#because it seemed like he was just forgetting ep 2 and 3

[fromperdition4]

You Never Cared (Enough)

This. This is the moment, I think, where Porsche finally admits to himself he wants Kinn.

Because Porsche isn’t really arguing against Kinn’s point here.

Kinn does care about his people - we’ll see very clear examples of that later in the series (when he’s grieving for Big and Erica, when he saves Pol and Pete during the shootout, etc.), and Porsche has concrete proof that Kinn cares just as much about him -

But Porsche doesn’t want Kinn to see him as an employee - a responsibility. He doesn’t even want to be seen as a friend.

He wants Kinn to admit that being with Porsche meant something… different. That he didn’t just use Porsche, to get it out of his system, when he was an easy target.

Because it was different for Porsche.

As far as we know, the end of episode 4 was the first time Porsche had sex with a man, the first time he’d had sex after being drugged, and… the first time he’d had sex with someone he really liked. Someone he’d been starting to get to know, who irritated and intrigued him all at once, instead of just a one-time fling.

And he barely got any time to process all of that - his sexuality, his autonomy, his feelings - before Kinn shut down, put more distance between them than ever before, and became cruel -

So it’s only now, after getting time away to get back to who he was - in his own house, spending time with his brother and friends - that Porsche has finally worked out just why he’s so hurt by Kinn.

That, despite everything, he doesn't want to be just one of Kinn's people.

He wants Kinn to care more about him.

[snowthedemonfox]

So we got some screenshots for Ep 3, and I'm going to talk about some things I've noticed + some theories

I went off for over an hour in the bunnydoll burrow's VC talking about everything I noticed, but I'm realising writing it all down would be a smarter move, cause I know I'd forget it. If I've missed anything you think is important, let me know! I'll edit this post with new notes.

Let's start with the first screenshot, because that just makes the most sense:

The elephant in the room is the realistic human hand. I don't doubt this is the scene that has some level of blood and gore in it. We can't see what the hand is connected to, but whatever it is, it seems to be taller than Pomni and Kinger. They're both looking up, and the camera angle is facing down towards them both.

We can see 2 heads hanging from the wall behind Kinger, and what we can assume to be a 3rd behind the desk behind the hand.

One of these heads, as many have pointed out, seems to resemble Pomni. The face is entirely white, what I can assume is an eye seems to be the same size as Pomni's, and you can see that familiar looking hair on the side.

Even the other two things we see look like other members of the cast!

The head to the right of Kinger looks like Ragatha. It's got the hair, and even the face looks to be made of actual fabric, like a real doll. It seems whatever these things are, they're meant to look like more 'horror' versions of the characters.

(Side note, but if I had to guess, if Glitch releases a 3rd sticker sheet for episode 3, I wouldn't surprised if we got a new set of icon variations for the main cast. But instead of candy, we get these horror versions instead. I think that'd be cool, and I really hope that's what happens.)

You could even go as far to say the 'human' hand we're seeing is from the horror version of Kinger. Like I said before, the camera is looking down at them. Why would it be looking down? Because whatever's looking at them, is attached to the wall.

Moving onto other details in the room, we can see there's a chair behind Pomni with some kind of light on it. At first, I thought this might have been the tape recorder from the February trailer, but you can see the tape recorder is on a desk, not a chair.

And while there is a desk in the room, whatever is on there doesn't look like a tape recorder. It looks more like a photo, or some kind of radio.

The giant 'M' on the rug. We know the ghost lady's name is Martha Mildenhall, so this probably implies she owns the mansion the gang are exploring. Why would she need their help, though? Maybe whatever force is moving the hand in the screenshot, is some kind of 'evil' ghost, and that's why Pomni and the others are there to help. There's evil ghosts inhabitating the mansion, and Martha needs help to get rid of them. It's simple, it's your basic video game quest, it seems like a normal adventure plot that Caine would come up with.

There seems to be something behind the chair, but I can't make out if it's a door, some curtains, or some kind of closet. The lighting isn't doing me any favours. Either way, I doubt it's important to the episode, probably just background decoration.

As for my other thoughts that aren't as related to the screenshot itself, I do believe that everyone is going to be split up. Obviously Kinger and Pomni are working together, but I'm still not sure if Jax would be hanging with Ragatha & Gangle, or if he'd be off doing his own thing. As for Zooble, I'll get to them later.

And this might just be me looking into things too much, but it almost looks like one of Kinger's eyes is focused entirely on whatever is behind the camera, while the other isn't focused at all. Like he's half paying attention to the 'danger' he and Pomni are in.

But that's really all I have to say about the first screenshot. Let's move onto the main event:

Again, let's get the obvious out of the way: new Zooble design! They've got some new parts, like the arms, unicorn horn, and the blocky yellow and pink thing, but also some old parts, like the bluish-green ring, and their classic black and white antenna. So far, I like this design! I'm happy to see that they've decided to mix things up a bit. Not my favourite design, but still decent. They've got good taste.

Before I talk about Zooble and Caine, I first want to talk about the location they're in. At first, I thought this might've been Zooble's room, but looking closer, it's obviously not. Then I thought it was that little desk area at the end of the dorm hallway.

But nope, the hallway has different plants, picture frames, wallpaper, and no chairs to be seen. The plants we can see look similar to those seen in Caine's resturant realm from Ep 1, so I think I can safely guess that this is a new location, made specifically for him and Zooble to chat.

Speaking of that, I think that's going to be the driving point of Zooble's character development this episode. Something is going to convince them to join the future adventures, and it seems this will be that something. We know thanks to the AMA, that Zooble not going on adventures is important to their character, so having their episode focus on this topic makes sense.

What I can assume happened to lead up to this interaction is this:

Caine announced the adventure, and just like in both Ep 1&2, Zooble immediately expresses that they are not interested, and walks off. Caine can't really do anything about it yet, so he focuses on everyone else. Explains the rest of the adventure to them, and sends them on their way.

He then catches up to Zooble before they reach wherever they planned on going, and teleports them both to this new room. It looks almost like some kind of waiting room, or a room where they're both supposed to talk things out. It's got the comfy chairs, wall art, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a little table between them.

Zooble, obviously, is not impressed. They don't care about Caine's adventures, and want nothing to do with whatever he has planned for them in the meantime. Caine, on the other hand, just wants to figure out why Zooble doesn't want to go on his adventures. He spends so much time figuring them out! Just for the humans! Why won't Zooble participate!?

This very likely evolves into an argument between the two. I like how Caine is clearly angry in this screenshot. It's nice to see him show some more variety when it comes to emotion!! Zooble doesn't care for whatever Caine is saying, and Caine just wants to understand why they don't care.

Something happens, maybe they do talk it out, maybe something else, but by the end of the episode, Zooble decides that maybe going on a few adventures isn't that bad. I think it's way too early to guess what happens in that huge timeskip, but for now, this is the best I've got.

I feel Zooble's arc in this episode might touch on a few topics, like how while they might think staying by themselves all day and doing their own thing is better for them, isolating themselves isn't doing anyone any favours, and that, for lack of a better term, going 'outside' every once in a while can't hurt.

... and that's pretty much all I can think of to say regarding these two screenshots! I'm sure we'll get to learn more as the episode release gets closer, but I'm excited to see how things turn out!! :3

[laora-ryn]

so I have a Magnus Protocol theory. it's not an airtight theory, but I think it holds enough water that I feel confident posting this today now that ep 21 is live

I think [ERROR] is Jonathan Sims, The Archivist. or what's become of him. or what's left of him

The short version:

Tape recorders spontaneously appear around [ERROR] and their victims

People are compelled to start reciting statements. We have an n of 3 total, but an n of 1 (of 3) where the statement and [ERROR] are directly linked

They were trapped in a water-logged space beneath the Archivist's office of the Magnus Institute, before Sam accidentally let them out

They seem to have a vested interest in protecting Gwen "Jon Sims' closest archetype in Protocol" Bouchard

The long version is under the cut because hooooo boy did it get long

I'll start with the obvious question. "[ERROR] is credited as voiced by Beth Eyre! we do hear their voice in Breaking Ground, and it doesn't sound like Jon!"

Answer 1: it would be extremely way too obvious if Jonny voiced this character, if they didn't want people to make the connection immediately

Answer 2: I doubt what [ERROR] sounds like right now is going to matter too much in the long run, if it isn't meant to, because it sounds like they're probably some kind of ghost/apparition, and their appearances are so heavily distorted audio-wise that I just. don't really trust them myself, tbh?

But it probably would be silly to forget that Beth Eyre did appear in TMA, exactly once. She voiced the lady who witnessed the attempted Flesh ritual and came to give a statement to Gertrude about it. As far as I can tell, that lady didn't meet Jon at all. I feel like it's probably premature to say this is a simple case of "reusing the VA because we like them," but I don't think it's completely out of the question

so to the matter of [ERROR] themselves, the only physical description we get of them is "manky old git," courtesy of Ink5oul. They seem like the type to think anyone over 30 is "old," so take that with a grain of salt lol

The in-scene descriptors we get of [ERROR] are as follows:

Episode 10:

The water is gently disturbed below. Then there is a thud on the hidden wooden trapdoor and the rattle of a padlock.

There is the distinct sound of a key being dragged across wood, then being blindly fumbled in a lock which finally clicks.

The trap door opens, the lock falling away and [ERROR] emerges and takes a shuddering breath..

Episode 21:

A Figure emerges, shrouded in a cloak of whispers.

The Figure continues to emerge, a nightmarish specter of an older world, slowly enveloping Ink5oul’s brash bravado.

Ink5oul reluctantly releases GWEN. She sprints away still gabbling as she flees.

The Figure does not move.

Beat. The Figure turns to Ink5oul.

The Figure breathes deeply, a strange and disconcerting sound, enveloped in pained whispers.

The Figure recedes.

Voice lines from episode 21:

"MINE"

"ALL OF THEM, MINE"

"THERE IS MORE"

"NO. NOT HERE. ELSEWHERE..."

So here's what I'm taking away from this list:

[ERROR] is at least in some way corporeal, in that they can interact with the physical world

They seem to do a lot of breathing. it is unpleasant to listen to

They appear to be followed around by whispers? I'm taking the transcripts' word on that one, because my hearing is crap and I can't hear the sound effect. But I'm including it because it might be relevant

They have either a powerful enough presence/aura, or did something visibly that we didn't hear, enough to make Ink5oul back down. Ink5oul, who three minutes ago cut off a man's arm because he thought about getting in their way. Ink5oul, who definitely was Not going to let Gwen go without a fight. Ink5oul, a powerful new avatar, backed down after barely a fight at all

"a nightmarish spectre of an older world" has terrifying connotations I am not yet ready to tackle!

So... to go through my points from earlier I guess aha:

THE TAPE RECORDERS

We've seen tape recorders pop up 3 times so far:

episode 10 in the Archivist's office

episode 15 when Alice encounters the drowning woman

episode 21 when Gwen is cornered by Ink5oul

Two of these, [ERROR] shows up directly. In episode 15, we have no [ERROR] that we can see, but we DO see someone who is very likely one of [ERROR'S] victims? after-effects? which leads into:

THE COMPELLED STATEMENTS

We've heard of 3 (4, ish) compelled statements so far:

episode 15, the drowning woman

episode 18, the woman who started speaking on the autopsy table

(arguably) episode 20, where Ink5oul gives a monologue that sounds Very Much Like a statement. However, the mechanism of how this happened is still unclear

episode 21, Gwen spontaneously starts giving a statement relatively coherently when she's been hysterical - immediately after Ink5oul's tattoo gun touched her skin, and literally three seconds before [ERROR] shows up and lays claim to her

Two of these are recorded on tape recorders, as above. One of them (Ink5oul's) is recorded on Gwen's phone.

Episode 18, according to the coroner's report, was transcribed longhand by the doctor while the victim was speaking. Presumably, they eventually loaded it into her chart, where it was picked up by Freddy. However, it feels significant to me that the initial recording of the statement was done in a non-digital way

THE MAGNUS INSTITUTE

Does this even need to be a section tbh? lol

I would like to point out some oddities from episode 10 that may or may not be relevant to [ERROR]:

Alice and RedCanary both specifically call out a weird floor carving in the atrium, that somehow survived the fire

The key to the trapdoor was at the bottom of a filing cabinet?

The LOCK on the trapdoor, which appears to have been keeping [ERROR] trapped, was on the UNDERSIDE of the trapdoor??

THE TIES TO GWEN

Please consider Gwen Bouchard for a moment.

Gwen is a young employee of the OIAR who's worked there for four-ish years. She's recently been promoted.

She's finding out very quickly that she's in over her head with this job, but doesn't feel able to ask her coworkers for help.

She's rash, and has a short temper, and has exacting standards, and doesn't think very highly of her coworkers. She's an ass, but she's not a bad person - when she realizes that something she did caused other people to suffer, she was genuinely horrified.

Her boss is deliberately obtuse and unhelpful. Her boss is deliberately sending her into dangerous situations without all the facts or even any information at all, making her go face to face with monsters with the power to seriously harm or even kill her.

All this, while she barely has any concept that the monsters she's been reading about are very real and very dangerous. She has, just moments ago, been visibly marked by a monster who's been stalking her with a stated intention to cause permanent, even fatal, injury

EDITED TO ADD: Gwen had a childhood encounter with something presumably supernatural. Something involving a door that shouldn't have been opened

It feels very, very in-character for Jon Sims, or what's left of him, or an Archivist that has any scrap of Jon Sims left in them, to see her and see her trajectory, and say "no, absolutely not." Jon Sims, who - last time we saw him - said "I'd rather kill our doomed world myself than make anyone in another hypothetical reality go through what I have."

"[She's] mine - all of them, mine." Gwen Bouchard, a young member of an office with a job she can't even begin to understand. Her coworkers: Alice Dyer, a friendly, sarcastic woman with a cheerful front and a younger brother she adores. Sam Khalid, a man far too curious for his own good, who will follow a lead into danger if it means he might get some goddamn answers. Colin Becher, a man who's starting to understand what they've been wrapped up in, and who is quickly letting it consume him. And Celia Ripley, a woman [ERROR] may or may remember or recognize from the last time they were anything approaching human

Jon, or what's left of him, or what he's become, seeing all the same parallels that the audience has been seeing since episode one, and deciding to do something about it. To be the protector he, and Tim, and Sasha, and Martin so desperately needed. Laying claim to the OIAR staff in order to prevent them from being harmed by other monsters. Helping in maybe the only way he can, as he is right now

And maybe I'm wildly off-base! Maybe I'll be proven wrong in episode 22, or episode 30, or episode 90! but the more I think about this meta the more I love it, and the more sense it makes to me

[no-thoughts-just-the-clouds]

Just a list of things i am going to obsess over for the next two weeks about episode 3:

•"7 years of computer science for this?" HUHH?? KINGER YOU WANNA SAY SMTH? ALSO ALSO Ohhhh i can hear the theorists

•i love Martha(the ghost wife) tho? Like i want Ragatha-Gangle-Jax's side of the adventure now (i bet it's a just gonna be a ton of gossip and I WILL eat that up)

•the monster/angel thing is actual nightmare fuel i regret watching this at night

•when kinger saw the monster and seemed enamored by it i thought it has the power to remind people of their past or something. Now I'm just hurt because people pointed out that the monster-angel thing reminded kinger of his abstracted wife.

•kinger glows in the dark. he seems to remember things better in the dark. Huh

•Is jax the only one who can fourth wall break besides caine? is that gonna be important or is that just a running gag??

•kinger held his wife when shes already abstracted and didn't glitch.

•abstracted queenie calms down according to kinger. From his flashback she didn't appear hostile unlike kaufmo in ep 1. Does that mean they're not really that far away from saving?

•the part about zooble and hating their body. i can't wait for zooble's episode. I love them so much and would love to see more of their chracter development

•the animation in the part where you can only see pomni and kinger's eyes IS SO *Chef's kiss*

•i think when zooble keeps saying forget it caine takes it literally because he's an AI

•"Please don't come alive" "ok I won't" that caught me off guard

•no thoughts just that one frame of bubbles wearing Caine's top hat

•noticed some papers on the desks with drawings resembling abstraction

•gangle doesn't really do much in this episode but she is there and i love her. You're doing great sweetie.

•also can't wait for the time we touch upon the fact that caine is constantly dipping in and out of the rabbit hole of existential crisis

•Kinger doesn't even like bugs back then but Queenie got him into entomology. I am so sorry but I will never stop talking about them

•I love what Kinger told Pomni about cherishing those around you. It really mirrors the end of episode 2 and how she's starting to realize that there are people that do care about her in the circus.

•Pomni thanking Ragatha for always looking out for her 😭

•They tied jax up lmaoooo

•"In this world, the worst thing you can do is make someone think they're not wanted or loved"

[mephistopheleswasrobbed]

Finally I'm back to list all of the evidence that Peaceful Property On Sale is gay, actually!

This week again, our boys were fighting out their differences. But while last week they were fighting about class differences and the arrogance of the rich, this week their fight seems a little closer to home (pun intended) as we're talking about (chosen) family and home-cooked food as one of its signifiers. But more on that later. For now:

1

Pangpang's audience have seen Peach and Home interact like three times but they already ship it. Seeing as we, the show's audience, have seen even more of their interactions, and more intimate moments at that, we clearly have to ship even harder.

2

Home is still going with the pigtail-pulling strategy to deal with his crush.

He tries to make Peach say he's handsome:

And then he makes Peach dance for him:

All the while pretending he's doing all of this because he's some kind of old-school Bond villain and not because he likes him.

3

Aside from their more serious fights, Home and Peach keep bickering in a way that is supremely couple-coded.

Pangpang has also noticed.

Peach, at one point, is so busy complaining about Home that he even forgets to be scared of ghosts.

4

Speaking of people being uncharacteristically unscared: Home also experiences a moment of courage in the face of Peach trembling all over the place, when he steps up to deliver the coffee to Ride.

The fear only comes back when the ghost appears next to Peach, so. Make of that what you will.

5

Back at their base of operations, Home, very subtly, marks his territory by just plopping down on the siblings' new bed, while the bed owners in question sit on the sofa instead.

This is now the second time Home has actively chosen to lay on their bed. (It is also the second time he proceeds to stand on their bed once he goes back to fighting with Peach) One has to wonder why he feels so comfortable making himself at home (höhö) in Peach's bed. (It's because of gay, clearly.)

6

Relatedly, Home has given Peach and Pangpang a home in his place. He could have had them move into any of the many properties he owns, but he chose to let them stay in the one place that is "reserved for" him, that clearely means something to him.

We can see how much this place means to him, both from the flashback and from the fight he starts with Peach over the gas burner. Because it is important to him, he doesn't want it endangered by open fire. However he doesn't just say this, maybe because he doesn't want to appear weak or thinks that the others wouldn't understand or maybe because he's not fully aware of it himself. Instead, when his order is met with protest, he gets grumpy, starts a fight with Peach and leaves.

Because this bar is important to him and, (even though he might not fully admit it at this point), so is Peach's opinion, he gets visibly disappointed when Peach talks negatively about it after Home offers to let them stay somewhere else,

only to perk up again and reminice about his grandpa when Peach says that he wants to stay anyway.

Honestly this, coupled with the ep 1 grandpa flashback about the meaning of "home" is giving me CLW vibes of recently dead (grand-)father meddling from beyond the grave to get his (grand-)son a boyfriend.

7

Once Home has calmed down from his immediate anxiety over the safety of his bar, and has come back because he was lonely and scared by himself, he attempts to genuinely understand why cooking is so important to Peach and why his "solution" of "Just order takeout" was not met with agreement.

We can even see that he feels a little bad about Peach having to cook with a microwave,

leading to him compromising and getting them an electric stove at the end.

(Of course he's still disguising his kindness as a gotcha moment)

8

We learn that Home has been pretty lonely since his parents died, symbolised by his having to eat alone. While he's alone in the masion he doesn't even want to admit his lonelieness out lout to just himself. But when he's talking to Peach in the next scene, he talks about it easily and freely with little to no prompting from Peach. Because he feels safe with Peach.

This is also why, after Home gets lonley and scared in the mansion, he comes to Peach and Pangpang in the first place. Not to his uncle or Kan or Suradech (we see later in that scene, that he's clearly not too worried disturbing people outside their working hours when he calls Kan). Because being with them (especially Peach) makes him feel safer and less lonely.

9

In parallel to Thansai, who did this with Ride, the guy she liked, Home uses the excuse of having ordered too much food to spend more time with Peach (the guy he likes).

Credit to almayver for this point, not sure I would have caught that myself.

Adding to that, after the first time where Thansai lies, she does actually order extra food to share with Ride. Home, meanwhile, has ordered too much food from the beginning (sharing it with gramps the first time). He's always orderd extra food because he's always wanted to have someone to share it with. And now he's finally found them (him ^^).

10

After Home opens up to Peach, he lets Home in a little more, in turn, by inviting him to help him with his cooking.

And even though he words it more like an order than an invitation, Home clearly recognises the olive branch and gets to looking for the soap to wash some vegetables, without any complaint. (Oh Home you sheltered little rich boy) (Although I can't make fun of him too much for this. It sounds exactly like something I would do had I never cooked before)

This leads to the wonderful, very subtle moment of the two of them cooking together under the "Cok Long" sign. (And since there is such a clear shot of this, no one can convince me this wasn't done with full intent)

Peach continuing to warm up to Home, is further exemplified by his willingness to play along with his BS after the successful exorcism

and the fact that he unconciously prepares a fourth plate for Home at the end of the episode. For which he promptly gets called out by Pangpang.

11

Peach feels safe with Home. He has (maybe subconciously) taken note of the events of the previous episode, as he's now turning to Home when he gets scared by the ghost.

Interesting to note, even after he confirms that Ride has left, he doesn't fully let go of Home. Someone's looking very comfortable clutching Home's arm even though there's no ghost anymore.

12

I think the entire scene of Pangpang calling them the mother and father of their little family speaks for itself.

It's okay boys, Thailand passed gay marriage, you can both be the dad.

13

And then we get another moment of absolute boyfriend behaviour in the end credits when Home steals Peach's glasses to play with them.

Him putting the glasses on Kan at the end is also the only moment this episode that could maaaaybe be interpreted as slightly flirtatious towards Kan, but if you do interpret it that way, you also have to admit that he was flirting with Peach a lot more in that scene.

BONUS

Peach didn't punch anyone this episode, so instead I'm bringing you

Lesbians

It startet with them holding hands last week as they fled from Rak

and turned into bickering over whether or not Kan gets scared by ghosts. (A topic which I assume will give these two grounds for further bickering for at least the next couple of episodes.)

(Judging by the smirks on Peach and Home's faces whenever these two go at it, Pangpang might not be the only shipper in the group anymore)

When Home doesn't want to come to her party, she proclaims that she "has got Kan", so that's okay, and then batts her eyelashes at Kan.

Pangpang said "I see your 'emotionally constipated boys trying to pretend they don't like each other' and I raise you 'unashamed and uncompomising flirting sunshine x grumpy style'"

Looking forward to see how Kan will answer that going forward.

[hughungrybear]

So, I guess the original timeline goes something like this:

1. Korn and Tonkla are lovers. Korn has also just inherited the illegal online gambling business from his dad. Meanwhile, Great and Title are bffs.

2. Great committed a hit-and-run against the woman in Ep 1. No hints whether she survived the incident.

3. Dome witnessed Title abducting the gf and made everyone know through their class GC. Title retaliates and kidnaps Dome.

4. Great became an accomplice/witness in killing Dome. Dome's body was later found and processed by the police led by Win. As a result, Win meets Tonkla at the morgue.

5. Korn's leadership was sabotaged by outside forces leading to him asking for help from Fah's dad. He ignores Tonkla's desperate attempts to reach out while he solves the family business' problems (and fucking Fah as payment, quid pro quo). Also, a shareholder was assassinated.

6. Win was removed as lead investigator by his superior. Probably because it was hinted that Tle's family is as rich and powerful (maybe moreso) as Great's parents. Win and Tonkla become lovers, with Win promising he'll continue investigating Dome's death for Tonkla's sake. Korn gets kicked out of Tonkla's house (and life). Win also meets a possible witness (the GF's friend in previous eps) and gets threaten in the process.

7. Tonkla (for reasons undisclosed yet) learned who killed his brother and proceeded to do some quick street justice on Tle (involving paying a girl to drug him to sleep so that Tonkla can bash his head in). Win finds a body with the same head injuries as Dome's. Meanwhile the same superior who told him to get off Dome's case is now harassing him for being too slow in solving this one, which tracks if that was really Tle's body they found. He also got a name on the murder prints (though we don't know whose it is).

8. Nan is secretly working with Tyme to bring the Sriwat Cargo Business down. She sleeps with the creepy ass manager but gets caught and shot while trying to gain more evidence.

Now, this is where it gets murky with the new timeline. Ignoring the 4-minute time loops in between, we have:

1. Great calls an ambulance on the woman he accidentally ran over. She survives but she also eventually hires a killer (Ep 5) who shoots both Great and his mother dead (or near death, as in Great's case), which brings us to the first minute of Ep 1

2. The family convinces Great to visit the woman where he meets Tyme. Tyme learns who Great is and decides to be close to him for revenge.

3. Great saves Dome and brings him to the hospital. Great and Tyme becomes officially acquainted. Tyme also saves Great from vengeful Tle.

4. Dome wakes up on a hospital bed. Curiously, nobody called Tonkla despite Dome being confined in the hospital for (what looks like) a few days. He did not visit his beloved brother in the hospital nor picked him up when he was discharged. We see Dome riding a taxi and talking to Tonkla on the phone. But when he gets off the taxi and greets Tonkla, he vanishes (just like the cat in Ep 1). In this sense, both Dome and the cat were like echoes to Tonkla. We don't see Tonkla in this new timeline. He is, for all intents and purposes, stuck in the original timeline.

5. Great keeps seeing things related to Tyme that had not happened outside the 4-minutes (i.e., seeing them have sex when he bumped Tyme in the hospital, reading "can you forgive me" on that note attached on the cup of Thai tea instead of "Don't forget to go to the hospital".

6. Great and Tyme go on a sweet date involving claw machines and ends the day with a(n almost) kiss.

7. Nan calls Tyme while trying to escape. Tyme dares to attack Korn but gets identified by Great in the process.

I feel like there is something to be said on Tyme's tendency to prolong the "inevitable" just like Den accused him of doing with a dying patient in this ep. Coupled by the fact that Tyme doesn't seemed to sleep (based on the off-cut remark from the janitor in the gym is Ep 2), it seems Tyme somehow holds the key to this whole mess.

Also, why is Tonkla absent in the new timeline?

[strawberrycarat]

I love the fact that conscientiously and unconsciously Daemon KNOWS Aemond is the key to destroy the greens.

Like in the beginning of the season, he wants to go with Rhaenys to get Vhagar and Aemond (let’s not forget Meleys and Caraxes are the most experienced war dragons team black has - they could handle Vhagar, perhaps with some issues, of course, but they had some opportunity, unlike the other dragons). I don’t know why all the others seem to underestimate Aemond and Vhagar (like when Daemon says what if Rhaenyra finds them when she was looking for Luke’s body and Rhaenys answers that she would feel sorry for Aemond… like??? Syrax is no match for Vhagar and since we haven’t seen Rhaenyra fighting skills, I would dare to say she’s not match to Aemond either)

And in this ep, we see Daemon following Aemond in Harrenhall, so he knows Aemond is the missing piece of this war. I mean, they don’t attack King’s landing BECAUSE Vhagar and Aemond are protecting the city, even with tb 5 dragons (Rhaenys, Rhaenyra, Baela, Jace, Daemon… all of them have one and they could easily go after them - like 2 could attack Sunfyre and 3 Vhagar, idk - yeah, yeah, I know Rhaenyra didn’t want Dragons fighting, but in this scenario, they might stood a chance)

I also loved the fact Daemon followed Aemond just to find himself with an eyepatch. He knows Aemond is some sort of reflection of what he was and he is and, as Ewan’s decision to take the coin as a reminder of Daemon (genius) this was a good scene of what will come next for these 2 characters.

As a book fan, I don’t particularly like some of the decisions in the show, but I can see they’re definitely preparing the ground for THE DANCE OF THE DRAGONS (Vhagar/Aemond fight with Caraxes/Daemon) it’s going to be EPIC, I know it.

[nishloves]

gojo satoru as boyfriend!

based on ep 3 of jujutsu kaisen season 2 where he takes care of riko-chan.

masterlist

can't shake the feeling that gojo is the type of boyfriend who will annoy you to the core, bully you (slightly) and would never admit it that he likes to touch you— he would disguise his affections and endearing feelings for you with tugging your hairs, pinching or tickling you. and at the same time he would never let anyone even merely annoy you and ask them to move if you're getting too exasperated.

on the surface he would refuse to do anything for you, but little do you know, everything he does is for you.

you were hungry and wanted that last pizza slice which satoru oh so terribly ate? suddenly, there's a delivery on your door of the same exact pizza coz satoru was hungry and this time he surprisingly ate less?

he would push you towards the street when it's raining because he doesn't want water on his expensive clothes but would be holding your hand and turn on his infinity for all the time it's raining?

would get shocked when you don't respond to his mean remarks with another one of your refutes and immediately apologise and look at your face for any signs of worry/sadness/hurt.

cocky as fuck and would never tone it down, hell if you're dating him he would get even more cocky and flaunt you off because you're just ever so pretty.

suddenly a lot more empathic, won't seem like it but he will prioritise your feelings over his any day, people would wonder how you got him to love you when he's such a narcissist. he's not, but he will definitely pretend as if he is. although, your presence does give him an ego boost.

would never leave you alone and curse himself and blame himself if anything bad ever happens to you. but if you fell on a crowded road by yourself? don't expect him to help you, he will laugh and probably bend over because of how hard he is laughing.

he's not just your boyfriend, he's your annoying friend too.

people think he's the baby of the relationship because of how ignorant, flamboyant and pompous he is, but little do they know it's you, you're the one being spoiled every single day and satoru would spoil you every single day.

he also seems like someone who would forget to call you when he's with friends, or at work and doesn't seem loyal at all. it's a miracle he's dating you for this long.

but if you truly captured his heart, if your relationship was the one which transversed from best friends to lovers hell, he will go to hell before even thinking of anyone else as hot. (although the probability of this is fairly low)

come on, never expect satoru to be loyal until you actually have a deep emotional connection without which everything would feel empty.

[incorrect-riordanverse]

watched ep 3 & 4 of the pjo show. here are random thoughts:

ep 3

ive said before that ive put off watching the pjo show after episode 2 because the pacing seemed like a rush of getting from story checkpoint to story checkpoint and it never sat in one place long enough to actually grip me. episode 3 started off like that too, before the trio went on the quest. i only started to really like it when they were on the bus together and more of their dynamic was shining. theyre so funny bru.

i like all the acting but leah jeffries and aryan simhadri are CARRYING SO HARD. its like they took annabeth exactly how i imagined her out of my head and plopped her on screen and im so shocked at the accuracy??? her attitude and side eyes and sass is perf. and simhadri’s grover is insane because (dont come for me) i actually like the show version of him better than i did in the book 😭 perhaps reading him was rocky and i interpreted him wrong but seeing him on screen makes me SO attached to him. like in the books he always seemed like a sort of third wheel and annabeth and percy were outshining him so much but he’s actually slaying the show. i love him lots.

i like the dichotomy between percy and annabeth. their dynamic is already so juicy, especially with how they view both their godly and mortal parents. you can see some of their fatal flaws already shining through UGH i love them

i like medusa WAY more in the show. she seems so menacing yet classy and much more multifaceted. my only complaint was that she died way too quickly. there was so much build up in tension only for her to get one-tapped and it was honestly disappointing.

LIN MANUEL MIRANDA SPOTTED 🫵🫵

dialogue was great in this episode, btw.

ep 4

dream sequence went so hard -> “just breathe mummy ☺️ you’ll always be here 😁” *cuts to percy alone on a desolate plane where she is, in fact, not here*

sighhh sometimes i forget these kids are just twelve and theyre literal BABIES and percy just misses his mum 🙁

annabeth exposition time. a comment on all the exposition— there’s always something each episode but i think the show is doing a well enough job of not dumping everything in a way thats spoon-feedy to audience or in a way that makes viewers feel overwhelmed. theyre breaking information up nicely (imo).

echidna is slaying so hard. sorry but the villains are actually eating the whole dish up. mwah no balls.

its giving “im not a monster, im a mother” 🔥

fight scene annoyed me again but at least the mother of all monsters wasn’t ONE TAPPED. but i was annoyed because the monster was not thrashing him around as much as it had the opportunity to and it was giving plot armour im so sorry. might be cause of budget or target audience/rating though idk. the commentary of the show seems more mature however.

anyways yurr those are my observations. i like these last two eps more than the first two so maybe i should let this series cook.

remember to pirate this show if ur gonna watch it!!

[markantonys]

i'd watched the first 2 episodes of ROP s1 when they first came out, but i found them boring and so didn't continue. however, i've been hearing that charlie vickers is eating and leaving no crumbs in the new season, and that is my sweet boy guglielmo pazzi from i medici (2019) and i've Got to see him killing it in a huge role, i'm so proud of him!!! always a delight when a previously-unknown actor from an obscure show you love ends up making it big

so i decided to give it another shot and dove straight into 1x03 after reading a summary of the first 2 eps to refresh my memory, and idk if 1x03 really is that much more interesting than 1&2 or if it's just that i happen to be in a different frame of mind now that's more predisposed to getting interested in this show, but WOW i am loving it!! i'm an extremely casual LOTR fan (in fact i wouldn't even rightfully call myself a fan, more just "i've watched the movies a few times and like them" haha) and so whatever complaints the fans have about ROP obviously are not things that bother me. i'm just here for a good time, and i'm having one!

the galadriel & halbrand plotline is definitely my favorite (heck, if the numenor stuff had arrived in ep2 instead of 3 i might've been on board with the show the first time around). i already know he's sauron, of course, so i was like "i won't get attached to halbrand since he's not a real person, just sauron's disguise" but fuck, i'm attached, and it hurts!!!!! loving a character who starts out good and turns to the dark is one type of pain, but loving a character who was never real at all because they were evil the whole time and this "character" was never anything more than a facade - it's an entirely different and perhaps even worse type of pain! i can't even soothe myself imagining an AU where halbrand never turned evil, because halbrand was never real! genuinely in immense anguish over this. but once i reach s2 and get to the Unabashedly Evil Sauron Era, it'll be so sexy that i might immediately go "oh no! anyway" and forget all about my anguish jdkjfg

............wait a moment. do i now know how show!rand must be feeling post-s2? attached to someone who was never real because they were always just an evil person's fake persona? oh rand honey i'm even sorrier for you now!

speaking of WOT, it really has broken my brain because i try to polyship everything all the time nowadays. why did i go "wake up babe new polycule just dropped" during that scene when galadriel, halbrand, and miriel had a meeting lmao girl you KNOW this bitch is sauron! but i already knew people were shipping him and galadriel, so i went in to my new watch expecting to see the vibes, and indeed seeing them, and i ALSO unexpectedly saw vibes for galadriel and miriel (two leaders overburdened by duty, oh it's my kryptonite), so how can i help creating a polycule? oh well, i'll enjoy it while it lasts and then once galadriel finds out he's sauron i will instead get some angst to enjoy! and she will still have her girlfriend to comfort her (as long as nothing happens to miriel.........i haven't heard any spoilers about her, so we shall see!)

back to halbrand, the "he's the lost king of the southlands" idea is such a clever misdirect because it allows halbrand to demonstrate unusual skills in combat/diplomacy/manipulation that we wouldn't expect a seeming peasant to have, but provides a cover for it and so we think this one "identity reveal" is all there is to it, and aren't suspecting a second, bigger identity reveal! and actually, as far as i can remember, he never actually confirms that he's the lost king, he just plants a clue to lead galadriel to believe it and then responds to her assumptions in ways that seem to confirm them but don't actually. very aes sedai of him! and hey, if the southlands used to serve sauron, wouldn't it technically be accurate for him to be considered their lost king? very aes sedai of him x2. liars who lie without technically lying are the best kind (gen from the queen's thief also). anyway, because of this misdirect, i don't think i'd be suspecting him of being sauron at all at this point if i didn't already know. on the other hand, there aren't really any other sauron candidates except adar who clearly isn't him. but back to the first hand, the show never set up a "one of our major characters is sauron, who is it?" mystery so i might just be assuming he was hanging out offscreen yet to show up, if i didn't already know.

i'm enjoying the other plotlines too! i remember feeling that the hobbits & the stranger plotline was the weakest link in the first 2 eps, but totally changed my tune now, nori and the stranger (who i'm guessing is gandalf, but i'm not sure, so don't tell me if you know) have the most wholesome friendship, i could die!!

or rather, the second most wholesome friendship after elrond and durin, which i remember was my favorite storyline the first time around. they are so pure!! and disa is a delight! she and elrond have impeccable sibling-spouse energy (yes we've got another polyship in the house, of course we do)

i'm trying not to get too attached to bronwyn because i know they kill her off between seasons due to the actress leaving the show, but i really like her :(( her son's kinda annoying, but he's an angsty teen, so i can't hold it against him. and arondir!! what a man, i'm swooning constantly over everything he says and does. i really like how in the most recent episode i watched they had a Good Guy (bronwyn) genuinely consider giving up her principles of honor and going to swear fealty to the bad guys in order to survive, it feels more realistic and it really sells us on just how desperate and hopeless the situation is (and on how sauron is able to get supporters by creating such situations).

it's also a visually gorgeous show, very decadent (i was practically drooling the first time they showed numenor haha i love white stone seaside cities, and the ancient greek aesthetic vibes are the cherry on top!), and the MUSIC!!!!! you guys know i'm a tv soundtrack fanatic, and my god, this is the best tv soundtrack i've heard in a LONG time. i'd put it as second to WOT because it's traditional fantasy orchestra whereas WOT's soundscape is so different and unique. but "traditional fantasy orchestra" isn't a knock here, because it's done INCREDIBLY well, so it does feel unique instead of generic like other, lesser Traditional Fantasy Orchestra soundtracks do. it's sumptuous, it's lush, it's rich, it's got very distinctive Themes for each character/location that always play in the appropriate contexts (which is one of my favorite aspects of WOT's soundtrack too). i'd been listening to the s1 soundtrack for quite a while before now, so i'm well-primed to recognize all the different themes!

my favorite has gotta be the halbrand theme, i have a character in my WIP who's a sad mountain prince (and a gawyn knockoff <3) and this theme just reminds me sooooo much of him, i cry. but if we dispense with the halbrand pretense after s1, we might not get to hear this theme anymore!!!! it's also the southlands theme, though, so hopefully we'll keep it, and i did hear it crop up briefly in a track from the s2 album. also, shoutout to the fact that the halbrand melody is an inverse of the sauron melody, bear mccreary you son of a gun (the sauron theme is another one of my favorites, the first time i heard it i assumed it was his theme from the original movies because it just had the feel of an Iconic Villain Theme, but no, it's new to ROP!)

anyway! i've watched up through 1x05 now. pacing's definitely still a bit slow, but i'm enjoying it nonetheless, and it's picking up now that galadriel & co are headed for the southlands. and i've heard that s2 is a big step up in many respects (a la WOT s2), so i'm excited to get there!

[loustat-0]

Your answer about why Louis and Armand stay together brought something that always made me wonder about the show. Louis is jealous in the show so how come he would not be of Armand and Daniel in the 70s? Is it a way to show that Armand is not the love of his life (unlike Lestat)? Did he have his memories changed too? Has the writing just changed from season 1 to 2? What do you think?

This one will be a long one too . So please bear with me 🙏🏻

1. I hope no one attacks me for this but I didn't buy the " love of my life " of Louis at all . And as we can see even after Lestat is supposedly dead Louis can't get over him no matter how much he tries . On the show in Paris it seems like Armand is Louis's way of distraction from Lestat even though it doesn't work all the time . Not that Louis isn't attracted to Armand no , he's gay on the show and he has quite specific taste in men but Armand is also different feeling from Lestat so he's actually looking to any vampires who aren't like Lestat at all because he's trying so hard to forget him so Armand is that person at least that's what Louis thinks . And he thinks he has a common feeling with Armand about getting hurt by Lestat .

2. And in my opinion Louis isn't the love Armand's either he's his way of having new feelings and trying a new kind of love after a century but a century after Lestat . So Armand also want to forget Lestat and he also resents him and he could be after Louis to get revenge from Lestat . For all we know Lestat could have possibly arrived in Paris even before Louis and Claudia . So Armand knows about them . Even if they arrived in Paris earlier than Lestat did Armand still knew about them and I'm sure he suspected them being Lestat's fledglings . It's still love for Louis and Armand they were together a long time but what if they BOTH tried so hard to forget their relationship with Lestat that they quite became performative love to each other ? Both of them showing a part of themselves that they hated in Lestat?

3. I don't know much about Armand and Daniel possible history on the show yet But according to the the devil's minion chapter in the 3rd book Daniel is the love of Armand's life , someone who accepted his as he was adored him for his beauty and evil , although they had a rough start but they remained a couple for years . A relationship Armand cherished more than anyone else and possibly more than even Lestat because at the point of the book Lestat was in danger in the concert but Armand found Daniel and stayed with him and protected him and then turned him . Unfortunately in the books it doesn't last too long though they separated until the prince Lestat book where they became a couple again but Marius was there too .

4. I don't think Louie would be jealous over Armand's relationships because it seems like in the 70s they're in an open relationship even before that Armand and Louis brought out other men to their relationship and Louis had possibly sex with those men and Armand probably did too and then Armand killed them or probably erased their memories of being with them and left them on their own . EXCEPT FOR YOUNG DANIEL . He probably did something to his memories but it seems like both Armand and Louis kept a close watch on Daniel too . But I think Armand is mostly pretending that Daniel was like another men they had fun with and played with him like a pet and left him to be with Louie . Armand might be jealous and possessive of Daniel though , remember when Louis offered to turn Daniel in Ep 4 in season 1 ?

5 . So I don't think Louis cares about monogamous relationships anymore maybe because the show is going to go into poly direction . OR maybe Louis only have that feeling for Lestat . That fire , that burn , that jealousy . Maybe he's not jealous over Armand's and Lestat and Nickolas relationship because he doesn't know how deep they actually were . He thinks they were both a passing thing for Lestat and maybe he's deeply hurt by that what if he was that too ? 😢

6. I'm not sure who do you mean by having his memories changed too . But if you're talking about Louis and Daniel yes their memories are probably changed or I better say tampered with .

[sidecharactersdomatter]

Thoughts I had during TGCF S2 Ep 4

This’ll be another quick reaction ‘cause I have a desk to clean!

-Oooh!  Starting with the opening!

Previously on TGCF…

-Dim Sum night @ Paradise Manor!

-Man they didn’t even get a sip in

-He reassured Lang Ying

-Dude it was in a really small glass, so maybe it could’ve been to his liking if it wasn’t alcoholic

-Man that expression and tone made it seem like Hua Cheng made a really grave error

That noise when Qingxuan tilted their head

-Qingxuan is the wingman/woman

-For those of you who think he said, “Some sex allow indulgences” in the dub,  it’s actually “Some sects allow indulgences” which references the sects that practice cultivation, and I manage to catch that detail

-Licentious means related to promiscuous and sexual activity.

-A flashback to Ep 2

-That’s the advice on staying balance is basically what every patron ignores in Vegas

-He’s tricking him into getting the information for the dice portal

-“Enough San Lang!  Please stop teasing me.”  *In a sing-song voice*  No he will not~!  And XL said it so gently!!!!

-Man he fell for that favor all too quickly

-Just like transferring spiritual energy

-It’s a 12!

-It’s the music from EP 6 when they were both caught in the sandstorm!!!!

-He offered his dice!!!

-Man, hook line and sinker for XL

-“A few more rounds?” We all know what he was referring to~! ;3

-NYOOOM

-“San Lang, will you ever stop spoiling me?” *In a sing-song voice again*  No he will not~!

-Aww he doesn’t want to take advantage of his Ghost King

-Hi Qingxuan

-This is like removing your belt and getting into comfier clothes after going to town at a fancy restaurant with your folks

-No thoughts just Buff!Qingxuan, and he’s got great fashion sense

-Details~!  That’s literally all of us watching this!

-Yep told ya he’s got great fashion sense and imagine the montage Windmaster did just to sneak in

-This has the energy of seeing your roommate just pass out in your room of the flat

-Salacious means arousing to appeal to sexual imagination

-“I mean he called you his honored guest in front of everyone” “Jealous~?” - Jake the Dog, Burning Low, Adventure Time

-He didn’t forget at all

-They were talking about luck~

-Man that transition with the dice toss

-A really temporary gift

-Another 12

-That’s a lot of stairs

-Firebending

-No need to be savage Qingxuan

-Just like The dragon of the west, the Martial god of the west somehow has that energy and more foreshadowing for the series

-It looks like a Mayan mural

-No earthbending allowed

-The dice and tunnel are confusing them

-He rolled a 7!  Somebody go get Miguel and Tulio!

-It’s the iconic floor trap pitfall

-They made two craters like Wile E. Coyote!

-Oooh right on the skull!

-It’s a narrow tunnel!

-Cave in!

-LEECH WORMS!  

-Another animal hybrid the people in ATLA will get scared sh*tless over

-More firebending!

-Fire beats bug!

-Well those dice tiles were convenient

-Another 7!

-Another trap door!

-It’s a 4!

-The downside of partnering with Xie Lian everyone

-And he just effortlessly helps up Buff!Qingxuan

-I like how he doesn’t badmouth Hua Cheng’s trickery

I’m gonna to skip this next part of the EP because it’s offensive!  (You know the part I’m talking ‘bout)

-That’s gonna be another visit to the exfoliating facial masks

-Welcome to XL’s pain dude

-Dude, you didn’t bring him bad luck at all, he didn’t realize and it’s out of both of your control

-One man can’t sway the Windmaster’s luck, that gonna be another iconic quote

-Get yourself a friend like Qingxuan

-Yay another conveniently placed dice tile!

-Another 12

-Man the whiplash Qingxuan has going from saying ‘San Lang’ to ‘Hua Cheng’ when he got exasperated

-This took place in a time before the Step counter was invented

-*hears Ming Yi speak*  OH NO HE’S HOT!!!

-He melted the metal shackles

-This has the energy of the cheerleader being close with the goth girl but masculine

-From EP 11

-Yep it’s exactly like the popular girl trying to befriend the goth

-And he already knows they’re close!

-And Ming Yi just sleeps to not talk to anyone, valid

-What was the number he just rolled

-Another floor trap

-He didn’t land in his lap like in the novel and man Hua Cheng

-Boo Chinese Censorship! BOO!!! (Rotten tomatoes)

*Hua Cheng gasps in demi* *wink wink*

That’s all for the reaction post, I gotta get back to cleaning me and my sister’s room

[adachimoe]

PSC Eps 12, 13, 18, 19 "Ah-ha, I SEES it!"

Last time: Ep 1 + Explanation, Eps 2 + 4, Ep 5, Eps 6 + 7 (no Q&A), Eps 8 + 9, Eps 10 + 11 (plus PSC Cafe)

I paraphrased some of the phrasings, except for the fish question. I left that as-is because it impressed Isocchi so much she rewarded the viewer who asked it with a t-shirt.

Episode 12

Q: Does Rise wear earrings with a piercing-type backing, or does she wear clip-ons? A: Clip-ons.

(This sounds dumb because language thing and Atlus's answer. In JP, a "ピアス / pierce" is for pierced ears, but an "イヤリング / earring" refers to clip-ons. In English, we just call all of these "earrings" lol. The viewer asks if Rise wears a pierce or a clip-on or a magnetic clip-on, and Atlus answers that she wears clip-on, but not if her ears are actually pierced or not, hence my weird phrasing.)

Q: Where did Aragaki live before moving back into the SEES dormitory? A: He was probably living somewhere by himself, or he kept being an unwanted guest at the homes of his shady friends. Probably a big reason why he got to know Strega so well was cause he spent so long as a vagrant. Q: During Episode Adachi in P4AU, Adachi mentions getting tired of seeing the Moonlight Bridge when he was in the city. Did he used to live in Iwatodai? A: He didn't necessarily live there, but he worked in the city center, and would take the scenic route back to HQ by driving over to Moonlight Bridge to imitate a character on a popular detective drama.

(See this post for more about the TV show in question.)

Episode 13

Q: Who is Margaret's favorite (hot guy) Persona? A: I think Ardha, Helel, and Yoshitsune are her favorites since she swaps between them a lot. She uses Oberon for the 9999 damage Megidolaon, so maybe she's got some obsession with him? Q: Why does the P3 Protagonist wear his MP3 player in Tartarus? It makes sense during his everyday life, but it doesn't work during the Dark Hour, and it seems like it would be annoying swinging around during battle, or I think it would break when he gets attacked. Did he just forget to take it off? A: Part of the reason why is that he will sometimes he listen to it on the way to Tartarus. The other part is that wearing it has become a habit. Q: In Persona 3, what's with the wound on Sanada's forehead? I'm worried because his ribs healed in a month but the wound on his forehead still hasn't healed after a year. A: The band-aid on the left side of Sanada's forehead is just to express that, "He always has injuries cause he's a boxer". Due to his past, he's the type who wants to train to the extent that he's bullying himself, so it seems he has a lot of fresh wounds on his face.

Episode 18

Q: In P4D, Kanamin's costumes include her plain jersey with a shirt that says "Life" (人生) on it, and it seems like the writing changes when she dances. How many variations are there? A: 13 total ("Life" + 12 others). Q: When did Sho from P4AU get that scar on his forehead? I thought the story would explain something about it since it glows when his eyes glow, but even after clearing the story, there was no explanation. A: The scar on his forehead is related to "that one thing" being implanted into his forehead. The blue glow is due to the influence of "that one thing" and the red glow is due to the influence of "the big guy".

(Contextually: Blue = Plume of Dusk and alternate personality, red = Hi-no-Kagutsuchi.)

Q: I want to know if Shiroku's pet fish Akihiko that's kept at Shiroku Pub is a freshwater fish or seawater fish? The fish itself looks like an oarfish making it a deep-sea fish which would at least need a tank with seawater. But Inaba is surrounded by mountains and the only sea on the map is Shichiri Beach. I don't think it's that far away because the main characters can go there, but Shiroku runs the general store during the day and the pub at night so I get the feeling she doesn't have time to go get seawater. A: If you look into it, there's an "artificial seawater mix" for keeping seawater fish in aquariums as pets and it's very easy to get through mail order. If she really is keeping an oarfish in an aquarium, that's impressive - something no one else has been able to do! I wonder how she does it... There's so many fish you can catch around Inaba...

Episode 19

Q: What's with the distinctive hair styles on Yosuke's Personas Susanoo and Takehaya Susanoo? Did Yosuke wish he could have an afro? A: The flashy hair isn't because of Yosuke's heart, but because the mythological Susanoo had the image of a tempest and a violent storm. It being red is to communicate that, within the game, Yosuke is not just strong against wind, but also strong against fire. Q: During January in P3P, it's mentioned that Sanada and Mitsuru take standardized tests for university admissions. But in P4 Arena, Sanada had been training overseas. Did he drop out? A: No. As mentioned in the P4 Arena story mode, he was just on leave from school. It was probably his own version of a ritual purification before embarking on the path of fighting as a professional, but even Mitsuru told him, "You're overdoing it".

(Since Aki joins the police force to support the Shadow Workers in the epilogue, I assume this is talking about him fighting Shadows professionally, not him thinking about becoming a pro boxer.)

Q: Why does Ryoji wear a scarf? November seems a bit too early for scarf weather. Does the scarf have a special meaning? A: Mainly for impact when you first meet him, but also his values are different than other people's and we were conscious of that - like he's "a foreigner who hasn't gotten used to this town yet".

(Japanese people tend to dress based on the season rather than the actual weather lol. [E.g. an older woman in the countryside asked me, "Aren't you cold?" when I was wearing leggings and a t-shirt on a warm sunny day in spring.] November would usually still be considered fall.)

[where-theres-smoak-2]

HOTD 2X01 Review/Thoughts (SPOILERS!)

Finally got to watch 2x01 of HOTD and I must say, it was an ok episode. I feel like this was more of a catch up episode, establishing where all the characters are after the events of the season 1 finale, but it wasn't my favourite episode, it was a bit slow and underwhelming at times and there were other moments where it was just too rushed, but I am hoping the action will pick up more as the season goes on, as I said I think this episode was just kind of showing us the aftermath of s1 ep 9 and 10. But anyway lets get into my thoughts on the episode, as I always say before every review, these are just my own thoughts and opinions and this is your official spoiler warning.

New Opening Credits

So we got some new opening credits, it was cool, a tapestry that is slowing being soaked in blood and showing what I think were scenes from targaryen history and scenes of the dance itself. Like I said it was very cool to look at. However, and this may be an unpopular opinion, but I think I preferred the original credits with the old valyria model and rivers of blood and I kind of miss that title card. I think the original title card showed the bloodlines more, it was almost like a family tree with each cog representing a character. The new title card is more focused on historical events. I think both are interesting to look at though.

The North

I liked the start of the episode and how it showed us a raven, one the was bearing the news of lucerys' death, flying through the north. It was good to see the north again and I found it really interesting to learn that in the past house stark would send one in every ten of their men to the night's watch to keep their numbers boosted and how it was seen as an honour. It was an interesting comparison to the night's watch in GOT which was mostly made up of criminals who were looking for an alternative to being jailed or executed. It showed how over time as the belief in the white walkers existence faded so too did the fear of them and the belief of the night's watch's necessity.

Another thing I liked was Cregan Stark pointing out that the old king in the north knelt to Aegon the conqueror out of fear. I personally feel like both in the show and in the fandom there's this romanticisation of Aegon the conqueror and people seem to think that the lords and kings of Westeros bent the knee to him because they believed he was a good and just man who would unite the realm if he was king. When lets be honest when Aegon first arrived in Westeros nobody knew what kind of man he was or what kind of king he would be, all they knew was that he and his sister wives had three big ass dragons that would burn them all to ash if they resisted him. I spent years studying history, through school, college and university, and one thing that was always drummed into us is that history is written by the victors, so when looking at historical sources we are taught to assess three things, 1 is the source contemporary ie were they there at the time to witness it themselves, 2 is the source accurate and consistent with other sources and 3 does the source have a bias ie whose side was the source on etc. Considering Aegon the Conqueror was the victor it makes sense that he would have everyone saying that he was a good and just king and that's why people bent the knee and would gloss over the part where he was eradicating entire bloodlines and houses as he went around on his dragon burning anyone who got in his way, he won Westeros with fear, fire and blood. Just to be clear I am not saying that Aegon wasn't a good king but just that we shouldn't forget that he was also a conqueror from another land who invaded on a dragon and did some pretty horrific things in order to get the crown.

So I liked that conversation between Cregan and Jace where Cregan pointed this out and I think he also did it in a very diplomatic way. I also think it makes sense that they both have different views on that historical event, Jace knows the victor's version being an ancestor of Aegon means the sources he had access to were the ones that showed Aegon in a positive light, its possible those sources were contemporary to the time but not necessarily to the place and might not have been first hand witnesses, they also likely would have been written by the supporters of the Aegon so would have a bias. Cregan on the other hand would have access to sources written by the northerners, some who may even have physically been there to witness the event, and so would know that the northern king bent the knee in order to safe his people from being burnt by the hundreds and not the targaryen propaganda that it was because they considered Aegon to be the person to unite the realm. I just thought that conversation was interesting. I do wish we could have spent more time with Cregan and Jace in the north.

The Blacks and Their Grief.

Ok so I'm not going to lie, I was in tears almost every time team black were on screen, they were all really feeling their grief at Lucerys' death and it was so painful to watch. Some moments in particular that really hit me hard were:

When Corlys is given the dagger that he had made for Lucerys, it was such a simple moment but it was played so well, like you can see the grief and pain in Corlys' eyes as he looks at the dagger and its just a gut punch.

When Rhaenyra finds arrax's wing and Lucerys' cloak on the beach and she just sinks to her knees and weeps, this moment I just couldn't deal with it, I was full on weeping right with her. Just the complete despair and heartbreak, emma really did an amazing job. They played it so well. First when she sees the fishermen in the distance you can see that flash of pure rage, then when she approaches the wing she has that moment of realisation that Rhaenys was telling Daemon about earlier, that her son really and truly is dead and you see her grief take over as she just collapses and sobs, then there's the moment when Syrax responds to Rhaenyra's grief and pain by letting out her own roar of grief. Just that whole scene really got to me.

The next moment that had me bawling was the moment Jace returns and goes to meet Rhaenyra. There was that tiny moment between him and Baela were she rubs his shoulder before leaving, but then you have Jace trying his hardest to hold it together while telling Rhaenyra that he got the Vale's support and that Cregan was sending men and he's just slowly breaking down along with rhaenyra and she just comes over and wraps him in such a tight hug. I knew when I saw that still it was going to be tough to watch but it was somehow even more heartbreaking than I imagined it being. I think it was the way Jace slowly broke down as opposed to him just coming in and immediately crying, it was his effort of trying to hold it together for his mother. Also the way he just collapsed into his mother's arms when he couldn't hold it in anymore. Ok I've got to stop because I am getting teary eyed just thinking about it.

Then there was the funeral scene. Just the fact that they were burning his clothes and toy because they didn't even have his body to burn already made it more heartbreaking, but then seeing the grief and pain of all those who loved Lucerys. Seeing Rhaena crying because that was her betrothed and she was so happy when their engagement was announced and she must have imagined them having a happy life together and now that is all gone along with Lucerys. Then there was Jace, I swear Jace really is the main cause of my pain this episode, the way he picked up joffrey to help him throw the toy onto the pyre and the way he held him and cupped his face, I just ahhh, Aemond Targaryen when I find you I swear.

Daemon and His Grief

Ok so I want to talk about Daemon separately here because I haven't been in the HOTD tag yet as I've only just finished watching the episode and I wanted to write this review while it was still all fresh in my mind, but I suspect I already know what I am going to find and it'll be a load of posts talking about how heartless and unfeeling Daemon is about his stepson's death and how all he cares about is the war and he's blaming everyone else la di da di da. But here's the thing, in my opinion its the complete opposite. It not that Daemon is heartless and doesn't care about Lucerys, he cares too much, this is how Daemon processes grief, it was the same when his brother and unborn daughter died. The way Daemon deals with his grief is by going into protective mode, his mind is set on one goal right now and that is to ensure the safety of Rhaenyra and the rest of his family. We saw him do this after Viserys' death his immediate course of action was ensuring there were dragon's patrolling Dragonstone so that his family was safe. His plan here is similar and actually makes sense too, Vhagar is the main threat to his family right now, so going and killing Vhagar and her rider will not only serve to protect his family from that threat but will also allow him to exact revenge on Aemond for Lucerys death. Daemon couldn't protect his brother and he couldn't protect and save his unborn daughter, and he couldn't protect Lucerys, he has, like rhaenyra and the rest of the blacks, had loss after loss after loss, all in the space of a few days. Of course he is reeling from it and is frustrated by it, the thing that Daemon struggles with the most is feeling useless and helpless and being inactive so honestly his actions in this episode make perfect sense for his character.

So let's talk about the whole him blaming everyone else for Lucerys death. Firstly when he tells Rhaenys that if she had acted at the coronation then Aegon's line would have been wiped out and Luke would still be alive. Honestly here he does have a point and lets be honest we were all saying the same thing after that episode aired, I mean there was a collective frustration at that scene because they were right there, one moment, one dracarys and the war would have been avoided. Personally I blame the writing but for arguments sake lets look at it from the character's pov. I did understand where Rhaenys was coming from when she said it wasn't her war to start, she doesn't have foresight so she couldn't have known that Luke's death was coming and I am sure looking back part of her now regrets not acting. But if she had acted she would have been a kinslayer herself and the whole thing is a complicated mess. However I can also understand that in his own grief and pain Daemon is looking for someone to blame, its a natural part of grief to be honest, and so I can see why he was frustrated that Rhaenys didn't take that opportunity to kill the greens.

I think its that same reasoning when he says to Erryk that he had the opportunity to kill Aegon and didn't. Again I can see both sides, because yeah Erryk could have killed Aegon and that might have averted the war or they might have put Aegon's son or Aemond on the throne instead. Erryk also had an excellent point when he said that he swore an oath as a king's guard to protect the royal family so what was he supposed to do when that family turned on each other, again complicated mess of a situation. The point is that its all woulda, shoulda, coulda, and its pointless dwelling on it, however its also a natural response to a situation like this and to grief, so to me it makes sense that Daemon is displaying these very normal, natural and human emotions in his time of grief.

However I think the person who really hit the nail on the head when it comes to Daemon's behaviour is Mysaria. When he turns the blame and anger on her and blames her for not doing anything to stop the coronation and for giving Aegon back to the greens she tells him that he is directing his anger at her because the ones he is really angry at are out of his reach. My god when she said this I was just like, yes exactly. It was so on point with what I was thinking myself. He really blames Aemond and the Greens for Lucerys death, for Rhaenyra's throne being usurped and everything else that has happened, his anger is really with Aemond and the Greens, but at this moment he can't get to Aemond and the Greens, he knows that Aemond, Vhagar and The Greens are a threat to his surviving family too, but he can't get to them and so he can't protect his family and all of this is making him feel useless and helpless and more and more frustrated and, as we all know from season one, a angry and frustrated Daemon is a Daemon that lashes out.

This is also reaffirmed for me when we see Daemon's reaction to Rhaenyra saying that she wants Aemond, this is it, the moment he was waiting for, the moment where he now has permission and orders to go after the person who he is truly angry with and who he truly blames, finally he has something to do and that is why he has that smile/smirk as Rhaenyra is walking away.

Rhaenys

There are a couple of moments here that I want to talk about some good, some bad, or more where I can see where the writers were coming from but it just didn't make sense for me. The first thing is when Rhaenys says that she thinks its a good thing that Rhaenyra isn't acting out of vengeance, this was obviously a dig at Daemon and she was basically saying that he is hot headed for wanting to go hunt down Vhagar and Aemond and he was letting vengeance influence his actions whereas Rhaenyra is showing restraint etc. And I get the message the writers are trying to get across here, revenge bad, revenge leads to more trouble, war bad, think things through carefully blah blah blah. But let's be real here this comment is stupid because the only reason Rhaenyra isn't seeking revenge right now is because she is too lost in her grief and in searching for Lucerys' remains to act on her revengeful feelings, its not a case of Rhaenyra is angry but she is showing restraint anyway situation, I mean the moment she finds arrax's remains and knows for sure that her son is dead she is right in her vengeful 'I want Aemond Targaryen' era.

Another line I didn't think made much sense was the 'if only you were king' line, again I get it is supposed to be a badass moment for Rhaenys, ain't no man going to tell her what to do, the problem is umm Daemon kind of is the king, well the king consort at least, right? Not only that but in the conversation before this line they establish that Rhaenyra is absent/indisposed and as we saw from season one when Viserys was indisposed its usually the hand and the consort who give the commands and run things. So Daemon as consort would be able to give commands in Rhaenyra's absence, so that makes the line fall a little flat, as Daemon gives a command which as Consort during the absence of the ruling monarch is a perfectly reasonable thing to do and Rhaenys response was kind of oh if only you were in a position of power where you could give out commands, except he is in a position of power where he can give out commands. To be clear I'm not saying that Rhaenys wasn't right to refuse to go to King's Landing without Rhaenyra's say so, I just think the line was a little too on the nose. I mean they could have written it differently and still got the same effect, I take no commands but from the queen herself, I'll not act until the queen returns etc. They've done this a few times with Rhaenys where they give her these lines that are kind of like a mouthpiece for their own political views and opinions but it often comes across as too forced in my opinion, kind of shoehorned in. Rhaenys is already a badass female dragon rider they really don't need to force it.

One scene I did really like though was the one where Rhaenys talks about what it was like for her to receive news of Laena's death through a raven and how she spent weeks unable to accept it was true, that it was only once she saw her child's remains that she was able to accept the fact and that was what Rhaenyra was currently going through. I thought it was interesting that you could see the joint grief her and Daemon were sharing at the mention of Laena, I mean you see Daemon's entire demeanour change at the mention of Laena's name. I also thought it was interesting that Rhaenys used such a vulnerable and personal example to help Daemon understand what Rhaenyra is going through. It was a really interesting moment between those two characters and I do wonder if its because Rhaenys can relate to not just what Rhaenyra is feeling at the moment but also what Daemon is, after Laena's death Rhaenys too found people and things to place the blame on, she blamed the maesters of essos believing they weren't qualified enough to save Laena, but she mostly blamed Daemon for not letting Laena come home when really it was just a crappy situation, complications in childbirth and she could have still lost her life even if she was at driftmark. So I think she can understand Daemon's frustration at not being able to do anything and failing to protect Lucerys but also how in his anger he is blaming whoever he can in an attempt to make sense of his loss. But she also isn't going to put up with his crap either and that's what we love about her.

Aegon The Magnanimous.

One thing this episode did make me sure of is despite his best efforts, Aegon is so not cut out to be King. Like it was nice that he wanted to give the sheep back etc, but I didn't get the impression he really knows much about ruling, he didn't seem to think about it much before giving an answer, it was just yes of course you can have your sheep back but then Otto had to remind him that the crown needs those sheep to feed the dragons who are now exerting more energy flying patrols and in the war etc, so Aegon had to take his word back which isn't a great look. Then there was in incident in the small council where he brought his son jaehaerys, who was clearly too young to be at the meeting and just caused distractions. Don't get me wrong the kid was cute and it was kind of funny seeing Tyrell struggling with the kid, but Aegon's suggestion that Tyrell give him a pony ride was not good. As king you don't want to be humiliating members of your small council and this could definitely be seen as an act of humiliation which is why Alicent had to step in to avoid a problem coming up and to diffuse the situation.

We also see that he is rather hot headed as his response to any problems seems to be lets just send Vhagar and our other dragons to burn them all to ash and again Alicent had to interfere and point out that it wasn't the best course of action.

It was also kind of funny to me that you had Larys whispering in Aegon's ear that Otto was controlling him just like he did with Viserys who was seen as a push over and he didn't want to be see the same way as his father, as someone who is pushed around and controlled by others. Yet the whole episode and even in this moment with Larys we see Aegon being controlled and managed by others. I do wonder if he will at any point start pushing back and ignoring everyone else's advice, even if its good advice.

All of that being said one thing I will say is it does seem to me that Aegon at least wants to try and be a good king. But he just doesn't seem to have any idea what he is doing, he thinks he needs to keep the small folk happy, which is true keeping the small folk happy is important but you also have to measure that up against other elements and factors such as feeding your dragons. It's a balance. He also thinks that its important to prepare his heir for when they take the throne, again true, but again he doesn't realise that Jaehaerys is just too young to be at a council meeting and isn't going to learn anything beneficial there just yet and he also removed him from his classes in order to take him to the council meeting when the classes are something that would benefit him right now, small council meetings come later when they are old enough to understand what is actually happening. As cute as it was to see Aegon so happy and delighted with his son, this was a miss-step on his part.

I feel like ultimately Otto and the others spent so much time plotting to put Aegon on the throne and not enough time actually preparing him to be on the throne. Also the fact that Rhaenyra was the named heir is playing a factor in this, because she was the named heir she was the one attending small council meetings and who ruled over dragonstone and so has an understanding and training in how to rule, Aegon wasn't the named heir and so never attended the meeting or given any experience ruling, he was given no formal training at all and I think Otto is starting to realise the repercussions of that.

Alicent and Cole

Honestly I can't say I was that surprised that these two got together, all the way back in episode 1x01 it seemed like Alicent had a bit of a crush on Criston and there was definitely some tension between them in the 1x09 where she says everything you feel for me as your queen scene, however I am in two opinions on this one because on one hand I'm like good for Alicent, she took control of her own sexuality and had a pleasurable experience, or many experiences possibly seeing as we don't know how long this has gone on for, with a partner of her choosing. But then I think about all the times she and Cole slut-shamed Rhaenyra for having sex outside of marriage, of the fact that Alicent is now doing the very thing that she judged Rhaenyra for back in 1x04, something that she then pretty much publicly declared war on rhaenyra at her engagement party over, I remember how Cole reacted so strongly to the suggestion that he and rhaenyra could continue with their intimate relationship in private with anger and accused her of making him her whore and that he had sullied his white cloak and yet here he is conducting an intimate relationship with the queen and I guess continuing to sully his white cloak and I'm like HYPOCRITES! But then I sit and think about it some more and I realise that Alicent and Cole have always been hypocrites and this is old news, honestly that white cloak of criston's is just seeped in blood and hypocrisy at this point, so honestly on point for their characters.

I also think there was an interesting parallel in that in 1x04 we see Rhaenyra helping Criston remove his King's guard uniform and cloak and in this episode we see Alicent helping him put it back on. With Rhaenyra it was him making that choice to shed the uniform and forsake his oath so that he could be intimate with Rhaenyra, almost like he was shedding that identity as a pure, dutiful and honest King's Guard, here he is continuing to forsake his oath and so to me it felt like Alicent was helping him put a costume or disguise back on, like he's getting back into playing the role of a King's guard.

I am curious to see where they take this relationship as it already seems like they feel some conflicting feelings over it, on one side they clearly have an attraction to each other, it feels good when they are intimate and they have that pull towards each other, but they also seem to have that guilt as well, Cole for breaking his oath and Alicent because of her religious views around sex and marriage etc. I feel like that guilt is going to increase even more giving the end of the episode.

Blood and Cheese

Ok so I haven't read the books but I did get spoiled a week or two ago on some of the details around blood and cheese, I am going to put a quick book spoiler warning here because I am going to discuss the book version of Blood and Cheese so if you don't want to know that info skip to the *. What I knew going into the episode was that Aegon's son is killed by assassin's hired by Daemon in an act of revenge for Lucerys death. That was it. After watching the episode I did do a quick google search and read the wiki page covering this event because I was curious to know how it happened in the book. In the book it is so much more horrifying because Helaena has three children not two and has to choose between her two sons as to who dies. She chooses the younger one but blood and cheese instead kill the older, Jaehaerys and so not only does Helaena have to live with this horrific choice she was forced to make but her son Maelor also knows that his mother chose him to die. The whole situation is just awful. However in the show it was really underwhelming.

*Before the episode aired I made a post explaining how I was worried that blood and cheese wouldn't make that much of an impact because the writers didn't spend enough time with Aegon's son and children for us as an audience to gain a personal attachment to them and unfortunately I think that is still true. There were also alot of posts talking about how blood and cheese was going to be HOTD's version of the red wedding which I think made the scene even more underwhelming. With the red wedding we had spent three seasons with the characters involved, we were strongly attached to them and on top of that the scene was brutal and bloody and very, very shocking. This scene didn't even come close to being comparable.

Not only did we not have a personal attachment as an audience to Jaehaerys, we had only gotten a few minutes of him in this episode which were cute but not enough to make a strong attachment, but the scene just seemed very rushed and they removed a lot of the more horrific and shocking elements of the book, it was very tamed down. I kind of got what they were trying to do but they failed massively.

So lets talk about it from the beginning, Daemon's role in it. You know what, after learning about b+c, I was talking to a friend about the show and all the 'accidents' that happened last season like luke's death etc and I joked that if it was team green that had orchestrated blood and cheese then the writers would somehow make it an accident, like they would hire someone to just scare the greens but the guy would trip and accidently cut off Jaehaerys head or something, which didn't happen but they still made it a mistake which I low key find hilarious. I mean the scene is ambiguous I guess. But Daemon is actually after Aemond, which to me does make more sense in terms of getting revenge for Lucerys death as Aemond is the one that actually killed him, so I would think Daemon's retaliation would be against him directly. But then there is that moment where they ask what if they can't find Aemond and Daemon doesn't respond and they cut away so you don't know for sure what he said. They do this alot with Daemon's character, like they cut away from the heir for a day speech so we don't know if he really said it or even how he said. I think Matt may have confirmed that he did say it but it was more in a sorrowful way and to honour his lost nephew and not to celebrate his death, but I am not 100% sure on that so don't quote me. They also cut away when he killed Rhea Royce so we don't know for absolute sure that he killed her, but I mean it seems obvious that he did considering we see him pick up a rock and I think the writers and ryan have said that he did. But now they've done it again here and at first it was kind of interesting and made his character a bit of mystery, but honestly now its starting to feel a bit like lazy writing. But hey that's just may opinion.

As for what I think Daemon's response to the question was, I really don't know. There was one moment where blood, I think it was blood anyway, says you heard the prince no head no money, which made me think ok well then that was what Daemon's response was, what if we can't find Aemond, no head no money, that simple and then Blood and Cheese just decided to kill Jaehaerys because cheese got caught by Helaena and there was a male targaryen there so this will have to do, we've been seen now so we've got to wrap this up quick if we want to also get away and claim our money.

But then we also hear Blood say it has to be a son for a son, which is makes it more ambiguous because again we didn't see this part of the conversation so we don't know if Daemon also said no head no money and then added but if you don't find Aemond any male will do just make it a son for a son. Personally I don't think it really makes sense for Daemon to be happy with anyone else's head, I mean his whole attention up to this point was on killing Vhagar and Aemond, Rhaenyra specifically said she wants Aemond and it was in response to this that Daemon went out and hired blood and cheese in the first place. I personally don't think Daemon would settle for just anyone else's head so long as it was a son. Daemon just does not seem like the kind of person who settles so to me the more likely scenario is this, Daemon goes to blood and tells him to bring him Aemond's head, even goes so far as to describe what Aemond looks like and points out that he shouldn't be hard to spot. He gives him half the money and promises the other half once the deed is done, blood asks what if he can't find Aemond and Daemon's response is basically find him or else you ain't getting no more money and maybe says something like he said to rhaenys like I'm making it a son for a son, or it must be a son for a son, meaning nothing is acceptable but aemond's head and the son part is only in reference to aemond saying an eye for an eye before killing Luke. Blood and cheese enter the keep, cheese stumbles into the children's quarters and is caught by heleana, realising that they have little time now that they've been seen blood figures well Daemon said that thing about a son for a son, completely misinterpreting it and thinking so he'll be ok with it being this son's head instead of Aemond's. I mean I'll be honest blood and cheese did not seem like the brightest bulbs in the box so I could see them thinking Daemon would be happy with this alternative. But as I said the writers made it really ambiguous so who the hell knows what really happened, I mean we as the audience don't need all the details anyway right.

Ok so lets talk about the actual scene itself. As I said above I do kind of understand what they were trying to do here. they still wanted helaena to make a difficult choice and so they added this whole thing about how the twins look exactly alike and so you can't tell which is which, so this creates the situation where Helaena has to choose to tell blood and cheese which one is the boy, so basically they've changed the choice to Helaena has to choose whether to save the boy or the girl, maybe they changed this to make some commentary on how more value is put into boys than girls, I guess. It's still a heartbreaking choice for Helaena to make, she is put into this position because they've threatened to kill them all if she doesn't tell them, so its basically she chooses to tell them which one is the boy and her child dies or all of them die. She tries offering them her necklace and tells them its very valuable which makes sense in that she's aware they've been paid or will be paid and so she is hoping that the value of the necklace will spare her children. However they just take the necklace so she still has to make the choice. I do think they played Helaena's terror and horror at what was happening very subtly, she wasn't screaming or begging really, she seemed very disassociated from the situation but you could still see the terror there in her eyes.

When she runs to Alicent and tells her they killed the boy I did, at first, think it was odd that she said the boy and not like her boy or her son, like she wasn't sobbing saying they killed my boy, she looked shellshocked and said the boy. Then I realised why she said this. When she makes the choice and she points at Jaehaerys, blood says she is lying that she wouldn't give up the heir that easily. Which I think is actually true, I think her actual choice was the girl but she knew that blood and cheese wouldn't believe her, that they would assume she was lying, so she choose to sacrifice the girl but believed that if she pointed to the girl that blood and cheese would think she was lying and kill the other one, the boy. So instead she pointed to the boy thinking blood and cheese would then kill the girl. Hoping that I'm making sense here. But cheese then realises that this is what Helaena is trying to do and they kill the boy. So when Helaena says 'they killed the boy' she actually means it as I chose the girl but they killed the boy. Almost like they killed the wrong one, not that I am saying Helaena wanted her daughter to die obviously she didn't want any of her children to die but I think she was just in shock because she was confronted with this choice save the girl or save the boy, she chose to save the boy but he was killed anyway and so now she's just on the floor rocking the child that lived and trying to process through this trauma and process what just happened, so its more like she's telling herself, they killed the boy and she can't really believe that it really happened, I think the term the boy really is because of that choice she was presented with, the horror of having to choose between her children was so traumatic that its just there in her mind, if I am making sense.

Another possibility is that it seems like Helaena may have seen a vision of this happening, she says to Aegon that she is afraid of the rats and I think this is clearly in relation to blood and cheese, seeing as cheese is a rat catcher and they come in posed as rat catchers. So its possible that she had a vision but it only showed her up to the point of her making the choice. She saw herself in the vision choosing to save her son and sacrifice her daughter so her fear was that her daughter was going to die at the hands of 'the rats'. But then when her vision comes to pass it is actually her son that is killed and so as she is trying to process everything she is thinking about how she had expected and maybe even partly prepared herself for her daughter to die but then they kill the boy and this just completely breaks her mind.

All of this being said, when it comes to the scene as a whole, as I said, it was underwhelming and it felt rushed, the sounds of Jaehaerys being killed as helaena ran from the room clutching her other child was the only moment that particularly had an effect on me when I was watching it. Like that was disturbing to me and I felt that horror starting to creep in but that was then totally thrown away when Helaena runs into Alicent's room and Alicent is literally riding Cole, so Helaena who is already traumatised and is clutching a young child, then panics again and tries to turn away but like where the hell is she supposed to go, her son is literally being murdered as they speak, she's under threat and trying to get her child to safety and then she walks in on that, knows its supposed to be a secret and not something she was supposed to see but can't possible process that right now because of all the other trauma she is currently experiencing and so she just collapses on the ground and rocks her child while Alicent and Cole look on awkwardly. It was a very weird way to end the episode if I am being honest.

I just feel like if I sit and think it over, yes I can see what they were trying to do, I can see how horrifying the choice Helaena had to make between her children was, I can see that a young child being held down in a bed whilst their throat is cut, and possibly their head cut off is truly disturbing, the sounds were horrifying, I can see how Helaena happening upon Alicent and Cole could lead to them both fearing Helaena speaking on it later and revealing their secret and how the guilt will plague them because they were being intimate at the same time that such a terrible act was happening. But it just did not work on screen for me, the concept was there the execution wasn't and in the moment I really didn't feel much. Like I said the only moment when I felt a stirring of horror was when Helaena was fleeing with her child. It was just too rushed and too poorly written I think.

Anyway those are my thoughts on the episode so far. It really was a mixed bag because there were some moments, particularly when dealing with the aftermath of Lucerys death that were really great and really moved me, but then there were others where they fell short. Despite that I am curious to see what will happen next episode and what the repercussions will be, Maybe seeing everyone's reactions to Jaehaerys' death will make it have more of an impact and maybe Daemon's reaction will give as more clarity on whether he did give the go ahead for it to be any male heir or not. We'll have to see.

[bronx-bomber87]

Happy Saturday! First off Hallelujah the actors strike is over. Now it’s just semantics and such before we get our ship back on our screens. Just saw the SAG board approved the deal with 86% percent in favor on Friday. All that is left is getting it ratified and an episode order. We’re on the right track I can not wait. Been too damn long since we’ve been excited about some new content.

Till then I shall continue my rewatch. Hoping to line it up ending it whenever a premiere date appears. So fingers crossed on that. Once we do have that might amp it up to 3 reviews a week instead of 2. This one is not a huge content heavy one for them. It's shorter than normal, but it is Lucy’s first ep as his aide. They’re riding back together. I love it so much. Absence makes the heart grow fonder they say. Some good moments peppered in this one. Sassy married moments we all love. Off we go.

4x04 Red Hot

We start off with our lovely duo at the end of roll call. Tim coming in hot and sassy. Calling her Gofer right off the bat. Asking if she’s ready to go? He had to know he was gonna get a sassy reply calling her that first thing. Man knows what he’s doing. Tim loves their little dance and banter. So he lights the fire and waits for the results. (Also good Tall/Smol shots here my fav.)

Lucy matching said sass with some of her own. A little flirting mixed in cause they can't help it. Not showing an ounce of fear with his 'authority' haha Tim picking up on that right away. Flirting right back saying he’s sensing a lack of fear in his authority.

Oh Timothy you lost that long ago my love. You have her utmost respect but the fear? Yeah that went bye bye some time ago heh Some pre-shift foreplay going on here. We know they’re both just excited to be riding together again. It’s all over their body language and this flirty exchange.

Her ‘Yes, sir.’ So cute basically saying for her 'You don’t scare me.' LOL Lucy's body language is everything with that flirty smile. She has no problem roasting him. Tim loves it despite the words coming out of his mouth. Sunshine x Grumpy ride again. I'm so happy for it. Missed it since 3x09 that’s a long time apart for them. We’ve had lovely moments in between but nothing better than them riding together. Plus they needed time to miss one another.

They’re so obvious together. Grey hears their exchange and is holding back a chuckle as he comes up to Tim. Wade knew long before they did...That is a fact. They continuously forget everyone can hear them. It’s so funny. Carrying on like a married couple in front of their colleagues.

Lucy and Tim end up joining Nolan on his missing wife call. (So happy they’re riding together. Making my heart happy) His call has gotten more complicated because well it’s John’s call….Nolan tells them she was drugged and the people claiming to know her we're speaking Russian. So they all go back to the house where the call originated.

No one is there when they arrive. They notice the house seems off... Like it’s staged and no one actually lives there. John noting it feels a lot smaller on the inside. Tim saying it’s like a reverse Tardis...Lucy’s reaction is so damn funny. Props to Melissa for the facial expression here. I’m dying. Tim already sensing her judgement cuts it off. She doesn’t even have to say what she’s thinking. He just knows and defends himself.

S4 is the fruit of all that rapport building. We get to see the end result constantly. Watch how close they are. That silent communication coming through, the comfortability and playfulness. Not even trying to hide it anymore. The amount of sass in Tim's reply. My god she has rubbed off on this man. I love it sfm I can’t stand it. Such flirty dorks in front of Nolan it’s the absolute best. So nice to have them together on cases again. I missed it.

They get a report the car was torched but no sign of the woman over the radio. Nolan opens the cabinet and sees an impressive setup. A panel with cyrilic buttons they can't read. Goes into contractor mode saying they have 500 MCM wires. Running 400 amp service out of this place. Lucy not knowing what that means but wanting to save face says her line above. Also knows Tim may not either so she throws him under the bus LOL

It’s so cute and cheeky. The theme of this episode for them is sass. 100%. The way Tim looks at her plus his little leg stamp. LMAO His reaction saying 'Seriously Lucy?' He’s not even mad about it so much as in awe of her being so damn fresh at this point. Doesn’t even fight her giving him shit anymore. Just accepts it. Smitten man right here. Front and center.

Nolan goes on to say a normal household doesn’t tend to go past 200. Whatever they’re powering is big because just the minimum can power a house and a/c under that. Nolan starts messing around with the panel like an idiot and trips something. Because well it's Nolan. Like an unattended child. It locks down the entire house and they pull their guns in case.

Tim’s reply is the best. ‘I don’t know what it says so I push it?’ LMAO Roasting John like a marshmallow. Sassy Tim has come out to play and I’m dying. A tv turns on showing surveillance of the entire neighborhood. John asks if human traffickers normally are this sophisticated? Tim replies no…It’s a safe house.

Lucy’s interest is piqued of course. Asking if it’s for spies? Tim gives her a small peak into his past. Which you know she will eat up like crazy. Always craving to know about it. Hell me too. Any morsel we can get from Tim’s past I’m all about. Lucy in wifey mode tries to get it out of him. The when and where? You can see the absolute curiosity all over her face. He just drops a bomb like that and expects her not to try and dig a little deeper?

Tim is classic in his reply. Saying it’s classified and that is that for his answer. I'm sure he was wanting to impress her with that reply. When really she's just annoyed at him haha Lucy’s reaction is so damn funny. She is offended he won’t just share his classified past with her in front of Nolan LOL That wifey look in the second gif. Ha. Look at them just flirting away no problem in front of John. That’s not an issue but asking about his past is. These two... Also when they talk in this scene it’s like Nolan isn’t even there. I love this about them. They only pay attention to one another when they get like this. I just love their banter. It’s fantastic.

Nolan discovers a panel after hitting another button. It leads to a whole other hidden part of the house. It’s clearly where they were torturing her. They dig a little deeper and find more surveillance camera's set up. Looks like they tried destroying everything before they took off. There is still some paper work and such lying around. Looks like they didn't get everything. Tim wants them to take pictures of everything before the feds show up. Because they’ll ice them out ASAP. I love when he’s a sexy leader directing everyone. yum. gimme.

This next section when the feds finally show up is primo. Mike Weston introduces himself and Tim knows right away he’s CIA. The feds are with him though. Reason being Weston has to work with them since he isn't allowed to work domestically. Tim has some serious smug husband energy going on in this scene. Watching his girl square off and win with this guy. Lying on his behalf it’s amazing. Lucy handles herself like the bad ass he knows her to be. Coming up with this on the fly. That UC training kicking in right here.

The immense amount of pride on his face is everything. He didn’t even have to tell her to lie she just did for him. Their silent communication once again is out of this world. He just stands there proud af. Like yeah that’s my girl. Doesn’t have to say a damn word. Knows she’s got this covered. Smugly smiling at this guy trying to get them to do their job. Knowing they secured the scene and got all the photos they needed. Part of that smugness is from knowing they’re not sharing. Lucy shutting them down completely and he just stands there happy as a clam while she handles the situation.

Lucy is bummed they’re taking over. Nolan reminds them she touched his hood. Tim says they can get a true ID. Try and solve this thing before the feds and CIA know what hit them. I love this. They get a hit in the database. She’s a Russian citizen here on a NGO visa. Tim saying it’s perfect cover for a Russian agent.

Lucy with her social media skills found her Instagram page. Linking her to an Air Force major named Lyle Marks. Who she was apparently dating. Nolan says she was probably dating him just to get to secret information. Lucy calls him a cynic heh I love it. Then says yeah that’s probably the most likely scenario…

That he works for drone command and hasn’t shown up for work today. Tim says no need to loop in Weston. If they’re onto something good he will find them. They show up to Mark's house and find him tortured and killed. Weston of course shows up right after they find his body. Just like Tim said. He’s so smart. Beauty and Brains.

The fact that a soldier was killed this can’t be contained any longer. Weston realizes he’s going to need their help. Especially since this is on US soil. He brings them back to his fancy spy van. So they can have a private conversation protected. Tim gets right down to business. Asking what they know about Katerina? Mike tells them they believe her to be a FSB case officer. Just like Tim said earlier. Sexy how smart he is. Intelligence is attractive af.

Apparently she went rogue during her mission. She was supposed to be recruiting intelligence assets for Russia. It’s why those two guys came into the country after her. Rather her die than be in the hands of the CIA after she escaped. Tim asks if they knew about the relationship with officer Marks? Weston replies no or they would’ve stepped in weeks ago.

Also let’s note the lack of space with them in this scene. The Grand Canyon between John and Tim. The smallest sliver between Tim and Lucy. Another theme of this season. Personal Space? Never heard of her…

This next part is more of that proud/smug hubby energy from Tim. The way she dismantles Mike is glorious. Trying to say she’s naive and espionage isn’t a romance novel. She crushes him with some solid ass logic. Lucy owns this guy not once but twice in the same day. Lucy came to play and it's so fun to watch her confidence. The way she handles herself now. So self-assured it's just as glorious to watch as Tim's growth.

I love the look on Tim’s face. (also him licking his lips I see that tongue sir. Mmm.) His reaction is 'Wifey is right and you are dead to rights sir.' He couldn’t be prouder of her confidence with this man. Held her own from the jump. The growth here is amazing. Lucy just confidently owning her moments. Tim backing her without a second of hesitation. True partners. Nolan gives a 'Told you so' look too but it’s not as important as Tim’s LOL Weston concedes and says she has a fair point…

That being said Mike said he’s read her file. That isn’t the type of person she is. They ask why she was dating Marks then? Weston says he ran the entire west coast drone command. That he had the keys to the entire program. Tim then poses if she wasn’t stealing secrets or planning to defect then what’s her play? Mike says doesn’t know..and that scares the hell out of him

That’s their last scene together for the ep sadly. We find out with just John and Bailey she killed Marks. He issued a drone strike that killed her brother. The flash drive Nolan finds in his shop is what she wants. She wants to kill everyone else on the list of the mission. Sadly Lucy’s love theory is kaput after that haha That's all she wrote for this one. Short but sweet one for them.

Side notes-non chenford

I love Lucy reaching out to Aaron to be his support through training. He fights her at first then gives in and calls her when he has bad experience with an old friend. Aaron does stick his foot in his mouth about Jackson. Poor Lucy still hurts her talk about him.

Then they bond over it. He talks about Patrick and says it still gets him too. How it sneaks up on you. You could be having normal day and something triggers it. Aaron tells her it’s nice to have someone to talk to. Love this friendship being built.

Thanks as always to those who read these reviews and show your support through likes, comments and reblogs. It’s my fuel haha so thank you. Shall see you all in 4x05

[smilingperformer]

Me: "Yaaaay it's Horizons anniversary soon!!"

Others: "It's been a year since Satoshi's journey ended"

I... I didn't even think about that |D

Guess I was that ready to just let him leave the story.

Considering that none of the original series staff stayed in the writing team, they were too.

Since it's soon been a year and we're reaching the end of act 2, I can confidently say this is like, my favourite Pokémon series. Alongside Sun & Moon. And both are favs for wholely different reasons, as in, love Sun & Moon for tackling mature topics and for having wonderful humor, alongside good world building and nice focus on family theme. While Horizons I love the story focus shift from normal, cast that is super enjoyable and a take on a found family type of group, new original villains that I've come to like a lot, etc etc.

I love how different both shows are. I love how both dare to try new things out in different way. Liko is one of THE most relatable characters to me, and I love the whole entire cast to bits. I even adore the Explorers, esp. Sango is slowly making a hole in my heart that wants me to call myself a fan of hers. Yes. She's been that enjoyable to me. Even Amethio's grown on me immensely, I like how his character works, and excited to see his role this upcoming ep.

At the start Roy felt a tad bit too alike to Satoshi, and at times I can see that similar type of "forget about a skill and then do the skill" writing from Satoshi era is thrown on him, but he's still mostly his own character. But that is probably why I'm more drawn to the likes of Liko, Dot, Friede, Amethio and Sango, because their fighting styles are so refreshing for me. I even like how Onyx and Sango pairing works, with Onyx fitting Sango's oni-speaking pattern (srsly wtf that must have been intended and now I want to know if dub has ANYTHING to match this speaking pattern with.)

There's been clear growth, clear character progression, much much slower team progress than whatever the fuck JN did (not jabbing at anyone who likes JN but I won't deny that I really hate how fucking fast most Pokémon evolved there. It seems Horizons knows not to rush things).

Act 1 suffered from pacing issue where stuff happens in one episode and then the next ep sort of shrugs it off and continues the plot in a really weird tone-shift, but I don't think act 2 had that, which I liked. But act 2 also had more fill-ins compared to the action-packed act 1. But imo, it was good to have a more slower, calming pace for a while. It helped build on the characters more, and show how the Rising Volt Tacklers exactly live like. Which makes the Brave Asagi breaking in recent episode ever so more heartbreaking aaaaaaaaah-

I'm also kinda glad I was wrong on the "only a one year long series", because so far I'm quite attached to the cast and definitely wouldn't have felt happy to see them go yet. So knowing that Horizons seems to follow the usual 3 year pace (maybe 2, maybe 4, who knows) makes me happy. And I totally look forward to act 3 that is definitely caused by the Brave Asagi needing long, long time for repairs.

So um yeh. This was a weird ramble lol. But like, love Horizons, don't exactly miss old show as I felt it told whatever it wanted to and had the danger of just, butchering characters further from what I enjoyed it for. Sometimes it's better to let go. Fanfics and fanarts will still exists for a long long time, I'm sure. But my enjoyment on Horizons has definitely caused me to not miss the old days at all. And I'm glad.

(Do I want Satoshi to return? Honestly? No. 26 years is long enough for me.)