#bothers me and yes that's because I'm biased and don't care for the season but it wouldn't matter if it was a different season

[mixmangosmangoverse]

Coming to the realization that how PreCure fans talk about Futari Wa/Max Heart and treat it compared to the rest of the series is nearly identical to how people treat the first three seasons of SpongeBob

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hello again!

Okay I'm just here for a chat (if thats okay) (i think you're lovely!)

There are some stuff about the show that really bother me you know... First of all in season 4 What Happens to John Watson.. like he is simply characterized by loyalty right it is who he is, then HOW does he cheat on Mary?! (Okay granted that his heart was elsewhere... ahem. But he's just not someone who would cheat)

Also i think Mary shouldn't be a villain... i know she possibly looks like it messes up Johnlock but i think its the opposite actually. I think John is bisexual and his love for her was real but she was basically a Sherlock substitute who looked like him (John)! Plus, she was there when he was at rock bottom so. But what doesn't make sense is her shooting Sherlock in the chest?! What's up with that!

Okay but the Weirdest part is in the last episode when Sherlock has to choose between John and Mycroft and finally choses to shoot himself... BOTH John and Mycroft do Nothing?? HOW

AAAAA the Last Season was SO much angst.. i think this fandom saved me <3

In my head It was love at first sight... and then slowly falling head over heels crazy in love with your best friend and all of it culminating in the most beautiful TV Romance.

(okay im sorry i think i ranted a bit)

Hi Lovely!

Inbox is always open for a chat (even if it takes me a long time to get to it, LOL), so no worries!

Let's address each of you things one by one:

What HAPPENS to John Watson – Your guess is as good as mine, Lovely, and it's a lot of the reason a lot of us can't take S4 seriously. It feels so OOC for John to cheat on Mary with ANY other woman, other than Sherlock (hence it being part of the Alibi theory, this part of it referencing SHERLOCK as being the one John is actually texting in the night), so many of us just don't think that S4 is what it appears to be on the surface. Of course, it could all just be a coping mechanism to deal with how dirty a beloved series did it's fandom, but we take what we can get, honestly.

As for villain Mary, I have to respectfully disagree, only because I believe that I think they were setting her up in S3 to BE a kickass antagonist for S4. Amanda ALSO thought they were going that route for a bit until (my speculation) things went sour with MF, AND they built up her character as a psychopath imho. Then they made her character attempt a piss-poor redemption arc that just... really soiled S4 for me because I firmly believe that John would have NEVER forgiven Mary for trying to kill Sherlock after seeing what it did to him the first time.

But to your point: John is bisexual, yes, but I don't think he's biromantic. I think he's homoromantic, and it's VERY played up in the series that this is the case: his blasé attitude about ALL his girlfriends, but pouncing around the close men in his life like a puppy? Heck, if Lestrade was single, I have NO doubt John would have taken his chances with him too, LOL. John is horny. That's literally the gist of it. He likes sex, he doesn't care what hole it goes in, just as long as he gets it. But I do think he forms VERY strong attachments to men in his life, and in turn he gets hurt, so he pretends he's not into men because it's "just easier" (you can read more posts about my and others' thoughts on John's sexuality here). He was with Mary because he was lonely, and Mary played him like a fiddle. She knew what John liked, and played that up. I believe it's even explicitly stated she knows what John likes. They only knew each other 6 months, CONVENIENTLY just before Sherlock was on his way back? Even ANDERSON picked up on Sherlock making his way back to London. I believe she was a Moriarty plant to see if John knew Sherlock was for-real dead, and she herself enjoyed the game and stealing and keeping John for herself away from Sherlock was part of that game upon the return. So yeah, I really have a hard time believing she OR John actually loved each other. I dunno, again, personal biases and readings of the series, apologies, LOL. I spent a LOT of time analysing Mary's character arc. But I WANTED her to be the big bad for S4, and it just... fizzled and died.

And finally, on your point about the weirdness of John nor Mycroft opting to stop Sherlock, yeah, have to agree with you there. TFP was a goddamned clustereff of WTF moments and mischaracterizations of literally every character on-screen. The only character NOT in character was Eurus and that's literally because they didn't know what to fucking do with her. TFP was so dumb. I have a hard time believing any of it actually happened the way it did on-screen. But yeah, S4 was a big disappointment for everyone including the actors. I think they only people who thought it was great was Mofftiss and that's because they love the smell of their own farts. I can't believe that they GENUINELY thought TFP was going to be Emmy-worthy (for those unaware, they initially planned to nominate TFP for the Emmy, and instead chose TLD, I believe, after the poor reception of TFP, and acted like they were always going to nominate TLD lol).

Anyway, yeah, it was full of angst, though my reasons for it are probably different than everyone else's, LOL. But the fandom IS fantastic, and that's why we stay here, and why I choose now to curate fandom content. Makes me happy, and keeps me out of drama, LOL.

Thank you so much for giving ME the opportunity to chat and rant! It's been so long since I've done mini meta, and posted my thoughts about everything. I like chatting.

Hope you're having a wonderful day, and sorry again for the delay! <3

[fangeek-girl]

My very biased review of the Ahsoka finale

This might thread down the unpopular opinions road. It's all right. That's what opinions are for.

Let me start by saying that I didn't like most of the finale. I had a grand total of 2 scenes I enjoyed: Ezra reuniting with Hera, and the very end scene with Hayden (shocker, I know).

I didn't like most of the show in general, mainly because of the whole clusterfuck with Sabine being trained as a Jedi. I hate it deeply because it undermines Sabine's worth. She was already a great character. She didn't need to be made better or more powerful by becoming Ahsoka's apprentice. She didn't need to suddenly develop Force-sensitivity. The cool thing with Sabine was that she was NORMAL. Yes, she was a Mandalorian and skilled with blasters and explosives, but she was a regular person. She was a non-superpowered human in a galaxy where heroes were known as having superpowers. That's what made her so interesting in Rebels. And this whole season she was at her best when she switched back to what she knew: guns and bombs. Her best scene in the finale (imo) was when she crashed the ship and took 2 TIEs with it. That's who Sabine is.

I'm also mad at how little information we had on Baylann and Shin. They were depicted as the main villains in the beginning, but we never got their back story. By the last two episodes they're discarded to make room for Thrawn, which I understand, but we still don't even know who they are. What's their story? Where did Baylann come from? How does he know Anakin? How did Shin come to be his apprentice? And the worst part is we won't ever get clear answers because Baylann as he was in this season cannot be in the next due to what happened to Ray Stevenson. So this is just a loose thread. And the way it ended doesn't give me hope for Shin either.

Midway through the show it feels like Filoni had a shift and stopped caring about this being the Ahsoka show and just making it a setup for his Thrawn movie. And I hate it. I hate when film and showrunners make what should be a stand-alone (in a previously established universe) into a prequel. It's the crap Marvel did and now Star Wars is trying really hard to copy that. (Yeah I know, it's Disney. Pisses me off all the same.) This show was called "Ahsoka" for fuck sake! And by the end, it was the Thrawn show. We had an entire episode (1x06 Far, Far Away) without Ahsoka in it, except for like one scene in the beginning. Can you imagine a Kenobi episode without Obi-Wan? An Andor episode without Cassian? It makes no sense! It's the same kind of bullshit they pulled with BoBF when it became The Mandalorian s2.5 halfway through. Yes, it progresses the overall story, but in a way to set up something else instead of focusing on your main character.

In the same vein, I hate how Jacen was set up in the beginning, then discarded, how we never even saw Zeb and Agent Kallus, how Hera just became the way to tie Ahsoka back to the New Republic, how Senator Xiono could have been a good antagonist but ended up being an asshole without substance... There were too many things set up for a show this short and most of them ended up fizzling into nothing.

Now, I did like the Anakin parts. Yes, that's because I'm a Hayden stan through and through. Put him anywhere in the GFFA and I'm a goner. The World Between Worlds scenes were absolutely phenomenal, and probably why I'll rewatch this show again. Sorely because of Hayden (although Ariana was incredible too in the TCW scene). His Anakin brought this whole show to another level. No shade to Rosario, I love her. But this show didn't do her justice. Especially not next to Hayden when they had them sparring. The rest of the show I was disappointed in all of her fight scenes because how can I believe the girl who trained under Anakin Skywalker is so slow? They, probably without realizing it, built her up to fail. And it bothers me because we know from the animated series that Ahsoka is amazing in a fight.

I also appreciated the zombie troopers. The rest of the Dathomir storyline is a bit muddy and I'm not sure I love it, but I guess I just have to wait to see how they try to make this fit post-Jedi Fallen Order/Survivor.

I don't even know where I'm going with this by now. I just... I wish this show had been different. The ending is kinda making me cautiously excited for Thrawn. (But only if they bring in the Chiss Ascendancy and Eli. I need my Thranto fix in live action, thank you very much.) There's also all the little easter eggs of Mortis that make me wonder if they didn't pull a Lost and they're all just dead (which I would respect a lot more than whatever else they seem to be building on).

In the end, I am deeply disappointed in what the show ended up being. Apart from a few moments, most of it was "meh" at best for me and I mourn what could be if Filoni stopped trying to make all his female OC the biggest badass that ever was and one-up one another.

[lazloorpington]

um ok so i "accidentally" just finished xy because i THOUGHT i was watching the second to last episode but was actually watching the last. anyways (spoilers below) (also this post is very long, you've been warned)

i think it's probably one of the strongest seasons - not necessarily my favourite, but it's very good. i think the characters are on point this season, especially ash! he's still the energetic young trainer with huge aspirations, but you can tell how he's grown from his previous journeys. he may be reckless, but he's also smart!

the other characters he travels with are really great too and never feel too two-dimensional, especially serena! i'm so glad that serena got to have her own experiences and feelings alongside ash explored too, same with clemont and bonnie (including their relationship). i mean, i think this is something all of the seasons do well with their characters, but xy is definitely one that does it very well.

it's also the last season of pokemon that followed the original formula, journeying through the entire region and defeating all the gyms to compete in the region's league. as much as it works, i'm glad they switched it up next season, because otherwise i think it would've gotten too stale. not that anyone liked the fact they switched it up in sun & moon, but i did. so there you go.

and, once again, i feel like some of team rocket's appearances in episodes felt very forced and unnecessary. but... i feel like this season they were also the most evil. i mean, they always were, but this season they especially were. i've said before that in journeys, team rocket feel like nothing but comic relief, and in response i've gotten "well, they always were". and to an extent, that's true! but don't forget, they used to actually do some pretty messed up stuff. there was an episode where they pretended to be ash, serena and bonnie and then went around terrorising people to get the real trio arrested, so they could be separated from clemont, who they could then manipulate to create a machine to capture pikachu! obviously that's insanely elaborate and the end goal is the same one they've always had, but i think it proves my point that their characters really got degraded, because i would expect anything but that from them in journeys.

i also want to bring up the fluff towards the end of the season. i feel like they dragged out the time in between the anistar city gym and the snowbelle city gym a bit too much, every time i watched another xy episode i felt more and more annoyed at the fact they hadn't reached it yet, and we did get some very hard to watch episodes too. i mean, sure, on paper the idea of bonnie doing her usual "will you take care of my brother?" gag only to have the woman respond with "yes" actually kinda funny, but oh dear fucking god i had to skip that episode. it was too cringy. i'm probably biased, i really don't do well with romantic scenes or second-hand embarrassment, but jesus. never do that again.

i feel like the only other gripe i have to bring up is there there wasn't a proper scene where ash and clemont said goodbye. i mean i watched the dub which might've cut it out? no clue. but that really confused me. i mean, clemont was one of the first people ash met in kalos... why... wouldn't we see him say goodbye?! it left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, watching the last few moments of that episode, recounting all of the journeys everyone had experienced. but eh, it's not a huge deal.

but yeah overall? xy is really good. i think it's a good starting point if you wanna get into pokemon but don't want to bother watching right from the start. as long as you have a good understand about ash and his goals, the season clicks pretty quickly. it also gives us probably the best version of ash we got, depending on how you feel. of course, ash in alola was skilled enough to beat the pokemon league AND his exhibition battle with TAPU KOKO, but ash was pretty much one move away from defeating alain (which, btw, as much as his alola league win was incredible, i feel like ash should've won his battle with alain) and that's a good enough demonstration of skill to me.

so yeah! xy gets a thumbs up from me. i know i was probably harsh this review but i want to emphasise that i do really like this season and i did enjoy it. that being said, i hope they never show a scene involving a crying hawlucha ever. again.

[horrorkiki-the-witch]

Lore Olympus rant, you can ignore me

I'll most likely get hate for this but idc. I'm not important enough to be given attention to so don't waste your time on me. I just need to get this out of my system

Lore Olympus isn't that good. I don't hate it but I don't like it either. There is a lot of problem in the comic albeit most are biased. The problem in my opinion (I have not read season 2 and I don't think I will):

The age gap: good god the age gap is honestly disturbing, a 20 years old (now 30 I think) and 3000+ years old. Like bro?? Sure they are both legally adults but Persephone is still a very young adult and she's very childish it's actually problematic. This is the same type of crap as 5000+ year old loli who act like 12 years old.

Their behaviour: I get that couples may not feel like themself without their partner but they are so obsessed with each other it's not healthy. Again on that age problem, Hades you hardly know Persephone, you can't be obsessed with her like that.

Body type: This one is absolutely biased so you may exclude this from my valid reasoning. But I do not like how Persephone is sexualised. Yes I know there are actual people that have Persephone's body type and yes I know just because a character is curvy doesn't mean they are being sexualised but you don't need to make the character curvy to emphasise they are pretty. (ok this reason doesn't make sense, you may harras me for this)

Persephone is a mary sue and you can't tell me otherwise: She's almost the textbook definition of an edgy mary sue. Overpowered (kind of), is liked by many men and pretty much everyone except for rival, is InSaNeLy BeAuTiFuL so beautiful in fact that even she's prettier than Aphrodite, Every bad thing she does is "justifiable", and is her against the world. tbh I never like her character.

Demeter is villainized and I don't like it: The main point of the myth is about a mother that goes against the tradition for the sake of her daughter. I do like the modern interpretation of Hades x Persephone but without villainizing Demeter. She has every reason not to trust Hades. And in the context of the webtoon, while she did hide most things about the real world from Persephone, her main reason for not letting it is that olympian gods are bad. And guess what, she's right. I don't think I have to list it.

The art style: This is also biased since art is subjective but since this is my rant I will include it. Every character looks the same. If it's not for the colouring you would hardly be able to tell the difference between characters. And the same face syndrome is as bad as Disney.

And that's for now of the rant. This is what I could think of while typing this in one sitting. If you somehow care enough to reach here, thank you for bothering to read this random post. Once again this post is very biased and don't take my word for it. Have a good day

[shantechni]

I'm here to address how Link Click (Shiguang Daili Ren/Time Agents) is getting stellar ratings and views on bilibili. The amount of followers surpasses 4 million, and views for all 11 of its episodes total to over 103 million. It's doing pretty well with its small western audiences on MAL as well.

But not enough. Just because it's doing spectacularly there doesn't mean that the small amount of people watching here mean anything in comparison. In fact, in cases like these, those who distribute the series outside of China will believe that we don't seem to care for it and won't bother giving us more of the series. This applies to all anime/manga, heck, any and all forms of media.

The western audience is seriously underrating this donghua.

I'll list a few legitimate reasons as to why there aren't many people watching Link Click (aside from the "I'm not used to hearing Chinese" excuse, you went and got used to Japanese, shut up, as well as the "I don't like subtitles" reason, tell that to the people who actually need them).

Funimation is terrible at promoting: They haven't seriously tried to hype this series up like they should've. The most they done is post to YouTube a misleading trailer, the op and ed, and four or five clips. That seems like quite a bit until you realize they hardly posted or tweeted about it anywhere. Of course people won't know or care for it when you hardly even talk about it. I shouldn't have to actively search for the 2 tweets you've made about Link Click. Yes, it was only 2.

Time of release: This one's more on the speculation side of things, but I do believe that being released during a season of big adaptations and sequels makes it harder for people to come across an original series like this one. People are going to be more inclined to flock towards what they already know about and have been waiting to see more of than something brand new. I feel like if the waves were calmer, people would've been more willing to spare time for it.

Availability: I don't know about y'all, but I don't see too many people using Funimation to watch anime in comparison to Crunchyroll and other streaming services. It would've been great if Link Click was available to watch on something that more people use, or just something more than Funimation and bilibili alone. Crunchyroll and Netflix actually know how to promote ish (especially Crunchyroll with how often they'd make community posts and clips of anime).

If there are other reasons aside from those, please feel free to add to the list. But those are the main three that stand out to me the most.

Edit (ties in with reason #1): I've discussed this in a discord server with others and one of them mentioned how Funimation's layout for their app (or desktop, they didn't mention and I haven't checked) is clearly biased. They put the most popular things at the forefront while you have to go on a journey to find anything else, including Link Click. Most streaming services do this, but they at least have it so you'll still see what's new for the season instead of only what's hot.

[sunfoxfic]

Don't mind me but I just wanted to talk about something which is really rubbing off the wrong way with me.

Before I start, I should say that NONE of what I am about to say is meant to be Adrien salt. In fact, I have related to him more than ever especially this season and actually this ladynoir conflict is helping me cope up so much (I personally think it is really well executed so far). I love both Marinette and Adrien and I absolutely love this conflict because of what it would bring out in the future.

That being said, I read your post about the power imbalance in ladynoir and I agree so much with it! People talking about it sometimes makes me feel uncomfortable because of how they frame words about it and the post helped me understand why.

It's just that people say that Marinette being the guardian is the whole problem. And yes, that's true in sense it is a very very stressful burden for a fourteen year old to carry and it is taking a toll on her relationships and mental health to an extent where she CAN'T focus on anything else (I may be clumsily framing this dhsbz sorry but you get the gist). But no. People are not even concerned about that - their problem is that there is a power imbalance between Chat and Ladybug and that it is hurting Chat. Which is another aspect of it, yes, but also it kiiiinda rubs me off in the wrong way because it's almost as if people are not taking HER feelings into consideration at all? I mean this is pretty trivial and I am definitely overthinking things and I am sure it's not the case with most people saying that but it just does bother me.

And also the fact that when any leaks (especially from gloob😒) come up showing Adrien making a "mistake" (Like the Glaciator 2 ones gosh they were awful), salters start off with their irrational bashing, and people are really really quick to defend him - which they should! But why don't they do the same for Marinette too? Sure. Maybe they just care more about Adrien to defend him but when these SAME people start bashing on Marinette with out of context spoilers WITHOUT EVEN THINKING OF WAITING FOR THE EPISODE is when this feels like an awful double standard.

And then there's also a very specific brand of people who say that...Adrien is more "well written" and a "fan favourite"? Now, I won't touch the writing part because of my personal biases and because I personally think Marinette's storyline is also pretty complex (and I totally understand why people would NOT think so), but the fan favourite part?? Does it even matter at the end of the day? I've even seen some people act all high and mighty because they are Adrien "stans" apparently?? (Tbf the whole Stan culture is something which I don't care about)

Sorry for this highly disorganised rant. It's just that since the episode aired I've been seeing all sorts of these comments and I don't know if this is just me overthinking everything or if this is really something which bothered anyone else too.

Ello, anon! I'm always happy to get people venting in my inbox if they need to, I know the feeling

The first thing I'm going to say re: Adrien defense squad, is that you're absolutely right that in so many ways Adrien salt acts to perpetuate this defensiveness of Adrien that maybe isn't always earned. And like you, I love Adrien's character and don't want to sound salty, but.... people need to stop defending Adrien at the expense of Marinette.

That means that they need to stop defending him so much that they place blame on her where it's not deserved. It means they need to stop defending him so much that he gets shielded from pain rather than ever growing from it. It means they need to stop defending him from people who aren't arguing in good faith.

In the non-saltiest part of the fandom I know, this corner I've carved for myself on Tumblr, it's just exhausting to see people deconstructing all the reasons and ways Marinette is at fault and hurting people around her. There's usually the disclaimer of "Oh I still love her though!" or "But she has no way to change given her current circumstances" or "Not salt, I still love her."

But if I deconstructed all the ways in which Adrien is wrong and hurting people around him with those same disclaimers, I'd get accused of perpetuating Adrien salt. That's happened to me before. And unlike most of the posts I see like this about Marinette (by very smart, reasonable people), when I made those types of posts about Adrien, it was always, "He needs to get better for his own sake because he cannot depend on people protecting him all the time and I don't want him to get hurt." People making those same posts about Marinette are only ever deconstructing her impact on other people -- usually Adrien.

As for the rest of it.... It's been a few hours since this came in and I've been thinking about this ask all day. And I think part of the issue with discussing the Ladynoir power imbalance and that whole issue, etc etc, is that everyone thinks they know how to solve the problems.

To be quite clear: I'm guilty of this.

We all think we know what dynamic Ladybug and Chat Noir need to have to be "healthy." In reality, the main thing they need to be healthy is to have Gabriel removed from their lives. No dynamic changing will improve their relationship more than dynamically kicking Gabriel Agreste into a prison cell.

But once that happens, we all think we know exactly what they need to do in order to preserve their sense of selves and relationship with one another. When in reality, it's so much messier than that.

What Adrien and Marinette need to do is experiment. Figure out what each of them needs to do and where they need to help their personal shortcomings to have both of their needs met. Yeah, there's some basic things that obviously need to happen: Adrien needs to be more forthcoming about his feelings, Marinette needs to be more attentive, both of them need a little patience.

But we have no idea what exactly they need to do to make their relationship work. So when someone says confidently "Marinette needs to give up the Miracle Box" or "Adrien needs to be Guardian with her" or "Adrien needs to know who all the identities of the heroes are" I'm starting to be doubtful that we can really know what impact this would have on their relationship at all.

I'm guilty of this, like I said. But the more I think about it, the more I don't think there's any way to confidently identify solutions in something as variable and fragile as a relationship. A lot harder than identifying problems, anyway.

Anyway, anon, hope saying all this made you feel better, and have a lovely day.

[22degreehalo]

Maybe this is a character development thing but I really just fundamentally don't understand or like any interpretation of Cas that has him as inherently rebellious.

For 99.999% of his life he obeyed God as a soldier looking over humanity and was satisfied.

When he started to question the angels in season 4, he was deeply troubled by that, and this was noted as very unusual for him. And he was bothered in large part BECAUSE he believed they were going against God's plan.

He rebelled so he could try and find God and get his guidance. When he failed he was miserable. He joined Sam and Dean in stopping the world was ending because THE WORLD WAS ENDING, but he didn't know what he was doing and it didn't come naturally to him.

Then, when he was forced to take charge, it went awfully and he hated it and he talked at length about how painful free will was.

Yes, he has a strong sense of justice and repeatedly finds himself having to risk his life to protect what he cares about.

But Cas himself? He LIKES order and familiarity When it's not bringing about doomsday.

His ideal places have always been peaceful. Little scenes of ordinary humans enjoying their lives. He likes quiet and calm and stillness.

And I think it matters that he ISN'T more of a typical action hero type like the Winchesters. He doesn't come to this stuff easily. He's not like Gabriel or Balthazar or any of the others. He's doing this not because he wants to but because circumstances force it - because justice demands it.

It matters that he was the only angel (at least in a pre-Chuck world) who really UNDERSTOOD God and humanity and love, as an angel. That is WHY he was able to know when other angels were doing the wrong thing.

Admittedly, I'm biased. I love Castiel's autistic traits because they're relatable.

But, when people's final point or main concern about Cas is that he's a 'little bitch' it's just... boring as FUCK to me.

Guys. Literally every fucking character in TV right now is sassy and mean and bitchy and smug. Everyone wants to be the witty anti-hero. It's not new.

What makes Cas different is that he's NOT naturally like that. It's something he conjured up in him from necessity, needing to bluff a certainty he doesn't feel. It's cobbled together from years alongside humanity because he's never really one of them, but loves them and is loved all the same.

Cas is meaningful to me because doing all these right things were HARD. They didn't come naturally to him. In an ideal world, he'd be acting very different. And yet he did it because he really believed it was the right thing to do.

That, personally? Is a WAY more interesting story than, like... 'haha Cas is an angel rebel who disrespects authority, look at him being a sassy gay bitch!!!'

[roswelldetails]

RNM 2x05 - I'll Stand By You

So just a little note from me, the person behind the season 2 detailing.  I am trying really really hard to keep emotion out of these posts...which is really really hard for me because I'm an inherently emotional person. I'm a glass case of emotion, ready to shatter at any given moment. (#dramatic)  But I want to be true to the intent of this blog and keep my feelings, biases, and, you know, shipping out of this blog.

It was really really hard to do with this episode. Because I straight up ugly cried for like, 45 of the 60 minutes. 😂

So I guess, the point is, I'm proud of myself and sticking to the details here. My regular blog is where I'm doing the emotional flip out thing! 😂

EPISODE SUMMARY:

ACCEPTING REALITY — The discovery of some complications with Max’s (Nathan Dean) pod forces Liz (Jeanine Mason), Michael (Michael Vlamis) and Isobel (Lily Cowles) to confront the possibility that they may not be able to save him. Elsewhere, Maria (Heather Hemmens) and Alex (Tyler Blackburn) make amends. Kimberly McCullough directed the episode written by Alanna Bennett & Jason Gavin (#205). Original airdate 4/13/2020. 

DETAILS:

Max/Isobel/Michael reunite at age 11 according to what Michael tells Alex in 1x10.  So that would make the opening of this episode set in 2002ish.

Michael tells Max and Isobel, "I remember you. I don't know you."

"After nobody adopted me for a year they just stuck me with the name of that trucker who found us."

"I didn't ask you for anything."

This is like the thesis statement of Michael's whole history with Max in the flashbacks.

"Don't pay more than you collect, kid. Passing credit back and forth is a good way to get stuck with somebody forever."

Rosa's art. 

What I can see says: "...what they all told me, but I didn't listen" and "Stand the shelter".

Rosa on her dreams

"I have not had any freaky dreams in weeks. Okay, Max is probably off haunting Isobel now that they're strong enough for their psychic twincest weirdness."

"How long has that been happening?"

"Um, I don't know. It's an old boom box."

"Rosa, have electrical appliances been malfunctioning around you?"

"I really thought it was just a side effect of the handprint."

"If being in the pod introduced a new protein into your system it could have altered your DNA too. You could be developing abilities."

"Liz, look. The handprint is changing.  It's smaller."

"It's fading."

"Tell me this is a good thing."

"I don't think so."

Michael and Liz theorizing on why the pod shorted out:

"The pod's got a charge. It's like a battery powering the preservation process. This one's gone dead."

"Did the generator blow the electromagnetic threshold?"

"I think a surge came from the pod itself. But that pod has lasted almost a century. It shouldn't glitch out."

"Okay, well, then, this one did."

"All right, stop. It doesn't matter why the pod is broken. It just is. So how long does Max have?"

"My theory is that being tethered to Rosa through the mark is what kept Max from going brain-dead, and in turn the stasis process is what kept the mark from fading. So he could be gone by tonight."

"Okay, well, we have three more pods. So let's just put him into another pod."

"No. He's just gonna do it again. I haven't told you everything. I didn't want to scare you. I didn't want to be the one that took the hope away."

"Talk now, Rosa. Right now."

"I was seeing Max in my nightmares months before I told you about it, and he was begging me to stop you. He said that he was in a lot of pain in there."

"That's Noah's pod. Noah told us it was broken. It wasn't keeping him in stasis. He could feel time passing. None of us thought of that."

"We've been doing everything we can to make Max stronger. He pulled his own plug."

Note...as far as we know Isobel was the only one who knew about Noah's pod being broken.  In 1x12 it was before Liz arrived at the house that he told them about the broken pod, so only Max and Isobel heard that part of the story.

Alex on his training. "NSA intelligence cryptology training".

Monitor screen in the secret lab:

Noah's heart is still too weak to transplant. Kyle says it needs at least eight more weeks

"I wrote a paper for a bioethics class on patients in vegetative states who feel pain. Sometimes it's all they feel."

As a non sciencey person, I was wondering if bioethics class was a real thing. Tonight I saw an interview on the news with a UC Berkeley bioethics professor on COVID. So yes, it's a thing.

Alex on Michael that summer post-Rosa's death:

Starting fights with jocks

Broke into the drugstore

Not going to UNM

Hasn't hung out with Max all summer

Got busted for stealing hubcaps (Kyle's hubcaps, we learn later) 

Became a walking bar fight

Was in jail when Alex left to enlist

Michael on Max in 2008:

"It's more than that. And it's less than that. We were friends when we were kids, but now Max reminds me of a bunch of stuff that I'd rather forget. The only thing that we have in common anymore is Isobel."

Max's yearbook had a pencil stuck in the page with Liz and Max's photo in it. (The one we first saw in 1x03).

"Biology Club. Max hated science. He was in that club for four years just to watch your sister chew on the end of her pencil."

Max's mindscape:

First just desert, clouds, and then lightning strikes (destructive energy?)

Liz's antennae -- they disappear from Isobel's hands

Rosa describes it as broken

Crashdown special is Max's favorite "Little Green Man milkshake".

The Crashdown counter is kind of merged with biology lab equipment. 

The juke box is there

The Crashdown booths

Jeep

Neon Crashdown sign

One of those claw drop game machines (from the Crashdown) but it's filled with baked good displays.

The yearbook

Later, everything else is gone except the one Crashdown booth, the Jeep, and the neon sign.

The distorted music they follow to find Max is the Cactus Groove song in the music list...just, messed around with. See @angsty-nerd's post here:

"I'm the hothead. You are the hero. It's always been that way."

"You stole the hubcaps off Kyle Valenti's graduation present. Both his parents are cops. Do you want to end up in jail tonight?". 

👀 Tonight, specifically. 

Michael seemed excited about the job at Foster's Ranch until he found out that Max set it up for him.  Max found out about it from his dad (only like the 2nd or 3rd mention of his dad in the series so far).

"When I got back in town I asked Max why you and your brilliant mind hadn't changed the world yet. He said you didn't care about the world enough to bother changing it. He believed you could."

Max and Isobel in the mindscape:

"You're okay. I could feel something was wrong with you.  Everything felt…"

"Cold. I know."

"You can't be here. It's finally ending.  I can feel it. But I don't know what happens if you're in my head when I die."

"So it's true? You want this?"

"I could feel my connection to the outside world getting stronger, so I snapped. I couldn't take it anymore. I released a surge. You have to let me go, Iz."

"I can't take it anymore."

"Okay."

"I am so sorry."

"I just want to memorize this."

"Okay. Okay.  I need you to tell Liz something."

"You can tell her yourself.  She and Kyle are prepping for surgery.  They're going to use the faulty heart. She just wants to talk to you before you die."

"No. No."

"You won't be suffering. They're just gonna bring you back and then let you go."

"No you have to stop this.  You cannot bring me back under any circumstances."

"Max? What is really going on?"

"I am dangerous.  Whatever Liz is bringing back is not me. It's just some broken shell."

Maria on her mom's computer 

"Her nurse said that for the two weeks before she went missing, when she wasn't trying to escape, she was talking to someone online."

The 21st birthday flashback

Isobel gets Michael to help move Max after getting drunk on tequila.  He passed out in front of the tattoo parlor. It's the same tattoo parlor Michael goes to at the end of the episode.

Max's weird drunken statement.

"The thing is, there has to be there. Okay? There's always three. Until the very end.  I'll show you...What it means is you should be here…'cause it's all broken without three. So we'll figure it out.  You'll find your way back."

👀 Until the very end. Interesting.

On Max becoming a deputy:

"You know he did the whole police academy thing because of you, right? He thinks you're gonna get into the kind of trouble you can't get out of if you don't know someone."

Back in the mindscape:

"I figured it all out. She, there's an energy to suffering, there's an energy to death, and when I heal people, I absorb that energy. So when I resurrected Rosa, I took in ten years of emptiness. So if you resurrect me, you will be bringing back an infection. Don't want… I don't want to come back as a monster. I don't want to hurt anyone that I care about."

"That's what this is about? We've been hurting, Max. We don't work without you."

"You will! You will. You are stronger now than when I died. All of you are. You, Michael, Liz, you will survive this. The three of you. No, you need to stop them, Iz. Now."

"Okay. I love you."

"You too." Isobel disappears.

Max is using pretty similar wording to his drunken rambles in the 21st birthday flashback

We don't see that Max is chained down until this next exchange with Rosa. Isobel didn't see that detail as far as we know.  Didn't hear the chains clanking when they stood and hugged. Only after Isobel left.

"I'm sorry this is happening."

"Isobel is lying. She is buying time.  You know she'll never let me go. But you can feel the darkness too, right? That's why you don't like being in my head. Because you know it's real."

"I didn't want that to be true, but yes."

"I know my sister and I know your sister and they'll never give up. So you have to be the one to stop this surgery, okay? Or I will destroy everything that we love. You have to stop them to save them. Now go.  Please, Rosa. Go."

Isobel explaining to Liz

"When he saved Rosa he absorbed all of that dark energy. He's gonna have to expel it."

"And he's afraid he's gonna kill someone when he does."

"Yeah. So we just need someone stronger than Max to take that hit...if he thinks he needs to protect us he obviously doesn't know how capable we are. Bring him back, Liz. I'll handle the rest."

"I get it now. It's gotta be the three of us."

"He would never pull his plug to end his own suffering. Unless he thought he was saving us from something. And I'm a little sick of his heroic martyr crap."

In case you missed it, Michael did not know that.  At the beginning of the hospital sequence Isobel is telling Liz what she learned in Max's mindscape and says that she hasn't been able to get ahold of Michael.  Michael figured it out on his own. He finally "got it".

The pacemaker:

Isobel with Max at the end… everything is gone except the Jeep. And Bright Eyes playing (the song he and Liz danced to on their first date back in 2008). And then his eyes close and Bright Eyes fades away.

“First thing I remember is the three of us. We woke up terrified and lost. But together. And then all of the sudden I was alone. I got real good at being alone. I had given up on people entirely. And then you found me again. Hell of hero move. You showed up just in time. When you are a kid who nobody loves, kindness is a currency. Friendship doesn’t means jack. Family just lies, and hurts, and leaves. I’ve only ever known love to be temporary. So yeah, I push people away. Every time someone threatens to care about me I test their love until they have to leave. Connection is conditional. Everybody eventually gives up on the guy who refuses to be rescued. But you were the only one who I couldn’t run off. You never believed me when I tried to be something I wasn’t. So this thing in your chest, it might give your heart a pretty solid kick every once in a while. Consider it payback. It’s my hero move, Max. If you wake up, you consider us even, okay? If you wake up, we can be a family.”

Good visual parallels during Michael's speech. Alex and Kyle drinking together during the "and then you found me again". Maria walking up on "the guy who refuses to be rescued"

Max is in the coma for three weeks.  Wakes up at the secret lab (instead of his house, which is where he was previously.  I'm guessing it was a planned wake up because he's no longer plugged into all of the IVs and whatnot.

"I begged you to understand."

"Max, it's gonna be fine."

"No… I told you to let me go. I can feel it inside me."

"It's...it's symmetry, okay? It's just energy for energy.  We can deal with that. Fight it, Max. This isn't you."

"I don't want to hurt you. I need to get out. I need to get away from you, from everyone."

"I can't let you do that."

Max shoves Isobel and runs. When he shoves her there's a slight ringing like the sound they use when the aliens use their powers.  Isobel follows and stops him with her powers.

"I made a promise that if you came back and you weren't Max, and you were actually going to hurt people that I would kill you. I figure, hey, you got to play God. Make life and death decisions all on your own. Well it's my turn now."

MUSIC:

1. Letters To Cleo "Here and Now"

2. Lady Antebellum "Love Don't Live Here"

3. Cactus Groove "Fallin"

4. James Talley "Big Thunder"

8. Ross Copperman "Stars Are On Your Side"

5. Lindsey Ray "Keep You Safe"

6. Tommee Profitt feat. Sam Tinnesz "With you Til The End"

7. Bright Eyes "First Day Of My Life"

The Cactus Groove song is the first song this season that I haven’t been able to find on Spotify… let me know if any of y’all had any luck with it!