the episode ends on a terrifying cliffhanger (to be expected at this point).

Of course, of course, the dream sequence was still terrifying as always. 

Score: 11/17 on the wish list fulfilled

Other random things that I really loved this episode:

- Fjord’s wild magic effect = Bjald (honestly, that is a pretty benign effect)

- Squishy wizards being squishy wizards (“Caleb are you alright?” “NO.” “Me neither.”)

- WAIT Caleb is seeing things as Jester scryed? Was the whisper something Artagan-related? I feel like Artagan was the only constant in both instances.

Wow I cannot wait for what happens next! Loving all the lore, the intrigue, the action, the mysteries! This is a fascinating story and I’m looking forward to the next episode as always.

[whencallstheheart]

We’ll find out tonight if our predictions are correct! 

Responses to the written questions are under the cut.

Where is Ned and what is he doing?

No idea

Business trip

Dealing with some financial issues.

Doing business in UC or Hamilton. Nothing major

He stayed behind next episode and will be back in the finale.

I think planning something for Florence, maybe expansion for the mercantile?

I don't know

I have no idea, wth!?!?

Yo i have no idea. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say he's trying to contact Florence's daughter who wasnt there for the wedding

Maybe he's visiting his daughter? Or expanding the Mercantile somehow

With Mike. Oil pipeline

Hiding

It sure

I have no clue honestly, maybe planning a surprise for Florence?

Perhaps...expanding his store? Or ordering something new to begin to be shipped to his.

something related to factory

Sussing out suppliers

Maybe something to do with the Wyman guy?

visiting his daughter

Buying a new house or a surprise for Florence

Visiting Abigail

Planning something special for Florence

He is doing something with his daughter

No clue

With his daughter

Planning to expand the mercantile to include deliveries (Hope Valley Amazon) lol

Not sure

I really dont know!

Made out a Will since he now is married to Florence

Business in Union City

Business, but he’ll be back

I don’t Know

I dont know. This one threw me!

Literally have no idea

maybe he will come back with his daughter who will come to live at HP

some sweet surprise/gift for Florence

He is involved im some growth in HV.

Taking care of business.

He's making a business deal somewhere

I have no idea. I think it was a weird to put in o.O

Making purchases for the store.

Business stuff somewhere

I don't know

i don't know

ned things

He just took the long way home...

Adopting Flo's son

Hiding

He is picking up a surprise order gift for Florence, and it’s taking longer than expected.

Fighting attempt to take over mercantile

Talking to a divorce lawyer. Or putting a pillow over Abigail's mom's face so she can bury her already and come back to Hope Valley for his buddy Henry's sake.

Honestly I’m not sure but interested to find out!

Idk honestly. Probably actually doing something sweet for Florence but she doesn't know it.

What's up with the Pinkertons?

Not sure

A storyline to bring a change of pace to the show.

I really Don’t know

Not sure, but I don’t think it will be resolved this season, maybe it’s the cliffhanger?

I don't know

They’re hired thugs like they were in S1, just there to show Walden is a bad guy despite appearances

Factory related

Up to no good! Don’t trust them.

Yo i dont even know. They look totally sketch but they are probably the good guys actually. I'm predicting they are after someone who's been wanted for a long time. I think it may be too easy to link them with the guy who took Jesse and Clara's money

Not sure yet

Working for Waldon

Railroad

Sneakily buying land

I couldn't care less about them

Perhaps something is in the cabin/someone they don't want found.

No idea

Something to do with the mine disaster (even though it's been ages).

we will see in season 9

Setting up a good storyline for season 9

Not sure maybe something to do with the new factory that might be built

Maybe it has to do with Henry

I have no idea, but I do not like them!

No good

Buying all the land

They have Jesse. Someone wants to reopen the mine and seek revenge on Elizabeth for his son going to jail (Spurlock).

Looking for some kind of hidden good

Shady dealings going on

Guarding the future factory site. But something extra at the cabin connected with Spurlock.

Trouble

?

An even bigger I dont know on this one. Like, what in the world???

Holding Jesse captive

I think they kidnapped Jesse because he found out what they were up to but I have no idea what that is

stumped on this one

That is difficult. He is apparently connected to S1 Spurlock. Is he there for revenge? Or, just a heavy hand like his relative?

Revenge? They want to take over Hope Valley.

Something sketchy, probably bigger than just whatever is going on with the cabin though.

Land grab

No clue but they'll be one of the big bads next season

They are probably the goons of the Industry dude

They are working for somebody bigger.

They want to take over the town

I don't know

i'm worried about Nathan

idk they are the bad daddys of the season

they can only be there to cover up a crime, or some valuable find

No clue

They’re wanting to uproot Hope Valley for better business by destroying the town.

Keeping identity of mastermind safe from townspeople.

Maybe looking for Ned, who alternatively is a serial killer and now on the run. Possibly for the murder of Abigail's mother?

I’m so confused lol

Creating a monopoly & doing some villain nonsense (as it would seem the show is hinting).

Any other thoughts going into the finale?

No

There will be at least one surprise- not sure what

There are too many loose ends to tie up in one episode and I just want Elizabeth and Nathan together (and perhaps quickly married in this episode!)

I’m honestly really nervous, I’m rooting for Nathan but I have a feeling she’ll go for Lucas, I really don’t mind Lucas as a character but like what storylines can they do with them as a couple? The manuscript is finished, they’ve gone on every sort of date at this stage and she’s been in his office. What else can they do? With Nathan they can do the being scared because of his job again but making it different, there’s children involved now, it’s not just Elizabeth. Jack won’t understand but Allie will 100% feel worried for him. Also Allie having a mother figure, especially at this stage in her life, how could you not want it! The blended family as the main family would be so nice for this show, I know it’s been done before but they will be fairly front and centre in the show. Sorry for the rant, I love your blog so much! I don’t have tumblr so I can’t leave comments or like your gifs but I thoroughly enjoy all your theories and opinions!!

Just ready for this stupid love triangle to be over!

I’d love to actually see Henry meet up with Abigail, but doubt it. I hope they have Clara do something heroic for Jesse, but also doubt it. Henry will definitely be putting Hickam in charge at least temporarily. I think Ned will return but we won’t get a full explanation yet. And the dramatic ending won’t be the triangle choice, it’ll be Elizabeth losing the school.

Allie’s adoption finalized and reaction to Elizabeth choosing Nathan is something we should see.

Glad the triangle will be DONE!!

I hope that Elizabeth follows her heart and not pick someone who is a safe option.

I wish Faith were leaving instead of Carson. Also, I think there will be lots of set up for problems with the school board and Elizabeth. Also, I want more little Jack scenes but i don't think we'll get much since child acting laws and covid combined make that difficult

Excited for Elizabeth to move on from her past and enter a new adventure with either of the two men and really just everything else (Rosie and Lee, Fiona, Henry.)

I hope Faith doesn’t end up with whoever doesn’t get chosen by Elizabeth.

hopefully the finale will clear up the drawn out love triangle

The triangle was waaaaay drawn out. Be done and choose.

Nathan and Faith......would be great......

No matter who Elizabeth chooses I'm SOOOO READY to get this over with!

Kindness matters - no matter who she chooses. Isn't that why most of us watch the show

I am so over the love triangle and just want to know who Elizabeth picks.

Worried about the fandom more than anything

Elizabeth please pick Nathan

It's just a TV show and no matter what , it's there for our entertainment. I do think they're setting things up for the return of Abigail in some way.

The must be a Season 9!!!

I hope Fiona does not get involved with Mike.

Hopefully things get back to normal for Elizabeth and Rosemary

Interested to see the other storylines. I want Elizabeth to choose Nathan but I think JT will throw us off. From the promo pic, it looks like they will try to put Faith with Nathan.

- I just want Elizabeth to chose so that this storyline can come to an end and we can finally get to see her marriage and functioning has a wife. - Wonder what will become of Lucas once her choice is made. - I would like Lucas to have a proper storyline that doesn't involve Elizabeth or the love triangle. - I would love to see Rosemary and Lee finally become parents however that may happen. I feel like the writer just left them in limbo about it and keep teasing but never delivering on anything.

Hopefully will end with Nathan but the very last minute. I would prefer more romance before the finale

Elizabeth will have to decide on what’s important with school.

Jack might make an appearance in a dream scene?

So excited! I hope I don't wake up my kids while watching.

I hope they don’t pick Lucas

CLARA DISCOVERS SHE IS PREGNANT

?

Just excited for this to be over. I know we needed it and I think overall it was handled decent enough, but I'm glad to finally move on.

Why is everyone so scared?

The whole season has been about getting over your fear. Elizabeth doesn’t have to deal with her emotions or real life with Lucas because school is out for the summer and she is working on her book. She needs to make up with Rosemary and get over the loss of Jack and fear to be with Nathan.

this season has been totally not what I expected...I thought the hug at end of season 7 was definitive and we'd get at least some Nathan courtship, not a complete U-turn to Lucas (with hopefully a turn to Nathan at the very end). I now think Season 9 will be what I expected season 8 to be, and I am very much looking forward to that.

Something sudden will allow Elizabeth to bring her feelings to light for everyone...Nathan. I think she will have decided by the time she takes of the rings, but will not have the opportunity to share with the man until later. Until she faces the prospect of him being in danger again? Full circle from the end of S7.

I need Elizabeth to really apologize to Rosemary. Rosemary has always been there for Elizabeth.

I’m so afraid :(

Hated the triangle

I am so ready to finally move on from this triangle!

They put waaaay too many storyline in the last 2 episodes, they will never manage to conclude them all and we'll have another weird random cliffhanger which will not tie in with the Christmas episode (If we're getting one ?)

I hope the guy who loses, has a good life in later seasons

The annoying love triangle will finally end. Elizabeth/Nathan are endgame, unless Jack suddenly comes back from the dead. But, I doubt it. I hope Lee/Rosemary are pregnant, or decide to adopt children. I just want Lee/Rosemary to have children. Can't wait to see how this season ends. Hopefully, it won't be a cliffhanger.

Nervous as hell

Elizabeth and Nathan get married

i kinda hope someone dies tbh it would make everything more interesting

Elizabeth was so tiresome this season, they could have told her story of overcoming grief in a much more relatable way. Why did they not just have her talking to Rosemary about how sad or exhausted or numb or angry she feels all the time? You know, something a widow would actually go through. At the very least she could have been stoic, instead she was just kinda bitchy.

Faith and Nathan will have some sparks; Elizabeth will choose Lucas and they will kiss twice one being at bridge one being at her home inside with baby jack present.Carson will leave; Jessie will be found; Ned will come back safely.

Lucas endgame, Nathan and faith have sparks, Rosemary paper, Jessie and Clara make up.

I think Henry will take his own advice and leave to find Abigail to see if there is still any hope for them. Though I like his character, I want him to finally be happy, and if that means staying with Abigail, then that’s what it means. I don’t think TPTB will bring back Lori soooo.... that means Henry would be the one possibly leaving. I also think some scare will happen with Nathan between him and the Pinkertons. Then it may come full circle at the end where Elizabeth runs to him like she did last season, but instead of hugging him, she’ll kiss him instead.

Hallmark execs dictated ending and will cut salaries to bring back Abigail, hence Paul leaving.

My condolences to whichever guy gets to look forward to being bored by Elizabeth for the rest of his life. Are we sure Jack's death wasn't a suicide?

Ready to see how it ends and already looking forward to next season!

I will be really disappointed if she chooses Lucas but I’m afraid that’s where it’s headed. Either way I don’t understand how they’ll end in “the healthy place” they’ve said it will be with so much left for one episode.

[murfeelee]

Alright, I’ve been talking about The Witcher TV show for months and months, and now I’ve FINALLY seen it.

I've skimmed through the books here and there, but really I’m a diehard fan of the video games, particularly The Witcher 3 (I’ve played TW1 and TW2 as well). Because of all the hype, attention and love the TW3 got over the years, with even Henry Cavill being a major fan of the video games, Netflix went and made this tv show, with Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher.

MY THOUGHTS

It was GOOD! \(^0^)/ I really liked it!

Alright, don’t get excited, I think this show had some serious problems. But we’ll start with the good before getting to the bad and the ugly.

THE GOOD

THE ACTING

Everyone was top notch, and did a fantastic job. I freaking LOVE Grandma Calanthe, omg. I wanted more of her, and Mama Tissaia, and the different sorceresses (when Sodden started I was like hooo boy, I know how this goes; the finale is WORTH the price of admission, folks).

I even liked Eclipse-Princess (her name escapes me, my bad; I was calling her Arya 2.0 in my head). Don’t think I effing missed how they threw in a nod to the Eclipse Princess from Blood & Wine; that was awesome, featuring the Black Sun “curse” again.

I already knew I was gonna HAVE to tune in to see Yennefer’s story, and it was every bit as superb as I suspected it would be. Dare I say it was THE most interesting story arc of the three? Caught me tearing up a few times. I still don’t see book/game/Polish Yennefer with her, but she did a GREAT job, nonetheless--her emotions and delivery and everything was excellent.

She sounds so dang young though, which throws me off with the timeline, cuz when exactly does Yenn’s story take place in all of this? It’s hard to match her with the more...well....matronly/mature persona we’re more familiar with in the games. But I guess she develops that over time, after getting to raise Ciri. Though this does put in better perspective why she was so mean to Ciri at first, calling her ugly and everything. She wanted a child so badly, and Geralt just...gets one by surprise, and she was feeling bitter, I see it now.

THE ACTION

And I gotta give it to Cavill. Boy can MOVE. My favorite moments with Cavill were when he was sword fighting; whoever choreographed all that needs a frikkin award. I imagined the Butcher of Blaviken just tearing up mofos, and that’s exactly what we got. And he was WERKING them pants! XD

Except we never really saw my favorite sign, Igni. Oh well. And I hate that he doesn’t have cat eyes. And the Toxicity ISTG makes him look like a vampire and makes no effing sense, but whatevs.

And sometimes he was sounding WAY too Batman or demonic with this really deep and gravelly voice -- I appreciate that he was trying to give us that gruff and sandpaper dry video game Geralt, but when they’d make him yell or be mad I was like JFC NOT TODAY SATAN. But an attempt was made, and I appreciate it. ^_^ He was fine for the most part. More than fine, even. As I said, the acting & action was great, and they played to Cavill’s strengths.

THE SPECIAL EFFECTS

I also thought the CGI was fine--not the best, no, but I’ve seen way worse in shows with bigger budgets. The dragons...eh.... And that kikimore.... Well, I’m just remembering the Polish tv show, the Hexer--BIG improvement. Trust me. O_O The practical effects were excellent. Even though they messed around A LOT with the Striga plot from TW1, and what it looked like, I did like that they stayed pretty faithful to the fight. 

THE STORIES & CHARACTERS

IMO, the best episode was E04, with Pavetta & Duny. It was just REALLY well done, and the one I was LEAST expecting. My favorite episode was E06, with the dragon, because of course. Reminded me of Hercules the Legendary Journeys, IDKY. The finale was really good, too; I love the sorceresses and all the magic. And E07 when all the plots and flashbacks come together was great.

And now for MY COMPLAINTS

THE BAD

#1) OMG WTF WAS UP WITH THE TIMELINE?

I feel BAD for anyone who’s watching this show fresh, who’s never played the games, read the books, seen the Polish Hexer tv show, played Gwent, or anything related to the Witcher world.

I was thrown off several times, as they shot from Ciri running for her life or Geralt fighting a Striga in the present time; to Yennefer learning magic in the past. Geralt & Dandelion go on adventures Shrek & Donkey style--I ASSUMED in the present, with the Sylvan, Djinn & Dragon, until an episode or two later they’re in Cintra together in the PAST, and Ciri’s not even born yet, and we’re seeing a drunk Ermion/Mousesack and young Crach an Craite (I squeed, my dad~!! His accent was on point!), and Ciri’s mom and grandma. (And WOW, the lady they got to play the mom looks just like the actress playing Ciri--are they related?)

And they do this over and over again over the episodes--present day with Ciri, eff knows when with Geralt or Yennefer. Especially since you know from the books/games that they’re both almost 100 years old. Yenn keeps throwing out “it’s been decades“ this and “years” that. But W H E N though!?!

I mean, I could follow along, sure, but they REALLY needed to make it clearer SOONER for people who have NO idea who TF these people or which kingdoms are which, that some things are happening YEARS apart from each other. Pay attention to how many times GoT shoved those maps of Westeros and Essos in our faces. Or how different shows use color filters for flashbacks or something. Properly situate the audience in time AND space--we’re not Cirilla, who can travel willy nilly between both. They bounced back and forward between past and present with the toss of a frikkin coin.

And speaking of coins...

#2) THE MUSIC WAS...Well.

Oh, Dandelion. XD

Anyone who knows me knows I fangirl HARD over the Witcher video game OSTs. And unfortunately, the music on the tv show was just...alright. :\ And for a franchise so closely connected to iconic music like the band Percival, it’s a crime against nature that the tv show never had a single track that made me go YES. Give it up for POLAND. The end credits song is okay, but I only started getting into it at like Episode 6, soooo... :\

And no, I didn’t like Toss A Coin to Your Witcher in this show. It didn’t sound like part of this medievalesque universe AT ALL, but something kinda pop/country, aimed at I don’t even know who. Sure, the dude playing Dandelion can sing. But so can Ed Sheeran, and when GoT got him to sing on the show, he sure AF didn’t bust out with the next Billboard Top 40 on us in the middle of nowhere.

#3) THE CHARACTER BONDING?

The acting was top notch...it was the plot/writing I didn’t like. Or rather, the relationships between the characters. I felt more for Yennefer & Istredd, and Geralt & Roach, and Ciri & the Elf boy (and her grandma), and even Pavetta & effing Duny/Emhyr (that royal piece of sh!te) than I did for any other characters on this whole show. And that’s a bit of a problem.

First off, I HATED how they made it seem that TEENAGED Ciri had no idea who TF Geralt was. TV Ciri’s gotta be what? 15? Geralt said something about it having been 12 years since Pavetta & Duny, but even that’s too old. Book!Ciri met Geralt IN the Brokilon or whatever forest with all the water drinking and the dryad queen and mess.

They were already obsessed with each other before the fall of Cintra even happened! Ciri was like 10 already when Geralt took Ciri to Kaer Morhen to start her Witcher training, but this girl on the show’s way older, and effing clueless. They don’t even meet til the final few SECONDS, wtf!! It’s just Destiny~! Destiny~! Child of Surprise, but we never even have a scene together~! Destiny~!

Speaking of children, we have Yennefer and Geralt, which was better, but again, WOAH with the pacing. I felt effing BAD for Istredd! :( I don’t really GET why Geralt & Yenn fell so hard for each other; I don’t really feel that connection. Geralt had just as much bonding time with that eclipse-princess! They only had the Djinn episode, really, and by the end of the Dragon episode it was already over!

I mean, yeah, in the books/game they have A LOT of ups and downs, but come on; we’ve already wasted so much time on Geralt & Triss (that homewrecking wench, I’m glad her airtime was minimal), and I just want more BAMF battle couple parents Geralt & Yenn raising Ciri already! >_<

Same with Geralt & Dandelion. Geralt’s kinda mean to him, which is fair; Geralt hates everyone. But I don’t feel where they’re friends at all, and they part at the end of the season on NOT great terms. I kinda feel Geralt doesn’t really like Dandelion at all. :( Even with the whole comedic relief Shrek schtick,

THE UGLY

#4) THE LENGTH

I dunno what’s up with all the 8 episode miniseries lately (GoT, Mandalorian, Witcher, etc), but it REALLY isn’t enough to really flesh out a story. Especially not one as convoluted as The Witcher, AKA the GoT of Poland.

Again, I REALLY feel for the casuals watching, who probably don’t know what the Conjunction of Spheres Istredd keeps referring to is, or what exactly a Witcher is, or why Ciri’s so dang special -- was Lara Dorren or the Elder Blood ever even MENTIONED???

We know Yenn’s got elf blood, but it’s waaaay more than that with Ciri -- though I don’t think they mentioned her elf blood, either, just that Calanthe’s grandmother or someone had their Banshee powers before Pavetta & Ciri.

BTW, wtf with Ermion/Mousesack? That’s gotta be a red herring or something. Cuz we know this dude’s old AF and thriving in Skellige, sooo....? TF. Why the Doppler? Why?

TBH this felt like Season 1A, if anything. I don’t feel the plot really progressed much at all, other than us getting Yennefer’s story. Ciri & Geralt finally meet (cliffhanger supreme right there), but jfc this felt like a prequel -- so much of the season was dedicated to backtracking us in a roundabout way up to the fall of Cintra, then skipping ahead to the Battle at Sodden Hill.

And why the heck did they wait so long to get to get to Vigelfortz!? That’s what I was sitting here WAITING for! You mean I gotta wait for Season TWO to see my Hanse in full force!? :( URGH. Reeeeeeeegiiiiiiiis~! :(

Maybe cut out some of the unnecessary nudity every frikkin where and tell the full frikkin story, hmm? (Yenn’s boobs look great, we got it the first 5 times. Meanwhile these cowards won’t even have a dude’s left testicle be shown on screen, but whatever.)

So yeah, those are my 4 biggest complaints.

Well, and that wig’s hard AF hair line, jfc.(I was DYING during the Pavetta & Duny scene, when Cavill was holding on to that wig for dear life. XD XD)

Otherwise, I really liked the show! B+!

[ship-obsessions]

The 100 Season 6 Speculations

Okay, so first of all I want to say I’m loving season 6 so far. Give me all of the delinquent interactions. I’m also obsessed with the Bellarke crumbs they are ALREADY GIVING US and how their repressed feelings for each other were shown (although not directly) in 6x02. A while ago I saw on Twitter that a reviewer compared The 100′s 6x02 episode to Motel California in Teen Wolf and now I totally see it. The way the plant toxin affects the delinquents parallels the werewolves being affected by the wolf’s bane... and the focus on the main group of delinquents (specifically Clarke, Bellamy, and Murphy) parallels the focus on the original core 4 in TW (Scott, Stiles, Allison, Lydia). I absolutely LOVED the core 4 dynamic in TW and I’m already loving this trio dynamic between Clarke, Bellamy, and Murphy. Give me more episodes like this! (and maybe add Raven after her and Clarke make up).

That said, I watched the first two episodes when they were leaked, so I’ve been DYING for the next episode 6x03. (Note: I’ve also been streaming them again since they’ve officially aired, so I’ve watched each one like 4 times). Since new content is finally coming next week, I wanted to get out some of my random speculations for what’s coming up later this season even though we literally know so little about this new planet, these new people, the creepy children, etc.. Of course, being curious (like a psychopath), I went through all of the season 6 episodes on IMDb to see what (if anything) it could tell me. I’m sure someone else has probably already done this, but I found some interesting things I needed to put out there...

6x03 

We already have a name “The Children of Gabriel” as well as a description (Clarke tries to win over the leaders of Sanctum in order to let her people stay. Meanwhile, Bellamy, Octavia, and Echo discover a new threat while on a mission to retrieve the transport ship.), so we have somewhat of a gist of what is coming next week. I don’t think they will fully go into the backstory of these “children of Gabriel” but we obviously know the geneticist from the flashback was named Gabriel and the actor, Ian Pala, is only listed for 2 episodes on his personal page and one of those is Sanctum (uncredited). So I’d assume this means we won’t get another flashback of him specifically or the origins of his “children”. But I do think when Clarke meets Russell and the other people somehow this backstory/history (at least a shortened version) will be explained. We know that the episode titles are all explicitly mentioned or referred to in the episodes themselves somewhere, so that’s my reasoning there.

However, I noticed one other small thing in the cast list that stuck out as strange/interesting. Sarah-Jane Redmond’s character (aka the Sanctum hostage that tried to hijack the mothership) is named Taylee in 6x02 but Tilly in 6x03. At first I thought it could have been some kind of error (idk) but it’s listed the same way on her personal IMDb actor page. Is she playing twins?? Is there validity to this clone theory I saw floating around and read about in the Hypable review?? Either way, I’m definitely interested in whatever that’s about. 

Also, I’m excited to meet JR Bourne’s character this episode! We obviously know he is Russell Lightbourne but after all my research (lol I’m taking this WAY more serious than I ever took school), I’m wondering if he’s not just a descendant of the Lightbourne’s but is actually a clone or somehow has the same consciousness from Mr. Lightbourne (Josephine’s dad) in 6x02 (again saw this in the Hypable article around a similar flame storyline theory since Becca created Eligius tech as well). It’s worth noting that we don’t actually know the character’s real name and Sean Maguire is just credited as Mr. Lightbourne -- no first name. Hmmmmm

6x04

Again we have a name “The Face Behind the Glass” and a short description (Clarke embraces the traditions of Sanctum and tries to make amends for her past actions.), but not much else... (or do we??) This episode is probably where we will see Clarke dancing in the room painting and maybe even the lanterns floating in the sky (ie. Sanctum tradition?) -- I’m thinking several “happy” moments with her. I also have a theory -- going out on a limb here -- that it is where we could see the whole “flashback” scene of Clarke in Mount Weather from the trailer. It’s probably not an actual flashback but some kind of hallucination or psychosis thing again, (or maybe even a dream?) but maybe that is where the title comes from -- she’s literally looking at herself from behind the broken glass in MW’s contamination rooms. OR we’re not quite there yet and it’s referring to the stained glass-looking red window/door thing that Emori was trying to open before going crazy in 6x01. 

The kicker for me in this episode’s listing was Jordan Bolger’s credit as Shaw, who we all saw die in 6x01. In what capacity is he coming back? Maybe it’s Raven’s hallucination or even a dream? I could see them showing us her full reaction once she knows what really happened to him, but I’m not sure how or in what way he would come back at some point in the episode (I say “come back” because the actor will actually appear). It will be super interesting how the sci-fi elements work on this new planet. We’ve already seen the eclipse-induced psychosis but what other strange things will occur or happen to our characters? If they are all facing their demons (ie. Clarke with Mount Weather and Octavia with Blodreina) I wonder how those scenes will be played out.

6x05

Again Jordan Bolger is credited... is Miles Ezekiel Shaw back again??? What is going on? 

6x06 - 6x07

I didn’t really notice anything super strange in episode 6, but GUESS WHO IS CREDITED FOR EPISODE 7: none other than Chris Browning as Jake fucking Griffin. Maybe this is another flashback or memory or hallucination -- assuming by Clarke.

Note: Madi is not credited to appear in 6x06 or 6x08 so I’m thinking her “kidnapping” or whatever happens with the creepy person who is holding her captive in the woods happens in 6x07. Or maybe it’s even earlier in 6x05?

6x08

In episode 8, the cast list introduces 2 notable new characters: Josephine VII and Hope. Okay, so with Josephine VII it could be some descendant of the original Josephine Lightbourne in the 6x02 flashback, but it could ALSO be another hint at this clone and/or flame consciousness theory. But Hope... where have we heard that name before? Oh yeah, Diyoza’s unborn child. But Diyoza hasn’t even had her baby yet and in the promo trailers it looked like she was shot (and possibly killed?). Also, this actress who plays Hope is like 6 years old, not a newborn baby. It’s still weird to me though because what are the chances there is another character -- another child, no less -- with that same name Diyoza mentioned she was planning to give her baby. Just seems a little too coincidental to me.

6x09

Okay, I’m going out on a limb here, but THIS MIGHT BE THE ICONIC RAVE SCENE FROM THE TRAILER. Stay with me... I was originally thinking this would happen earlier in the series when I saw this in the trailer, probably like everyone else, but in the IMDb cast list there are 5 “dancers” credited. I mean it is more logical for a rave scene to happen early in the season (because usually all the good things or happy stuff comes in the first half of the season and NEVER this late), but what else would “dancers” be credited for??? The 100 doesn’t do dance numbers LOL. Anyway this idea has me shook because if it is this late in the season, there is a better chance that Bellamy and Echo have ended things by this point and that super short blurry speck in the bottom right corner of the rave dance scene could be Bellamy (you know what I’m talking about). Will they actually make my LIFE and have Bellamy and Clarke dancing at that rave together? Seems way too good to be true, but I had to throw the possibility out there. I mean who knows, my Bellarke-owned ass can always hope for the best. 

After the slim possibility of that amazing possibility, here’s a scary thought to consider (sounds kind of like the show itself), this is the last episode of the season that credits Lola Flanery as Madi... WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO HER. Does whatever experiment being done on her in the promo trailer kill her? Pls don’t hurt Clarke’s smol child.

6x10

So here is where I started low key freaking out because the cast list dwindles DRAMATICALLY for credits this episode. We only have Eliza as Clarke, Shannon as Jordan, and Luisa as Emori out of ALL of the main characters we know and love. Something major has to happen for everyone else to suddenly become absent from this episode. And I’m a little scared to know what that is.

6x11

Okay thank god, the main characters are all back on the credits list for this episode. ALSO there is a new actor credited as young Echo. OMG an Echo flashback?! Will we finally understand who she was and why she is the way she is? Will I even care to get invested in her this late in the game?

Also, IMDb lists that this is the episode Bob Morley directs!

6x12 - 6x13

Our other mains are gone AGAIN from the cast list. It’s back to only listing Clarke and Jordan among the characters we already know. WTF is going on. I need answers NOW. To reiterate, I’m saying that IMDb doesn’t list Abby, Bellamy, Octavia, Raven, Murphy, Echo, Kane, Madi, Miller, or Jackson in episode 10, 12, or 13 (+ Emori in 12 or 13).

I’m honest to god just hoping that IMDb isn’t fully updated with the entire cast list in these last episodes yet -- is that a thing? pls tell me it is -- because if we don’t have a finale that includes Murphy, Raven, or most of all, BELLAMY... I swear to God I will riot. Of course, I’m hoping no one dies (obvi), but now that we know there is a season 7, could J Roth be trying to kill us with some dramatic cliffhanger where Clarke and Jordan are separated from the rest of the group? (PSA: STOP SEPARATING CLARKE FROM EVERYONE). But if so, why would this absence of all of those other characters be TWO WHOLE EPISODES? And during the two part finale of all things. UGHHH my mind is spiraling, someone pls calm me down.

On the plus side, 6x12 lists Antonio Negret as the director for the episode and we all know he brought us the brilliant (yet angsty AF) episode 5x08 last season where Bellamy poisoned Octavia to save Clarke. But if Bellamy isn’t even in this episode WHY SHOULD I EVEN BOTHER CARING.

What’s left that I missed? Probably a lot LOL. I tried going back to watch what I might have missed from the extended trailer but I couldn’t find the video ANYWHERE. It’s like disappeared from YouTube (says it is “unavailable”). What is that about?

Anyways, the scene with everyone together in the house (standing at the bar, shot looking at us) has to be in one of the episodes where all main cast members are credited -- I don’t think it will be the next one so maybe 6x04 or 6x05? Same thought for the Madi/Clarke reunion, I feel like that is in the same episode. I also have no idea when in the season Bellamy is going to strangle Russell with Clarke and Murphy in the room (again my favorite new trio!). And that being said I’m confused on JR Bourne because he was all hyped up as a new character this season but he’s only credited in the next episode 6x03. Does the strangling take place next week? It can’t right? Because Bellamy is off with Echo and Octavia on the other mission and Clarke is the only one in the castle. Also if 6x04 is Clarke trying to embrace the traditions of Sanctum and make amends, there is no way she could do that the episode after Russell (the leader of Sanctum) is killed. 

Sorry for the crazy rambling and this long AF post, but I have so much on my mind after this speculation deep dive. I need to just go to bed.

[cwdcshows]

Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Four

And we're back.  What does it say about a group of tv shows you watch when you don't miss them when they're not playing for four glorious weeks; and you're actually kind of reluctant to get back into it? I also find it hilarious that a major event like Crisis concluded nearly 24 hours ago and no one on here has posted anything about it.  I haven't even accidentally come across any spoilers; no major exclamations of "Arrowverse forever changed by Crisis on Infinite Earths!" or "What does X plot development mean for the future of DC/CW Shows?". Meanwhile when Doctor Who premiered two weeks ago and in the 24-36 hours it took for me get around to watching that, I came across half a dozen posts on Facebook and videos on youtube that, without explicitly saying so, made it clear that (****Spoiler*****) the Master was back and who he was.(****Spoiler*****) That to me, I think, is a spoiler unto itself, after a fashion; the fact that there was no major, earth(s) shattering outcome to Crisis to report or for people to comment on really sets the bar for my expectations going in this and that I doubt anything of consequence is going to come out of the last two episodes.  Which I'm not even going to watch back to back, because I honestly don't feel like it.  I'm going to try to get to the last one sometime later today, but definitely not right after part four; baring some improbable cliffhanger that's just too good not to see how it concludes. So here we go....

Okay, so they're combining the Monitor's origin story with the Maltusian Krona from the comics.  I can dig it, actually.   For those who don't know, in the comics, the ancient people of Maltus were one of the first advanced, sentient lifeforms to spring up in the universe.  One of their scientists, Krona, was obsessed with studying the dawn of time and witnessing how the universe was formed; in spite of legends that attempting to do so would be catastrophic.  His experiments caused time to fracture at the dawn of time, creating the multiverse; where there was originally supposed to only be a single universe. A segment of the Maltusians, I believe at least partly driven by a sense of responsibility to the universe for this incident, would evolve to become the Guardians of the universe, who would go on to eventually form the Green Lantern Corp. Conversely, in the comic the Monitor was basically just some random entity that somehow evolved on the moon of Maltus or Oa; I kind of forget why and don't feel like looking it up.  But he was just some super, lone naked dude, hanging out on this moon and came to learn about his doppelganger in the Anti-Monitor universe.  Somehow they battled across the divide between dimensions and the fight forced them both into a state of suspended animation; until Parriah's experiments awoken the Anti-monitor (if I'm not mistaken, as a result of accidentally destroying his own universe, which somehow fed power to the Anti-monitor; and gave AM the idea to destroy the other universes in the multiverse). While Krona is conventionally a villain, all in all this works well; merging Krona with the Monitor.  Especially since there's still an antagonist element with the Anti-Monitor. Hmmm.... I can't help but wonder if they intentionally lit this scene so that Mar Novu's wife would be cast in a blue light that makes it look like she has blue skin, reminiscent of the blue skin Maltusians have (eventually anyway). I'll admit, this opening sequence isn't bad.  The appearance at the end of the Anti-Monitor felt a little hokey, but if they can keep the momentum of the first few minutes going, they might pull it off. Okay, so I'm pretty sure Ryan Choi didn't have a beard in the last episode, which I'm taking to suggest they've been stuck at Vanishing Point for a while; and the main thing I have to say is, i would have given just about anything is they just had all of the "Paragons" have beards.  Ryan, Lex, J'Onnn Kara, Kate, Sara.  Just like, fuck it, it's been a month and we've all got beards. I laughed a little about Ryan writing that "the Paragon of Destiny doesn't even believe in tomorrow anymore." and it's like, you know.... you are at the end of time, so......🤷‍♂️ Wait, so when Lex replaced Superman, somehow part of Superman's cape got left behind; and Kara randomly walks around with it from time to time? "There is not there out there anymore..."  You know, that's actually a good point.  Vanishing Point is at the end of time for "Earth" 1; or rather the universe that Earth 1 resides in.... which was destroyed... the entire universe..... from beginning to end....So how the fuck is there still a Vanishing Point?   I mean, I know that it was, originally, like a time-frozen base hovering at the instant before the end of time, but in this scenario the Time Masters who maintained all of this tech and the base are gone, the base itself is in ruins; what's keep it....preserved or whatever?  For that matter, how is there even enough air, water or food to sustain anyone there for any length of time? Man, Barry just keeps bouncing off of walls, doesn't he? 

Hey, look at that, it's all of Oliver's greatest hits.... 😁 "Why would you make me re-live all of that?" Even Oliver Queen lost interest in re-watching the vast majority of Arrow.... Gee, I wonder why Oliver's talking all funny... I bet it's nothing. The reveal of Oliver to the "Paragons" would have been a lot more worthy of rally music they're playing under this scene, if they hadn't fucking just shown us him getting ready to go and meet with them.... "I am Oliver Queen, but I'm also something more...." Come on, you've been unintentionally building to this moment of actually making the whole "something else" line an actually important part of the show and you're going pull you're punches now? As has been brought up with the past installments, the whole Oliver becomes the Spectre thing is fine, but honestly, in typical Arrow fashion the execution is seriously wanting.  They could have spent the first fucking 7 or 8 episodes doing a proper build up to that.  Defy all expectations by killing off Oliver during the very first episode of the season, maybe right in the opening, and make it seem like his journey over the next couple of episodes was about him and his friends trying to bring him back to life; weaving in the retrospective element, only to subvert it with the reveal of him becoming the Spectre instead. Maybe throw in one last heroic act, where Oliver has the chance to go back, but sacrifices that opportunity to give someone else he meets along the way the chance to be brought back instead - fuck, maybe Mia.  Either she dies or gets wrapped up in a bid to bring Oliver back to life, only for her life to jeopardized; where if Oliver didn't give her his chance for life, she'd not make it back.  Then Corrigan shows up. Anyway.... Barry asking Oliver for a speedforce boost came off a lot more like a drug addict begging for a fix. So is Ryan's grand plan on Maltus to locate Mar is to...find the central bureaucracy....?

Where's J'Onn's brother when we need him?

Sigh.....

So they didn't really have any idea what to do with the group of "Paragons" who weren't going to Maltus, or how to make their part of the mission challenging during this installment; so they're going to pad part of four of a five-fucking-part crossover with some bullshit tangent of Barry randomly needing to connect with his memories to find the others?  Why can't Oliver (or should it be "Olivre" now?  I'm going to start calling him Olivre.)  Why can't Olivre keep all them together in the same memory or whatever fuckery he's doing?  Why does he have to rely on fucking Barry to make sure they don't all fall out of....Olivre? Why can't he help Barry find them without being cryptic?  Why do they even time for this?? Does Barry still have to look for Oliver?  And what about Kate?  They only met her one other time before all of this shit went down.  Either that's the only place Oliver would tuck her away, or Barry has no chance of finding her. Sigh....DCEU Flash....cool..... 🙄 I mean, I am kind of surprised they were a) even allowed to do this level of crossover, or b) that they managed to film it without anyone leaking it.  And I did kind of see some hints over the last 24 hours, but I kind of dismissed the likelihood that this version of the Flash would appear.  I keep wanting to calling "Mecha-Flash," because his suit looks more machine based than anything else. What DOES this mean?  The whole premise that Olivre just laid out to him was that this was......him, Olivre, basically, and/or the speedforce and that he was hiding the others....inside himself or whatever, inside memories to protect them.  That wasn't a memory, so now they're not only padding this installment with filler, they're just throwing in random shit for the hell of it. How does an ordinary human walking - not even running, it seems - at average speed, manage to give a Super the slip?  I mean, when Supergirl immediately found him, it didn't seem like much of a surprise, because with all her heightened senses it shouldn't have taken any effort to track him down, but by that same token he shouldn't have even gotten more than a few feet before she noticed. For that matter, and not like it's ever stopped them anyhow, but should Kara even have her powers on this alien planet that may or may not be orbiting a yellow sun? Alright, so lets give the writers the benefit of the doubt and assume the "upgrades" Lex gave himself is how he managed to give Kara and Ryan the slip in the first place. So Olivre stuck Kate in just some random old memory from his life; so how the fuck is Barry supposed to locate her?  Especially since it's from a memory of Olivre's that Barry wasn't part of.....? Aaaaaaand the memory of Olivre is consciously aware of the likes of the Paragons floating around inside him, but doesn't know who they are or why they're there? Jesus, did the writers decide to try acid before they wrote this shit? I almost asked if that was memory Kara, but it has to be, since actual Kara is on another planet.  Which again, planet Maltus was in Universe 1, ostenstibly, which now gone, past, present and future..... How is Ryan not more injured by whatever blast Lex hit him with; you know, being nothing more than a flimsy, fragile human and all? "You left your family because someone you never even met told you you were needed" Did he though?  It's been a month, so I don't really remember the point where he was actually on board with all of this shit, but I do remember that when they first told him about the Crisis and asked him to come with them, all he wanted to do was to get back to his family.  Which is understandable. And seeing as how they spent weeks at Vanishing Point, how is it that they're only just revisiting this whole "are you sure you got the right person" thing now? Is this supposed to be their way of doing the whole sub-storyline in the comics, where Barry pops up randomly at different points in the past, trying to warn people about the impending Crisis; when he was running around the Anti-Monitor's antimatter cannon to destroy it, just before his death?  Because this is super convoluted. Wait, so Barry was tasked with just finding Olivre?  All while it was Olivre who told him what he had to do.... what the fuck is happening in this fucking episode?  It started out halfway descent; and now I have no fucking clue what is going on.  But it's pissing me off, because they're wasting a lot of time on this bullshit. This scene of Barry finding out about Olivre's deal is so fucking weird.  The way they shot it without either of them in the same frame makes it seem so disconnected. I kind of appreciate Lex's annoyed confusion that Mar somehow mistakes Lex's voice for that of his wife's.   I had to think for a second why Not-Diggle didn't recognize Barry, before remembering when Sara's death would have aligned with The Flash; and was confusing it with Laurel's death, when they definitely would have known who Barry or the Flash was. I forget though, was that scene before Barry's arrival with Jon talking to Laurel about taking up Sara's mantle one that originally happened on the show?  I swear that was a slow build up after Sara's death. Sans the blood, I've always loved how Caity Lotz looks in that original Canary costume.   I'll never understand why they tried to fix what wasn't broken. "When we were attacked...." "By the Anti-Monitor...." "Doesn't even sound like an actual name...." 🤣 Okay, that was good. How the fuck did Barry track down J'Onn during a memory he wasn't around for, let alone Kate? So first some random bald dude breaks into his lab and manages to talk some sense into him; albeit without offering any great proof that he is who he claims to be, much less prove he can actually help, but hey, he at least had the courtesy of walking through the door like a normal person.  Then someone else bursts in, tearing the door off its hinges or whatever and starts issuing threats to the (shorter) bald guy and some other random hairy dude behind her asks Mar to leave the room with him and..... he just does.... yeah, okay.  I mean, just the fact that they've gone back in time however many million years or whatever, let alone to another fucking planet without any need to address how or why Mar can understand any of them, it's pretty much just a free for all. Oh, okay; so now that Barry's side adventure has been neatly wrapped up, I guess it's time to pick up the kids from the daycare on Maltus, without so much as stopping to actually check and make sure that they completed the task they set out to do. So what, the Anti-Monitor's argument is that there are an infinite number of Monitors to do what the one Monitor they just convinced to give up on his experiment doesn't do?  And yet, by all indication, there was only the one Monitor who took his trip in the first place; otherwise there'd be an infinite fucking number of Mars who originally popped up in the antimatter universe to start with.  And I'm pretty sure that given those odds, the Anti-Monitor would have been screwed. The plan is to use the Paragons to...fan the flames to rebirth the universe or whatever, but one of the Paragons is missing and replaced by Lex; which unless by replacing Superman's name with his own somehow made Lex into the Paragon that Superman is supposed to be, their one man down of who they need. Wait, I've seen this fight sequence somewhere before......🤔

"You have failed this universe." 😐 "We focus.  A singular, laser like focus." I feel like I'm about see another familiar scene...

Somehow I just knew that the thing they were going to have to do would involve them just standing around looking serious and thinking hard.  I'm surprised they didn't just go full out Peter Pan and ask the audience to clap real hard to bring the universe back to life. This is some serious bullshit that they aren't even going to try and bring Brandon's Superman back for this climactic moment...and it's done.   Yeah, that might actually be the definition of anti-climax.  I mean, I know there's still somehow a whole fucking episode left this shit-fuckery, but man, I'm pretty sure they have to think hard to take a dump in the morning.  Jesus Christ. Yeah, right, I'm totally going to believe or care that they're suggesting that Olivre is going to die, again. So let see here, they literally killed and resurrected Olivre once within this cross-over, there's still one more episode left to this crossover; and there's still two episodes left to fucking Arrow.  So, no, not buying this.  I'm sure as hell not buying that they're going to kill Oliver fucking Queen twice without including Diggle.

[logh-icebergs]

Episode 9: The Klopstock Incident

796/487. Duke Braunschweig throws a party! It doesn’t go very well. Klopstock, a noble who lost his standing in society after backing the wrong man (one of Friedrich IV’s brothers) for Kaiser, attempts to bomb the party and assassinate both Braunschweig and the Kaiser himself. Unfortunately for Klopstock, his plan fails, killing some randos but leaving his targets unharmed. Also among the unharmed in attendance are Reinhard and the beautiful Magdalena von Westfalen. Klopstock, learning of his failure, commits suicide. RIP. Meanwhile, Reinhard and Kircheis make moon-eyes at each other and Annerose gazes passive-aggressively at Reinhard.

Reinhard and Kircheis

You’ll recall that we left off on something of a cliffhanger concerning Reinhard and Kircheis’s relationship: There’s tension brewing due to Reinhard’s most recent hiring decision (the sinister Oberstein), and episode 8 ends with Reinhard and Kircheis spending an evening poignantly apart. Episode 9, by comparison, is kinda fun: Though the stakes are eventually high in that Reinhard’s life is temporarily at risk, overall Reinhard and Kircheis aren’t dealing with anything as dire as political or military strategy on a large scale, and as their distance from matters of state widens, so the distance between them seems to close back up, at least for now.

Over the course of this episode, we get to see our boys in a series of relatively “normal,” almost domestic situations—Kircheis makes Reinhard go to a party he doesn’t want to go to! Reinhard drags Kircheis along! Kircheis has to wait in the car because he doesn’t have an invitation! Reinhard tries to get back to him as soon as possible! et cetera—that taken together provide us with a window into how their relationship might function on a day-to-day basis.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Bratty Reinhard is the goddamn best. His diction in Japanese here (yada!) betrays a childishness that he reserves for Kircheis alone, and it’s adorable.

Because Reinhard is able to accumulate so much power, along with a cadre of loyal and talented followers, in such a short time and at such a young age—and because he’s so goddamn beautiful—it’s tempting to lump him in with a certain archetype of charismatic, charming leader. But like with most almost-archetypes in LoGH, that actually couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, this brings us to one of the most relatable and human aspects of Reinhard’s personality: He’s fucking terrible at parties.

Kircheis coaxing Reinhard into participating in obligatory social engagements is some of the sweetest writing in this whole show—and also a chance for him to show off what turns out to be a well-hidden dry sense of humor.

Unfortunately for Reinhard, he’s been invited to attend Braunschweig’s gala, and social niceties dictate that he go. Luckily for us, that means we get to watch Kircheis convince him to do so. I cannot overstate how much I love watching Kircheis manage Reinhard when Reinhard is being a complete baby. Kircheis, who has clearly been doing this for years, treats him with so much warmth and patience; this scene is the perfect example of how throughout LoGH, small quiet moments are used—similarly to facial expressions—to convey more and deeper intimacy than words alone could do. We see several of these moments throughout episode 9, and each time I feel a little like I’m intruding on something private. Episode 9 is a gift.

But why take time out of our busy schedule now to spend A Day In The Life with Reinhard and Kircheis while they’re just being cute boyfriends and not working especially hard to conquer the universe? Almost all the time we’ve spent with Reinhard and Kircheis so far has been in the context of battles or political machinations (or flashbacks). But episode 8 made it clear that for these two, the personal and the political are intertwined, and only getting more so.

We already know what the stakes are, politically: Reinhard intends to overthrow the Empire with Kircheis. The personal hasn’t been explored as much, outside of flashbacks, so it’s important to show the viewer exactly what is being threatened when a wedge is driven between Reinhard and Kircheis. To do that, we have to see them “at rest,” just being together—and, as the case may be, apart—which is what most of this episode does.

Kircheis agrees to wait in the car while Reinhard is at the party because these two literally could not be more codependent. I love them.

And so, against his will, Reinhard arrives at Braunschweig’s party. When accosted by shitty nobles, Reinhard makes them regret interrupting his solitude, and otherwise he just stares at the clock, waiting for the Kaiser to arrive so he can get back to Kircheis without violating the social order.

Behold, Imperial Marshal Reinhard von Lohengramm, standing alone holding a drink and awkwardly looking around at a party he’d rather have skipped: truly the representation we millennials have been craving.

Meanwhile, Kircheis sits in the parking lot and plays Spider Solitaire gets work done on his laptop while also watching a clock, presumably to keep track of how long Reinhard’s been away. Eventually, Klopstock walks past the car, suspiciously without the cane he’d been carrying earlier (because it was actually a bomb, and he planted it inside the party). Kircheis gets out to investigate, and has only just managed to convince Ansbach he should be allowed to talk to Reinhard despite not having a party invitation, when the bomb goes off.

Kircheis sprints into the hall with no regard for his personal safety, yelling Reinhard’s name and searching desperately for him amid the rubble. It’s the first time we’ve seen Kircheis react to a potential direct threat to Reinhard’s life and it instantly transforms him from the calm, collected character to whom we’ve become accustomed.

Notice how Kircheis, usually physically contained enough that you might forget he’s actually kind of huge (at 6’3”, he’s one of the tallest characters in LoGH), suddenly takes up every possible square millimeter of real estate in the frame.

In episode 5, Annerose shut Kircheis down when he insisted that he depended on Reinhard at least as much as Reinhard depended on him, if not more. If there was ever any doubt that he was telling the truth, this scene dispels that definitively. Kircheis’s expressions and gestures here are not those of someone who might have lost his military superior, or lord, or whatever; they’re the raw, open emotion of someone who might have lost the person he loves. There’s absolutely nothing one-sided about Reinhard and Kircheis.

You can see the exact moment when Kircheis, horrified, realizes that if other party guests are dead from the explosion, Reinhard could be too...

...followed, of course, by Kircheis calling Reinhard’s name with renewed vigor, until he finally responds.

Thankfully, we don’t have to see how Kircheis would react if he did lose Reinhard, because Reinhard is fine, but Kircheis’s responses, this time to relief, are still entirely unguarded and not behind his usual unshakable facade.

We rarely see Kircheis initiate physical contact with Reinhard, but the averted threat of immediate physical harm seems to have lowered some of his natural inhibitions. Also, how precious is that smile?

And so we’ve seen a day in the lives of Reinhard and Kircheis—complete with bickering, teasing, emotional support, separation anxiety, a near-death experience, and a happy reunion. Oh, and plans for a breakfast date:

Now that Kircheis can rest assured that Reinhard is safe, they snap back to their usual dynamic—Reinhard being bratty, and Kircheis loving it.

In some ways this whole episode has been one of those “small moments” I was talking about earlier on in the post: It would be easy to tell us how important Reinhard and Kircheis are to one another, how much they depend on each other, and how enmeshed their lives are. But this is LoGH, and with all the anime team’s considerable stores of subtlety, nuance, and depth of human understanding at their disposal, why tell us about a relationship between two people, when they can show us?

Braunschweig and Ansbach?

“We’re not so different, you and I.”

It’s worth mentioning, because we’ll be spending a significant amount of time with Braunschweig and his top retainer Ansbach, that some pretty heavy parallels are drawn here between Ansbach and Kircheis. In the aftermath of the explosion, Kircheis and Ansbach both frantically search the rubble for their respective... companions, and the camera switches rapidly between the two of them in strikingly similar positions and states of emotional distress.

Are Braunschweig and Ansbach romantically connected in some way? That’s definitely the implication here, but we don’t really know enough about Ansbach at this point to draw conclusions beyond, “huh, I guess we’re supposed to be comparing these two.” So we’ll come back to it later.

Annerose

Remember in Kircheis’s episode 5 flashback when I talked about Annerose’s tendency to undermine Reinhard behind his back? Well, apparently that’s something she does to his face too, as we see in a short but very telling scene that takes place after Reinhard attempts to report Klopstock to the Kaiser for his crime. It turns out Braunschweig’s already done the honors, so Reinhard and Kircheis stop to visit with Annerose on their way out.

Annerose’s relationship with Reinhard is, as always, complicated—and more complicated than he thinks it is.

Annerose, wearing her usual placid smile, expresses irritation with Reinhard’s plan to aid in Klopstock’s arrest—irritation that only increases when Reinhard explains that the only reason he cared so much was that Annerose could have been injured if she had been traveling with the Kaiser that night.

It’s becoming clearer that Annerose harbors some resentment towards her brother. There are a few possible reasons for this, the simplest being that she’s romantically jealous. Just because it’s simple, of course, doesn’t make it untrue, but we don’t have enough information at this point to determine if Annerose’s feelings about Kircheis are romantic, not to mention how much she knows about Reinhard and Kircheis’s relationship, so we’ll come back to that later.

What we do know, however, is that the latest source of her aggravation stems from Reinhard, for lack of a better phrase, meddling in her life. His intentions are good, but Annerose didn’t ask for his protection, or his help. This isn’t the last time we’ll see Annerose basically tell Reinhard to fuck off and leave her alone, and I understand where she’s coming from, even though it still makes me cringe every time. Reinhard can’t help that he’s free and Annerose is imprisoned, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s another in a long line of men who act when she cannot. Annerose, who again has never been afforded any agency whatsoever (at least since she was fifteen), exercises her free will when she can—even if that’s usually nothing more than telling her brother to mind his own business. Reinhard, true to form, seems slightly hurt, but doesn’t fight her.

Kircheis’s gaze here is deliberately ambiguous and can be interpreted in several different ways: a fond smile at Annerose, a polite smile at Annerose, a “wtf why are you being mean to Reinhard” smile at Annerose, or simply an “I’m still really happy Reinhard’s okay” smile at no one in particular.

Stray Tidbits

DO NOT get on Reinhard’s bad side. Do not. *fans self*

I, for one, am glad you survived, Magdalena.

Episode 9 may feel a bit out of place amid all the High Drama currently going on in the Empire, and there’s a reason for that! The titular Klopstock Incident actually comes from a chapter of one of Tanaka’s Gaiden novels, not from the main storyline. Yes, like Julian’s cat, and Dusty’s entire presence early on, episode 9 is a deviation from Tanaka’s text.

[onceuponarrow]

Arrow Season 5 finale and overall season thoughts

I have not enjoyed this season or the finale, sure there were some moments that I liked but overall this entire season was forgettable. Since I’ve got a few minutes free this morning I thought I’d list some thoughts.

To start I guess I feel like I might have missed something because the entertainment journalists and most people on my twitter and tumblr time lines were really enjoying last night. And I, well I’m left feeling empty, unsatisfied, and underwhelmed.

I guess Oliver and Felicity are back together. So 5x20 was there to wrap up their break-up and move them forward. And that one little line from Felicity during the birthday party showed they are back together. But I guess even though earlier this year I thought the little bits I figured the show would throw to us would be enough for me, it wasn’t, AT ALL. I can’t even articulate what I’m not satisfied with I just feel unhappy with how that whole storyline wrapped up. But like with so many things on this show I’ll make my peace with it and move on. But I guess at least we got a season finale kiss in the suit in good lighting, so that’s something.

There were too many people in this episode so no one really did anything. All this OTA being front and center and important was such bullshit. Seriously Felicity was there to have a crammed in “meaningful” convo with Thea and Samantha and ????? She announced that the whole island was rigged to blow for the audience but did nothing else. Diggle, oh my god. He did nothing, he was just there. If he had a meaningful purpose it was such a quick scene that I forgot it already.

I was really irritated with the whole Oliver telling Thea that she and Curtis (of all people) and Malcolm (who has betrayed them all so many times) needed to protect and get Felicity and Samantha to safety. That made me so mad, like lets reduce Oliver’s love and baby mama to damsels that need protecting well f&ck that.

That Nyssa and Talia fight was anti-climatic and over too fast. I was expecting a lot more out of Talia since they introduced her this season. Now that was a sister conflict storyline that had potential but as usual with Arrow, they introduced way more story than they could adequately tell.

Slade....sigh. I don’t like Slade, I’ve never liked Slade. Slade killed Moira in front of Oliver and Thea. I don’t give a single shit that the miracuru is out of his system and he is no longer mentally unstable and under the influence of drugs. HE KILLED OLIVER AND THEA’S MOTHER IN FRONT OF THEM. HE STABBED HER THROUGH THE HEART WITH A SWORD! UGH! I also see how the show just slid Slade in to give the words of wisdom to Oliver about survivors guilt and forgiving himself that in any other episode would have been Diggle’s to give. Just another way to sideline Diggle so we can get a comic book character moment.

Rene and Curtis did nothing, couple line of exposition and that’s it. Lance was there to call Dinah Bl@ck C@nary. Dinah was there to have a scream fight with Bl@ck Siren. I get it story-wise, everyone Oliver cares for needed to be on that island so Chase could continue to taunt Oliver with everyone you love will always suffer because of you, blah, blah, blah. And for that “emotional” cliffhanger of they are all dead when the island explodes.

Why was Digger Harkness in this episode? Evelyn was so pointless. I don’t get why Bl@ck Siren was there at all. Sure help Chase out as a thank you by capturing everyone in Star City, but why continue on to Lian Yu?

Malcolm, sigh, I guess I’m glad he’s finally dead, but what a way to go. So let me get this straight, he sacrificed himself for Thea. The same Thea he drugged and had her kill Sara so Ra’s wouldn’t go after him and led to Thea being stabbed and almost dying. Then he wouldn’t give up the league to get the cure for the bloodlust. But that death was off screen, so while I think he might actually be dead for real, I also would not be surprised if he were to pop back up alive in season 8 or 9 if Arrow goes that long.

Now the kid, William. Look I’m a mother, I have 2 kids who are 10 and 8. I’m also the child of divorced parents whose dad popped in and out her life throughout her childhood. This whole finale revolved around Oliver trying to find and save his son. Intellectually I get it, but emotionally I was not connected to this story at all. Look I know Oliver supposedly bonded with the kid in season 4 when he was leaving his paralyzed fiance to visit his son, who didn’t know he was his son. But dammit, if the writers knew that they were going to base the entire finale on fathers and sons (hell the whole season really) then it would have been way more emotionally satisfying for me if I had seen Oliver and William interacting and bonding this season. I’m also mildly irked that we never got to see William’s reaction to finding out that Oliver (his mom’s friend who visited with him a few times last year) is his father and his father is the Green Arrow. Sighing again. Once again this whole child story is just used for plot and has no emotional resonance.

Overall season thoughts.

It’s utterly forgettable. There are maybe 2 episodes I would rewatch entirely and maybe 3 or so more I’d watch parts of.

Sometimes I wonder why I’m still watching this show. I haven’t really enjoyed it since season 4a. I guess because every time I think I’m done the writers manage a moment of brilliance and I’m sucked back in.

Billy had no purpose to Felicity’s story. He was there for Oliver’s manpain not for Felicity.

Susan, I’m sighing again. That storyline went no where and was just unceremoniously dropped.

I know some people are happy with Felicity’s arc this season. But it was too little for me. She was sidelined too much this season. While I know she got a lot of screen time a lot of it was about other people’s emotional journeys, technical expertise, and exposition. I’ve given up thinking that she will ever get an in-depth story. I can hope for Smoak Tech next season but I’m not holding my breath.

Oliver, is this no killing thing going to actually stick for real this time? Because I thought it had previously, he spared Slade, but then he killed Ra’s and Damien and was back to killing again at the beginning of this season. I just feel like we constantly retread the same stories over and over with Oliver and I’m just tired of it. Find something new writers. But I don’t think they are capable of finding new emotional arcs for Oliver because once again it sounds like season 6 is a retread of a story already told. But I know it’s early and something had to be announced at upfronts.

I was not really satisfied with the wrap up of the flashbacks. I figured Kovar would have fought with and delayed Oliver just enough to have him miss the boat and he’d be stuck on the island for a couple of months. They really screwed up cutting flashback Oliver’s hair in season 4. If he’d never cut his hair over 5 years and missed the boat Anatoli sent for him that would explain the hair and beard. A wig and fake beard was so ridiculous. But whatever at least the flashbacks (my least favorite part of the show) are finally over.

Sighing once again. I just  re-read this post and I feel like I’ve done nothing but complain. But I wasn’t satisfied with this episode or this season and I needed a way to get my feelings out. So thanks anyone who made it all the way through this post. I’ll probably still follow along with summer hiatus speculations and be back in the fall. But nothing in the finale made me excited to watch next season.

I’m rarely invested in more than 1-3 shows at a time and Arrow has been the only show I watch consistently for the the past 2 years. So I really hope something comes out over the summer or at SDCC to make me want to return, otherwise I might be searching for a new show to watch.

Tagging some friends (by the way thanks for the good thoughts and wishes sent my way) @almondblossomme @marytagus @laurabelle2930 @hope-for-olicity @nalla-madness @green-arrows-of-karamel @wildirish23 @olicity-i-believe-in-you

[nerdietalk]

Fixing Season 5 (according to my opinions, you can have your own)

I’m thinking about Samurai Jack season 5 again and I think I want to list out where I think the pacing/other issues could be fixed. If I don’t get this out, it’ll be bug me so. I take whatever opinions you all throw at me. 

This is gonna be A Bit Long.

1. First three episodes are entirely the same save for one detail: when little Ashi looks out the window she briefly reaches for a ladybug before being pulled away by her mother. These three episodes are some of the greatest tv I’ve ever seen and I can’t find any other flaw.

2. Keep most of episode 4, I think? The ladybug scene now has the added bonus of earlier episode, giving it more impact. This lets us cut out the random flashback to Ashi’s training again. This isn’t a major detail, but I think the sudden flashback is a bit of whiplash when so much of the series revolved around letting things go unspoken. Let the audience interpret as they may.

3. I don’t know how to quantify this change, but Jack and Ashi’s journey in episode five needs a bit of back and forth. Ashi does need to convince the Very Tired Jack to take him on this journey, which kind of goes by a bit quick. In another example of back and forth:

Jack: See how Aku has ravaged the land.

Ashi: But what about these cities and towns, hasn’t he brought these?

Jack: Why should one city prosper while others should suffer?

Otherwise, Ashi’s realization of how she was used in contrast to the blue alien kids is really well done, keep that. I do think you could make Jack’s self-doubt and horror with himself more pronounced: maybe something more convincing to let him believe he killed those kids.

4. Okay, this is gonna sound bad but. Maybe cut out Scaramouche. He’s great and I love him, but he doesn’t add anything to these episodes. Keep him dead. This time could be spent on Aku. How else is his malaise affecting his life? Maybe have one of his scientists, desperate for a way to improve his master’s spirits, find Scaramouch’s memory banks. Maybe revive Scaramouche through that guy if you REALLY want to keep him. But Aku lacked a lot of development this season and you need more focus on him.

Ashi’s scenes with past characters is actually wonderful and please keep it. I’d kind of like for Da Samurai to, you know, actually be a samurai? But you could also do some interesting with him gaining the courage to fight again in the final episodes, and that’d be a cool development.

5. When Ashi fights the army in episode 7? Cut it. It wastes time. Even better: have the army approach, smash cut to them already dead. This allows us to focus more on the struggles of Jack vs. Himself and Ashi vs. Her Mom. Have Ashi genuinely consider betraying Jack before deciding no, you’ve ruined my life mom, and I don’t need you. Alternatively, maybe one of the other daughters survives the fall? Have Ashi confront one of her siblings and save the High Priestess for a final battle.

Jack’s scenes are great, but those last few minutes FLY BY and Jack’s defeat of his doubts needs at least a few more seconds to breathe.

6. Okay. Let’s. Get into this.

You can almost all of episode 8. It wastes SO MUCH TIME and we only have three episodes left. And like, if you’re into Jashi, good for you I guess? I don’t get it but that’s your business. But its a romantic plot that isn’t needed in a relationship that always struck me as more of a mentor thing. Jack needs to save the past, but first he needs to save the future. And to save the future, he needs to mentor Ashi. That’s so CLEAR to me and I can’t believe that’s not what happened.

Instead, have the Scotsman’s crew meet Jack and Ashi during some heroic duties. You can take some time to really let the characters breathe and interact. Establish some more bonds and stuff, give Jack and the Scotsman more time to talk about how much time has passed. They’re old men watching their daughters succeed the earth, fearful of leaving them to a horrible mess. There’s so much you can do there. 

Finally, you end the episode with a cliffhanger. Aku has finally learned that Jack’s sword is missing. And there isn’t a weird dancing bit: he’s pissed. He’s wasted years worrying instead of furthering his evil reign! Remember, Aku is a seed of pure evil! He can be goofy and funny, but at the end of the day he’s still the root of thousands of years of death and despair. He needs to be scary when it matters.

7. By cutting the romance, we have time to stretch that final battle into two episodes. And that pacing is crucial! Again, only ten episodes here! Begin with more training, more interaction, and some development.

And then Aku attacks. His whole army, his whole being, all there to utterly destroy Jack. And when he sees the sword, I think he should still be pissed? He needs Jack to die and he keeps hitting these delays and its just agonizing for him.

Now that I think about it, I think the High Priestess should make her appearance now and the episode seven fight be Ashi vs. Other Daughter(s). This gives Ashi an emotional weight in this battle rather than just supporting Jack. And then you deliver the Big Twist and the rest of that fight goes the same way.

8. Keep most of this. Its actually pretty good. Have Jack’s speech to Ashi be about protecting the land and making sure what happened to her and her sisters never happens to anyone.

Here’s the rub: I actually don’t know how to end the show. I think there’s multiple options here. 1) Stay the same, Jack goes home but loses his friends. Its bittersweet and beautiful. 2) Jack stays in the future. He and Ashi and the Daughters rebuild what Aku wrought, but Jack never sees his family again. 

3) SPLIT TIMELINES YO

Jack goes to the past and defeats Aku while Ashi beats Future Aku. Ashi rebuilds the future, ensuring that the world can heal from what Aku wrought. Jack, while never knowing what happened, finally gets the peace he earned.

Any of these options could work, but I think 3) best encaptures a theme of a hopeful future that I think Samurai Jack showed.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. End rant

[sarahzahdegeneral]

ok so the extent of my pokemon knowledge is like 2 months of pokemon go and like an episode that I watched when I was 8 but listen i got a story idea after seeing a few of the designs for some of the newer pokemon HERE GOES

(I put it under a cut because it was turning out long sorry)

so we start a new pokemon show right and it has its usual (?) little cast of cute characters, going around getting badges and befriending pokemon and stuff. Early on we start getting the idea that one of the girls in the group (let’s call her A) is a little unusual. 

1, a lot of her pokemon seem awfully high-level?? even though she’s a beginning trainer?? (about halfway through season 1 we find out it’s because she inherited them from her ‘sister’).

2, she hates water. I’ll explain why in a bit. At the Beach Episode, she just sits on the sand instead of playing in the water and gets SUPER MAD when someone splashes her. (or stays in the house all day claiming to have a cold) (this is totally skimmed over and seen as a character flaw rather than a Plot Point). She also doesn’t have any water pokemon herself.

3, she is crazy good at directing battles, except against psychic pokemon (and maybe others idk how this works whatever). This seems like just a quirk, really barely noticeable, until at least the season 2 (maybe even season 3) finale when there’s an episode where it’s revealed that she herself has psychic powers that she’s been hiding from her teammates.

There are several episodes where this is kind of sidelined. She manages to (barely) keep it a secret. 

And then. Through some series of events, one of the other team members (B) ends up hanging onto a branch over a ravine or something, there are no flying pokemon around--and A jumps over the edge, (/end episode on that cliffhanger), flies over, and rescues B.

Turns out, A is a Gardevoir. Because she really really wanted to learn, her trainer taught her to talk like a human, and she was her main companion. Unfortunately, the trainer died in circumstances probably relevant to the overarching plotline of this particular Pokemon show, and A took all the pokeballs, and ran. She had a meeting with all her trainer’s Pokemon, and while some decided to leave and be free, several stayed and were like ‘well you can speak like a human right......... why don’t you be our trainer” 

So A figured out how to disguise herself as a human. She wears special (humongous) gloves to hide the fact that she only has 3 fingers, she wears a lot of clothing in general to hide her different-colored skin and slightly-too-skinny body, she dyes her hair black (after the Reveal episode it starts growing in green again at the roots), and uses makeup to make her skin tone more human-like (hence her hatred of water--she’s afraid it’ll wash off), etc.

the point of this story is to show intellectual equivalence between Pokemon and humans. In the Pokemon world, the monsters are at best beloved pets and at worst debased possessions. (I’m guessing there are outliers, but the attitude is still pretty much the same, no matter how close you are to your pokemon, you still own them). This would be an opportunity to showcase how bigotry can affect two groups of life forms. 

I’m up in the air about her teammates’ reactions. I would guess that because we want to stay positive, they would accept her and all that, but it quickly becomes apparent that they don’t really accept her. They don’t trust her opinion on things, or they take advantage of her psychic powers, or I don’t know what else. I think they would start to see the weird divide: their human friend is actually a pokemon. But pokemon are pets..... ???

I’m guessing she would go solo for a while after that.

But either before or after she goes solo, she gets captured, and we have an interesting episode looking into what it’s like to be inside a pokeball. 

She does not get rescued by a human. Maybe one of her pokemon rescue her, or she gets away herself. Maybe both: her Lucario could maybe find her pokeball and release her, and then she beats the crap out of whoever captured her (how dare) and then probably evolves (maybe she’s been wearing a Mega Evolve necklace this whole time idk) (cool thing where Lucario throws her the necklace and she catches it and evolves herself).

And then she runs away and just decides to find a haven. She once again disguises herself as a human and pretends to run some sort of pokemon sanctuary because she knows that humans would only respect another human because the pokemon in the sanctuary would seem like that human’s property.

She’d end up looking kind of like a sexy villain though, and eventually her old teammates find the sanctuary (this is several episodes after they were separated, maybe the season finale). They don’t recognize her.

She challenges one of them (probably B, whom she rescued) to a pokemon battle. Usually when people come across the sanctuary she cuts them a deal: if they can defeat her in battle, they can take one of the pokemon (this never happens). If she wins, they have to leave all of their pokemon--unless they swear to keep the place a secret, in which case they can keep the pokemon and leave in peace. 

So A and B start battling, and slowly B starts recognizing the moves, the way she directs the pokemon...

and I’m not sure exactly how the battle ends, and at this point I’ve spent way too long typing this up so

bye