#but it's hilariously annoying when it happens in a story where the deity

[skyeventide]

honestly, Luthien and her descendants don't own the Silmaril because she fought for it or because of weregild or whatever. the weregild situation in the Luthien drama is the weapons of Curufin that Beren takes from him; that's the payment, the weregild, the gold you pay for a wrongdoing. it's Angrist and Curufin's other weapons. not the Silmaril. you need to understand that Tolkien says super explicitly that the Silmaril ownership system is morality (and therefore religiously) based. he declares super clearly, black on white, that the sons of Feanor had right to the Silmarils before that right is forfeited because of their deeds, that presumably meaning Alqualonde's theft of ships and ensuing fight already. that right is forfeited, not as payment, but inherently, metaphysically, which Tolkien also reinforces by having the Valar, authority of Eru in the embodied world, bless them so that only clean hands can touch them. but mind you, what clean and moral hands means is completely arbitrary. the dwarves don't burn for killing Thingol, Beren doesn't burn for killing the dwarves. am I meant to read, say, the dwarves' overreaction to an insult as justified killing, then? as moral? it's okay if they kill someone because he's not giving them what is theirs? it's not possible to construe this narrative unless we understand that its fate is simply not a force of balanced moral judgement, but a force with a specific aim, and it's not possible to make of the story an even field because of it. fate is such that Beren can cross through the girdle; Melian cannot keep him out. in short, the Silmaril's ownership is not a consistent external logic, it's an internal morality that hinges on religious exceptionalism and fatal, near-authorial say-so. remember that Glorfindel is reembodied early explicitly because he aided the divine plan in saving little Earendil: religious favoritism and authorial say-so are a thing (they're the same thing. this is a story, nothing exists that the author doesn't decide. that the in-story divine plan corresponds with the story the author wants to tell and therefore pushes forward with the deus ex machina, that makes it ultimately nothing but Tolkien's say-so). remember also, however, that the final fate Tolkien envisions for the Silmarils is the liberation of their light to remake the world. the imbuing of their beauty for everyone to share. and whatever my opinions on that, it's miles better and a much more apt fate than whatever hoax a rigged religion-based sort of moral ownership represents.

[kdramaxoxo]

‘Doom At Your Service’ - A Review

About This Drama: 'Doom At Your Service’ is both a fantasy romance about a women with a terminal illness and a deity who brings about “Doom,” and a writer who is torn between two men.

–Spoilers Ahead–

The Good Stuff:

Seo In Guk & Park Bo Young! I love Seo In Guk but I didn’t realize just how much I loved him until I watched Doom At Your Service. Even with a minimal script, he is able to capture so much emotion. Park Bo Young is already one of my favorite actors, but she was so good at her part that I legit cried towards the end. And they were super funny together as well as stunning and emotional - 10/10 casting!

The Chemistry: Our main couple is lovely and soft and tender (and hilarious too!) AND fighting against destiny and fate. That’s the perfect recipe for amazing romance and the best kisses. Literally so good. If you didn’t watch that kiss more than once you’re lying.

Fantasy Romance Storyline: I love fantasy dramas, especially when there’s some sort of tragic fate where the mains are fighting desperately for their love. Even when it’s kinda predictable, if the acting is good, it’s one of my favorite tropes to watch.

Tak Dong Kyung‘s Family: Without spoiling too much, Dong Kyung’s family is just the sweetest and most supportive group out there. My favorite moments are when Uncle Kevin who can’t speak Korean, and the mains who don’t speak english, have full conversations based around family and love. So sweet!

The Bad Stuff:

The Script:

Note: This next bit is going to seem like I’m being overly hard on Doom At Your Service. I really did enjoy it, but the script had a variety of issues and I’m just trying to cover them all.

The beginning: Doom At Your Service started off slow and kinda flat emotionally. The banter between the mains felt forced, and the romance was unearned. The show relied on a soundtrack and pretty faces to build the story/romance, when they really needed to work on character development. By episode 4 the script improved and I was sold. But that’s a lot of episodes wasted! If Seo In Guk hadn’t been slaying his role like a king, I’m not sure I would have kept watching.

The middle: At this point there are two completely different romance stories being told and all of us in the fandom are trying to figure out how and when they’d come together. Surely they would be linked in some important way so that both stories made sense together right? Nope.

Towards the end: Many fantasy dramas suffer from putting “rules that cannot be broken” in place by the gods, and then deciding they don’t matter. This drama 100% does that which is just rude because I take them seriously! ;-) By the end I could mostly predict what was doing to happen and also be super annoyed at the deity for teaching the mains “A Lesson.” I mean weird flex, but okay? By then I was in love with the mains so I didn’t care a ton, but throwing the rules in the trash to make the plot resolve is pretty lazy.

The Other Romance (a.k.a the actual problem with Doom At Your Service): 

The thing about Doom At Your Service is that you can ship the mains and find their story lovely, but you cannot forgot that about 40% of the drama is about an entirely different romance not at all related to them. And that romance is boring y’all. Both of Na Ji Na’s possible love interests showed no actual interest in her and mostly fought over her like she was a prop. 

How do you take two gorgeous men with different personalities and make them interact in such a boring way with the woman they like? Seriously where are the fun dates or them trying to get to know her? Na Ji Na is so vibrant and fun with her friends, but is reduced to a sad plank of wood by these guys. Like, the man she chooses is fine, and the romance is fine, but that’s pretty much it.

In conclusion: Doom At Your Service is a pretty-looking romantic fantasy drama with one fun, emotional and interesting story, and one un-fun and boring one... A.K.A Na Ji Na deserves better.

Rating: If Doom At Your Service was just Doom & Dong Kyung’s story, I’d give the Drama an 8/10 earning extra points for chemistry and amazing acting, but since I can’t ignore the rest of the drama...

6.5/10 

[jujuoh]

I never actually posted the little story behind the demon/priest flareshipping thing did I? I was just gonna type out something short and quick but the details got away from me. tl;dr seto becomes a priest to look for mokuba, summons atem for help and accidentally summons yugi too. the nun garbs are easier to hide the horns, tails, and wings under while they help him.

It’s like, not quite modern day, just far enough ago that travelling from Japan to Europe would generally be done by boat and land bc there were no planes. 

circa 1875 CE, Japan, Meiji Restoration

Seto and Mokuba still get sent to an orphanage, and Mokuba gets adopted by a visiting Englishman without Seto, who tells him to go with and that he promises to find him, because it would be a better life than staying in the orphanage. 

Seto almost ages out of the system when some travelling missionaries happen to come through town, but secretly they’re actually demon hunters/exorcists on a mission (though of course every country has their own ways of dealing with demons, sometimes if the demons are foreign, they need foreign magic to help stop them. In this instance, a coastal city in Japan was having issues with Scottish kelpies of all things. Wherever they went, they teamed up with the local demon hunters as well). The group stopped by the orphanage both to keep up appearances but also scout for talent, and catch wind of a really smart, stubborn kid named Seto who sounds like a perfect apprentice. 

Seto agrees to go with them because they can promise to take him to Europe where he can search for his little brother. He finds out later about the demon hunter thing but doesn’t believe them, until he watches them do their job - unless a demon wants to be seen, it can’t be, unless you force-reveal or see it with magic of some sort. The power (both magical and influential), the control, and the ability to help people (though he won’t admit it) attracts him and he eagerly begins learning. Though he tends to feel like if the person is a douchebag they deserve their demon problem (his guardians try to teach it out of him to varying degrees of success)

It takes ages to get to Europe, and they do missions (from angels, messages from the vatican, towns they pass where there are problems they can solve, a few memorable times from other demons), and teach him along the way - surprisingly about many different religions, not just catholicism, as well as many different languages which he picks up quickly. The lessons about different demons and magic and curses were the most interesting: different places in the world have different supernatural beings, matching up with the different religious stories and mythology, and so of course they needed different magicks and tactics to defeat, release, or otherwise overcome. They attempted regular schooling too but Seto was already at or above their levels, so instead they taught him everything they knew. They taught him how to sew and weave, how to shoe a horse, fix a boat, cook, clean, among various other things.

circa 1880 CE, Europe, second industrial revolution

Thus, the whole trip takes quite a while. Seto is twenty by the time they actually make it to Europe, and while the time taken frustrates him, he knows it was safer and cheaper to do it this way, rather than try to get the money by himself and travel alone. That, and all the magic he would’ve never known.

Once he’s there, he travels along with them for a bit, trying to find leads to the family that has his little brother, but once they need to be sent out to different countries and continents again, he begins to travel alone. Sometimes he spends up to nearly a few months in one place, taking care of a big problem.

On his own, Seto learns that demons themselves are much more complex than he was originally taught - in terms of individuality, motivations, social hierarchy, and ven morality. He meets demons better than most people, and people worse than most demons. Some spirits are just mischievous, and people lie about how much damage they’ve done. He ends up capturing demons sometimes in order to study or interview them before banishing them or letting them go. He rarely actually destroys any unless they’re particularly bad. He also gets closer to some of the angelic messengers, and decides all angels are mildly to viciously annoying, especially the one named Joseph and his friend Tristan. 

Eventually he gets frustrated with his total lack of progress and commits a taboo - he summons a demon himself. The book of spells he borrows from a local boy - Japanese like himself but raised here in England. He has white hair and claims to be a psychic, the ghost of his little sister following him around the occultish store, stocked by things his father brings back from travels that can’t go into the museum. Seto knows better by now than to doubt him.

He accidentally summons two. He refuses to place the blame on himself for not calculating things perfectly, and calls it a fluke of magic.

circa 1300 BCE, Egypt, middle New Kingdom

Atem had been a prince in Egypt, destined to be a greater pharaoh (and a greater man) than his father, but his traitorous uncle killed him on the eve of his coronation, just after the mourning period for his father was over. The magic interacted with his own, and with the artifact he wore, and with whatever divine influence the gods deemed to throw his way, and instead of going through the trails of the afterlife to enter the duat and be reborn again, he became a being of shadows and magic itself. Little did the uncle know that he would fall and be torn down by another boy wanting revenge just the next day.

It took Atem a long time to come to terms with what happened, and even longer to learn how to use and control his powers. By the time he could return to his home, too much time had gone by. Everywhere he went people spoke as the sea people spoke, foreign rulers by the name of Ptolemy sat on the throne, temples and statues were decimated or else reclaimed by these others in place of their original deities. Everyone and everything he’d known and loved were long gone. Upset, he travelled the worlds above and below. As is his nature, when he found something unjust, he did his best to set things right. As is his new nature, he judged by luring the accused into games to test their hearts.

He stays mostly solitary for nearly 3000 years - not entirely by his own choice, but by circumstance. He’s old and powerful and appeared out of nowhere, and other beings of all kinds are wary of him. Until he comes upon a sweet, hurting boy named Yugi who asks to be his friend.

circa 1820 CE, Japan, near the end of the Edo period

Yugi is very smart, and very small, and very nice. His niceness often gets taken advantage of, and his size makes it easy to pick on him. If he fought back, maybe they’d leave him alone, but he hates hurting anyone. His grandfather, a merchant, always tries to convince Yugi to stand up for himself. Yugi doesn’t listen. He gets sadder and more reclusive by the year, until he barely looks anyone in the eyes anymore, even his own mother as she helps bandage him up from the latest “game” that horrible group of older kids “played” with him.

In an effort to cheer up his grandson, Sugoroku gives him a golden puzzle from a far away land. He’d been hoping to make big money off it, but they were well-enough off as is, and his grandson’s happiness mattered more than some extra coins in his pocket. He’d known the puzzle was difficult, but it takes even Yugi years to complete it. Years of suffering, and growing, and learning. His grandfather worries. Yugi is of course interested in taking over Sugoroku’s business, and already assists him greatly, but without being able to stand up for himself the boy will have trouble in the world. He worries as well about revealing the truth to Yugi - the truth that Sugoroku is himself a demon, and so his son, and so is Yugi, though to a much lesser extent since Yugi’s mother is human.

When Yugi completes the puzzle, it immediately summons a disoriented and shocked Atem to his side. Cue screaming and yelling from both of them, a rather hilarious scene of Yugi chucking the puzzle at Atem’s head reflexively before hiding behind an upturned table. Atem, freaked out by what just happened, also takes cover behind a screen. He’d never been summoned like THAT before, it felt completely different to a summoning circle or a prayer or anything else, and certainly never by someone who immediately started screaming at him. 

Tentatively, after the dust settles, Yugi peeks out from behind the table. Atem hears him shifting and peaks out as well. More silence. Yugi tries to come to terms that he’s summoned what appears to be a demon. Atem tries to come to terms with how cute the screaming young man is. Yugi clears his throat and offers a shaky greeting. Atem falls in love.

Eventually they end up in the middle of the cleaned up room, sitting on the floor, having a somewhat stilted conversation. Atem fiddles with the puzzle - what was once his magical artifact - sitting on his lap. There had been no contract, no promise, no injustice to either force or encourage Atem to stay, but he couldn’t find it in himself to leave. By the time it was dark outside, the two of them were laughing together, munching on the snacks Yugi had made while preparing dinner for his grandfather and mother, who were on their way back home from a day trip to the big markets. The knife Yugi’s using to chop the vegetables slips and slices open the base of his thumb, and while it’s not deep the pain surprises him. Atem automatically reaches out to gasp the injured appendage. This is the first time they’ve touched.

The sheer power released by Atem touching Yugi’s hand awakened Yugi’s latent demonic side, and it takes Atem a while to calm him down. The new little horns, and long ears, and wings, and tail... it was a lot to take in. Sugoroku and Ayame come home to find a delicious dinner and two demons waiting for them. It doesn’t bother them nearly as much as Yugi thought, and he finally learns the truth from his sheepish grandfather. Ayame is annoyed he’d stopped from from trying to tell him sooner, because now look what happened, you silly old man.

Atem, regardless of his feelings, didn’t want to tie the young demon down to such an old and feared one like himself, and intended to leave as soon as he knew Yugi was in good hands. But, he can’t just let Sugoroku teach him - even for a demon, he was quite old in body while Atem remained young (another thing people found terrifying, for just how much power did Atem have to appear naturally young after 3000 years?), so he stayed and helped train Yugi. Yugi did everything he could to impress Atem, not even realising his own feelings for a good while; once he did, he redoubled his efforts and became even more mischievous and flirty. Eventually, Atem couldn’t take it any longer and confessed, and they were bonded.

Seto was only trying to summon an ancient demon by the name of Atem, a solver of puzzles and bringer of justice, both to help him look for Mokuba using demonic magic and to possibly learn from him. Seto also gets Atem’s equally tiny boyfriend, Yugi, who is not even nearly ancient but quite older than Seto, a fact that irks him greatly as they’re both shorter than he was at age 12.

But, they’re both so, so clever. And so, so... hard to resist. He wants to hate it, wants to believe they’re magically influencing him somehow, but he’s too confident in his abilities to believe it.

Seto enters a joint contract with them (though Yugi was willing to help even without one, but it has it’s benefits). Together, they hunt down particularly nasty pests and find major leads to Mokuba. And fall in love, of course. 

[askblueberrymuffin]

REALLY LONG CHARACTER SURVEY.

RULES. repost ,   don’t  reblog  !  good  luck  !

TAGGED. @vertebralheights sorta? TAGGING. I dunno, do what u want

BASICS.

FULL NAME: Sans Gaster

NICKNAME:  Blueberry, Muffin, Blue

AGE: 23

BIRTHDAY: July 1st, 20XX

ETHNIC GROUP: Skeleton/Shadow Monster

NATIONALITY: Underground??

LANGUAGE(S): English, Wingdings(?)

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Asexual

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Panromantic

RELATIONSHIP STATUS:  Forever alone Single

CLASS: Middle class? Maybe upper middle when their mom was around?

HOMETOWN / AREA: Snowdin

CURRENT HOME: Still Snowdin, same house and everything

PROFESSION: Sentry, but he’ll likely pursue higher education soon

PHYSICAL.

HAIR: Skeleton?

EYES: Usually cerulean blue.

NOSE:  Nope

FACE:  Boney (har har)

LIPS:  Still skeleton

COMPLEXION: Guess what? Skeleton

WEIGHT:  Like, 9 lbs.

BUILD: Bony boi

FEATURES:  Solid shadow? In skull and ribcage? Also tiny nubby tail

ALLERGIES: Straight up a magic skeleton

USUAL HAIRSTYLE: No?

USUAL FACE LOOK: A bright smile

USUAL CLOTHING: So many sweaters. Too many sweaters. And baggy pants. And cerulean boots. Of course all topped off with his scarf, tied as a bandana.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR(S): His brothers dying, Cake killing himself(again), Cake self harming(more), being abandoned, hurting others, using others, being alone, fire, being burned, the kitchen, ice picks, chisels, sledge hammers, lighters, people getting hurt because of him, people dying because of him-- *SLAPS ROOF OF SANS* THIS BAD BOI CAN FIT SO MANY FEARS and he hides them all so they never get any better, someone help him oh my god--

ASPIRATION(S) : He wants to help others however he can. He also would really like to be come a scientist, but he puts that aside for the former

POSITIVE TRAITS: Excitable, loving, affectionate, intelligent, optimistic, resourceful, adaptable, perseverance, determination, overwhelming kindness and forgiveness

NEGATIVE TRAITS: Depressed, fakes many emotions, fakes many situations, fakes his persona, shoves his own feelings aside constantly, takes all the blame, always takes the fall, forgives instantly, never blames anyone, too trusting, can be absent minded, easily distracted, never honest about his own feelings to other or to himself, won’t tell people when they’re hurting him, will do almost anything you tell him, he’s entirely too codependent, his entire life revolves around his brothers, if you take that away he doesn’t know who he is anymore, he’s content now but if he were to ever not be, that is a very, very steep slope with no coming back. Get this baby a therapist, someone.

ZODIAC: A hecking crab Cancer

TEMPERAMENT: He only gets upset when bad stuff happens to others or they talk bad about themselves. Otherwise you could literally stab him and-- WAIT people literally did torture him and he was not at all upset! Ahhh--

SOUL TYPE(S):  Monster Soul?

ANIMALS:  Probably some kind of dog. He’d be the goodest good boy.

VICE  HABIT(S): He stress bakes and stress cleans. Don’t take that for innocence as he’s tried other things. A lot of other things. But he has 1 HP, hates the choking feel of smoke and can’t get drunk if his life depended on it. ...Perhaps it isn’t so innocent though, looking at all he does.

FAITH: Who needs gods when you’re a massive science nerd

GHOSTS?: Yes?

AFTERLIFE?: He believes there is none. A part of him hopes he is wrong.

REINCARNATION?: He’s a science nerd, he hasn’t put much thought into this stuff.

ALIENS?: He believes with the vastness of the universe, likely? He wants to meet one.

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: Heavy shrugging? He only wishes the Queen were more open.

ECONOMIC  PREFERENCE: None in particular

SOCIOPOLITICAL POSITION: He’s content where things are.

EDUCATION LEVEL: High school. He hopes to change this now that they actually have money--

FAMILY.

FATHER: Wingdings Gaster

MOTHER: D̵̀́͟͜r̶̶̶̛̕.̴̀ ̷̡̨̢P̶̧e̢̡̕n̷̷̨̧u̴̶m̡̛͘͠͠b̧͞͠r̴̷̨͞ą̧̛͘ ̸̨G̴̡͜͜͠a̵͜s̢̀͜t̢e͠҉̕͟r̷͏̢̢̀

SIBLINGS: Papyrus ‘Cake’ Gaster (younger), Papyrus ‘Rex’ (older)

EXTENDED FAMILY: Sakura Shalie (niece), Martin Magnus (nephew)

NAME MEANING(S): I dunno, ask their mom OH WAIT-- (imsorry)

HISTORICAL CONNECTION?: His mom was the royal scientist, while his dad killed the human who possessed the soul of integrity. Perhaps in certain timelines caused by a certain human, he may have been more historically important (winkwinknudgenudge)

FAVORITES.

BOOK: Pffff-- Textbooks, old scientific studies, non-fiction, history texts, books on space, really just picture anything nerdy. He loves it. Oh yeah, and sci-fi.

MOVIE: The first Star Wars film, he will fight

5 SONGS: Dollhouse, Sleeping Powder, More Than Words, Squid Melody [Blue Version], Cut My Hair

DEITY: Can I just put Phil Swift here? I’m doing it.

HOLIDAY: Christmas

MONTH:  July. Birthday time!

SEASON: Indifferent. They all seem the same to him.

PLACE: Quiet places no one else can reach

WEATHER: Storms. Rain storms on the surface.

SOUND: Laughter

SCENT(S):  Laundry, baking, cooking

TASTE(S): He loves tomatoes? In juice, sandwiches, food in general? Yeah.

FEEL(S):  Warm, soft, physical contact with other living beings.

ANIMAL(S): He loves dogs? All dogs. So many dogs. He wants to pet them all. All dogs.

NUMBER: 9 now. XD

COLORS: He likes orange and blue. He says his favourite colours are his dad’s eyes. Which sounds adorable tbh--

EXTRA.

TALENTS: He’s a little smarty pants with a good memory. Helpful for science, helpful for reloads. He’s decent at cooking and is much, much to physically strong for his 1 HP?? He also has quite the great handle on his magic. Fighting him isn’t fun, at all. He’s only been fairly beaten once. He’s empathetic, great at reading people and a masterful deceiver. He could be a super villain with his manipulation abilities tbh, but he just hates the idea of using people.

BAD AT:  He acts before he thinks. He switches from topic to topic and overpowers conversation. He’s quick to defend others and gets himself hurt like this more often than not, and mentally he’s an absolute wreck. He can be overbearing and clingy though, especially to those close to him. The more paranoid he becomes, the more annoying he seems in these ways.

HOBBIES: Reading, cooking, cleaning. He’s starting to get back into actual hobbies like reading with Rex around. He used to just not have them.

TROPES:  He is about the best supporting ally and mom friend one can be. His best quality is being able to lift people up high. He however, cannot do this to himself.

AESTHETIC TAGS:  #space , #baking

GPOY  QUOTES: ((I don’t know what this is--))

FC INFO.

MAIN  FC(S): No

ALT FC(S): Nope

OLDER FC(S): Nuh-uh

YOUNGER  FC(S): Nadda

VOICE CLAIM(S): ((I have no idea?? The closest would be Cryaotic but I honestly have no idea the specifics))

GENDERBENT FC(S): Nah

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1: if you could write your character your way in their own movie, what would it be called, what style would it be filmed in, and what would it be about?:  If I were to write it??? It would turn into something psychological or horror related. Blue would fit wonderfully in a deconstruction of the human(or i guess skeleton??) mind. Hopefully it’d be about him seeming alright but being an absolute mess and managing to realize there is indeed a problem and work through his issues with friends, family and some professional help. That’d be lovely.

Q2: what would their soundtrack / score sound like?:  He listens to anything catchy, though likes chiptune and electronica. He’d probably make his own soundtrack out of other video game soundtracks though, he’s a doofus.

Q3: why did you start writing this character?: I... Don’t know?? Huh. Guess I did a little bit about... Three years back? I didn’t do a whole lot with him, but that’s around when he met his niece and nephew. Hm.

Q4: what first attracted you to this character?:  Papyrus is my favourite undertale character. Sans is my second favourite. Mash them together and what do you get? A cool science boy! A sad cool science boy that covers his pain with laughter and smiles. Someone help him.

Q5: describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse: He won’t let anyone in, in any way that matters. He’s affectionate to everyone and it would be so easy to use and abuse him. He so strong in some areas and so weak in others. His whole life is his brothers and I’m often lost as to what I should make him do as he doesn’t keep hobbies really due to being busy. He never sleeps, works himself to exhaustion and picks everyone up despite being hurt himself. He thinks he knows what he is but he’s wrong. He thinks he’s fine but he’s not. He denies these problems in himself so hard that even he’s deceived by his act. It’s frustrating in a way even if it is interesting? As a writer I want to break him apart and crush him but as a person I want someone, anyone to finally see through this and HELP him. But no matter the hints I give or things I mention, no one has tried. I suppose he just hides it too well. Ahh...

Q6: what do you have in common with your muse?: Super depressed! Uh-- Ha, put up a mask. Hide pain with jokes. Try to see the silver lining in situations. Loooove space. And science. Psychology’s a huge yes.

Q8: what characters does your muse have interesting interactions with?: Citrus is always neat. Rex and him also have an extremely interesting dynamic. Fluff and him are adorable and fun, and I want so much more of them. Sakura’s is hilarious because she’s literally a god in her multiverse and she’s just accepted him as being able to break all laws of space and time

Q9: what gives you inspiration to write your muse?:  The interactions and dynamics he creates with other characters as well as the unique story and plot aspects that can be created!

Q10: how long did this take you to complete?:  At least two hours. Maybe longer. Oh jeez--

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

Notes on SPN 13.07

Notes on SPN 13.07

Ess-pee-enn! As always, writing this as I watch the episode so as to not pollute your dashes with my liveblogging.

SPOILERS ahead.

1. Suddenly we are reminded of the bizarre Lucifer-and-Mary-in-the-AU sub-plot! At least I was. When did we last visit them? 13.02? 13.03? Anyway, it turns out that AU!Michael has subdued and captured Lucifer, because he needs him.

1.25. About the AU itself: I did not watch a lot of s12, so correct me if I’m wrong, but this is a world where Sam and Dean never existed, yeah? My first instinct is to not make too much of that: I haven’t forgotten about Azazel’s other special children, and maybe it isn’t as straight a line from Mary refusing to deal with Azazel to the near-extinction of humanity as it appears. Maybe in another universe it was Jake Talley that saved the world, or Ava Wilson, or even Andy Gallagher and his twin brother.

Another—very personal—reason is that the idea of the fate of humanity hinging on the Winchesters’ existence is just—it chafes. The idea that this universe that revolves around the Winchesters and reflects them endlessly back onto themselves is just one among many both takes some wind out of the Winchester sails and allows for the possible existence of worlds where abstract concepts needn’t be beautiful women in skimpy dresses that Dean or Sam could shoot or stab. Come to think of it, it’s a very… specific kind of fantasy to be able to kill deities and creatures cobbled from many different cultures with nothing more than two beer-guzzling white male wanderers in a muscle car and an armoury full of guns. It’s just WinchesterLand. It’s almost comforting.

*ahem* Anyway—

1.5. I’m also reminded of End!verse. I have my theories about it, but do you think Zachariah somehow found a way to access the Rift?

2. Shirtless torture scene? Already?! *groans*

2.5. But, like—not only do I get Lucifer’s horror at being stuck in some kind of strange dystopia forever—with a hostile Michael, no less!—but I can’t miss the fact that how he got here is very similar to how he landed in the Cage in s5. If it was Sam the last time, this time it’s Mary.

3. An angel that wants to meet with Castiel alone at this point in the show… very ominous. Dean is right to be worried.

3.25. Where are we on Castiel’s abilities, btw? Is he at full angelic power? Can angels fly now? He wasn’t able to bring that security guard back to life—were angels ever able to bring people back to life? I can’t seem to remember.

4. I thought with the arrival of Asmodeus, Hell would be something other than this dank little courtroom and demons would be something other than suit-clad cronies who speak in corporate-speak. This shtick has become So. Damn. Tired.

4.5. For all the brouhaha surrounding Jack, that he’s named Jack is kind of funny.

5. “why don’t you go whale on mary for a while?” Is she here?? Was she captured by Michael? Why can’t we get more of her instead of Lucifer’s whining?

5.5. Wait, Michael wants to come to WinchesterLand? Why? Like, seriously—Lucifer seems awfully de-powered following his inter-dimensional travel; why would Michael want to risk that? Why would he want to leave this war half-done?

5.65. It’s nice to see Kevin again, though I am curious about his characterisation. It appears to be back to the fidgety, nervous geek bullied by Michael Dean he was when we first saw him in s7; there’s nothing of the self-assuredness he’d gained by s9. I would’ve thought surviving a dystopia would mean we’d get a Kevin distinct from WinchesterLand!Kevin, And if you’re going to commit to a dystopian!divergence!AU, go all the way, because the divergence needn’t just be that Mary refused to deal with Azazel.

5.78. Well if you know how to use the “fly in the ointment” metaphor, why would you have trouble understanding “shut up you worm” didn’t really mean he was calling you a worm?

6. “you think I’d forget somebody who tried to kill me? Twice?” well, Dean, you’ve forgotten and/or worked with people who’ve actually killed/tortured/raped your brother without once bringing that history up, so.

6.5. Still with the torture/murder of women, Show? Like—I watched very, very little of s12, so curious about Rowena’s fate, I checked the wiki, which was quick to provide me with her very last shot—a charred corpse. It was sickening enough that I lost my appetite and couldn’t fall asleep easily that night.

6.75. oh, hello, Daniella! That was abrupt.

7. Satan playing on your sympathies and “I’m the good guy here, really, if you think about it” is kind of his whole shtick but hearing him say “don’t do this, Michael is evil!” chafes, given that he’s… well, him.

7.75. Oh, god… human!Lucifer. *groans*

(it could be potentially interesting—becoming the thing he hates, that he rebelled and got locked away for—but, also, I’m reeeeaaaaallllllyyyyy not here for Lucifer’s journey of self-discovery. Like, not remotely. Not when this fucking show kills off actually interesting recurring characters, especially if they are women.)

8. Asmodeus continues to be a caricature and therefore hilarious.

9. Wait—Rowena’s still around?!

9.5. Evil twin brother?! Ugh. Why can’t you let go of these people, Show? You were so quick to forget about the Leviathan from s7 and the Styne family from s10! And his posh accent is annoying. “Alex-aahhh-nder,” indeed.

9.87. Sam in interrogation!mode almost makes it worth it, though. And I’m believing Alex-ah-nder’s story less and less with every word that comes out of his mouth. And by the way, torturing innocent women by cutting them with a red hot knife is not sadistic??

10. Heyyyy… isn’t Duma the lady who played the bartender that Robo!Sam killed in 6.22?

10.5. “we want to enslave [Jack] so he can breed more angels”. This is a particularly popular SPN porn trope. The implications are unfortunate with this one.

10.75. How the fuck did Lucifer even get there, though? Why/how do things happen in this episode??

11. To pretend that Lucifer even remotely believes in the bullshit he’s spewing about wanting to save the world seems foolhardy, though. I totally believe that he wants to get back at Michael, and that rounding up Castiel—and by extension, the Winchesters—is the surest way to do it in WinchesterLand. His “old buddy, old pal” routine seems like the perfect lure.

I mean, it’s not fun to watch, and quippy!Lucifer is annoying as hell, but I’m pretty sure that’s what’s going on.

11.5. But I’m bemused by Castiel giving ground on something else—referring to Jack repeatedly as Lucifer’s son, without any prompting from Lucifer. Why give him that bond? Why concede that very, very important thing?

12. “Evil Colonel Sanders” sounds about right. LOL. Why would he go and personally collect that poor motel clerk, though? Doesn’t he have minions do that work for him?

12.5. I mean, it’s probably unwise, and Alex-ah-nder is a sadistic serial killer, but I’m weirdly charmed by Sam bothering to make sure that he got a bite to eat and access to the bathroom. Interrogator!Sam is no base torturer, you guys, and in this universe, that’s a big deal.

(also once again only dean is allowed to have feelings about mary)

13. (also once again only dean is allowed to worry about castiel)

13.10. Again: why do demons always forget they have telekinetic abilities when they brawl with SamnDean?

14. So… Sam comes off looking like an idiot for even considering “Alex-ah-nder”’s story so that’s basically what his role in this episode amounts to. Right ho!

14.5. The last 10 minutes has set up quite a bit: a retcon about Rowena and Ketch possessing a charm that would make them immortal (and which requires “charging”), Asmodeus collecting powerful beings and using Ketch to do it (why?? And when did that even happen?), and Castiel and human!Lucifer (blech) in jail.

15. To sum up? 

[mayphenix]

The humour killed Thor:Ragnarok for me

I... didn’t dislike the movie, I actually enjoyed it but what has been called the “best part” of the movie and what everyone has been enjoying just killed the entire movie for me. It was too much, all the time. I’m all for light-hearted jokes, the marvel way but it was too much and I didn’t feel like I watched a Thor movie at all, more like a mix of lots characters vaguely attached to Thor thrown together into a comedy movie, or a joke of an epic movie. There were lots of good points, and some bad points.

More under. Spoilers warning.

I’m going to start with how much of a fan of the Thor franchise I am. Thor is my favorite Avenger, Loki is my absolute favorite character of the entire MCU, I adore the universe of Thor, the Thor movies were my favorite and it was mostly because it was so different from everything else from Marvel. We had some gods, seen differently, heroes, space, epicness and I loved it all - the family drama, the deities different from the myths but still interesting, I absolutely love it all. Perhaps I had too many expectations for this movie but I was going to the theater knowing I might be disappointed because over timewhen we saw new stuff for this movie, so many things didn’t seem right with the accumulation of characters, old and news, of stories to explain and introduce in this final movie and most especially, the obvious emphasis on humour the entire movie has been promoted with. I was worried, but I went in the theater positive. Thor franchise, and Loki being my favorite character and everything I expected from this movie might make this review a little biased but... well.

About the good points:

- The special effects. I don’t think I need to give an entire speech on that, everything was absolutely beautiful and breathtaking and phenomenal. The opening battle? Amazing, the sequence with Mjollnir was WOW. So, nothing disappointing with the special effects, if anything, it was even more amazing than usual.

- The battles. All great, good fighting, good characters, the only problem being that when it was final, epic battles...the epicness died because it was stopped with some joke.

- The new characters: I absolutely love Hela, Valkyrie and even Krudge (if that’s his name?) All amazing characters who can fight, various, POC, with ptsd, I love it. They even go through some character development in the movie but it felt a little rushed at times - I would have wished for Valkyrie to at least appear like she considered joining Thor’s team a little more BEFORE doing it because it just felt sudden and because she didn’t know what else to do with the Grand Master’s ultimatum?

- Our beloved old characters: some were well used, some not so well. Loki was the only fully satisfying character who was all mischief and more to his true-self than the dramatic, traumatized character we’ve seen so far without disgarding what had happened to him and the depth of his character. Thor was charming with his sense of humor but it felt to me like he was belittled. He’s a god, he’s a freaking god, he’s a PRINCE. But too often he appeared like the big, friendly dork and it’s annoying. The good thing about Thor is that he really seemed concerned about the universe, Asgard, its people and his motivations wasn’t because of Jane like previous movies, it seemed more... realistic, for a royal god. I’m not an enormous fan of Banner and the Hulk, but he’s sweet, and he still is in this movie but..ultimately I don’t feel like he played a huge part in the movie, like he had any significant importance. It was more “oh we haven’t seen the Hulk in a while let’s add him here”. Yes, he helped espcae and fought Fenris but it wasn’t that epic in my opinion, I expected more of their fight. But other than that? What did he do? Make jokes, make people laugh but that’s it? He asked about Nat but 5mn after meeting Valkyrie he’s all “she’s strong, she’s beautiful” so... wtf? Odin was here, but I feel like his end was too quick - we didn’t have a quick explanation on what really happened, how he felt, he just “all right my sons, a hel of a trouble is coming because I messed up again, be ready” and then he went into fairy dust in the sky. I cried at his death, but mostly because he called Loki his son, and he treated both as equals despite everything that had happened. Heimdall had his importance but because he was the only character who seemed to take things seriously, he felt out of place. The Warrior Three...how could they kill them off like that? We barely saw them, barely recognize them and oops, dead at Hela’s feet. I get it, she’s powerful but they’re some of the strongest warriors of Asgard. They could have had at least a bit of a fight to end in a glrious battle not... that.

- The plot and twists: I didn’t want Hela to be Loki’s daughter because it would have come out of nowhere so I’m glad of what they did, but once again, I would have wished for more explanation tha just “she’s Odin’s first born turned evil”. Like...who is her mother? What happened? No more details on how he banished a first child and erased her memory from all of Asgard? Why is she so freaking powerful if she’s “just” his daughter?? I need more than just what we were given. The final twist with Ragnarok being the only way to defeat her, that LOKI was the one to cause it directly, that Asgard was a people and not a place - I LOVED IT! It was totally unexpected so I loved how it turned out.

- I’d need to rewatch the movie to fully enjoy the depth of this point but I think that there were lots of hidden political critiques and stuff said in this movie, laying behind everything, which ought to be taken in consideration more fully but like I said, I’d need to watch it more to understand it all.

- I’ll finish with MY FAVORITE PART OF THIS MOVIE: LOKI AND THOR (kinda) RECONCILIATION! THey finally talked, they finaly came  to terms with it all and there are already several posts about how perfectly done it was made so just... Thank you for finally bringing them back together as a team and brothers. That’s all I wanted for this movie, with the hope they won’t ruin it all again in Infinity Wars...

The bad points:

- HUMOUR EVERYWHERE. Except maybe a few lacks of details here and there which can be forgiven with the length of the movie and its final cut, the really only one and big problem is the constant presence of humour. I like little jokes, I laughed at several of them. At hte begining it was great and all. Loki’s reactions mostly were hilarious, the button pushed when they escpae and it provokes firework that was good too. But the rest of ti? It insisted too much, it constantly came back, it ruined the moods, it just felt off, it wasn’t even fun. Where do I even start? The sexual jokes were... too much, like I thought it was a family movie? Why do you talk about orgies, and anus, and that thing Valkyrie did with her hips? Where did it come from? Not necessary. The ridiculness of these jokes too -  Thor throwing a ball that rebounced and put him down? Nope. Banner jumping down for an epic landing as the Hulk but landing on his face? *heavy sigh*, the end of Asgard and we have some silly lines ruining the intensity of the moment? At this point of the movie I just couldn’t handle these stupid lines that weren’t even fun anymore. The final epic battle got me sighing ALL THE TIME because there was always some stupid moment put here to make you laugh when it’s not the moment to be funny but the moment to fight and be heroes. It’s a superhero movie, not a comedy. It’s Thor’s final movie, not a joke! It’s freaking Ragnarok, not good-hearted playtime!

- Because of this forced and too heavy humour, I feel like the middle of the movie in Sakaar or whatever it’s called is way too long for what it’s worth. It was too much humour and in the end the final battle felt rushed. Perhaps it was just because it was constantly cut because of the stupid jokes, but it felt like because there had been so much in the midlde for Sakaar, some fights for the final battle were finished very quickly (I’m mostly thinking of Fenris VS Hulk, Skuge’s comeback, Hulk VS Surtr (if you can call that a battle), Surtr period, Loki period...)

- The Guardians of the Galaxy vibe. Dont get me wrong, I love the colors and I love the GotG. But it was supposed to eb a Thor movie and it didn’t feel like one... I barely heard Thor’s theme, it was only all about this colorful planet and atmosphere but it was so similar to GotG that well, it took away what made Thor franchise unique in its own way: it’s not a superhero from Earth,  he’s a god and prince from a majestic place, it’s epic and royal and deeper than just “the god of thunder swinging a hammer”. THAT’S what I like about Thor, the multidimensions used for his movies, character and universe that made it apart from the rest of the Avengers movies and the GofG. But adding such a GofG vibe twisted the universe of Thor we had so far that was unlike any other.

Questionable points:

I’d need to rewatch the movie a few times, but there were a few things that seemed rushed...and a few things that were probably deeper than a first viewing allows you to conceive with Waititi’s directing and what he tried to express through this movie (too bad people only remember how ‘fun’ it was, uh) and I’d like to think moer about the parallels made between Odin/Hela and Thor/Loki and basically, everything that had some sense and wasn’t taken as a joke.

Conclusion

...It could have been worse. I had my fears, it could have even been an epic end for the Thor franchise. If the constant, out of place, ridiculous humour (that really..didn’t make me laugh that much) hadn’t ruind the epic, emotional moments.

[nothingnoteworthy]

Chapter 8: Liminal Sandwich Shops

Overload loved a good rave. The louder the music and the bigger the crowd equaled the better the time.  Plus, no one really noticed if you were physically sparking on the dance floor. You could lose control, generate too much energy, teleport to an entirely different rave in an entirely different country and no one in either rave really cared. Well. No one cared if you ended up at the right type of rave. Not every party with bad lighting and glowsticks counted.

It wasn’t surprising that it was the buzz she was sensing. A large party in the middle of an otherwise empty, quiet commercial area would be putting off noticeable electricity. Apparently it wasn’t her sole opinion. Some sort of insect with too many legs and too much body slammed itself onto the roof. The crowd panicked and they were in the right. She would too if she hadn’t given herself the responsibility of protecting people from superpowered threats. Ash was a lot more prepared to take it on. Probably a mixture of bravery and excessive experience in killing bugs. Overload wasn’t going to do it, Caroline thought her fear was hilarious, and Lyric tried to pied piper them out of the fucking apartment. Like the nonviolent effort was appreciated but please set it on fire.

Overload snagged Ash before she could start the fight. There was something at the edge of her awareness, one powerful and familiar enough to make Overload retreat into the shadows. Sure enough Scream Queen showed up in a burst of that signature PDU light. The creature was done for in the most humane way possible. Which, given that its legs were being chopped off, probably wasn’t much better than being lit on fire.

She kept backing up, deeper into the alley. This was not a good time to have a run in with Scream Queen. Overload had the presence of mind to not wear spandex but if your ex catches you lurking in an alleyway wearing head to do black and metal plating with a cheap mask and a girl that breathes fire she’s gonna know what you’re up to. She didn’t want to get caught working as a vigilante, especially not by this ex. It was weird.

Her anxiety spiked. Scream Queen lingered after the battle. Just. looking around. Casual. Calm. Collected. Fucking creepy with her god damned spiny teeth just sorta stapled onto the burlap. She seemed to lose interest and leave but. She might come back. Overload wouldn’t put it past her to mess with someone like that. Jumpscares and all.  Even if she didn’t, a UN clean up crew would and that meant it was high time to move on. This was getting them nowhere anyway. It was time to seek outside help. On the lucky hand, she had another ex in the area who was much more comfortable with masks and usually had good information. On the unlucky hand, she had another ex in the area. Tonight sucked.

Overload tried to keep thinking of him as her contact. But that just made it seem like they were friends on superhero facebook or something. Which she actually would be, although she would probably hide him from her feed. The thought would be mutual. Probably. He hung out in a sketchy looking sandwich franchise that she was pretty sure he actively worked to make sketchy. Single story, had to have been at least a 20 year old building, hidden at the end of the road with two four story office buildings on either side of it.Weirdly large parking lot for a tiny shop that literally no one was at, ever. There wasn’t a single car in that parking lot and the open sign was so heavily aged you probably couldn’t tell when it was on. The inside was extremely sterile in contrast with the outside dinge. You could smell the antiseptic. The floor was so shiny you could do your make up with it. It was weird. She didn’t like it. One day she’d bring Caroline here to get confirmation that he somehow set up his life in a pocket dimension.

Overload pushed open the employees only door, weaving through the shimmeringly clean racks straight for a box freezer. She shoved it to the side, revealing a narrow staircase that revitalized the rust chic the outside had. It was less rickety than it looked. Ash went first, a small fireball in her hand lighting just a few feet in front of them. Enough to see where they were going but not enough to be able to tell exactly how much of the stairs were iron and how much were thin flaky rust.

They ended in a bare cement room, empty except for a flickering lightbulb. Her ex/contact was nothing if not cautious. Understandable, given his particular situation. Overload walked up to one of the walls and began to bang on it with her fist.

“Heeey buddy, open up, I need some info and there’s a 75% chance you have it. Come on, don’t be annoying it’s alright like 12 at night I know you’re up and I know neither of us want to be up. Or, well, okay, you probably want to be up because you don’t sleep because you seem to think you have infinite health and will never get sleep deprivation ever but you’ve gotten it before like right before my damn eyes so I know it happens and then you get the sleep headaches and you get all grumpy and frankly that’s uncalled for. I mean you might be sleeping right now but I don’t think -”

The wall slowly slid to the left, revealing a large grey bipedal wolf. With hands. Now how he would describe himself (he liked getting out a large red plastic binder with printed wikipedia entries of various werewolfs, wolfmen, and humanoid dog creatures and showing you the highlighted portions) but it was how Overload did it. Wolf on two legs with hands. There we go. At least he was wearing a pair of loose black workout pants. So that was a bit of description embellishment. Something fancy to get going on. Pants. His ears slid back slightly and he tapped one of his feet against the ground. “What’s the other 25%?”

“Fleas. 75% information. 25% fleas.”

“You’re hilarious. Come in, tell me what you’re looking for.” He paused, glancing at Ash. “I don’t have fleas don’t listen to her. That was one time and it was her that had the fleas first.”

“It’s true, I did. It was finals week, I spent a few hours at the dogpark with a giant bucket of dried chicken livers buying the love of the city’s dog population.” Overload explained. Ash sighed heavily and walked into the spacious room. Half of it was laid out like an apartment, a little kitchen, a tiny table, a beat up couch and a coffee table. There was a large bed, piled with pillows and blankets, that looked like it had never been made. There rest of it was covered in computers. Desks and tables were arranged in a large U shape, with a cluster of servers and other components in the center of the room. Several large screens hung from the wall, each displaying several windows full of numbers, pictures and documents. It was a lot. Gave Overload one hell of a headache.

“I’m Kevin by the way. A lot of people call me K9, my project code back at Biotech was really unfortunate. Or really well planned.” He held out a large furry, clawed hand to Ash. She hesitated for just a moment, cautiously giving his hand a small shake.

"Ash."

"Nice to meet you Ash. What were you looking for Overload? I've got my own project right now but I might have gotten something on the side." He quickly moved to the other side of the room taking a seat into a large plush rolling chair.

“You’ve probably heard of the digital attacks on some companies in the area? We tried to see what was going on but their server room was fried. You could go in any room in the building and see every scream freaking out. It was pretty bad. Plus there was this weird person in red? Teleporting?” Overload dropped onto his couch. Kevin wrinkled his brow and stared at her before shaking his head.

“The teleporting person, I’m not sure. There’s a lot of possibilities but it quickly becomes too many possibilities. If they’re good, cameras will never catch them. If the cameras never catch them, neither do I. All I get is some word of mouth and that takes forever to form into a profile. The attacks, yeah. Everyone’s heard about that. It’s another Old Series Biotech soldier, I don’t remember her project code but her project name was Antivirus.”

“Ironic.”

“Yeah. Let me see what I have on her, I’m glad you’re on her trail. She’s low key but dangerous. If she stays on the streets she’s going to start fights with other ex-Biotechs, both old and new series.” Kevin turned his focus back to his computers, sorting through files. He went quiet for a bit, massive body hunched over his keyboard, staring into the rows of screens. At least Kevin and Overload got along still. It would be kind of unfortunate if an information hound like him was  out to get her. It would also be unfortunate if he ever heard her make that pun. Someone needed to get a new sense of humor, or at least learn to respect the beautiful time honored art of wordplay. It was the one sore spot in their otherwise decent relationship. If only.

“What are you working on?” She asked, watching Ash unsuccessfully try to wipe a few stray hairs off her pants. They would be there forever.

“Something a lot more interesting than some computer problems. The city’s grown itself another cult. A lot of them are just smoke, mirrors, and sedatives but some of them have Astral influence. This one’s got something big.” Kevin got excited, his ears perking up. “I think they’re trying to resurrect or even create some kind of deity. So Cool. I mean. It’s not, not really cool people will die and I gotta put a stop to it but they had to pick up a lot of ancient forgotten stuff, thousands of years old.”

“Is it a bad god?” Ash didn’t seem comfortable with the couch or the conversation. Overload smiled sympathetically.

“I wouldn’t say that it’s a good one. I’ve already found a ritual spot covered in blood. Whatever they’re creating it’s not friendly. I’m not done decoding all of the information I’ve found, but I’ve found enough references to a ‘sea of blood’ and ‘cities full of emptiness’ to come to the conclusion that maybe this shouldn’t happen. And there we go. Here, the flash drive is secure but try not to put it on an internet connected device.” Kevin swung around, pulling one of the dangling drives off his tower, tower. “I’m gonna call you if I need a hand. I work well with lightning powers.”

Hm. Oh yes. The, other thing that stained their relationship. One of his exes. Fun. Fun reminder. Still. Sounded bad. Probably a lot worse what they were working on. But also a bit weird that the PDU wasn’t involved. Kevin would’ve never gotten into it if they were. “I’ll bring the whole crew. Who knows what powers their evil-cult-god will have.”

“I’m hoping I can put a stop to it before they actually manage to wake it up. I should be able to pull a few strings and get them cut off. Fingers crossed.” He grinned, managing to not look like he was trying to eat them. Overload laughed and took the drive, motioning for Ash to get up.

“Fingers crossed. Thanks for the help.”

“Anytime Duracell.”

“See ya later Rover.”

“Bite me.”